Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1863-11-18

Last Campaign, and why IL was Un'
dertaken.
CAPTURE AND PAROLE OF COL. ALsToN-
NORTHERN SENTIMENTS AND OUR DUTY.
The following letter to Hon. A. G., Ma.
gratb, was written by Col. Alston, without
any expectation of its coming before the
public eye, but through the earnest solicita.
ton of friend, who had the pleasure Of
perusing it before sending, Col. Alston has
consented to its insertion. We are under
obligation to the Colonel for having yielded
his consent to the publication of his private
correspondence, especially as we know that
he has done so from the considerations ur.
gently represented to him, that the interests
of the country may thereby be .subserved'
Whether in welding sword or apep, Col.
A. is an able defender of the rights of the
South, and from both weapons in his hand,
we hope to hear of valorous deeds, while the
war for the subjugation of the South is per-
sisted in by our enemies. We publish the
letter entire, and thank our friend for his
kindness in favoring US with it. -
Aaanta Coatederacy.
MEADOW Nook, NEAR DECATUR, GA,
October 20, 1868
Hon. a. G. Magrah:
DEAR JUDGE: When we last parted you
did me the kindness to request that would
write to you and give my views about the
state of things, whenever had leisure.
have promised myself this pleasure on
several OCCASIONS. bat something has always
occurred to preventit, either we were with
in the enemy's lines, or ordered to move, or
something else. And now, when I sup
posed I would have plenty of spare time,
the care of providing for my family and
making them comfortable before I return to
the army, keep me occupied and worried,
so you must not imagine that have been
unmindful of my promise, but place my
neglect to other causes; First, I suppose
your friendly interest in me will make you
wish. to know something of our last trip
why we started on what appeared so foolish
an undertaking, what were its results, &c.
About the latter part of June, Gen. Nor
gan learned that Gen. Burnside was prepa-
ring formidable expedition into East Ten,
nessee, and had concentrated portion Of
his forces at jamestown aud Somerset, Ken
tucky together with very long amount of
army stores, even long forage for horses,
large trains of wagons, &c, at the latter
place. It then became very important to
produce diversion of this force in order to
prevent flank movement on Gen. Bragg,
who was then at Tullahoma, and also to al
low . concentration of all our available
force in front of Rosecrans. Gen. Morgan
consequently sought, and obtained from
Gen. Bragg, permission to take two thous
and picked men in this expedition. We
started on the 2Sth day of June, for the
borders of Tennessee, in drenching rain,
and7arriving at Wolfs's river, found it 50
much swollen that we were obliged to swim
it with portion Of our forces. The few
wagons containing ammunition we're taken
to pieces and crossed in canoes, no other
transportation being available. Obey's RI
er was crossed in the same manner. We
got over in safety, with the loss of only one
man, and mule drowned. Cumberland
river was reached on the LIST of July. Here
VIC found all means Of transportation had
been destroyed, and Gen. Morgan was OBJ.
liged to have number of boats built. This
was accomplished in the course of seven or
eight hours, and the men and equipments
crossed during that night. The horses
we're made to swim. Here we also found
the enemy on the opposite shore to annoy US
and prevent our crossing, butwe soon drove
them back, and by II o'clock of the End of
July, we were all in the saddle on the north
bank Of the Cumberland aud iu pretty good
order. Our men were full of hope and en-,
thusiasm, and really believe, could have
whipped three times their numbers on that
day. We were not long waiting for fight.
A brigade of Yankee cavalry came down to
meet US, but we soon drove them back, and
camped quietly about teu miles from the
river By this time our force had increased
to about $500, by stragglers coming up,
who were eager to go along, for already it
was whispered that we were bound for the
north of the Ohio, and none wished to be
left behind. From this point we had to
fight our way, literally fight our way-until
the 9th of the month, when the command
crossed the Ohio river.
Burnside becoming alarmed, for fear Of a
formidable invasion of Kentucky under
Buckner-for we had reported ourselves as
his advanced guard-put his whole force on
our track, and moved all his supplies back
to camp Dick Robinson. 1t, therefore, was
just as safe for US to go forward as return,
and now our principal object was to keep as
many troops employed and for as long a time
as possible, in order to give General Bragg
time to make good his retreat to Chattanoo-
ga. The strategy succeeded and instead of
Burnside reaching Knoxville by the 9th of
July, he did not get there until about the
9th of September. The object of our ez-
pedition, therefore, was partially accomplish
ed, and it was worth the sacrifice Of all we
lost, which was about fifteen hundred men
and horses, and two pieces of artillery
After the command got into Indiana, al
though very large numbers of militia, per-
haps twenty-five thousand, were soon mus
tered to oppose us, they always fled at our
approach, and do not think constituted