The special boast of the rebels . . .

. . . during the war, has been their ability to destroy their enemies in hand to hand combat.  They have constantly flattered themselves that the superiority of their troops in fighting with the bayonet and bowie knife was an indisputable fact.  The Mississippians have prided themselves on the tremendous slaughter they would be able to inflict upon the Yankees with the bowie knife. – It must be especially disheartening to them to learn that at the battle of Webb’s Cross roads these terrible Mississippians with bowie knives two feet long, ran panic stricken before the leveled bayonets of the 2nd Minnesota and the 9th Ohio regiments.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 1, 1862, p. 1