The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-06-29

The nl1ndef It Zig Aethei.sA SeAthin,
}ass kxRosure Of Mflisafy lmbecility.
Mr.. Halstcad, on Of the editors Of the Cincinna,
Commercial, who is writing war letters from w a.
ington, thus speaks Of the part played by on
military at the attack on Big Bethel 1t is yer
| severe and no doubt juste so. He wrote unde
date Of the Eth:
The expedition which ended in the bloody re
pulse at Big Bethel, has shed beam of ligh
straight through the rottenness OF our military OF
ganization. The expedition was from the be
ginning an unbroken series of notwithstanding
blunders, and believe it to be the very best pol
ICY to expose them to the fullest extent. lie
the people see what has been done by the mana
gers of Military affairs, with the Immense offer
ings that has been made in spirit of generou
honor of the Republic.
A part OF the expedition to Big Bethal wa
sent in boats up Hampton Greek. The boat
were an hour and halt behind the time appoint
ed, in leaving. As they entered tine creek, hav
ing been informed that the sentinels were warn
ed of their approach, they were proceeding il
perfect silence (havil g muffled their oars) whel
the first sentinel on the shores sung out at thu
top Of his voice, who goes there ?"
q An officer in the foremost boat stood up ant
said in a low tone" The expedition; the expe
dition; don't make SO much noise" "Pll give
you an expedition" said the sentinel, bringing
down his rifle, and, firing, missing by few Ia
ches, shooting the officer through the head. Ant
the sentinel did but do his duty, as he had mo-
been warned that the boats would pass. The
officer supposed that the boats would have to b.
stopped, or run the gauntlet Of the sentinels al
the way up the creek. He determined to take
the latter course, and called out, "give way mer
give way let them shoot and be damned. The
awkward sons of bitches can't hit any body any
how" Just as the boats ian hour and halt be
bind time) came up to the second sentinel, the
officer, whose duty it was to see that the senti
nels understood the matter, came along and pre-.
vented further fri5g. The next blunder was
two of the regiments firing into each other,
which was the work Of parcel Of idiots. At
the time of this firing the New York Regiment
OF Zouayes was three miles and a half in front,
and had already taken Little Bethel. They heard
the firing in their rear, and, supposing an attack
was made in force upon the regiment coming up,
retraced their steps, running all the way. They
then marched over the same ground on the adj
vance.
When the troops went into action at Big Beth
ell they had been on the march twelve hours with
cut food, and the supply of water in their can
teens was exhausted. The day was becoming
hot, and they were dispirited by the blunders of
the night, and fainting with hunger and fatigue
The action was a complication of disastrous
foolery, utterly without excuse or example. The
men wanted to know of the captains what to do
the captains asked their colonies what to do !;
and the colonies asked Gen. Pierce what had bet
ter be done, and he said, "well indeed l don't
know" There were the men, prepared, ready,
eager and competent to take the battery. But
the officers did not know how to direct the men.
Ii there had been no officers in the field, the
battery would have been taken. The men would
have done it in five minutes, if they had just
been turned loose. But they proposed to obey
orders, and there were no orders. At last two
Or three companies did outfank the battery, by
a sort of independent movement, and the Vir-
ginians were running away from it, when one of
cur brilliant officers seeing the Federal Bayonets
bristling through the bushes, supposed it was a
reinforcement of Virginians, and ordered a re.
treat, and the men moved off crying and swear
ing with shame and fury.
Now it is important to inquire how many
bloody repuses must be suffered in order to drill
a hole into the Administration, National and
State, and into the soldiers themselves, through
which common sense, as to the appointment or
election of officers, can be injected. And the
jackass officers might well begin to inquire how
long it will be before their men will find it nee
essary to shoot them.
How a Zouave Feels In Battle.
LITTER FROM ONE OF DURYEA'S ZoUAvEs.
Tie following is an extract OF letterfrom one
of Colonel Duryea's Zouaves, written after the
receat fight at Great Bethel:
''Before long we had all we bargained for, for
holc ,,,.lo ha
strongly fortified, with masked battery of TWEEN
of other guns, besides large rifle company In
front ready and willing to pop off us red devils
as soon as We made our appearance. We soon
formed line of battle, and threw out two COM
panies, and X, Company K is the one from
Henry and belong to IT'D and we hadn't travel
ed far before bang went an old 24pounder.
trembled in my boots. After the first shot was
fired, and we found no one was hurt, it gave the
men confidence in themselves, and all thoughts of
being lat had yanished, and we were now ready
for fight. We now left the woods, charged up
the road with the idea of carrying the place at
the point of the bayonet.
CAS- soon as we had reached the road big ri.
fed cannon was sighted at us and blazed away !;
fortunately only Company X happened to be in
the road, and we saw the ball coming, and quick
Il
same time the ball passed over our heads, filling
our mouths and eyes with sand and dust The
ball passed about foot from us. You can ina
CINE we didn't move a hair-no, not we; we lay
as fiat as pan cakes. After that they lost the
range and the balls passed high ever us. did
not belieoe cannon balls could be lodged before.
Eve then crossed the field and charged up the
hill to the fence, and there planted the stars and
stripes before the enemy's eyes. We remained
here exposed to heavy fire, (Which we could
only return when some fellow would pop his head
over the parapet and give a cheer, when down
he'd CO., until the order to retire, which we did,
while the cannon balls, rifle balls and bomb
shells were killing US off in every direction. We
carried off most of our dead and wounded. Our
loss was twelve killed and twenty. five wounded.
We marched that day thirty five miles, besides
the fight. It's fun if you don't get hit. L. B. 8. u
sS- The DEBORAH Republic in noticing the at.
tack upon the Administration contained in the
call for Democratic State Convention, thus
sums up the supposed crimes of the government:
THE only act of which the administration
has been guilty is that of calling out troops to
suppress the unnatural, the grossly wicked re-
beliion of the Confederate States, and the acts
consequent upon the sudden organization and
maintenance of those troops in position to de-
fend the country against band of marauders,
as vindictive, as their crime is wicked. With
peace offerings the administration met them at
the outset and only when actual war was CON-
menced upon persons and property belonging to
the United States. was there single step which
could be called menace. Had the administra
ton then failed to do just whatit did, the bitter.
est curses of an offended country would have
been showered down upon the heads of Mr.. Lin
coln ard his advisers Republicans would have
viewed with Democrats in heaping opprobrium
upon his head, and burying his name in infamy.
The unanimous response to the call showed the
sentiments Of the country, and history will re-
cord the fact that men forgot party ties in their
love for common Union, and its blessings. 1t
will also record the fact that the late antagonist
of the President was one of the first to testify
his loyalty and devotion to the one great cause
AN OLD FNANCIER's OPINION OF TIE WAE
AND ITS MONETARY CoNsEouENCEs.-JohnT homp
son, in his last meney Reporter, gives the follow
ipv oniuion pf the w and its eff.cta nnOn the