Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-01-04

Illinois and Wisconsin men should CARR
the works. He promised to the frsl
man who mounted the works a silver
medal, to be presented By himself, and
then after stating that the first man who
shouted or fred a gun would be shot
down he gave the word and the brigade
moved with the regularity Of men on
parade up that rocky slope. The lone
brigade with steel, with the old flag fly.
ing to the breeze, faced the shower OF
grape and she'll with a heroism which
has never been excelled, even by the
Old Guard. As a man fell another
stepped into his place, and not . gun
was fired or voice raised They NOV
ed IS with the resistless force of destiny.
Near the middle Of the ascent the brig
ade halted for breath. The tens OF
thousands who were looking on felt their
hearts almost cease beating lest the halt
should be fatal Bat they mcve on
gaps are made in their ranks By The
crashing grape and canister, but they do
not stop again, and soon the banuer Of
beauty and glory is planted on the fort, and
a cheer goes up to heaven from The army
below, such as never will be heard again,
and thousand hearts thazk God for the
glorious victory That charge decided
the day. Had | time | might tell you
Of the charge Of Col Hubbard's brigade,
which was fully equal TO that Of McMil-
lan's. Col II. had two horses shot un-
der him aud & slight wound in the neck
As soon as the fort was taken, the assault
was taken up by Gen Garrards division
of the 18th Corps and Col Moore, and
be was followed BY Stanley, and Crufs,
Steedman. The 23rd Corps then came
up on the right and the engagement be-
came general The earth trembled be-
meath the shock of the artillery; the roar
of musketry was continuous and the
cheers Of our army, as they rushed upon
their hated enemy, could be heard even
above the din Of battle For the rebels
to stand was simply impossible Brig
ades and divisions fell upon them like
Rvalanohes and the rout began The
roads we're filed with mnskets, blankets,
clothing and baggage
thrown away by the demoralized and de-
teated rebels. Prisoners were too nu-
meFous to be guarded, and whole bat
teEies Of artillery fell into our hands
Night had by this time kindly interiered
in behalf Of the vanqaished foe Two
more hours Of Gods sunlight and the
tale of the disaster 10 the rebel arma
would only have been carried to the rear
by the fortunate few whose Superior
abilities ia = foot race would have dsfed
pursuit.
Our boys slept where night found them
They we're exhausted Eith the labors Of
the day They laid down and slept
swee,ly beside the dead, wounded aud
dying Every house for miles around
was filed with the wounded, and all
night the Surgeons were amputatisg the
shattered litabs OF the brave boys, who
submitted TO their fate without a mur.
mur. went into a hospital that nj ighi
where the floor was covered with the
wounded, and not q groan escaped one
of them. They bore their suherings
with the same dauntless heroism with
which they had barred their breasts to
the enemy's bullets. As | looked at
these dear children Of the Republic,
torn and mangIed in her defence, / Of
fered up the prayer that their sutferings
in teaeold increase might be visited
upon the guilty wretches in the North
who, by their actions and influence, are
doing all in their power to strengthen
the hands which inflicted those wounds.
May Gods curse rest upon all traitors,
but in double portion upon the man
who is not only traitor but q coward /;
afraid to do battle for the cause be is en-
deavoring to advance by more safe If
not NOR honorable mesnsi
What our loss is you probably know
better than /. You also know how
many prisoners we captured and how
many guns. Such facts are known in
the North before they are known to the
army. Each corps knows what it did
and that is all The report is we cap
tured 81 guns When / tell you that
the 10th army corps, commanded by
Maj Gen. Smith, took thirfy-fhrec guns
and nearly three thousand prisoners dn-
ring the two days 6ght you can snder-
stand how important was the work as.
signed 10 Gen. Smith and how gallantly
be accomplished it / saw one newspa.
per account Nashville paper-in
which the 10Th corps was not mentioned
The reporter doubtless wrote his accoun;
in the back room Of the Office, at safe
distance from the scenes he pretended
TO describe Besides this, Gen. Smith,
in Gen. Thomas telegraphic report, is
spoken Of as 'Brevet Major General.
Ii is 8 small matter, but il is not correct
and should not have been so stated In
battle where all behaved we'll it 10 fair
to mention all The men of the 10th
corps sustained their old reputation, and
to this nothing can be added | wa.
with Gen Smith nearly the entire two
days and can bear testimony to the fac
that his men never failed to carry out
successfully every movement he under,
took
The results Of this victory can hardly
be overestimAted We can only appre.
eiate its importance when we contsm
plate the consequences of a defeat. i
Hood had taken Nashville the thret
years brilliant warfare IN the Wes
would have been lost The situation
was IuIiy understood uY oTncer5 anC
men before We left Nashville. l nigh
fill your columns with incidents which
doubt not, would interest you, bu
they are common TO such scenes, anC
have been often described by cores
pondents. / cannot close this hurried
and incomplete letter without speaking
of the agents of the Christian Commis
sion, who we're everywhere binding ul
the wounds OF the fallen, aud dispensin.
their brandies and refreshments With
lavish hand. The amount of laber per
formed By these men was hercglean
From the time the battle began OF
Thursday until Saturday night, man
of them never sat down or rested from
their good work They assisted th
Surgeons, they carried hot coffee L
IL 81 = =.