Colonel Lyon’s Letters.
Huntsville, Ala., Oct. 16, 1864.—Everything is mixed and in confusion with us. The reason is that the rebels are making desperate efforts to break up our communications, and troops are being constantly moved to threatened points. Today I am sending off parts of two cavalry regiments in my command to Nashville to be mounted. Colonel Johnson, the commander of this post, goes with them; and tomorrow morning, in addition to my other duties, I assume command of the post. This will give me about all the work that I can do, but I hope that it will not last long.
General Granger came up from Decatur and called on us last night. He is very salubrious. His family are here and are quite popular. General Granger’s treatment of the regiment and of myself is very kind and considerate, as much so as I could ask and more so than I could expect.
The campaign now opening will be fought out between Louisville and Atlanta, and we are as much exposed as any other part of the line north of the Tennessee river, or more so. The tide of battle as it surges from point to point along the line may strike us any time, and it is hardly possible that we should escape it entirely, and I do not know that I care to escape it.
I am weighed down with care and responsibility, and that responsibility is terrific, for it has to do with human life. Then I am torn away and kept year after year from home and family, and they seem dearer to me every day; and further, I lead a life of constant peril and uncertainty. All these things, added to the fact that the best years of my life are passing away and we are getting poorer every year financially, do sometimes press on my feelings pretty snug. When I last wrote I was not very well. I am better now, but everybody else is sick. I have a fine command; my reputation as an officer and gentleman is first-rate, and my military standing, position and character are all I could desire.
