April 1863

This morning dawns with the sun coming over 
the mountains with the promise of warmer 
weather.  The winter has been such a cold one 
and I welcome the coming of spring with open 
arms.  The mountain flowers are just now 
starting to bloom and they bring a freshness 
to the valley.  

This past winter, there was a lot of activity 
here in Central Tennessee.  General Braxton 
Bragg moved his troops from Chattanooga coming 
towards Murfreesboro to unite his forces with 
that of Major General John Breckinridge.  There 
have been many skirmishes in towns like Double 
Brigde, Rural Hills, Clarksville, Mill Creek and 
Somerville.  They seem to be all over the State.  
Doesn't seem that any one place is safer than 
another.  In December, our General Nathan 
Bedford Forrest prepared his Calvary for a raid 
on the communication lines of Major General 
Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army.  This all 
happening around La Grange, not far from Memphis. 
This was to have some effect on the Union 
Movement on Vicksburg, Mississippi.  There are 
many skirmishes in the area between Memphis and 
Nashville with the Calvary.  On the 21st of Dec. 
our dear General Forrest succeed in capturing 
the town of Union City.  For Christmas, the 
General celebrated by disrupting the railroads 
from Union City to McKenzie. Shortly after that, 
around the 30-31st, a large Union force was 
encountered near the town of Parkers Crossroads.  

A portion of his Calvary was dismounted to 
encounter the Union Forces.  To General 
Forrest's surprise and astonishment, gunfire 
was opened on them from the rear.   This 
predicament gave rise to a story that reached 
us, how the General when asked by an anxious 
subordinate how they could solve this sudden 
two-fronted problem, responded by saying 
"Charge them both Ways!"  

Needless to say, some of the boys from the 8th 
were captured, trying to get back to their 
horses, having dismounted earlier in the battle. 
One of these boys is a neighbor of ours, William 
Lafayette Sliger.  I know his parents well. He is 
but about 17 years old.  His mother has informed 
us that he was taken prisoner that day and sent 
up to a Camp Douglas outside of Chicago, Illinois.  
He was just released from Camp Douglas earlier 
this month, and sent down to City Point, Virginia, 
(I believe that this is outside of Richmond, near 
the town of Hopewell) where he was forced to take 
the Oath of Allegiance to the Union.  But if I 
know those Sons of Tennessee, he will be coming 
home to once again take up arms for his cause.  

I pray that my brothers are doing well and that 
no harm has befallen any of them.  The 
unimaginable horrors that life in a prison camp 
must hold for a young boy.  I am sure he has seen 
things that no young man should ever have to 
endure in one's life time.  What horrors we have 
all gone through with this 
unspeakable War.