The Battle At Pittsburg

FURTHER PARTICULARS

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CAIRO, April 10. – A man who arrived here to-day says the enemy adopted a ruse to surprise our forces at Pittsburg, by making the first attack.  Their head column not only carried the stars and stripes but wore the uniform of the Federal officers.

Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson [sic] is certainly killed, the body being found on the field.  Persons are here who saw the body and heard the fact communicated throughout the camp.

Gen. Bragg is reported killed, and John C. Breckinridge a prisoner, but the report is unreliable.

Provisional governor Johnson of Kentucky is mortally wounded and a prisoner.

It is also reported that Gen. Prentiss, who was taken prisoner the first day, escaped in the confusion of the retreat, the next.

Our total loss in killed, wounded and missing is about 7,000 and this is the estimate of the military commanders who were in the engagement.  Of these about 2,000 were taken prisoners, the balance killed and wounded in the usual proportion.

Gen. Wallace of Ottawa, was reported killed as it was deemed impossible for him to live but a few minutes before the close of battle, but he was not only living Wednesday, but improving rapidly.

Gen. Halleck passed Cairo on his way to Pittsburg, at 10 o’clock this morning.

About 5,000 prisoners are expected up from Island No. 10 to-night.  Of these 1500 will go to Chicago, 1,000 to Springfield, and the balance to Wisconsin and Columbus, except 25 or 30 officers who will be sent to Fort Warren.

No lists of killed or wounded of any regiment or company have been received here yet.

Every preparation possible is being made for the reception and care of our wounded at this place.

The following is a list of killed and wounded officers so far:

KILLED – Col. C. E. Grier, acting Brig. Gen.; Col. Bllis [sic], 10th Ill.; Lieut. Col. Canfield, 72d Ohio; Col. Kyle, 31st Ind.; Col. Davis, 46th Ill., wounded, since died; Capt. Carson, Gen. Grant’s scout; Capts. Morton and Dillon, 18th Ill.; Capt. Mace, 55th Ill.; Capt. Carter, 11th Ill.; Major Page, 57th Ill.

WOUNDED – Gen. W. H. Wallace, dangerously; Gen. W. Sherman, slightly; Col. Sweeney, Acting Prig. Gen., seriously; Col. Dave Stuart, Acting Brig. Gen., dangerously; Col. Chase Crofts, 33d Ill., Acting Brig. Gen.; Col. Mace, 48th Ill.; Col. McHenry 17th Ky., killed; Lieut. Col. Morgan, 24th Ind., Col. Mason, 71st Ohio; Maj. Eaton, 18th Ill., Acting Col., fatally; Maj. Nevins, 11th Ill.; Col. John Logan, 32d Ill., seriously.

We are just beginning to get some reliable details from the great battle at Pittsburgh from several gentlemen who were on the field afterwards or in the fight.  The following is gathered and sent without any reference to the agreement or otherwise with despatches heretofore given you.  Our informants left the battle field on Wednesday morning at 5 o’clock.

The rebels attacked Prentiss’ brigade at 6 o’clock on Sunday morning, while eating breakfast.  It consisted of the 6th Illinois, Col. Fry, 16th Wisconsin, 24th Indiana and 1st Ohio. – The rebels were said to be 12,000 strong.  Prentiss had no artillery, his brigade was cut to pieces and forced to retreat, with Prentiss and many others taken prisoners.

At 12 M. the entire line was fiercely engaged but in full retreat.

At 4 o’clock the enemy had taken Swartz’ battery of 6 guns, and another Ohio battery, name not given.

Thousands of our soldiers had taken refuge under the bank of the river and utterly refused to fight.  In fact they could not, for officers and men were in inextricable confusion.  The army seemed utterly demoralized.

Gen. Mitchell’s division about this time arrived on the opposite side with 15,000 men, and were ferried across.

During the evening and night the gunboats Lexington and Taylor opened a tremendous fire of shell upon the enemy, and kept it up every half hour during the night, saving the army from utter ruin.  The set the woods on fire, and many of the dead rebels were burned.

At 7 o’clock the firing generally ceased.  At midnight the rebels attempted to plant a battery within 300 yards of our siege guns, but they were driven back by the gun boats and siege guns, supported by three regiments of Mitchell’s Division.

Our informants persist in estimating our loss on Sunday at 3,000 killed and 5,000 wounded.  As a fair fight it was undoubtedly tremendous.

MONDAY – During the night the rebels were reinforced by Prace and Van Dorn from Arkansas, with a large force.

Gen. Lew. Wallace came up from Crump’s Landing with the 11th and 23d Indiana, 44th Illinois and 8th Missouri, and Williard’s battery, and in the morning attacked fiercely the wing of the enemy.  They went into the fight on the double quick, with tremendous shouts, and did terrible execution.  By 10 o’clock they had driven the rebels back two miles.  The battery performed prodigies of valor.

About 10 o’clock the rebels were reinforced, and for a few minutes our boys were forced to yield.  The other divisions of Buell’s army now appeared, and at once became fully engaged, and for two hours all the destructive elements of earth seemed striving for the mastery on that fatal field.

Southern chivalry proved no match for the unflinching courage of the army of freedom, and the rebels fled in all directions.

With some 12,000 troops, mostly cavalry, Gen. Buell followed the fugitives, taking thousands of prisoners and killing without mercy those who would not surrender.  He was reported to have taken Corinth with all its immense stores of arms and ammunition.

Carson, the scout, had his head taken off on Monday by a round shot.

The rebel troops were mostly from Louisiana, Texas and Missouri, with many form Georgia and Alabama; they fought like tigers.

Our informants could ride through the battle field where our forces were posted, but the dead were so thick in the enemy’s lines that they could not do it.  They assured us that the rebels occupied our camp on Sunday night, took care of our sick and wounded, but destroyed nothing, expecting confidently to have our entire army the next day.  They thought the battle almost won.

On Sunday Gen. McClernand cut his way thro’ the enemy that had surrounded him.  Most of his troops behaved with great gallantry, but the 53d Ohio was ordered to the rear in disgrace for refusing to fight.

Capt. Harvey of Bloomington, Ill., is among the killed.

Our informants were assured by those who know him that J. C. Breckinridge was taken prisoner.  They saw him pass to the guard quarters.

It is impossible as yet to get lists of killed and wounded.

The Chicago delegation of physicians and nurses arrived this morning and have gone to Pittsburgh in the hospital steamer Texana.

Dr. McVicker is here awaiting the arrival of Gov. Yates on the steamer from Quincy to see especially to Illinois wounded soldiers.  They will establish a depot and hospital here for our sick and wounded.

No official despatches have been received here this morning.

– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 3

Gen. Mitchell And The Contrabands

The correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, writing from General Mitchell’s division at Murfreesboro, Tenn., says:

Yesterday morning I was in the quarters of a Colonel of one of our Ohio regiments.  A slave holder, clad in the inevitable butternut colored stuff, with a black cloth overcoat, entered the tent.

