An Incident at Holly Springs, Miss. -- The Raid of Van Dorn
-- Cincinnati Cotton-Dealers in Trouble -- Troubles of a
Reporter.
AN INCIDENT AT HOLLY SPRINGS, MISS.--THE RAID OF VAN DORN.
The amount of public and private property captured and destroyed by
the enemy is estimated at something over six millions of dollars. He
had considerable skirmishing with our troops, whose effective force
Colonel R. C. Murphy, commandant of the post, says was less than three
hundred. The Confederates lost ten or twelve in killed and wounded,
and we six or seven wounded, none fatally. Colonel Murphy says he
received information from Grant too late to make the necessary
arrangements for the defense of the place. Though there were less than
three hundred effective Union soldiers in town, all the civilians,
tradesmen, speculators, and promiscuous hangers-on to the army were
captured, swelling the number who gave their parole to about fifteen
hundred. The raid, as you may imagine, delighted the residents of
Holly Springs, who turned out _en masse_ to welcome their
brief-lingering "deliverers," and were very active in pointing out the
places where Northerners were boarding. Not a few of the precious
citizens fired at our troops from the windows, and acted as
contemptibly and dastardly as possible. The women, who had been rarely
visible before, made their appearance, radiant, and supplied the rebel
Yahoos with all manner of refreshments. "Good Union men," who had sold
their cotton to the Yankees, shook the Treasury-notes in the faces of
the Union prisoners, saying they had been paid for their property, and
had the pleasure of burning it before the "d----d Abolition
scoundrels' eyes."
CINCINNATI COTTON-DEALERS IN TROUBLE.
A number of cotton-buyers were robbed of whatever money they had on
their persons, and some of them are said to have lost from five to ten
thousand dollars apiece, which is, probably, an exaggerated statement.
W. W. Cones, of Cincinnati, saved a large sum by an ingenious trick.
He had twenty-eight thousand dollars on his person when the enemy
entered the place, and immediately throwing off his citizen's garb, he
attired himself in the cast-off gauntlets of a private soldier,
entered the Magnolia House, employed as a hospital, and, throwing
himself upon a bed, assumed to be exceedingly and helplessly sick,
while the foe remained. As soon as the rebels had departed, he became
suddenly and vigorously healthy, and walked into the street to
denounce the traitors. He declared his eleven hours' sickness caused
him less pain, and saved him more money than any illness he ever
before endured. D. W. Fairchild, also of the Queen City, in addition
to losing fifty bales of cotton, was robbed of his pocket-book,
containing forty-five dollars, in the following manner: When
captured, he was taken before General Jackson, popularly known as
"Billy Jackson," considered a high representative of chivalry and
soldiership in this benighted quarter of the globe. Jackson inquired
of Fairchild, in a rough way, if he had any money with him? To which
the party addressed answered, he had a trifling sum, barely sufficient
to pay his expenses to the North. "Hand it over, you d----d nigger
thief," roared the high-toned general, who, as soon as the
porte-monnaie was produced, seized it, thrust it into his pocket, and
rode off with a self-satisfied chuckle. What a noble specimen of
chivalry is this Jackson! He has many kindred spirits in the South,
where vulgar ruffians are apotheosized, who would, at an earlier time,
have been sent to the pillory. "Sixteen-string Jack," and all that
delectable fraternity, whose lives bloom so fragrantly in the pages of
the saffron-hued literature of the day, would have spat in the faces
of such fellows as Jackson, had they dared to claim the acquaintance
of persons so much their superiors.
When the rebels were playing the part of incendiaries in town, they
set fire to the building containing a great quantity of our
ammunition, shells, etc. The consequence was a tremendous explosion,
which broke half the windows, and many of the frames, in town, rattled
down ceilings, unsettled foundations, and spread general dismay. Women
and children screamed, and rushed like maniacs into the streets, and
fell fainting with terror there. For several hours the shells
continued to burst, and, I have heard, two or three children were
killed with fragments of the projectiles. Two days after, I saw
families suffering from hysterics on account of excessive fright, and
several seemed to have become quite crazed therefrom.
TROUBLES OF A REPORTER.
One morning, hearing that John Morgan was at Elizabethtown, Ky., I
determined to go as near as possible, and find out the condition of
things, and see the fight that was in expectancy. Proceeding as far as
I could by rail, I hired a carriage and horses, hoping to reach
Munfordville in time for a big item.
I had proceeded some five miles when a party of eight men, whom I at
once determined were guerrillas, rode hastily to the carriage, and
demanded my credentials. I exhibited a free pass over the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad, four Provost-Marshal's passes, a permission to
leave the State of Ohio, also one to leave Kentucky, and a ten-cent
Nashville bill. I was afraid to show them my letter from General
Starbuck, of the _Daily Times_.
After looking at them awhile, they were passed round to the balance of
the fiendish-looking rascals, and I was kept in terrible suspense ten
minutes longer.
I tried to get off several of my well-authenticated bad jokes, but I
choked in the utterance, and my smile was no doubt a sardonic grin. I
wiped the perspiration from my brow so frequently that one of the most
intellectual of the "brutes" relieved the monotony of the occasion by
observing that it was a very hot day, to which I acquiesced, feeling
quite glad to have a guerrilla speak to a prisoner.
The countryman who had driven me thus far was speechless. He thought
of his carriage and horses, and visions of their being immediately
possessed by Morgan or Forrest had rendered him powerless. After a few
questions as to where we left the train, and as to the number of
passengers on board, the citizen cavalry, or Union guards, as they
proved to be, told us we might proceed, that we were all right, but to
be very careful, as Forrest was reported near that region; they hardly
thought it safe to attempt to get to Green River.
This brewed fresh trouble to me, the owner of the horses and carriage
refusing positively to proceed on the journey. In vain I expostulated,
telling him I would pay for his horses out of the _sinking fund_ of
the _Times_ office, in case of their loss. It was no go, and I was
compelled to retreat. I felt very much like building some
fortifications in the woods, and making a stand, but, remembering the
saying, "Discretion is the better part of valor," retreated, and fell
back upon the National Hotel, in Louisville, with all the luxuries
prepared by Charley Metcalf, Major Harrow, and Colonel Myers.