New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-10-17
Western Military Correspondence

Daring Adventure ScuusTragic Doing8 and Tragic
Nistake-tems from atuca and Caito-Murder Of Con
iedeTate Iiereuantr etc.
Special % the New Orleans Crescent7
CoLUNEUs, Ky, Oct. 10, 1861
1t1-. EdHoT-Yesterday morning, at O'Clock.
Col. Logwood and his cavalry company, of Ten
nessee, left this place scout in the direction of
PaduCah. They were piloted by Capt. Davis and
Lieut.. Wallace, Of the Davis Rangers, with ten or
twelve of their men-an Independent mounted
company, composed of citizens of Paducah and
McCracken county, refugees from their homes in
consequence of the Lincoln invasion Of that town
and county This afternoon, at o'clock, the
party returned to Columbus having travelled nearly
one hundred miles in thirty-one hours, over bad
roads and partly through the woods
From Lieut.. Phil Wallace have the following
particulars of the trip: At about O'Clock this
morning, having left the road and travelled ten
miles through the woods, Uhe Davis Rangers
| knowing every foot of the country in the vicinity
| of Paducah) the party approached to within mile
and a half or two miles of Paducah, getting in be-
| tween the lines Of the outer and inner pickets.
| The den0nement was exciting and sad.
The night was dark, and in the forest shade the
| men could scarcely see the horses they rode. Sud
denly they came upon cavalry outpost, stationed
| on byroad, and Immediately made a charge,
with a discharge from their guns. The Hessians,
after returning the fire. left the road and plunged
| blindly though the woods, our scouts pursuing.
| Some of our men, in their mpetuous anxiety to
| capture Hessians and horses outstripped their
companions in the pursuit., and as they re-
| turned, being now in an open place where their
| forms but not the uniforms could be seen, they
| were mistaken for the stampeding Hcssans, and
| fired upon. Only too late the mistake was dis
| covered. Private Gallagher received two shots
| minutes; and DR.. Holmes and private Fleming
were also shot and badly wounded. They all be-
| longed to Col. Logwoods company.
| But for this dreadful mistake, the party would
| nj
attending to their dying and wounded companions
compelled them to give up the chase, and to re.
turn. AS it was, they killed four of the enemy,
took two prisoners, and brought with them the six
horses of the killed and the prisoners, with the
| Maynard rifles, navy revolvers and other excellent
equipments of the unlucky six. One of the killed
was a German, who was found wounded in the
| road As the party came up, he raised to his
knees and begged for quarter, and quarter was
granted but as soon as the party passed, he be-
gan firing at them with a revolver, endeavoring al
the same time to get out of the way; upon which
some Of the party returned and dispatched him.
The firing upon and pursuit of the pickets created
a general alarm, and our daring adventurers hearc
sounds as if all the Lincolntes in and around Pa
ducah were firing of their guns.
| Lieut.. Wallace is eX-county clerk of McCrackeI
county, and his residence in Paducah is now tht
headquarters of some of the Hessan officers. The
Lieutenant before returning, found friends wht
gave him the following items of informatiOn The
late great rise in the Ohio (very visible here) hat
washed away the bridge at Paducah [Ths
barges were common wood flats, boarded up a
the Sides and covered and strung together, bridge
like across the riVerJ A structure Of open wood
= work mOered between the head of the island ant
the point where the Tennessee and Ohio rivers
meet, likewise washed away. Since these
disasters the Hessians, cut of from the speedy re
treat which the barge bridge was to ensure them
in case of defeat, and feeling in daily dread of al
attack from this'duarter, have begun fortfyng The
place with the greatest activity. One of the pris
oners taken admits that the barge bridge was con
ctr tod nj a 1y n hat thni
terror Of the Confederate army at Columbus wa
very great, and itreQuired about regiment an,
half of men to form the Ouposts or pickets aroun
, Paducah. The Marine Hospital at Paducah is con
pital, there being some 1900 of the Hessans sick
: The adventure above described, believe, is tn
liveliest that has yet taken place i'll this vicinity
, By the road taken il is % miles from here TO Pa
= ducah.
This afternoon saw dare devil, hoosier-lool
e ing fellow, who had Just returned from Cairo
where he went voluntarily as a spy for our side
= entering that town with a wagon-load of apple
l for sale, and leaving it on pretence of wishing t
fight with his loyal relatives at Paducah, H
l. brought with him, just for fun free negro, whol
| he captured in Illinois, in retaliation for the man
slaves the Illinoisans have stolen from Kentucky
k He reports Cairo we'll fortified, though but siml
G garrsoned, most OF the troops having been sci
!, back to st. Louis, to help Fremont in his little III
Il dertaking of bagging Price. This spy and his fe
low-traveers Just such customers as you rea
r. of in " Nick Of the Woods in the early histol
-. of Kentucky men, naturally rough and nobl
@ hearted, and in war cunning and courageous un
e. | death.
e Yesterday, a lieutenant named Cross, q cou
not learn to what company or regiment he b
,. | longed,) went with a friend on visit to tarI
house. some ten miles back of this place. Short
n after leaving the house, on their return, the tv
e were fired upon by party of men concealed
the woods, and the lieutenant was killed. tt
10 murder is attributed to some of the few Unions
i, with which until lately this vicinity abounded.
No gunbOats to-day. I. G.