How Kilpatrick Lost Pistols and Holsters

Confederate Veteran
Volume 12, Number 4, Page 177
April 1904

Lieut. Col. John W. lnzer, of the Thirty Second and Fifty Eighth Alabama Infantry Consolidated, writes of the man who captured Gen. Kilpatrick's holsters and pistols:

An important incident in the War between the States has never been published, and believing that injustice to the person who captured the holsters and pistols of Gen. Kilpatrick, and to Alabama as well, this article is induced. It is. a matter of history that Gen. Wheeler surprised the camp of Gen. Kilpatrick, near Fayetteville, N. C., probably in March, 1865. After the great battles in and around Atlanta, Gen. Hood took up his line of march through Alabama and on to Nashville. Gen. Wheeler had completed his famous raid through Tennessee, and on his return, Sherman having commenced his line of march through Georgia to Savannah, Wheeler was ordered to Georgia to harass Sherman and keep closed in his straggling, prowling soldiers, thereby confining his line of march to as narrow a scope as possible, and saving the homes of the Southern people from the torch and devastation. This work was well performed by the celebrated cavalry of Gen. Wheeler. On the flanks of Sherman, day and night, such was the vigilance and tact of Wheeler and his men that when Kilpatrick, who was commanding the Federal cavalry, dared to get from under cover of Sherman's main army. Wheeler would pounce upon and give him a good thrashing. Such was the case at Aiken, S. C. At Fayetteville, N. C., he (Kilpatrick, ventured out a little way from the main army. The ever vigilant 'Little Joe' was on the alert, and when night came on and Kilpatrick pitched his camp, surrounded by a marshy scope of country, Wheeler divided his forces and surrounded this camp during the night. He first sent scouts to take off his pickets, which was successfully done, and at the break of day the command was ordered to cross the marsh and attack his camp. The marsh was very difficult to cross. A large part of Alien's Division succeeded in crossing, but many of the poorer or weaker horses failed to cross, because of the condition of the ground. One of. Wheeler's Divisions failed to come up in time, but the camp was taken by Alien. Some artillery was taken, but owing to the inability of the Confederates to remove it, it was cut down. Gen. Kilpatrick was awakened from his slumber by the patter of horses' feet and the rattle of guns, and he succeeded in making his escape on foot.

The subject of this sketch was orderly sergeant of Company E, Fifty First Alabama Cavalry, who was in the front of the attaching column. After crossing the marsh, the command was ordered to pass along the line of tents until ordered to enter. Opposite the headquarters of Kilpatrick, Sergt. Noah A. Hood and Lieut. D. S. Bethune, who was then adjutant of the regiment (and later was also a member of the late Constitutional Convention of Alabama, now residing at Union Springs), turned into the camp and galloped up to the headquarters of Kilpatrick, passing the celebrated 'spotted' horse, which was afterwards of national fame, and also passing a large black stallion. Both were tied near the house used for headquarters. At the door, in the yard, lay Gen. Kilpatrick's saddle, upon which were the holsters, containing the pistols in question. Sergt. Hood cut the holsters from the saddle and placed them upon his own. Later in the day he saw Gen. Allen riding the black stallion and Gen. Wheeler riding the celebrated 'spotted' horse. Hood desired to make Gen. Wheeler a present of the holsters, but in vain he tried to secure scabbards for them, and his purpose was foiled. The holsters were unsuited for Hood, as he had to dismount so often or leave his horse for forage. In the meantime Col. Ashby, of the Tennessee Command, sent for Hood, and an exchange of the holsters with Col. Ashby for a belt with scabbards was made. In a day or two he saw Gen. Wheeler with the holsters, and believed that to have been the purpose of Col. Ashby from the start.

Mr. Hood thinks that they were presented to Gen. Wheeler in behalf of Tennessee soldiers, when, in fact, it should have been in behalf of Alabama soldiers, and he states that there are several living witnesses to them.

This same man, Noah A. Hood, is now, and has been for a dozen or more years, the efficient Clerk of the Circuit Court of St. Clair County, Ala. He was born and reared in this county, and is one of our best citizens. He was for a long time a member of Company A, Tenth Alabama Regiment, and on account of a severe wound received in the angle at the battle of Sharpsburg was rendered unfit for infantry service, and soon thereafter became a member of the Fifty First Alabama Cavalry Regiment, commanded by our Gen. John T. Morgan, and in the cavalry service we find Sergt. Hood as noble and gallant a soldier as in the infantry.