The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-11-06
Graphic Account Of EarIy's stampede.
The Less OF Artillery Admitted to have
been Fifty-seVen Pieces.

NV M.nrrr Oct d 1se


Correspondence Richmond Enquirer,l
NEW MARKET, Oct 81, 1854.
Little l thought ten days ago, wher
was writing about our cavalry from
this identical place, to which l am nov
just returned, that one Of the greatest, /
not the greatest stampede of this ,0or, an
a stampede Of infagtry, too, had YET 4
take place 1t is the most singular af
fair that one can possibly imagine: 8
whole day of glory and a few minute:
of shame-a splendid beginning and q
nso1ltrous end-muAer formoSa .S1perue de
siDdt IN piSeens
don't know whether it is better Il
laugh or to cry, for the thing is so ode
and ludierous in some respects, that, il
we were only fighting for the outraged
dignity of plenipotentiary, the rights
of reversion to some duchess, some
petty island in the East Indies, or even
for the possession of some Siberia OF
ours, we might as well take our time
and ease, and look only upon the funny
part of this great mischief Bet / am
afraid we cannot regard such luxury as
laughing at our own expense Just at
present, and that it is our duty, under
the circumstances, to take it with a pro.
per mixture of ''anger" and sorrow"
This is preamble enough, to be sure,
before coming to the point, but yet 1
cannot step fat footed upon il; l can t
my dear sir-it would be unnatural /
think Yes, whole day of glory and
few minutes of shame, as have al
ready said but, unfortunately, it is the
shame that comes last, and casts its
gloomy penunabra over the rays and
beams of the departed glory of the day
| allude to our battle of the 18th inst,
between StrasbuFg and Middletown
What will be it's name2 I don't care
let it be no name" if you like. As for
me, l will merely call it the affair Of
the 18th.
l know there is an order from the Ad-
jutant Generals Office concerning letter
writers and correspondents, and don t
feel inclined to think light of it either.
Whether right or wrong, it is an order,
and this is enough for me, feel in
clined to respect it. But, as l am Meth
er letter writer nor correspondent,
as Iknow of no plans of campaigns
that could disclose, and as l would
disclose none if | knew any as | speak
of no marchings, manoeuvres or coun-
ter marchings; finally, as | merely
write TO you as would speak to you,
if l had an opportunity, to give you
an account Of my personal
with respect to facts that
belong TO history from the moment that
they took place, and with which the
Yankees are az well acquainted as any
of us-for they were in it, to be sure,
and they are not quite strangers to the
deed-I pledge you my word | cannot
see any wrong IN my writing to you
about this affair of the 10th.
Well, sir, we surprised the Yankee
camps, at the break of day, as com
pletely as a camp can be surprised how
we did it Is another thing We did
take no road--we just took our flight
in the afr, and after having lowered
around sufficient time to allow q glim
mering light at the east to show signs
of the returning daylight, in order to
be able to distinguish our friends from
our foes, we bounced down upon them
We swept pickets, hillsides and breast
and formed our lines within the
and camps, nth seccn pieces
Of artillery taken before they could tire three
and a 71rnning foe 6gtore u.s. This
clean sweep was made by Kershaw's
division; and that is the way we began
our work. The enemy tries to rally OH
the left, but it is in vain we push on,
and now we hear the firing Of other di-
visions on the right, which come in for
their share of it, and calamity. too -
The enemy is driven back from camp
to camp; as they yield they endeavor
TO carry away some field pieces, but we
shot the horses down, and the pieces
are ours Now the turnpike is cleared;
our artillery can come down and sup
port our line, it comes down, and as
the resistance increases so does the vi
gor of our attack. The sun rises above
The crests OF the mountains, and what
of the morning fog, the smoke Of the
and artillery, and the soft
light that is thrown across,
not like a rainbow, bat like bloodbow
if there was such q word, for surely
there is such thing, the spectacle be
fore US is grand As it has its color, it
has its voice-the yells Of our neil, the
of the shells, the wits ling
Of the Enfield balls, the heavy tramp
Of men and horses, the rolling of gun
carriages and wagons, all imingle in a
storm, Of which we have not only the
noise, bat the destructive power. We
move and roll along; 1T is not stand
lp fight, although the enemy, after
having been driven out Of all his camps.
tried to make stand, but it merely
caused the storm to concentrate it.
work of destruction at that place fora
some half an hour-for our men were
not to be stopped: they had it in their
mind 10 fight now, and nothing could
stop them. Over hills, stone fences,
across broad, cleared fields and thick
woods, the fighting goes on IS regular,
as steady, as If it had just begun, and
still it is now three o'clock, we have
driven the enemy four miles, captured
all the camps with every thing in them,
spotted the ground with their dead and
sent TO the rear some eigh
teen hundred prisoners, captured eigh
teen pieces of artillery, but the fighting
still goes on although we have stopped
driving the enemy, who il by this time
pushed back further than Middletown
on a line extending from the left OF IL
All this is very well, but pending this
time another work goes on that is far
very far from being quite a. good The
quu,Ber Of or men phaaaderiny IN the camps
Increases svsry hour, the provost guard
carries off 8 batch of them to the front
but q Eazqsr niagl5erofthsm Oozss 0st from nc
round, when they soon cover ike on
If the seven plsgues Of Egypt-the 10
,usts should say. All these men are
70 confdent that the enemy Is whipped
hat they onlg ,eaaf % secure faelr skGre II
he bootg. But alas war Is 3 game tha
.wo can play. The Yankees are not quite
blind there are many hills and sum-
nits from which they can spy the broad
.xpanse Of those cleared grounds They
low know exactly what - our strength;
hey have seen every man We have inthe
ield, and they see their former campo
with our freebooters- So they
Inow our strength and they know also