CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE BOATS UNDER FIRE--IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
|There was a shot from the bank. The soldiers sprang to their arms andplaces, and everybody was ready for business in a moment. The shot hadbeen fired from a clump of trees on the left bank of the river, and asthe trees were encumbered with thick underbrush it was impossible to seeany one who might be lurking there.
The river at this point was not more than fifty yards in width, so thatany assailants would have the boats in very short range. But not anothershot was heard, and as the boats one after another drifted past thepoint, their crews reached the conclusion that the bushwhackers hadconcluded to seek safety in flight, or, what amounted to the same thing,by making no further demonstration.
A mile or so farther down two of the boats went aground on a bar, and itrequired a great deal of effort to get them off. Had they beenattacked at this point they would have been at a disadvantage, as theirassailants could have chosen their own distance, and had the protectionof the trees and brushwood along the banks. Harry and Jack began to wishthey had stuck to the road rather than essayed naval service in Arkansaswaters, where there was no chance of running away in case the enemyproved too strong for them. If they could not resist successfully theyhad no alternative but to surrender; and, as Harry expressed it, theydidn’t like to “go around surrendering.”
An hour or more was lost at the point where the boats took the ground,and when night came on little more than half the distance to Jacksonporthad been accomplished. The boats were tied up to the northern bank,which was considered safer than the southern one, at a point not morethan a mile from the road taken by the army. The chance of bushwackersventuring so near was not great, but a careful watch was kept to avoidsurprise.
Early next morning the boats were under way again, and before nightfallthey had arrived safely at Jacksonport, where the advance of the armyhad encamped and was waiting for the rest of the column and also for theboats.
The union of the Black river with the White did not give sufficientwater for the steamboats with supplies to ascend from below, and GeneralCurtis learned that they could not be expected to come further up thanClarendon, seventy-five miles below Jacksonport. The only thing to dowas to follow the road and river to Clarendon, and after a halt of fivedays the march was continued. Before the army started on its new marchit was reinforced by the arrival of the Second Wisconsin Cavalry whichhad expected to join it at Batesville. It had marched from Springfieldwithout encountering an enemy at any point, though reports were currentof large forces which would obstruct any movements through the country.
Harry and Jack concluded to adhere to the fortunes of the navy in itsfurther descent of the river, and when the boats dropped off to floataway with the current they retained their places on the “Cordelia.” The boats were ordered to proceed to Grand Glaise, twelve miles belowJacksonport, and there wait further orders. The army at the same timetook up its line of march through the hills and swampy ground eastof the river, and was not expected to join the boats until reachingAugusta, thirty-five miles from Jacksonport. A regiment of cavalry wasordered to keep in the neighborhood of the boats to be ready to aid themin case of necessity, which was not long in coming.
The Sixth Missouri Cavalry met the boats at Grand Glaise and orderedthem to proceed to Augusta, and on they floated with the sluggishcurrent, winding among the hills and forests that skirt the stream.Colonel Wood, who commanded the cavalry regiment, said good-bye toCaptain Wadsworth and started for the main army, but before going far heheard brisk firing from the dense bushes lining the banks of the riverjust below Grand Glaise.
Hastily returning, he found the boats had been fired upon, and this timewith more effect than before. Captain Wadsworth was severely wounded,and some of his men were slightly injured, but nobody was killed.
Harry had a very narrow escape. When the firing began he was working oneof the sweeps to bring the boat into the current, it having threatenedto run upon a bar that projected from the northern shore. A bulletstruck the huge oar on which he was pulling, and buried itself in thewood within an inch of his hand; another passed through the top ofhis hat, and still another lodged in the cotton-bale which formed hisshelter. The men on the boats promptly returned the fire, and by thetime the cavalry reached the spot the assailants had mounted theirhorses and disappeared in the forest. How many there were of them no onecould say, as the density of the forest was a complete shield for them.Natives in the vicinity reported nineteen killed, but this was doubtlessan exaggeration, as there were probably not above that number of themaltogether. The bushes were not searched, either by the crews of theboats or the cavalry; the latter were too much engrossed with thepursuit of the assailants to look for dead or wounded rebels, and theformer did not deem it at all prudent to venture ashore.
