The Camden confederate. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1861-1865, 1864-04-13
News From The North.

| PRISONERS AT UNION ,CITf-HlS Nb'
PORTED REPULsE AT PADUcAH., 3, IA
! The accounts of Gen. Forests pro-
gress in his raid are contradictory. He
captured Union City, Tennessee, with
about five hundred Federals, under Col...
onel Hawkins, and, it appears, took his
prisoners along With him, as he still had,
them when he appeared in front of Pad
ucah, Ky, on the 26th. The following
is the Yankee account of what they claim
to be his repulse at that place:
Gen. Forrest had about 1000 men in
the attack on Paducah. His line Of
battle was two and half miles long.
The fight lasted all the afternoon. Four
assaults were made on the fort en- nasss,e
each of which was repulsed with great
slaughter to the enemy. The gunboats
fred 600 rounds. A large portion Of I
the town is in ruins. The rebels plunder-
ed the stores and carried off horses DUR
ing the fight. Forty convalescents in
the hospitals we're captured. Forrest
sent iu flag of truce to exchange pris-.
oners, but Colonel Hicks declined. Threoe
hundred rebel dead lie in front of our
fort. Gems. Harris and Burbage were
with the rebels.
Boats from Paducah at noon yesterday
report all quiet. The citizens are re-
building the town. Several women were
killed during the fight. Our loss was IA
killed and 45 wounded. The Peosta
Pawpaw, tin-clads, we're. the gunboats
which participated in the late battle of
Paducah, opening fire simultaneously
with the font on the enemy's advance
into the city, and rendered invaluable
service throughout the engagement.
After being once repulsed in the at
tack on the fort Forrest sent COM.
munication to Colonel Hicks demanding
the surrender Of the fort, troops and
public stores, promising that if the de-
| mand was complied with, our troops
should be treated as prisoners of war; but
if he was compelled to storm the fort
they might expect no ,quartcr. Colonel
Hicks replied that he was placed there to
defend the fort, which he would do, and
pcremptorily declined to surrnder. The
enemy made second and third assault
upon the works, but were repulsed each
time with heavy losses. The rebels then
broke lines, formed in squads, occupied
the houses, and kept up fire until late
in the evening, when they we're driven
away, our artillery makiugthc buildings
too hot to hold them.
On their way into the city the enemy
fired the railroad depot, which was con-
sumed, and towards evening they burned
the Quartermaster's building and the
steamer Dacotah mct the Arizoa), on the
marine railway. They plundered the
stores of an immense amount of goods,
and took all the horses they could find.
Some merchants have lost from s25OO
| to $4,000.
Early the next morning the rebels
again appearing, Colonel Hicks burned
all the houses within muskct range of :
the fort. The enemy, however, made
no advance, and after asking for an ex-
change of prisoners, which was declined,
they retired in the direction of Colum-
bus.
Towards the end of the battle it was
discovered that our ammunition was
nearly exhausted, when Colonel Hicks
ordered that when it gave out the fort
would be defended with ,be bayonet as
long as a man remained alive, which de-
termination was received with. hearty
cheers by all the troops. The negroes
in the fort, 220 in all, fought with great
gallantry. All was quiet at Paducah yes
terday, our forces being engaged in bury
ing the dead.
The enemy had six small cannon.
About fifty buildings were burned, in
Guiding the hospital, gas works, and some
of the finest residences in the town.
The Custom House, Post Office, and Con-
tineutal were not injured. Our troops
consisted of the 10th Illinois, infantry,
Col. Hicks, battalion of negroes, and
one regimcnt-name not yet known.
The New York Tribune, noticing For
rests M raid, says:
There is something wrong-very far
wrong-in West Tennessee, when body
of rebels that fought US not long since .
in Mississippi can ride up from thence
across Tennessee Kentucky ,and attack
our posts on the Ohio river 4. We have
a great force Of cavalry and mounted in-
fantry in that section. Indeed, Smith,
who failed so badly in Mississippi, was
there the other day with his ten
thousand cavalry, if he. be not there yet.
We should think Forrest and his everlas-'
ting marauders might now be caught .
before they got back to Mississippi
The Champions OLA Free Press,
c.lI 4