Decatur Eagle, Volume 6, Number 19, Decatur, Adams County, 12 June 1862 — Page 1

THE DECATUR EAGLE.

VOL. 6.

DECATUR EAGLE. IS ISSUED EVERy'thURSDAY MORNING, BY A . J. HILL, EDITOR, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE—Oh Second Street, in Patterson ’3 building, over the Drug Store. Terms’of Subscription: One copy, one year, in advance, $1 00 If paid within the year, 1 50 If not paid until the year has expired, 200 O’No paper will be discontinued until all arrerages are paid except at the option of the Publisher. Terms of Advertising: One square,(ten lines) three insertions, $1 00 Each subsequent insertion, ‘25 O’No advertisement will be considered less than one square; over one square will be counted and charged as two; over two, as three, etc. O’A liberal discount, from the above rates, made on all advertisements inserted for a period longer three months. :U*The above rates will be strictly adhered to under all circumstances. JOB PRINTING: W e are prepared to doall kinds of job-work, in a neat and workmanlike manner, on themcst reasonable terms. Our material for the completion of Job-Work, beinglnew and of the lat est styles, we feel confident that satisfaction can be given.* SPUING. A flush of green is on the boughs. A warm breath panteth in the air, And in the earth a heart pulse there Throbs underneath her breast of snows. Life is astir among the woods. And by the moor, and by the stream. The year, as from a torpid d earn, Wakes in the sunshine on the buds; Wakes up in the music as the song Os wood bird wild, and loosened rill More frequent from the windy hill Comes greening forest aisles along; Wakes up in beauty as the sheen Os woodland pool the gleam receives Through bright flowers, overbraided leaves, Os broken sunlights, golden green. She sees the outlawed winter stay Awhile, to gather after him Snow robes, frost crystalled diadem, And then in soft showers pass away. She could not love rough winter well, Yet cannot choose but mourn him now . So wears awhile on her young brow His gift—a gleaming icicle. Then turns her, loving, to the sun, Upheaves her bosom’s swell to his, And, in the joy of his first kiss, Forgets for aye that sterner one: Old winter’s pledge from her he reaves— That icy -cold, though glittering spar — And zones her with a green cymar, And girdles round her brow with leaves. The primrose and wood violet. He tangles in her shining hair. And teaches elfin breezes fair To singher some sweet canzonet. All promising long summer hours, When she in his embrace shall lie. Under the broad dome of bright sky, On uiossy couches starred with flowers. Till she smile back again to him. The beauty beaming from his face. And, robed in light,glows with the gi ace Os Eden palaced cherubim, O earth, thy glowing loveliness Around our hearts has thrown. An undimmed joyance all its own. And sunned us o’er with happiness. “That’s my business!” as the butcher said to (lie dog that was killing hjs sheep. Who are the most dishonest people?— Cutlers. They sell iron, and steel for a Firing. “What can a man do,” said a green one, “when the sheriff is coming lo him with a writ in his hand?” “Apply the remedy,” said the knowing one, with a shrug. “Remedy! what kind of r remedy?” “The heeling remedy, you gooserun!” A Good Dividend. — A broker, when escorting home a fa»r damsel, asked her what sort of money she liked best. Os course the blushing beauty instantly suggested matri-moo y. "What interest does it brin„?” Io <3“ired the note .haver. “If properly invested,” faltered the j a [“ ler- "*• properly invested, it W ‘ ' doUt,, '’ the original stock three years.*’ J

