, 1861-10-07

these twelve: He Is now in or camp and con-
firms the report Of their strength He ssys
they would not attack Us at all It Ee:would
give up Magothn, but retreat, for they telieTe
tnat we have heavy reinto.ee,nents coming up
Oh their rear- This Magotha ID brother Of the.
Kentucky Governor, and 8 Colonel In their az
my. They have offered Us forty men for him.
Tas5 saa T. ths cspat aeSStng hss hsy
morning. They Intend to storm US, i. e., rQah
on aud nae their bayonets and scale the en-
hanAmeuta. That is just what ne have Pre-
Jared for; it makes us rub our hands with plea.
sure to think they will attempt to scale one
bank. This night il as beautiful Is last night,
not cloud, nothing but the deep, dark, inim.
liable blue, lighted up by the broad fine rays
OF the moon, and olnamented BY the myriads
Of tWink1ing stars. Oh, tits grand! everJ thing
il nature las the calmness, the contensmen5
Of repoee and happiness, all which seems to
1eprcach cur turbulent hearts.
SEVENTH DAY.
SEPT. 1s-7 O'CLOCK, A. n.
The came old beginning Of my diary. No
attack yet, but we are noE looking for them
every hour. Hark hear their cheering aud
their drums beating, NOW they cheer again. Do
they expect to terrify us with the sound Of
their fifteen thousand voices
9 9O'cLocK, /. H.
They are eoming. The drums have sounded
tie re sisrm. I'm We ars all at our posts. Thsy
.t"'S AAA%A a4N IA@dACISC~ 1U1 4AN.41GHl mas
Just passed aaong the lEe, inspiring the men
with his ca1m1ess end hefcism He talked to
Us In this manner" Capt Simisou, from alI
=lndfcat atlGns they vii make their heaviest attack
on Jour part Of the line. OF course. you will
SLOWLY, but fyerY moments delay is to our
benefit. Now must cease my writing for the
achieve victory, but I may have to 1ay doEa
ny life Its q mournful thought to entertain
but look calmly upon death.
EIGHTH DAT.
SEPT. 1871 O'cL ock, A. n.
We have met The rebels and the victory ia
ours. At * o'clock yesterday, they fired
their hIet cannon bali Into Cur fanks. TheV
surrounded Us completely, and Kept up yjg.
o'oub attack until O'Clock, p. m being niae
and one half hours constant fighting, but ne
repulsed them. They drew off th.ir troops al
this hour, and ne expect to see them MAKE
grand charge to day with fresh troops, think
ing that alter cur SEVERE test yesterday We will
be too tired to resist them long. Tne7 left
many troops to annoy Us all night. Half OF
our men haa TO be on duty all the time, and
every few minutes during the night shots were
exchanged. Onr little fort holds out well, but
from the fact that it ia located in the timber.
the rebels are c9rcea1ed from view, o1ly ges-
ting fair sight at them when they attempt to
STERN Us. cannct think Of many incidents
A3~"3 4SA sAAS Quill bCA41AA tQE QIEA5tWuTK ADQ
every few minutes balls c,me whistling round
my ears. The most prominent instance in my
mlrd Is tbl5; They have many sharp shooters,
WHO have p1acsd themselves round in conye.
nient places, come in treez, Others behind
s1uHps aud logs, and from their secure posi-
uon Keep constantly firing upon us. Three Of
these econndre1s are p.aced on ou- track and
have betn firing on us sincs : o'clock Yester-
DAY. We have failed in finding their location,
a;thoagh there are 3 number Of cuz sharp
shooters On the lockout. We hare fired at
them, but firing at random docs not affect
them. Ha! TINT makes nc gtart. Hs aenta
EMlet just past my cheek It struck our camp
Kettle ty my SIDE, and 1 have the bullet in my
PeeEef. II any OF us ra:se our heads above
TIE b!eestWokk tneEe fellows fire at us. The
i, ieoels several times threw charges Of can
lFter ard grape into Company DIS q1a.ters,
bnt We have ali escaped, and theriflu aud mus
ktt balls have been Whizzing round our heads
60 nluei: tlat We dent notice them as much
as We would bumbls bee ut home. The first
ea4 thst etruck the ground very near me, I
p:ekeG up to ehoW you, also the next one and
tie next, but found that if kept every one
tEat could feel its hiss es it passed over me-,
would be lcased down. These sharp-shoot-
e1s' guns must be splendid things; they make
hnt slight report, 20 elight yon don't notice
tie sound. I wish l could have my picture
tssen noE, yeu would see the dirtlcss and
| biackeft Mcclure Of the 1ece. We have 2,7O0
| n.en in cur force, but here let ms saT every
Ole Of these is as firm as steel, and brave as
pAtrloti:m can make them. The rebels act
with all aavagencBs Of devils. Our hospital
| Is situated outside and some distance from the
h1eatl"orAs, and had several white flags upon
It, but they charged upon It and reports saw
| I Lied cur sick and toch possession, Company
made charge upon Them and routed them
out, but in the evening at o'clock they slip
| ped IL ane took it again; then cur artillery
m=n tuT7cd cur cannon upon it and battered
| it down. They made charge at cur yery
weakest IoiEf. bnt the men ,repulsed them
apd a,s toek h;a tier aa sing9la7 looking thing
broad stripe Of red, then one Of white, and
smother ed one, but three stripes in all They
have had eptes In our camp, for thEir heaviest
attacks have been made on the weakest points,
Brigade, are posted at the most Important
| points, being on tie main road and essy Of &C.
