January 17.
This morning the rebels made a desperate attack upon the Union lines near Dandridge, Tenn. They threw out no skirmishers, but pressed down upon the Nationals in [35] full force, seemingly determined to sweep them from the field. Observing their desperate determination, General Sturgis ordered Colonel D. M. McCook, who was in command of a division of Elliott's cavalry, to charge the enemy on horse. This order was obeyed most gallantly. The charge of this division turned the fortunes of the day, which, up to this time, had been decidedly against the Nationals. The First Wisconsin, which bore the brunt of the enemy's attack, lost sixty in killed and wounded. The Union loss in all did not exceed one hundred and fifty.--A fire occurred at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Ill., destroying the officers' quarters and quartermaster's stores. Captain Dimon and Lieutenant Bennett, of the Thirty-eighth Illinois cavalry, were burned to death, and two other lieutenants were badly injured.--the bombardment of Charleston, S. C., by the forces under General Gillmore, was continued with great fury, several new Parrott guns having been opened on the city from Battery Gregg.
