The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-07-26
Rron Gen. Cufs1Ds Army
Correspondence Of the Chicago Tribune.

d8LBuAs ARK July IL, 1o01.
It may b Of some interest to your readers 70
from one whose position Was such - to enable
him to zee clearly very much that occurred on
that day. E
On the afternoon Of the 10th inst., the divi.
sion under command Of Gen. Steele arrived at
Cache River, and found barricade of felled
timber on the opposite bank, from which some
skulking rebels fired on the advance. They did
no damage. and were instantly routed by .
small cavalry force of the Iowa Third Cavalry,
under command Of Col. Busy, with the loss Of
come four or Eve killed rebels. Through the
afternoon and early in the morning, our troops
were often fred at BY the concealed enemy az
they would 60 Il. the river for water.
Early on the morning Of tn 7th, I was order.
ed BY Col. Hovey, commanding the second bri.
gade Of Gen. Steele's Division, to detail four
companies from the SD Illinois (Normal) regi.
ment to report to Col. Harris, of the 18th Wis.
consin, who with four companies Of his own re.
giment-in all eight csnpanies-was to make .
Reconnaissance in advance.
was ordered, with four small squads detail.
ed from the four infantry regiments of the di.
vision, TO follow the force Of Col. Harris, and to
remove the barricade, and whatever other OBJ.
structious might be in our way The troops
worked with will, and the barricade which
had taken the labor of msny slaves for days to
make, vanished in less than two hours before
the soldiers of the Northwest.
Just as the last tree had been rolled from the
road Col. Hovey rode up, and bidding the lieu.
tenants in command Of the different forces of
pioneers to follow with their commands, rode
on with Colonel Hovey to see what other labor
might be required. After riding Eve miles we
came upon Col. Harris, who had chased come
rebel pickets, and halted for the moment at the
plantation of Mr.. Hill, Colonel in the Rebel
army.
After some minutes delay Col. Harris took a
road to the right of Hills plantation, to explore
It. Col Hovey and myself prepared to return
TO the camp, to move on with the rest of the
troops. We had just got into our saddles, when
some scattered firing was heard In the direction
taken by Col. Harris, and supposing it TO be .
mere affair Of . struggling picket, we rode out
towards the firing. As We approached, the firing
become more frequent, and We hurried on more
rspidly.
We found that Col. Harris had, with a com.
pany of skirmishers, followed at little distance
by the rest Of his force, penetrated the ambus'
cade Of 8 very superior force-how much larger
it was impossible in the dense and marshy wood
to accurately tell. Every bush, every clump of
cane, every tree, formed . cover sor the rebels,
and rifles, shot guns and ,revolvers, poured fu-
rious discharge upon that company of skrmish
ers. COL Harris was here wounded twice-be-
ing shot through the arm and leg. His horse,
too, wss shot In the shoulder, and his saddle
received bullet. Cool, as if on dress parade,
Col. Harris ordered the command to fall back,
intending, probably, as actually happened, to
bring the fight upon more open ground where he
might have the advantage of seeing the force he
was fighting
Unfortunately in their eagerness to see what
was going on, and in the common mistake that
it was only q small force Of rebel stragglers en-.
gagged, some of the companies had fallen into
some DISORDER, and were unable, all of them, to
execute their order properly. Three or four
companies, however, representing both the regi
ments from which the command had been taken,
were in good order. The others fell back short
distance, reformed, and came back eager to show
that it Was not fear that had taken them for 4
moment from the front of the fight.
Meantime ss the four small companies fell
back from the edge of the wood, the rebels
charged on them. Yelling like savages and
swearing like demons, on charged the boosted
Texan Rangers. Itseemed as if our little force
must be swept away like q leaf by whirl
wind.
At this moment Col. Hovey sprang from hi.
horse, seized q gun, placed himself before the
determination which had an electric effect
rebellion in the Southwestern strong, charg
ing on less than two hundred Illinois and Wis
consin troops, headed by Col. Hovey. Unde,
the direction Of their leader our little bani
held their FIRE until the enemy were within
thirty PAGES, when they opened or. them ( "
fully. The emptied saddles, the riderles,
horses, rushing back into the now waveriu,
ranks, the dead bodies, and the grooming
wounded rebels, showed the effect of that vel
aimed fire. se 80
Having fred his first gun (thereby emptyine
saddle) Col. Hovey seized q loaded rife of
dead rebel, and discharged it, His command
also, reloaded and fred. The braggart Rang
ers wavered, fell into confusion-received On
other volley hardly less effective than the frs
,and-ded! The crisis was passed. The off
GERS Of the rebel force made every possible ex
ertion TO recover the fortunes of the day
They Gould be heard exhorting, cheering ant
swearing at their men. They tried to flank oul
from the first repulse Of their charge, Colone
Hovey lost no momene Of time, but used hi
force-augmented now by the return Of tn,
companies which had at first fallen into disor
der-vith such complete energy and skill tina
the amazed rebels found themselves everywher,
met with murderous fire, and forced to aban
don Their own aims. s-et 500
They made great efforts to force their terrific,
soldiers to attempt another charge, but Away
before the charge was begun the trusty rifles Q
SD Illinois, and the muskets of the 11th Wis
copsin, would convince them that the attemp
WIS madness. Ea a
Slowly and stubbornly, fighting every inch Q
the way, they fell back. Steadily Colone
Hovey pursued, always directing the foremos
force, and always convincing the men that vic
tory was sure. This stubborn fighting was con
tinusd for mile-a little more or less. Up I
this time it had been fight between less thal
400 Illinois and Wisconsin troops, and one smal
steel gun belonging to the LIST Indiana Cavalry
and 1000 Texan Rangers, supported by stil
larger reserve under Gen. Rust But Just abou
this time Lieut. Col Wood, of the lst Indian
Cavalry, with about 200 men, and three more Q
their little steel guns, cane galloping with
cheer into the fight His little guns rang on
louder than the riaes or musketry-his me-
made one gallant charge, and the enemy, alread
wavering and panic stricken. Aed routed an
terrified from scarcely third Of their numbe,