The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-07-20

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|ED1oR HAWK, Err
We arrived here yesterday noon and found
one end Of the bridge burned Oh, causing Il 70
fall in. II b an 90 feet Suspension, and q u
these suspension bridges (the Road Master tells
me) cost as per foot. its cost was e9,0OO.T
Through the sctive efforts Of Major PeabodyS
men Il has Ill been pulled 70 pieces and tam
porary concern viii be up before night Major
P, Who superintends the job, commands the
Regiment forming ct St. 10. and has SsO,OOO
invested in the Road. We left Salt River, where
bridge $50 feet in length was burnt night be
fore last. The bridge It Crooked Greek t6o
miles west Of Hannibal) vas fired soon after We
crossed il.
The train laid over night At Hannibal. Lieut..
Mckinney, of the Keokuk Guards, pushed on
With IL men to the Charlton River, Isl miles,
to relieve the Gallo Home Guards, stationed
there. After day break they ordered breakfast
at sawyer's hut, . short distance up the river,
AID while there so or 70 Secessionists, some on
horseback and some in wagon containing jars
Of tar and old clothing soaked with turpentine,
entered the bridge, tarred Il intwenty places
and fred It in half dozen before detected -
But bark lone citizen Is coming in from the
east with frightful speed. BE reports 400 caval-
~ making q descent upon Charlton Bridge
Now for fun. Three Companies of US jump
aboard some cars. attach two engines and of we
90 double quick. The six miles between u are
soon over. Nary s''secesh." The boys at the
bridge have converted the old squatty saw.mill
into fort. piling up heavy timbers around It.
Back TO Brush Greek. Find the boys left ON
the alert, lest an attack should be made upon
them in our absence. This place is getting aw-
| full hot, as am writing on the engineers tool
boz at the end of the boiler.
But to resume my story. Lieut. Mckinney
and his men fred upon the bridge burners across
the river, as they emerged from the bridge. Sc
cesh returned the compliment, hitting one man
in the neck with buckshot Boys then load.
ed and ran across the bridge, leaving FIVE to
put out the fire. Took six horses and pursued,
bringing one into camp with his head bursted
with musket ball and slugs, and it is reported
several other bodies have been found in the
bottoms having died Of wounds from the first
| fire. When our train came up the dead young
man lay beside the track CHASTITY spectacle.
We took aboard the contraband wagon and
horses, aud pushed on to Macon, of which I
have just spoken.
The country is literally alive with Secession
troops, and they have adopted the guerrilla
mode Of warfare. They have sworn to burn
every bridge and every car on this railroad
Cars in from the West for US, report the Post
Office block at St. 10. burned. on. Must fin
ish my pencilings as we move on.
Alas! the whitening, blighting curse Of sla-
very! Not one acre in thousand of the beau
tiful prarics in sight Of this road cultivated.
We sometimes ride ten miles without seeing q
dwelling, and the most we do see are miserable
huts, iuhabi.ed by ignorant barefooted women
and half civilized men. On We CO. The mile
post tells me We are 105 miles from Hannibal.
We are now at Boonyille, and will mail this
here No mail trains have passed for several
days. but the hands which we left, guarded by
several companies Of the Sd Regiment, will COM
plete Brush Greek to-day, and return to Salt
River tomorrow. We are taking prisoner as
we 60 along occasionally, and this time we'll
save them. The only way to do is TO shoot ev-
cry scoundrel of them we take, for their oath is
worth nothing Since stopping here we heard
Of 1900 Secesh troops in the vicinity, who have
threatened to burn the place. The people are
overjoyed at our coming We all got off to stay
tonight, but some other information coming,
we are aboard again and nearly ready to move.
The troops are TO move on to Grand River
4 No more at present. II s.