The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-06-25

+icularlv the young men who are at home
III nice and 9enteel, while the brave boys
are in the field exposed to danger an9
death, In two days the army pledge0
2oss, for the Orphans Poms: INGALLS,.
NEAR MEMPHIS, June IA, 1864.
Letter from the 10Th Army Corps
.-.ath Iowa Infantry.
BIG SHANTY STATION, GA,
June 18th, 1864.
En1roR HAwK-EYE:-For six weeks we
have been engaged in digging, choPping
and skirmishing, the enemy 1aiilng bach :.k
slowly and cOntestlng every posltiOn VIII
the greatest stubbofnness. !.
Gen. McPherson's army, consisting OF
Gen. Logan's N5th) corps, and two dlvls-
ions of the 10th corps, commanded Dy zen.
Dodge. left Kingston on the 2Sd OF May,
crossing the EtOwah river on flne wagon
bridge West Of Kingston, which the rear
guard Of the rebels had Just fired when our
cavalry came up and took possession, mus
saving it for our use. Along the river are
some very fine plantations, the soil being
q black sandy loan. / noticed several fine
+ elds Of wheat, some looking as If it might
Weld twenty to thirty bushels per acre.
Where it has not been used to pasture army
horses and mules it will soon be ready Tor
the sickle: but who is to harvest 1t IL more
than can tell, both white men and BLACK
having entirely disappeared from the coun-
try. Il will be matter for regret If the
crop has to be lost. If saved, it would be
the means of relieving great dea! OF sur
fering among the poor people OF this state.
After leaving the EtOwah about four miles,,
we came to a section OF country, OF several
miles in extent, covered with a heavy
growth of small pines. Leaving this, we
again passed into broken country, COY,
81, Al, nuvfh nf
chestnut. An occasional clearing, with its
log cabin, marked the places where the
Georgians once lived in blissful Ignorance
of alt the wicked world outside OF their
native thickets. But the approach Of the
dreaded "Yanks'' had been the signal for
many Of them TO desert their homes and
remove South. The few who repAlnsd
took a great interest in our safety, assuring
us that we would go back in agreater hur-
nv than we were going forward whenever
Gen. Johnston got us to where he wanted
to fight us, and warning us against going
too far into their country.
Near Dallas, the county town Of Pauding
county, we found the enemy strongly
posted and well fortified. We took up our
position on a neighboring hill, end COM
inenced building rifie-pits. This was on
the 26th Of Nav. Skirnishing commenced
early in the morning, and grew livelier ali
the forenoon, as our troops were getting
into position. The 4th division {Gen. Hlr-
ron's) was on the right Of our corps. TO
our left was the I'd division (Gen. Morgan
L. Smith's;) Gen. Osterhaus being in re-
serve. About two o'clock this evening the
enemy opened ON Col. G. c. Walcutts I'D
brigade. of the 4th division, with SHE'LL
Our position was on sharp ridge, and that
of the enemy about five hundred yards
distant, across a deep ravine, through
which ran a small creek. THERE shells
were well directed many Of them brrst-
ing in our ranks Fortunately it did not
continue long, the enemy not being able TO
see the mischief he was doing, owing to
the thick timber on our ridge. In our reg
iment 18th Iowa. one man fprivate Scott,
Co. G. was killed during this Smelling, .
shell bursting right against him and crush.
ing in his side. No sooner did the Smelling
cease than the enemy came out of his works
and advanced against US. They got nearly
down the side of the hill on which was
their works when, finding the musketry
fire from our haif-finished rifie-pits too hot,
they faced about and returned to their
position on the hill.
All day, the 9th, constant skirmishing
was kept up by our pickets: very little
harm being done on either side, owing to
the distance at which the firing was done.
The day was spent in strengthening our
position, by finishing our rifie-pits, cover
Ing our DatteTlcS, Np. we WDTkSu Ill
n hit on the Goth and 9th.
z Early in the morning of the 18th. the
skirml shing recommended. About eight
o'clock, while on the skirInish line giving
Adjt. Newly Chase, Of the
9th iowa, received wound ifDthe throat,
which proved fatal. Lieut.. Chase was a
fine officer, a true soldier, and gentleman
in the fullest sense Of that term. His loss
is felt and deeply mournesl by the whole
Z N fol NJ hot
with the thousands, who like him have fai-
len, victims Of man 3 perfidy and ambition.
But his memory will always live in the
hearts of his comrades in the sixth TO
whom he had endeared himself by his uni
form Kindness and urbanity, his noble I'M
selfjshness of disposition. and the gallantry
OF his conduct in the field.
About E0sF O'Clock, ct the seth, the eUe-'
my made a furious charge all along the line
occupied by the 18th Corps. They were
within few feet o. our pickets before their
approach was discovered, having crawled
up - them, under cover OF the thick under
brush and the smoke of the dead leaves,
which had caught fire in many places. In
our regiment, Co. ID, under command Of
Lieut.. 4. S. Elrick. and Co. c, commanded
by Lieut.. Baldwin, were on the picket or
skirnish line. They fought the enemy,
hand to hand, falling back gradually to the
breastwork. They were necessarily ex-
posed to our fire AS they came in, but asst
was easy to distinguish between the blue
coats and the gray, none OF them were hurt
by it. The enemy charged with great de-
termination. Some .of them were killed
just outside Of our works. 'Theysgot pos
session of three guns Of the First iowa Bat
terry, which Wa in a very exposed position.
They made terrible efforts to get off these
gums, as they were fine steel Parrots. but
the fire from ourrifle pits, not over twenty
tive yards distant, was too severe iand faff--
ing TO carry thempf, they were Sbaiged to,
Leave the guns. After two hours terrible
fighting.cfS minutes Of which was the
hardest ever saw, They were repulsed.-
Our men dashed OUT aftefthem and follow
ed them to our skirmish line. which was
re-establisbed on the old ground. Just as
the enemy commenced to fall back, brig
ad1r Of Gen. Osterhaus' division came.
up td our support in fine style, having
COME on double quick for two miles. Find
ing the crisis past ttsy returned to shsir
old position Nothing could exceed IT,
GOODNESS and spirit or our men in resisting
this charge. The enemy's loss is three
thousand, including every field officer en-