A letter from
Mount Sterling, Ky., gives the following account of the spirited conduct of some Home Guards, in a fight with guerrillas at that place, on the twenty-ninth of July:
The ordinary quiet of our little village was broken in upon yesterday morning, about nine o'clock, by the announcement that a body of some two hundred and forty rebels were coming in upon us, on their way to
Marshal's camp.
Capt. J. J. Evans,
Provost-Marshal, at once determined to give them fight, and immediately ordered every able-bodied man to arms.
There were no soldiers or even home guards here, but simply our unorganized citizens.
We only had about forty minutes for preparation, but made good use of the time in getting together about fifty men and guns, with several rounds each, and posting them on both sides of the street, and the street in which we expected them to come.
This was scarcely done, when on they came, with shouts and yells, charging upon our little squad that was in the street, demanding of them to lay down their arms, to which we replied from every side with ball and buckshot, which brought every man of their front rank down to the dust.
Both the horses and their riders lay there to rise no more.
This effective volley brought the whole column to a halt, and our boys continued firing into them with such rapidity that they soon broke and ran in the direction from whence they came, amid the triumphant shouts of the few who had thus put to flight thrice their number.
They retreated about a mile, when they were met by a detachment of the Eighteenth Kentucky regiment, under command of
Major Bracht, who had been in pursuit of them since Sunday evening. They did not stand the fire of his men much longer than they did ours, when they again skedaddled in handsome style, taking to the farms on the west side of the road, leaving behind them horses, guns, hats, etc., and about eighteen prisoners.
Major Bracht started his men in pursuit, but their horses were so jaded that they effected but little more than the picking up of some stragglers.
So soon as the word could be conveyed to the country, a number of home guards went after them, and found them scattered in every direction, a few here and there, but no large body of them anywhere.
A more utter defeat and rout was never suffered by any body of men. In the afternoon we buried seven of their men, and have now here two who are badly wounded, one of whom will probably die.
Our men continued to bring in prisoners last night and this morning, until the whole number taken, besides the wounded and killed, amounts to something near seventy-five, including some thirty-five taken in the neighborhood of Kiddville and North-Middletown.
The remainder of the gang are now doubtless skulking around the country in thickets and brier-patches, and will likely try to find their way back to their homes.
They were mostly from the counties of
Boone and
Pendleton.
