Colonel Lyon’s Letters.
May 18, 1864.—There was a little clash yesterday on the railroad beyond Huntsville, seventy miles from here, but it did not amount to much. We are progressing finely with our fortifications. The army in front, we hear, is forty miles south of Dalton, and the rebels are falling back; but we get no particulars of operations there. No citizens are allowed to come down here now. Mrs. Kummel is still in Nashville, and is unable to obtain permission to come. The reason assigned is want of transportation.
We had a tragedy here last night. An artilleryman shot and killed a young woman who was holding the door to keep him out of the house. He went to a window, and through a broken pane shot her in the back. She died in an hour. The man was drunk, and is in custody.
I have just received orders to issue rations to the families of soldiers in our army. There are many of them about here in very destitute circumstances, and this order will prevent much suffering. Several companies of cavalry were raised in this vicinity when I was here last fall.