i'THE GREAT BATTLE BEFORE RICHMOND. THE ATTACK ON GENERAL CASEY’S POSITION. The Temporary Disaster There, with Loss of Artillery and Camp Equipage — The Crossing of the Chickahominy by Our Re-enforcements—Desperate Nature of the Fighting—The Great Victory of our Forces on Sunday—Our Advance Some Distance Beyend the Battle Ground. Field ok Battle Before Ricamond.) Sunday A M., June 1. 1862. j I A battle before Richmond Las at last 1 put to the test the rebel boast as to what ! they would do with Gen. McClellan's ar- . ray when they should get it beyond the I protection of the gunboats. Though the I ; advantage of a sadden movement against j the weakest point in our lines gave the ; enemy a temporary success, the final re- ' suit has not heen such as to afford encouragement to their disheartened and ! demoralized troops, or occasion any fears as to our ultimate possession of the rebel , Capital. The attack commenced shortly before ' one o’clock on Saturday, on the left wing, of the right army, on the further or south side of the Chickahominy, where the advance position was hel i by the division of Gen. Casey, much the weakest in the I army, composed almost entirely of r»w regiments, and reduce i by disease to an effective force of some 6,000 men. The position held by General Casey was on the Williamsburg Stage road, within six or seven miles of Richmond, and on a line so extended at the front that the troops required to maintain picket guards of sufficient strength, making no slight draft on his weakened forces.— Tlte right of I lie line was held by his First Brigade, under G. n. H. M. Naglee. as brave and vigilant an officer as is to be found in the array of the Potomac. Gen. Neglee’s pickets extended across the ratl- ’ j road (running parallel with the Williamj burg ruad, about a mile to the right) to j near t lie sixth mile post from Richmond, and so on further to the right and a little to the rear until within a short distance iof a point on the Chickahominy, where Gen. Sutnnei had thrown a bridge across the stream, and was hourly expected to i cross lo complete the line of pickets to I the river. The center of Gen. Casey’s position, held by the Second Brigade, (Gen. Wassell’s, formerly Gen. Keims’,) extended from Gen. Naglee’s lines to the left a short distance across the Williamsburg road, where it joined the Third Brigade, (Gen. Palmer’s) stretching some distance further to the left, and joining the lines l of Gen. Couch, who guarded the left . Hank, the main portion of his force being a short distance to the rear of Casey, on the Williamburg road. The position occupied bv the main bo dy of these two divisions was ach aring of about one mile square, surrounded on the leit and front by a belt of forest, in which Gen. Casey’s pickets were station ed, On the right, a wooded swamp di- ! vided the clearing from a similar opening in the io est along tile railroad, which was occupied by Gen. Naglee, with his brigade. Just beyond the woods to the front were similar clearings with woods on their further side, where the rebels lav concealed, their pickets occupying the edge of h forests, and separated fr >m our pickets by the width of the fields, forming a sort of neutral ground between the two armies, over which each kept close watch lest his neighbor should take ■; possession. The position of Gen. Casey and other Generals, the nature of the ground, etc., will be made clear by ref- . fence to the map accompanying this account. Step by step General Casey- has pressed on to this point, overcoming such opposition as met him, until it became evident that the rebels had reached the limit of their retreat, and further advance 1 could not be ventured without the risk of 1 a general engagement, for which the plans were not yet ripe. Our proximitnity to . the rebels was evidently anno’iog to them, and on Thursday, and again on Friday, they made an unsuccessful attempt, with a force of a few hundred, to drive in the pickets and discover what mischief was plotting behind the belt of woods sheltering General C asey from their view. — Their attack was resolutely met by the ■ pickets, who fell back on the reserves and r held their groud, defeating the purpose of the enemy. Meanwhile Gen. Casey was actively at work securing his position, a large force ,of men being busy under the skillful direction of Lient. E. W. West of his staff, digging rille pits and felling trees for abatis. A similar line of defensive works had been commenced and partially completed ni Gen, Casey’s former position, at the Severi , n ‘oes, three miles further

“Our Country’s Good shall ever be our Aim—Willing to Praise and not afraid to Blame.”

