The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1861-12-04
ARMY CORRESPONDENCE

SM1THLANDi KY December l.
EDITORS JOURNAL An old friend here
with drops you line baited with an item
or two; and as he was once a member of
the newsmonger fraternity himself feels
confident that you win bite with avidity.-
The reason he has not written ere this, is
because his mind, fer the past few months,
has been altogether engrossed in the labor
of singing songs OF praise to ye Dixie-a
singular concatenation of circumstances
compelling him to sojourn until latterly in
that somewhat famous province formerly
(aud to be hoped stilI lateral appeudage
Of our beloved Uncle Samuel. But thanks
to an excellent pair of legs and moderate
amount Of cunning and impudence, he was
permitted 10 visit Paducah and consequently
remain under the protecting music of an
infinite number Of 6, III and 64-pounders.
But enough of this, and mora hereafter.
The post at Smithland the mouth of Cum
berland, is under command of Lieut.. Col.
A. L. Cheltain, 18th Illinois. The force at
present consists Of one company 9th ILL
uOl Z, SlA GUN d4ltS 44SL ILLINOIS, l0f9utFV.
Capt. Mars Illinois cavalry, and one COM
pany Of artillery under command of Lieut..
Busby from Springfield, Illinois. In add.
ton to the above, Col. r. X. Williams has
three companies Of Kentuck iaus. under Ma
jor P. D. Yeiser. This force is deemed quite
sufficient for the protection of this point
The tortidcations-two in number-are
considerably judges to be the best in the
West. The town site presents natural for
LITIGATION, and the only labor necessary was
that necessary upon mounting the guns and
erecting the accompanying infantry re-
doubts. Every gun-and there are many
commands the Ohio river both ways, the
Cumberland river three miles from its
mouth, and the country in every direction.
Some experiments by order of Col. Chet-
lain, the other day, proved satisfactorily his
capacity for defense, and consequently we
all rest well o nights at this post.
a very large secesh element is still veg
itatng in this ancient aud diIapidated vii
iage, but the officers and soldiers treat them
with all that accustomed kindness and for
bearance so eminently displayed by the
Union troops toward an erring and mis-
guided brother
You viii have heard by this of the big
scare we all had on Friday night from the
presence OF a few secesh T" hog merchants "
at Caseyville. Our mutual friend Can't.
Jno. B. Hall, of the Golden State, "owes
rs one " on that. The Conestoga aud trans
port returned tonight without finding any
thing.
We all would be extremely obliged to you
If you would condense from the louisville
and other papers all the Kentucky war
items you may see, as at this point we sell
dom get any papers but the Daily Journal.
AProPos of the Caseyville matter, let
rue give the account of Capt. Josh Throop
running the blockade with the Courier.
Lieut.. Gus Dusouchet informs us that he
came into the landing double quick time.
accommodated a while and then threw out
his pickets-so hard that one man went
clear through a warehouse and found a
barrel of whisky in the other end. After
ceoouching while, he withdrew his forces
IN good order, losing but one man He,
(the man was shot-in the neck. This
exploit reminds us Of an anecdote told at
the expense of the good natured Capt.
Throop. He Was joint owner with Can't.
Dorsey SmedIey, 10 the steamer Sam.
kirkman. The former lives in Sraithland,
and the latter in Paducah In August
Smedley concluded that steamboat stock
was worth more in Dixie than anywhere
else. Acting upon that idea, he wrote to
Capt TGroop that he believed he would take
his halt up Tennessee river into Dixie.
Capt /. Immediately repaired to Paducah,
but found that his half--like the two men
who owned dog in partnership and the
one eopclnded to kill his half-had gone up
tool
Since writing the above paragraphs.
have received from the officers of the Cour-
Ter the following Items Two Confederate
gun boats paid visit to within four miles
Of Cairo and fred both shot and she'll at
the camp of Fort Holt. The Federal gun
boats q. o, Tyler and Lexington engaged
them, and they soon retired. The is a
piece of apdacity unparalleled, and calls for |
a forward movement . upon Memphis |
50 long as we occupy the defensive will the
rebels continue to be audecious.
Yours, SC,
jerks.