The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1862-09-19
SEPTEMBER 10, 1862.

the men retired in the greatest confu-
sion. Iregret to say that in this battle
Col Link of the 18th Indiana was dan
gerously wounded, and Col Mcmillan of
the Ninety-sixth Ohio, was shot in the
hand.
After passing through Richmond, by
your permission, / organized a rear
guard of the scattered men of most all
regiments that had been in the several
battles, and took command myself, for
the purpose of covering our rear on the
retreat The rear behaved well, keep
ing back the enemys advance until we
had retreated.two miles on the turnpil .
road to Lexington, when the scattered
troops in front came to halt / left the
rear guard in charge of Major Morris of
the sixty-sixth Indiana, and pressed for
ward myself to ascertain the cause of the
halt On arriving in 'front.' | found a
small squad of the rebel cavalry formed
in the road | attempted to form an ad-
vance guard, but owing to the fact that
the men had been defeated in three en-
gagements they were so perfectly demor-
allied that found it impossible to rally
more than a hundred men. This small
guard cleared the road in few moments
and continued steadily to advance driv-
ing the rebels from three different stand
points. After passing little over four
miles from Richmond, we discovered the
enemy in heavy force conceale in a corn
field on the left side of the road In at
tempting to drive them, my little band
was completely cut to pieces, having sew
enteen killed and twenty-five wounded.
Lieut. Col Woolfe fell at this point while
ordering forward the men. Lient. Os-
born my aid-de-damp, was severely woun-
ded. Lieut.. Kercheval, O. NJ 7lth In
diana Volunteers, received a severe
wound in the left arm which rendered
amputation necessary. The enemy kill
and crippled a large number of horses
here which entirely blocked up the road.
1t being now about seven o. clock in the
evening, and having no men to make
any further resistance with, | attempted
to make my escape, accompanied by Col.
Lucas, Capt Baird, and several other of
ficers We rode through the enemy S
lines and proceeded in a westerly direc-
ton for half a mile, when we came upon
squadron of the enemys cavalry, who
commanded us to halt, at the same time
firing npon us My horse was killed and
fell upon me. inluring me severely in the
breast, and a short time afterward | was
arrested by the enemys cavalry and
made prisoner.
/ deem it proper here to state that the
troops which l found at Richmond when
/ arrived there, three days before the bat
tie, had only been in the service from ten
to twenty-five days. Some of the regi-
and knew not what line of battle was.
They were undisciplined, inexperienced,
and had never been taught in the man
ual of arms The artillery which / had
was composed of men CT different regi.
ments-some of infantry and few ar
tillerymen-whoh had been separated from
their commands at Cumberland Cap
They had been sent from Lexington
without eaissons or a proper supply OF
ammunition, being quite deficient in
fuses and friction primers. The ammu-
milton of some of the pieces was entirely
spent in the first engagement of the
morning, and the ammunition of all had
been quite exhausted at the close of the
last battle in the evening
Taking into consideration the rawness
of our troops, there has been no battle
during the war in which more bravery
was displayed by officers and men, with
few exceptions, than there was in the
four battles near Richmond.
/ have neglected to state, in the proper
place, that | was joined, in the second
engagement by portion of the Sd Ken
tucky infantry, who had passed from
Gen. Morgan command, at the Cumber.
land Gap, with some Government horses
These men dismounted, hitched their
horses, and did excellent service. l dc
not know the names of any of the &C
complished officers who commanded this
detachment, or | should gladly give them
place in this report
| cannot close my report without re
ferring, especially, to the gallant acts ol
some of the officers which came directly
under my own observotion. Capt r. c.
Kise, my Assistant Adjutant-General
Capt Biddle, United States army; Lieut.
Osborne of the 55th Indiana; Col. Met
calfe; Mr. VIM. Goodloe, of Lexington
KY; Mr.. Bennett of Madison county
and one or two other citizens, whose
names | do not remember, who compos
ed my staff on the day Of the battles, who
are entitled to great credit for the ser
vices which they. rendered me, and fol
the prompt manner in which they dis
charged their duty, regardless of person
al danger. am particularly under obi
cations to Captain Biddle, for valuable
suggestions in relation to the POSTING
and arranging of the artillery.
am under great obligations to the
gallant Lieut.. Wicklife Cooper, DR.. Ir
win, Captains Baldwin, Stacy and Ken
drick, of your staff. some of whom haC
travelled twenty-five miles after hearing
the cannonading of the morning, fol
valuable aid given me during the second
and third engagements. Coils. Lucas
Link, Mahan, Korff, Landrum, Munday
Mcmillan, Majors Kempton, Orr, Morri
son, Captain Baird, Lieut. Lampier, anc
Sergeant Brown, of the battery, great,
distinguished themselves during the ac
ton, together with other officers, who's,
names have not got
The enemy say they had about 1905
infantry, 1000 cavalry, and Is pieces 0
artillery, who were, all veteran troops