DECATUR, ADAMS COUNTY, INDIANA, JUNE 12, 1862.

|to the rear, and just back to these was a line of earthworks, constructed by Gen. Couch, and more carelullv finished. Failing in the two attempts to gather .information by forcing back Gen. Casey’s pickets, the rebels apparently resolved upon an advance in force against the left j wing ol the army, doubtless determined Ito drive it beyond the Chickahominy, should the opportunity offer, and put i themselves in a position to turn Genetai McClellan's left Hank. During the afternoon of Friday, a ter ■ rific thunderstorm arose, continuing i through most ol the night with uninterrupted severitv, deluging the earth with | rain, converting the spongy soil into a i nearly impassable bog. and raising the waters of the Chickahominy so as tocar- { ry away one of two bridges Gen. Sumner had prepared (or his passage, and some- ' what disturb the foundations of the other. The broad sheets of lightning that night and the camp fires of unusual size, gleaming in the pitchy darkness, seemed to illuminate our position, and may poss- : ibly have assisted the rebels in getting an ' idea of the bearing of things. Just before the storm had reached its fury there was some skirmishing between the artillery on both sides. This commenced aI gain in the morning, several shots flying over our camp, indicating that the rebels had in some way gained a more correct idea ol our position. Shortly alter noon the grand attack commenced, Gen. Casey’s pickets being j driven in ail along the front, after a spirited resistance, the rebels advancing in force along three roads — the Williamsbu g road, to our left, the railroad, in the center, and the “Nine-mile Road,” as it is called, on the right. With his feeble division greatly weakened by ex tension, Gen. Casey had no backbone to oppose to this sudden attack. But no thought of yielding his ground entered the mind of the old soldier, scarred with j the wounds of Mexico and disciplined to danger by a hundred fights. His troops I were immediately formed into position, j the three brigades maintaining their relative positions on the right, left and center, and as thorough preparations were made for resisting the attack as its suddenness would admit of. Regan’s New ; York battery was stationed just to the right of the Williamsburg road. Bates’ b-ttery of Napoleon guns farther to the I] ft across the road* and Fitch’s battery: three or four hundred yards to the rear, the last sending its shell over the heads of our troops at the enemy beyond. The j fourth battery was near the railroad fur- j i ther to the right. The vigor with which the enemy press- ; ed forward to the attack indicated the 1 confidence of superior strength. A battelion of two regiments pressed against G-n Naglee on the right, another fell on Gen. VVassell on the emter, and a third on Gen. Palmer on the left, pouring in a fire at once hot and her vy, end advancing with great resolution in face of the steady fire of canister and grape from the guns in front, and shell from those further to the rear, mowing down their ranks in all directions. The rebels bad but little artillery, and were evidently disposed to make good the deficiency by pressing to close quarters with their superior force, to bear down at once hy weight of num- 1 hers the feeble skeleton regiments of three and four hundred men who composed the advanced division. Most of General Casey’s troops were thrown forward to the edge of the woods lin front of his position, to meet the advance ol the rebels, a few regiments being left behind the partially completed riflepits, a short distance to the rear.— Thus a division, nearly new to warfare, j was suddenly exposed, in tn open field, to the heaviest of fire, from ao enemycovered to a considerable extent by the woods through which they were advancing. Terribly the tempest raged, the I air almost growing thick with musket I balls; officer after officer fell, or was i borne from the field a wounded man; the men dropped bv acres, and the tnual number ol weak jointed ones were falling to Che rear. But in spile of rapid thinning of their ranks, they generally held their ground until the enemy succeeded 1 in rushing around on the left flank, and | poured in an enfilading fire from that direction, against which the riflepits were no protection. The sixty rounds of ammunition with which they entered the tight were nearly exhausted, and no more was at hand. Meantime one of Gen. Couch’s brig, ades, commanded by Gen. Abercrombie, was ordered up to the support of General Naglee on the right, Gen. Devens, of the same Division, sustaining Gen. Wassell on the center, and Gen. Peck, with the remaining brigade, supporting Gen. Palmer on the left. When Gen. Casey’s troops were forced to give away, the rebels fell on these brigades of Couch’s division, who disputed every inch of ground, until sustained by Gen. Kearney, press- ' ing up the Williamsburg road with re-en-forcements to meet them, supported by

