Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1863-09-28

| HAOeiOu WHICH HdIull TtStHDlcS ule, III
rattle of the wagon wheels seems strange
ly mufled, and almost the only SCUM
you recognize is the heavy, measure,
aactal tramp of thousands of liviny
meni
For the frst-haf of the night durin,
which the march | am referring to tool
place, everything was comfortable enougl
but near midnight it turned freezingl,
cold, and as it was necessary, after pass
ing General Crittenden, for us to fee
our way with caution, long, wearisom,
haults took place, during which skirm
lshers would scour the woods immediate
ly upon our front and right flank. The
boys who were not skirmishing becom
ing very cold during these haults, begar
to kindle fires at every stopping place tc
warm themselves. At first they made
these fires of logs of wood and rails ia
ken from the neighboring fences, but af
terward they ceased to trouble them
selves about remoYi ng the rails nd SAi
| fire to the fences themselves wherever
they CHANGED to stop. In the course OF
an hour line of fires stretching al
along the Lafayette road illuminated the
clouds above, and showed the silent col
umns of General Thomas gliding by like
an army of spectresl
rode for a considerable portion oi
the march at the head of the renowned
lst Michigan battery, engaged in low
conversation with the manly and intelli.
gent officer who commanded it, Lieuten-
ant Van Pelt. He seemed more than
usually confident and cheerful, little an.
ticipating, poor fellow the fate which
awaited him on the morrow
''Do you think, said he to me, that
we shall engage the enemy?"
"If we can avoid ii" l replied, A."
feel pretty sure we will not -
"Why then this movement" he asked.
Doubtless" said l, 'to prevent the
enemy from turning our left flank, which
they have all,day,been threatening toido !"
He looked at me earnestly. "Then
you believe they are endeavoring to
bring on battle :? "s8 -.a s-a.t q. u
81 certainly believe they are" l an
swered.
"Do you know anything of their
strength" he next inquired ,
Not certainly" I replied; but in ad-
dition to Braggs old army, Longstreet's
corps from Virginia, and at least twenty
thousand men from Johnston's army are
in front of us. l@3
I" No matter" said he, we shall beat
them. Men fighting in cause like ours
must conquer in the end"
Just then Gen Baird came riding by
with some members of his excellent
staff. / recognized them by the light
of one ofthe fires
General" said /, "shall we go to
Chattanooga tonight"
"No," he replied "We shall go a
mile or two further, take position upon
the left, and await the enemy
" Then" said 1, turning to Van Pelt,
!" battle tomorrow is inevitable"
Very well, he re marked, "ce shall
all hare an opportunity to shoe again
oar depotion.to oar country"
ton, and the marching columns facing
to the right stood in order Of battle look
ing toward the east.
An hour or two longer and the sun
arose in glory, thawed the crisp white
frost which had collected upon the grass,
dispersed the mists that had gathered
around the tops Of the mountains, and
sending flood of golden light into the
valley of the Chickamauga, showed al
least twothirds of the entire Union army
drawn up in battle array. Not that any
individual, save old Sol, could see then
all; for the peculiar nature of the ground
covered almost everywhere with thIci
woods, rendering it impossible in man,
places to see even the whole OF singi
regiment.
/ As soon as the sun was fairly risen,
mounted my horse, intending to ride t
! the extreme left of our line, and theme
proceed from left to right, so as to &c
as accurate an idea Of it as possible b'
fore the real work of the day shoul
commence. Riding about a mile l sa
troops coming into the road from tt
,, woods to the east of it, and had | not pc
ceived through my glass that they wei
habited in blue, l should have Judge
from the direction whence they can
that they were portion of the reb
army. Suddenly saw q courier sho
II out from the crowd and coming iowa
s me hatless and with frantic speed
he came, dozen rifle cracks from t
t. woods skirting corn-feld along viii
IS he was passing, informed me that HI
t, tile demonstrations of some kind we
4 being made in our immediate vlclnl
10 I halted until the courier came up.
Ill delivered his dispatches to another hor
IN man who Immediately started with th
81 toward the headquarters Of Gen. Thorn
ne | then asked the hatless courier vi
lg troops those were ahead. He inform
or me that they were the two brigades e
We MitchelTs and Col McCOok s) of G
lis Gordon's corps, who had been skirmi
N. ing the day before in the neighbour
rs, of Reids Bridge and of Ringgold, a
IN have already described. They had cc
'ut to form a junction with the main ar
I'M had halted and were waiting for ord
Ich ''Are you going back to them now
~; inquired of the courier.
ad II am" he replied, "but it is haz
en- GUS business; for the woods just on
the other side of that cornfield are /
S it with rebel sharpshooters, who fire at
tia one passing along the road; just
'lFe they hred quite Noiley a' mt 40 = :
un- through"
hen AS / wished to reach these troo
run Gen. Granger's, in order to learn
cial them what they had been doing the
eral before. this answer was little dis
,ost- aping. Nevertheless my curiosity fl
emy prevailed over my apprehensions,
: So myself and the courier started back
, be- a full gallop. of course the sharps
rush ers paid us their respects, and more
bis one bullet whistled uncomfortably
gait; to our ears while we were running
ason dangerous gauntlet. But fortul
that none of them hit either of US, alti
cum one cut the hair from my horses
IN us Scarcely had | reached our troo
ortu- safety, when an order from Genera
ecrans, which had reached General
It the ger by another route, directed tn
nued. brigades to fall back at once to Ros
sition get supply of rations for three
Nv. so and hold themselves in readin
ed his march at a moments notice I
Gen close proximity of the rebels rend
,o,si -oroauyhat difficult inst then to