The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-02-01

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sure you. And then the roads and fields were
awfuIly cut up, and mud was plenty, ~ II had
rained good part Of the forenoon. Our men
laid down - rest without mouthful to eat.
many Of u16m had eaten no breakfast; but al
Capt Uron said, "the man who could not fast
two days over zollicoaers scalp, was no man q
ail;" and there was no gfunbling, q there was
no necessity Tor It. However, the teams came
up in :he nigh. With 9: :ackers and bacon.
Now here is the summary, % far q know,
up to Sunday night: We are within q mile OF
ZolIicoffsr's ,cncsmpmens; Zollicofer is killed
and his forces have been whipped--some two
hundred Of them being killed and q great many
wounded; one Of CrittendenS Aids, Lieuten.
ant-CoIonel and three Surgeons are taken pris-
onerss but how many more / know not: two
pieces Of artillery and three wagons were left,
and the roads were strewed with guns. blankets.
coats, haversacks. and everything else that i'm.
peded flight; OF our side from 20 to 80 are killed,
and from 90 to 100 wounded, having no prison
ers taken that we know Of s9
On the morning of the Goth, soon after day,
ligh,, several Of the regiments were moved for
ward toward the breastworks, and cannon ball
or two fired over into them; but no ansyer was
made, all was quiet. The regiment moved stead.
lily on and into their Notifications, it being as
certained that there was no one to oppose them.
The enemy having crossed the river during the
night, or early in the morning, the rout was
complete. II seems 90 though there Was per.
feet panic among them, their tents having been
left standing, and their blankets, clothes, cook.
ing utensils, letters, papers, ETC., ell left behind
The position is pretty strong one, but not near
50 much 90 ss We had been led to suppose
Huts were built, nicely chincked with mud, many
OF them having windows in them for ccmforta-
BILE winter quarters How much work the devils
have done here, and how little it has proHted
them! have been wandering around all day,
seeing and hearing what could. The Cumber-
land makes one side Of the encampment safe, BY
an abrupt bank $50 feet high. went down to
the river bottom, 70 which there is . road on
our side. Here were al or nearly all of their
wagons, some twelve or fifteen hundred horses
and mules, harness, saddles, sabres, guns; in
fact, everything. Il was complete stampede,
and BY far the most disastrous defeat the South
ern Confederacy has yet met with. Ten pieces
OF cannon, with caissons are also here. To all
appearances, they seem to have completely lost
their senses, having only one object in view, and
that WAS to run somewhere and hide themselves.
Now, to account for the battle taking place
as It did. There were IL rebel regiments here
two being unarmed; and Zollicoifer who was
the presiding devil, although Crittenden had
taken the command, thought the 10th Indiana
and Kinneys battery we're just two regiments by
themselves, and did not know that they were
supported by the balance Of the division, which
was out Of sight behind on account Of the tim
Der; and he conceived the happy idea Of rush
ing upon and capturing these two regiments to
get their arms to supply his own unarmed men,
So he took all the available force he had-some
5000 or 5000 men-and made the attack-with
what result has already been shown. Now this
only goes to prove that, in order to put this re-
beion down, we must do something. In this
fight four Of our regiments whipped and com.
pletely routed the great army that was under
Zollicofer, killed the old devil himself, and may
be Crittenden too, for he has not been heard
of since the battle. The prisoners we have
taken, estimate our force at 10000; bah we
can take them any time, aad any place, and
giving them the oddt 8 to l, whip them every
time. Their cause Is . bad one, they know it
and the only way their men can be induced to
fight at all, is by their leaders getting in the
very front rank with them.
The I'd Minnesota captured banner from the
Mississippi regiment, which had on It the "Mis.
sissippi Butchers" They may be good butchers
At home, but they make mighty awkward fist
at butchering Yankees. They had better &c
man has q trophy of this victory there are
plenty to get, certain and ! ut writing this
now with Louisisna Zouave head.dress and
tassel on my head.
! give you copy of two or three of the
documents found in the camp. The following
was found on table in one Of the cabins:
"COL. SPEARs:-We fought you bravely and
desperately, but misguidedly. We leave here
under pressing circumstances, but do not
feel that We are whipped. We will vet sue
coed, and -"
Here the circumstances became SO p,essing
that the writer did not wait TO finish the
aniS tnIA CnoA tho To
be Major John w. Bridgman, of the Tennessee
Cavalry.
The following was written on piece Of brown
paper, with pencil: -s.,5t
"JAs. l9th,- 1852. hsH1xe CRszK.
The great battle at Fishing Creek took place.
Our loss was great. Supposed to be eight hum
dred killed and wounded, and great many ta-
ken prisoners. We will try them again at our
breastworks if they come to ua" 81
At the bottom of the paper, upside down, is
. name cannot make out, and then "Polasky." !"
here is another paper which is evidently the
result of council of war, held before the
force came across on the north side of the Cum.
| berland:
THE result of your crossing the river now,
will be that you will be repulsed and lose all
the artillery taken over. EsrIIL."
Dec. l4th, 81.
"Another Wild Cat disaster is all zoe can look
forward to. FuIKERsoH.n
eve will cross over and fnd that the enemy
| has retired to place that We will not deem ad-
visable to attack, and then wo will return to
this encampment. LoRIxa."
Estill is Colonel from Middle Tennessee
Fulkerson is Major, and one Of the big heads
of the Secession party in Tennessee. It seems
there was Opposition in the camp to the move
on to this side Of the river, but old Zollieoffsr,
the head devil Of the army, ruled the roost and
did como over. Some of these predictions
proved TO be strictly true it did turn out to be
avid Cat" disaster, only worse, and they did
lose oil their artillery and more than all, the
old he devil Zollicoffer lost his life. The route
has been complete and total. His whole force
10 entirely scattered, and If the victory Is fol-
lowed up across the river, they will never rally
together again.
It is now nearly three O'Clock in the morning
while write, and with few reflections this ii.
ready long letter-perhaps too long-shall bc
closed.
What lucky thing that Zollicofer was bold
enough TO attack our force had he not done
10, no battle would have been fought here for Z
. long time. And this victory cannot be cred.
tied TO the skill Of Brigadier General. The
battle was entirely accidental the position was
entirely chance position, and the men them.
selves, led by their Colonies, fought the battle
and won 1t. The 10th Indiana got into the
fight supporting their pickets, the lth Ken
tscky and 9th Ohio rushed In, without orders,
to support the 10th. Whether the I'd Ninneso.
ta had orders 70 60 in or not, do not know
And these -four regiments did all the fighting
that was done; and that Was enough to whip
the eight regiments ZollicoAer had In the en-.
gagement II these Brigadisr Generals must
be paid big wages BY the Government, Why
Just pay II 70 them and let them stay ct home,