Southern accounts.
Our Southern exchanges publish the following extracts from private letters, written by participants in the battle:
‘
We drove the
Federals from hill to hill and from ravine to ravine all day long.
I could not conceive, before witnessing it, the desperate bravery of our men. We exhausted our cartridges time and again, and continued on with the bayonet.
I never want to see such a sight again; it makes my blood run cold to think about it; the dead were piled up on every field by the hundreds, with the meet ghastly looking wounds you ever looked at Most of the
Yankees that I saw dead were shot through the head, and their brains had oozed out on the ground, and the groans of the wounded were awful to hear.
A little before sunset,
Gen. Jackson's brigade, having fired away its ammunition, was driven back and was in great danger of falling into confusion, when the
General and his staff galloped into the midst of them, directed the standard bearers to hoist their flags, and calling on their men not to let
Alabama (they were all Alabamians except one regiment) be ashamed of them, they rallied immediately, and charged with the bayonet.--This threw the enemy into confusion, and the cavalry dashing in upon them, entirely cut off their retreat.
A whole brigade (
General Prentiss's) surrendered, including the
General.
Sunday night we slept in Yankee tents, in a Yankee camp, and fed on Yankee luxuries.
Such a splendidly provisioned Army I never heard of — pickled oysters, pig's feat, lemons, sweetmeats of all kinds.
’
Another letter says:
‘
We took much spoil--3000 bags coffee, salt, a great number of small arms, several boxes of new rifles, which were never opened until we opened them.
We got possession of all their stores.
We found brandy, candy, sweetmeats, clothing, almost all things necessary for an itinerant army, and many things not necessary, but superfluous.
Tuesday, the 8th, the enemy retired to their gunboats, giving full possession of their tents, and all equipage.
Gen. Beauregard then pressed into service everything in the country around in the shape of a vehicle — ox and horse wagons, carts, buggies, and carriages — and hauled off all he could, and then retired a few miles (two or three), and took position with his force where he now is, awaiting the approach of the enemy.
Now comes the great secret.
The great, grand battle is yet to be fought, which will come off in the course of one, two, or three weeks. Perhaps not less than 350,000 men will be engaged in the deadly conflict.
The Federals will have 200,000, and we 150,000, or more.
It will be a terrible and bloody battle.
’
The day after the battle.
From an interesting letter written by the army correspondent of the Mobile
Register, dated
Monterey, six miles from
Shiloh, April 8th, we copy the following:
‘
Neither party has showed a disposition to renew the fight this morning.
We have not sought the
Yankees, nor have they sought us. After scowling at each other like two exhausted pugilists, with blood-shot eyes and bruised and battered bodies, they have turned away and left the contest still undecided.
The Confederates are quietly returning to their lines, and the
Yankees to theirs.
We have burned a good many of their tents, and brought away a great deal of their baggage and camp property, and all their guns captured on Sunday.
The medical stores were to have been removed yesterday, but the renewal of the fight early in the morning prevented it. We took other guns yesterday, and lost four belonging to
Sandford's Mississippi battery.
Gen. Breckinridge had ordered the battery to be withdrawn, but the officer in charge waited to fire a few more shot, and thus lost a portion of his guns.
We lost no small arms or prisoners that I have heard of, except such old muskets as were thrown aside by our troops for the superior arms left by the enemy.
We also brought away a number of wagons and horses, and some ambulances.
But no account has yet been taken of our captures, and I forbear entering into further details until reliable data can be obtained.
For the same reason, I shall offer no opinion as to the number of killed and wounded on either side.
I hope the
Confederate loss is not so large as many believe it to be. I am satisfied that the number killed is not in the usual proportion to the wounded.
This is owing, doubtless, to the protection afforded by the trees.
6 P. M.--The enemy ventured so far this afternoon as to send out a cavalry regiment a short distance in the direction of our lines.
Gen. Breckinridge sent the Texas Rangers and Forest and his mounted men after them, who captured about fifty prisoners and chased the remainder back and through two regiments of infantry that had come along to support them.
In the confusion that ensued among the
Federals, they fired upon their own cavalry, and killed and wounded a large number of them.
Col. Forest received a shot in the side, which passed around near the spine, making rather an ugly wound.
It is not thought to be mortal, however.
The entire Federal force engaged immediately fell back in evident disorder.
It would be premature at this time to indulge in speculations upon the results of the two- days' battle out of which we have just emerged.
I may be permitted to say, however, that the effect upon the
Confederates has been to inspire them with fresh confidence and renewed determination.
They have felt of the enemy, and have themselves passed through the fire, and will be the better prepared for a second great battle which is to come off at or near
Corinth.
I am not informed as to the extent of the reinforcements which the enemy has received, or of his ability to undertake an early forward movement.
He has been badly crippled and cut up, and has lost much valuable property and many of his best field pieces.
Moreover, the roads are in a shocking condition.
It rained very hard last night, and again to-day, and there is a prospect for more rain to-night.
All these things will tend to delay further active operations by either party.