the division of General Hooker in his rear. Pressing rapidly forward. General Kearney advanced along the Williamsburg load to within a short distance of ! our original position, where he bivouack-: ed for the night in front of the enemy, j it was along this Williamsburg road that the main attack was made, and here our troops were forced back for half a , mile or more, before the arrival of Gen. Heintzelman's corpse; the feeble brigades of Casey ’s Division, averaging less than 2,000 men. being completely broken up many, it not most ol the officers killed, wounded or missing, and the privates scattered through the woods and along the road. Bravely and well did General Casey do his duty, pressing on lo the ex treros front and cheering on his men, re gardless of the storm of fire and hail that raged about him cutting down bis offi leers on all sides, but strangely escaping his own person. Bravely and well did most of his officers stand by him, until, one after another, thsy were borne from 'the field dead or wounded. Col. Bliley. Chief of Artillery, was shot early in the afternoon, the b 11 striking him in the head one causing his death after a short period of insensibility. Maj. Van Vaultenberg the second in command of the First N. Y. Artillery, was killed. Adjutant Win. Ramsay wounded, while every battery but one lost its quota ,of men, and some of them lost nearly all their horses. Bates battery of Napoleon .nins— 12 pound brass pieces—which was To the front, thus deprived of locomotion - and stuck last in the mud, was left behind in the retirment oi our troops, but ■ not until Gen. Naglee had taken it upon himself to see that several of the pieces were spiked. In addition to this, one 3 ; inch Parrott gUu of Battery H was disa-j bled by a shot, and fell into the hands of; I the enemy. The Pennsylvania Reserve! IBaiterv. of Couch’s Division, also lost jone of "their guns—these eight pieces of i ordnance constituting our entire loss, sol Ifr a* 1 could learn We can better as- : (ord to spare the places than we can afford to have the I Dels profit by their : gain. They show every indication of being much in want of artillery, and the l need is evidently stimulating their efforts to profit by the chances of war to possess I themselves of our guns. Meamtime Gen. Sumner had succeeded in bringing his troops across the Chickhominy, and was advancing on the i right to maintain our positiou there, where less ground had been lost. After several days of labor, Gen. Sumner had j thrown two bridges across the creek between Bottom’s Bridge and New Bridge, where local reports held it to be impossible to find anv foundation tor piles to support the snperst’ucteres. One of these {bridges was some two miles above Bot-j tom’s Bridge, the other a mile further up the stream’ The lower of these was carried away during the heavy storm of Friday night, and General Sumner was obliged to depend upon a single shaky I (structure for the passage of his troops, who nearly all, however, succeeded in crossing that night, the head of the column reaching the Nine mile Road, along which tiie rebels were pressing our trotps at about 7 o’clock, holding the enemy in check for the night, preventing them (from following up in that direction the advantage they had gained during the dav. . . , Flushed with their seeming victory of Saturday, the rebels awoke with confidence on Sunday, to follow up their moveI ments, sure of driving us this time to the .Chickahominy and beyond. But they had made the unfortunate mistake of estimating the strength of our reserves by the weakness of our advance. Moat it i terlv did they pay for their mis ake. Pressing eagerly forword with confidence of victory, they were met by the trained, troops of Heii •z dm#n and Sumner whose ; unyielding columns checked their tierce : assault, turning the tide of battle every where against them, and forcing them at the point of the bayonet on toward Rich-1 : tnond. It was their turn now to, break and run, and their losses of the Sabbatn | left them little cause for rejoicing over the , trifling gain of Saturday. Terribly did' i the rebels suffer ou this, as well as the previous day, from the well directed fire 'ofour artillery, filling the ground with | the slain. Terrible also to them were the • frequent charges of our solid columns, pressing them back, step by step, to the , last point of endurance, when they broke and run, ingloriously leaving behind them many of their men and officers as well as privates, prisoners in cur hands. The number of these it is not possible to ascertain, several days necessarily elapsing after every engagement before a full inventory can be taken. Even of our loss it was impossible to ! form any correct idea at the time I left the field of battle. The only source of our information was the wounded, wjo gave such particulars, in regard to their ; respective regiments as they .as they were borne from all paits of the; field. To the oft repeated question:

