Affairs on the Kanawha.
We are able to correct this morning many errors that have got into the newspapers in regard to the operations of our army on the
Kanawha.
We have received the following letter, dated at Dublin Depot,
Pulaski county, from a gentleman of great intelligence who left our camp at
Cotton Hill, directly opposite the mouth of
Gauley river, last Friday, to-day week.
The news is entirely authentic and reliable:
‘
Dublin Depot, Oct. 29th, 1861.
The rumors in many of the newspapers, as to
Gen. Floyd's movements, are so full of errors, that I feel authorized to write you from this place to possess you of such facts as will enable you to give such reliable information as will be admissible to the public.
General Floyd left Big Sewell some two weeks ago with the 22d, 36th, 45th, 50th, and 51st Virginia Regiments; the 20th Mississippi; 13th Georgia; 4th Louisiana Battalion, and other forces which I need not enumerate,
Colonel Phillips's Georgia Legion
en route for
Kanawha;
vis Richmond's Ferry,
Raleigh and Fayette Court-Houses.
After ten day's hard marching over almost impassable roads, building coast, making roads, and constructing bridges, the command reached
Fayetteville the 21st, about noon, and without halting, marched to the junction of the
Miller's Ferry road with the
Raleigh, turnpike, some three miles East of Fayette Court-House.
The enemy had pickets stationed near the junction of these roads.
The advance was halted here, and a part of
Colonel Phillips's cavalry dismounted — some seventy in number — as skirmishers, commanded by
Col. Phillips in person
Gen. Floyd, with his staff proceeded down the
Miller's Ferry road about one mile, the pickets of the enemy retreating before our skirmishers without even firing a gun. Here the
General we stopped by a blockade of the narrow pass in the river bluffs made by the enemy.
The militia and those who followed to the
Ferry, some three-quarters of a mile further, had to clamber over timber and trees fallen across the road on foot.
The road is very narrow and down a deep defile between the bluffs, to the river bank.
The pickets of the enemy crossed the river on double-quick, and commenced a brisk fire from the opposite heights, at 3 o'clock P. M. which was returned by our skirmishers and kept up until sundown.
The enemy brought to the did of their infantry two pieces of artillery, which were used in firing without effect upon our men until the light closed at night Our loss I killed and 3 wounded very slightly; the damage to the enemy was considerable, judging from the screams of their men, occasioned by the shots of our skirmishers, who used their
Sharp's carbines with telling effect upon their artillerists.
Gen. Floyd holds the landings on this side of
Kanawha, at
Bowyer's and
Miller's and Montgomery's Ferries. Montgomery's Ferry is across the
Kanawha river, just below the mouth of
Gauley.
Our main force is at
Cotton Hill.
Gen. Floyd's Brigade Quartermaster,
Col. Isaac B. Dunn, has just established a daily line of express from
Cotton Hill to this depot — distance 115 miles from headquarters, making 7 miles per hour, at stages of 5 miles each.--The express is formed of the cavalry who are without arms.
It makes close daily connections with trains East and West, at
Dublin.
I left headquarters Friday morning, was with the
General at
Miller's Ferry and
Cotton Hill, and know that
Rosencranz, or
Cox, or both, have a heavy force, say seven to ten thousand men, at
Gauley,
Hawk's Nest, and along the
Valley for seven miles up to
Hamilton's. Their tents are visible from
Cotton Hill, and their band may be heard distinctly at night at
Gen. Floyd's headquarters.
Our cavalry have proceeded as far down as
Malden, fighting their boats and annoying their trains.--The enemy have no force west (south) of
Kanawha river, (up to the time I left,) as far down as
Malden.
The statement in to-day's
Dispatch, in regard to
Captain R. G. Banks, who is credited as
brigade quartermaster, with the whole labor of transporting the brigade over the route so recently taken, is unjust to
Col. Dunn, the real brigade quartermaster.
Capt. B. is assistant quartermaster to 50th regiment, has not been with the command since it left
Sewell, has been and is now absent at
Wytheville settling business of his regiment.
Col. Davis left the command at Richmond's Ferry, and only returned to
Cotton Hill last Saturday.
Col. Dunn was the only brigade quartermaster with
Gen. Floyd through the mountains.
The General's health is improving
Mrs Floyd was at Pack's Ferry on Saturday, on her way to
Raleigh.
From this imperfect statement you can glean such facts as will enable you to form a pretty correct opinion of our position.
All our supplies will e drawn from this depot, and our success must depend very much on the support we receive from
Gen. Lee, at
Sewell.
’
Apropos of our army on the
Kanawha, the truth is beginning to come out at last from the enemy's side, of the damage inflicted upon them by
General Floyd's army at the battle of Carnifax Ferry.
The Cincinnati
Times thus speaks of that affair, and of the enemy's condition in that quarter generally:
The glory of Carnifax Ferry was dearly purchased.
The list of killed and wounded on our side will never be known, but we see and hear enough to know that it is tremendous.
The
Valley of the Kanawha, from
Gallipolis to Sewell's Mountain, is strewn with the dead and dying.
The forced marching, and the unwise exposure of the troops to win that bit of glory, has swept the ranks worse than all the rebel artillery of
Western Virginia could have done.
All the hospitals, from
Gallipolis to
Cross Lanes, are crowded with sick.
Fevers are raging in every regiment.
Companies have become fearfully decimated.
So prevalent is disease that the sick and dying are sent in hundreds to
Cincinnati to obtain shelter and medical assistance, and
Rosencranz has been compelled, from sheer necessity, to fall back some distance from the enemy.
This is the result, the very sad result, of the mismanagement in
Wester.
Virginia. The robbed and swindled troops, badly clothed, half red, and many of them without even the shelter of tents, are falling before they meet the enemy.
It is with sorrow — yes, with pain — that we lift our pen to write a word condemnatory of
Gen. Rosencranz.
We admire his courage and military genius, and acknowledge has services with pleasure.
We had hopes to see him rise rapidly, and add brilliancy to his military career; but the truth is too apparent, and duty to the country demands that it should be spoken.
Gen. Rosencranz can lead, out cannot manage, an army.
He is sadly deficient in administrative qualities.
All through the campaign his troops have been suffering, and, instead of remedying the evil, he permits it to grow.
It is the best attribute of good generalship to have the troops in good condition.
In this
Gen. Rosencranz has failed.
In not a single camp in
Western Virginia have the troops been property supplied.
The evil may have been beyond the power of
Gen. Rosencranz, but we cannot so sea it. He advanced with a badly conditioned army, and plunged it in to a worse condition.
We see the result--
Crowded hospitals and multiple graves — a energies of human life to win a little, very little doubtful 
