Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-03-13

Fipegan's whole line. would nave
been disastrous to Seymour but FOR the
heroism OF Barton's men. me Ne"
Workers. stood fast and gave their com
redes time 10 withdraw from the bullet
swept front. The colonies or the three
regiments I'm the brigade fell. ana over
SDp Of the rank and file were killed
and wounded.
The fight was "a plucky one on ootn
.i5as and the bloodiest for the Feder-
,ts rbo lost one-third Of the men ac-
,r,IIv engaged, while their foe iost
o,e-sixtb The battle lasted three
,,o,-~ and nearly 1000 men fell. Dark
80. c,ue On soon after the fnal Con
,ade-ote advance. General Flnegah
sent forward a body OF GOO caviar! 10
make vigorous pursuit OF the retreat
ing enemy
Cavalry Combats In the Woods.
I'm Feb. II and %. 1864. General N
u FORESTS Confederate cavalry eHec-
finally defeated the march of an oppos-
ir, column OF mounted Federals IN
oast central Mississippi With force
80 200 troopers General w. Sooy
smith was riding across country fron
Memphis to unite his command WIN
that of General w. L. sherman at
Meridian. Miss. Incidentaly Smlth
v-as 70 disperse and drive from the
region Forests comma nd as he march
ed toward the goal. Forrest in per
son led the right wing Of his corps
and General W. II. Chalmers the left
wing. wide interval between the
wings was covered by the brigade OF
Colonel Jeffrey Forrest, brother. of the
general.
Smith entered Mississippi Feb. IL
and at the end of n week was drawing
near West Point. in the angle lying
between the Tombigbee on the east OF
the route and the Oka-tibby- hs, which
flows southeast into the Tombigbee
below West Point. This angle grew
narrower each hour OF the southwark
march and the streams on each side
grew deeper. swollen as they were
with recent rains.
AS the column drew near West Point
Colonel Jeffrey Forrest played along
the front. receding slowly and refus-
ing pitched battles. The Federals
were massed in force too strong for
Forrest had he chosen 10 fight without
re-enforcements. Reluctantly he mass
ed his own corps behind a creek four
miles back Of West Point and allowed
his brothers brigade to be driven from
the town with flourish of trumpets
by the Federals. General Smith looked
the ground over where Forrest was In
position and decided 70 make feint
along the front, then take the back
track for Memphis. One bridge was
H. sl.n,x n of
the town. and this Forrest guarded
against persistent attacks. After a
desperate squirt at the bridge about
noon the 21st of February, the Fed
erals hurried away northward. For
rest pushed his whole force after them
on the road to Okolona.
Forrest Avoids Battle.
Again Forrest avoided battle. but
sent his brigadiers around the tanks OF
OF the pursuing column TO harass the
Federal march and il possible cut on
their retreat. At Okolona battle seem
ed imminent for a time. for General
c. r. Barteau's brigade had landed
squarely in the new Federal front, and
Forrest. with two brigades. came thun-
dering on in the rear. There were two
roads northward from Okolona. one of
them held by Barteau. and Colonel
Forrest attempted TO reach the other.
leading to Pototoc. Colonel Forrest
failed TO get the Pototoc road. Nettled
by this failure, he deployed his men
and led them in terrific onset. which
carried the first Federal line Of cover
in the face of a whitening fire.
The Federal brigade of Colonel
George E. waring received the attack
of Colonel Forrest. The troopers car
ried breechloaders. and Colonel For
rests dash for the second line was