The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-11-02

Mem Resaliaslng-o likxAtee q zellieofs
ftrss Men. 2 40
Tho reuest Of Gen. ZollicofYer has proved "a
be most disastrous and bloody. A letter from
Camp Wild Cat, dated Friday last, says hs bad
left his dead and dying strcwn along the road
from that point to Barboursville. Il b estima.
ted that 600 men pefished In the retreat alone
end that his loss in the battle and The retreat will
amount to !, 500 men. The retreat began early
on Tuesday morning. The dead we're LEFT on the
field 70 BE- buried BY the Union troops. The
field was literally strcwn with them. They must
have fought like 6enda The execution vas ter
rible and the wounded were few. The effects
Of the long balls-the Minie-are represented
to have been most terrible. Bodies were per-
forated and sknlla were broken into half dozen
piecea Many features it Was impossible TO re-
cognizs. The grape and canister Of the artil-
lery had also found many victims. They were
found lying on the hill sides IN groups It ap-
peared a. If the bodies on falling had rolled
dow the steep sides of the hill, and thus piled
up ON one another The road was blocked with
them, and the Tennessee regiment in pursuit.
rushed over tie bodies Of their former friends
and acquaintances. Two pieces Of artillery and
oil the camp equippase, with many :rms, knep-
sacks, and other materials, were left BY the
rebels in their prscipitats fight
But the retreat was the most trying ordeal
which the rebels had to undergo. The farmers.
whom for weeks past they had oppressed, aroused
BY the report Of the victory, gathered along the
road 70 give parting blow, aud from Wild Cat
to Barboursville the rebel army run the gaunt-
let. From every tree and rock upon the road
side the sharp crack of tue farmers rife greeted
them and sealed rebels fate. It 10 said that
the retreat was one continued fight, In which the
Ia - at Ami
cades opened their fires upon them from every
side and quarter, and they felt what it was to
retreat through hostile country. Likethe Eng
lish whs came to subjugate at Lexington, Mass !,
they pushed on IN haste, flying from the storm of
bullets that beat in upon them at every step
They needed not who fell. They pushed on,
each man for himself, seeking safety in the hills
Of the Gap The bullet of the famous rife sped
on its mission. The doomed man sank without
4 nlurmur, as if exhausted. His following fell
lows stepped over his body and hurried on, nor
stopped to pluck his weapon from his dying
grasp. They lightly sprang over the fallen body
of steed that but moment before with diiated
nostrils snuffed danger to its master, and then
fell. unheeded by him who had ridden him.-
The retributien for our retreat Of three months
ago had como. On the 2lst Of the month, three
months ago, our men had retreated to Washing
ton; on the 2lst of the month they also retreat
ed. But this retreat was far more terrible. The
shame of our arms in Virginia has been wiped
out in Kentucky.
It 10 not improbable that Gen. Zollicoffer has
fallen, though there il no information to that ef
feet. He was well known in the mountains.-
His features and form are not likely to be for
gotten by these who have seen him, even when
they have less incentive to remember him than
have the mountaineers of Kentucky.
There are other mountaineers that Gen. FOL
licoffer and his band have need to fear. There
is no doubt that the people of East Tennessee
are again armed. A lady from Knoxville re-
the Union men have organized and in
a measure armed themselves. When the garrl-
Soma with which Zollicoffer had occupied East
Tennessee and with which he had hoped to quiet
the strong Union feeling there, were Withdrawn
for the purpose of involving Kentucky, these
unionists again put on their former boldness-
Deprived Of arms, they made rough weapons for
themselves. II looks like exaggeration to say
Of what the weapons were made and of what
they mainly consisted. It has been 80 common
to talk of our fathers turning their pillow shares
into swords tn 1t it appears ridiculous in this age
to assert that these men have made knives and
swords out of the scythe blades. But my lady
fair rebel herself-states positive
" that such is the case. Every blacksmith
shop in the country is engaged in shaping these
agricultural implements into huge knives that
appear horrible in her eyes, and not only had
these men made preparations, but, emboldened,
they had made demonstrations rather terrifying
in their nature. In Sewer county, two weeks
since, the Union men had seized, tried, con-
demned and publicly hung four men charged
with prosecuting Union citizens. Many of the
more prominent rebels have fed from Knoxville
No rebel suspects Brownlow of honesty Of pur
pose in supporting the candidates for the rebel
Congress, and the silence of Nelson, Badger,
and others, they think exceedingly momentous.