“What is your business, sir?” queried the Colonel.

“Why I’ve lost a boy.  I understand he is in your regiment, and I want to look for him.”

“Have you a pass?” demanded the officer.

“No, I was told it wasn’t necessary to have a pass.”

“We want nothing more to do with you here,” replied the Colonel.  “Adjutant, conduct this man over the lines.”

My lips remained closed, by my heart said, “God bless you, Colonel, for a soldier and a man.”  I have seen officers cringe in similar cases, as though they supposed that only the most disgusting servility would save their backs from the slave holder’s lash.  But those officers did not belong to General Mitchell’s division.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 1

Gen. Buell's Movements

The Telegraph has mentioned the arrival of Generals Nelson’s Thomas’ and McCook’s Divisions of Gen. Buell’s Column at Duck river, Tennessee, and the correspondence of a Cincinnati paper informs us of the passage, on the 22d, of Gen. Mitchell’s division through Murfreesboro.  But of course only these whose business and privilege it is to be posted, can tell the destination of these troops.  Duck river is an affluent of the Tennessee, and the point referred to by the telegraph as the one to which the main body of Gen. Buell’s army had reached, is doubtless in the neighborhood of Columbia, forty-six miles south of Nashville.

The plans of Gen. Buell’s operations are doubtless based upon hypotheses of the movements of the enemy.  It is not now known what relation Gen. Johnston’s forces at Chattanooga are to bear to the proceedings of Beauregard.  If Johnston has been greatly weakened, as is probable, by requisitions upon him for the defense of Corinth, Gen. Mitchell may be thrown forward to observe and menace him, whilst the other divisions may march to cut off the retreat of Beauregard, Polk, and Bragg, simultaneously with advance of Gen. Grant from Savannah and Pittsburg.  Or if Johnston has been or is likely to be, reinforced from Virginia – a chance exceedingly doubtful – active operations may be turned against him.  The rebels must know very well that if Buell’s divisions had been ordered to the direct support of Grant, as for instance, to attack the left wing of the Confederates at Jackson, he would have transferred his forces by the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers to Decatur, Tennessee, and not overland. – But it is evidently not the purpose to operate on the left flank of the enemy, which would merely result in driving it back to Forts Pillow and Randolph, but to turn and overwhelm the right at the same time barricading the whole like of retreat, thus investing a whole army and compelling it to capitulate.  This would of itself capture the rebel forts between Island No. 10 and Memphis, when Com. Foote would at once advance with his flotilla.

It is idle, however, to speculate upon events the reality of which must soon be presented. – Everybody seems, by mutual consent, to regard a great conflict as near at hand, and as we have heretofore said, some of the finest strategic and tactical operations may be anticipated on both sides. – {Mo. Rep.

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

An Incident of the Rebel Retreat from Bowling Green

The Louisville Journal says:  When General John Cabal Breckinridge started in retreat from Bowling Green, the Cavalry, under B. H. Helm was at Glasgow, and went by what is known as the upper turnpike to Nashville.  The infantry regiments went by the lower turnpike.  These roads unite near Goodlettsville, Tennessee. – When the infantry arrived at this point, Helm’s cavalry was only for miles distant; a report had gained credence that the approaching cavalry was the Union advance under General Mitchel.  This completely stampeded the Southern chivalry, and those gallant officers, all in search of their lost rights, put their men at a double quick, and after going at this pace for five miles and throwing away many knapsacks, blankets, arms, &c., they were overtaken by the cavalry, who had been considerably accelerated on seeing the road strewn with the aforesaid articles of war.  Col. Helm was as much surprised to find his brother rebels drawn up in line of battle in a cornfield as they were pleased and mortified at their disgraceful scare.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 29, 1862, p. 1

Bridges between Bowling Green and Nashville Destroyed – The Rebel Evacuation of Bowling Green in Hot Haste – Destruction and Pollution of Springs

(Correspondence of the Louisville Democrat.)

BOWLING GREEN, Feb. 18, 1862.

A man reported here this evening who left Nashville last Friday morning.  He has been engaged in the railroad business in the South, but being loyal in all his sentiments desired to come to the North when the rebellion commenced; but could never succeed in doing so before.  He says he twice succeeded in making his way as far north as Bowling Green, after its occupation by the arch traitor Buckner, but was refused by him permission to continue his journey.

He says the rebels have destroyed all the wooden structures in the way of bridges and tressle [sic] work on the railway road between Franklin and Bowling Green, and was informed that it had been committed on the remainder of the road.  He says the rebels evacuated Bowling Green in the most unceremonious and hasty manner, on the approach of Gen. Mitchel’s [sic] division.  The rebel General Hardee was in the town when Gen. Mitchel commenced shelling it, and left in such “hot haste” as to leave his battle charger behind him, which was taken off by the Texan Rangers, who were last to leave.  In his haste to leave town, Hardee absolutely ran across the pubic square.  My informant told me he had received the statement in relation to Hardee from a rebel officer.  He says the rebels had collected large quantities of grain, chiefly wheat, at various points on the railroad, which not having the means of removing in their precipitate flight, they burned.  He also informs me that Gen. Hindman, in his retreat from Cave City to Bowling Green, had the horses and cattle of Union men driven into the large ponds, which occur at frequent intervals along the road, and shot, with a threat of hanging the owners if they removed the carcasses.  I presume his object was to prevent the use of the water in the ponds by the troops of the United States; but by this atrocious and infamous act he inflicted very great injury and inconvenience on the citizens of the country.  From the fact that there is not a running steam on the road between Green and Barren rivers, the sole dependence of all passengers and citizens for stock water, at least, is on the pond or surface water.  Truly a refined method of making war, worthy of this enlightened age!  What would the London Times, Morning Post, Herald, and other English journals, and the Moniteur, whose sensitive nerves have been so terribly shocked by our use of the “stone blockade,” say of this method of conducting hostilities?

I am informed by most respectable gentlemen, resident in the southern part of the State, who have come to this place since the abandonment by the rebels of the country south of Green river, that no adequate conception can be formed of the destruction and desolation committed on that region.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 1, 1862, p. 2

Rebel Vandalism at Bowling Green

From the Louisville Journal, 29^th.

