Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-02-25
WHOLE NO. 2421.

the gun, little was left of the two dare
i devils by which to identify them, or t,
: determine whether of horse and ride
d the latter were not the less human
# At about six o'clock therebel Adjutan
T General approached our lines at a poin
i held by Capt. Bond, of the 83d, and wav
S ing white flag and shouting, "A Flag o
: Truce, Flag of Truce" Capt. b, VIII,
s is as brave and perhaps as profane al
: officer as ever swung a sword or cursed
: rebel, called out, What do you wan
: with your white rag? Do you cowardly
: butternuts, out there, want to surrender
: The rebel Adjutant General wished t.
: confer with the commanding officer
Capt. B. ordered him blindfolded before
conducting him to headquarters; A. G.
protesting that it was unnecessary, and
: pledging his word of honor (S) not to re-
veal anything he might see. Captain B.
insisted upon the precaution, but not
finding handkerchief readily. he def
antly exclaimed, Come on don't
care what you see. Cd d-n YOU Won
can't whip US anyhow"
At headquarters the following parley
ensued:
Rebel 4. c." Colonel, you have made
a gallant defense. You are brave man
and have brave soldiers fighting for you +;
but we outnumber you ten to one, and it
is folly for you TO protract this fight and
throw away your men. have come to
offer you again the privilege Of saving
life and ending a struggle which can but
result in your eventual defeat"
| Col. H would not sacrifice single
life unnecessarily, but sir. have had no
order to surrender. Really, could
not think of it. My boys are well enough
satisfied with the progress of the fight"
Rebel Il. c." But we have used only
one-half our forces, as yet. Should you
oolge US to engage them all, you must be
at once overwhelmed. You must surren-
der or take the consequences"
Col. H" That may be, that NAV be:
but as have used only about ons-ftt1 of
my men thus far, you may so back and
tell your leaders to come on as fast as
they please. PHtake tie consequences.
Again the fight ragged Charge after
charge was made, and occasional adVan-
tages gained by the rebels; but with
such impetuosity and confidence did our
men rush to the over-pressed points, that
the former were quickly obliged to reliR-
quish any advantages gained They,
however. succeeded in capturing and re-
tanning one of our field pieces, but not
until its horses were nearly all killed, and
many of the men disabled. Shot and
she'll from the rebel batteries crashed
through the town in all directions,
knocking down chimneys, riddling hous-
es, striking horses and mules dead in
their stalls, and killing and wounding
citizens and eontrabands hiding in cellars
for safety.
Capt. Reed, Quartermaster Bissell, and
a dozen men of the S3d, were killed
Captains McClanahan and ellison, Lieuts
Moore and Sykes, and forty of their brave
men were wounded F.; still, not a man wa
vered. Every one was at his post; every
one fought with superhuman courage
every one loaded and fired with as much
coolness and precision rs if at target
practice; at every round, frantic horses,
rideTless, or with dead or wounded rebels
dangling at their sides, dashed madIy IN
to our lines or escaped to the woods
The officers of the SD were everywhere,
cheerins ON and inspiring their men, by
their own coolness and recklessness of
danger. Many of them carried rifles,
and kept pace with their men at loading
and firing. Capt ellison, while tearing
the paper from bail that would not go
down without, had the first two fingers
of his right hand carried away by a rebel
bullet. With characteristic indifference,
he handed the gun to one of his men,
saying, q have no more use for it, The
id 'ornary' villains have spoiled my
hand for writing -
But to the result. At s P. n. the reb-
els having signally failed to overpower or
dislodge our forces, slackened their fire
and began to withdraw At this iuncture
a gunboat, which had been for some time
awaited with great anxiety. made its ap-
pearance from below, and shelled the re-
treating rebels with telling effect, as long
as they were within range of her guns
Reinforcements were sent from Fort
Henry, consisting of the 18th Wisconsin,
5th Iowa cavalry, Steinbachs battery,
and three companies of the notorious
list Ohio, but they arrived too late to
participate in the battle. Our loss IS two
officers and fifteen men killed, and four
officers and forty men wounded-a- few
fatally
In Capt Reed we lose one of the BRAY
est and most talented officers of the reg
iment None could have fallen whose
loss would have been so deeply felt. He
had won the respect and esteem Of all
with whom he came in contact. His
body has been forwarded to his friends.
Lieut.. Bissel was young man OF great
promise and much respected.
The rebel loss from all causes, includ-
ing killed, wounded, captured and de-
serted, as computed by themselves, IS not
less than 1000 men. Col. McNary of the
4th (?) Alabama, aud several other Off
GERS, are among the killed We have
buried 235 of their dead left on the field,
while it is said by citizens along the line
of their retreat, that they buried seventy
themselves the morning after the battle.
We hold many prisoners, among them
six captains-three of whom are wound
ed-and dozen lieutenants. But few OF
our men, and only one officer, were taken
prisoner. The officer stole one of their
best horses, spiked one of their guns and
escaped the men were paroled and have
returned. They report TIE rebels IN
sorry condition as TO food, clothing and
equipments, and that they had fired
their last round of ammunition before
{" retiring g"-in the language of the i'm
mortal Bragg.
Our scouting parties are continually
picking up dead, wounded and straggIers
along the line of their retreat, but we
have not a sufficient force of cavalry to
make successful pursuit.
Forests son is reported as dangerously
wounded, as is also the notorious Colonel
Woodward.
This second bold dash for the purpose
of retaking this Fort having met with
such fatal repulse, q third viii hardly
be very soon attempted. 5. 3 W.