The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1862-04-17

I
the FIRST day and as they advanced with
hideous yells and cheers our artillery and
infantry fell :.sullenly back, sending them
showers of she'll and bullets and cheer for
cheer. There was no panic, no retreating
on our side. We slowly retired in good
order, contesting literally every inch OF
ground. Your readers may Imagine how
fierce the conflict was, when, notwithstand-
ing our surprise, the enemy only advanced
two miles after fighting from daylight until
darkness shrouded the bloody field, but
could not close the combat.
During the night of the 9th our heavy
guns played on the enemy with great eth
cheney, while the entire army Rnxiously
awaited daylight, to begin again the strug-
gle. In addition to the solemn boom OF |
our guns, frequent peals of thunder and |
vivid flashes of lightning llumined the
CORY field and lent CHASTITY visage to our |
dead. One of the most violent thunder
storms ever known gave its horrors to the
scene, completely drenehing the whole
army. Daylight finally appeared and both
armies, within two hundred yards of each
other, caught up their arms and eagerly
sprung again to the conflict. We had been
t reinforced during the night by about ten
thousand men under Buell. and Wallace.
The enemy had also received some twenty
thousand endorsements. The battle now
became q question of pluck and endurance
and was commenced by orr right wing.
The enemy had worked all night in
/ throwing up two. miles of log breastworks
along our centre. This was charged by our
force at right angles with the work, and It
was worth ten years Of life tosee our gall
liant boys charge. Hoosiers," Hawk
| eyes" and g Suckers came up splendidly
and swept onto the secesh with cheer
/ and a yell which early fereshadowed our
/ success, The cheer was taken up along
our line by The storm-drsnched heroes, and
you could see from the sparkling eyes
which spoke along Our extensive front that
the boys were going in to conquer or
to die. The enemy fought braVely on the
18th, defending every foot they bad gained
and slowly retiring. At noon we had re-
covered all that we lost on the 9th and the
enemy were rapidly retreating. AT five
o'clock their line was completely broken,
and Veateh's brigade sent the "black horse"
flying after the skedadling secssh infantry.
Darkness again closed on us and saved them
from humiliation.
Then oGs Sugles sang truce, for the night cloud
had lowered,
And thousands sank. down on the ground over
/
;, On the morning of the 9th the weary,
worn-out boys again seized their arms and
!. started in pursuit of the fngitives, and have
succeeded in capturing few thousand
prisoners, the exact number am at present
unable to determine. This is q brief
synopsis of our sixty hours fight. 1 dare
. not trespass on your space by relating 10
stances Of gallantry, whether of Drigades,
To- svHi uiG nvo hri do a
one regiment, however, particularly distin-
guished themselves, refer to the End
brigade of the 4th division, Col James O.
Veatch commanding; and the 18th Indiana
) Regiment, Veatch's brigade, was one of the
q first in action, and gave the enemy the first
! serious check. The brave Colonel was con-
stantly with his men ; dauntless and cool
: his commands ranalong thefront, inspiring
his men with confidence and courage
! When two horses were shot from under
/ | him he leisurely mounted third, and his
+ voice rung out as cool as if on review. He
! opposed Bragg with his solid columns Of
i twelve thousand men, protected two bat
ven U5etTi m sfe 7srIehfy... 'fu6n sa6SFiy 1fes
t firing, he poured continuous fire into the
|. enemy for ten long hours. In an incessant
! ere he formed his line of battle four times
= eliciting Gen. McOlernsnd's thanks for his
| enemy were unable TO outaank or surround
t him, and caused prisoner to remark, "You
r amt no Bulls Run fellahs-shuah % He
D was ably supported by all the field officers
: OF the brigade, especially by Col. Hall oil
e the 14th Illinois and the gallant Foster oil
Q the 25th indiana. Each of these officers
I behaved with great courage, and cannot be
D too highly commended. All the company
. officers are entitled to praise; more daunt-
less soHls never drew sword than Saltz-
r man, Larkin, Rheinlandsr and Walker, oil
! the 18th Indiana. The friends of the 25th
have reason to be proud of the gallantry OF
!. the old +" Twepty-fves.n
\ The most gloomy part remains to be told.
: | must mention the dead and dying; for a
! square Of FIVE miles the field is strewn with
: the heaps of dead and wounded-friend and
foe lying side by side, in about equal num-
sers. Most of the deaths were caused by
! shots in the head, while the number of
| bayonet wounds bear testimony to the can.
culinary character of the conflict Vestch's
brigade suffered terribly, the loss not vet
ascertained. The 25th Indiana has lost Id
killed about thirty, including Capt. Saltz-
man and LIST LieutenGnts Patterson and
Brickett. Amongst the wounded are Col.
Morgan Capt. Darby, Lieuts. Fellows,
Darling, Boren, Emerson, and perhaps one
hundred non-commissioned officers and pri-
Yates. Shell bruises and spent balls are not
considered worth speaking OF, for almost all
engaged have their clothes ventilated by
bullets. The enemy, in their preeipitatel
flight, presumed upon our kindness, and
lett their dead on the field for US to take
care of. This we have done; but il went
hard to take care of the "chivalry" who
bsyoneted our wounded to keep from taking
care of them when they were crazy enough
to suppose they could whip the Western
boys. Veatohss brigade had at least one
half placed hoTs dS combat on the 9th and
It'll. You can readily perceive from this,
the ferceness of the conflict and the daant-
less courage Of men who fought sixty hours
during pelting storm, over field slippery
with blood and covered with the maneIed
remains of their comrades. You may in.
quire how the boys feel now, while the SOL
emn music of our bands. playing requiems
for our gallant dead, come borne by every
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