The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-03-20

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
quartermasters' and cOmmissary quar-
tiers, hospital capable Of accommoda-
ting 2,500 TO 5000 patients, &c These,
with the town, were Of course destroy
ed. We also burned every depot and
station along the line Of the railroad
as far as our army reached, the beauti-
full town of Conton, as before stated,
being spared
At Enterprise, which was sixteen
miles below Meridian, we found q camp
Of paroled prisoners, being part Of the
old Nicllsburg garrison. These men in
formed Us that the Confederate author
tiles had been forcing many of their
number into the army again, telling
them they had been exchanged At
one point on our march, a rebel post
office was captured, containing, among
others, q letter from paroled lieuten-
ant who had thus been forced 70 serve,
and who, writing home, expressed the
opinion that they would be driven into
Mobile and again captured b. our army
Enterprise, all and singular, with its
improvements, public and private, its
paroled camp and its cOnscript camp
with its associations, historic, poetic,
and Secesh, has been-accordins to
camp parlance-wiped out
The state Of feeling and the condition
Of the people in the section travelled
through are indescribable The bitter
ness which has marked this struggle
on the part of the Southern people can
scarcely be said to be lessened-in
many cases It is intensified, accOmpa-
MED by an utter recklessness a. to per
sOnal consequences, which is often fear
full Many having made immense sac
rifices, and who now feel that all is lost,
seem to delight in wreaking their fury
upon some unfortunate negro soldier,
falling into their hands, or an occasion
nj white straggler from our army, who
il careless enough to be taken On our
return from this expedition the corpse
Of an Indiana soldier who had separa-
ted himself from his company, was
found with sixteen bullet holes through
his body. As a general thing, how
ever, the sentiment of the people seem
ed to be one Of dependency at the idea
of Southern independence, Of WEAKNESS
with the war, and Willingness to re
turn TO the Union rather than 10 con-
tinue a hopeless struggle The rigidity
of the CONSUMPTION Is SO complete, how
ever, that this feeling can make little
impression, or rather produce little re
suit under the present order Of things
or, in fact, until the military rule is effec-
tually broken up throughout tho Con
federacy. The Engineer 70 whom al
fusion has already been made in this
epistIc informs me that a Lieutenant
and SIX men accompanied each train
which passed over the railroad on which
he run, and no man without pass
could travel a mile. No man could
stop off at e station without a guard
examined his pass, nor could any one
get on the train without the same core
mouy. No one could pass from one
town to another without his papers be-
ing in order, and even then they were
scrutiniEed with tho greatest careful
ness and frequency. he himself was
not permitted 10 cross the Pearl river
st jackson, and after the news reached
there Of our movement three soldiers
were placed on the engine and tender
to insure his faithfuiness 10 running tho
train loaded with Confederate soldiers
out OF the reach Of Yankee bullets.
At Marion, the railroad station, wood
house, and q few small building, were
burned. QuitInan was visited, and two
hour-mills, fine saw mill, railroad
depot and other storage buildings, with
several thousand feet Of lumber, fell q
prev to the ire king. At HillsborO
several stores were seJ on ire. Seven
teen damaged locomotives, SIX lOcomo-
tiyes in fine running order, number Of
cars, and a repair shop, with hand-cars,
quantities Of sleepers, and tool house,
were destroyed at Cant0u-aI bolong-
ing 10 the Mississippi Central Railroad.
No private property was mOlested or
injured at Canton, the inhabitants never
having frcd upon our troops.
Our troops raised sad havoc with the
Mobile and Ohio and tho southern
railroad lines, inhicting such damage
a. a million dollars cannot repair. The
Southern road was torn up, rails twist
ed. and sleepers burnt from Jackson 10
twenty miles east of MeridiIn 20 Cuba
Station. The Mobile and Ohio road
was destroyed for j6 miles, extending
from Ouitnan to Lauderdale Springs
Five costly bridges were totally de-
strOved the one spanning the Chicka-
sawhay River Was 2lD feet long, with
tre,tle-work which required -four months
hard labor Of hundreds Of mechanics
to construct X. 1t was q substantial
covered bridge. The bridges over DC
tohibacah, Alligator, Tallesha, and
Chunky rivers, were also burned On
the llth. Captain Foster, Of the 10th
Missouri Cavalry, received instructions
10 make q raid on Lake Station, seven
teen miles from Hillsboro, and TO dc
stroy all property available for the
rebels. Two livery stables, several
machine-shops, three locomotives, water
tank, timetable, 81 railroad cars, en-
cine-house, two saw-mills, and thou
sands Of dollars worth Of lumber were
consumed, spirits Of turPentine from
the Signal Corps, aiding materially to
to the rapid destruction Of tho build
ings.
Decatur was entered on the 18th Of
February, where some thirty buildings
were burned. Decatur is the county
stat 81 view EDAA tgAAAAA
About two miles east Of Decatur, Q
party of 30 or 50 Rebels attacked one
Of our trains, killing II mules. The
guard repulsed them, killing five, and
capturing three None Of our men
were injured Gen Sherman, with two
of his staff were in a perilous condition
at this time, and IL was feared the en-
tire party would be surrounded BIZ the
guerrillas They escaped, however, and
Joined their command. some four mile.
distant, without mOlestatiOn
staff officers estimate that our loss in
killed and wounded viii not 8xced 80
men, with about 100 captured The
captured men were taken % Mobile
The Rebel loss in killed and wounded
IS much greater, their lcss by desertion
and capture being estimated at over
600 Among the prisoners arc Lieut.
Tomlinson Of the Rebel Brig-GenoFal
Ferguson staff, and Lieut. Winn, the
Rebel cOnscription officer al jackson
The Mobile and Ohio Road, which
was 50 thoroughly destroyed, was con
sidered By engineers to be the finest
built road in tho United Statos- costing
$1,000 per mile. 10 was built punci-
paIly bv English capitalists, and george
Peabody, the London banker, owned
several thousand sharos The destruc-
ton Of this road viii prevent the rebels
from reinforcing Mobile by rail, and
etfeetuallv cuts of the fertile region Of