Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1847-06-03
Colonel RONlcS.

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particulars of the battle at that place. the conduct Of
the I'd regiment and its Colonel and the Court of In
quiry subsequently demanded by General Lane The
account Of the battle given by this writer mainly
agrees with that Of Hon. A. L. Robinson recently
published by Us. We make few extracts, however,
serving to throw little light upon the conduct
Of the chief actors in the scene. After giving some
preliminary particulars, and stating that Bowes
dered the regiment TO retreat, be says
"The SO loafh TO obey il that they continued
TO fire until he repeated twice, and mounted
his horse and rode of as fast as il could carry him.
Some time after the battle il became known that they
branded with cowardice, the official reports OF
Gems Wool aud Taylor and that this part of their reports
Bowles and subsequent TO, the day Of battle and COL
bowless conduct generally on the battle field and be-
known them, they determined prefer charges
against him. in order vndicate themselves, and place
the facts record by OF Court Martial Charges
were accordingly preferred and forwarded to Gen. Tay
lor, who refused entertain them, giving his opn
that The had better be dropped, but that Col
Bowles could have Court Of Inquiry into his conduct
If he desired il. After consulting his friends the sub
ject, who unanimously advised him call for Court
IN accordance with the Inmaon from Gen Taylor, and
public sentiment in the army, Col Bowes refused TO do
so, saying he had nothing gain by Court Of Inquiry,
as he was already sufficiently provided for in the official
reports Of the battle. This dasiardly conduct of his
placed the I'd Regiment in a most uDenviable position
They stood charged officially with cowardice, running
from che field and not rerrning and yet denied any
opportunity Of proving that they did not act.
In this dilemma Gen. Lane, with a magnanImIty
thy all praise, aud which should endear him every In
dIanan who values the character Of his State for
ward and demanded Court of Inquiry into his conduct
hoping that during the invesugaton' an opportunity
" ould be afforded the Regiment Of indicating its char
acter and that of the State
| This Court granted Cen Lane, and is
sion and although but small part Of the evidences has
yet been brought before it, enough is recorded prove
that the I'd Regiment Indiana Volunteers, in conjunction
,lo1h
brought The engagement with the enemy, the morn
ing of the 23d. That they manlulIy maintained their
position in the face Of overwhelming numbers, until they
had fired II rounds Of cartridge, being all the time
posed rakng fire from the enemys batteries, and
that they still fighting bravely, thinking of
treating, when Col Bowes ordered them 10 "cease firing
and retreat. That tins order obeyed reluctantly
and only after it had been repeated That the retreat
attended with confusion, because the Colonel did
designate any point which rally, give any
ders for conducting the but he gave the
order, mounted his horse and fec
Ii also establishes farther that without the assistance
OF Col Bowes, thirds three fourhs Of the Regi-
ment rallied Immediately, and did return to the bat
tie field, and continued TO light Till the close of the action
And as they the first TO fire gun the morning,
so they the last leave the field the evening.
That on their way from the point where they rallied TO
where the Mssssippians were engaged and with whom
they Immediately afterwards joined, they aud
pulsed body of Mexican forces least six times their
number, and that when they joined the Mississippi troPs
they numerous the latter, notwithstanding the
official charge based the false representations of Col
Bowles that his regiment had deserted him like wards
and that only he and small fragment had rallied and
Joined themselves TO the Mssissppans and fought brave
iy The truth is, he abandoned his command, and in
stead of doing his duty fed the Mississippi troops (who
happened 10 pass him time after he had away
from his troops under the influence of the alb
ject fear chung them prospect of safe
ty The small fragment also, spoken OF, dropped into
the rank one by one and rallied and brought
there By him.
The I'd Regiment fought longer that day and did more
hard fighting than any other regiment the field They
fought from early the morning till late in the evening
without water, moutlful eat, and without mo-
T ments respite. Who could have done moro The
guar officers who witnessed their conduct do them The
justice to say that the oldest could not have
done better.
Col. BowIes before this court and swoRE that he
did give any order retreat that he thinks
given by Captain Lincoln, who came dashing along the
line Just as gave way, and that the battery OF Lieut.
O'Brian first fed from The field leaving the 2d Regimen
behind All this testimony of COL Bowles is proven &c
be absolutely false proven that he gave the order
and repeated IT, to retreat That Capt Lincoln was mo-
terry did not leave the regiment but the Regiment by h
order left it. When the line gave way the battery wa
previous TO the whole advancing which would
been done two minutes had il not been for Bowles
e cowardy order and conduct
: Such is a short but of the testimony
given before this court up 10 this time. Much more
must come before il or some other court, as are
solved that Indiana and her here, shall have justice
done, and that this foul Islander shall be exposed TO thu
: whose characters have been SO wsntonly assailed
h VOLUNTEER.
P. S.-To-day, the 1Iih, Col. Bowles has a Court o
Inquiry and General Wool has ordered that the charge
made against him by the regiment shall be the base of il
investigations. So now tina wrongful reports of Woo
and Taylor may be corrected and the Regiment rec6ed
o You shall hear from me again in a week..
n 1t seems by the P. S. that Bowles has been com
PEELED at last, derner resort, to call for tria
4 on his own behalf. He was compelled to do thi
" much, quietly to admit the truth of the charge
made against him. How the new court of inquir
may decide would not to be matter of nue.
Doubt if the facts above stated in relation to the in
!, vestigation demanded by Gen. Lane be correct,
= we presume they Sympathy, however, may lea
the Court to suppose that the COL got confused in tn
e melee and that his conduct and orders were misap
pretended by the volunteers. 1t will be fortunate 70
Va him if such shall be the result for if his own Cour
shall decide against him, he had better desert and
over to the Mexicans. II will never do for him
show his face again in this State. if the finding
the Court be against him. The boys in the street
re would pet him, the would toss him in blan
o. ket, and the men would and feather him, if nc
es thing No punishment could hardly be to
tie great for the wretch who only acted the cuwar
and poltroon himself but who, 10 screen his own In
fanny, endeayorcd to stigmatize whole regiment VIII
, stood their ground manfny against five times the
:, own NUMBER and who gave ample evidence, in ever
~ way, of courage and patriotism. Cowardice ma
find to justify its weakness; but ii
w sneaking of endeavoring to hide itself
ar unfairly disgracing others, is objectionable.
De LIEUTENANT HUNTER, for the offence of takn