The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-04-29

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Editor Democrat: 10
knowing that Kentucky is central place
of attraction at present in war matters, I glad.
ly undertake to give you a short report of the
state of things as they are now, and an ac-
count of what has occurred during the past
few weeks. No doubt with you, as with us,
there are many flying reports, not reliable
But after the excitement has cooled down the
truth can be ascertained. At present quiet
ness reigns triumphant Skedaddles and cap
turing of prisoners are no aehere And the
greatest thing that attracts our attention at
present is the coming in of the ninth dyny
corps, commanded by Gen. Burnside 1t is
truly a sight to see the many regiments as
they march through the city on their way to
the front. Some of them have fought in
many battles and as they proudly march
forth with their torn flags marked with bullet
holes, gallantly waving in the breeze it makes
our philanthropic hearts beat proudly and pray
to God that they may be led on to victory
On the End inst, Lexington was honored with
the presence of Gen. Burnside himself. Al
though he came in unexpectedly, still he met
with a hearty welcome from the loyal citi-
zens of the city. The city bells rang and
many flags were raised and speeches made and
for while / really felt was among union
people. The brave and fighting General is
truly noble man. His small, black and
piercing eyes beam with intelligence and
bravery. And as looked uponthat large and
splepdidly built man, and saw hin move in
his usual rapid motion, and thought at the
same time of his daring deeds and gallant
bravery upon the battle field, l almost trena-
bled in his presence. He is now commandant
of the department of Ohio, Kentucky, and
East Tennessee. Although his headquarters
are now in Cincinnati. it is expected he will
soon establish them in Lexington. If it takes
Generals to save a city we may consider our
selves at present perfectly safe. For there
are now FIVE Generals in this city, viz: Will
cox, Gilmore. Carter, Welch and Stargis.-
Brig. Gen. Wilcox is commandant of this
District, Col. Sigfred, 48th Penn, Command
and of the Post. Gen. Gilmore is supersed-
ed by Gen. Wilcox. The former it is thought
will now take the field.
During the last rebel raid our men have
seen some active service There have been
some small engagements and considerable
skirmishing. A few lives have been lost on
exceeds that of ours. hut the truth is, as
far as the object of the enemy into Kentucky
is concerned, it has. been for them perfect
success. They come not to fight; bat to
ed a0eN. Also they have taken more than
twice the number of prisoners, we have
Have advanced upon our ground, and our
men have had to retreat, having had to
contend with twice our number. Al
though we had many more men in Ken
lucky than they, still our men were
not eoncenhutek. The enemy in all did not
exceed ten thousand but they kept together
at least more so than we did. Another ad-
vantage they had of US is their force is about
all Cavalry, ours is not. At Danvilie our
men retreated. Mt Sterling was disgraceful-
ly surrendered by Capt. Ratcliff, 10th Ken
lucky cavalry. In consequence of which he
has, by order of Maj. Gen. Burnside, been
| dismissed from the service. It's believed he
could have held the place easily until rein-
forcements come up which were close at hand.
So much so that the rebels had not time to
parole our men in compliance with the cartel.
They paroled them in squads and some Of
them verbally. Hence the reason that Gen.
Burnside does not recognize their paroles
| But upon the bright and encouraging side Of
this question am glad to say that Gen. Gil
more helped the cause much when hele his
nicely carpeted parlor, and took the field
marched our men to Somerset and met the
enemy face to face, bravely and unfinchingly
This was a perfect success for u.s. Captured
over two hundred; among them were six.
teen officers. And also succeeded in retaklns
about four hundred head of cattle. The pa
rolled men have been sent to Vcksburg, fo
!, exchange. The officers are in Camp Chase
Since the coming in of the fighting ninth, tn,
rebels have rapidly made tracks for the noun
tains. I wish the people of Portage count.
could ONCE see a regiment of these rascal
i7sa ody