From this point the boats continued unmolested to Augusta, where it wasdecided not to try to take them further, as the road lay too far fromthe river to enable the army to come promptly to their support, and thecountry was said to be swarming with bushwhackers. All the provisionsand other stores on the boats were taken ashore, and the boats andtheir bulwarks of cotton were set on fire and burned. The pilot who hadaccompanied them thus far was paid off, but he decided that it might notbe safe for him to return to Batesville, as his neighbors would accusehim of being altogether too friendly with the Yanks. He was sorry he hadn’t thought of it before, or he would n’t have ventured down the riverat all.
It was the fourth of July when the army reached Augusta, and a salutewas fired in honor of the national independence. Our young friends foundtheir horses all right and safe in the hands of the friends to whomthey had been intrusted, and it is safe to say that both Harry and Jackrejoiced to be once more in the saddle.
The old fever for scouting came upon them, and as the army was short ofprovisions they proceeded to hunt up something for feeding purposes. Inthe outskirts of the town they found a deposit of corn which had beencarefully concealed, and had already missed the sharp eyes of severalsquads of soldiers. There were nearly a hundred bushels of it, andfollowing up their success they came upon another store of still largeramount. In a clump of forest, half a mile or so out of Augusta, theyunearthed more than a wagon-load of bacon; and altogether theirlabors were of material advantage to the little army, which had beendisappointed by the failure of the transports and gun-boats to ascendthe river.
After their return from the discovery of the bacon, an old negro sidledup to Harry and said he could tell him something he would like to know.
“Out with it,” said Harry. “Don’t keep me waiting. What is it you wantto tell me?”
“Hole on a bit, young massa,” said the negro. “Dere ain’t no hurry ‘boutit.”
“Well, I’m in a hurry,” said Harry, “and if you’ve any talking to do,fire away.”
“Now just look a-heah,” said the darky, “an’ I’ll tell yer. ‘Fi tellsomethin’ yer want to know real bad, ‘ll yer give me my free-papers?”
“Certainly,” was Harry’s reply; “if you give us any information that’strue and useful, you ‘ll get your free-papers fast enough.”
“Dat’s all I want ter know,” continued the colored citizen; “and dis iswhat I’se gwine ter say.”
Harry listened patiently while the negro with much circumlocution toldhim of a barn full of provisions which had been accumulated, about twomiles out of town, waiting for a favorable opportunity to ship themto the rebel army or to Memphis, which was then the depot from which alarge part of the forces in the West were supplied. When convinced thatthe negro was telling the truth, Harry quickly reported the circumstanceto General Vandever and a detail of cavalry was sent to take possession.The negro did n’t want to go along with the party, as it would involvehim in suspicion which would be bad for him in future, but he gave suchminute directions that there was no mistaking the place.
They found the barn and also the provisions. The owner of the place atfirst denied all knowledge that anything was concealed
there, andsaid they were welcome to anything they could find, but as soon as thediscovery was made he assumed a different air altogether. He professedto be a union man, and explained that he had hidden the stuff away tosave it from going to the rebels. “I would rather,” said he, “see it allburned up than into a rebel mouth; that’s the kind of union man I am.”
The army remained two days at Augusta, and then took up its line ofmarch for Clarendon, where the transports were said to have arrivedunder convoy of a gunboat. The country between Jacksonport and Clarendonis one of the finest regions of eastern Arkansas. A short distancefrom the river the bluffs along the stream fall away into low hillsand gentle undulations, which become less distinct until at the dividebetween the White and St. Francis rivers the land becomes an almostunbroken level. A portion of this flat, alluvial country is in manyplaces covered with canebrakes, and is often overflowed in the season ofhigh water. At such times it becomes an almost impassable successionof swamps and quagmires. But at the time our friends traversed itthe ground was dry and hard and offered no obstacle to passage saveoccasionally at the crossings of creeks and rivulets.
