The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-05-30

charged the Lieutenant, who was then in
command, to keep the escort close to the
house where the prisoners were staying,
as he feard they would befollawed and mo-
complained them to Bear creek, which was
the limit of the rebel lines.
The Movement Toward Vicks-
burg.
FOURTEEN MILE CREEK, Mss, May IA.
The hour which is to decide the contest
in Mississippi cannot be far of. Our adj
vance column is now 10 miles from Jackson.
The position we hold is one of immense
strength. The line of advance has been a
long series of hills Astounding in strong
holds for artillery, so that in the event of a
| repulse, which we do not anticipate, a con-
tinuouS rout is next to impossible. For
| tune or Providence, has smiled upon us
ever since we abandoned the canals and
swamps above Nicksburg and fairly cross
| ed the Rubicon. The present status of at
fairs looks very much like a checkmate.-
! Pemberton never dreamed that a frail egg
| shell of transport could pass the gauntlet
| Of hundred cannon shot without suffering
humiliation, and when seven steamers one
evening, slipped past the batteries at
| Vicksburg the calculations of the enemy
were completely overturned. The elabor-
ate rifle pits and Notifications of Grand
! Gulfindicate that the enemy supposed our
| first attempt would be to carry hatposition
ton, and when McClernan gave Grand Gulf
the go-by, and pushed his corps swiftly up
| I'D the hillside ten miles to the South, they
were confounded. They had for once been
fairly outwitted and out generated. They
met us with force wholly inadequate,
were routed before their reintorcements
could save them, and have already been
| driven back so miles.
Families have had no time to take away
| Large quantities of live stock, and cotton
enough to keep the looms OF Manchester
humlnng I'D iibtun1, have fallen into our
! hands. Meantime the news reaches US
that Grierson has broken the Jackson and
New Orleans Railroad in score Of places,
so as to prevent the possibility Of speedy
reinforcement from Port Hudson. This
fact we learn from rebel newspapers and
| it must be trustworthy. The enemy must
p! fight US soon. and fight us without his
| usual advantages in either numbers or po-
sition, and under the depressing influence
of recent disaster, or give up the Maiden
CITY of the West, and with it the Mis-
sissippi. For it is plainly the determna-
ton to push him to the wall. l am at a
| loss to know when, in the course of the
present war, an army has massed its force
| so rapidly and advanced with so much ra-
pidity. In less than two weeks we have
passed the rebel stronghold, crossed diff
| CUT river ~ i)OlIlt ny
strong natural defenses, beaten the enc
my in pitched battle, and advanced more
than fifty miles with an army capable in
numbers and arms of a Waterloo.
We have had a surfeit of fair weather,
and long for rain. Immense clouds of
dust, at times suffocating and binding.
and covering beard and person with Il
dingy squalor that almost deties recogni-
i ton, envelope the vast column as it adj
vances. The progress Of cavalry is like
the sweep of the simeon. You hear the
rattle of hoof and the saber. You see a
long dense volume of dust, and hardly
dist:nguishable throng rushing through it
pell nell. Our fair readers, whose ideas
of war have been derived from the pa
rade ground, would be sadly disappoint-
ed at the sight of these toil-worn, dirt
begrimmed fellows. Yet to such swarthy,
sunburnt. tattered columns belongs the
glory of the war. They wear the badges
and heroldic hpnors OF long, untirlng,
faithful service, and the country will cher
ish the number and birth place of their
regiments, while the principles they sup
ported through dust and rain, and long
marches. are held dear to the nation
The lonely biyouac at night: the dream OF
!, home, broken by the roar of cannon-let
our fair countrywomen think of these,
when hand in hand with some scented
and gloved Beau Brummei, they ''chase
the glowing hours with flying feet, in the
: ballroom. Like the heroes OF '16. their
graves are scattered along the shores and
|, hillsides of every State.
The meanest rill, the mightiest river,
Rolls mingling with their fame forever.
!, The great problem of Emancipation is
: fast coming to a solution. The slaves are
, docking in from all quarters, the Copper
heads to the contrary Notwithstanding, by
the thousands. Like the bondsmen Of Co
pher, they help themselves to ''Massa's''
} horses wagons, and household wares; and
condensing kitchen, parlor, and bed-cham-
Der into the compass of a cart or carryall
} come tiocking into camp from all quarters
Women on horseback, children in quaint
ties that would awaken the livelieSt antic.
ipations of Malthusian, provoke the
e daughter and applause OF the soldiers, who
| by the way, are fast becoming practica
Abolitionists. The Ist Mississippi, or Mas
: SGSsippi as they are styled, are being ra
D pidly organized by Col. Bolinger, formerly
t Captain in the I'd Illinois cavalry. Th'
: negroes are our best, frequently our only
= trustworthy guides, and form very val
: liable arm of the service. While on Thu
/ subject. NAV as we'll mention an inciden
e which came within my knowledge, anC
@ which adds one to the ten thousand proof
/ of the fact that Slavery is not, after all
a such Divine institution as the Nehemiah
e Adamses represent 1t. a negro-evidently
: an honest man, as we gathered both from
his manner and from the correctness of hi
: information about the roads-told us tha
n he was the slave of a Mr.. Beverly Blunt
v whose plantation terminated on the Ed
wards Depot road; that his master was de
+ formed in both hands and club-footed; tina
n he had told the wife of this man to weave
n certain piece of cloth within week; tina
: she misunderstood the order, or for SOM
n reason failed to fulfill it, and in conse
II quence received 500 lashes, and was after
d ward hit in the face with board by thi
IS monster in form and character, and, afte