Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Friday, September 27, 1861

We remained at Barboursville. Col. Rains ordered his demi-brigade to cook three days' rations and be ready to move early the next morning.

We were now in twenty miles of the enemy's camp at Laurel Bridge. Col. Brown, who lived near London, was in command of the Home Guards at that camp. Col. Wolford, with a part of his regiment, was also in that vicinity.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 47

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Saturday, September 28, 1861

According to previous instructions (see under 25th instant), Col. Rains, with his regiment, McNairy's Battalion and Falcond's section of artillery, moved out from Barboursville in the direction of Laurel Bridge, while Col. Cummings, with his detachment and about fifty wagons, moved out for the Salt Works, and Col. Statham moved so as to support either of the other detachments if necessary.

Col. McNairy was ordered to take the advance with Harris's, Payne's and Allison's Companies. Our Col. had not gone far along the London road before he threw out flankers as well as an advance guard, with instructions to keep a sharp lookout for the enemy. Thus, we moved on without any incident worthy of note until we struck the enemy's picket, within three miles of their camp. Our advance guard captured three of their picket and chased the rest (six or eight) into camp. Col. McNairy then fell back a short distance, sent a messenger to meet Col. Rains, and awaited his arrival with the infantry and artillery. As soon as Rains caught up, the command moved on again with McNairy's three companies still in front. We met a citizen who said that the enemy was lying in wait for us. thought that we would sure have our first engagement, then and there. Before reaching the enemy's camp, Col. McNairy was ordered to halt, and Col. Rains took the advance with his regiment, leaving orders for McNairy to hold his battalion well in hand, ready to pursue if he (Rains) should succeed in routing them. On reaching the Federal camp, and finding it deserted, Rains' men raised a war-whoop that must have made the Federals believe, if they were in hearing, that 10,000 men¹ were after them. Then dashing forward in pursuit, our battalion went as far as London, took down a Union flag, but did not overtake any of the fugitives. The citizens caught the panic—men, women, children and negroes—nearly all, either fled with the Home Guards and Federals to Camp Wildcat, some thirteen miles beyond London, or went to their neighbor's off the main road. How strange! that they should think that we were making war on women and children!

As it was now about nightfall, our battalion moved back about two miles and rejoined Col. Rains, encamped where the Home Guards had been camping.

_______________

¹ The larger portion of the household furniture was left in many of the dwellings; therefore, the writer, as well as a good many others, had the pleasure of occupying a good Kentucky feather bed the two nights that we remained in Barboursville.

² Col. Walford estimated our force at “from 5,000 to 7,000.”—See Rebellion Records (Garrard to Thomas), p. 280.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 47-9

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Sunday, September 29, 1861

Col. Rains had learned that Col. Brown, who was in command of the Home Guards that had fled to Wildcat the evening before, lived some two or three miles beyond London, and, thinking that perhaps Brown might have some supplies for his men stored away at his home, he (Rains) ordered Col. McNairy to take his battalion, go to Brown's and search for the supposed supplies. Swinging ourselves into the saddle, before I o'clock A. M., we went by the way of London, and searched Brown's dwelling and premises, but found only a box of shoes.¹ As soon as he was satisfied that there was nothing more to be found in the way of army supplies, our Col. called out, “Mount your horses!” and we were soon on our way back to London. Arriving at that place about daylight, we halted until McNairy treated the whole battalion on brandy, after which we returned to camp and took another breakfast.

Besides the three prisoners and the shoes (twenty-five pairs) already mentioned, Col. Rains captured 8,000 cartridges, 25,000 caps, three kegs of powder, several guns, six barrels of salt, two wagons and teams, loaded with the last of their camp equipage, and three other horses.

Soon after breakfast, our picket came dashing into camp and reported that they had been fired on just beyond London. Major Malcomb was immediately sent out in the direction of London with two companies of McNairy's Battalion to meet the enemy and bring on the engagement, while Col. Rains deployed his men into battle line ready to receive the enemy should Malcomb be forced back. The Major returned, however, and reported no enemy found, so we concluded that it was only a scout, or “bush-whackers,” that had fired on our picket.

