The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1863-01-21
Army Correspondence.

| with mail This announcement was like
''oil to an.ould bellus," and inspiritcd new
| life into our respondent hearts, giving
token Of the first streak of light after the
long spell Of darkness and suspense Of the
| past two weeks.
The rebels have been creating considera-
be sensation in military circles" here
about, by their recent visitations on the line
f our railroad; and the sensation is made
more peculiar by the fact that their coming
was wholly unlocked for, and in fact cx
| tremely uncallcd for. 1t is considered to
have been a nice piece Of strategy on their
part, for it has compelled Gen. Grant to
pause in his onward course southwark and
make retrogade march with his entire
army to Holly Springs and Oxford; and
with the loss Of government stores, which
is very heavy, the destruction of bridges
and tresscl-work, with the great delay and
cost required in their reconstruction, and
the stoppage Of supplies, it must necess,
rily paralyz' the movements Of the army
{ r sometime to come.
This raid was made by two diff rent
portions of the rebel army at about the
same time. Van Dorm, coming from John
Stons army before Grant. with 1000 in
'antry and cavalry, made dash into Holly
Springs, destroying government stores and
damaging every thing generally; almost
simultaneous with an attack on Jacks,n,
hy forces under Chea,ha,n, from Bragg =
army of East Tennessee 1t was their OBJ
ject to capture all the important posts on
the road, destroy supplies, burn cotton, tear
track, &c, and force Grant to divide his
immense army in Mississippi They were
ba fled at Jackson and forced to retreat
with considerable loss. They then d. she'd
into Humboldt, destroyed the bridge there,
and tore up the track for several miles in
each direction. Van Dorm, after having
taken Holly Springs, made Bolivar his next
point of destination, and at the time Of his
advance guard first appeared near the place,
there were scarcely two full companies of
infantry for its defence. Matters looked
very dubious for sometime. and all prayed
Tor :einfurccmentS increasingly. On the
night Of the 10Th the desired help came to
band, composed of four regiments Of caval
ry and two of infantry. On the morning
following, our picket> were fired upon and
Il line of battle was formed to the west Of
town, near the old line Of entertainments
made last fall, where our troops awaited
the attack. There was a great deal Of ma
neuvering, and finally, Van Dorm not hk
ing the looks of things, got up and dust
cd. Part Of his force went to Mildiebury,
about twelve miles south Of Bolivar on the
railroad, where small portion Of the 10th
Mich. infantry was posted The rebels at
tackled, and the boys fell back into block
houses built for their protection, and then
peppered the butternuts with such fury
that they fed in confusion, leaving 80 Of
their dead On the ground, with create,
nunber wounded and 25 prisoners They
id'nt get Middeburg; though they did
get particular ask any of the Michi-
gan boys who were in that muss They
didn't make the trip into Bolivar, either, as
was fondly expected, and several were dis
appointed in not meeting with their soldier
friends, long absent in the seccsh army, on
the old stamping ground-alSo many wild
"ws who didn't get to see their husbands
and this must have been very aggravatiag
all around. But such is the fate of war,
and this nice old town las now recovered
ITS usual everyday serenity; and to-day,
for the first time since the 10TH the picket
lines arc opened to citizens to pass to and
from town.
A scarcity Of provisions is being felt
here. and the whole town is livi,.g on half
ra'ions, and with but nine days supply at
that ahead. AS general thing, soldiers
fare more luxurious on short rations than
when drawing full ones, from the fact that
The inil'be chickens and pigs supply any
short coming> in the commis>ary del art
ulcnt But in Bolivar th.re ar. NJ such
resources there is not even the slightest
ghost Of "a pig inSid. the lines; true, there
are few bars OF pig iron near the depot !;
aud as for chickens, there is the old wealth
crcock on the Court House; but the hide is
too thick on one, and the other rooSts too
high, and so they will remain AS historical
specimens of what the town was and has
been in the way Of poultry before the Re
brlinn.
Ga Christmas, we, Of the post printing
otiice, were presented by Mr.. c. NJ Hall, Il
gentleman Of n Y, with neat American
flag, which was nailed on the top Of the
"fiicr. floating proudly and saucily in the
secession atmosphere. The sight of the
Yankee rag as it is termed here, appears
to pain the female portion of the communi
ty, and the snsh and beauty of the nice
litsle village. almost invariably choose the
opposite side of the street, rather than walk
under lis folds. Poor girls!
Yesterday there was fight at Parker's
Cross Roads, near Trenton, resulting in a
rebel defeat with a heavy loss on their side,
and the capture of 800 prisoners, and
about 400 horses and mules. Have not
heard the particulars.
We have not received any papers from
the North since date Of 18th Dec, and YOU
may guess with what anxiety We look for