Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1862-02-12

The Fishing Greek Iaster-Aocoahes
Of an Officer enc in the Battle.

Through an office ID participated in the
battle at Fishing &c We have IulE anu
very interesting acca.aS OF the disaster Iuas
befel US on that oc@ IN, and OF tHe
cumstances which coatbused to It Ihese
accounts repr,.sent HGaeral Crittenden to
have been placed iu i cry trying einefgeh.
cy, with no other Native than to fight
when he did, and I'd be conducted the re-
treat which ensued II he best possible or
der. On the s7th ultio, General CrItten-
denis command reacbi Gainesboro', Ten
nessee, and was beinpe-organiZed there, Its
Communications beingpen with Nashville,
from which place s%aplies, camp eenipage,
&C., were being forga1ed~.
Our position at Bee5 Grove, on the north
side Of the Cumberahri river, is said to have
been, in q military not of view, untenable.
We had e~ntrenchmdat it is true, but they
are said to have bon utterly indefensible
against any attack In, superior force. We
had twelve pieces of rtillery but against
the long range guns ofthe enemy they were
| useless. A deem and apid river was behind
our army, and the Iaeas of crossing it was
a small steamer and aree ferry fats, only
sufficient mall to trssport at one carrying
three hundred men. ne country around was
utterly devoid of passions. The most un-
firing efforts of conanssaries had been only
a~vailing to. drain tht country for twenty
miles southwark OF gerry article for pur-
chase: while on theiamediate road to Knox
vile, enough provisios could not be bought,
from day to-day, to- sbsist a single team
A more inlde(ensible position than Beech
Grove, it is said, ooud hardly be imagined
as long as an enemy was in front. Mill
Springs could have ,een better defended );
but even there, theIetire absence of facili-
; ties for supplies frdrrthe rear, and the stop
page of communicate with Nashville by
the river, would have compelled an advance
at q very early daten a ~retrogade movement,
even had no enerag been threatening. A
movement of one knd or the other was q
military necessity.A
Amid these UNPLEASANT facts, word was
brought to General t.ittenden of an advance
j by the enemy-saYof eight to ten thousand
men from Columba-and a large force from
Somerset, evidently with a view to storm oul
entrencbments. He result may be imagin-
ed had this been attempted for we were
without suitable neans of transportation
across the river, aud all avenues Of retrea
could have been effctually cut off by the en-
envy by crossingE above and below Mil
Springs. General rittenden is stated t
have had but threefourses to puisue-to a
once fall back ingldiously, and retreat with
out out a blow toStay still and be storine
out, and surrender whenever an enemy ap
preached; or be shrved out and surrende
within a week orelse to make an advanc
movement in Kentcky. The entire arm
at Mill Springs hadbeen reduced to a simpl
"Iation Of beef. ami a half ration of corr
the latter eaten asknarched corn, and not Is
sued as meal.
ml-aTnda tl.oee= circumstances and with III
report of the advance movement OF the emf
my, both from Columbia and Somerset,
council of war was held on Saturday eve
ming January 18th. With five fhousan
brave men behind hem, the council of wa
thought that they could drive before ther
twice that number of Northern hirelings.-
The council is positively said to have bee
unanimous in its decision. Both brigadiel
generals, alltheir ~csonels, and the captain
of artillery and independent companies view
ed the matter in the same light. The alter
natives presented ware an inglorious retres
without a blow an impracticable defence
entertainments, ending in a surrender or a
eventual starving out, with a similar resul
At II o'clock at night our columns moves
and marched ten miles before break of da,
! There they met the enemy-droye the
back half a mile-thTee times charged thel
and as often swept their adyersaries from Il
field. We brought into action less th;
four thousand men. Almost one-half Of t
Fifteenth Mississippi regiment command
by Lieutenant.C Colonel E. G. Walthall-f
upon the bloody field. Over two hundr
! of the four hundred and forty the Fifteen
brought into action fell in the battle. It
). said that this gallant regiment fought wi
the enemy almost at ten PAGES, and for ff
yards in their onward charge, had to wa
/, over the d. ad bodies OF yankees.
:, The battle is said to have been turned
: the untimley reinfofcements of the FEEDER
troops. Instead of ten regiments oppos
to us, we had to fight nearly thirteen, a
that with only seven regiments on our sic
and these reduced to one-half their ordina
size. One reliable fresh regiment at the tn
of the fight might have secured for US t
battle, and broke efectually the eBemy's
cruited ranks. As it was, regiment aft
regiment of the enemy deployed into {
field. 1t was not until the breaking of G
. cavalry, communicating a false alarm to sol
Of the Tennessee troops, and the pouring
of fresh regiments of the enemy, that a /
treat was made, nor was it ordered by t
General commanding
The retreat was made in good order. a
by three o'clock in the afternoon our arr
was inside its entertainments. Immedial
w a severe cannonading was commenced
!, the enemy, making it evident that their
: periority of guns could eventually drive
: forces from their camp.
!. Between dusk and dawn our entire ar
I uac +oLan across the river With the |
merely Of the artillery, and worn out tie
E and camp equipage. Long before the e
:. my dreamed of the evacuation. our forces
: gained an available point to resist any onw
: movement of theirs. The abandonment
= the artillery was a necessity. The approa
: es to the river on both sides, were very b