Colonel Bruce was post commander at Clarksville with over 1150 soldiers under his command in July 1863. He was informed by a citizen on July 1 there was guerrilla activity at the Adams house on Yellow Creek and at the Irish Settlement in western Dickson County. Bruce ordered two scouting parties to ride south and look for guerrilla activity at the Irish Settlement and perhaps the Adams house. Both scouts were selected from the 8th Kentucky Cavalry Volunteers. The details were known only to the officers until the scouting parties were underway.
The first party, commanded by Capt. William Hunter, crossed the Cumberland River at Clarksville and proceeded south late in the day on July 1. Hunter’s exact route and destination are not known. Captain Hunter’s scouting party is likely to have gone to the Adams house as the second scouting party went to the Irish Settlement. However, Hunter’s party may have gone to the Irish Settlement as well. The number of men in Captain Hunter’s scouting party is not known for certain, but was probably about 60 to 70 men, the number of men in the second party.
The second scouting party, estimated at 65 men, and under the command of Capt. John Dever, boarded a boat late on July 1 and traveled down the Cumberland River from Clarksville to Cumberland City. Captain Dever’s party stayed less than an hour at Cumberland City before heading south along the Yellow Creek Road. They stayed at least part of the night somewhere on Yellow Creek, perhaps at Andrew Brown’s mill, the place they would camp on their return the next evening. For reasons not known, Captain Dever’s party made a short detour west a few miles to arrest John James, Dr. Aaron James’s older brother. They took John James with them as they continued toward the Irish Settlement.
As the scouting party approached the Irish Settlement, Captain Dever ordered Lt. John Curry to take twelve men and ride forward of the main force as an advance scout. The men of the 8th Kentucky Cavalry continued south, along Yellow Creek with the advance scout about one-forth to one-third of a mile in the lead. John James rode to the rear with the main body of about fifty men. Dever proceeded with caution. On the way to the Irish Settlement, a citizen or citizens informed him there were guerrillas at the Irish Shanty in the Irish Settlement.
The Irish Shanty, based on the descriptions of several of the witnesses in the military commission trials, faced east, the direction of approach by Lieutenant Curry’s advance party. The railroad bed of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad ran east to west and was south of the Irish Shanty. Although rails had not yet been placed in this part of western Dickson County, and would not be for several months, the elevated rail bed was present and mile markers had been posted. The railroad could be seen from the Irish Shanty. Thick woods lay about 100 feet south of the house, and a wooded area extended behind it. A road connected the Irish Shanty to the public road to the north. The connector road started south of the house, continued into the woods, then ran north toward the public road. A field lay to the north of the Shanty.
Lieutenant Curry halted his advance scout in tree and bush cover about 150 yards east of the Irish Shanty. It was about noon or a little after. He had all of his men dismount and find cover, except for Cpl. Robert Hughes. He ordered Corporal Hughes to follow a ditch located south of the railroad berm and ride west to the home of a priest who lived 300 to 400 yards away. Lieutenant Curry wanted to know if the priest knew anything about guerrilla activity in the area. The main force, commanded by Captain Dever, was a few hundred yards back awaiting directions from Lieutenant Curry. With his men hidden, Lieutenant Curry dismounted and moved forward under cover to get a better look at the area. He saw 20 to 30 men and horses in the edge of the woods to the south. He also saw horses hitched to the fence and several men in the yard and on the porch.
At the Irish Shanty, William Few had climbed up into the loft over the door. Martin McGuire was on the porch. James Shelton was seated in a chair in the yard. Payton Washburn and Euphrates Shelton were standing in the yard, Shelton near the porch. John Box and Jonas Spicer were also in the yard. Spicer was seated. There is a discrepancy as to the location of Aaron James when the skirmish started. He was either inside the house sleeping or standing on the porch. Catherine Seaboren was standing on a stump near the porch. She was in the front yard near a kettle of hot water, filled with ten dozen eggs. After surveying the area around the Irish Shanty, Lieutenant Curry made his way back to his men from his forward reconnaissance. Corporal Hughes returned from the priest’s house and reported he had seen many horseshoe prints. Curry then decided to wait for Captain Dever to come forward before approaching the Shanty. He remounted his horse and saw the main party at a distance of a hundred yards or more. He signaled Captain Dever to move forward. At about that time, Jonas Spicer apparently noticed the scouting party. He got up and said, “It was a lot of soldiers.” Both Spicer and John Box immediately started running. Spicer ran south toward his mule and Box ran across the field to the north. When Lieutenant Curry saw men running, he ordered them to halt. He repeated the command two or three times, but the running men did not stop. Lieutenant Curry ordered his men to fire, remount their horses, and charge the Irish Shanty.
|