We have seen a gentleman who left Bowling Green since its occupation by the Federal troops, from whom we have received numerous details of the shameful work of the destruction which has been consummated in that  once beautiful town.  When it was found that place was untenable, and it was resolved to evacuate it, the Confederates commenced their incendiarism on Wednesday, the 12^th, about dark, upon the residence of Warner L. Underwood, Esq., which was entirely destroyed.  At 9 o’clock the pork house of T. Quigley & Co. was fired, and all but the smoke house was burned.  There were about $15,000 worth of hides and tallow stowed there belonging to Campbell and Smith, who had been killing cattle for the rebel army, and these constituted their entire profits.  The incindiaries, in their wanton destruction, seem to have spared neither friend or foe, and the property of rebels and Union men was indiscriminately destroyed.  They next went about 2 o’clock at night, to the old Washington Hotel, at the corner of Main and Nashville streets, and applied their combustibles in the billiard room. – This building was completely destroyed, and the flames were extended to six contiguous stores all of which were burned, though the occupants in some instances saved a portion of their contents.  The first store burned was that occupied by More & Kline druggists, belonging to J. T. Donaldson, all good Union men.  Geatty and Gwin’s, shoe dealers, was the next building, owned by Dr. Moore, of Harrodsburg, then the family grocery store of J. D. Hines, a vile rebel, which belonged to Warner L. Underwood. – Then the conflagration extended to the tenement owned by Mrs. C. T. Dunnivan, occupied by Shower and Mitchell, merchant tailors, who saved most of their stock.  The next building was owned by Mr. H. T. Smith, and tenanted by McClure and Fusetti, jewelers, about one third of their stock escaped destruction.  Over this was a lawyer’s office, occupied by J. J. Wilkins, who acted as receiver for the arms seized from citizens by the Provisional Government, and also the office of Dr. W. D. Helm, a good Union man.  Next to the jewelry store was Hugh Barclay’s drug store.  He is a Union man, and succeeded in saving about half the contents of the house, which belonged to Mr. Pendleton, of Hopkinsville.  The House formerly occupied by S. A. Barclay, a strong Union man, but recently used by the Confederates for storing flour, was next consumed but the contents were all previously removed, the property belonged to John H. Graham, of the city.  The livery stable owned by J. T. Donaldson and occupied by W. W. McNeal, was also burned to the ground.  The next morning the saw mill of D. B. Campbell was burned, he has gone off with the rebel army.  The flour mill of Judge Payne, a Union man, shared the same fate as did the pork house of F. F. Lucas, a rebel sympathizer.

The beautiful iron railroad bridge was destroyed on Thursday last, about 11 o’clock.  The mines were exploded in the towers of the piers, but as the iron work did not fall, cannon were brought to bear, and thirteen rounds were fired before the demolition was completed.  On Friday about four o’clock, the planks were torn off the sides of the turnpike bridge, and tallow strewed it to facilitate the combustion.  This was burned about three hours before the division of Gen. Mitchel came up, which fired shells in and around the town wherever the rebels were congregated.  Then commenced the stampede.  The infantry seized the horses of the cavalry and made off in wild haste.  There were some rebel troops in camp at Double Springs, about one and a half miles north of the town, on the river, who were shelled before they had completed preparations for leaving.  They threw away everything and rushed through the town in panic confusion.  Reaching a hill a little south of the town, the Texas Rangers, Morgan’s cavalry, and some of the less frightened flying mass halted, and after some deliberation turned back.  They went to the Fair grounds and there burned the beautiful amphitheater in which a large amount of corn and wagons was stored.  About 16 of the latter were saved.  The large tobacco factory of Hampton, Pritchell & Co., was next destroyed.  They then proceeded to the railroad depot, which contained a vast quantity of shoes, blankets, medicines, one hundred hogsheads of sugar, and all the articles most needed by them, all of which were destroyed except some flour and pickled beef, which was rescued by citizens for their own use.  The destruction of the property belonging to the rebels was very great.  Some estimate its value at a million dollars, but it is impossible to even approximate the amount of the destruction with any certainty.

The machine shop, known as the Round House, was also burned, it contained two damaged engines and two extra tenders.  There was a train of cars loaded with meat, the engine to which had steam on, ready to start, this was fired, but whether by the Federal shells or the rebel torch our informant is unable to say. – All the cars and contents were burned, and the half consumed meats fell on the track between the rails.  The unsated fiends then proceeded to the McCloud House, the principal hotel of the town, broke open the doors with axes, and scattered firebrands within, consuming officers’ trunks, baggage and everything it contained. – The Highland House, a drinking place adjoining was also burned, with Major McGoodwin’s new store, which was filled with Confederate supplies.  A negro house at Samuel Barclay’s nursery, near town was fired about the same time.  Two men applied incendiary brands to the steam saw mill of a glorious Union man, celebrated for his sash and blinds manufactory, and resisted the efforts of the owner to stop the progress of the flames.  The Federal troops on the other side of the river commenced a discharge at the two men, who ran off and Mr. Donaldson was mistaken as a rebel also until he contrived to improvise some flag of truce, when his friends discovered their mistake and was enabled to extinguish the flames with but a trifling injury to the premises.

We cannot enumerate the many losses around Bowling Green, or the depredation committed by marauders in gangs of six to twelve, who pressed every horse and wagon to be found into the rebel service.  At least one hundred horses were stolen from the side of the bridges before they were burned.  The Rev. Samuel W. Garrison lost twelve.  He had a shot gun, rifle and pistol, which he discharged so rapidly at the robbers that they fell back on the main body and reported that they had been attacked by the main body of the Yankee infantry!

When Gen. Mitchel occupied the north bank of Barren river and commenced shelling the rebels the scene of their flight as described to us, was one of the most terrible routs that can be imagined.  The Nashville pike was completely blockaded with cavalry and infantry, all in admirable disorder, and a long line of carriages, carts and all kinds of vehicles.  Officers were hurrying away their wives on foot, and carrying their children in their arms, while the whole non-belligerent portion of the flying crowd were screaming and shouting at the top of their voices in a frenzy of apprehension.

From the best informed sources, we gather that the Confederates have never had 30,000 troops at any one time in and around Bowling Green.  Their regiments are very skeleton like, not averaging five hundred men and Roger Hanson’s which was the fullest in the service, never had more on its muster roll than eight hundred and sixteen.  They have lost nearly five thousand of their troops by sickness who died for want of medicine, proper treatment and bad hospitals, though fifteen houses had been fitted up for their exclusive accommodation all of which were left in the most filthy condition.  For a long time their average sick list has been three thousand.  The Baptist church and the basement of the Presbyterian church were used as hospitals, all the seats and desks were broken up and the building terribly defaced.  A million dollars will not compensate the county of Warren for losses and injuries.  From twenty-five to sixty beef cattle were slaughtered every day in Bowling Green for the use of the rebels and neither Buckner nor Hardee, when in command, where particular about compensation.  If any outrages were committed, and they were generally done at night.  Buckner always promised resolution if the injured individual could identify the trespassers, which being impossible, was a convenient way to pay debts.

With the rebel hordes, every gambler left Bowling Green.  Jack Valentine, one of the principal ones of the fraternity enjoys a captaincy in the Confederate army.  Shinplasters experienced a rapid decline after the evacuation, they were freely offered at fifty cents for one dollar, but no takers.  A number of private dwellings were set on fire during Thursday and Friday, which were put out, but there evidently existed a determination on the part of the rebels to lay the whole town in ashes.  The fine mansion of Judge Underwood on this side of the river was still standing, but to what interior injury it has been subjected, our informant could not say. – Cripps Wickliffe, late Clerk of the Senate, is not dead, as reported, he had been very sick, but after his recovery, he removed to Nashville.