Having accomplished the object for which he had been sent out, Col. Rains now set out on his return. Going about eight miles back in the direction of Barboursville, his regiment and Allison's Company bivouacked, while McNairy with the rest of his battalion went on to Barboursville.

_______________

¹ It would seem that the panic struck Col. Brown's family just as they were ready to take supper last eve, for we found their supper still on the table when we entered the house this morning before day, but I did not say that it was on the table when we left.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 49-50

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Tuesday, October 1, 1861

Rain's Regiment and Allison's Company returned to camp at Camp Buckner. Companies B and C of McNairy's Battalion remained at Barboursville.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 51

Brigadier-General Felix K. Zolicoffer, September 25, 1861

BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS,        

Camp Buckner, September 25, 1861.

Col. James E. Rains will march at 4 o'clock to-morrow morning, via Barboursville, to Laurel Bridge, on the London road, with his regiment, provisioned for six days, three rations of which should be cooked, leaving his tents in this encampment. Colonel McNairy's command will accompany him or follow him, by a right-hand road crossing Laurel Creek about 2 miles above the bridge. Colonel R. will have command, and will dislodge a supposed force of the enemy at the bridge by attacking simultaneously with infantry and cavalry at both ends of the bridge. He will be furnished a guide who will give him information of some arms, which he will capture, if practicable. He will take with him also Lieutenant Falcond's section of artillery. A battalion of Colonel Statham’s infantry, with three companies of Colonel Branner's cavalry, will be posted on the road to be pursued by Colonel McNairy about 10 miles back, to give support, if necessary. Simultaneously. Colonel Cummings' regiment, with two companies of Colonel Broydton's [Brazelton's?] cavalry, will escort a train of wagons to the Goose Creek Salt Works, 16 or 18 miles east, in Clay County, to load with salt. The different detachments will communicate by express messengers with each other and with me, and when the salt train returns all will return to this encampment. Much is trusted to Colonel Rains' discretion in whatever may transpire on the way.

F. K. ZOLLICOFFER,        

Brigadier-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 292

Diary of Private Richard R. Hancock: Wednesday, September 25, 1861

Harris's (B) and Ewing's (C) companies arrived from Knoxville and rejoined the rest of McNairy's Battalion at Camp Buckner.

Besides our battalion, General Zollicoffer now had with him at Camp Buckner four regiments of infantry (Statham, Rains, Cummings, and Battle), five cavalry companies (three of Branner's Battalion and two of Brazelton's), and one artillery company of six-pounders, commanded by Captain Rutledge. Colonel Newman's Regiment was at Cumberland Gap. The Sixteenth Alabama (Wood) and the Fourth Tennessee (Churchwell) Regiments of infantry, and McClellan's Battalion of cavalry and half of Branner's were left at Knoxville: There were stationed at various points in East Tennessee some other troops, mostly unarmed.

About six days previous to this, General Zollicoffer had, according to instructions received from General A. S. Johnston, ordered the Fourteenth Mississippi (Colonel Baldwin) and the Third East Tennessee (Colonel Lillard) Regiments of infantry to move to Camp Trousdale, to reinforce General S. B. Buckner, who was then in command of the Central Division of Kentucky, with headquarters at Bowling Green.*

General Zollicoffer had learned that there was a large quantity of salt at the salt works on Goose Creek, in Clay County, thirty-five miles north of Camp Buckner and eighteen miles east of a camp of Home Guards variously estimated at from six hundred to fifteen hundred—at Laurel Bridge, in Laurel County, some thirty-eight miles north-west of Camp Buckner and two miles south-east of London. As our General had decided to send a detachment to capture the salt above named, and also another detachment in the direction of this Federal encampment at Laurel Bridge to attract attention and mask the movement of the first, he therefore issued the following special orders:

• Brigadier-General Felix K. Zollicoffer, September 25, 1861

_______________

* The above order fell into the hands of the Federals (how I know not) and on the 3d October it was sent by T. T. Garrard, who was Colonel of the Third Kentucky Regiment and in command at Camp Wildcat, or Rockcastle Hills, to General G. H. Thomas, who was in command at Camp Dick Robinson, some thirty-five miles beyond Wildcat. At the same time Garrard wrote to Thomas thus (italics mine):

“I have no information in regard to the rebels more than I wrote you, except the inclosed order of General Zollicoffer, which I have no doubt is genuine. I could not doubt it, because they carried out the instructions to the litter." - Rebellion Records, Vol. IV., p. 291.

