, 1864-04-20
MATTER s EW GEN, BANKS
Department.
a Repulse in Western Louisiana.
Capture Of two Federal DatteTies--
List Of Casualties.
The Chicago Mercantile
Battery Taken. =

On RED RIVER. April 10, 1864. :.
have very bad news to write you. We have.
nlet With segere dibaater.
Our cavalry Ind been driving thceue1J for two
days, but II tic forenoon Of the 9Th lussant they
cent back w1rd for infantry support Gen. Ran
eou,, ir command Of tho ID acd Ill divisions or
the 18th amy corps, wss o1dc1cl to send forward
a brigade, md did So at noon be Nas ordered to
eend up ali of tic 9TH division, md he. went with
theIn. After advancing about fire milea from
wht1e the Sd division OF hte command and The 10Th
a1mycorps were eneampcd TIE rebels made stand
and our lne consisting Of only loo Infantry, WAS
formed In belt Of woods with an open field IN the
frunt, and tho enemy In the woods on the other
siIc. Gen. Stone (of Bals's Bluff faue). Chief Of
Gen. Banks eta, was On tho field. and took direc-
ton OF the movements. Gen. Ransom Wasin favor
Ct 1lyanctag only In force Int his wish WAS dlsrc-
earucd.
We were tlye miles from our rclaforcenents,
with thick woods behind them, through which ran
Ea,roH rocd, completely t1llel with wagon trains
srd making N orderly retrcst impossible.
After keeping up Bkir1nish firing across this
oEtn field Tor about an hour, tho enemy advanced
nron US In Overwhelming numbers probably not
le.e 1hAn ten thousand ss1oag. Gen. Ransom got
nil hts available troops to the front and opened On
,he2a. The enemy lost heavily, but they advanced
steadiy, ard coon made our cavalry give way, and
the intantry fell buck. In a few minutes the enc
my pressed rs 10 closely and the panic OF the cav
airy was 80 dcmosa1lzing that the retreat became
rout. Tho General did alt In bis power to calty
tie men, hut finding It impossible without rein
fotcements, tc made every effort TO sayc tho artil
1esy. 1t WAS 1h1lc endeavering to get the Chicago
Mercantile Battery of safely that Gen. Ransom was
| severely wounded IN the leg, and Capt. Cyrus E.
Dickey, bis Adrtaut (eon OF Judge uickey, OF .Ot-
| tawa, lll) was Instantly killed By being shot
through the head. Our loss was large~probably
1tout 2,tt0. The Mercantile Battery lost all their
guns, and Capt. White is prisoner, Lleuts.
Tbroop and Mcbride killed, and the loss Of The bat
terry in Killed and captured is thirty. The battery
boys lost ali their clothing. One hundred and ten
of 1h.m returned TO Gimp after the disaster.
While the 4th dtsieion was falling back In dlsos-
der, tho 81 division, numbering 1870 men, came
Up and wss Immediately routed. THIS was after
Gen. Ranscm lad been wounded and taken to tho
rtar.- Finally the 10th army corps, with, 1000
men, came up, formed line, checked the enemy,
nEd held them mill we got al our trains of except
| that Of the cavalry.
| It has been terribly unfortunate affair, bnt no
one here attaches the least blame to Gen. Ransom,
who acted under ORDERS and until daabled, did ali
that any officer could do under the circumstances
krt with overwhelming force to contend against,
ard TO rcintofcements, what could he expect but
just tuch routY
TIE whole army Is nor falling back hero, where
it nut wait to reorgarize before proceeding fur
1her towards Shreveport.
It ti6 at present impossible to obtain list o,
the casualties. These yon will receive a. soon -
possible. 'HAwKEYE.
1E11tE fEoY s'Ess1ER OF TIE CHICAGO xEB:
| o4xTiLE BATTERY.
| GRAND EcouE> L., April ii.
Tie c1etnls ms5a q stand eight mIlcl from Pleas
ant z Ill, erd commenced driving the I'd and sth
dlvirtons Of the 18th Army Corns. on the 9Th INST
OR battery Chicago Ac,caa.lle) and tie 1et Inli-
ara battery commenced giving the rebels shell and
canister. We fred our guns at the ratesof i've
shots minute, for half an hour. when the rebels
charged on ut. We fell back to now position,
where we poured Into The enemy about IN hour,
rhsn ,he5 afain cane npo1 as and Te again fsll
utes, when the order came to get into tho road,
which, unfortunately. was allied with ammunition
wagons and army trains. We got along as oess We
Captain White Was captured. "a cat traces and
LIT has stHs ssss ent 10 4e ia bens eh sae a h1ss
lvss. l escaped into the woods, and hare
made ~ "a! bsek to camp, After being
B.e,3 rs9a e
four officers and twenty-five men, IL folIows:-
Capt. White and LieIs. Crane, captured; Licut..
9hreop AID a.t BIZ Bat 1a sed l.. among the missing are
:: Sergeant Dil!y Gardner. Sam Parker, John Ar
aa af = 1 Ss
reat Of tie miEenC are either detasled men or new
recsnlsa. Hank Poe now has command Of the bat
We have lost onr guns, horses, clothing-cyery-
thing. The battery now has Ito men In camp.
1NoTuKR LR7T1R.
letter from smother Eember OF the Mercantile
Battery states that Lieut., HAf< L. 4euHef,