Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-11-23

We publish thH tolloHIBg explanatory let
ter from DR.. WOodward. 10 his brother. Mr..
A. Woodward, OF this city lpr the purpose of
correcting some inaccuracies in The eommu-
nfcation from him which appeared in the 4p-
peal of the 9th lust:
= CoLyMBuS, Ky Nny II. 1851.
The letter wrote you on
the 9Th inst, which by your permission was
published in the Agpsdl. was never intended
for publication, and as it contains some in-
accuracies, wish in jusiic5 10 all parties. Ia
correct them. At the tins It MAS written |
gave You the most correct information to b.,
obtained from witne sing the battle myself.
and from what could br altered from other
sources. Between 10 and III o'clock that
day, / was detailed with corps of surgeons
to cross the river. and was busily employed
with the wounded almost the whole day; nv
opportunities for obtaining Information were
very limited beyond what | &c u lily Wit
nessed.
The enemy having great al g.,utage both of
ground and numbers. sIICcn -5-, Ia ovelpow-
eEing the regiments OF Col W.i.ht and Tap
pan, together with the 9 !orces in COM
mand of Gen. Pillow, al iisv had stood to
their position for an : "a and q halt, and
: they did not retire until they were ordered
to do so-tacts which werl u0i huown to me
at the time wrote ynu Not more than
$500 or 1000 OF our soldiers were engaged
at any time with The enemy; Inost-cf ours in
the open field, theirs concealed in the woods
But when they did retire much disorder and
confusion occurred, and much delay and diff
ficnlty was experienced al tIrineing than TO
the rally.
Parts OF those Regiments who suffered most
| severely early in the engagement, of which
| may mention Wright's. Eappan's Makers
| and Marks were rallied aud under the lead
| of Gen. Cheatham, wcre mainly instrumental
| in turning the tid- of battle. About 2
o'clock, the l54sh Tennessee regiment (for-
Jnerly Col. Preston Smith, now commanded
| by Col. Marcus J. Wright.) and Col. Blythe's
| Mississippi regiment. both in command OF
| Col. Smith. crossed over ard joined in the
| pursuit, bat did not oVertake The enemy I'M
| til they were boarding the y transports.
/ when the 154th Tennessee poured upon them
| destructive fire for more than half hour
| Blythe's regiment fling TO the left, retained
I their fire nnder orders.
How much credit should be given e
! Gems. Polk, Pillow, Chatham, McGowen.
Smiths battery and others, who participated
! prominently il the battle. will shortly ap
pear in the general report. | was not viii
the 154th regiment during the entire day.
! but did service as surgeon to sll who were
| brought to me,whether friend or foe. Thatw We
were badly whipped in the early part of the
| action, can never be truthtully denied, and
the very regiments who suffered most were
! those who ultimately turned humiliating
I defeat 10 an almost unparalleled victory.
Our loss is about one hundred killed, in
eiudinS those Who have since died OF wounds;
about three hundred and sixty wounded
many of them slightly-not more than one
fourth or whom will probably die.
The enemy's loss is Variously estimated
from eight hundred to fifteen hundred, in
killed. wounded and prisoners
I find this fact from Il little experience,
that it is much more dificnit 10 get an sccu-
rate account of 3 battle, where sc many
claim so much for themselves as heroes, and
so few are willing to be held responsible for
disasters, than any other @Deci=s Of informa-
tion ever tried 10 Obtain
/ One Of our steamers has Just returned from
I Cairo, which carried up one. hundred and
tWenty-eight wounded FedeTals. and brought
back one hundred aud thirty OF our soldiers
who were prisoners Some OF them say that
the Federal loss on board The steamboats,,
/ was immense. That one Regiment was so
! Slaughtered and wounded that the remnant
was discharged from service.
Yours, truly, etc. E. WOODWARD.