SOURCE: Richard R. Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee Confederate Cavalry, p. 45-7

Brigadier-General James Edward Raines

Brigadier-General James Edward Rains, one of the many civilians who rose to high military command during the great war between the States, was born in Nashville, Tenn., in April, 1833. He was graduated at Yale in 1854, and then studied law. He became city attorney at Nashville in 1858, and attorney-general for his judicial district in 1860. In politics he was a Whig, and was for some time editor of the Daily Republican Banner. When the summons to war came, he enlisted in the Confederate army as a private, but was elected colonel of the Eleventh Tennessee infantry and commissioned May 10, 1861. The greater part of his service was in east Tennessee. During the winter of 1861-62 he commanded the garrison at Cumberland Gap. This position he held as long as it was possible to do so, repulsing several attempts of the enemy upon his lines. It was not until the 18th of June, 1862, that the Federals turned his position and rendered it untenable. Had this occurred earlier, east Tennessee would have been completely lost to the Confederates in 1862. But the forces which Kirby Smith was now gathering about Knoxville, in addition to those in the neighborhood of Cumberland Gap, made the Union occupation of that post almost a barren victory. When, in August, Smith advanced into Kentucky, he left Gen. Carter L. Stevenson with a strong division to operate against the Union general, Morgan, who was holding the gap with about 9,000 men. Colonel Rains commanded a brigade in Stevenson's division, and so efficient was his work that his name frequently appeared in both the Confederate and Union reports. Kirby Smith's success in Kentucky, and the steady pressure brought to bear upon Morgan by the Confederates, at last forced the Union commander to abandon Cumberland Gap and retreat through eastern Kentucky to the Ohio river. The efficient service rendered by Colonel Rains in all these movements was rewarded by a brigadier-general's commission, November 4, 1862. When Bragg was concentrating his army at Murfreesboro (November, 1862), after the return from the Kentucky campaign, the brigade of General Rains, composed of Stovall's and J. T. Smith's Georgia battalions, R. B. Vance's North Carolina regiment and the Eleventh Tennessee under Colonel Gordon, was ordered to that point and assigned to the division of General McCown, serving in Hardee's corps. In the brilliant charges made by this corps in the battle of December 31, 1862, by which the whole Federal right was routed and tent back upon the center, with immense loss in killed, wounded, prisoners and guns, McCown's division bore an illustrious part. But, as in all great battles is to be expected, the division lost many brave men and gallant officers. Among the killed was Brigadier-General Rains, who fell shot through the heart as he was advancing with His men against a Federal battery. He left to his family, to his native State and to the South the precious legacy of a noble name.

SOURCE: James D. Porter, Confederate Military History, Volume VIII. Tennessee, p. 329-31

Brigadier-General James Edward Raines

JAMES EDWARD Rains, [Class of 1854,] son of John Rains, was born in Wilson Co., Tenn., April 10, 1833, and entered college Sophomore year, a resident of Nashville, Tenn.

After teaching for a short time, he studied law and entered on the practice of his profession in Nashville.

In the Confederate army he held the rank of Colonel, and subsequently of Brigadier General, and fell, shot through the heart, at Murfreesboro', Dec. 31, 1862.

He married Miss Yeatman, a step-daughter of John Bell, formerly U. S. Senator from Tennessee.

SOURCE: Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale College Deceased from July, 1859, to July 1870, p. 140-1

