Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1862-11-21
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
NArsv1LIs, AK, Der. Is, 1862.

oeen SimOos constantly on the marcn. On
the day after the last skirmish It Newtonia,
allthe Kansas Brigade proceeded towards Pine
vile, whore it was thought the rebels would
make another stand. At Bair's Mills, fif.
teensmiles from Pineville, we met scouting
party belonging to the 1st Arkansas, who
had been As far as Pineville without finding
any enemy. We then moved across the creek,
formed camp in an open field, and enjoyed
rest Of two or three days, during which time
Major Adams, Paymaster, visited and left
four months pay with us, the greater part Of
which found its way into the suffers hands
in short mere. Whisky, tobacco and boots,
seemed particularly in demand. For ten
dollar greenbsck, man could buy quart Of
whisky, plug of tobacco, and q pair ofboots,
other necessaries Of life being, I suppose, on
equally reasonable forms. Col Weir finally
put stop to the whisky selling, by couisca'
ting the property on hand, and dealing it out
in regular rations to the companies. nj a9el
From Indian creek we moved towards Oass-
vile. arriving at Keitsviile, Ave miles from
Cassville, Sunday, Oct. 18th. at midnight,
our brigade being in the advance. Schofield
was at Cassville, Cloud and Soloman in our
rear, on the same road we had come in on
Two days after, Schodeld's force began to
pass dowo. FIRST, early in the morning,
Browns brigade, all mounted men, followed
Ia, Vhoo(Tc0,Ss srI ~ n a. ,s~ht hv Claude
Soloman's, and our own brigade. At II
o'clock next day, all were in camp upon the
field Of Pea Ridge. Our camp was mile
from Elkhorn Tavern, where some Of the hard
est fighting in the great battle was done. We
had but little opportunity for looking over the
field, as every road and path was lined with
guards. A little to the north Of the Tavern
we saw the graves Of the honored dead of
the 9th Iowa. There are some thirty graves,
number of which contain two bodies each.
At the head Of each grave lisa neat head board,
marked with the name of the occupant, with
the company and regiment to which he be-
longed. Twas told that they fell near the
spot where they we're buried. The contest
here must have been desperate. Scarcely
tree or bush but is SCARED by bullets.
We had fully expected to meet the enemv
here, but they had left before our arrival,
leaving their fires yet burning. Some Skin
mishing took place between the pickets in the
afternoon and evening Of the 10th, and every
regiment had orders to be in readiness for &C.
ton at moments notice, but q reconnaissance
IN the morning proved that the enemy had
Withdrawn entirely from the neighborhood.
1t now became evident the enemy had divided
his forces. Gen. Cooper with one division
going towards Maysville, while Rains took
the Fayetteville road. a--..- i .
Gen. Blunt with the Kansas division, was
Immediately ordered to Maysville, distant
thirty five miles. Clouds brigade took the
advance. From Bentonville he went forward
with his own cavalry, the 9Th Kansas, 7th
Missouri, and four howitzers, and at an early
hour on the morning Of the 22d, attacked the
rebels four miles southwest of Maysville, in
the Indian nation. A sharp contest followed,
which however was soon brought to close.
by our men charging the rebel battery, captur-
ing every gun, four in number. Two of the
guns proved to be the two Indiana guns, cap
tured by the rebels at Lone Jack, Missouri,
on the 18th of August.
The rebels scattered and fed in all direc-
tons, pursued by Clouds cavalry. Our loss
was killed aud wounded-one of the lat
ter died this morning. Our men, up to last
night, had found and buried 40 of the rebels.
During the engagement, Gen. Blunt's
Orderly, a nephew $50 reported) Of General
Cooper, deserted to the rebels, and ran away
with them. He rode out from our line to the
front about an hundred yards, and clapping
spurs to his horse, gained the enemy's ranks
kunharmed. Five or six of the rebels are re-
ported to have gained our ranks in the same
manner. So we have our guns back with an
hundred per cent, and deserters five to one
When the firing began, the 10th and 18th
were some eight miles back-tramping along
weary, foot-sore and sleepy with stragglers
scattered out for five miles to the rear; each
bill seeming higher, longer and sleeper than
all the others. We had now been up the
whole night, with but one meal, and were
really as near used up as Kansas men ever
get to be. But the sound of battle seemed to
rouse up every man. Some actually started
on the double-quick, and some made sickly
attempt at cheering. But, with all our hurry.
ing, we got up too late. We had only done
as we had always done before - that is, we
did the hard marching AMI the cavalry got the
fighting.
We went into camp near town, and yester-
day morning all the regiment but our COM
pany went out to join Cloud. There is talk
of leaving our company here, as hospital
guard, which we hope is not true. If there
is work to be done we want our share, even
if it is nothing but hard marching.
The town is a miserable, deserted, tumble
down concern = an old Indian trading post
situated right on the line between Arkansas
and the Qndian) Nation. We judge it must
have been very sickly here, and particularly |
fatal to the masculine gender. Every woman
here is q widow. Col. Weir says he is Both
cred to death with "these id widows
don't know what in h-l to do with them p
They meet him at every step, asking for pro-
lection from these dreadful Federal Indians,