The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-06-21

In REARor yIcKBUna, June O. 1868.
The monotony Of my stay in rear Of
Yioksblrg wasfclieved day before ybstcr-
day by areport that the rebels bad made
their appearance ct Milliken's Bend, and
that the martial spirit Of the negro sol
diers was being tested by spirited en-.
gagemeut. | Thought at feet IL WAS
merely guerrilla party that had made
it's appearance, az bad been the case
few days before at one or two points in
Northern Louisiana, | made the best of
my way TO the western bank of the
Mississippi, getting as near as l could to
the scene Of action. The affair may be
narrated as follows:
THE REBEL FORCE AND Our FoBUE
A couple Of weeks since, nine rogi-
ments Of Texas, Arkansas aud Lousi-
ana rebels left Little Rock, Ark, for
Northern Louisiana, for what particular
purpose has not yet been learned. They
arrived week ago at Richmond, the
county seat of Madison Parish, twelve
miles from Yazoo Point, and about the
same distance from Milliken's Bend.
Scouts and citizens gave to their CON
mander, General Walker, information
concerning our forces at the bend. 1t
consisted only of portions of the 9th
and 18th Louisiana (negro) Regiments
and l4O men belonging to the 23d Iowa
500 negroes and lao white men Our
officers took the precauiiOn a week or
two ago TO- dig riae-pils and make a
weak show of fortifyipg. f
The estimate put upon the fighting
qualities Of the negroes by the rebels
may be Judged from the size Of the
force brought yalaiRst, the eight hundred
contrabsnds, They knew our strength
to man, and pitched four regiments
against our small crowd of darkies.
The regiments were: Goth Texas, Col.
Waterhouse commandina; G0th Texas,
Col. Flournoy commanding; 10Th Texas,
Col. Fitzhugh commanding; 20lh Texas,
Col. Allen commau ding, all forming one
brigade under Gen. MoCulloch, nephew
of the late Ben McCulloch.
AN ExTENUATINa CIRCUMSTANCES.
Before being informed how the battle
went, the reader should be told that the
negroes were neither drilled nor discip-
| lined sufficiently to warrant the most
sanguine friends Of the experiment of
contraband soldiery in anticipating good
results from their Grst fight A meiorfty
of them had not bad guns 10 their hands
more than three Gays. Some of them
were furnished with musk,ts for the
first time after the fight had actually
commenced. Under these circumstances.
any person who remembered how poorly
some of our volunteer regiments stood
| fire at the commencement of the war,
will be prepared to hear that the darkies
evinced unmistakable signs of panic and
Generalization, and did more running
than fighting day before yesterday. But
they didn't run foot. On the contrary.
they conducted themselves throughout
the engagement with remarkable coolness
and courage. Some will say they fought
because they feared that, if taken pris-
oners, they would be summarily dealt
with. But / do not think they had any
such fear before them. They obeyed
orders more strictly than men who think
it is a question of victory or death TO
them individually are apt to do.
THE POCKETS ARE CAPTURED AND ESCAPE.
| The rebel brigade left Richmond on
the 9th, and arrived at the picket post OF
the Bend early. on the morning of the
9TH. There were six negroes on picket.
They captured these without much diff
ficulty, tied them up hands and feet, and
left them at cotton gin near by, telling
them TO stay there till they (the rebels)
returned. While the dsrkies were stand
ing statue-like, against fence one OF
them discovered that the cord by which
his hands were fastened was poorly tied
and, without much difficulty, he loosed
his hempen letters. His next work was
to set his comrades free, and in less than
an hour after their capture the pickets
were taking a oircuitous route to camp,
where they arrived ahead of the rebel
column, and in time 10 give valuable in
formation as TO the number of rebels en-
gagged in the attack. They brought their
arms and cartridge boxes with them.
having found them where the rebels had
left them in the cOtton-gin.
THE REBELS ADVANCE UPON OUR WORKS
Between our picket post and riAe-pits
there was large open field, ia which
several hundred of cattle were grazing
The advance.guard of the rebels drove
the cattle before them, thinking in this
way to crawl up to the rifle-pits and sur
prise their occupants. But the darNies
were wide awake. Indeed, / am con,
WINGED that they were more wary thar
their officers in this respect; for while
the latter insisted, for time, that it was
our own pickets who were coming in, the
former were fully persuaded, from tn,
moment the cattle turned 10 them, tha
the COnfederates were advancing. A,
one Of them said TO me, yesterday, w,
black uns knowed dey was comm. Dey
couldn't fool us. An we wanted TO shoot
but de officers said dey was our pickets.
However, even If the officers had knowr
: what the darkies say they knew, they
would nothave opened fire until the Con.
federates got close to them. 1t was thei
policy TO let the Texans come within
good and easy range, and then give then
such volley al would make them with.
drawmOre hastily than they approached
A CHARGE UPON OUR RIFLE PITS.
The rebels advanced confidently, will
the intention of charging over our rife
pits, When they were within hundred
yards Of the works, our men discharged
avOlley at them, but without much effect
The white soldiers did considerable ex
eeution with their fire, but the negroes
did what all troops have TO be repeatedly
cautioned against-lhey aimed too high
The rebels received the Ere, and sgair
advanced. The contrabands loaded theil
guns so quickly that, before the enemy
had made twenty yards further progress