“The War in North
Alabama”
Harper’s Weekly, August 16,
1862
We illustrate on pages
513 and 518 some interesting scenes of General
Mitchell’s campaign in North Alabama. Our
pictures are from sketches by Mr. Hubner, of the Third
Ohio, who thus describes them:
Burning the Tennessee Bridge at
Decatur
“A part of
Mitchell’s division, under command of Colonel
Lytle, Tenth Ohio Volunteers, Third Ohio Volunteers,
Colonel J. Beatty, Coldwater Battery, Captain Loomis
(Michigan Artillery), were sent to Decatur, which place
they held until the rebels with overwhelming forces,
under command of General Price, advanced on us. We
prevented the rebels from following us by burning the
bridge, also the railroad depot. Mitchell took
possession of every boat, even of the smallest skiff,
for twenty miles up and down the river, so the rebels
had not the slightest means to cross.
Captain Loomis did good
work. His boys are the finest set of men I have ever
seen. The bridge was a beautiful one, built of wood and
iron, and 1700 yards long.
Defeat of Rebels at Bridgeport
After our arrival at
Huntsville our gallant leader, General Mitchell, who
was much pleased with our conduct, sent us immediately
to Bridgeport, Jackson County, twenty-four miles above
Chattanooga (a small place of about six or eight
houses), where another force of the rebels, under
General Ledbetter, was advancing. We drove them back,
burned a small bridge, and Loomis shelled them out of
their camp, which was situated about a mile from the
shore of the river.
Guerrillas and Bushwhackers
On our way from
Bridgeport back to Huntsville two of our men got shot
by some bushwhackers, who fired on our train out of the
bushes in the vicinity of Paint Rock. Colonel J. Beatty
stopped the train and sent several detachments in
pursuit of the rebels. One party went to the town and
captured four or five of the band; another party, under
command of Captain M’Dougal, Company H, Third
Regiment Ohio Volunteers, went into a cave which is in
the neighborhood of Paint Rock. A slave negro led the
way. The entrance of the cave is not easily detected.
It is half hidden by bushes and rocks. We had to walk
some distance with heads bent; but soon the cave got
wider and wider, and looked like a church with fine
columns and arches, strange formations of the dropping
limestone. The red blaze of the torches produced a
strange and beautiful effect. Often it seemed to us
that we saw human figures in the deep shadow, often we
raised our trusty rifles, but found we were aiming at
some curious limestone formation. We went about two
miles into the cave, found signs of occasional visits
by human beings, and the negro assured us it was in
fact a hiding-place of a guerrilla band.
We had to go back when
the torches burned down. There are many side caves and
abysses, and without light it is a most dangerous
place. The cave is five miles long, and has several
outlets.
We went back to where
our train stopped. The other party arrived with the
prisoners. One of them is a captain in some rebel
cavalry company. They also found some guns.
The boys were so enraged
Colonel B. Could hardly prevent them from hanging the
murderers immediately. Some rebel houses were burned.
Late at night we arrived
at Huntsville and delivered the traitors into
jail.”
