Colonel Lyon’s Letters.
Claysville, Ala., July 11, 1864.—Yesterday I was in the saddle all day visiting my command on the river.
I rode about 16 miles on Saturday; the day before, eight miles. Tomorrow I start on a trip to visit Companies F and D, down the river, and shall be absent about three days. I take a company of home scouts I am organizing here, as an escort, although there is no enemy on our route that we know of. Still, in this country we always go prepared for emergencies.
You ask me if I am not in a great deal of danger here. I don’t know. If only a moderate sized force of the enemy attacks us, no; if a large force, yes. We are building strong fortifications on the river, and expect to have three or four gunboats patrolling it in a few weeks; and if Sherman is successful in defeating Johnson, I do not think that we shall have any trouble. I have a good deal of business here with citizens. As there is no civil law or courts, I am judge, jury, arbitrator, and guardian for the whole country. An old woman is talking to me now, boring me to death with a long story about another old woman, her neighbor, who, she thinks is a rebel and a very dangerous character. I write this, with her talking persistently. I say ‘yes,’ and ‘really,’ occasionally, and that satisfies her. The most of the people here are well disposed, and many of them, particularly the poor class, are truly loyal. The old lady has finished her story, and so have I.
