The Orlando Clipper. (Orlando, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, January 31, 1908 Page: 4 of 12
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THE ORLANDO CLIPPER, ORLANDO, LOGAN COUNTY, OKLAHOMA.
The Orlando Clipper
i). 13. paym:.
Publisher*.
Published Weekly,
Subscription $1.00 Per Year.
Entered as second class matter December 24, 1906, at the post office at
Orlando, Oklahoma, under Act ot Congress of March 3, 1879.
Through Heart of the Confederacy.
Grierson's Famous Raid, Covering 800 Miles in Sixteen
Days, Destroying Railroads and Supplies, Cuttirg off Commu/
nications and Capturing Nearly a Thousand Prisoners.
On the morning of April 17, 1863,
the following regiments left camp:
Second Iowa, Col Hatch, 640 men;
Sixth Illinois, Col Loumis, 5oo men;
Seventh Illinois, Col. Prince, 540 men,
and Co. K, First Illinois Battery of six
pieces, all being commanded by Col.
B. F. Grierson.
Command moved out from La-
grange, Tenn , with Sixth I 111 noise in
advance. Nothing of importance oc-
curred that day.
Second day—Seventh in advance
moved through Ripley. Miss., and to
New Albany, where they arrived at
5 p m. and went in to camp after
crossing the Tallehatchie river two
and nine revolvers Their instruc-
tions were to keep from one-quarter of
a mile to two or more miles in ad-
vance and report conditions of the
country, roads, streams, bridges, ene-
my etc, On the morning of the sixth
day, Capt. Graham w^s sent to burn
a shoe and saddle shop, near Staik-
vilie, which he did, together with sev-
eral thousand pairs of shoes and
boots, a good many saddles and quite
a lot of leather. Capt. Forbes was
also sent to destroy the rail road be-
tween Oklona and Macon, as near
Macon as possible. The captain, with
only 35 men, started on the trip and
when within three miles of Macon
miles east of the city. The Seventh went into camp. Robinson (one of
captured four prisoners that day.
Thir l day—Movjed out in a heavy
vain, entered Pontotac at 4 p. m. kill-
ing one man and capturing a wagon
load of amunition and camp equip-
age, which was destroyed. Camped
eight miles south of Pontotac.
On the morning of the fourth day,
the scouts) was sent toward Macon to
reconoiter About one mile out he
saw six Confederates coming and
halted them and said: '»YVho comes
there?" The answer came "Friends."
The captain advanced with one man
and Robinson said he would call the
officer of the guard. Robinson called
Lieut. Wilt, Co. L, Seventh Illinois, j thiee times, the four Rebs in waiting
with about 200 men from the three went off and the captain went after
regiments, was sent back to Lagrange.
The command moved south, passing
them, and Robinson took care of the
last one, who was young and told all
through a good country, leaving j he knew. He said there had been
Houston to the right; marched 40 miles 400 men at Macon and 900 more c::rre
Filth day—Left camp at daylight, ; that morning.
S-'venth in advance, Col Hatch; Sec-
ond Iowa, wiih one piece of artilery,
was sent east to destroy the M &O
R R. and make his way back to La-
grange, which he did, but had hard
Capt, Forbes left at once and went
to Newton street, where he learned
that Col. Griersan had gone to Enter-
prise. When within one mile of En-
terprise, he learned that 3000 Rebels
fighting as rebel forces had concen- were getting off the cars. He raised a
trated to intercept the command on
its return. The Sixth and Seventh
were now alone; corn and fodder were
generally plentiful, which was taken
when needed and food was obtained
from homes along the line of march.
About noon on the fifth day R W.
Surby (with the consent of the corn-
white fltg and rode boldly up, de-
manding the surrender of the town,
in the name of Col. Grierson. Col
Goodwin (the commander) asked an
hour to consider. The Captain made
good use of the hour in getting away,
following in the trail of Grierson four
days before overtaking the command
mander) had ptrfected an organiza-! Wm. Buffington, scout, was killed and
tion called Grierson's Scouts, of which Private Charley Martin wounded.
R. W. Surby was the chief, and the Robinson (a scout) learned that a
squad was composed of C. B Weed-
en, Corp. Co. E; L. II. Keelly, Co
company of guerrillas were in Raleigh
Capt Forbes made a charge and ihe
E; VVm. Buffington, Co. B; Samuel | surprise was so complete tint not one
Nelson, Co. G; Arthur Wood, Co. B;
Isaac E. Robinson, Co. B; George
Steadman, Co. C, and Uriah Fowler,
Co. H. They were dressed and arm-
ed in Guerrilla style with a variety of
arms, three sharp carbines, four shot
guns, one squirrel rifle, four sabres
escaped. The men were paroled and
the captain and horsei taken along. '
Three men were sent to overtake the
command, so as to prohibit the de-:
struction of bridges until Forbes and'
his men could overtake them.