‘•Well, bow did your regiment stand it?” I got uniform answers. “0, sir, our regiment was all cut to pieces—cut lo pieces, sir, nothing left of | it ’’ I, of course, was able to rely little on such stories from my disabled informants, knowing the tendency, not only among soldiers, pul equally among people in civilized life, to magnify their own misfortune into a measure of the public calamity. They took no account of their nim-ble-footed comrades, who had disappeared without damage la life or limb. It is impossible, so soon alter the affair, to give even a rough estimate of the loss in an engagement spread o4r so great a space of country, and in the confusion : which always ensues after a battle. That j the loss is very severe, and particularly join the matter of officers, there is no matter of doubt. The difficulty of rightly estimating our loss is also enhanced by I the fact that many of those falling were unavoidably left upon the ground subse- . quently occupied by the enemy in his first successful attack. The number of these we cannot learn until regimental rolls are compared. It is sincerely to be regret- , ted, in view of the tales we have of the I barbarous treatment of our wounded by the rebels, when once they fall into their hands, that necessity should have compelled any to be left upon the field, to receive “the tender mercies of the wicked.” That lhe rebel loss was greater by ! far than our own Ido not doubt. Besides our superiority in artillery, our small i arms were much more effective, having ' all the superioritv in fatal power, which the Minie hall has over the round lisle ball. The wounds inflicted by the enemy ; were mainly by the latter. Had the leadenhail in which our men were obliged to ! stand so long, been composed of conical .instead of ro aid shot, many more Ra- ! chels would be mourning over the lost, and many more homes draped in funeral weeds. Your correspondent feels particularly grateful to the blockade being morally certain that had lhe ball which lodged so harmlessly in his legging been a Minie, he would have been obliged always hereafter to write standing on one foot—a good figure of speech lor Juve- I nal, but one which he would raiher be I excused from practically embodying.— ! As it is, the slight abrasion left upon bis ; leg by the ball, after forcing two thicknes- ! ses of leather and one of cloth, is suffien- I : tly suggestive of a reward to satisfy his i moderate ambition for military adventure. Os those who entered into close range of the enemy’s guns, scarcely one of the officers that I saw escaped witholt some mark of the enemy’s bullets, on his clo- ’ thes or person, when no positive wound was inflicted. Gen. Naglee was struck I tour times, by balls that pierce his clothes, inflicting slight bruises on his person, Lieut. West, Aid de camp to Gen. Casey, who continued contnntly under fire while actively discharging his duties, had his clothes badlv torn by a peice of shell — j Lieut. Foster, who was equally cool and ' (energetic, I heard reported as wounded, i but discredit the statement, which 1 shu’ld he sorry to believe true of so efficient an officer. Capt. Smith, Gen. Casse’y Assistant Adjutant General, and Lieut liarlington Raymond, aid de camp, were dis abled by sickness--Lieut. Raymond fretting upon his sick bed at the thought that he should be compelled to inaction al a time when his services were so much needed by bis General. Os the line officers not positively wounded, Col. C. H. Van Wyck of the Filty sixth New York Regiment, seems to have met with the most nar ow escape, being struck by a spent shell, which doubled up his sword-sheath, and severely bruis!ed his left knee. Had the shell been ! nearer its initial velocity, the Colonel would have lost a pair of limbs, of essential service to a man of his active habits: land had it exploded. Congress would have been minus one of its working mem- , tb rs. I All sorts of reports were afloat immediately after the engagement in regard to prominent officers, in Gen. Cassey's dii vision mark particularly. The General l himself was reported to me first as woun[ded, and then as killed, but I was happy ,to be able to congratulate the br ve old ; soidier on his entire safely before leaving i the field with my dispatches. i Gen. Cassey’s son-in-law’ Col. Hunt, received u ball through the fleshy part of j i his thigh, inflicting a wound more painful than dangerous. Col. Hunt, who is a Captain in the Twelfth United States Infantry, had taken command, only the week previous, of the Nin’.y second New York Regiment, to which he had been appointed. He has seen fifteen years of 1 service in the regular army, and is an officer whose s- rvice we can ill afford to spare at this junction. A lady in North-Western Missouri offers a premium for enough Yankee scalps to make a bed quilt. Perhaps she would ! like to take a wiole Yankee as a cotufor ' ter

