The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1863-01-27
From the 9th.

E~ Capt WRrour sends US an inter
esting diary of events, as I've observed
them, from the time of leaving Vicks
burg, after the failure of the late expedi.
ton. 1t is too lengthy for us to copy
entire, but we extract all tEa relates to
the recent battle at Arkansas Post:
THURSDAY, JAN. 9th, 1863.
This morning we find ourselves at the
mouth of the White River. Most of the
feet are here, and preparations are being
made to do something somewhere. 1t is
rumored that we are going up White Ri
YER TO attack Arkansas Post, a place
about 25 miles up the White River. Our
breakfast consisted OF half a hard crack
er and cup of coffee AS luck would
have it, it rained hard enough to soak
Our crackers and cool our coffee. To.
day is gloomy day What makes it
more sad, this morning we have two
men lying in the boat, dead. They both
belong to the Iowa 4th, who are on the
boat with us. They will be buried in the
woods, far away from civilization. 9th
ers will soon follow. 1t has been very
hard on our men on the Yazoo. be-
lleve that if we had remained there a
week longer one half Of our men would
have died. never saw men sicken So
fast IN my life. Two drinks of the wa
ter would give man the Dysen;ery in
six hours.
We are ordered to get ready with five
days rations, two days cooked rations
in our haversacks.
JAN. 9th.-After breakfast the boats
begin to steam up, and at o'clock we
proceed up White River. We soon
reached the Arkansas Cut Of, where
the Arkansas River branches into the
White. Gen. German overtakes us al
this point in the little steamer Era, with
part Of the Dubuque Battery from Hele-
ma. His fleet joins US in this expedi
ton.
1t is some consolation to our worn and
weary soldiers, to know that they are
not forgotten by the good women of To-
wa. Mrs. Whitlemyer, the Sanitary
Agent, of Iowa, came down yesterday
with boat load Of good things, such as
butter, eggs, sourkraut, wines, jellies,
DC. They were distributed to-day
amongst the different regiments One
OF our men said, while eating his dish of
kraut, " Golly, but we live to-day, don't
we ?" Mrs. Whitlemyer is considered
the soldiers Angel by the Iowa boys.
JAN. 10th.-We awake this morning
at the sound OF the signal given. Tie
atmosphere is clear and beautiful. After
breakfast the debarkation commences.
By 8 o'clock the troops are all landed
and formed in line Of battle. We formed
in an open field and marched up the
bank Of the River. Six gun boats move
slow y up the stream, Smelling the timber
IN our front. We are soon in sight of
the enemy's line of battle. We can dis,
timely see them placing their batteries
in position on the bank of the river above
US. As we file by, Gen. Vandever, who,
hat in hand, salutes US, tells us to put
our trust in God. that our cause is just
which received hearty response from
the 9Th, We move from the River
through cypress swamp, TO get in the
rear oil the enemy's Notifications. If we
were not accustomed TO wade through
mud and water, up TO cur middle, we
might find some fault But as il is, we
have learned TO endure all like good sol
diers. The conflict, thus far to-day,
has been principally between the Gun
boats and the enemy's batteries. Our
left wing has succeeded in turning the
enemy's right, and capturing their sec
ond entrenched works. We are ordered
back to the River 10 its support.
Three desertere have just come in and
report the enemy 10000 strong, and ex
pect 10000 more tonight. We shall
probably find out the truth by to. morrow
night. We wade through the swamp
back to our starting point, and stack
arms. Every man now takes his supper
Of hard crackers and coffee. John Brown
makes coffee for our mess tonight, and
stirs it up with a rail. Jesse Barnett, of
No. 2 mess, is stewlng a couple of chick
ems. Everything on our trip is cooked
with rails. Steam for the boats, and
even the beds OF the soldiers, are made
with them. Of course we sleep on the
soft side. Just as our chickens were
almost MALT cooked. The signal is given
TO fall IN. / had just got little OF tie
soup in my cup, and had fixed my mouth
for q good supper The soup was too