Four Years a Scout and Spy

TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL U. S. GRANT, Whose undaunted energy, heroic valor, superior generalship, and devotion to his country, have proved him

"THE RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE,"

And won for him

A WORLD-WIDE FAME;

And to the gallant Officers and Soldiers who have nobly assisted in sustaining our glorious nationality by crushing the great rebellion,

THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

It was with much difficulty that I was induced to give to the public a narrative of my experience as a scout and spy. It was the intense interest with which the people have listened to my narratives, whenever I have related them, and their earnest entreaties to have them published, that have prevailed upon me to do so.

I entered the army from purely patriotic motives. I had no vain ambition to gratify, but simply a desire to sustain and perpetuate the noble institutions that had been purchased by the blood of our fathers. I valued the cause of liberty as well worth all the sacrifice that it might cost to save it. I saw at once that the conflict was to be one involving great principles, and that in the end Truth and Justice must prevail.

The part that I have borne in putting down the great rebellion is the one that naturally fell to me by the force of circumstances, and entirely unsolicited. My relation in the affairs of life seems to have been such as to have just adapted me to that part that fell to my lot to act.

I have, without doubt, been indiscreet at times. Who has not? But the reader must remember that he who goes from the peaceful pursuits of life, for the first time, to engage in the art of war, does so with a lack of experience. Soldiering was not my trade. War is demoralizing in its tendency. This fact, I trust, will very much lessen any feelings of prejudice that may arise, in the course of these narratives, from passages clothed with the rough-and-tumble of army life.

Rough language and blunt manners are characteristics of war, because its tendency is to destroy the finer feelings of our natures. Some of the language used is of that character, and it would fail to be a truthful representation of the reality if rendered less so. The incidents that I have narrated are all of them facts that have occurred in my experience, and, without further apology, I submit them to an indulgent public.

LORAIN RUGGLES.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Parentage--Early discipline--Childhood incidents--Subsequent occupations--Driven from Mississippi--Works on rebel fortifications--Escape to Illinois--Enlists as a soldier-- Supposed to have deserted--How he got his name--Examination by the Surgeon--Roster of the Regiment 11

CHAPTER II.

Moves to Cincinnati--Detailed to guard the forts--Meets a secesh lady--First scout--Unexpected visit of the Colonel--The drill-- Bad report--The mischief investigated--Attempts to discover the rogues--Innocent man accused--The accusers skedaddle--Who got the chickens 22

CHAPTER III.

"Marching orders"--Arrives at Fort Donelson--The surrender--Goes North with prisoners--Meets an old friend as a rebel Captain-- The Captain attempts to bribe him--Expedition up the Tennessee River--Touching incident--Battle of Shiloh--Captures an Enfield --Recommended as a scout 30

CHAPTER IV.

Rumored attack upon Grand Junction--"General Bunker" sent out as spy--Passes himself as a rebel soldier--Falls in with rebel cavalry--Visits a rebel camp--Attempts to deprive him of his revolver--Discovers a Yankee forage party--Undertakes to return --Captured by Yankees, and robbed of his revolver and money-- Passes as a rebel spy--Sent to the Provost-marshal--Sent to General Hurlbut--Returned to Grand Junction 38