CHAPTER XVI.

Reminiscences of George W. Westgate.

In the fall of 1862, while camped at Nashville, Tenn., Company C went out on a scouting expedition, with Lieut. Shaw in command. John Houston, Giles Hodge, Frank Fuller, and George W. Westgate were advance guard. They were traveling on a piked road, covered with a gray dust, and their uniforms became covered with it. So much so, that on approaching two Confederates, who were on outpost picket, they allowed our boys to ride very near to them, thinking they were their own men; and the two Confederates were made prisoners, and were left with the company.

The boys again advanced, across to another pike which led back toward Nashville. They saw ten Confederates in front of them, pursued them and captured one, and left him in charge of Houston. They followed the other nine men until they were cornered in a pasture, surrounded by a high board fence. Hodge was left at the gate, while Fuller and Westgate with excited horses, uncontrollable, advanced into the pasture in close proximity to the Confederates, who were busily engaged in tearing down the fence, in order to make their escape. Westgate was unable to stop or guide his horse, which was carrying him in the direction of the enemy. To save himself from becoming a prisoner or being killed, he jumped from his horse, throwing all his weight on the left rein, which caused the horse to whirl half way around. Just at that moment one of the enemy fired at Westgate, two buckshot striking him in the hip. His horse ran to the gate, where Hodge caught it. In the meantime Fuller opened fire with his carbine. It seems that the buckshot riled Westgate’s temper; because, after his horse left him he retreated backwards, loading and firing his carbine as fast as possible at the enemy, until they got the fence down and escaped. What undoubtedly saved the boys from capture was that the Confederates momentarily expected Westgate, Fuller, and Hodge to be reinforced by the company.

When camped near Memphis, Tenn., in 1864, a portion of our regiment went out on a scouting expedition and was out all night. In the morning, Albert Scudder, Rube Lewis, Daniel Towner, and George W. Westgate, received permission to take a little scout of their own to get a square meal. They were only partly successful. Each got a ham and decided to go back to camp. As they were riding on a pike across some bottom land, at the edge of which was a large bridge between them and camp, Scudder and Lewis being about ten rods in advance of Westgate and Towner, without warning eight or ten Confederates rose up out of the brush with their guns pointed at Scudder and Lewis, and within a few yards of them, demanding their surrender, to which they reluctantly assented. Westgate and Towner immediately realized their critical situation and started for the bridge; but when nearing the Confeds, and seeing almost certain death staring them in the face, they wheeled so quickly that they imagined they could hear their horses’ tails snap like a whip, and retreated with such tremendous speed, that they were almost unable to distinguish objects along the wayside. They were obliged to retreat through a country infested with bushwhackers, encountering several squads of them before reaching camp. They finally reached camp, themselves and horses thoroughly exhausted, and I believe that the report came that the boys through all their narrow escapes, clung to the hams which they had purchased, until they arrived safely in camp. It was also reported that they intimated their willingness to avoid looking after square meals in the enemy’s country for some time to come. Scudder and Lewis were taken to the prison pen, poor fellows. Scudder returned from prison with health ruined, did not enjoy a day’s good health afterward, and died in the winter of 1905. Lewis returned with broken health also.

At the Battle of Stone River.

On the morning of Dec. 31, 1862, Lieut. Simmons, of Gen. Palmer’s staff, and George W. Westgate, of Company C, were sent on an errand by the General, and when they returned and reported, the enemy’s sharpshooters opened on them, and Westgate was shot through the right arm, which laid him up during several months. He was ordered to the hospital. Soon after this Lieut. Simmons was wounded by a piece of shell, breaking several of his ribs. A few days later Simmons and Westgate received permission to go to their homes in Illinois. They started down the Cumberland River on a steamer, and after passing some distance down stream, the boat was captured by the Confederate General Wheeler’s cavalry. Simmons and Westgate, with others, were ordered by the Confederates to leave the boat and it was destroyed by fire. The wounded, including Simmons and Westgate, were then transferred to another boat loaded with wounded on their way north. Westgate remained at home until his wound healed, then returned to his company, which was escort for Gen. Palmer. Westgate afterward participated with us in the battle of Chickamauga, and other engagements.