The most serious injury has been inflicted on the citizens of Warren by the Provisional Government, and its infamous exactions.  Some of its officers have made good speculations out of their temporary fiscal agencies.  John Burnham, Treasurer to the Provisional Government, escaped with about twenty five thousand dollars, mostly obtained from the fines levied upon men in lieu of the delivery of a gun.  When weapons were found they were receipted for at from five to thirty dollars in scrip made ‘payable to the proper officer’ and it will bother the holders to find him.  Lewis W. Potter, the Provisional Sheriff of Warren county has also gone off without settling for a lot of taxes which he had collected by coercion.  His Excellency, George W. Johnson, Provisional Governor of the State of Kentucky, has been heard to declare with emphasis, that the Provisional government is played out! – He retires with the grace and dignity to the vicinity of Nashville.  The banking institutions at Bowling Green have not been molested, except that a thousand dollars of the State revenue, deposited in the Branch of the Bank of Kentucky was taken as the legitimate property of the Provisional Government, probably to pay salaries for the puppets in office.  The books, funds and papers of the Glasgow Branch were taken to Bowling Green, but they are in a situation to be restored without injury.

We stated a short time since that an aged gentleman named Samuel Murrell had been misused by the rebel company under command of Capt. Burns, a son-in-law of Judge Joyes, of this city.  This is a mistake, it was George, Mr. Murrell’s son.  Burns boarded with Mr. Murrell, about twelve miles north of Bowling Green, and in a conversation at the table he spoke very insultingly of all Union men, and said if he had his way he would hang or burn every one of them.  Some time after this Burns’ men seized George without any provocation, rode him on a rail, ducked him in a pond, hoisted him up two or three times over a beam in the barn and inflicted every conceivable insult upon him.  He appealed to Captain Burns for assistance, but the rebel cited his dinner table remark and said he was in earnest when he thus spoke.

We have a few glimpses of the whereabouts of some old acquaintances.  Gen. A. Sidney Johnston was one of the last to leave Bowling Green, but left in such a hurry that he forgot his over coat.  He took the pike to Nashville.  Colonel Thomas A. Hunt left for New Orleans, for the benefit of his health, and Alexander Casseday succeed to the command.  Alexander Casseday and John C. Breckinridge are temporarily at the capital of the State of Tennessee.  Young Tom Clay is on Buckner’s staff, and having left with the General for Fort Donelson, is probably a prisoner.  Generals Hindman and Hardee both went to Nashville.  Henry J. Lyons has left for the purpose of visiting California, not finding Secessia an El Dorado.  Ned Crutchfield is at Clarksville.  Buckner is said to have taken 15,000 men with him from Bowling Green to Fort Donelson.

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

Movements of Troops in Kentucky

We gather the following information from various sources, all of which we believe reliable and none of which we understand to be contraband:

On learning that the rebels were evacuating Bowling Green, General Buell ordered a forced march by Gen. Mitchel [sic], to save, if possible, the railroad and turnpike bridges on the Big Barren river.  They had, however, been destroyed when Mitchel reached the banks of the river Friday morning, having been burned the night before.  The brigades of Breckinridge and Hindman, were until Thursday evening at Woodland Station.  The rebels left nothing in Bowling Green, except a few old wagons.  Part of the town is reported to have been burned.  Gen. Mitchel has crossed the river and is in Bowling Green.

It is believed that there are now no rebel forces in Kentucky east of the direct road from Bowling Green (via Franklin) to Nashville. – Crittenden is trying to organize another army at Carthage, on the south bank of the Cumberland.  This is the only rebel force on the line from Bowling Green to Nashville.  Breckinridge and Hindman’s brigades have fallen back on Russelville, where Buckner and Floyd’s brigades have been, according to latest reports, stationed for some time.  Hardee and Johnston were also believed to be at that point on Friday.  It is presumed that with the exception of the above brigades, the whole rebel army has been moved to Fort Donelson and Clarksville.  What movement may have been made by the rebel forces since Thursday, can only be conjectured; but the probabilities are that they have concentrated their whole force on the Cumberland.  If, however, they should not have done so, the divisions of Nelson and Mitchel will be amply able to cope with all they may have between Bowling Green and Nashville.

It is believed that the divisions of Generals McCook and Thomas, the former marching by the way or Nolin Creek and Elizabethtown; and the latter by way of Lebanon; embarked at the mouth of Salt river on steamers for the Cumberland, Saturday night and yesterday.  Gen. McCook broke up his camp and Munfordville in the night from Thursday to Friday, in a terrible storm of snow and rain, and marched twenty-one miles to Nolin creek, where he encamped Friday night, and it is believed that on Saturday his division pressed on the mouth of Salt river.  The troops that have been and Bardstown, in a camp of instruction, (including the 1^st and 2d Kentucky, well known here) were at Louisville yesterday embarking for the Cumberland, as is supposed.  Three fresh Indiana regiments and a full battery of artillery leave New Albany to-day. – The aggregate of these reinforcements is at least thirty-five, and is perhaps, forty thousand men.  Gen. Buell, we understand, goes with McCook’s division to take command in person on the Cumberland, where our force will by to-morrow morning number little less than eighty thousand men.  We may confidently look for them to rapidly overcome all obstacles on the way to Nashville.  The proceeding in person of Gen. Buell to take command of the magnificent army on the Cumberland, does not indicate any lack of confidence in Gen. Grant, who is known to be as brave as Caesar and a thorough soldier.  It means, however, that the time for organizing victory is over, and the time for the most energetic action has arrived.  Gen. Buell, we are informed, has for weeks regarded the evacuation of Bowling Green as a certainty, and his plans are, therefore, not in any degree deranged by that event.  Now, while he presses the enemy on the Cumberland with his tremendous force, their flank and rear are menaced by the heavy divisions under Mitchel and Nelson.

Since writing the above we learn that ten regiments, now in the Ohio camps, are ordered at once to the lower Ohio.  The points from which these regiments will be drawn are stated elsewhere. – {Cincinnati Commercial.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, February 22, 1862, p. 2

Arrival of Gen. Mitchell

NEW YORK, May 28 – A special dispatch to the New York Herald, dated Nashville, May 27 says that Generals Mitchell and Negley arrived here to-night.  They report everything quiet at Huntsville, Alabama, and that the Union feeling is increasing.

Jere Clemens and Judge McCane, and family are the prominent Unionists.

Gen. Mitchell speaks of his position in Alabama, as permanent.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 31, 1862, p. 3

From Washington

WASHINGTON, April 5.

The Senate military committee reported against the confirmation of Blenker, Stahl and [De Anna] as Brigadier Generals, and in [favor] of Cadwallader as Major General and [Capt. Grover] and C. O. Van Allen [sic] as Brigadier Generals.

