The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1873-01-25
who lBrosaEhs she News

That is question that has never been settlsd.
| and prooabiy neve. will be. 1, is q fact, how.
ever, that csn be substituted by thousands OF
living witnesses thst tie "details of the battle of
Mill SFrinss Ie .ched Paris. Kentucky. on the
12Ii. OF J.a0r,y. 1862 The rumor was that the
battle had occurred two days befofe-thst Gen.
licoff.r had been attacked At Fishing Creek
or III III Snginga, that he had been killed and bic
body s,riip6, natiistsd and thrown into \
sway. ami ii. .Imy completely routed. Also
that Major i ilie P,yton had fallen, that Mis-.
-s-ppi re. iIaent. supported by n regiment from
Tenn essse, h.d behaved handsomely. while the
rem -indss OF tie army had for some caHse be.
| come panic-sl.ic,sr early In the fight, and fled
tI"m the rsld completely ceworalizsd. The
~ oi. Bue Cess region Of Kentucky became
excited over iris hews-the particulars a. relst.
cd above we're OH every tongue, aud 40 they
spread all over Eastern Kentucky and Tonnes.
see, aud into West Virginia. Let il be remem.
hered that this rumor started in Paris, Ky, on
the 18th OF Jsnusry. 1869. Citizens of Paris
wrote to their friends in other states. giving
these details, and these letters are still In exist
e"ce to speak for themselves, bearing the above
da,e and two or three d ys thereafter.
III those days we used to hear Of messsges by
the grapevine telegraph, aud passengers by the
underground railrosd. II tbis report Of the
battle OF Mil Springs and the death Of Zollicof.
Tor came oy either of those lines it is more ex-
trAordipary than any feat ever performed by
lightning or steaNa. The wonders Of this per-
iormance re yet discussed by many whs were
cospiz mt of the occurrence. and the fact that
the particulars Of this battle, received, got il.
to the newspapers and were treated as current
news
Capt. c. T. Merrill Of the confederate army
has l-,e'y given his recollection Of it singu.
lar incident of the late war. Capt Merrill Ia
the son OF a Mississippi planter, and commended
a Mississippi regiment in the war. lie passed
throu ID Lexington, Kentucky, on the night Of
January 10 1862, has ening to rbjoin his com.
mand in Virginia, BY way OF Cumberland Gap.
Is tore d ylight the next morning he took shell.
ter in the house of Southern sympathizer until
the following night, prsfering to prosecute bis
disloyal journey betwr en- suns. He states that
he spent the 18th of January in company with
several gentlemen from Clarke, F.yette aud
Bourbon counties, aud they we're iull Of the
news of the battle above alluded to. They did
not know "xsctly now 'he news c. me, but they
had its history 70 the miuutest detail.
We give Il paragraph or two Of Capt. Merrilis
account:
Thus rumor hsralded on the 18th of Japusry,
and l continued to meet it ali along my route
through the mountains OF l. -. Kentucky until
/ reached Abingdon, Va. which point made
solicited slsep rathar than oompan iopship, and
retired to my bedroom at the hotel, we'll cob.
tent 20 have ut last reached the civilization of
Dixie in safety
VI hit was my surprise, however, On awaken.
ing xt morning, TO hear til t on the day before
,the ION Gen. Zollicoffar's army h d been beat.
ell hrmself killed, 60, with all The incidents
just as Ihad heard q ucek befOre IN Ctatral hen
tuchy Nv h.t!' exclaimed, "has there bssu
another battle And has Gen, u. teen killed a
second time?
The battle in which Xo!lco1fer WAS killed
really occurred on the 18th of January, 1862,
seven d-ys after the rumor above related WAS
current in P.lis, KY The people who hsd
been Discussing it for week ~srs s..rtled vt
the remarkable coincidence. Tho details given
by the Iuinur and the c,ul evcuts III the bat.
tie correspond exactly to the Hinu'est par
ticular-. 1t has not ceased to be . wonder TO
this day. The realization OF the in tslliuen
was SO astounding that efforts we're made to
trace the rumor back TO il. source 1t was only
ssterteiued that somo stranger sccosted y oi,i.
2sn III Paris, called BIN by mime, and related
tie story of The battle Of Mill Springs on the
10Th ot JAnuary, which battle did not take place
Til the 18th of January following.-& Lo,tis
Republican.