Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/276

 270 Southern Historical Society Papers.

was found out afterwards that five of Wade's men had remained at the store of Mr. W. C. Linney, below Mr. Green's house, and had not taken part in the attempt to make the raid.

It was Sunday morning before the news was circulated. Mr. W. C. Green went to York Collegiate Institute and informed several men, and by 10 o'clock twenty-two men, almost all of them Con- federate soldiers, had gathered, ready to pursue the robbers. In this party were several officers of the Confederate army, and they were dressed in their uniforms. Colonel Wash. Sharpe was placed in command of the squad and they started in pursuit. The first news from Wade was when they reached " Law's Gap." Here it was found that Wade had camped in the Brushy mountains part of the night after the attack on Mr. Green, and about sunrise the next morning had made a raid on Mr. Laws and forced him to give up his money. He informed the party that two of Wade's men were wounded. The pursuers followed the trail and found that five miles from Wilkesboro Wade's men had left the public road and had taken a shorter route by way of Hix's Mill and Holman's ford to Fort Hamby. The ford was reached in the evening of May i4th, and after crossing the river, and traveling along the public road for about half a mile, the pursuing party left the public road and fol- lowed a private road which led to a creek at the base of the hill on which the Hamby house stood. " In the plan of attack, part of the company, under Colonel G. W. Flowers, was to approach from the north, while the other part, under Captain Ellis, was to approach from the south, and then surround the house. In the enthusiasm of the moment all seemed to forget the danger. Colonel Flowers' men had gotten within seventy-five yards, and Captain Ellis' men within twenty yards of the house when its defenders poured a volley of minie-balls through the port-holes." (Hon. R. Z. Linney.} James K. Linney, and James Brown were killed. Linney had charged bravely across the field, and was killed on the east side of the house; Brown was charging up the hill on the west side when he was wounded. Some of the men were compelled to jump from their horses and throw themselves on the ground in order to escape being shot down. Their horses became frightened, and breaking loose from them, ran to where Wade's men had their horses. Two of these horses were the ones captured from Wade at Mr. Green's. These men did not recover their horses at this time.

Under the severe fire the men were compelled to retreat. The