WASHIGNTON, April 6.

The War Department has issued an order appointing D. C. McCallum military superintendent of railroads; Anson Slayer, military superintendent of all telegraphs in the U. S.; E. S. Sanford, military supervisor of telegraphic dispatches and army intelligence – all the foregoing with rank of Colonel in the volunteer service, and will be respected and obeyed accordingly.

Edmund Ellis, publisher of the Boone Co., Mo., Standard, was called before the military commissioners at Columbia, Mo., on a charge of publishing information for the benefit of the enemy, violating the laws of war, &c.  The commissioners found him guilty, and sentenced him to be kept outside the lines of the State of Missouri during the war, and the press, types, &c., of the printing office to be confiscated to the use of the U. S.  The Secretary of War has approved the sentence, and issued an order that this form of procedure be adopted in like cases by commanders of all military departments.

A dispatch of April 5^th, states that the gunboat Carondelet ran the gauntlet of Island No. 10, and is now available for Gen. Pope.  She was fired at, but was not hit once.

There is authority from the war department for saying that the dispatches from Fort Monroe, dated 3 o’clock Sunday P. M., had been received.  A reconnoisance had been made towards Yorktown.

The headquarters of our army are now about five miles from Yorktown.  There had been some cannonading, but without injury on either side.

Tribune’s Special.

NEW YORK, April 7.

Wm. H. Russell, of the London Times, has engaged passage to England on the China on Wednesday next.

Assistant Sec’y Fox, Mr. Grimes of the Senate naval committee, and Mr. Sedgwick, Chairman of the House naval committee went to Fortress Monroe this, P. M.

Pleasure touring and sight seeing at Bull Run and in the vicinity of Manassas are not yet safe.

A private of the Lincoln cavalry is said to have been shot dead yesterday upon the former field, and one of the Harris cavalry was shot at long rifle range from the cover of a wood two miles from the Junction.

Soon after the publication of Mr. Montgomery Blair’s letter to Gen. Fremont, in which the writer criticized somewhat freely the President, the Postmaster General tendered his resignation, but Mr. Lincoln refused to receive it, and it is said that the relations between this Cabinet Minister and the President were never more kindly than at the present.

Special Dispatch to the Herald.

It has been ascertained that the rebel leaders are grievously disappointed and disconcerted by the change of programme of the army of the Potomac.  They had [hourly] information of the preparation for the transportation of Gen. McClellan’s Army, and supposing that the whole army of the Potomac was to be withdrawn from this vicinity, had arranged a programme, for the bold dash across the Potomac above Washington and a foray upon the Capital through Maryland.  Gen. Jackson’s command was to lead this enterprise, and to be supported by Smith and Johnston’s forces.  It was not expected that the rebel sympathizers in Maryland would raise the standard of revolt there and aid the execution of the project by the destruction of railroads and bridges, and the isolation of Washington from reinforcements of Union troops.  The rebel leaders reckoned without their host, and were taken by surprise on finding Gen. Shields when the attempt was made to execute the first part of their programme. – The repulse of Jackson, and the formation of two new departments in Virginia, under command of Gens. Banks and McDowell, convinced them that no vulnerable point has been left unprotected.

The Maryland sympathizers, who were emboldened to insolence at the prospect of this bold feat of the rebel army, have become disheartened, and are leaving by scores.  Numbers have been arrested in the attempt to escape south, and others who were known to have organized for the occasion are seeking avenues southward in large parties.

WASHINGTON, April 7.

The mails for California, Oregon and Washington Territory are now transported overland from St. Joseph, Mo. – to which place correspondence can be sent from any post office.

A telegraph dispatch was received in this city yesterday, announcing that General Mitchell with the forces under his command, had reached Shelbyville, Tenn., and had been received with great enthusiasm by the inhabitants.

The following in regard to the Merrimac has been received at the navy department.  When she ran for Norfolk on Sunday, 9^th March, in the evening, she had several feet of water in her hold.  One shot from the Cumberland riddled her, and one shot from the Monitor, through her port, dismounted two guns.

The Monitor put a ball through the boiler of the Patrick Henry, which killed two men and scalded others.

The steamer Freeborn has arrived up from Liverpool Point, bringing some additional particulars of the skirmish at Stafford C. H.

Gen. Sickles’ troops captured some 40 horses belonging to the enemy’s cavalry and a number of small arms and mails in the Stafford Post Office, in which are many letters, some of which will probably be of importance to the government.  Six prisoners were also taken, who were brought up on the Freeborn and sent to the old capital prison.

As the crew of the Freeborn, were getting off the horses and other property captured, the rebels opened a heavy fire upon them from a thicket, but on the Freeborn returning the compliment with a shrapnel, the enemy hastily disappeared.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, April 8, 1862, p. 1

Trip to Bowling Green, Nashville and Fort Donelson

INDIANAPOLIS, March 18^th, 1862.

EDITOR GAZETTE. – On my return from Davenport ten days since I joined a friend in a trip to Dixie in which I saw much to interest me, and though your numerous war correspondents have given you information of events happening in the region visited, I will venture to send a few lines.  We left this place Friday evening, the 8^th inst., for Louisville, and the following morning took cars from that city for Bowling Green.  It was the first day that Passengers were allowed to leave Southward-bound without a pass. Though an examination of baggage was still made.  A few camps in the immediate vicinity of Louisville, and throng of soldiers on the train made one thoroughly conscious of the troublesome times in which we live.  Near [Munfordville] the desolation caused by the late military occupation of the country was spread everywhere, and the soil with the constant treading it had undergone had become a vast bed of mortar like mud.  The soldiers left there, whom we saw, were those who had been too sick to join the forward movement made a few weeks since and now their sunken eyes, sallow skins and drawling gait as they moved told too sorrowfully the tail of their sufferings.  It was the saddest sight I ever witnessed.

Green River Bridge which we crossed was one of the finest structures of the kind in the country, but it too had suffered from the hands of the Philistines, one of its fine stone piers having been destroyed by order of the renegade, General Buckner.  Our forces have constructed a substantial trestle to span the broken section of the bridge and our trains have passed on it for sometime.  Not far from here my attention was called to notice a field in which, in December last, a battle had been fought, between some three hundred of the Indiana Thirty Second (German regiment) and a much larger force of the rebels, Texan Rangers.  The Indianians fought bravely and repulsed their foe.  An instance that occurred in the fight is worth recording as characterizing the bravery and endurance sometimes shown in our miscalled degenerate day.  A lieutenant of the thirty-second was surrounded by the enemy; he fought them vigorously, and laid eight of his assailants in the dust, where they were afterwards found around his own corpse.  At last, with several mortal wounds, he gathered his remaining strength for a final effort and seizing the bridle of a horse with his hand, he made a desperate leap and caught the cheek of the foe between his teeth and held his death grip so firmly as to unsaddle and bring him to the ground.

