Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1864-11-17
From the Shenandoah Valley.

the fuIlowing extract rom . letter written
by former re-iden, Of this county to his
wife in Iowa. Although we have hereto
fore published pretty full accounts of the
last great battle in the Shenandoah valley
our readers will find this qnite interesting:
SrRAsBURG. Oct Goth, 1864.
DEAR WIFE.-knowing how anxious
you must be to hear from me after the
hard fighting of yesterday. | take the first
opportunity Of writing. which is while ]
am on picket near the above named town.
Well. have INST passed. through one OF
the bloodiest and most stubbornly tonight
battles that our regiment has ever been en-
gagged ia, and since I've lad time TO think
and reflect Of what have seen and under
went cannot but thank God that / am
alive. As stated in my letter of the 18th.
Gen. Sheridan was absent. Whether Ear
Is knew it nr not am unable 10 say, but
ut any ate they pitched into US, and be-
fore we knew it had the 9Th corps COM
pletely tianke1. and we've driving them pell
nell through orr camp. shooting them
down like cattle in slaughter yard. Then
came our turn. We were formed anG
swung ronnd to check them, bat were to"
late. The storm of bullets. grape, CAMS
ter and shells were too much for ms. and
we too had to run for our lives Our re-
giment rallied three times. but We're each
time hurled back and scattered like chat
before the wind. Next came the 9th corps,
but they. like the rest. were beaten back
and forced to retreat. a general rout en-
sued. hut thank fortune Gen. Sheridan ar
rived IN time to arrest the tornsdo and
liarl it back with double fury.
They attacked us in the morning before
it was fairly light, AMI to make it still
worse it was quite foggy. 1t was com
plete surprise. not giving us time to pack
up any thing-lost every thing. What
prisoners we took in the morning were
drank as fools. They drove MS under a
CALLING fire for abou, three miles, but let
me tell yon they had to fight for every
inch of ground. You can Judge how well
we tonight when inform You that it took
them from daylight until about o'clock
to accomplish this. About II o'clock
Sheridan arrived. AMI oh dear. you cannot
imagine how the men rallied AMI cheriel
He rode along The lines an toll the bows
Ito use his own languagc--"Boys this
is all right. we can whip them and we will
do it before the sun sets" He formed us
or | should say we formed ourselves. fee.
ing that the time had come to regain wha,
we hal lost. and we did it. repsying them
three fold. At ahont . o'clock. all being
really. we male a charge, and oh what a
desperate time; my pen cannot describe it
We charge! them in the following manner
abe cavalry on both TANKS and our corps
in the center. We remained steady until
both sides swung around. making our line
she shape of hose shoe; then the word
came. charge! All promptly moved for.
ward. and such slaughter as en>uedl They
fought us like tigers. ponring she'll and
every other instrument of death into our
ranks. but it all would no; do; on we went
until finally they broke; then came oul
turn. and such smother complete rout the
rebs never received in the Valley before
| am not able to tell yon all we gain,d f.
bus we were perfectly satisfied when night
came with our days work We campel
on our old ground that night, bnt You had
better believe we missed our blankets and
gruh. Our camp was All torn mp sad BIZ.
orally covered with dead and wounae.
Several Of our boys who were wonnded Ia
the morning lay just where they fell
went through the whole Of 1t without
receiving a crafch. but !. is certainly mort
/
mixed up with the enemy several times
end as great many Of them hai on our
clothing it gave them a great advantage
in fact that was the cause OF our rout in
the morning. it being foggy we took them
for our men until they were right among
MS and pouring volley after volley into
our ranks. We then ran about 200 yard.
and rallied under the brow of hill. We
then gave them four or FIVE rounds ami
then forced TO run for our lives. The mex,
halt we male was at the heal Of hollow
We there gave them several rounds, but
on they came. and so close by that time
that Col. White told MS to save ourselves
the best we could. A great many were
taken prisoners here, but determined new
err to be taken alive. How escaped with
ont being killed is still wonder to me-
as had to climb over rocky bank and
hal to expose myself to a raking fire for
about 200 yards; then came to little
swale. almost exhausted. and dropped
down for few minutes to rest. While
there a regiment came up the hollow and
formed few steps in front of ne. sup.
pose | lay there some two or three min.
uies, and during that time it appeared to
me that men dropped almost as fast as !!
could count. They OF course broke and ]
with them. AT first ] ran. but soon gave
ont and finally came down to a walk.
hal about one and half miles to make,
owing to the ground. before | conld find
any shelter. During all that time was
exposed to a continual storm of bullets.
shells and every thing else. The shells
bursted on all sides. tearing horses. teams
and men all to pieces. finally got ont
Of danger. Our regiment then got togeth.
err again. and wien the word charge wa,
given at 3 o'clock we all went in with q
will. That was most trying time. as W
charged them from behind every stone
fence. ditch. and tree for about an hour
Finally they broke in confusion. perfectly