Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-07-10
Col. Hatch of the Second Iowa
Cavalry.

An army correspondent Of the Davenport
Gosette pays handsome and deserved com
pliment to our fellow citizen Col. Hatch
Below we copy his letter entire, believing il
will be read with interest by the public, and
especially by those having friends in this
noble regiment:
"Col. Hatch is universally liked by officers
and men, especially by fighting ones Every
man in the regiment would follow him to
the very heart of rebellion; they know him
to have the ability to command, and that he
is undaunted, brave, collected and cool in bat.
tie; there is no hesitation in obeying his Or
ders, for every one has implicit confidence in
the source from whence they emanate We
feel perfectly safe when out on scout, for
we know his ability and we know that the
rebels never have out generated him. In
| camp he is strict disciplinarian; but giving
justice to all. will give an example of his
appearance in time of danger: At Birming-
ham, when we had been followed for five sue.
cessive days and nights by vastly superior
rebel force, we were attacked at IL O'clock
Major Coon had been sent to town five
miles distant with five companies-two COM
panies were sent to guard the bridge on which
we had to cross the river, one company had
charge of the prisoners, and one company had
charge of led horses and negroes leaving
but two companies, A and E, dismounted,
armed with Colts revolving rifles and Reals
six-shooting navy revolvers, numbering forty
two men. Parts of E and X, IA men with
sabres and carbines, acted as t1ankers and
we had one little steel, four pound cannon.
When the enemy was charging upon us,
five companies abreast and each company
formed into tours, and these supported by
seven other companies, Col. Hatch stood as
cool as though he was in his parlor at Musca-
tine only reading a charge. They had charg
ed twice before and been repuled. Our two
companies, A and E, were formed in line
across the road, The cannon in the center. and
E ank K on each flank The enemy is COM
ing down on the full run with sabres drawn,
and their reserve of seven companies is dis
charging volley after volley which comes in
close proximity to our ears. Col. Hatch stood
among the foremost (his is where you will
find him in time of batte) cheering, and thus
encouraging his men:
II am surprised, boys; you have done we'll
have seen you dsmount eight men at one
charge; I saw five horses fall dead and sever
al disabled. You have done well; take it
cool boys, make every shot coun'; bear in
mind that one shot we'll put in is wor h more
than one hundred thrown away, and that one
horse killed or disabled CT one mar knocked
Fl ON his horse, does more good than the re-
port Of a hundred shots that do not take eff
feet. Wait until you get good shot, then
make it tell. Do you not see that they are
wasting their shots? Keep your line good
and when they get close enough, fire with
will. There are but few Of US, but we have
got eleven shots each, and, mark my words,
3 ,0C0 of them cannot charge through us; We
can stop them with piles of dead horses and
men. Here they come, boys. Keep your
line good and don't let man move an inch;
hold your fire until you can see then wink
their eyes, and don't fire until | give the
word.'
On they came. Two hundred yards; now
one hundred; now seventy five. On they
come, making the ground tremble with the
fall of their horses hoofs. They are fol-
lowed up by the reserve, who keep up fire
and advance with savage yells. st II the lit
tie band stands still. Not word is spoken
not man moves not heart quals not an
eye turns from its work. At our front stands
our Colonel, though the bullets whistle about
his head, His eye steadily wanders over the
mighty column, watching for favorable op-
portunity to open on them. Fifty yards is
gained by them, and the word fire" given
simultaneously the rifles and cannon are dis
charged, and the fire is kept up by the rifles
as long as the rebels are in reach, for they
are falling back, scattered and in confusion,
amid the groans of the wounded, the shrieks
of their dying and the neighing of their
wounded horses. We are ordered to keep
our line good aud fall back to the lead horses.
We did not have man or horse hurt. We
had fought the famous 9th Alabama cavalry
with 56 of our regiment and repulsed five
desperate cavalry charges. Yours, &c.
LEE.