Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-02-18
The Recent Fight at Fort Donelson.
An interesting Account.
of the State Jsurnal.1

or any other war mas Just occurred at this
post. Orr forces consisted of nine com.
panies of the SD Illinois, Col. Hsrding.
two sections of Floods Qll.) Battery, an
der Lieut.. Moore, and part of one com.
pany of the 9th Iowa Cavalry, in all, six
hundred effective men. The attacking
force was four thousand .Jf0e hundred
strong-some rebel prisoners estimate 1t
as high as eight thousand under Wheeler
and Forrest; the former said to have been
lately made Major General. Col. Hard
ing, who was In command OF the post,
had one siege gun, 30 FOUNDER, 10 po-
sition. Fort Donelson proper has never
been occupied by our forces. 1t has DO
advantages as g position. save to command
the river below. The old village of
Dover. nearly mile farther mp the river,
ha, been partially fortified and occupied
by our forces. 1t is surrounded on all
sides by high ridges, frequently broken by
ravines, and partially covered with under
brush and timber. The attack, though
anticipate. for week, was not known to
be imminent until noon on Tuesday, the
3d. At 3 p. IN. a battery of rebel artil
lery took position on the ridge to the west,
at the distance of three-fourths of a mile,
and opened fire upon the town with shell.
Soon their artillery was playing upon our
forces from three or four directions and
their forces completely encompassed the
town in semi circle of perhaps three
miles in extent, from river to river. At
ter thus formidably displaying the strength
OF his forces, the rebel General sent flag
of truce to Col Harding, demanding an
unconditional surrender of the place. 1t
was promptly refused, the Colonel de
claring he would fight as long a. he had
man left. The attack wa. renewed with
great vigor, charge after charge was made
by the rebels, who were al mounted, but
the Springfield rifles of the Sad were IN
erring, and each charge resulted in repulse
and score of etnptied saddles. A body
of rebels, dislpounting and leaving their
horses, forced their way into the town,
fred on GU. men from such houses as they
could secure, till they were driven out at
the point OF the bay onet or captured At
about p. 10. the rebel Adjutant General
approached our lines waving white
handkerchief.
~ hat in HI do you want now, with
that white rag p sung out Capt. Bond of
the SD. /" Do you cowardly villains out
there want to surrender 2"
s. wish 10 see your commanding otfi-
cer," WAS the reply.
Capt. Bond - shall have to blindfold
you, "-fumbliug ter his handkerchief.
Il give you my word OF honor that
will report 10 hing that | see,' said the
General.
Capt B. could not find his handker-
chief. "COme or. said he, God damn
you, we can whip you anyhow, | don't
care what you see !"
His GeneFalship was conducted to COL
r., when the following parley ensued:
Col, you have made gallant defense
more could not be- expected of you :;
but We Go not wish to shed blood need
lessly. | have come to demand again an
unconditional surrender"
General, | have had no orders to sur
render. Really, | could not think of it,"
But it is folly for you to hold out long
er. We have shown you but one half of
our force. You must surrender or take
the consequences J"
Well, sir, have shown you bat about
one nth Of my force. You may return
consequences !"
So the fight began again. Every man
fought where he thought himself most
needed, took deliberate aim, and made his
shots tell whenever a butternut showed
himself within rife range. Sucl fighting,
against such od6s, has not yet been re-
corded in the history OF this rebellion. BY
s ?. N. Floods battery had lost forty eight
out o. sixty-tour horses, had fred its last
cartridge and lost one piece. But the reo-
els too were out OF ammunition, and actu-
ally began TO retire before the stubborn
bravery of the = noble six hundred At
this juneture gunboat reached the scene
of action from below, and did splendid ex-
eo1tion BY Smelling the re;reaung rebels
SO long as they were within range.
Relnforcements were promptly sent from
Fort Henry by Col Lowe, a. soon as the
approach OF the rebels was teegraphed
him, but they arrived at O'Clock next
morning, too late to participate in the
glory, as well as loss, Of the gallant SD
Forrest admits n loss OF TWO hundred
killed, including enc Alabama Colonel, left
wfere be tell Ton the very steps or Colonel
Harding's headquarters while boldly lead
ing q charge, besides several other officers
his wounded must exceed that number.
OF the latter we have in our hands over
sixty, including three captains and several
lieutenants. FORESTS son is reported
dangerously wounded Woodward is aso
said 10 be wounded Gen. heeIer was
ct first reported killed, but the body prev
ed TO be that OF Col. McNary, above men
toned. Oar loss Is comparatively small,
out includes some of the finest officers in
the SD. Capt. z. Z. Reed OF DC. a and
Quartermaster Bisseil, are killed Capts
McClanahan, of 90. b, aud ellison, of Co.
Z, are wounded. Lieuts. Moore, of the
battery, and Sykes, OF Co. |, SD, are
wounded. Fourteen OF our men are killed
and fifty one wounded-a few fatally. Two
officers aud twenty seven men of the 9th
Iowa cavalry, with several OF the SD, and
number OF Capt. Floods men, were cap
tured. The men were paroled aud have
retnrned, and the otficers-with whom pa
rolling Is played out" rs yCu are aware
mar aged 10 escape. One of them. 1t
Lene, spiked one of their guns before leav-
ing, and made his escape on one Of their
best horses He reports them in sorry
condition. destitute of ammunition and OF
food, save what they could CLEAN from in-
habitauts along the liae of their retreat
One OF our men, psroled, reports hat they
gave him nothing to eat, aud gave as d
reason that they had noth!ns--tsie men
having tasted since the morning before the
battle-thirty six hours. they LETT $50 OF
their dead fer our men - bury. Amog 2
them were many mere BOYS. | saw one,
l.