Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1863-11-17

I Editors Journal:
We've had fight None of your
Murfreesboro's nor Antietam's, s, to besure,
but what might be calleda regular nasty
little fight, and omitting the bore of an
Introductory rigamarole,1I purpose to
tell you SO near as my limited abilities
will permit, partial particulars of the
whole muss.
vrder to more thoroughly protect the
a farg q+dTts 81 Off Ett Victory, almost the en-
tire cavalry force was stationed at differ
ent places throughout the country vary
ing from ten to fifty miles from Little
Rock. = .s-sa..-..
1t fell to the lot Of our. brigade, con.
sisting of our regiment and the 5th Kan
sas, and numbering about six. hundred
effective men, to occupy this town, situa-
ted fifty miles below the Capital, on the
Arkansas river. Well, we were here en-
joying ourselves and doing as well as
could be expected of honest Yankees
under the circumstances. o. Gathering
corn and cotton, our chief pursuits, of
which latter several hundred bales had
been collected, though of eourse, mostly
| belonging to private individuals ,..-
ia Sunday the 25th of October, had
dawned bright and pleasant upon the
! stirring soldiers and quiet citizens Of the
village-the boys were brushing jackets
and putting on Northern airs, prepara-
tory to behaving themselves in churches,
blooming with southern bellies, and ev
cry token of the future promised a. fair
| specimenn of war Sunday l,ra Il s-.e
But in the midst of this quietude and
harmony courier from the pickets came
clashing down the street, with the cry of
"the id rebels are coming!" ring
ing in the air, and then the Old Harry
was to pay. In an instant we were all
under arms. Three hundred contra
bands we're brought from their camp and
! set to rolling cotton bales, and in a short
space of time every entrance to the pub
lie square was completely fortified BY the
voluIninous carcass of King Cotton, laid
PROSTATE at the feet of the Northern con-
queror, by the sable hands of the corner
stone of the confounded eonfederacy. In
the meantime our skirmishers, who had
been sent out to check the progress of
the enemy were driven. iii, GA all sides,
and our artillery was spatLin9 away at
the rebels whenever they showed them
selves in the streets, which made them
adopt the precaution of tearing down
fences and coming through lots and gar
dona, --l;nb +hay ID. 20 tha es,.as.t % Saa5z-
ance or uIvers son old widows, who 9TH
erwise were well pleased with the visit,
but not with its abrupt termination.
About 9 O'clock the fighting became
1 general The enemy opened on the town
with their artillery, and indiscriminately
T.. shelled things at an awful rate, consider
ing that numbers of them had owned
, property here, and their wives and chill.
Il dren were in the town taking their chan
Y ces in the general uproar. 1t seemed tc
: 4 me as though the rebels would Just as
., soon their wives would cross Jordan al
: not, provided a few impudent Yankee;
II sailed in the same boat
f. But the fight was growing hotter an(
q the Rebels,eoming closer, and we ascer
tanned that 500 of us were. fighting 3,00(
!, I of the enemy. But every man was a
!, his post, knowing that upon the resolu
p ton of the part rested the success of tn,
e. whole. At 10 o'clock the enemy mad
. a'grand charge around the whole line
Of and, kept it up with the most. obstinate
gIh fury for over an hour. But they. wer
u co6ly met and handsomely repulsed a
K every point, and being foiled in every at
s. tempt, they became highly exasperate,
a at our impudence, set fire to the tow
p and withdrew to somewhat safer dis
lg tance.
d While the fire was raging the fghtin
of was kept up quite lively at long range
ne mostly with artillery, until 2 clock, T
he NJ, when they entirely withdrew, carry
ur ing with them their deadiand wounded
or our loss was 10 killed and so wounded
n and the lowest estimate of the enemy
at loss is from l50t to 200 killed and wounc
ng ed. aqof.sfa.s.s s.4-l..zE o..s -s
M The fire destroyed the houses occnpie
en- | by the '5th Kansas, consuming nearly a
ie- their clothing, camp sand garrisc
so- equipage.
lot col. Clayton commanded, and is d
in sewing Of high communication for b