OR 49, 1:9
JANUARY 25, 1865.
Skirmish Near Simpsonville, Shelby County, Ky.
Report of Brigadier General Hugh Ewing, U. S. Army, Commanidng Second Division, District of Kentucky.
JANUARY 26, 1865.
COLONEL: The general commanding desires me to say that information has reached these headquarters that a cattle guard composed of negro soldiers were attacked at or near Simpsonville, Shelby County, yesterday and a number killed and wounded-of the latter seventeen are reported. It is absolutely necessary that they be attended to. You will therefore call the attention of the medical department to the fact. Secure if possible a mounted force of twenty-five to fifty men and send them to Simpsonville to escort the ambulances sent to bring in the wounded, with further instructions to collect the cattle and drive them to this city. They will further ascertain if any officers were in command of the guard; if so, arrest and bring them to these headquarters. Give this matter your immediate attention and report the departure of the force sent out.
By command of Brigadier General Hugh Ewing:
E. B. HARLAN,
Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.
OR 49, 1:603
HEADQUARTERS KENTUCKY VOLUNTEERS, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE
Frankfort, January 28, 1865.General E. H. HOBSON,
Lexington, Ky.:GENERAL: I have reliable information from Rough and Ready, in Anderson County, of a fight between a detachment of Captain Brown's company of the Fifty-fourth and a gang of guerrillas under the notorious Dick Taylor, who was the leader of the gang that killed the negroes a few days since below Simpsonville. Lieutenant Moore and Taylor had a hand-to-hand fight. Moore received several cuts from a bowie knife in the face, and in the fight he shot Taylor dead. One other guerrilla was killed and the rest routed.
Very respectfully,
D. W. LINDSEY,
Inspector and Adjutant-General.
Also see Phisterer, Frederick, Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States (prt., New York,: Blue & Gray Press, n.d.), 205 [entry, no details]
This information was provided by George S. Burkhardt