The vidette. (Iuka, Tishomingo County, Miss.) 1912-1967, 1915-04-22
CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS.

Jacksonville, Tenn.
October 14th, zoos.

on transports. Reached CAIRO IND
Oct. Took on forage and coal
and left for the Tennessee river.
Reached Jacksonville October 4th,
where we took 900 rations
aboard and started up the river to
Clifton. Here | received orders
to go to Eastport, land there and
destroy the railroad between Iuka
and Bear Creek. The gunboats
Key West" and "Undine" ac-
companied the expedition. On
nearing Eastport the gunboat Key
West was sent ahead. 1t went
past the landing, seeing no Con-
federates. The Captain, King, of
the gunboat signaled me that there
was no danger and | ordered the
transports to the landing and be-
gun to disembark the troops.
Lieuts. Lyle and Bouls, of my
command, as soon as their horses
were put ashore mounted them and
started out to reconnoiter, and
ahcut 500 yards from the landing
came upon the Confederate pick
cts, with whom they exchanged
shots. In ten minutes after this
a masked battery upon the hill
opened upon us. | Immediately
went on shore and formed line of
battle. By this time the enemy
had perfect range of the trans
ports, every shot doing more or
less damage. One of the gun
boats, the Undine, had become
partially disabled and was drop
ping down the river, and The Key
West was following her, Captain
King, the commander of the lat
ter, saying that we must get the
transports away at once, he going
with them. | made up my mind
that to be left there without any
covering from the gunboats, and
in the position | was in, superior
force of the enemy in front and a
deep river i'll my rear, would be
sheer Jolly, and / told Lieut.. Ly-
tie of my staff to get the troops
back on board the transports. l
then went on board the transport
City of Pekin and took my station
on the hurricane deck, where l
could see and direct the embark
ing. Just a this time a shell
struck the ca}sson on board the
Kenton, exploding it and setting
fire to the boat, Immediately an
other caisson exploded on the Au-
rora, setting her on fire and cut
ting her steam pipe. A scene of
confusion then began. The boats,
in spite of all that l could do,
backed out, parting their lines and
leaving about two-thirds of the
command on shore. As soon as
could have a boat manned, | sent
Lieut.. Bouls, of my staff, to the
shore with orders to the troops to
keep along down the river bank
in good order and they would all
be taken on board. Handed twice
with the boat | was on, and feel
confident that | got all on board
that were net badly wounded or
were not already in the hands of
the enemy. After this | started
down the river. We kept on down
the river, stopping for a short time
at Clifton, and reached this place,
Jacksonville, next day, Oct. 18th.
| am very sorry to report the
loss of the four guns of the bat
terry; had the boats not taken fire
and were disabled | never would
have abandoned them. None of
the caissons and very few of the
horses had been taken ashore.
The following is a list of the
losses:
61st Col. Inf, killed IS. wound
ed 20, missing Z.
Hath MS, wounded 2, miss
ing II.
l2oth MS, wounded ., miss
ing7.
Artillery Co, missing ?.
Cavalry Co wounded 2, miss
ing /.
Grand total killed, wounded and
missing "a.
Gro. B. HoGE,
Col. Comdg.