Interspersed among these lowlands is a succession of higher grounds,which are level and rarely broken by anything like an elevation. Theselands are excellent for cotton, and down to the opening of the war theyhad annually sent a good supply of the textile plant to market. Cottonwas raised there in 1861 to some extent, but in 1862, by orders of theConfederate government, much of the cotton land through the South wasplanted with corn. The valley of the White river was no exception tothe rule, and as our army moved along it passed many fields of corn, ofwhich the ears, just then sufficiently advanced to be edible, formeda welcome addition to the scanty stores possessed by the commissarydepartment. As a single article of diet, green corn is not to berecommended, but when combined with other things it is, as everybodyknows, a thing not to be despised.
Every few miles the advance of the army came upon trees felledacross the roads, and considerable time was lost in removing theseobstructions. From the negroes it was learned that there was aconsiderable force of rebels at the town of Des Arc, on the east bankof White river, about half-way between Augusta and Clarendon. They weresaid to be about six thousand strong, and to consist mainly of Arkansasand Texas mounted men, under command of General Rust. As they were ata convenient striking distance from the road which General Curtis wasfollowing, it was thought quite likely they would make an attack at somepoint where they could fight to advantage, and the result proved thecorrectness of this belief.
Several timber obstructions were encountered, most of them at thecrossings of small creeks, but nothing was seen of an enemy until thepoint was reached where the road from Des Arc joins the main one, aboutten miles to the east of that town. Here was the plantation of ColonelHill, an officer of the Confederate army, and his residence andbuildings were at the junction of the roads, in the southwest angle.North of the Des Arc road was a cotton-gin and press, and close by weretwo aboriginal mounds of unknown date. Colonel Hill was then blessedwith his third wife, and the graves of her two predecessors were on thetops of these mounds, each one surrounded by a fence of white palings.“It must have been,” said Harry, afterwards, “a cheerful thing for thethird wife to contemplate the graves on these mounds and wonder when herturn would come and where she would be placed.” Jack thought the colonelought to put up another mound, so as to have everything ready for thegood lady’s demise.
The country around the junction of the road had been cleared forcotton-fields, but a little way beyond it the forests were dense andafforded good cover for an enemy. The mounted men, in advance, with whomwere Harry and Jack, discovered signs of an enemy lurking in the timbersouth of Hill’s house, and word was sent to bring up the infantry. Harryrode back to carry the order, and in a little while the infantry hadcome forward and was ready for business. The Thirty-third Illinoisand the Eleventh Wisconsin were the ones selected for the work; theydeployed as skirmishers, and soon exchanged shots with the rebels, whowere spread out in the timber. The two union regiments were not morethan six hundred strong; they were opposed by about fifteen hundredrebels, but the disparity of numbers was balanced by the superiority ofthe weapons of the former and their good drill and discipline. The rebelforces consisted of some very raw cavalry from Arkansas and Texas, andsome newly-assembled conscripts who had not been in camp many days andknew practically nothing about military life.
Soon as the firing began to have anything like vigor to it theconscripts fled in disorder, but the Texan troops stood their groundvery well. As our right approached the enemy’s left it was met by avolley which caused two of the companies to fall back a little; therebels undertook to follow up the advantage thus gained, and to do soemerged from the wood into the open ground.
Here they were met by volleys of musketry and by rapid discharges ofgrape from two steel howitzers which were brought forward by the FirstIndiana Cavalry. This welcome was too much for the rebels, who broke andfled from the field, leaving a good many of their men dead or wounded.Some of them retreated to Des Arc, and others along the road to thesouth. It was afterwards reported that three or four thousand men weremarching from Des Arc to join them, but were unable to get across theCache river, which is too deep to be forded and the single ferry-boatwas not able to bring them over in time to be of use. When it was foundthat the other force had been defeated, they gave up the attempt tointerrupt the advance of the union army and marched back to Des Arc.