Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-06-09

his untiring zeal and energy in constructing
this dam, which proved the salvation of the
iron clads, and perhaps the army. 1t will be
regarded as one Of the most remarkable op-
erations of the war To dam a river that
never was damned Except by word of mouth)
in the space of four days, in such place and
with such material, is no common occur
renee, and the gallant constructor will long
! be remembered with kindly feelings by the
navy. | am happy to say that the officers OF
this feet have started in circulation a sub
| scription for testimonial to Col Bailey. II
was only just started when it reached US but
| the amount subscribed already exceeded $500.
| The JlO'Gd City went over the dam on the
| 18th, and on the 18th, in the afternoon, the
| evacuation took place. AS early as 10 A. NJ.
I the town was discovered to be on fire. and
| several squares were soon enveloped by the
| devouring element And now commenced a
| scene of frequent occurrence III the South
| since this war began, but one that would Gre
ate sensation throughout the whole North
were 1t to happen in a town of the size OF
| Alexandria Frantic women were running
here and there, trying in vain to save some.
thing OF their household stores but it was
all III vain the hungry flames Tapped up their
! goods even alter they were in the street.
Although there was scarcely breath of wind
| yet the fire spread with the greatest rapidity,
| Gen. Banks made some Intellectual attempts
| to stay the progress of the flames, and tore
| down several buildings, but the soldiers did
not work with much interest An engine
was hauled to the river, but the hose was
! found to be cut. After this it was allowed
| to have its own way.
| Various opinions as to how the fire origi-
mated are in circulation. Some say it was
| started by a drunken soldier; others that it
was entirely accidental, and others, still.
| think it was fired by the secesh, to delay our
ammunition trains. The latter cause think
the most probable. When we left, at about
P. NJ, the fire had swept everything on the
main street for the distance of over half a
mile. The destruction of property was very
great.
The guns that were taken from the boats
above the falls were bursted, and everything
| being ready, we went off, leaving the place
wrapped in dense volume of smoke We
| proceeded down some ten miles and laid IN
for the night
! On the morning of the 18th we started in
regular order, the CarOmde1et taking the lead
with a large sidewheel transport as a tender
! and cOnsort, then another gunboat then a
transport, and so on with all the iron-clads
| The transports were to help the gunboats off
the ground when necessary and the gunboats
to protect the transports when attacked
| The Lexington, Fort Handnaa,e and .Siasclai,
brought up the rear We came along slow
| ly, occasionally Smelling the woods as some
party of rebels would fire on the transports
from the north side, we having no forces on
that side of the river We tied up at night
at the wrecks of the Signal Covingtou and
! Warren. The casualties as far as [ know to-
| tUn MOI N, ba
one on the Clara Bell and one killed and one
I wounded on the monitor Ozark
| We are now up with the advance of the
army, who have been skirmishing with the
| enemy all the day, driving them slowly be-
fore them The river is very slack water,
| and full of all kinds of filth, dead horses,
mules, and occasionally the body of man is
seen floating about. But all such are buried
as soon as discovered On the bank where
we lay were found two or three thousand let
tiers captured from the Warner, as she carried
out large army mail. Several thousand
dollars were lost it is said, as the army was
recently paid off and many were sending home
portion of their pay. We are now forty
miles below Alexandria and thirty above Fort
| DeRussy, where we hear our gunboats are
| We have found no batteries as yet, but hear
| of them below
| Cricket started ahead and proceeded at good
speed down the river. We encountered i, 800
| rebels on the north side who fired into US,
| but we gave them a good Smelling and left
them running. We had no more trouble and
| reached Fort De Russy at p M. Here we
| received our mail, the first we had had Cor
over three weeks. We passed on down by
| the ChOctao0 and Benton and soon met a dis
| patch boat bearing the news that Gen Grant
was in Richmond to which we responded with
| great cheering. If we could have been re-
turning from a great victory | think the cause
of Uncle jeff would have been about played
| out. Our greatest consolation is that we got
| out at all. But we have learned the rebels
| that low water won't catch US in this river,
and don't think they will depend on it again.
Since coming into the river we have lost
the following named boats: Woodtord, Hast
l1gs, La Crosse, City Belle, Warner, Bastport
Signal, Co0lngton, Champion No. 8, Chanpion
No. and the Emma. The five first named
and the last are army transports, the others
belong to the navy. We left several tons OF
iron and ammunition in the bottom of the
river, also few guns, (old style) But had
| it not been for the feet not single trans
port would have gotten out Of the river.
The Chilicothe Mound City, Pittsburgh and
Sinclair are to proceed down the Atchafalaya
presume to see Banks safe across that bay
GU on his retreat.
The different descriptions of the battle
of Pleasant Hill in your paper, are all
nearly correct, as much so as can be cot
at and to Gen. Banks we can lay the cause
of our turning our forces down stream
The idea of fighting a large battle with
wagon trains, | don't think ever origi
mated with any other man. The experiment
was failure and didn't pay. Gen. Smith is
J bringing up the rear because there is fighting
! to be done there and he and his boys are the
kind of folks that do that sort of business.
At point some ten miles above Fort De
Russy the army was obliged to leave the riv.
er on account of the low, marshy ground
They struck off intending to cross the Atcha-
falaya at Simmesport. The feet came by way
of the river and entered Bayou Atchafalaya
The transports stopped in Old River. and the
ChiHicotte, Caro,,dolct, Mound Citg, Louisville
PtttS6anyh and Gazele came to Simmesport
where they arrived at noon.
The mail goes. A.. 1euoir. J.B.A
Tuesday, May 16.
The FEELING IN RICHMoND-We extract
the following from paper called the South
e1m Church'ndn, published in Richmond. and
which is the organ of " the Protestant Epis
copal Church in the Confederate States."-
The date of publication is April 22d, and we
call particular attention to the sentence
printed in italic:
The present time, in the history of the war,
we do not think can well be over-estimated
1t seems by common consent, both among Us
and our enemies, to be regarded as a crisis
Of course all may be mistaken; but it does
appear as if we had reached that point in the
struggle when great victory, one side OF
1 tho othnr mill do ropob fox bo