Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-03-28
Letters from New Madrid.
New MADRID, March II


before; were glad to meet again. I found
Joe Fitch, Tom Moore, one of the Coch-
ran boys, and Bill Bradshaw in the 63d
Ohio, Bradshaw is 1st Lieutenant
He is the great fiddler from Chester.
After the battle is over, if am spared,
1 will send you as full an account of it
as | can.
I will now tell you what Regiments
are here, as far as knew: The 9th,
39th, 43d and 63d Ohio; 10th, 10th and
51st Illinois; 5th and 10th Iowa; 59sh
Indiana; 8th Wisconsin; 26th Missouri.
Also the 1st Battalion of Illinois Sharp
shooters, and an Ohio Battery raised at
Cincinnati. .
| will send an article to the Iezegru1h h
after the battle is fought, if am spared,
and give them all the particulars, as far
as can get them. a.. ',.l r-a
If fall in the coming battle, remem-
Der that lose my life in holy cause,
striving to do my duty as becomes a
brave man. 1t will doubtless be hard
contest, and many brave man will never
again see on earth those he loves. Weep
not for me if / should fall, but pray
and know that it is the lords will.
Your affectionate son,
IoHN W. BARTLETT.
CAMP OF New MADRID, !
March 10th, 1862. I
Deor Parcnfs-The battle is fought,
and | am still alive and we'll.
At six o clock on the evening of the
18th We were ordered into line The
10Th and 18th Illinois were seut on q
secret expedition, We left our. camp
about nine O'Clock, not knowing what
we we're going to do. On the way out
we were told hat we were expected to
move on in silence, and that we were
going. to plant some cannon as close to
the enemys works as possible, in which
we succeeded admirably. We shot one
of the rebel pickets without alarming
them at the fort; got within halfa mile
of the fort, md began throwing up
breastworks. We worked on in silence
until eleven o'clock, when Captain be-
longing to the 10th Reg't was shot by
a rebel picket. We continued our work
in. silence, but were fired upon several
times after II O'Clock, no person being
hurt, however.
When daylight came our work was
finished, and cannon mounted, (four in
number0 three thirty two Founders, and
one ten-inch howitzer. We immedi-
ately opened fire on them, which they
returned, and the shot and shell few
thick and fast from both sides during
the greater part Of the day.
Our position was well chosen, as the
enemy could not see us, there being a
hill that hid US from the enemy, but did
not obstruct our view of them
The rebels made one grand shot about
8 o'clock in the morning Their ball
hit one Of our guns in the muzzle, dis
abling it, killing two men and wounding
FIVE others. That was the only shot
that did any damage in our works, their.
shot mostly going over our heads into
the woods,.a mile in our rear, and killed
three men in the 43d Ohio, who were
posted in our rear. The firing confin-
ued until sundown, but did us no fur
ther harm than | have mentioned
We have no way of learning how.
many there were killed on the rebel
side, if any; but the supr osition is, that
their loss was heavy; but this is only
conf njecture. They (the rebels) had five
gun boats in the engagement, and we
disabled two of them.
We layed in our intrenchments all
night, exposed to heavy shower
When morning came we found that the
rebels had "sk edaddled," leaving all
their heavy guns-some spiked, and
others dismounted.. They threw all
their light artillery in the river, along
with a large number of tents and other
camp equipage. It is supposed that
they left stores and property to the
amount of 100000 worth. There were
about twenty five large guns in both
forts, and we cannot learn how many
small ones. They also left large lot
of anmunition'and small arms.
This, think, may be called a brill
liant victory, considering the number of
men engaged, tbs small loss on our side,
and the manner in which it was done.
Just as [ am writing this letter, a shell
which some of the boys brought here
from the battlefield exploded, killing
one man and wounding another. This
is all at present.
Your affcctionate son,
JnnN.