The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1862-12-18

the death.
Yours truly, G. ".
CAMP on TALLAHATCH T. RI EK, Miss ;, }
lie t.h, lSh2. :
Mr.. Adcorttser:-As tnc heading of
this letter will show, we have at length
re ched the stronghold of Pcmbcrton
and Price Here, from all previous indi-
cations, We expected a big fight; from
the strength and position Of the rebel
forces, AMI their frequent declarations
that they would retreat no farther, but
dou'd dispute our crossing here until the
last man fell led some Of the boys to sup
pose that we had at length found that
long lost and much talked Of place known
as the "last ditch' This ''last ditch
the boys have been very anxious to see
for some time, so they pressed forward
through the mud and Stops anxious to
catch glimpse of a thing they have been
journcying for eighteen months, and de
termincd, at the same time, to speedily
ill it with dead rebe's; but, rs usual,
whom .hey trusted to the courage of the
Southern Chivnlry they were badly dis
appointed. Instead Of meeting with a
furious resistance and having merry
time in crossing the river, they found
the secesh had gloriously skedaddlcd,
and abandoned their immense earthworks
and Notifications. Ga entering the rebel
works our boys found but one man left to
look after the yankees, and he, instead OF
manfully battling for his rights, aud glo.
riously dying in the "last ditch,' SO far
forgot his dignity as to welcome the
"cussed abolitionists' into the fort, and
tell them he was glad to see them, "kasc
this here thing is jist about played ont,
il is. Cot emmy terbackcr, stranger -
Ono Of the boys handed him "boot-
heel Taking half Of it in his mouth,
he continued, Il haint a gwinc tu tite
the id ablutionists emmy longer,
haint. 1se a gwine tu take the oath and
gwinc hum, | is. kasc why; kase we
haint making cnnything in this here
war, we haint; that s-what -thc-mat-
ter" The boys conducted him to the
rear and then started in search of others
The rebels were well fortified here, and
stand on their part would have cost US
many lives to have Lriven them out of
their works
Repor. says they have gone to jackson,
there to make their final stand. Grant
is pushing on after them with his main
body. lie must have fully $4,000 men,
and these men will fight; they are not
afraid of the "last ditch" Should he
meet Pemberton a terrible battle will
take place that will end in the annihila-
tion Of the rebel army \ decisive battle
must take place before long. The rebel
Generals cant escape us much longer.
Our march from Moscow to this place
was without incident. We left Moscow
on the 2Sth and in two days reached
Lumkics' Mills, eight miles south of
Holly Springs, making ~ miles. This
shows what We can do when we expect
to have fight. Holly Springs is place
Of 5000 inhabitants; it is very hand.
some place and contains many beautiful
buildings, both public and private. The
private dwellings and gardens show the
great wealth of the owners Nothing
hero indicates the presence Of winter,
shrubs and flowers in the garden are in
full bloom. These, of course, are of the
harder kin ls We marched through
the town in regular order, with the bands
all playing. There were quite number
of citizens on the sidewalks that looked
rather gloomy on US as We passed The
darkies, on the other hand, showed their
worries, danced, shouted, and testified
their Joy in every concievcablc way. A
large number of ladies came out to see
US as We passed, The majority of them
wore extremely handsome and showed
that they were ladies, not only in their
looks, but in their manners, for not an