The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-08-28

oe"e'e''S a." IRON hall around SlSnaI
officer Davis; Of the Rineo, stationed
himself on the tower of the State House;
from which elevation lie Rad an excel |
lent view of the field, and could signal
to the vessels where tn throw in their
shells. After the battle had ragged for
sofHe time the Union troops began to
fall back on the Penitentiary, when
several we'll directed shots from the
eleven inch guns of the boats kept the
rebels in check. Shortly after this the
firing ceased.
At haff-past three F. M. firing was
fe-opened; tire gun,oats Kineo and
Katindin Smelling the woods in different
directions where Tire enemy were, do.
ing great execution. 1t has been stated
that one shell from the Kineo killed
from forty TO sixty rebels. Towards
evening the firing again, ceased; but
the gunbOats continued to send III a
shell every half hour in different parts
of the woods during the whole night,
with the view of keeping the rebels AT
hay but they had already fled, the gal
liant charge of the Sixth Michigan hav-
ing completed their discontinue.
BREcKINRIDGE's SWORD TAKEN.
The rebels were led by Major Gen
eral Breckenridge, who scampered off
in such haste that he left his sword be-
hind. 1t was picked up on the field,
and is retained "a trophy. Perhaps
it was this circumstance that gave rise
to the report that the traitor lost his
fright arm. There can be no mistake
as TO whom the sword belonged, for
Breckinridge's name was engraved on
it. There were two other Generals on
the field, namely, Clarke, and Ruggles.
and one Acting brigadier Allen. Gem
eral Clarke was taken prisoner, and il
now at Baton Rouge, in charge of a
personal friend. The rebel troops have
been variou>,y estimated at from five
to eight thousand, while the Unionisis
did not exceed two thousand five hund.
red in number. For the number of
killed and wounded | must refer the
readers of the Herald to the official ac.
counts which will accompany this.
f The principal documents were lost,
however, on the 'Whitenan, when she
{ sank, of which catastrophe fnl &C
, count will be given in another part Of
| this letter.
. Thus ended the battle of Baton
Rouge, by 10 means the greatest, but
certainly tie best fought and most stub
bornly contested ofany during thepres
ent war. 1t would have dispersed to
, the four winds of Heaven, had not that
! been done already, the wretch2d delu'
r sion that Southerners are superior IN
valOr to those whom they contemptu
Ously term Yankees"
DESCRIPTION OF THE REBEL RAM AR
KANSAS.
: While the firing was going on smoke
was seen up the river behind bend
1t was ascertained, that it proceeded
from the rebel ram Arkansas, in pur
suance of the programme laid down
for her to attack the Union vessels
, while their land forces were dealing
I with our troops. 1t seems, however
that the commander of the kansas
thought better of the matter ard did
not venture down; for there was the
. Union ram Essex, az well AZ other gun
boats, ready to give her warm recep
ton, and at night the officers Of the
!. Union vessels wondered where the Ar
y kansas was. Their curiosity being
/ stimulated by the continued absence o
the nomdescript, or What is it," a,
Barnum would term it, it was deter
4 mined that as the mountain would no
). go To Mahomet, Mahomct would go t.
the mountain, aud go he did being rep
resented by the Essex leading, closel,
followed by the Sumner, Kineo and tn,
Katandin. On turning the elbow be
e yond which her s Loke had been seer
+ on the previous day, the monster wa,
# discovered to be on shore, close into III,
j. bank. The rebel gunboats Webb anc
] Music were by her, but they prudentl,
!. retired on seeing our gunboats. 1
d seems that the Arkansas was worked
$ by two engines, on ore wheel, and tina
# both must be in running order or neitl,
4 err will act. One of the engines go
: ont of order, and the other would no
j work without its fellow, in consequence,
: of which she got under the bank.
h in possible that the Webb and Musi,
k were there to tow her off, but that, o,
4 seeing our boats approaching she wa
= set on fire.
o As the Union gunboats approached
Il several shot were fired at the Esse.
= from the Arkansas one or two of then
$ taking effect, but without doing an,
;: damage. In consequence of the un
J. movable position of the Arkansas sh'
could not bring more than one or tive
of her guns to bear, or she might hav,
: given the Essex great deal of trouble
> as the latter vessel is quite unmanagea
: BILE. The Essex ran past the Arkansa,
to part Of the river where there is a
D reach of some strength, and opened on
ID her formidable antagonist at five hun
e dred Yards with three guns with solid
II shot. One of these took effect righ;
y under the port in the starboard bow OF
: the Arkansas, and split in two from the
e force of the concnssion. Commander
Porter then ordered the same gun tc
i. be loaded with an incendiary shell of hi.
; own invention, and, without moving
u the gun to take new aim, the shell
: was fired, entering just where the solid
\ shot had struck. Immediately Jet al
), flame was shouting upwards from The