The Late Battle Of Pea Ridge

Lieutenant Colonel Herron, of the Ninth Iowa volunteers, one of the regiments which bore so gallant a part in the actions at Leetown and Elkhorn, in Arkansas, (known officially as the battle of Pea Ridge,) recently arrived in this city, and is occupying a room at the Planters House.  He is in care of Dr. Charles A. Pope, and has promise of as speedy recovery from his wound as possible.  During one of the fiercest contests of the battle, and in which the Ninth had to struggle against a superior force of the enemy, a cannon ball passed entirely through Lieutenant Colonel Herron’s horse, and striking the rider’s right ankle, produced both a fracture and a dislocation.  While thus prostrated on the field, he fell into the hands of the enemy, and on the retreat of their army to Van Buren he was carried thither a prisoner, and exchanged, after two weeks’ detention, for Col. Hebert, of Louisiana, who was among the captives taken by the Union forces.  He was as well treated while in possession of the rebels as their limited means for hospitality and the courtesies of warfare would allow, and met among them several St. Louisans with whom he was acquainted before the breaking out of the war.  He saw or heard of them at the town of Van Buren, on the Arkansas river, four miles from Fort Smith. – It was on Van Buren that the enemy directed their retreat after the fortunes of the contest at Pea Ridge went against them, the columns of the deceased Generals McCulloch and McIntosh, taking the route via Huntsville, and Van Dorn and Price, the road through Bentonville.  They made capital time to Van Buren, and there effected a re-concentration of their defeated and dispirited followers.

Col. Herron Frequently saw and conversed with Gen. Price, and believes him to be rather the best and most sensible of the rebel magnates.  Price was shot through the left arm with a Minie ball.  It entered a few inches below the elbow and cut the bone without causing a complete fracture.  The arm was painful and much swollen, and Dr. France, Price’s Surgeon, had great difficulty in reducing the inflammation.

Gen. Slack received a mortal wound in the battle, and was found on the field by Federal soldiers, and carried to a hospital used temporarily for the treatment of the rebel wounded. – He lived only four hours.

Gens. McCulloch and McIntosh were buried at the same time, at Fort Smith.  An escort of cavalry accompanied their remains to the grave.

Gen. Rains after getting to Van Buren, became insubordinate, under the influence of copious drinks of bad whiskey.  He met. Maj. Gen. Van Dorn on the street, denounced him, and damned him for a coward – laying the loss of the battle wholly to Van Dorn’s account.  The opinion generally expressed by the rebel officers was that Van Dorn had courage enough, but lacked judgment.  He arrived at the confederate camps only the day before the battle, and was received with a grand artillery salute, the thunder of which was heard in the Federal lines.  Learning from the subordinate generals that their combined forces amounted to 40,000 men, he ordered them to move forward early next morning and surround the Federal troops.  The day before Col. Heron was released, Price received a commission from Richmond as Major-General.  This still left Price subordinate to Van Dorn, but he thinks the latter has retired or resigned leaving Price in chief command.

Two thirds of the rebel soldiers were armed with muskets, many of them of the Springfield and Enfield pattern, and having sabre bayonets.  The balance had shot guns and country rifles with usual variety.  A brigade of three regiments of Louisiana troops had good uniforms of gray cloth, but with the remainder of the army uniforms were few except with the officers.  They had forty-five pieces of artillery, many of the guns being superior to those in the Union army, who counted, all told, but forty two pieces.  The mules and wagons comprising the commissary train were better than our own, but in medical stores and hospital appliances they were very deficient.

The rebels generally were much dispirited. – Their officers studiously deceived them as to the extent of the late reverses.  They admitted that Fort Donelson had been lost to them with a garrison of two or three thousand men but they denied that Columbus had been evacuated, or that the Federal troops occupied Nashville.  The news of the naval engagement in Hampton Roads was bulletined throughout their camps on sheets of paper, printed in large type.  They represented that six Government vessels were then destroyed – on of them with the entire crew of five hundred men. –{St. Louis Rep.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 2

See Also:

• Iowa Colonels and Regiments: Major General Francis J. Herron

Colonel Grenville M. Dodge to Samuel J. Kirkwood, Governor of Iowa, March 10, 1862

PEA RIDGE BATTLE GROUND, March 10th, 1862.