As the train approached Bowling Green the conductor pointed out the various spots of interest near that place.  The bridges for the railroad and turnpike have been destroyed, and the nature of the cannel and the bottom of the Barren river, with some other unfavorable circumstances, will occasion a good deal of delay in repairing them.  At present the train stops about half a mile north of the river, and fully a mile from the town.  The south side of the river has a precipitous bank, admirably adapted for defence, and three hills in the vicinity of commanding height, enclosing a triangular area, have been fortified.  The highest in the outskirts of the village is known as College Hill – so named, no doubt, in honor of a prospective college building, the half reared walls of which have been used to add strength and extent to the fortifications.  The works are of inferior construction, unable to withstand a close pressed investment.  The parapet is built mainly of stone and logs, either of which scattered by a common shot are quite as bad to the defenders as a bomb shell.

The town is a God-forsaken place, having been more than exhausted by the rebels, and not being in much of a way for improvements since the advent of the Federals.  Whoever enters it from the north pays tribute to a sea of mud in crossing the river bottom and finds himself at the only hotel, in an outrageously dirty hole.  I saw the marks of several of the shells that Gen. Mitchell sent into the place on his first approach, and that made the rebel magnates “skedaddle” so promptly.  A marvel of the town is a Union man, the owner of a livery stable and a number of other connected buildings, to which the chivalry were in the act of applying the torch on the day above mentioned, when a shell with Gen. Mitchell’s compliments hit the building, doing slight damage.  The event was ominous, and the fleeing traitors left the buildings unburned.  The shell is kept by the owner of them, and will no doubt, recall in days to come, the fortunate hit it made.  The Louisville and Nashville R. R. had here a fine passenger and freight station, round houses, &c., which with six locomotives, machinery, &c., were burned.  In the ruins I saw pieces of guns, beef bones with the burnt meat still adhering where they had burned a considerable quantity of quartermaster stores, which they had no time to remove – rum, ruin, everywhere.

The passage from Bowling Green south is made with a half burned locomotive, which the rebels failed to destroy entirely or to steal, it is weak, and necessitates a delay that compelled waiting until the next day before proceeding on our journey. – The track is very bad in places, having just been repaired.  The arrival of our forces was a fortunate occurrence in this relation, the rebels having impressed the citizens along the line to begin a certain day to destroy it utterly.  But they miscalculated.  Gen. Mitchell had a word to say, which retarded the operation.  Ten miles from Nashville a temporary bridge obstructed our journey, it being too frail to allow a locomotive to pass, we waited an hour or two till a train going north to met us, the cars were pushed over, engines changed, and about 4 p. m. we were on the banks of the Cumberland, waiting the ferry boat to land us in the Rock City.

It was Sunday afternoon; the weather delightfully pleasant, particularly so to one who had just left snow-drifts and storms in Iowa.  The streets were thronged with gaily dressed contrabands, grinning with delight at the novelty of their surroundings, and strongly contrasting with the grim acidity of their masters.  At the St. Cloud we gained comfortable quarters, soiled the hotel register with Yankee signatures, but a few pages from the entries of the chivalry from all parts of the confederacy.  The halls and porches of the house were thronged with officers of our army; a few citizens mingled with them without intercourse.

I remained in Nashville two days, which afforded me a chance to see the city, and draw some inferences in relation to the loyalty of the citizens.  But few of them have any feeling worth the name of Unionism.  Many of them will take the oath of allegiance for business purposes, and violate it so soon as a chance occurs.  I saw numbers of them come from the office of the Provost Marshal, walking hurriedly away, and watching the sidewalk, too sneaking to look an honest man in the face, and by their conduct marking their allegiance as spurious.  I met many acquaintances, old comrades in camp, who are connected with Gen. Buell’s army, from whom I learned much in relation to our forces and movements, which is contraband information under present orders.

From Nashville we took steamer for Ft. Donelson, and experienced to our heart’s content the annoyance and uncertainty of traveling in a border country.  The captain of the boat was two days in learning whether his departure would be for Somerset, four hundred miles up the Cumberland, Cairo, the upper Tennessee, or Pittsburgh.  At every stopping place with a telegraph station, a new order would be received changing the route, and the captain was certainly the most harassed man I have seen in some time.

We were at Fort Donelson half a day, which afforded a chance to see the works and visit points of most interest.  I obtained as trophies a couple of Secesh knives, known as “Mississippi tooth-picks.”  They are barbarous in manufacture and looks, characterizing well with the institution they were to defend.  I will not attempt any descriptions of the locality.  The works are strong for their kind, and were surrendered through cowardice.  The late improvements in the materiel of war are such as to make, I believe, all field works untenable against a well prepared assailant.  The ground there is well fitted for defence from assault, and yet so characterized that sharp shooters can approach and silence the artillery unless it be protected by casemates, saying nothing of the virtue of the assailing shells. 

At Smithland we changed steamers for Paducah and Cairo.  Slept all night on the guards of a steamboat that was loaded with sick for the hospitals below.  The sight of the poor sufferers was terrible, and prompted the bitterest anathemas against the promoters of the rebellion.

At Paducah, while awaiting departure for Cairo, a steamer from Missouri river came up alongside and stopped for a few minutes. It had aboard the Eleventh Iowa, bound for some point on the Tennessee.  I went aboard, and met for a moment with Lt. Col. Hall and lady.  Found them in good health, though saddened with the loss of their only child.  The boys of the 11^th were in the best of spirits.  Numbers of them recognized me as from Davenport, and entrusted letters to my care to be mailed at Cairo.  I showed them one of my “Mississippi tooth-picks” which did not intimidate them in the least.  They were well pleased with the sight, and will no doubt if a chance is offered them, win specimens for themselves.

At Cairo I visited the gunboat Louisville, met unexpectedly an old ‘comrade  in arms,” and was shown everything of interest about here.  Saw where the shot hit her in the Fort Donelson engagement, etc.  They are truly a terrible engine of ware, and have in addition to their cannon an abundance of hand weapons to resist any attempt to board them – pikes, pistols, cutlasses, and an arrangement for throwing hot water in a quantity quite irresistible.  The boats expected to leave immediately for Island No 10.  I wanted much to go with them, but engagements here prevented it.  Since then they have made the attack.

I arrived here after just one week’s absence amply repaid for the trip by the knowledge gained for the operations of active war.  Yours,

D. TORREY.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, March 22, 1862, p. 2

The Kentucky Grand Army

The Kentucky Grand Army

There are about 115,000 troops in Gen. Buell’s department, divided into three brigades of from 3,000 to 5,000 each and four grand divisions from 20,000 to 30,000 each.  The division commanders are:

1.  General Alexander McDowel McCook.

2.  General George H. Thomas.

3. General Ormsby M. Mitchell.

4. General Thomas L. Crittenden.

Gen. Thomas has left the line, at Somerset and London, on the road to East Tennessee.  Gen. Mitchell has the center, and is now at Bowling Green.  Gen. Crittenden has the right of the line, and with a portion at least of his command, has co-operated with Gen. Grant at Fort Donelson.  The division of Gen. McCook is the “reserve,” and is in the rear of bowling green.

