The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1861-12-04
Army Correspondencc.
CAMP HUDDLEsToX,

o
y some brief remarks to that effect.
On the morning of the 18th Of The presen
: month, the 10h, 10Th and 18th Ohio Regi
ments, comprising Bcnham's Brigade, part'
il Of the 9TH, 11th, 37th and 44th Ohio Regi
n ments and two companies Of the 1st Ken
r lucky, set out toward Cotton Hin, where thu
rebels had fortified themselves, to drive then
5 from that piece. With an army of nearly
5000 men and 7 pieces of artillery, we die
. not feel backward abont giving Floyd trial
d even if he had more men and artillery, and
and all the advantages Of position during the
/ fight.
Every halfmie or so, we could see where
the rebel ,pickets had been stationed a few
6 days before. They had driven posts in the
ground and covered them over with pine
:, branches to keep them from freezing these
cold nights, as they appear to have been very
poorly clothed. ...s
We Travelled on without any other sign ol
9 them until about 4 O'Clock, P, NJ, when our
advance guard came up to the rebel outposts,
t where quite skrmish took place between
t four companies of the 18th Regiment and a
Georgia Regiment and Jenkins cavalry. Al.
s though our men had great odds to contend
. with, they put the enemy to flight with the
loss of three wounded, one of whom has
since died from the effect Of his wound.
1t was getting late when the rebels
were put to fight and it was then
lccncluded to camp at that place until the
next day, and companies C. and II. were de-
tailed for picket that night, and were duly
posted on an eminence commanding the old
position OF the rebels. 1t was a tolerable
cold night, and as we were not allowed to
build fires, you can easily imagine that it was
not over desirable TO stand picket gnard that
night Night passed away and morning
dawned at length, but We had no other view
of the rebels. 1t appeared to me that they
had left entirely, perhaps scared out of their
wits at that.
The 18th was put in scouting the country
to get the position Of the rebel Notifications
at Cotton TIill About noon messenger
brought in the intelligence that Floyd had
rctreated from Cotton Hill towards Rola.-
Our forces were drawn up in line and march
ed in pursuit of Floyd. In the evening we
stopped for an hour to eat our supper, and
again started after the renegade. In an hour
we reached their for tifcations. They were
built Of logs, and rails leaned up against them
Sc as to render it almost impossible to take
them by a charge Floyd must be perfect
fool to leave such breastwotks without Civ
ing Us little battle, even if he thought he
could not whip US.
We marched on toward Fayetteville, and
reached that place between one two A. NJ,
Of the Il h. All along the road the secesh
had scattered their tents and other camp
equpage. in order to tighten their wagons so
that we would not be able to ovcrtake their
baggage train. In one place where tNcy had
encamped, we could see where they had pi-
led up lot Of tents and burned them; in an
other, wagon loaded with ammunition had
broken down, ard 25 boxes ofcartridges were
laying on the ground and scattered in every
direction. The road was VIII te with -four t
and meal as If the barrels had been burstcd
by the rough jostling OF the wagons as they
had been hurried on the re reat. Every thing :
showed great confusion. |
Fayetteville has once been nice little {
town, but when we passed thronght we found
it almost deserted, as but one or two fami S
lies were residing in the town. The Court {
House is the incest one that | have seen a
since we let Carksburgh. The Jail is small a
md built of stone, and looks as il man {
were confined there. he would find it no easy o
matter to 'break jail" The surrounding
country is level and undulatIng, and puts me :,
more in mind of Ohio than any other part OF l.
Virginia that we have marched through since Il
We have been in the United States service. Il
At about 4 o'clock we stopped and waited II
The dawn Of day. We all laid down and
ook short refreshing sleep, and at day light
we were again upon the pursuit Nothing \
If any account occurred until nearly9 o'clocky a
when our advance guard attacked company u
If secession cavalry, and mortally wounded :,
Col. Croghan, and one or two priyates belong
ng to the southern army. Col. Croghan af- y
erwards died, and the soldier who was SO p,
to to ~, No ba Jooib bIo,- hos
;ince been commissioned as % Lieutenant. t
Would to God that each ball fred by our W
men might have the some effect We march u
ID on until 2oclock when our advance guard p
were fred into by party of rebel pic'tets, -
rat without any effect, they were soon rout- +
d and went flying in every direction. Our Il
,oys followed them and soon came in sight &c
ii camp where the secesh had stopped to tt
szTait oar approach and delay our pursuit OF 10
he main body Of FIoyd's army. Here Sc d
'ere skirnish took place, during which one III
# Schneiders cannon was brought to bear "
m them, and soon they ran away leaving ev- a
rything behind them except their muskets; :,
he road was perfectly covered with KNAPP s,
acks and blankets Poor dogs. they better 4
,ept what little clothing they had. In one ia
;rapsacls that saw opened was package Of al
etters and papers which were very amusing |
o read. In one Of the papers, FSyd's pro. "
.ramme Of action in Western Virginia was ~ ~
,ven, bat il seems as if they bad not worked C.
nut very well, SO fac, at least. 5E or
We marched on nntA night, and finding no III
more OF the rebels, the chase was given up, W
nd understood that Gen. Benham said dl
hat Floyd could oatrun him and let tn