The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1862-08-21
4 Terrible lesson on Guarding Rebel
Property.
ST.. LOUIS, Au gust 9, 1862,

Corresponds &c CT the Cincinnati COMMERCIAL
ST. LOUIS, August 9, 1862,
1t was on that terrible march of Curtis army
from Batesville to Helena Both the land routes
tor commissary supplies-by way of Rola and by
way of Pilot knob-h8d been closed in anticpa-
ton of en immediate opening of White River by
the gunboats, and transportation of supplies by
water When the enterprise failed, you remem-
Der here, was a large army far inland in an enc
mys country, that must double-quick for subsis-
| tence CT starve in the forests of Arkansas. For
there was nothing like suthciency OF provisions
in that wild country for such host; and even il
there had been, an appropriation of them would
not have then, been adjudged constitutional So
this faded, harassed, hungry army made straight
| for the Mississippi, as for salvation.
| 1t was on this terrible march. / have the story
| from most reliable man, who was with the ex-
pedition camp.follOwer. i he division OF Steele
was proceeding q day in advance of the division
of Osterhaus This noble army of the Union, with
the battles glory of Pea Ridge yet fresh upon l.,
| scars and wounds of guerllas all over it. worn
out, halt-starved, still kept its columns, strag-
CLING into no pantry, cellar, or barnyard but hold
ing sacred the private property ofthe rebel enemy
and even guardingit when requested, against any
danger of violation. Steeles division, CHANGED in
its line of match upon settlement of thirty slave
| hoders-fve or six mansions i'll succession, at in.
| tervals of plantation apart-who avOwed them
| selves secessionsts and asked guard to protect
their possessions ag ainst the page of such stray.
| glers as might, for the moment, forget the New
! Testement mode of warfare, and hate tho enemy
according to the old Mosaic dispensation, down in
Egypt A guard was promptly detailed, consist
ing of ergeant and one soldier, for the first man
sion, and two soldiers for each of the Others to re-
main OH duty till the division (Osterhaus' should
arrive. The guards went to their posts and the
| marching columns passed on.
! Next morning, the advance of the division (Os-
terhaus) came up, and the spectacle that smote
them in the face at the first house they reached
was almost too horrible tor belief The soldier of
the guard lay in the yard killed and br utally man
gled and the sergeant was hanging by the heels
from the highest limb of tree near byWith TWEEN
ty-one bullet holes through his body From de-
iiant and scornful hints of the she devils of the
house, it mani fest that the male members of
the protected family had helped perpetrate this in
credible crime and then had fled with their asso
ciates! The guard at each of the other houses too
had been made way with-as prisoners, the women
sald-and the male inmates had all disappeared
Observe that the sentiment of the division (Os-
terhaus9 then went back to the Old Testament
doctrine, of an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a
tooth! The commander could not have con.
trolled that sentiment if he had desired | know
Osterhaus, and | do not believe he desired. Abra
ham Lincoln himself could not have quashed pro-
ceedIHgs then, however firmly he had put his foot
down." There was only the one punishment
available: Remove the women and children p
And the swapping, hungry flames set upon and
gobbIed up every vestige of human habtation
there, and licked each plantation as clean as a
new prairie.
When the rebels returned presume they found
IN the ruins of their peaceful abodes, monstrous
violation ofthe constitution IAN utter disregta rd
OF the usages Of civilized warfare! But hey
smelt wholesome lesson, to>wit that the devil
ia 10 be fought with fire. Verify, they shall have
a hot gospel preached to them henceforth. The
army Of the southwest will, hereafter, temper the
warfare with more justice and less mercy. We |
must crush these rebels, though we have to de-
3end to their arena of fighting, to accomplish it.
They are found II the very act Of high treason, |
sven on theirhest behaviour they cannot reasona-
ply complain if they are treated as outlaws. But
when to hi ghtreason they superadd such monstrous
Is crimes, this, vengeance must be let loose up
N them, cath the Lord of Hosts!