The New York herald., 1862-09-28

Of the houses of the town. hed With and children
when the rebels In order to kill their enemies directed the
are u their ery right throuXn the house The sb cks
the unfortunate the emerged from the house
chvsry Of The much abuseS adds AGES every
man who claimed to be " gentle blood TO snccor ds.
esssd aud unhappy eUaes 10 the rendering up OF
Louisiana knows yoch mawksh CODE sacrifices ten
der women and hsess babes 70 It's ,us. Tor ao%nion
for the support Of che dogma OF is chiefs who believe
with hitons Internal hero. that it s
Better 70 rue in He'll than serve In Heaven.
This fearful isode passed. the town was carried, the
handful Union troops, unsupported by arteryior II
was Impossible bring their solitary field piece the
dificut rests workdrivng the rebels, artillery and
ALL out OF the and the bridge across the little
stream at the back Of the The enemy, them
Justice however, retired in good order carrying with
them their battery.
bridge existed, they might have destroyed it, and
thus the return OF the rebels with
the expedition who could have posted thsm he knows
every foot Of the country. alude 70 Mr.. William +.
Young, civil engineer TO whom am indebted for much
AS matters stood, our handful Of men held posses
sion Of the town ior about an hour. during which
every letter, and got hoa Of Jen. Thompson's
sword, spurs, pistols and private papers. ! the
sword and spurs The weapon is very mean and rusty
affair, and ought not to be stuck into the body Of Chris
tian or even savage, suppoing any Of the latter in
terestng specimen Of humanity still exists.
The non destruction vi The bridge fatal as the re-
bel "skedaddlersn enabled TO bring down large
force into the The rcbes poured in overwhelming
numbers, accompanied by afn battery OF field pieces
There withstandng this, and force had to re-
treat the difficult tese work. closely pursued BY
the rebels So determined we're men, however, that,
although the rebels pl torm car they (tebeis)
dared not them down, they might have done, as
they were kept al bay by CALLING nre from the rear OF
the unionists ought 70 mention here that Company
oil the Twenty sixth Massachusetts, and Company ID. OF
the twelfth Maine had come up and covered the retreat
Of their comrades of the companies that had been in
the fight II fortunate thing that portions Of
the track had been torn up by the Union troops on for
occasion. Were it not for this the rebels might really
have run down the retreating Unioniss. AS it was,
they followed them up as far as they dared,
nring from the plat but being kept in check by
the brave boys from Maine and New Hampshire till the
train arrived at place wnere il was impossible 10 pro-
coed further Cannon then held in requsition and
the whole line Of railroad raked fore and attthe He
readers will the nautical phrase from Of
their correspondeutsbut wi hout the slightest ef
feet the shots all went overhead In fact the entire
loss the part of men be said to have occurred
at the entrance to ponchatoula. Only one man was
killed in this last ur. Our troops, however, did not
without doing something They burned train OF
containing large quantity Of sugar and moasses.
While these things were going on intelligence Was con-
veyed to Lieut. Commanding Buchanan lately in command
Of Ike New London and who board the Ceres that
the whole force sent to fonchatoula had been cut
In fact the whole affair exaggerated Capt Buchan-
an, however, started with about thirty men, who had
been held as reserve, and after crossing the
difficult trestle work he found that things not
quite bad hid been represented He and
his men were able TO do yeomans service IN conveying
the wounded and weary to the vessel and they noby did
it. SO did some eight contrabands, who did all in their
power TO convey the fellows TO the Ceres In act,
~
is hard to say how ali could have been got safely
board AS hanging would have been the mildest lot Of
The friendly negroes in the event OF their being left be-
hind, they WERE Of course brought along.
The heat all along the road was most oppressive, and
two men mad stroke of the sun-one Of them SO bad
that he died raving mad alter he got on board the
Ceres. The other man is in fair way OF recovery. So
difficult was the way and such was the trouble Of taking
the wounded on boa that torches had to be lit after
nghall and by their light the Ceres reached. On
the way several ell through the treste work.
Among them was Captain Buchanan. who seriously in
rod p,c hut ba in fatr unfr
Among the wounded was man who had the heshy
part OF his leg the knee, torn away by piece OF
where the Ceres however, TO the surprise and adm
rlton OF all who saw him.
our loss in killed. wounded and missing is estimated at
about forty for really that there is authori
tative estimate Of the actual numbers In fact it is diff
tcut 10 tell how many men were in action had been
led believe that twenty five among the wounded
we're board the Ceres; but the surgeon Of the
New London who attended to them told to-day that
they do not number more than dozen. Ergo-more
men than thought in rebel hands. Among those
regret to say Captain Thornton and the surgeon
cumlanyng the expedition, Dr. Avery. Among the
Maine Volunteers
The whole OF this affair has been most disastrous.
There seems TO have been msmanagement somewhere.
With whom the responsibility rests will not presume to
say. II TO me, however, that landing ought
to have bee effected without the assistance that the
Of the New London might have afforded. Failing this
cooperaton would been better to have abandoned
the expedition for time True, the New London could
have thrown her shot far as Ponchatoula but the
moral effect of her being hand would have counted
something, while the two companies she had board
would have had physical effect still better.
Again, The place Of landing i'll chusen. Had the
Ceres gone hro gh the North Pass TO La Menepau AMI
landed at ckpau, eighteen miles to tine wost the troops
could have been Landed at place, with good road ouy
nine miles from Popchatoula whence they could have
reached the g. - n the rear, burned the bridge leading
camp Moore ard bagged the three that gave
them tight io't all the hardships and disasters
countofei oy0 ae trestle work.
While LIS is severe-about one third Of the whole
force actually cngagedt supposed that the loss Of the
not greater. but,
possible TO speak with accuracy under the circumstances
SEPT. 20, 1862
Flags Of truce becoming thick as "leaves in
vaambrosa" fhey ALL as far az learn, have reference
TO an exchange Of prisoners One came in yester-
day. Among the officers accompanying it were
Major squiers and Captain F. W. Bloun;. They
stayed at the City Hotel, and seemed TO
have the freedom Of the city accorded 70 them they
attracted much notice by their gay uniforms. These
gentlemen say there several manufactures in Rich
moud whore good specimen of gray cloth made, such
they They left for Ponchatoula this morning,
under nag Of truce. Among the officers accompanying
them Lieutenant A. f. Pufer Of General Buffers
stan
must here be allowed TO make Interpolation. Since
writing the foregoing have had interview with
officer Of the Ponchatoula expedition. He says ocomo.
went the the troops landing, and gave
notice Of their approach SO close troops the
engine hat an attempt was made 70 snoot Inc engineer
and fireman. but without effect Thus notified Of the ap
proach OF the Union forces the rebels ready 70
csive them with three Arkansas compsniss and com
pany made up from residents the neighborhood They
had besides full battery Of light artillery, which opened
with grape and canister advancing troops. In
spite OF the disadvantage point Of numbers artillery
and position, brave boys succeeded in fankng them
both Sides and in fifteen minutes the rebels
where.
The inscription on Jen. Thompson's sword-which,
by the way has been cleaned and looks dccsnt fol-
lows
GEN. n. JEFF THOMSON,
From
Ew MnMPms pATHiors.
September Is, 1861.
Tho snura hear he ssn,c inecrintion