Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1862-07-31
THE BATTLE OF BAYOU CACHE,

THE BATTLE OF BAYOU ,ii CACHE,
The battle il,s Of the 7sh ,, near s BBs Bsysuo sso
Cache" Arkansas--won against tremen
dops odds--resulted. in the death. Of over
ITO rebels and, the utter denors nstion Of
six Texan regiments. The army under
Gen. Curtis was encamped at the junction
of the Bayou Cache and Cache river. where.
our forces was delayed by blockade of
fallen timber. A road had been cut
through this blockade on the evening" Of
the 9th. and early. next morning Col. Ho-
vey Of the SD Illinois regiment. was orr.
dered by Gen. Steele to open the road on
the opposite side of the Cache. make re-
connoisanceih front down to the Clareusi3n
road slong which.the army were to mdpsh.
anil also to scour the,woods thoroughly
Col. Hovey was detailed for this enterprise.
Skirmishsrs were thrown out. and in this
way they proceeded. .tothe Hill plantation,
at the forks Of the road. four miles distant
from camp. ~ On the way soma spiekets
were driven in. The main road here leads
to Cotton Plant and Clarendon. The
road to tho left is a neighborhood road.
while that turning. to the side leads across
the Cache, -four, miles distant. and thence
to the Des Arc on the White river De-
tachments were sent forward on each OF
these roads to reconnoiter. Col. Harris,
with three companies ofthe Eleventh Wis
consiu. and Capt. Potter. with the small
rifle piece. proceeded rapidly dowp the Des
Arc road, having no cavalry. They
passed a cornficld on the left. entered an
open wood. and reaching turn ID, the
road. at the same time rising mp in elcva-
tion. they fell in withtwo Texan regiments
OF cavalry. with regiment ofconscript in
fantry drawn up on their right, ready to
receive them. The rebels fired murder
Gus volley as our men got into the snare.
killing five Of our men and wounding Col.
Harris and Capt. Potter. Oar men re-
turned the fire and fell beck. the enemy be.
ingtoo preponderating in numbers to with
stand with our little force. Captain Pot
ter. though wounded. gave them a. few
rounds from his piece. and fell back, firing
into the enemy's ranks. The rebels then
made a charge. and the retreat Of our men
became temporarily a panic. Col. Hoyey
hearing the firing and judging the turn Of
affairs were taking by the clounds Of dust
which rose and filled the air above the
trees, took the remaining companies OF
the Thirty third Illinois and FASTENED to
the scene Of action. Some Of the men first
fired upon did not stop till they, reached
Hills house. rushing past Capt. Potter.
who would unlimber his gnn, FIRE round.
aud then retire, thus checking the advance
Of the rebels until Col. :Hovey came up
The latter had hardly time. to place his
men IN ambush behind the fence. at the
angle of the corpfeld. when the rebels.
coming furiously forward with loud yells.
received well aimed fire fro'l Colonel
Hovey and his men. Twenty-Five rebels
were killed the first pop. They were
checked. The column recled and stagger-
ed by this murderous fire. broke, and the
men fled in confusion. At the same time
a heavy column of the enemy was seen
moving through the woods between Col.
Hovey's position and our camp. Their in
tention was to get TO the road on our rear.
cut us off from our camp. and thus sur
round our brave men. But when they
reached the road. and seeing the Wiscon.
sin troops. which had fallen back, and sup
posing them to be q reinforcement come
to our aid. they abandoned their design
and returned. Thus what appeared to be
disastrous ct one time, turned to our ad-
vantage.
Colonel Hovey rallied the above CON-
panies. and advancing one-fourth Of mile
to cotton gin. held the position over an
hour.
AT this time (about half-past ten. J
Lieutenant Colonel Wood came mp with
the second battalion Of the 1st Indiana
cavalry. bringing with him two steel rifled
guns. This detachment had been ordered
by Gen. Curtis TO proceed to the Bayou
DE Vue--fifteen miles from camp-with
orders to save the bridge at that point
from being destroyed by the enemy. The
arrival of this reinforcement proved ex.
tremely opportune. - Col. Hovey was
posted about $50 yards from Col. Hills
house on the Des Arc road. and the army
were not in view. Coming mp at full
speed. having heard the firing, the LIST In
diana were welcomed with enthusiastic
cheers from the brave little command o
Col. Hovey. The latter exclaimed
"There comes Col. Wood; we are ell righ,
now. boys" and advancing to Col. Wood
he said: You'll find them (the enemy
down there Colonel. thick enough; pitch
into en- The cavalry. with shouts ani
yells. then plunged forward at furiou,
rate. toward the rebels. The horses leap
ed ditch four feet in width, which cross
ed their path. the br d % being tora up
One of the horses had q leg broken, ahd
some Of the men were pitched to The
ground. while making the perilJus leap
Fortunately. none were seriously hurt
A few rails were piled into the ditch ani
the steel rified guns were passed over A
solitary rebel was now seen advancing 4
within one hundred yards OF our 'front.'
He wheeled about and fled. The pieces
under charge of Lieut. Baker were unlim
bered and the cavalry brought into line o
battle. The command was given: "Pie
ces by hand to the front: forward march. .
The cannoniers seized their pieces BY
hand. and advanced on the enemy, the lat
ter being now discovered advancing il
with extended wings in the form of V
the concave side facing toward our men,
Their intention, it appeared evident. wa
IN eurround no fTba ~.bo1, ,r~-o IL