Litchfield enquirer., 1848-02-24

ceremony or excuse, and the cripples who relied upnn ia were ordered lo take up their beds and walk. UPon this the help- Iess beings, driven tO desperation, made . rsmarkablv resOluie defense Of their Holy City, which, being hardly more than large hospital of ineurables, could have meritoriously claimed of any other oarbarl> ans its privilege of sanctuary. II was hombarded, however, by an overwhelming force, and notwithstanding the 0eleaeaeree for two days supposed, as l am InIOfmeo' they were replying 10 the nTe upon Inc" with three gaDs of their own. or large mug gle, they had forged out of broken steam boat shah; at last, afier losing some Ol their seundest men in fight, they were glad to flee fourth with their lives, that is to say, with litlle or nothing else.
 I saw most of these poor folks while they were yet on the right hank of the Mississippi opposite NauvOo. It was just after the cannonade. and think they had been there matter Of TWO or three days. Some of them had fled over before the assault to escape the balls that battered in their houses; the res
 mainIcr had waited till busted by direct force of arms.
 Few had food enough to satiafy their
 hunger. Exposure and fatigue hau cOrn'
 bined to visit many ot the DOminaliy ro' bust of them with the ague, and the b'l> ieus remi:tcnt fever. known as favor'te induigences ofthe system in the West
 ern country: but ,sick and well, conc'cn> :ious yellow souls, they all lay down a.
 like among the reeds and spatserdocks of the low river shore; the favored ones
 huddled together under taslrred sheets, counterpains or bed-spreads stretched gipsy>tent>wise over u, tripod ot sticks ;
 others lodging outside of these shelters
 ard going to sleep with their plGched
 faces to the sky. have no, the sai.s> 1 faction to doubt that among ih.'se l lo"k>
 ed upon thus shiverng in the sharp night air of autumn, many whom the screening
 of a roof might have saved, died looe,ng across the stream upon their comfortabi
 homes, in which the orthodox bullies ot
 the mob were celebrating their triumph
 in obscure and drunken riot.
 At the epoch of which I speak. they
 were bent on moving Westward to over
 take, as they hoped, the rear guard of their column in the advance. but were
 pitifully unprovided with adequate mea ms
 for doing so. One had COW, may be.
 which he could yoke 10 the crazy cart
 of his fellow. Another, by disclosing to
 the cupidity of he Iowa squatcrs, his possession of his watch or other pal,ry
 treasure he had secreted. was able to hire
 a lift in farm wagon. Several, they
 were few, appeared to OWE anoAg them
 mixed horse and OK tea.n; the rest had no other means of transportation than
 their own bodily frames. though it may
 be observed that, by a natural Providence to whose effect have already advertcd, these were nearly every thing they had to carry.
 Thus j'yy-rigged, unprovisioned and almost unclcthed, they started on their .voyage-an overland voyage that they the diameter of the world. It is lilile wonder then, that, being unsuccessful in overtaken their brethren, they have since literally fallen by the wayside in the wilderness, and there having eaten up the beasts of burden that helped them along SO far on their weary stage, now find themselves unable to push forward, or to return At sundry.. crossing places of the larger streams tha. have impeded their progress, in woodrd cliffs and shell tered copses of the prairie, in abandoned Indian villages--wherever, in short, they have found life most easily to be sustained, or as some of them have said as their fate proved in many instances, death most easily borne. they have halt. cd and gone to work 10 strive to keep body and soul together till relief, either in the way of aims or of propiiious desease, should Come up and over,ake ihem.- With the aid of quantity of Indian corn and garden roots they have raised fo. food. and of great fires of cottonwood as a substitute for sufficient shelter and clothing-many lived through the last winter, and SO many will doubt less survive this one, though it presses upon the whole people with cold and tamine in its train. But the return of spring will bring them no better fortunes. The emaciated and pinng survivors, if unaided by US, must still continue 10 be without the power of replenishing their stock of nesessaries, or of changing their place to go to seek i'; while it should be noted that their general health is al ready so impaired that they are becom> ing every day less capable of vigorous etf0rt for their own assistance.
 have limited my remarks to apply to individuals, concerning whose pligh, I am possessed of acurate inform ation. ! ought to add that there are still others whose numbers would with difficulty be Some were b"yond the head waters of the Drs Monis, and on the tributaries ofthe Upper Missouri from the Nishnab batha 10 l. Eau qui CouIe River. say from 800 to HOO miles above St. Louis, there are, I suppose, some B. OOO other dejected human beings, who are probably withou, any means to wave in our eyes their signals ot distress. Ye, many of these, I know, aie dying ofchill and hunger. without metaphor CT exag- cration. They are dying while we are talking aoout them.
 I am, sir, very respectfully. your friend and obedient servant,
 s.a THOMAS L. KANE.
 Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jr.