Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-07-08
cur Army Corrssp.uasnee.


sls-Intense Hedt-Su6eying of or
,Soldiers-EiQht Killed by Sansfroke-
Heath cftte I'd Lo,ca Cdvalry Boys,
| &C., &c.
CAMP OF THE 2D Iowa CAVALRY,
| GRAND JUNCTION, Tenn, June y, 1854. !
| FRIEND MAHIN :-Weare again MAX
ing an advance movement along the line
of the Memphis and Charleston Rail-
road, Tor the purpose of in some manner
retrieving the losses sustained by us on
the late expedition under Gen. Sturges
and also for the purpose of keeping re-
Inducements from being sent from For
rests command to Johnston.
| We were ordered out ON the morning
OF the 23d, started about o'clock and
proceeded as far as Whites Station, a
distance OF nine miles, and camped for
the night. Next morning our company,
A, and company X, were sent out early,
in advance, accompanied by one compa-
ny or the 7th Indiana and one company
of the I'd New Jersey cavalry, to pro-
coed along the line of the railroad to a
lpoint near COlliersville, where the train
had been fired into the day previous by
the guerrillas. Upon our arrival at the
place designated as the spot where the
deed was perpetrated, we learned from
wounded man belonging to one of our
infantry regiments, and who had been
taken prisoner the day before but had
escaped, that there were seven of them,
himself and six others, who had fallen
off the train the day before, when it was
fired into, and were taken prisoners by
the guerrillas, and were taken by them
down south of the railroad to the Nom
conor Creek, where they We're told Inv
their inhuman captors that thew We're to
be shot. The above horrible threat was
about being carried into effect. when he
made his escape, which he did bv show
ing them clean pair of heels, amidst
minnie balls that were hurled after his
retreating form by the rebels. The It'll
Indiana and I'd New Jersey men wera
sent out to ascertain if possible the truth
OF the above statement. They returned
IN the course OF two or three hours
bringing with them the bodies of three
men dressed in Uncle Sans uniform,
whom they found near a mill on ill.,
Nonconor Creek, shot through tho hoaa
evidently the victims of inhuman anu
cold-blooded murder; for so close had
the perpetrator of the deed been TO thnn,
that two OF their faces showed .sionS nf
having been burned by the powder from
the muZzies OF the guns that shot them
Inc thru appeared to have been shot in
the breast ana then to have had the
IJugular veins of his neck several u,i+h
a knife. The squad that were ont rn-
ported finding the bodies of two other
dressed in the Government blue. thai
were too much decomposed to hear no.
ing moved. One of them had been
thrown INTO creek after he was killed.
and the other covered with leaves only.
Ihey were supposed to have been stray
lers coming III from the Sturges eXpe-
|dltlon. one of them had worn the cav
airy uniform, portions of which were
near his mutilated body, and in the
jacket pocket was found two or three
ambrotypes, supposed to be the likeness
es OF the soldiers wife and family. The
guerriila bands that did these deedswere
under command of two outlaws named
Dlckey and Davis, who make their
headquarters in the vicinity of Olive
Branch, Mississippi. They have some
thirty or forty men each. They are said
by the citizens along the railroad to
) have shot fourteen Of our men in the
last two weeks, whom they had taken
prisoners. The extent of injury done bv
them when they fired into the train on
the I'D inst, was two soldiers killed
ten wounded, and one citizen killed and
one wounded, besides the soldiers that
were taken prisoners and murdered, and
the wounded one that escaped. -Four OF
the citizens from the mill near where
the murdered men were found, were ar
rested and brought into our lines, and
tried for the purpose of ascertaining il
they were accessory to the affair. But
little satisfaction, however, could be got
out Of them, although Uncle Abe's hemp
was brought into requisition for the pur-
pose OF assisting their apparently cloud
ed memories.
After burying the unfortunates we
! again took up our line of march in the
direction of Corinth, camping some two
or three miles from the town of Moscow,
} where we found the balance of our reg
iment and number of other regiments
of cavalry and infantry, besides two or
three batteries of artillery-all of which
morning we moved over beyond Mos
COW about mile, there to wait until the
railroad bridge over the Wolf river,
which the secesh had burned, was re-
built
In the afternoon of the day following
(the bridge being completely we started
out and went as far as La Grange, the
infantry following up that afternoon
and the next morning. The weather
was excessively hot, and sixteen infan-
try men We're sunstruck in coming from
Moscow to La Grange. Eight of them
died before reaching the latter place
We have no means of ascertaining the
exact degree of heat since we started out
on this expedition, but as near as 1 am
able to judge the mercury has stood from
95 to ITO or lis in the shade in the
, afternoon of most days since we left
Memphis, six days ago.
There are no other troops here but our
regiment. The infantry and artillery,
amounting to 10000 or 10000, are at La
Grange and other points in the rear of
us, and the lst brigade of cavalry in the
advance of us, somewhere between here
and Corinth. Forrest is reported to
have considerable force at Corinth,
and says I've can't come in" but [
guess we will show him one of these
days. We cannot advance any other
wise than very slowly without killing
both men and animals on the march
this hot weather. The cars run up this
far, but believe they have gone no fur
Their than this place yet. Many of the
culverts and bridges were destroyed by
the enemy and have to be repaired as
we go along. The citizens took the
pains to cut the telegraph wirein great
hle1Hy P!HceS Wien Iney 1eaTHeu CnaC we
were advancing. They also evince a
strong desire to show their hatred to-
wards us and their love for the secesh,
although many of them were protested
Ily the strongest kind of Union men
when we were here before.
/ The boys are generally we'll, but suf-
fer much from the heat. Our mail mat
ter still has an opportunity of reaching
us directed via Memphis, and we are al
ways eager to hear from homie and
friends. More anon.
Yours truly, &C.,
THOMAS J. ANTHONY.
l
Iowa TrONns uufIar Sherman