Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1862-11-17
2oth RE.,r CORRESPONDENCE.

MIsrouRI, N v. 9Th. 1862.
We mar chcd from Fords Fa.m at half pset
one p. IN on Monday last. This farm is OF
Of those level and fertile p acss on the top Of
. arscumbsns. split. sugar loaf shaped bill Of
which I've written 10 former letter. L. 10
about Fl We miles distant in g nor, westerly di Il.
r.ction from " Ekhorn Tavern and 10 Of
pace frot1 Keitsyile. viz about milss.-
rbs Tavern 70 on the telegraph road from
Spriogfie,d to Fort smith. The firm is on .
more direct ro ftom Cassvile to B-ntonvilie,
road just at the State line. l suppose that
route was selected as bel, g the beet Tor forage
There certainly is no differ snce in the up md
do VI ativeness nor in the dustiuess whioh
ever road you take. II was q little more than
two weeks eince We passed over nearly ,h-
same ground on 9 hot and dusty day We oos
had taste OF its quality on a cold, windy and
dusty Gay have not been able to decide
which is the most dissgrsesbie. There seems
to be. 10 fact nc kind Of weather 10 which
travelling can be called pleasurable in this
section Of the country. There are parts OF
aIl the roads which uust always be solid.
they are 90 thoroughly u.acadsnized by Ma
,ure on rocky foundation. that they cannot
be otherwise. But there are other parts
which owing to the spring raina are sofs and
muddy even TOW. after an unusually long
Il l.ac
d.rs such pisces quite iupssaah'e. At pre-
sent you can harul, fiud spot where The dus,
Is not about ak inches deep n ls4on travel
along you r. ise such cloud of it that one
twenty rode beh'n on would te puzzl,d to
determine what manner Of creature You were.
There is another unpleasant feature In tue
character Of the place, | mean the great dif-
ference between the temperature OF the eli.
mate which occurs every twenty>four hours ;;
you are roasted by day and you are complete
~ ir, zen by night. | have not spent more
than three nights this side Of Rolla, during
which have not been nncomfortabl, cold
and sometimes have .ufTered severely. Yet.
with ail these draw backe, l regard South.
western Missouri ard Northwestern Arkanss.
as the most desirable place to live in that N,
eyes have looked upon for many years.
We crossed the State liue at about sunset.
the bahd struck up Yankee Doodle. and the
bows threw up their hats and gave cheers
aud cat calls as a fsreRe ell to Arkansss We
were still about eight miles from Keitsvilie,
and knew that we must march that distance
before we could encamP. but eight miles have
come to be considered very small matter
by the wentieth. AT about eight o'clock We
entered the town. mean what is left of u
for since We we're there befo, Q il has been
the scene Of 40 atrocious crime. and terrible.
let me cay, just revenge. The mail carrier
from Gen. Totten's headquarters had scsrcely
passed the town ore evening about ten caye
!, 90. when q man Who had lain concealed in
The b,.saes, which line the road on beth eidee
suddenI, SUING up and sho, him with a ,if.
ball wouna,a. him in the bowels. and
knocking him from h,, horse he sprsng up al
cnce, re-mounted ana epur-ed on. Four or
nv. more men then fired at him with sho,
guns, wUundiug him terribly in the aegs and
body, but notwi'Lsts ndirg all that, lie slri
managed TO cling to his ht ree, aud took the
mail 10 eatety to Csssville, where he died wo
ds, . after wards. Augustus Redding, wo
vas there ut the time elred to bury him.
These worthy but misguided Southern
brethren Of ours attacked a member Of The
wrong regiment that time. aud let me "a,
right here that have noticed u at tte Union
troops Of Missouri and Arkansas, (bo,h OF
which have been with us,) are no, ss par,icu
lar as to where. or by what nesps they hur,
our erriog friends. as are some OF our Northern
people who fight their battles at home. |,
Did ut take his regiment long to decide what
would be Fl ting reward tor jhis mur derers.
nor did it take them long to catch a couple OF
them. . etill shorter time was long enough 10
extract irom them the names Of their a..o-
ciaiee 10 this cbivalro bueiness, and then
to shOot tht N on the epot. But this wac bt I
enough. keitsvi:le was the home, If not OF
these men, of others like them. aud Kei,svills
nov consists OF q considerable nun Der Of
and just three houses which &c.
csped the .fre Of their fury.
We stayed there over night. and at seven
o'cock in the morning ws marched again.
About ten We entered Csesviils
Here ~ were re>loined by Augustus Red
ding. Who has completely recovered. and
lsaso Patterson who 10 Not quite we'll. We
found Lieut. Books better. but OF able to
march, We left Won. E. Davis With him a.
nuree. Davie, himsel not being quite we'll.
We also left there fse, l think. ef the sick
Of our regiment. whoss names have not
been able to learn, none we're from Com
pnny d.
From Csssvile We took q nearer rosd to
Springfield than the one by which we came.
1t is the Telegraph road. snd leads you for
many miles through deep ra.ine. the e;des
of which in many places rice to the height Of
l50 or 200 feet, and are slc1ost a. perpen.
dicul r IS If they were built up by q stone
macon. They are composed Of layers OF
rock. the faces Of y ~hich are emocthed - II
by the action Ct water. Did 4 river ever
fov between those bauksf Who krows
and for the matter Of that. Who cares A.
sns rate, moet provokiog Aslls creek
wiggles its way through The valley a. sueh
: crooked rate that you are obliged 10 cross
Il thirteen times In goioz twelve niis. Bss