The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-04-28
Particulars of the Late Rattle
in EONiSia,h1.

New YoRx. April %. The following,
from New Orleans Era is an account Of the
final victory Of h, Union forces at Pleas
ant Hill !: 80 '~''
After soma terrible Rgh.ing. at seven
o'clock Saturday morning, our forces we're
a. Pleasant Hill, anil the rebt Is were adj
.vancing cavalry IN front. en- leav,ring5 to,
discover our position. C,l. o. P, G,phng
with his brfsafc Of Lees cavalry corps, was
sent out on the Shreveport roal, to meet
the enemy and draw him on, He had
gone about mile when he came upon the
rebel advance. Slirmishng Immediately.
ensued. and acc ,rdiny to the plan, he slow.
" fell back The fight was very sharp be;
tween these cavalry bodies, and Col G ,od
ing lost nearly 40 min kiel and wounded;
,nfficting, however as much damage as he
received
The 18th corps wars a reserve in tire rear,
under Gen. Cameron. Ransom having
been wounded the daybafore, Gen. Smith
was in chef command of the second lines
back Of the crest, while Gen Mower was
in command Of the men.
The comm nder of the right brigade in
Gen Smiths west line was Col Lynch
The left brigade was Col Shaw's. The
Second brigade also consisted of two, brig,
AIDES. Crawfofd's third Indiana battery
was posted to the right Of the ssth Indiana
infantry, and the ninth nliana b,tterv on
the right of the line Of battle. The Mis-,
sour hoDton battery, and others whose
names and numbers W. con'd not asoer-
tain. were also in this section Of the battle.
The skirmishiny was kept up with con
siderable vigor until five o'clock 10 the af..
ternoon, when. the rebels had completed
their arrangements for the attack. ~
At about this hour, Gen. Emer's Skin
mishing line was driven in on the right, bv
the rebels, who appeared in large force,
cnmint through the timber above mentioned
They soon reached the open grou,i and
moved on IN threelines Of battle. Our bat
teries and infantry opened with terrible
effect. doing great slaughter with grape and
canister. while the enemy's artillery, being
in the woods in bad position, did scarce
~ any damage.
Col Benedict's brigade, on the left, was
first engaged, and was som followed by
Dwight's and McN1lan's a'I"s"'n' -
The fighting was terrific Old soldiers
say it never was surpassed for desperation
Notwithstanding The terrible havoc in their
ranks, the enemy PRESSED fi,rce'y on and
slowly pushed the man Of the 10Th corps
back up the hill. bit not breaking their
line fbattle A sudden AMI bid dash Of
the rebels on the right gave them p,sses-
sion Of Tsylor's battery, and forced our
line still further back. Now came the
grand coup de main.' The 4 9th, on arriv-
ing at the tnp Of the hill. suddenly fled
over the hill and passed through the line
of Gen. Smith. fs-ss,s, Eet r,al ei4,s T,
/ We must here mention the rebels were
now in but two lines Of battle, the first hav
ing been almost annhilated by Gen, Mower,
what remained having been forced back in
to the second; but this sec,ni line came on
exultaat and sure of victory. They first
passed over the knoll and, all needless of
the long lins Of cannons. and the crouch
ing forms, pressed on. The second line ap.
peared on the Instant, and the death signa J
was sounded, Words cannot describe The
awful effect of this discharge, seven thous
and rifles and several batteries Of artillery
loaded to the mnzzle with grape shot and
canister were fired simultaneously and the
whole centre of the rebel line was crushed
down and frightfully mangled by this one
| discharge, No time was given them to re.
/ cover their good order. but Gen. Smith orr
dered a charge. and his men dashed rapidly
forward. the boysdof the 18th joining. -
The rebels fought boldly and desperately
back to the timber, on reaching which a
large portion Of them broke and fed. fully
1900 throwing aside their arms. s, yss q
In the charge Taylor's, battery. was ia
ken as were also two of the, guns Of Minis
battery, the parrot guns taken from the
United States at Carbon Grow last fall and
one. or two others belonging to- he rebels;
also 700 prisoners A pursuit and dssul,
i;twys f yhk was,vkspts pps,f,r. three mics