From the Memphis Appeal, of the 10th, we gather the following particulars of the fight at
Belmont, Mo., opposite
Columbus, Ky.,
Extract from a letter of a Participant in the fight to his brother.
About ten o'clock the same summoned just opposite
Columbus, between
Col. Tappen's Arkansas regiment,
Col. Blythe's 18th Tennessee regiment, and about 5,000 or 6,000 Federals, Shortly after,
Col. Marke's Louisiana regiment,
Col. Pickett's,
Col. Freeman's and
Col. Knox Walker's Tennessee regiments were sent over.
The Federals were in a strip of woods, and our men in the open field.
We also had the
Watson battery (Louisiana) on that side the river.
In half an hour
Tappan's and
Wright's regiments were broken and scattered to the winds — soon after we lost
Watson's battery.
In half an hour more,
Pickett,
Walker, and
Freeman were whipped and routed too. The engagement was not more than half a mile from the river — these were all the men on hand able to get across the river up to 1 o'clock.--Our men rallied several times, but could not stand the charge.
After our battery was taken, the enemy run their battery close to the river bank, and fired upon the steamers, so as to prevent any more men from landing until 2 o'clock. Our men, after being whipped three or four times by superior numbers, broke and run in perfect dismay.
The enemy charged in double-quick in the best order, and swept everything before them to the very bank of the river; here our men broke to pieces and fled in terror to the river bank.
In going up the river they cowered under the bank and behind trees that had been cut down.--On reaching the river they burnt
Tappan's quarters, and captured 19 sick men, and opened fire again upon our boats, sending balls through the
Hill, Charm and
Prince. --They fired upon the
Ingomar coming up at the time, and made her land out of reach on the
Kentucky side.
Up to this time we were the worst whipped and routed army ever seen.
Fortunately, the enemy did not know how badly we were whipped, and that we were out of ammunition.
At this time our big gun on the hill began to play upon them, and
Smith's Mississippi battery opened upon them from
Columbus, opposite where they were.
The fire from these two batteries was so great and so constant as to drive them back from the river bank, and allowed
Smith's 154th Tennessee regiment, and
Blythe's
Mississippi, to come over and bring plenty of ammunition and more recruits.--We now had an equal number of men, and forming in line of battle, charged upon them.
They broke, and fled in precipitation and horror, presenting a more demoralized spectacle than ourselves two hours before.
At 3 o'clock the battle was ours, the enemy's rout complete.
We chased them from the field of their morning glory back to their boats, strewing the woods with dead and wounded.
They got on board of the transport under cover of the gun-boats; it was while getting aboard of the boats that our regiment did the greatest execution.
I suppose we killed more than a hundred on the boats; the distance we drove them was about four miles; our men laid flat all the while they fired.
The gun-boats poured upon them a perfect torrent of grape, canister, bombs, and ball.
We lost one man killed, five badly wounded, and six or seven slightly wounded.
Our regiment captured a great many guns, pistols, ammunition, and about 300 army overcoats, all new.
The loss of our entire army is about one hundred killed and less than two hundred wounded. The enemy lost over three hundred killed upon the field in their retreat, besides the uncertain number lost on the boats.
Ninety-one prisoners and over one hundred wounded are now in our hands.
The enemy sent a flag of truce to bury their dead this morning, which was granted. --Numbers of their dead were badly burnt and mutilated by the woods catching on fire.
We are expecting another fight to-morrow.
The enemy are about fifteen thousand strong at
Milburn, fourteen miles distant, and advancing.
They will also attack us by water.
We will give them a hot reception.
The following is an imperfect synopsis of the killed and wounded on our side;
Capt. J. W. Armstrong, killed;
Capt. John Saffarrans, badly wounded;
Capt. Morgan, arm shot off;
Capt. W. Jackson, badly wounded;
Lieut. James Walker, hip wounded, not dangerous;
Lt. Ray,
Wright's regiment, killed;
Capt. Samuel Vance, wounded in throat and finger;
Lt. Hitt,
Walker's regiment, badly wounded;
Capt Nat. Taylor, badly wounded;
Major J. G. Finnie, badly wounded in the face;
Pat. Bradford,
Wilkinson's company, killed.
The
Appeal, of the 10th, contains a statement from
Mr. Jas. Hatcher, of
Memphis, who was present during the whole of the conflict, from which we clip the following items:
‘
Maj. John G. Finnie received his wound in the face while rallying a broken regiment, whose
Colonel had been unhorsed, and was supposed at the time to be killed.
’
During the progress of the fight a Parrott gun belonging to
Capt. Jackson's battery exploded on the second fire, killing two soldiers immediately, and wounding two more, one of whom has since died.
We lost twenty-six prisoners, twenty-one of whom were sick in the hospital on the
Missouri shore at the time of the attack.
Gen. McClernand's portfolio, including his writing materials, a number of written orders to various subordinates, and an inkstand inscribed with his name, were taken by our men. A handsome iron-framed cot was also found, in which it is thought that
McClernand designed reposing during the night after his victory was achieved.
The prisoners captured state that it was the design of the
Federals to take possession of the
Missouri shore and erect fortifications there — and also that an attack was projected on the
Kentucky side, to be executed in case the other met with success.
The enemy's troops are said to have fought with bravery and desperation.
The
Appeal, of the 10th, says:
‘
A special dispatch, received last night, from a high official source, at
Columbus, says that our loss in killed, wounded, and missing in the recent battle, exceeds six hundred.
The amount of excess is not stated.
Other reliable estimates place the number of missing, (supposed to be prisoners in the hands of the enemy,) at two hundred.
This would leave our loss in killed and wounded, over four hundred.
’
The loss of the enemy is stated, in the dispatch alluded to above, to have been more than double our own. Our men have already buried two hundred and ninety-five of the enemy's killed, and the task is not yet completed.
It thus appears that the recent battle in
Missouri was one of the bloodiest of the war, and the large number of casualties, in proportion to the forces engaged on both sides, shows the stubbornness with which the ground was contested.
