Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1861-08-20

the Iowa Regiment. and By ; dssoor
reached : email raviss disessly 10 ~
line 4 the advancing colnq and d'reet
ca til men to lie fat doeh. On csne
tie ensmy, unsuspiciousof tAPs, aod
cbuckline in anticipatiossf the eocesss-
Of their vancouver. "Now, boys,
.aid the Captain, ~ the enemy came di.
rectIy opposite, Nov, boys, keep cool.
aim low, and give 'em bell" by Cd
SIR" said the Captain, in relating the
circumstances to me, your boys just
raised on 'em just ~ cool - > cucumber
and in ten seconds after there wasn't .
son of . Of 'em 10 sight."
. .Yes." said Aej. 6aassia, .yoar fallows
fought like devils. and if any man after
this ever Gays TO me that volunteer
won't fight, III make it personal mat
ter with him! Yes, sir, by Cd your
men fought Just like devils"
am full 10 the belief that these en-
phatic compliments to the volunteers,
and particularly to the Iowa Regiment,
were we'll earned by the gallant men to
whom they were paid. To be sure > few
men from each company sneaked from
the ight-but there must be towards Of
necessity in 80 large > crowd. The
shooting Of the enemy with small arms
was universally low = they aimed to
wound and not to kill, probably knowing
that every wounded man required two
nen to carry him to the rear-thus
weakening the force much more than by
killing men outright.
Several times during the day our fore
es were drawn into deadly traps by the
enemy concealing force or masking q
battery and then displaying the Ameri-
can FIag-artltices which twice at leas,
during the day we're successful.
By three P. N. the forces had all re-
tired, and soon after the wounded began
coming in. The hospital was filled, and
then . large hotel, the Bailey House,
was taken possession Of, and finally q
large Methodist Church. Some Of the
wounds were horrible-sone had the
lower jaw shot away, others had arms
torn off, others came in with legs dang
ling over the eides OF the wagon-all
thirsty and calling almost necessarily
for water. A fsg Of truce went out
soon after to bring 10 the wounded aud
bury the dead, and up to late hour the
work still went on. The men who bore
the flag state that they we're taken to
McCulloch in person, who treated them
with great courtesy, joked them about
their Ill success, assured them that he
intended to kill Sigel at all events, Of
tered them some refreshments, and read
lily gave them the desired permission to
carry ewsy the wounded and bury the
dead.
During all the day and last night
Springfield was the scene Of great con-
fuslon-citizens anticipating an instant
attack we're packing up their effects and
flying in crowds to all parts of the State
for safety. The troops commenced a
retreat upon Rolla about three o'clock
Ith,s morning, dceming that it would be
madness to attempt, with the present
small force, to hold the place. II not
attached they will probably reach RolIa
by Wednesday next. The Iowa Regi-
'nent will probably be at home by the
last of next week. The wounded are
all left here under competent medical
attendance.
This letter may seem like patchwork. but ]
have written it in al sorts Of places and amid
| al kinds Of distractions. WMEIE
p. ST. may add that all the wound
ed were left at Springfield under charge
Of Drs. Franklin, Davis, Smith, and two
others. They, upon recovering, will
probably be retained as prisoners Of wal
and exchanged in due time or released
90 parole. Abundance ofprovisions and
medical stores we're lett with them.
w.