Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1864-04-27

OUuScu Us11-1S !
othse ssoes dsa'tsesm - lsurish thss. 10
iph1ht1n - $500 -, md ens y
" b4s tta q spos who has nd
1ouSe - = led the Z. 8. army.-
bs1idd IA th( are good man1|
[e4kelns, tho kpsa4 find it impossiha1
In the town, q in the country, you could
scarcely move for the dead animals tlat
have slisd Of starvation in every strect-in
front Of every mans loor-i0 cvcSy lbaek.
ward And the people are SO Indifferent to
health and comfort that each one is left to
rot where il did. Imagine the stencil -
n Citizens ssy-that SIX thousand head Of
sheep and goats have died there Ahis win4se,
not Co mention 5 multitude of cattls.
The next morning the cotton hon the
rancho came in, and it was asteniahing how
many people suddenly remembered that
they had few bales which they could
spare Before night VIC have about sixty
bales on the wharf, and still It kept coming
out Of the most unexpected places ill it
seemed as five shonld have no room to
show it. The wind continued from the
north, and our vessels were unable to come
up, and the town was full Of rulnors Of the
advance Of Confederate cavalry force, 500
strong, from Van Chita, 1.-THE force We were
to surprise, under Matt Nolan, a famous
Texan Ranger, who had done terrible things
among the "grcasers," and whose military
title raincd ftom Captain to Major General,
according TO the fancy Of the people telling
the storys These ruinors gave us no unea-
sincss, but we piled the cotton ON the pier
so such way v to make hrcastwork Of it
in case Of necessity.
The next day the wind changed, and the
vessels came up just ut night Meantime
gravcr character. lie was camped just four
miles back Of town, and would come in
during the night, and gobhle Us sure. Capt.
Gray took such steps as were prudent, and
we slept through the night in peace. But
| early next morning Mexican came in and
reported having seen Matt. with twenty
men, back Of the town. A small body OF
men were sent to reconnoitrc, but they had
| hardly reached the brow Of the hill when the
| rebels broke over and charged towards them
| in splendid STYLE. This was Immediately
| seen and large squad started ON the double
quick to support the first, and for about ten
minutes there was very pretty little fight.
1t resulted in three empty saddles, and the
rcbs turned and run away faster then they
come. For the rest OF the day they could
be seen lowering about near town. We
learned that ono was killed, and the second
III command badly wounded in both hips
No one hurt on our side We fastened our
flag on the house Of the worst secessionist
in Corpus, and completed our arrangements
! fol- leaving.
\ little before night We took down the
fiag and sailed away, bringing about loo
bales Of cotton, and the families of several
Of the men who have been with us for some
time. Just rs we were going away Mr..
Matt. tsotted out his cavalry to the numbe,
of couple of hundred. They came in
sight, stood still and saw us Oft, but Tough,
mighty shy of our rifles. On the whole the
expedition was success. THOMAS.
p. S.-llas Congress abolished those very
useful and much wished for individuals
called Paymasters T.