Bugle Blasts

An urgent chase through dense woods near Nashville gives William E. Crane a way to show cavalry service at ground level. Raiders have seized a regimental supply train, and the pursuers follow tracks, discarded equipment and abandoned horses through difficult country. Crane presented this short paper to the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion in 1884, recalling his experience with the Fourth Ohio Cavalry during the American Civil War.

The account also describes the taking of Huntsville, where captured locomotives help move troops and supplies. Another section introduces an attack on the Macon railroad during operations around Atlanta in 1864. Alongside the movements of armies, Crane pays attention to cumbersome weapons, horses carrying heavy equipment and the confusion of a pursuit. His pride in his comrades shapes the telling. Readers interested in military recollections will find a veteran gathering individual incidents into a record of his regiment's experience.