This army has some of the best military talent in the country among its leading officers, as it has also some of the best troops.  The following are among the brigade commanders: –

General Ebenezer Dumont, of Indiana.

General AlbinSchoepf, of D. C.

General Thomas J. Wood, of Kentucky.

General William Nelson, of Kentucky.

General Richard W. Johnson, of Ky.

General Jerre T. Boyle, of Kentucky.

General James S. Negley, of Penn.

General William T. Ward, of Kentucky.

Also of Colonels commanding brigades: –

Colonel John B. Turchin, 19th Illinois.

Colonel William B. Hagen, 41st Ohio.

Colonel Joshua W. Sill, 33d Ohio

Colonel Henry B. Carrington, 18th regulars.

Colonel Edward N. Kirk, 34th Illinois.

Colonel Mahlon D. Manson, 10th Indiana.

Colonel Carter, 1st East Tennessee

There are five other brigades (Twenty in all) but we have not the names of their commanders at hand. – Chicago Tribune.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Thursday Morning, February 20, 1862, p. 2

Louisville, Feb. 15, [1862].

To Major Gen. McClellan: – Mitchel’s [sic] division, by forced march, reached the river at Bowling Green to-day, making a bridge to cross the river, the enemy having burned the bridge.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, February 18, 1862, p. 2

From Gen. Halleck's Army

HEADQUARTERS POPE’S DIVISION (LEFT WING,)

Army of the Mississippi, Six Miles North-East of Corinth, Miss., May 14, 1862.

MR. EDITOR:  So many rumors are put in circulation in the camps, and so many sensation articles are published by news mongers – of which there are scores in the different divisions of the army – which are totally without foundation in fact, that I am determined to write nothing which is not well authenticated.  Many items have already appeared in print concerning the army – or rather armies – for it is published both of the Union and Rebel armies – that are utterly false.  The Rebel army has evacuated Corinth – the Union army has occupied – the Rebels have gone to Grand Junction – to Jackson, Mississippi, and the Union army is in full pursuit, etc., with a thousand other rumors equally reliable.  Now the truth is that up to the present writing, there is no truth in any of these statements.  Both armies occupy nearly the same positions they did three weeks ago.  They are drawing a little closer together and skirmishings are frequent between the pickets and outposts; and last Friday one took place, which, in the absence of so numerous an army, might well pass for a battle.  Fifteen thousand men were engaged, and the loss to the Federal army was about fifty killed and one hundred and sixty wounded.  The Rebel loss is not known, except that one field officer and his horse are known to be killed.  Rumor says he was Gen. Bragg.  He rode out in front of the rebel line some twenty rods.  The 42d Illinois was in the border of the woods, with quite an undergrowth in front of them which completely hid them, they lying flat on the ground, and the Rebel officer seemed to be endeavoring to discover their whereabouts.  Two members of company D, of that Regiment cocked their guns, when the rebel officer cried out, “For God’s sake don’t shoot me;” but by the time the words were out of his mouth he fell, and his horse fell on him.  I received this from two of company D, 42d Illinois who were wounded in the skirmish.  Major Course, of Gen. Pope’s staff, confirms the report.  Twenty-six of the wounded were brought into Hamburg on Saturday last.  All this took place three days before I came here.  Since I came no skirmishing has taken place.  All is quiet, and for aught that appears to the contrary to the casual observer, is likely to continue so. But the death struggle will begin soon.  Some firing in front to-day.  An advance has commenced.  Several batteries, with all their camp equipage have passed my quarters to-day to the front.

Our troops are in possession of Farmington – three miles a little north of east of Corinth.  The deadly conflict will probably commence to-morrow.  From all appearance the preparations are all complete.  Our line of battle is sixteen miles long, in the form of a crescent.  General Pope is on the left, Sherman on the extreme right, Thomas and Buell occupy the center.  General Halleck’s headquarters are at Montgomery near the center.  These places do not appear on the maps, nor have I any data from which to locate them accurately. It is reported that General [Mitchell] has been ordered to move down with his force to our left, probably to cut off the enemy’s retreat on the Mobile railroad, or south to Jackson.  We shall know in a day or two for the great battle, so long expected is just at hand.  Gen. Pope, I think, will be honored with bringing it on.  I shall go to the right wing to-morrow.

H. M. ROBERTS

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 1

From Cairo

(Special to the Hawk-Eye.)

CAIRO, May 14.

The steamers Memphis and Thomas, just arrived from Pittsburg Landing, bring little news of importance.  The Memphis brings 400 sick.

Deserters from Corinth are coming in hourly.  They report 200,000 men under Beauregard, and say our forces are reported to them at 350,000.

The woods about Corinth were full of deserters.  A Mississippi Regiment is placed as guard.  Thirty dollars was offered for the arrest of each deserter.

The Memphis Avalanche says the Federal fleet was returning to New Orleans, and glories over the late victory at Fort Pillow – says they lost two men killed and eight wounded.

STREET.

CAIRO, May 15.

Gen. Mitchell has reached Corinth, bringing over two thousand prisoners, taken in Alabama.

The rebel cavalry are roving over the country, between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, doing what damage they can, and keeping the inhabitants in constant terror.

Gov. Yates and staff arrived this evening on a special train, on their way to Shiloh.

The Gunboat Louisville has rejoined the fleet.

The rebels tried to shell our mortar fleet which lay behind Craigheld’s point, but it remained uninjured.

The gunboat Mound City will soon be ready for active service again.

A secret letter of Jeff. Davis has reached us.  He calls for deeds of patriotism and hopes to receive dispatches of success.

STREET.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 3

Bowling Green Evacuated

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15.

The following has been received at headquarters:

“LOUISVILLE, Feb. 15.

To MAJ.-GEN. McCLELLAN:

Mitchell’s division, by a forced march, reached the river at Bowling Green to-day.  The rebels were evacuating the place when he arrived.

(Signed.)

D. C. BUELL,

Maj.-Gen.”

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, February 17, 1862, p. 1

Assistant Post Master General Kasson . . .

. . . has given an opinion that handbills cannot be enclosed in newspapers and sent through the mail, without subjecting them to letter postage.

Jamestown, the place where the first English settlement in the United States was made, in 1608, is about twenty miles north west of Yorktown, between the James and York Rivers.

Major General Mitchell, thirty years ago, during the famous bank riots in Cincinnati, when the city government was at the mercy of the mob restored order in a few hours by his personal daring and command of men.  Celerity of movements is always one of his characteristics.

