Litchfield enquirer., 1861-12-05
FLOYD'S LAST APPEARANCE IN
 WESTERN VIRGINIA.

| WESTERN VIRGINIA.
 The correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette under date of Nov. 15, gives detailed account of fight at McCoy's Mil1s and the final chase after Floyd. It appears that Floyd retreated or the night of the skirmish at Cotton Hill leaving strong rear guard behind. Next morning il was discovered that he had evacuated his posi- tion, and the Federal forces followed him to g place called Union School House. From infor nation obtained from scouts, it was deemed ad visable to move forward and the troops march ed all night until o'clock in the morning, hay. Ing captured some secession arms on the way,- After short halt at daybreak the order to march was given, and the soldiers pushed on over roads almost impossible by the heavy rains and cut to pieces by the recent passage of Floyd's artillery and wagon trains. The skir. mishers were in advance of the column on bott sides of the road, and proceeded cautiously Just as they reached bend in the road, one o the company espied two squadrons of cavalry under Col. Croghau of Kentucky, and there be gan the battle of McCoys Mills, which the C.. zete correspondent thus describes:
 "A volley was instantly opened on the enemy who were, as their wounded afterward acknowl edged, taken completely by surprise At the first han fell mortally wounded in the abdomen. The rebels, though surprised, showed fight, and resir- ed slowly firing as they went; but our men hay ing possession of the elevated ground on both sides, exposed them to gaing cross fire and forced them back. Tho main body then advan ced, having as before strong parties of skirmsh- CTS. Col Croghan was carried to the nearest house and was cared for as we'll as the state of the case would admit of by surgeon Chase of the 18th Ohio. He was gallant man and an ac complished officer, and though an enemy, tht sight of his dying agonies drew tears from tho eyes of men unused to weep The Colonels ia ther and Gen. Benham were old acquaintances in fact l believe classmates at West Point, anC the interview between them was of course unusu ally painful.
 At l2:2O our advance reached ncCoys Mills, and sharp action at once ensued. They ene- my's forces consisted of the cavalry engaged in the former skirmish, and at least one-I think two-regiments of infantry. They held their own against our skirmishers, and. having the ad- vantage of ground, bid fair to give us cousidera- ble trouble and delay, for some time at least, in our pursuit of their main force.
 | Gen. Benham at once ordered the Seventh, under Col. Creighton, and half of the Thirty-sev- enth German, to take possession of ridge on the right of the road The advance, consisting of the Thirteenth, Col. Sm,th-who did the wol k as we'll as man could do it-occupied the leftP d Capt. Schneiders battery being brought to the extreme front we prepared to dislodge them. | Col. Smith discovered q large body of cavalry in an exposed part of the h;l within fair range and the gallant German, only too glad of chance to let his barkcrs speak, took deliberate am and bang went the gun, whiz went the ball, and away went the cavalry under cover. The rebels finding thc climate becoming too warm for even their southern constitutions, and the theremoll- ter constantly rising, fled in disorder, dashing H. E1Jl away at them in the most lively and pleasant manner. It is difficult to correctly estimate the | loss of the enemy, as we were too much hurried to make search for them, but it could not have been less than fifteen killed and wounded-pro- bably much more. We did not lose a man.- This all sounds rather fshy, but they had no ar tillery, and all of our men within reach of their musketry were kept carefully under cover by their commanding officers, whose cantion and skill cannot be too highly commended. From this point we had abundant evidence of the utter rout and nasty flight of the enemy. They were badly scared, and though in the conrse of cur march we passed positions which competent of- ticers assured mo were almost impregnablc, they thom.
 Floyd was blind drunk the night he came through Fayette C. H., and l think has been in state of chronic intoxication for some time ; he certainly is much better adapted for plifering than for fighting, having not the least stomach for anything ill the shape of danger All along the road we found flour, clothing knapsacks canteens, tents, &c &c., scattered at short inter- vals Now col menced our hardships. We had been much delayed by the action, and knowing that the Virginia chiyalry are perfect race hor- ses in running from an euemy, however dillatory 1 they may be when advancing on one, we hurrri- ad m rnuah poSS;h1o borior if nothing else, to capture the wagon train, which was in the rear, but we fought against insur- | mountablc difficulties.
 From information received from our guido, (who. by the way, is rara avis in this country, l truoblue Virginia Unionist,) we thought we should overtake the wagon train at Three Mile Hill, seven miles from Raleigh. On reaching l the Blake farm, one from the foot of the noun tain, We sent forward mounted scouts, who re- turned with disheartening news that the afore- said vehiculary conveyances, like the hieland laddie of musical notrety were OCT and far awa''
 1 further that night. We bivouached in the open l field, and if had loved Western Virginia before with all the ardent affection of one of her own gallant bushwhackers, that night would have turned my love to bitter hate.
 | That night at 10 o'clock the general received orders from Gen. Schneck-who had crossed the river at Gauley, but none of whose reinforce ments had yet reached us-to return. We took up our line of march at o'clock A. M., and reached this place Fayette Court House] at about P. M., where both brigades are now sta toned. This ends the campaign in Western Virginia. Floyd is driven clear out of the coun- try, and swears he will never return. admire his taste, though I cannot say as much for his courage"