Gov. S. J. Kirkwood: We have fought a hard battle here, lasting two days; the first day's fight was terrible; it was mostly with the Fourth division, composed of Fourth and Ninth Iowa infantry, First and Second Iowa batteries, Thirty-fifth Illinois and Twenty-fifth Missouri. The loss in the division was 600 killed and wounded, mostly among the Iowa troops; they saved the day and made the victory the next morning easy; this division was opposed to Generals Price, Rains and McIntosh, with 15,000 infantry and 18 pieces of artillery. The Fourth division had only some 4,000 engaged, while our other forces were fighting McCullough, and the re-enforcements sent to us went to the First division, but we held the ground, whipped the enemy and Iowa got the glory of the fight. The Fourth Iowa lost 160 out of 548 engaged; Ninth Iowa lost 220 out of 700 engaged; First Iowa battery lost 16 out of 110 engaged, and Third Iowa battery lost 18 out of 140 engaged; they also lost 3 of their pieces. The second day we attacked early in the morning with our entire army, driving everything before us, and the enemy fled in all directions in great confusion, leaving several pieces of artillery, great quantities of small arms and at least 500 prisoners. Gen. Van Dorn attacked with 40,000 infantry and 70 pieces of artillery; we had 12,000, and 50 pieces of artillery. The fighting was terrible, especially among our troops. The Fourth Iowa fought all day steadily, and did not give an inch, although they had at one time concentrated upon them 12 pieces of artillery and six regiments of infantry; our ammunition gave out at night; when we fixed bayonets and charged across the field the enemy did not dare again meet us. It was a trying time for the Fourth; no ammunition and still under a galling fire. Every one gives great credit to the Iowa troops. No man from Iowa flinched. I saw some troops run; one or two parts of regiments came to our support, but fell back at the first fire. In my brigade there was not a field officer except one but was wounded. Lt.-Col. Herron, of Ninth Iowa, in Vandever's brigade, was wounded and taken prisoner. Our Iowa batteries did noble service; mine had two officers wounded in the morning. The Third Iowa cavalry suffered terribly in a charge; had 47 killed. They were put into it by a Dutchman, and out of all military usage. Lt.-Col. Trumbull was severely wounded in the charge. They had very few wounded; a large part of my wounded was from canister and grape; those of the Ninth Iowa from bullets. I was better protected from bullets, though under a hotter fire than any of them. I posted my men behind an open field and made the enemy cross it to reach us. They poured their grape and canister from 12 to 18 guns into us all the time, but could not get them to bear as well as on the Ninth Iowa. I never saw men fight as the Iowa troops did. I have sent a list of the killed and wounded to Adjt. Gen. Baker to have it published. A large number of my wounded will die; several have already, and it is impossible to get any accommodation; many lay on the field all night.

G. M. DODGE,

Colonel Fourth Iowa Infantry.

SOURCES: Samuel H. M. Byers, Iowa In War Times, p. 121

Special Dispatches

THE EXPEDITION FROM CAIRO WITHIN FOUR MILES OF FORT HENRY.

SHOTS EXCHANGED.

The Enemy Numbers 15,000.

A FIGHT EXPECTED TODAY.

REPORTED CAPTURE OF GEN. RAINS AND HIS REBEL FORCE.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

THE TREASURY NOTE BILL!

GENERAL SCOTT GOING TO VERA CRUZ!

Plans to Supercede Gen. McClellan!

– Published in The Dubuque Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, Friday Morning, February 7, 1862, p. 1

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 5 [1862].

A Rolla letter, dated the 4^th, states that an important report, if true, had reached there from Lebanon.  The report comes by letter from Lebanon, which says, in substance, that Henry King, formerly Sheriff of Webster county, his son Isaac, and about 90 others of the same stamp, are now prisoners at Lebanon.

The letter also states that Gen Lane has Captured Gen. Rains and all his rebel force.  Nothing is said of the time, place, or circumstances, under which the capture was made.  That general Lane himself has made any such capture, will not, of course be believed; but some of his forces being in the southwest corner of the State, the story is not improbable, as Gen. Rains is known to have gone down in the direction of Granby some two weeks since.

The remainder of General Sigel’s division – three regiments – left Rolla on Sunday, under command of acting Brig. Gen. Coler, of the Twenty-fifth Illinois.

The roads are somewhat improved and the teams are progressing with less difficulty.  The streams, which were a few days ago much swollen, have subsided so to allow wagons to cross without serious hindrance.

G. N.

– Published in The Dubuque Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, Friday Morning, February 7, 1862, p. 1

Battle of Pea Ridge

We have received some information of interest respecting the battle of Pea Ridge, derived from gentlemen of this State who have recently returned from a visit on business to Louisiana. On their way they passed through the confederate Camp, at Van Buren, Arkansas, and remained there for several days. They were well acquainted with many officers and privates, and conversed freely in reference to the prominent events of the late battle at Pea Ridge, and their information is considered entirely reliable.

