It now became apparent that the rumors which for some days had been afloat in the air, that we were environed with swarms of mounted confederates, who secretly ranged the country to pick up stragglers, attack unsupported detachments and watch the movements of the federal army, were strictly true.

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Couriers and squads of troops passing to and from the different posts were often waylaid and fired upon from the brush.  The whole country in the rear of the federal army was filled with roving bands of reckless men, so that communication with those places occupied by troops was what insurance brokers would deem "extra hazardous."

An artillery man was captured by Texan Rangers in the immediate vicinity of a picket station, and almost within the confines of camp.  No patrol or movement of troops could be made without coming in sight of, and sometimes in contact with, these roving knights of the shot gun, dressed in a garb that vied with the soil in color.  The business of dispersing these well nigh ubiquitous denizens of the woods mainly devolved upon the cavalry, but from their imperfect knowledge of the country they seldom met with success.

SOURCE:  L. G. Bennett and William M. Haigh, History of the Thirty-Sixth Illinois Volunteers, During the War of the Rebellion (1876), pages 123-125.

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