It was an easy inattjr for the scouts
to get information, as they were
dressed like the southern soldiers.
They would find out where the ne-
groes and horses were and often a lot
ot fine horses were taken and many
incidents occurred, often times giving
our scouts a somptuous meal. Pass-
sing through Whitefield they came to
Okaxuler river, which was swollen by
recent rains. V!any had to swim and
some lost their horse and equipage.
I he river bottom was six miles wide
and sometimes the water and mud
were three feet deep. One gun car-
nage broke down, but the gun was
soon mounted on buggy wheels. The
Sixth went through the swamp and
went into camp about 2 p. m , but the
Seventh did not get through until
about 3 o'clock the next morning.
After leaving the swamp the country
was bettei ai>d the people believed
Van Horn's command was passing, no
couriers having passed The children
would cheer for Van Dorn, Beaure-
gard and the S uihern Confederacy.
Seventh day—Left camp at an ear-
ly hour and were now near Pearl river
valley. Surby with some scouts were
in advance and met an old man who
said there was a picket at the bridge
and said his son was one of them.
The old man was told to go to them,
hav« them surrender and save the
bridge or his home would be burned.
He said he would save the bridge,
but could not promise as to the sur-
r«nder. The bridge was saved, but
the guard fled. Neartng Philadelphia
a foice was met who showed fight, but
were driven off and a judge was capt-
ured, together with six other prisoners
and nine horses. At ten p m. Col.
Blackburn was sent to Newton station
to destroy railroad and trains. On
this occasion Surby was thot at
through-mistake by Steadman, one of
the scouts. On the eighth day Black-
burn captured two tiains at Newton
station, one jf 1 ?. freight cars, one
pa«senger, 4 cars of amunition and
arms, six for cairying quartermaster!
stores and two contained household
goods. Ptivate pruperty was saved
and the rest burned. A battallion
was sent east and one west to destroy
railroad arid telegraphs, One hundred
patients at hospital were given flour,
sugar and clothing before the cars
were burned. Five miles south of
Newton the command rested two,
hours and then marched until 3 a. m.
Surby was again shot at by one of his
own men, grazing the skin above the,
hip.
Passed through Pineville and fed, j
proprietor of the place being in the
field commanding 25 slaves. Here a :
negro wai found chained to the floor, !
who being loosened, followed the
command. Just at night Sam Nelson
was sent to Forest Grove, thirty miles
away for iuformation regarding enemy
Yanks there were. He said about
1800 well armed, enough, he thought,
to whip you all." Sam sent them off
the trail, saying they had gone toward
the Mobile R. R. They allowed Sam
to go, which he did, and pressed in
a negro guide and reached camp
about 5 ntxt a. m. The command
moved out at once, leaving the Rebs
in the rear.
About 8 o'clock the tenth day, pass-
ed through Raleigh, capturing sheriff
of Smith county. That evening Surby
captured another sheriff, whom he
forced to go with him. Sheriff swore
some one would pay for this insult, as
he was not subject to conscription.
He tald Gen. Grierson all he knew of
the R<:bel forces. They camped on
Stony River. Sixth on the north side
and Seventh on the south side. After
a short rest. Col Prince went forwaid
to secure the ferry at Pearl river
(To be coutinued next week.)
a+a+a*n+o«*o+a*a+o+o*a*o*o+
P. J. Meagher,
Live Stock, Flour, Feed,
Coal and Grain,
Manager Orlando Elevator,
0*C>4i04«Ci4'04>CJ+0+0+r)4,04>0+0-,-a*
Dr. H„ E. Yazel,
Physician and Surgeon,
Phone No. 25.
*o+a+o+o+Q*a+0+Q+a*o+a+o+a
I
Doctor T. L. Sharp
CALLS ANSWERED
DAY OR NIGHT,
PHONE
No, 6
•JOIIN ' MILBR,
PArBCTIMG, FAPERIKG
Males & Lagicrer.
♦o+o+a+a+o+o*o*o+a+q*p+o+o
Are you having trouble with your kid-
neys? There are lots of people today
who wonder why they have pains across
the back, why they are tired and lack-
ing in energy and ambition. Your
Sixteen miles out he met ,000 Rebels ; wlH 53.7T«"k. T*&ATkm".1
to whom he said the Yanks had forced ; lS: H!iU.1(1er Pills; they are tor weak
him in for a guide, he had just gotten | S' a"? Teak ' kid^eyil^^Soi^by
away and was going to a band in For- Muhlherr Drug Co.
est Grove. Sam was asked how many ' _
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The Orlando Clipper. (Orlando, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, January 31, 1908, newspaper, January 31, 1908; Orlando, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc305572/m1/4/: accessed April 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.