The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-12-20
The Affair at Huntsville.
CALAMITY OF the lO4th III. Regi-
ment Vindicated.
OF THE BATTLE,
List Of h illcd, Wounded, Miss
ing, &c.

The following statement of the circum.
stances attending the disaster at Harris.
vile, Tenn, with . list Of the killed,
wounded, and missing in the lO4th Ills
Regiment, was prepared for the Chicago
Tribune by the Rev. w. C. ScoFIrLD, Of this
city, Chaplain Of the Regiment, and is
doubtless a. nearly correct as can now be
obtained. Mr.. 8. accompanied the regi.
ment from Louisville to Columbus, Ohio,
and Of course had every means of obtain
ing full Information. As he is now in this
city, We could, of course, have obtained
these facts from him personally and given
them in our own way, but that would
haye been useless labor.
| Tho 1O4th regiment ILLINOIS volunteers ar
rived at Clumbus, Ohio, this morning, and
are now quatrersd IN Camp Chase. / have
heard their account of the Hartsville affair
and am sure many of your readers would
like to see narrative in which they are all
agreed and which l doubt not is wholly
reliable.
The camp at Hartsville was more than
a mile from the town. and upon the bank
of the Cumberland on ground which, ac-
cordiny to the statement Of the AAH:atant
of the 1O6tn Ohio, ''thougI 80 : :. -p.,ii.
called . strong positie o., for ae }! 'o!!dnG.
force, was d most dangerous one for a small
command like oyoars." The whole Federal
force at this Pc ont did not exceed over :.
900 effectivg men of all arms. Against
this littls. army, Morgan in person led not
less 'isifxn 1000 men, of whom, probably,
net less than 1000 were veteran troops,
said to be the best in the Confederate SER
vice, consisting i'll part Of two Kentucky
reg ments, who were engaged in the battle
OF DonelsCn, and were there captured -
The remaining loo were guerillas and
shwhackers, who joined his command
Oh the way, and who after the surrender,
dropped out at every cross-road and at al
most ovsry hous:, and returned to their
peaceful occupations, resols ed doubtless to
deport themselves as loyal citizens hence
forth. IL addition to this large force, he
brought with him twelve pieces of artillery
to overcome the two six-pounders of the
Fedearls. The two fords near Hartsville.
one three quarters of a mile and the other
three miles from our camp, were guared by
our men Consequently, Morgan selected
a spot about seven miles distant, where
no one ever suspected an army could affect
a crossing, on account OF the steepness of
the banks; but by sloping the ground and
literally sliding dowa his horses, which, as
they reached the river, were seized and
mounted by his men, he accomplished his
purpose. Passing up by a by road he sue
ceeded in getting inside of our pIckets,
nearly ali OF whom he captured But one
discovered the enemy, and emptied rebel
saddle, alarming the camp and bringing
our men to their feet instanter
| The line Of battle was formed with the
| Indiana cavalry. lO4th on the left, the lOSth
| Ohio in the centre, and lO6th Ohio on the
| right, before a single shot was fred The
battle began an hour and half later than
Morgan intended in broad daylight, by 4
shot from one of the four rebel reserve
guns on the opposite side of the river
At the first fire, the lOSth Ohio broke
and fled, leaving our flank exposed. Fol
lowing up their advantage, the rebel. at
length found themselves in d position to
pour in a cross fire upon the 10th Ill.
and the l06th Ohio The fire became so
hot that an order was at length given to fall
back. Until then not man OF the l04th
hinched. Every officer and man stood up
bravely to the work and fought most effect
lively. Blu, the order TO fall back, which
under the circumstances was doubtless a
military necessity, threw our men into con-
siderable confusion from which they meyer
recovered
At this juncture Col Moore perceiving
thatit was useless to contend longer against
force 30 greatly superior to his own,
raised the white flag and surrendered
Capt. Ludington, with his company, who
had held a position on the opposite side
of the camp, continued to fight for some
considerable time after the surrender,
doing most admirable execution. Com
pany A, Capt Leighton, was acting as pro-
yost guard of the town and was surround
ed at the beginning by 1000 horsemen,
and compelled to surrender though not
before his men had killed FIVE and wound
ed eight of the rebels, with loss of only
one killed and three wounded. Captain
Collins, with q part Of his own and two
other companies was at Gallatin, acting as
escort of q wagon train, and was not in
the fight at all The Tooth Ohio when |
the lOSth Ohio fed, was compelled to fall |
back, but did SO Sighting and in good order. !
fought calamity. Cut off from the l04th !
H., they acted independently in the sur
render.
Such are the main features of the fight,
from which it does not appear that our !
men were easily surprised, as before a shot |
was fred they were in line O: battle. Per- |
haps there was not sufficient precaution |
taken to guard against surprise. and per. !
haps there might have been a better dis |
position of the Federal troops; but there |
could hardly have been better fighting |
than was done by the l04th for more than |
an hour They contended with the best |
troops Of the Confederate army, and only /
yielded to overwhelming numbers, The |
casualties of the regiment, and the heavy |
losses of the enemy which exceeded our |
own. being not less than l23 killed, are q !
sufficient proof that if the lO4th did not |
fight long, in fought we'll. and under the !
circumstances, WAS not at all disgraced by |
the surrender.
The fowllowing is the list of causalties
in the l04th:
Adjutant L. c. Stevens, wounded severe |
ly in leg.
coMrxY A.
hilled-S II Burnham.
Wounded-Wm. Buckley. badly i'll neck;
J Lewis, in thigh; Patrick ODonnell,
Lyman Potter.
COMPANY B.
HiNea-Lieut Moses NJ Raedolph, Crom- |
well Woodward, Joseph D Porter, George |
Seedlings. John C Vale, Howard Z White. |
Womnded-Chas. A Bradish, Gardner L |
Chase, IN foot; Samuel 2 Clark. in leg; !
James McNally, in head Tobias Z Phelps, |
Jane. Garrison, in wrist badly John .
Huder leg amputated; Newton NJ. Shelton,
leg amputated Lucian Stanford, in arm
Sam'l w Warnock, in shoulder.
COMPANY c.
Killed. Peter Sancresis, VIM Van Law,
Jas II Wilson. Thos Hastings, supposed .
killed.
Wouna.d--Capt s NJ Haslet in thigh not
seriously; Lieut. D C Rynearson. l.. leg; !
CK Brown, in side; W Winslow, in
hand; J w Bulls both eyes shot out