Generals McCulloch, McIntosh and McRae, and Col. Rives of this State are certainly dead. General Slack was not dead, and hopes of his recovery are entertained. In General Price’s division the number of dead was between 125 and 150 – the wounded between four and five hundred – and a number missing. In the other division no report was know to have been made, and probably never will be. That of Gen. McCulloch had dispersed, leaving no one to report, whilst those of McIntosh and Pike seem to have been overlooked or lost sight of. The army Argus, after a while, will probably contain the names and other particulars in General Price’s division, which will be promptly published on its receipt.

They confirm the desperation of the battle – its long continuance and extremely doubtful result – the superior numbers of the Confederate army, and its final defeat and retreat to Van Buren. Being friends of Gen. Price, they speak in the most delicate manner of his mortification at the result, but the fact of the admitted defeat and retreat is not concealed. All the stories of a second battle, so industriously circulated, are contradicted. None such occurred.

Much conversation was going on in the army in reference to the plan of attack, and events during the battle. Manu of the Friends of Gen. Price allege his non-concurrence, and attribute the defeat a failure to carry out his views. – Great pains had been taken to ascertain the exact size of Gen. Curtis’ column, the number being put down at 15,970 men. That of the Confederates being about 25,000. Gen. Van Dorn considered it an easy matter to practically surround and capture the entire army. The battle as is known, was fought on that theory, and lost.

Gen. Price, it would seem, lacked confidence in the columns of McCulloch and McIntosh, and for that or some other reason desired his Division to bring on and sustain the fight. He stated, it is alleged, that they would stand – stand and shoot until he ordered them to retreat, which he would never do.

The divisions of McCulloch and McIntosh he desired in his rear as a reserve, this line to be opened, at a proper time, for them to charge thro and upon the Federal troops with a huzzah and a yell. A charge of that kind, well directed by fresh troops, upon hard fought and weary men, he insisted, would break their lines and demoralize and destroy them. And whether true or false, this theory is presented in commendation of Gen. Price, and to the prejudice of Gen. Van Dorn as a military commander.

General Rains, it is said, became furious on learning of an order to retreat. He questioned Gen. Van Dorn, and upon receiving an affirmative reply, told him flatly if he was whipped he was the only man in the entire army in that state of mind. Van Dorn required of him to retract which being declined, his sword was demanded and surrendered. But some of the men have a different version of the affair, and they say the real difficulty is deeper than mere words; that Rains had captured a barrel of Van Dorn’s best whisky, and the difference about the retreat was a pretext to enable him to furnish a much more substantial offense. The facts we hope, will come out before a court martial.

General Price received a painful wound in the arm, and was slightly cut by a ball passing along the point of the abdomen. His army numbered only some eight or ten thousand, but he was expecting large reinforcements, and expressed the determination of marching to and occupying the Missouri river. But before General Curtis and his brave and increasing army, he might have some hope of accomplishing this purpose. As it is, his next move will be South – his fate, annihilation of himself and army. – {Mo. Republican.

– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862

Rosecrans to be Dealt With

Under the above title the New York Post has the following pungent hit at those rose-water-lilly-livered democrats of the peace on any terms that the secesh may dictate persuasion.

The Post Says:

We understand that a committee of “democrats,” to be composed of John Van Buren, Ben. Wood, James Brooks, Vallandigham and Sunset Cox, are about to address a severe note to General Rosecrans, asking him what he means by his singular proceedings in Tennessee. Their feelings have been very much hurt by this rough and ruffianly mode of handling their friends, Bragg, Johnson, Hardee, Rains, etc., and demanded an explanation.

Does he not know that he is irritating the minds of our Southern brethren by his harsh measures? Can he hope to win them back to love of the old Union by his bayonets, swords, and cannon? Why did he not throw down his arms and coax them into their allegiance and duty? His sharp, ill-advised, radical method by gunpowder, we fear, has only confirmed them in their dislike of the federal government.

