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Oliver Boardman correspondence and journals, 1861-1863

02_1863-01-12 Page 02

less than a million dollars worth of government stores besides taking about athousand of our soldiers prisoners. that was the most shameful piece of business I ever new of. the 111th Ill three or four Companies of some other Regt & the 2nd Ill Cavalry were the ones that were guarding the town the Cavalry fought well and kept the rebels back for some time but finaly had to fall back on the infantry supposing they would support them but the Colonel of the Ill Regt surrend all without firing a shot the Cavalry however cut their way out. wouldnt be surrendered. We left Holly Springs the 6th marched about 16 miles & Camped in asmall town Call salem the next day we marched about ten miles and Camped on Wolf river about 6 miles south of here and Close to a mill Called Davise's mill though I believe it belongs now to aman by the name of Smith. aman that I will say some thing more about before I get through. We came here the 9th, & there is some talk of our going on to Memphis & from there to Vicksburg, though thats only rumor. it seems from what we can hear that Gen Sherman has been defeated at Vicksburg and is superceded. though it may not be so. if it is I am sorry to hear it. we get no reliable news here yet. in fact but little news of any kind though the cars are going all the time. they run from Ky Columbus here, also from Memphis  why we dont get more news is more than I can tell. I understand the 36th.. Regt went to Vicksburg with Gen Sherman if they did I reckon Henry knows what abattle looks like. I said the cars run to here but they go as far down as Holly Springs though its alittle dangerous running the cars anywhere in this section of Country on the account of guerrilla bands that keep with us or close to us all the time we have to have aheavy guard with the forage trains every time they go out then they are fired into occasionaly. 
Well the sorry part of my letter is to write yet. In the first place we have lost our Captain - he resigned and left us at Holly Springs the only reason I can give for his resigning is that he was too good to the boys in the Company he would let them do pretty near as they pleased he would account for them sometimes when they were absent. that didnt suit at headquarters & the consequence was that they had afalling out and we have lost our Captain. aheavy loss to the Company

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less than a million dollars worth of government stores besides taking about athousand of our soldiers prisoners. that was the most shameful piece of business I ever new of. the 111th Ill three or four Companies of some other Regt & the 2nd Ill Cavalry were the ones that were guarding the town the Cavalry fought well and kept the rebels back for some time but finaly had to fall back on the infantry supposing they would support them but the Colonel of the Ill Regt surrend all without firing a shot the Cavalry however cut their way out. wouldnt be surrendered. We left Holly Springs the 6th marched about 16 miles & Camped in asmall town Call salem the next day we marched about ten miles and Camped on Wolf river about 6 miles south of here and Close to a mill Called Davise's mill though I believe it belongs now to aman by the name of Smith. aman that I will say some thing more about before I get through. We came here the 9th, & there is some talk of our going on to Memphis & from there to Vicksburg, though thats only rumor. it seems from what we can hear that Gen Sherman has been defeated at Vicksburg and is superceded. though it may not be so. if it is I am sorry to hear it. we get no reliable news here yet. in fact but little news of any kind though the cars are going all the time. they run from Ky Columbus here, also from Memphis why we dont get more news is more than I can tell. I understand the 36th.. Regt went to Vicksburg with Gen Sherman if they did I reckon Henry knows what abattle looks like. I said the cars run to here but they go as far down as Holly Springs though its alittle dangerous running the cars anywhere in this section of Country on the account of guerrilla bands that keep with us or close to us all the time we have to have aheavy guard with the forage trains every time they go out then they are fired into occasionaly. Well the sorry part of my letter is to write yet. In the first place we have lost our Captain - he resigned and left us at Holly Springs the only reason I can give for his resigning is that he was too good to the boys in the Company he would let them do pretty near as they pleased he would account for them sometimes when they were absent. that didnt suit at headquarters & the consequence was that they had afalling out and we have lost our Captain. aheavy loss to the Company