The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907 Page: 286
ix, 354 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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286
Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
by Colonel Sam Ruffin, of Choctaw County; hence the name by
which we were known, "Ruffin Dragoons." The ladies of Mt.
Sterling and its vicinity-women of blessed memory-met from
day to day in the Masonic hall of the village, until every member
was furnished with a handsome uniform.
Nearly every man furnished his own horse; some were supplied
by the more wealthy citizens of the county; others again were
complimented by being presented with finer animals than they
possessed, or horses more fitted for the hard service they were
destined to endure-notably, as I remember, Captain Gaines was
presented by Hon. Frank Lyon, of Demopolis, with a fine sorrel.
The equipment furnished by Colonel Ruffin, I was informed, cost
him about $30,000. How well I remember the day when we left
Mt. Sterling for the front, the 25th of September, 1861. Nearly
all of us were young men and boys just from school. The officers
were older, and Captain Gaines had seen service in Mexico as an
officer of U. S. dragoons. This, of course, gave some prestige, and
lent us some prominence in the regiment to which we were as-
signed. I, myself, was fresh from the class-room, with no experi-
ence whatever of any of the ruder sides of life.
We went from Mt. Sterling to Lauderdale, Mississippi, where
we were loaded on trains for Memphis, Tennessee. There we were
enrolled "for the war in the Confederate service." We went by
way of Nashville to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and became a part
of General A. S. Johnston's army confronting Buell, the Federal
commander in that part of the State. Here we joined other com-
panies, and Wirt Adams's Cavalry Regiment was formed. We
were drilled in company and regimental tactics, picketing the front
and doing scouting duties.
Early in February, 1862, the Federals, not desiring to force
Johnston's position, commenced flanking movements by way of
the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, pushing their gunboats up
those streams, and gaining the battle of Fort Donelson, where the
Confederate General Buckner surrendered a considerable force.
This made it apparent that the withdrawal of the army from Bowl-
ing Green was imperative.
After the Battle of Fort Donelson, General Grant pushed his
forces further south to the vicinity of Pittsburg, a small village on
the Tennessee River, not more than twenty-five miles from Corinth,
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907, periodical, 1907; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101040/m1/318/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.