Mr. Porter's Emancipation SnbstitUde. Washington, June s.—The substitute ' of Mr. i orter of Indiana, which is likely io pass in the form offered, provides for emancipation in lhe following cases: Os the slaves of every person who shall 1 ereafter act as an officer in the army or navy, or as President, Vice President, Member of Congress, Judge of any Court, Cabinet officer, Foreign Minister, Commissioner of Consul, of the so-called Confederate Stales, or as Governor of State, member of a convention or Legislaiure, or Judge of any Court of the socalled Confederate States, or who, having 1 held an office of honor, trust or profit ir. ■ the United States, shall thereafter hold office in the so called Confederate States, !or of every person who shall hereafter hold any office or agency under the Government of Such Confederacy; but perj sons holding State offices, unless appointed since the date of the Secession ordi nance, or unless they shall have taken art oath of allegiance to such Confederate ■ j States; also, the slaves of every person I not embiaced in the foregoing clauses, who, after lhe passage of this act, being actually, willfully and without coercion 'or compulsion, engaged in armed rebellion, shall not, within sixty days after public warning and proclamation, made at his discretion by the President, lay down his arms and return to his allegiance. Cotton Burning in Arkanstrai Pocahontas, Ark , June 5— A rebel gunboat came to Jacksonport day before yesterday and destroyed all the cotton ind sugar there. She was reported to be on the way here, but we have since learned that she returned down the river, destroying all the cotton and sugar as she went. It is supposed that a very large amount of each has been destroyed’. For a time there was much consternation in the vicinity, and troops were under marching orders all Tuesday night. Everything is quiet now. Extract from the New York Herald’s account of the Secnod day’s fight, near . Richmond. You are aware that through the conduct of General Casey's division - , we were terribly cut up and lost considerable : ground. The next day General McClellan determined, as I have before stated, I to regain it and establish his supremacy in I quarter. After making all the necessary precautionary movements, and taking the I proper steps to move forward, he sent up a balloon to the distance of two' thotbiand' feet, where it was kept, and » regular j telegraphic communication establiebed 1 from that elevated point of view direct to i the Commanding General. As soon as the telegraphers were ready thev minutelv described the location i n I number of the enemy’s troops. And as they advanced—for they were again coming forward to charge upon what they supposed our demoralized troops —the i operators gave the General their force and the direction in which they were advancing, and he promptly ordered his troops io lhe proper place, when the enemy were met and of course repulsed. The rebels, finding that where ever they want, they met overwhelming numbers, or at points where they little supposed they could be annoyed by our troops, the balloon, of course, was pointed to by enemy, and shortly afterward ; thev trained a rifle gun at the daring aerial general, and after repeated firing’ the v succeeded in exploding shells near the balloon; in fact So near that it was deemed imprudent to remain up any longer in that precise locati n, and, accordingly,, lhe ballon was lowered to the ground, tobe shifted to another position. Not ma’ny minutes elapsed before it was again sent and in a position not easily reached by the enemy’s missiles. The comiruicalion, thus more securely established, was again opened, and with I the same success, the aeronauts reporting ! large bodies of troops in the rear of Richmond, marching up lo the scene of deadly strife. The telegraphers saw brigade after brigade marched up from the rebel stronghold, and as rapidly as they advan ced into action they were met in a style wholly incomprehensible to lhe rebels.— Not a road was advanced upon, nor a broad field trodden upon by a rebellious ! dy of people, but thev were confronted by our people. After worrying them 1 some time, the gallant Heintzelman charged upon them with the trusty bayonet. ' and drove them back to their citadel frigh tened, and suffering a heavy loss in men. The sigi t must have been, from their aerial lookout, one of grandeur not often witnessed bv us groundling*. So gcod was the standpoint from which the telegraphers saw all and directed all, that ill i many instances, with the aid of very powerful glasses, the number of the regiment could readily be discovered; an I had the operators personally known or been able to recognize the faces of per sons commanding, they would have beer* CONTINUED ON SItCOFU I'AOK-

NO 19.