Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-10-23

-. "ds enough mas been said for the Or,
sns may nolice the rest of the Officer
anu PffVates IN future letter.
May glory and victory crown thu Secon
East tennessee regiment. is the win of e
EAST TENNESSEAN.
From Gen. ReynoIds, Army--anafhe
4 ecohnoIssance in Force.
4 tcorrespondence cineInhati Commercially
| ELKwATER, Va, Oct. 9. 1861.
camp for the purpose of Reconnaissance !;
force the enemy 8 position at Bio SpTfS,, o.
on The Staunton road, seventeen miles from
here. nun
| The party, under the command of Co, IL.
Marrow, consisted of the 81 and 9Th Ohio :,
portion of the I'd Virginia regiment. on,
company OF Ohio Cavalry and three piece
OF the Goldwater Artillery - seI7it''Tss~
We left camp at 8 O'Clock p. NJ. as usuaI
IN drenching rain, which continued durino
/ the entire trip. Taking the same road thai
we had trayersed week previous, under Col
Sullivan, we came the following daysupor, !
1 deserted camp at Mingo Flats. four mile,
from the Springs. This was the site OF onI
former skrmish with the rebels, and here VIC
halted to give the men rest and allow Them
| to prepare something to eat s-ia:- ,aIs7ss ~
L have SO frequently attempted to describe
| the beauties of thee mountains that fea.
the theme Is worn threadbare and monoton-
Gus under.my feeble pen. bat so has not the
| stupendou-ly grand views that present them
selves at this particular spot TO the enthasi-
| astic admirer of Nature, aud / must attempt
| a description, even though hazard the pen
atty OF being denounced as q bore.
Tue camp occupying an area of about one
thousand acres. slopes gently from the center
to range of lofty hills-spurs of Cheat aud
Greenbrier mountains-that, like giant senti-
neis, girdle 1t around on every side. An en-
gineer would not have planted them with
more regularity, nor given to the place SO
strong rampant A few regiments thrown
upon those mammoth watch towers, could
defend them against ten times their force
Inc be1uty of the variegated autumn foliage
Daff1es all description. At some points, rude
oattiem-nts OF rocks were crowned with the
blood red banner of the monarch oak, while
from Ither ramparts, apparently thrown up
by freaks OF nature. the dark green pine
waves majestic defiance. Again tint blends
with tInt-a thousand different shades indies
cribably beautiful.
When we arrived at the summit of the
mountain commanding view of the seine,
universal exclamation of admiration burst
from the most unpoetic of our faded soldiers
But our long march was unrewarded by sight
OF the Seeessionists. They had all fled The
men quenched their thirst, and filled their
canteens from beautiful stream of crystal
water that gushed from the mountain side.
While the party was partaking of a hasty
meal, Colonel Marrow, with portion of the
cavalry proceeded to Big Springs, where the
eDemy's headquarters had been at the time of
our former visit. Here ruin and desolation.
in strong contrast to the beauties of the scene
they bad Just left, stared US in the face on |
every hand. From farmer whom we found
in the vicinity we learned that the enemy fed |
after our former reconnaissance, |
our party was the advance guard |
Of large army. Their flight must have been
orecIpItaie for their tents were left STANDING
,hongh slashed and riddled so as to render
hem useless to US, and armv stores of all
Kinds were scattered in wild confusion around. |
We also found the cbarred barrels of great
iumber OF guns, bowie knives and other
Weapons that bad been consigned 10 the
lanes.
From this unusual sign, even in a retreat
pg army. we infer that there has been insnb-
rdlnatlon ID camp, and that portion of the
roops have disbanded aud gone home in dis
ust This belief is strengthened by some
ecessiOn letters found upon the ground. We
eVIsIted house that has been furnished at |
u expense OF many Thousand dollars. but is |
ow an entire wreck The furniture is broken |
nd scattered over the fields or through the |
Ooms In chaotic masses. Pictures and books
re trampled under foot. mirrors shattered.
nd all the concomitants of luxurious home
lrned into scene of desolatio0. How many |
ONES have thus been made vacant
From this point the road becomes iupassa- I
lie. The mud is belly deep to horse, and
reeludes all possibility of further advance
ward the retrrating foe. The great num- I
er of wagons left by the roadside attests
it'll what difficulty the enemy had retired.
! order to render transportation at all pos i
Die, they had been compelled to split trees, t
Id by laying them close together, build the il
'ad for distance of ten miles at least. "
we found along the road fifteen detached p
1nps, that had contained not less than one
gIment each. and some twice that force. i,
ais demonstrates cOnclusively that it would 8
we been folly for Us to ateack them with
IT handful of men, as some of the fearless !.
.wspaper generals dictated :
Gen. Reynolds evidently understands his =
siness- The object of our trip having been =
lly accomplished, we returned to camp. ar I"
ing there on the evening of the Sth.
This will, in all probability, close the cam. %
Ign IN Western Virginia The enemy has
d But poor luck in this part of the %
lntfy. Iney have been defeated in every II
lance, and are now rapidly falling back NJ
ON Stanton. and beyond. Pursuit is I'm N
'sible, even with sufficient force to NEE, ~
IN IN an open field, for the roads are i'm ca
sable. - | til
)ur boys were congratulating themselves +
1n speedy release from this terrible ban fir
ment when specill order came assigning Y,
various regiments asfollows: of
IN Indiana, 24tb, 25ih, and sd Ohi1. Or
j. A'Iroy, Headquarters, Cheat Mountain Fs
d Virginia, Sd Ohio 9th Ohio. and 7th m,
lana, Gen. Dumout, Headquarters, Elk Sc
er. n
9Th, 18th, 18Th, and 18th Indiana, Gen.
lnolds, Headquarters, E kwater -. oh
mat have We done to merit this terrible oh
e y az
$ the arrangement is permanent one. S Sn
'ume our fate is settled, and all the visions ~
'atIpg Christmas dinner at home are ~.
ely dispelled. tns
E'rue Policy i'm Regard to slaves, Ey
tErYm the National InteIligencer of Oct. 81
Te have already taken occasion to express by
general approval of the policy adopted tee
he Administration, and set forth in the
sr of hr. Secretary Cameron to Major alo
eral Butler. in respect to slaves en- is 3
ed or involved in the existing insurrec- for,
> 1t is policy in full harmony with the we,
1f Congress on the subject. and equally are
Die from that of emancipation by pro- fro,
laiion, and that of needless inaction in
I'd to a matter OF SO great consequence. A
: - ,ba. ,6ai rie.i, =. ut. cameron ed ]
inn 30 sI.Serv :. va. nas nv u'rec' hos
lou of the Union under the existing n
titution. National success will establish
State of the restored Union in full en- higi
ent of all those rights which it possessed UNI :,
; TO the insurrection, except SO far as MAI
may have been inevitably damaged by rive
s. by ]
cry intelligent Uuionist. however, who
'ssed, in the North or in the South. the
CT of slavery as CONNECTED with uroiscls from
sunion, laid great stress on the dangers an e
rvile war, and on the disturbance and day.
gelof the institution of slavery In that acco
contest Which any attempts to break up not
Inion- by force cnuld not fail to bring on. He
rg those wbo thus spoke were not a few tiles
yielding 70 various Influences, have "A
become involved in criminal rebellion. | airy