The ancient row of large edifices in the rear of the Capitol at Washington has been taken possession of by the government, for the purpose of quartering the hordes of “intelligent contrabands” that are daily flocking to that city in the quest for freedom.  It is denominated as the “Hotel d’Afrique.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 17, 1862, p. 1

From Gen. Mitchell’s Column

HUNTSVILLE, ALA., May 4.

Hon E. M. Stanton –

Your dispatch is received.  A soldiers highest reward for his service is to merit and receive the approbation of his superior officers.

An expedition from Bridgeport crossed the river on the 1^st of May, advanced towards Chattanooga 12 miles and captured stores and a Southern mail from some railroad hands.  A panic prevailed at Chattanooga and the enemy is moving all his property in the direction of Atlanta.

Gen. Leadbeater has been cashiered for cowardice at Bridgeport.

There were not more than 20,000 troops at Chattanooga.

The expedition destroyed a saltpetre manufactory in a cave and returned safely with the captured property.

Another expedition penetrated to [Jasper] on the same day and found a strong Union feeling.  They had a skirmish with the enemy’s cavalry at Athens.  Our outposts were driven back but on being reinforced the enemy retreated in the direction of Florence.

There are bands of mounted citizens scattered along my entire line threatening the bridges, on of which they succeeded in destroying.

(Signed.)

O. M. MITCHELL

Major General

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 4

The Employment Of Loyal Blacks

The correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette with Gen. Mitchell’s Division, relates and incident which shows how willingly the loyal blacks respond to the call of our army commanders:

“There is one thing for which Col. Turchin is worthy of all praise. The most of the planters in the neighborhood of the bridge which he built, had fled from their plantations, or were so frightened that they did not attempt to exercise any authority over their slaves. – The colored people, of course, came crowding around our troops. Col. Turchin asked them if they were willing to work. They all with the utmost alacrity, declared that they were; and in a short time, 150 pairs of stout, honest dusky hands were working away at the bridge. Never did laborers perform more cheerful willing service; and when at meal time they drew up in two ranks, for the purpose of receiving their rations, a happier and more smiling, grinning set of countenances is seldom ever seen.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 3

Operations in Northern Alabama

BRIDGEPORT, Ala., April 30, 1862

Gen. Mitchell has finished his campaign, by the complete victory which he gained over the forces of Gen. E. Kirby Smith, at this place yesterday afternoon, and which you have doubtless had by telegraph. I left the force of Gen. Turchin evacuating Decatur, and came to Stevenson, knowing that important movements were in contemplation in these quarters.

I found that Col. Sill had on Sunday managed to cross Widow Creek, and was marching on Bridgeport on Monday. On the latter day his brigade was joined by the 3d Ohio, Col. Beatty, and it was understood that Col. Lyttle’s brigade was in the rear, acting as a reserve. On Tuesday, the march began, under command of Gen. Mitchell, who had come up, and we pushed eastward along the line of the railroad, dragging two pieces of artillery by hand for a distance of 20 miles, at the least.

It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon of yesterday – Sunday – that we came upon the enemy’s pickets, three miles from Bridgeport. They were stationed on the side of a small stream, the bridge across it having been burned, and we soon found they were supported by an infantry and two cavalry regiments, the former of which came up and engaged our advance, the 33d Ohio. This regiment was the only one which appeared to the sight of the rebels, and after half an hour’s work they fell back unpursued, as no means were had by the rebels for crossing the stream.

General Mitchell in the meantime made a detour to the left with his whole force, and after marching a mile came upon a road which led to Bridgeport. He immediately started for this point, and after an hour’s weary march approached the rebel fortifications on the bank of the Tennessee. This march was one of incredible difficulty and danger. Gen. Mitchell was placing himself with five regiments of infantry, two companies of cavalry and two pieces of artillery, between two divisions of an enemy much stronger combined than himself. Had he been defeated he could not have managed to retreat – it would have been an utter impossibility.

We halted at 6 o’clock at the foot of a hill, and the column deployed right and left and formed into line of battle where they stood hidden from the enemy by the hill. The artillery stood in the centre, the 33d and 2nd Ohio on the right, with the 10th Wisconsin and 21st Ohio on the left. As soon as formed in line, the whole column advanced, and reaching the crest of the hill, looked down upon the enemy. Again they came to a halt. Peering above the top of the hill, I saw the whole of the rebel force below the hill, in their entrenchments. The setting sun glistened on thousands of stacked guns, and two pieces of brass cannon. The men had evidently been drawn up in line of battle at the first alarm, but when it had ceased they stacked arms and were now engaged in eating supper. Captain Loomis, when the force halted, stepped forward, saw the enemy, calculated the distance and stepped back undiscovered. In a moment he had given his orders, the cannon were charged with canister and moved to a position in which they were brought to bear on the main body. This evidently consisted of four full or parts of regiments of infantry. The first warning which the rebels had of their danger, or of our near approach, was the discharge of our artillery and the launching of the terrible death-dealing missiles in their very midst. They spring instantly to their guns, hundreds, however, flying in every direction. The main body evidently intended standing, but a second discharge added to the panic, and the whole force fled as our columns in line marched to the top and began the descend of the hill on a charge bayonets. – They frightened, without a single general discharge, broke for the river and quickly crossed the bridge. When we reached the works of the rebels they were deserted, a few dead and wounded alone remaining. The rebels fired with precipitancy, their speed increasing as they went, followed by the shells of Capt. Loomis. – They managed to fire the bridge and a good portion of it was destroyed, but the half west of the island was saved by Gen. Mitchell’s personal exertions. Having reached the other shore the rebels abandoned their camp and stores on that side, and by the whistling of a locomotive, I imagine went off at railroad speed. Capt. Loomis continued to throw shells after them for several rounds, when by order of Gen. Mitchell he ran his two pieces down the hill and placed them in position to receive the body on the railroad, whom it was anticipated would come to the aid of their friends now already and completely defeated. A second line of battle was formed in the works of the rebels, and we awaited for the rest of the rebels to attack us.

We had not long to wait. In a short time we saw the infantry on a double-quick, coming through the woods, along the line of the railroad, and the cavalry right and left. They came into the open fields and forward in splendid line of battle. The cavalry looked Magnificent and came dashing along in splendid style. They got within 300 years of us before they discovered their mistake, and then the artillery told them of it. The canister was poured into them and away they went in every imaginable direction – infantry and cavalry mixed in one conglomerated mass of frightened and flying humanity. The cavalry was sent in pursuit when they had got out of artillery range, and the prisoners were being sent in every hour until I laid down to try to sleep.

This morning I find we have killed and wounded 72 and taken 350 prisoners and two pieces of artillery.

General Mitchell has entire possession of the railroads from Bridgeport, ten miles east of Stevenson, west to Huntsville, thence south to Decatur, north to Athens, and in a month will have the railroad lines running to Nashville via Columbia from Decatur and via Murfreesboro from Stevenson.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 10, 1862, p. 2