Rienzi, Wednesday, Sept. 10. This was another day of idle waiting; most of the boys slept in tents last night, and it was supposed we would have to stay here. I went out foraging in the morning.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Fort Craig, Va., Sept. 10, 1862.
Dear Mother:
Yours received all right. The rebels are driving the union army back by the mile. Reports say that Jackson is invading Penn. Glad of it; it will serve to raise the men to a sense of duty. The boys have begun already to come down on the ($300) three hundred dollar men. It gets them a little snappish; but they can do nothing for themselves. I don’t know but we shall have a chance to come home, that is if Jackson is going to be good enough to drive us the right way and back there. He brags now of going just where he wants to; he always has, why can’t he now just as well as then? Time will show. The Captain’s health is good, also mine; Jere’s improving as fast as he declined. I would like to go north and “hiper” you fellows up once, and ask you what you are at? Afraid to go to war; but will sell your lives for $800. Well you spoke about short ones — letters, I mean. This is short and sweet. George B. and George Frye are well. Love to all.
Am yours truly,
Leverett Bradley, Jr.
Excuse writing, as we have but few conveniences. Amen.
Wednesday 10th.—Passed through Florence at 8 A. M. Marched within four miles of Covington. Halted in line of battle two miles from Federal entrenchments. 3 P. M., advanced to within three-fourths of a miles of their works; two companies were sent out as skirmishers, which drove in two regiments, capturing their blankets and knapsacks.
SEPTEMBER 10TH.—On the very day that Lee gained the signal victory at Manassas, Kirby Smith gained one at Richmond, Kentucky, capturing thousands of prisoners. This is not chance—it is God, to whom all the glory is due.
September 10.—I arrived at Dalton, Ga., to-day. Left Ringgold at 6 o’clock this morning; took a very nice breakfast a few miles below, for which we paid one dollar each. When I reached here, I found Judge Thornton and his son delighted to see me; the latter I had never seen before. Poor fellow! he had suffered terribly with his wound; was wasted almost to a skeleton. His father found him in a field hospital in Virginia—no one but a negro man nursing him. Mrs. T. is expected here in a few days, and I intend remaining until she comes. They are living with a very nice family by the name of Davis, who have kindly invited me to stay with them while I remain in this place.
Michael Meeley enlisted on August 28, 1862, and was mustered into Company E, 13th Kansas Infantry on September 20, 1862.
The 13th Kansas Infantry was organized on September 10, 1862, at Atchison, Kansas; the regiment fought in the 1862 battles of Newtonia and Prairie Grove and the 1863 capture of Fort Smith.
Meeley received a disability discharge on October 15, 1863, at Camp Stanton, Kansas.
Carte-de-Visite by Unknown Photographer
The Trans-Mississippi Theater Photo Archive image and information.
Civil War Portrait 007
September 10.—Frederick, Md., was this day evacuated by the rebel army under General Lee. — (Doc. 202.)
—The Seventh regiment of Rhode Island volunteers, under the command of Colonel Zenas C. Bliss, left Providence, for the seat of war in Virginia.— The Sixth regiment of Massachusetts militia, under the command of Colonel Albert S. Follansbee, passed through New-York, on their way to Washington.
— Day before yesterday Colonel Grierson, with three hundred and seventy men, came up with the enemy beyond Coldwater, near Cochran’s Cross-Roads, Miss. They were a portion of Jackson’s and Pierson’s cavalry and a number of infantry, amounting to about one thousand men. They were posted and commenced the attack, but were driven two and a half miles through heavy timber. In the affair four of the rebels were killed and seventy or eighty wounded.
At night Colonel Grierson camped between the cross-road and Hernando, remaining Wednesday in the latter place, and this morning he moved in the direction of Coldwater, and came upon the enemy’s pickets at Coldwater Bridge, behind which they lay in force. They fired the bridge, but moved off, and the bridge was so far saved that, after some repairs, the Union forces crossed, the enemy retiring as they advanced, and Grierson entered Senatobia, where he burned the railroad depot and its contents.
— A public meeting was held in Susquehanna, Pa., and in accordance with the orders of the Governor of the State, a company was formed for immediate service. Over ninety men signed the roll and held themselves in readiness to march at an hour’s notice.—The draft in Pennsylvania, was postponed until the twentieth of September.
— A severe fight took place at Fayette, Va., between a force of rebels five thousand strong, under General Loring, and the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-seventh Ohio, under the command of Col. Siber, numbering about one thousand two hundred men, resulting in a defeat of the Unionists, with a loss of over one hundred killed and wounded.—(Doc. 206.)
— The excitement in Cincinnati, O., consequent on the near approach of the rebel army under General E. Kirby Smith, still continued. Martial law was enforced. The military authorities were actively employed in fortifying and preparing the city for a vigorous defence. Over one thousand squirrel-hunters from the neighboring counties came in and volunteered their services.
— A force of Union cavalry, supported by two pieces of artillery, under the command of Captain Saunders, acting Colonel of the Sixth United States cavalry, left Barnesville, Md., on a reconnoitring expedition to Sugar-Loaf Mountain. When half-way up the mountain, the Unionists encountered a force of rebel infantry supported by artillery, and a skirmish ensued in which the Unionists were defeated and compelled to retire. At night they returned to Barnesville.