Mr. Vallandigham, indeed as we understand, is about to bring the case of this offender to the attention of the House of Representatives. He will propose a committee to inquire by what authority Gen. Rosecrans has taken it upon himself to put to death several thousand of our fellow citizens at Murfreesboro, to blow their houses to atoms, seize their cattle, and let their negroes run. He (Vallandigham) has long made the constitution a subject of special study, and he finds that it guarantees to every citizen perfect security in his rights of person and property. No one can be molested in these without due process of law; yet this Rosecrans, sets the provisions of the sacred instrument entirely at naught. Or is he so insane to suppose that his ten inch shells are what the constitution means by “due process of law?” Can he imagine that his “advance of the whole line with enthusiastic cheers” is a fair trial by jury which the constitution awards every man?

It will be in vain for the culprit to plead that he is acting according to laws of war; for that dodge has been attempted by President Lincoln in defense of his edict of freedom; but the “democrats,” in their conscientious devotion to the letter of the constitution, will not admit the plea.

– Published in The Athens Messenger, Athens, Ohio, Thursday, January 29, 1863

Rosecrans Speaks

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6. – The following dispatch has been received at Headquarters:

HEADQUARTERS DEP’T OF THE CUMBERLAND
January 5, [1863]

H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief:

We have fought one of the greatest battles of the war, and are victorious. Our entire success on the 31st was prevented by a surprise of the right flank; but we have, nevertheless, beaten the enemy, after a three days' fight. They fled with great precipitation on Saturday night. The last of their columns of cavalry left this morning. Their loss has been very heavy. Generals Rains and Hanson are killed. Generals Gladson, Adams, and Breckinridge are wounded.

(signed)

W. S. ROSECRANS,
Major-General Commanding.

– Published in the Zanesville Daily Courier, Zanesville, Ohio, Wednesday, January 7, 1863

Terrific Battle at Murfreesboro – Rebel Gens. Cheatham and Rains Killed

NEAR MURFREESBORO, Dec. 31 – Our whole line suffered terribly this morning, four regiments of regulars lost half of their men and all their commanding officers. Gen Anderson’s troops suffered terribly. Majors Rosengarten and Ward are killed. Gen. Stanley, Rosseau and Palmer are wounded.

Two o’clock P.M. – Gen. Thomas has just broken the rebel centre and driven the enemy a mile. We are advancing our whole line. Gen. Rosencrans [sic] is personally superintending the movement. One shot killed two of his staff officers. The [15th] Wisconsin lost seven Captains. Gen. Negle’s artillery is still moving the rebels in the centre. Gen. Crittenden – left wing – has taken the entrenchments at Murfreesboro. The rebels Gens. Cheatham and Rains are killed.

NASHVILLE, Jan. 2 – The Federals encountered the rebels on the 30th ult. near Stuart’s Creek, and after heavy skirmishing the rebels were driven back.

We captured 100 prisoners, and killed and wounded a large number of rebels.

Our loss was 70 killed and wounded.

At daybreak on the 31st the fight was renewed with great fury. McCook’s corps was opposed to Hardee. After desperate fighting with heavy loss McCook retreated two miles. He soon rallied, and was again driven back.

At night he was four miles this side of the ground occupied in the morning. The fight continued until 10 o’clock p.m. at which time we had maintained our position.

The Federal loss is very Heavy.

Killed – Brig. Gen. Sill, Lieut. Col. Garesche, Chief of Gen. Rosecrans’ Staff; Brig. Gen. Willeck, of Indiana; Col. Kell of the 2nd Ohio; Col. Straffer, Acting Brigadier General, Col. Farmer of the 15th Kentucky; Col. Jones of the 24th Ohio; Lieut. Col. Cotton of the 6th Kentucky; Lieut. Col. Jones, of the [39th Indiana]; Major Carpenter, of the 19th Regulars; Major Rosengarten of Philadelphia.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2. – The Secretary of War to-day received the following:

Cleveland, O. Jan. 2.

The following has just been received by telegraph from Cincinnati, dated Murfreesboro, Jan. 1:

A terrible battle was fought yesterday. – The latest from the field is up to noon. The rebel center had been broken, and things looked favorable. The losses are reported to be enormous. Stanley, Rosseau and Palmer are wounded, and the rebels Cheatham and Rains are killed.

– Published in the Zanesville Daily Courier, Zanesville, Ohio, Saturday Evening, January 3, 1862