cess, bnt they would only approach Us 1T long
htlng distance or With their cannon, for We
have number Of destructive mag gazines buried
aid all we want is to get them upon their fear
ful bosoms, but they are too smart for us. It
Is surprising to me how fortunate We are. The
| bullets rolled at our feet, others flew past our
breasts, shells burst in our midst, yet not one
man hurt in Company D., and NC have been
exposed to ire in al directions. At times We
hid to LIE down to have our cannon play over
ouf heads. can't tell our full loss. There
are at least 40 OF the 700 dead or severely In
jrred, while Of the rebels it Is estimated be-
tween two Or three Thousand men.
But here goes our cannon again:
| II these bushwhac6ers would leave us we
| would have some safety for short time I
think they are waiting around Until they get
ell their dead away. They began hauling as
| five o'clock yesterday and are Still at it. Co.
= shot very prominent of1icsr, Judging from
BE is moving round among the men, and these
ahatpshoot=rs may hit him I 1lcok for my death
Pill from them, not from the muskets. just
now another little joker comes smiling at me-
/ did not like him, and lodged.
=: NINE O'CLOCK.
The randem fire still continues. To-day il
bot and dusty, same as yesterday We had no
dinner yesterday, but at 10 O'Clock last night
We got s1ap-jack cake. No breakfast this
morning md, worst Of oil, no water in camp
Our springs and cisterns arc outside, and IN
der cover Of their FIRE, still we are not dis.
heartened, hut look forward to the hour when
We can meet ther fresh troops, even If We are
t.re9, sleepy, dirty and hungry. It seams
lard to have 6 900 fresh troops surround Us
to-day and take up the play where their com
Iades eeaeed, bnt this d their good luck and
With ue, in many ways He has given Us
health during orr last twenty days, fo1 We
Eaye been In censtsnt fatigue since ne left
Jtterson City, and Jet we are all weu If we
Oily had some Of the crackers the men used
10 despise, they would be a great treat, for ne
|
Of pan cake fried in grease. Now if the
Crackers were plenty we could eat and fight d.
lie same time. hope you have not heard of
cns Position. I don't want you to be nisesa-
be, but keep good heart. My memo.y dwslls
VIII pleasure nEon past hcme scenes. and
anticipate to live again in the midst Of their
JOYS. These give me Rtrengb. these give me
hope, and when the iron hail falls around me
the thlekest, my mind Is full Of their memo
Ties. II Is a great comfort to know thgt
naEe happy home; # it we're not 50, I would
to speak Of such things, but the battle held Is
familiar now. I only start when one comes 8
very little too close to be pleasant, How soon
/ g man can become accustomed to danger. It.
il nov ten o'clock, Twenty -four hours with
ont food I must stop, the fight is growing
hotter.
6 O'CLOCK, ?. X.
No water or food yet, They have had theft
eAsrpehooteIs around uE, firing Ill day, and
EoW and then they send us cannon shot
dust now they sent a load Of canister shot
over our men, and now another. This one il
grape, for the balls fell in our quarters
TO'CLocK, r. n.
They have been firing shot and shell; many
O. them burst over our heads, but no execu,
ton. Everything is now still We think
they are preparing for grand charge.
80'GLocK, s P. y.
SIN writing By moonlight. Gen. Price
sent IN bag OF truce saying he hes Gu. OF all
our re-1nforcements, that he has Is 600 men
ann twenty cannon, that he will permit US to
retire unaoleated, if We surrender, but if not
pc FILL have no mercy. He gives Us two
Dours to decide. We have been improving
the I1ne ana hare noW barrel Of btackish.