, 1864-01-12
GEN. GRANT'& DEPART
nIENT.
Complete Defeat OF the Guerilla Wheel
er-Efs Command Driven T0E0fI
Dalton.

CHATTANOOGA, Dec. 20 1868. j.
Intelligence has Just reached this place Of 4
ekirmish yesterday morning, near Charleston,
On the Knoxville road, which resulted in 4
brilliant and decided victory to our arms, and
the utter discontinue Of the rebel General
Wheeler, at the head Of about 1,600 cavalry.
I do not suppose it will longer be considered
ccntsaband to state that the divisions Of
Nurd and Sheridan, Of the 9TH army corps,
remained ut Knoxville after tho retreat Of
Longstreet, and TINT as they marched light,
they were nnaccompanied ut the time BY their
supply trgins; which were subsequently and
very recently ordered up.
Night before last they nn crossed the HI
vase, md passed on the north side; and
escort were aroused, they were set upon by
Wheeler ut the head Of ], 800 men, and before
assistance could reach Col Siebcrt, in COM,
mand Of the advance, the small guard WIS
driven back, and the train foil into the hands
ofthe encm j; but before they con1d profit
By their victory, Col: Long. who commanded n
when counter charge was made, ind not
wftEstanding the overwhelming numbers
against them, they obtained possession Of the
was agaln, and even drove the enemy some
distance away.
Unable to proceed further without moro
Of battle, the rebels wheeling at the same
time as If for another charge, but remained
idle. The suspense continued but for mo-
n.ent, when the whole brigade Of Col Long,
numbering say 200 men, arrived at the
scene Of action, and aftcr wheeling Into line
but the work Of moment-made sabre
able 10 Withstand eycn for moment, but in
stant1y broke in confusion, each man appa-
rcptly endcayoring to take care Of himself.
The main body fled toward Dalton; but
upon every road md along every footpath
were squads flying pcll.mel, hulry-scurry,
ter the pursuit was commenced. the flight Of
the rebels was 1udicrous in the extreme.
Hatless, with their long hair flying about
their ears-thc chiyalry all wear long hair
| their coats standing almost strnight rcarWard,
they looked like a collection Of John Gnpins,
| each frightened out Of his senses by the Blue
| coated phalanx behind
In The pursuit one hundred and twenty
three Of the rebels fell into our hands, and
no less than forty-scven were either killed or
wounded, to the knowledge Of Col Long.
| Our 1oes is yariously reported; some say but
one, others half dozen wounded and none
killed. One mnn Nas neutrality-suspicious. taken
wagon, q mule, or set Of harness. The tri-
umph was but momentary. SO TINT they could
not have done mischief il they would.
I The pursuit continued for five miles, on
Tie Dalton road, where it YVES abandoned =;
but scouts are still out getting up stragglers,
who are constantly arriving at Charleston;
| and belieYc the number Of prisoners will
yet be swclled to two hundred
The bIunt Of the fight was sustained by
| the 4th Ohio cavalry and the 10th Missouri
mounted infantry, and every officer and man
acquitted himself, not only creditab1y, but
nobly. Guerilla parties, and small bodies OF
cayalEy, have been proving around 70, for esy:
road, but havo been uniformly driven of BY
our forces. They have attacked one or two
common posts, but in each instance were
badly wofsted,
| cuKcE rros GUERILLA opEnAT1oSs.>
The Ill success of the rebel cavalry Of late
is remarkable Two ycars since 1t had every
thing its own way; We had no mounted men
who could hope to compete With It; it swept
through Kentucky to the rear Of our armies,
only at pleasure, but at leisure it kept up 2
constant reign Of terror in Missouri aud Wes-
| tern Virginia, md indeed In all places occu-
| pied by the National forcce. It parolcd thou.
sands Of hospital patients, and thereby kept
up Q prepondc5nEce Of prisoners on the side
souttcrn army filled with conscrtpts. But q
ycar's experience has resulted in d mighty
change. Daily our mounted forces have been
increasing in efficiency, while theirs lave
been dWindlng to nothing, md now they
will not fight, man to man, with those so
lately their interiors.
Think oftle fact that Wheeler, the senior
rebel cavalry commander, only being able to
bring ], ECO men into rcguisition in work OF
the highest importance to rebeldom-the ses-
cring Ct our communications with Knoxville
and The capture Of ] large supply train, al
most impcratiycly demanded by rebel ncces-
sitics-When Int year since he and Forrest,
md Morgan, and Clarke, and Scott, could
each head from twico to four times TINT NUM-
ber, and march them simultaneously into all
perts Of Kentucky and Tennessee, and de-
Etroy Government property without let OF
to point sixty miles from the basc Of opera:
tions, when twelve months since is, 600 could
hive been spared eco miles away! And above
all, how surprising that these late invincible
| cavaliers can now not only be defeated, but
absolutely routed BY less than their own mum