’
A special dispatch to the New Orleans
Picayune, dated
Corinth, April 9th, says:
‘
Our rear guard is still near the field of battle, front of Mickey's house,
Gen. Breckinridge in command.
The enemy's advance was attacked yesterday afternoon by
Forest's and
Wharton's cavalry, which captured a large number or prisoners and drove the enemy back.
Seventy-four of the prisoners have just been brought in.
Forest was wounded, and his son was killed.
Our troops are all in the highest spirits and quite ready, they say, for another fight.
Van-
Dorn's reinforcements, of 20,000 men are coming up. A part of them arrived last night.
The advance of
Gen. Hardes suffered most in the recent engagement.
There were 1,100 casualties out of 2,500 men, in
Gen. Cleburne's brigade.
In
Col. Thornton's 6th Mississippi, there were 300 casualties out of 400 men.
’
[from the New Orleans Delta.]
The following dispatch has been received from
Gen. Beauregard, and kindly furnished to us for the benefit of the public:
‘
Corinth, April 8, 1862.--We had another severe battle yesterday, and have returned to this place, which I can hold easily.
The army is in good spirits.
The
Louisiana troops behaved well.
I am still untouched.
G. T. Beauregard.
’
The Yankees in Onslow county, N. C.--their True character — Atrocious outrages.
The reader will find on the first page of this paper an account of the outrages of the
Yankees at
Elizabeth City and other places in
North Carolina.
We are now enabled, by the receipt of the Wilmington
Journal of Friday last, to lay the following facts before the public.
They ought to be sufficient to open the eyes of all to the nature of the enemy to whom we are opposed, and the character of the contest in which we are engaged.
If these facts do not show the value of the professions contained in the hypocritical proclamation of
Burnside and
Goldsborough; if they do not convince all that there are but two alternatives, victory or absolute ruin; if they do not make the blood of every man tingle through his veins, and every heart swell with the desire for revenge, then nothing can. These are the mild-mannered saints, the pet lambs that came to revive the
Union feeling in
North Carolina, and make proselytes to the sway of
Abe Lincoln:
The enemy, in their late visit to
Onslow county, brought over one regiment, one piece of artillery, and one baggage wagon — such at least seems to be the most correct account.
In the neighborhood through which they passed, they committed the most unheard of depredations — carried off all the prominent citizens in irons and ropes, and went so far as to paddle
Mr. Henderson, a very respectable man, for having free negroes bound to him.
Mr. Pelletier they cowhided, also
Mr. Buck.
They took off everything of value they could get hold of; they broke open trunks — took jewelry, blankets, carpets, towels, everything.
In fact they ransacked every house they came to, using the most abusive language to all, and the most insulting to the women.
They incited the negroes to fight against their masters, telling them that in a few days they would have a line of pickets from
Newbern and
Swansboro'--that they would be back in 7 or 8 days with reinforcements.
The robberies committed at the house of
Mrs. Sanders are fully confirmed.
They even stole all her
gold and
silver,
gold and sliver plate, jewelry, gold watch, notes, title deeds, and so forth.
In fact, the half of these outrages has not been told.
Their only excuse, we hear of, was that
Mrs. Sanders had given entertainment to a body of Confederate cavalry some time before.
Skirmishing below Savannah.
The Savannah
Republican gives the following account of another skirmish which took place on
Whitemarsh Island, below
Savannah, on Tuesday:
It appears that late in the afternoon the enemy landed on the island from their barges, and attempted a reconnaissance in force.
They had not proceeded far before they encountered a large Confederate picket that had been sent over from the 13th Georgia.
Our troops attacked them vigorously, and charged upon them, when the
Yankees fell back and again took to their barges.
We had a few killed and wounded on our side, and the loss of the enemy is said to be considerable, though no particulars have transpired.
When last heard from, our picket was maintaining its ground and well supported.
The enemy are evidently seeking a place for a battery to bear on our works on the main.
Good shots.
A gentleman from the
West informs the editor of the
Atlanta Commonwealth that he saw and conversed with a Federal officer, a prisoner, who stated that in the recent
battle at Corinth, the
Confederates shot at their enemies as if at beeves, hitting nearly every time in the head.
He noticed in passing over the battle-field that nearly all their wounded had balls planted in their foreheads.
The same gentlemen also informs us that he saw and examined a breast-plate that had been taken from a dead Yankee.
It was made of very fine wire, woven closely together, and could resist a ball from the most powerful rifle.
Although his breast was protected by this novel contrivance, his head was left exposed, and in its very centre he had received the fatal ball.
Three other breast-plates were found upon the bodies of the dead.
The Petersburg
Express has the following special dispatch:
Knoxville, April 18.--
Capt. Ashby, commanding 300 Confederate cavalry, encountered 75, Lincolnites, who were stampeding
Kentucky, on yesterday, near
Jackson borough,
Tenn.
A hand-to-hand fight ensued, which lasted for two hours. Our men succeeded in killing about 75, and taking 500 prisoners.
Our loss, none killed, and about 25 wounded--none mortally.
No less than 5,000 Lincolnites have left
East Tennessee for
Kentucky since
Gov. Harris's Proclamation calling on the militia, etc.
