The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-07-21

Murphy, slightly, June 16
Go. I--Halfhill, severely, i July 5.
Fleming, slightly, June 49,
sBonar, /" July s.
Co. K--St. John, 9" June, 81.
Clearwaters. both legs shot off with
shell July 5, (since desd) 3,s
A majority Of the wounded are very bad.
ly hurt We had the extreme advance Of
the army July 9Th, and celebrated our ma
tional holiday by very sharp fight from
moraing till 2 p. m. Our regiment drove
Ross cavalry Brigade steadily from early
in the morning until noon, when we found
them strongly fortified. We "sailed in"
with howl and out they went shelter ske!-
ter" The next day four companies Of the
18th Iowa, and four from the 18th again
had the advance as skirmiShers. and drove
the same rebel brigade before them rapidly
nto another line Of very strong earthworlls,
and then made a charge, again driving the
EDWARDS from position that they should
have held against an entire division, instead
of being driven ont by s companies Of Skin.
mishers, supported only by our brigade
We pursued them on the 9Th inst to the
Chickagack creek (where we now are) one
mile from the Chattah oochie river, where we
found the enemy in great force, very strong
ly fortified to prevent ns from crossing the
-, 81 - g., g.,
our front, with strong skirmish line thrown
forward right Up under their noses, and
since then we have been almost constantly
playing upon their works. extending for
some z miles along the Chattahoochie, in
front Of our entire army with apparently bnt
little damage. I presume the works in our
front cannot be taken without great sacri.
fee of life, end that General Sherman will in
due time, find some way to get arhund them
by flank movements. johnson evidently
has an immense army and they are compar.
ativelv well fed and clothed, 4 nd all the de
mo alzation you hear about. through the
columns Of the press. come from young men
Of the long haired and cared persuasion. Of
vivid imaginatinrs, who never get near the
front and get their reliable information from
strag ,lers. This country is strongly defen.
sive. with its mountains, passes &c, making
one defender equal to three invaders at least,
hence the public must not get impatient
with the son to Atlanta movement We
are in the extreme front Of Shernan's right
wing. under Mcpherson and are to day near.
err to the very heart of the Rebel Concern
than any army ever penetrated before /; in
plain view OF Atlantis from hills in our rear
which is only six miles distant. They have
had an immense arrny Of negro laborers at
work in their rear, and the entire country
fought over from Chattanooga to this point
il one continuous series Of very strong tor
-tifications, hence we have fought them at
great disadvantage and suffered severely.
A great pc ton Of this army like us went
through the Shiloh and Corinth campaigns
the first year; Vicksburg. Jackson and Mer-
idian the second, but this Georgia campaign.
the third year OF our soldering, for bloody
fighting every day, building forts at night
incessant labor, hard marches, short ratons
and hardships generally. makes us look back
at Shiloh, Corinth and Vicksburg as holiday
affairs.
We have very hot weather. good water
but nothing to eat in this country but
blackberries and apples, just getting ripe in
small quantities The army is enjoying ex-
cellent health considering their fare and ex-
posture. Every one is confident Of our ulti.
mate success.
Excuse the construction and penmanship
Of this Communication as have written it
with our batteries playing overhead, while
every few minutes rebel MIME comes aka.
zip" along after you, knocking the dirt up at
your feet, whistling by your ears, cutting
through your brush "shebang," while an
occasional shot from a rebel gun comes
.screeching, screaming and Kissing over your
head uncomfortably near, while the boys
yell out down the lines "to your holes"
A. j. Roach of Ottunwa, Clark Marshall,
and Shreves, from the south side of the river
are tho only wounded in our regiment from
Wapelo CO., none very severely but Roach,
and he not in much danger. ,..4, a
"WAPELLO."
The rebels shelled Gen. Fosters head
quarters south Of James river, on the 10th,