The Alleghanian, Ebensburg, Pa. Thursday, April 24, 1862 Volume 3, Number 31 NEWS Cambrians in the Battle of Pittsburg Landing By letters received here we learn that Co. C., Capt. Williams, 19th regular infantry, composed almost wholly of Cambrians – participated it the above engagement and covered themselves with glory. Three of their number are reported wounded, viz.: John Lister, in the leg; Cyrus Metzler, in the hip; ---M’Govern, in the head. The two first named were but slightly hurt but the other is seriously injured and will scarcely recover. The 19th regiment belongs to Gen. M’Cook’s division. The “Cambria County Spy” Turns Up Again! His capture by, Adventures with and Escape from the Rebels! Our readers may recollect an account published in these columns some ten or eleven months since concerning the adventures at Pensacola and Fort Pickens, Fla., of a young man named Joseph A. Kerbey, son of Geo. W. Kerbey, Esq., the worthy agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Wilmore, this county. Young Kerbey, it will be remembered, entered the Rebel lines at the former place in the dangerous capacity of a Federal spy and after obtaining much valuable information regarding the strength of the enemy, their fortifications, guns, etc., successfully made his escape to Fort Pickens, where he communicated the essential facts to the commandant of the post. Returning to New York shortly after, Mr. Kerbey came on home and spent some time with his friends. A life of inactivity being foreign to his nature, however, he took an early occasion to shape his steps for Washington city with the intention of finding employment in the army of the Potomac. Since that period no tidings whatever have been heard of him, until about two weeks ago, his father received the gratifying intelligence that he had just affected his escape from the Rebels at Cumberland Gap and was on his way home! His appearance in proper person in due course of time dispelled all doubts as the truth of the good news and filled the hearts of his parents and friends, who had mourned him as dead, with joy and rejoicing. “Young Kerbey, or “Joe,” as he is familiarly called, has truly had an adventurous time of it during the past year and the tales he tells surpass in interest many romantic inventions of fiction. On arriving at Washington after his return from Fort Pickens, he found his peculiar plans in that department spoiled by the then recent Bull Run blunder so he wended his way to Harper’s Ferry. While across the river at this latter place one day, viewing the Rebel entrenchments in the neighborhood he was surprised by several of the enemy’s picket and obliged to give himself up. He was afterward taken before Beauregard and examined as a spy, but passing himself off as a secesh Marylander, he finally succeeded in escaping death, and was sent to Richmond. Here he was confined in the same prison with Corcoran and Ely for about a month and in common with the Federal prisoners, fared badly. He ultimately succeeded however in convincing his guardians that he was a bona fide Secesh and offered to show his fidelity to the “so-called Southern Confederacy” by doing soldier’s duty. This modest proposal was assented to and he was sent to Yorktown to work on the peninsular fortifications. Since February last Mr. Kerbey has been engaged as an artillerist at Cumberland Pass and has been promoted from a private to a responsible command with one of the batteries. He asserts that he had almost given up all hope of escape from his detested associates until the late Federal advance toward Cumberland Gap. Having a fair view one day of the tents of General Carter’s forces he determined to reach them. So, with this object in view, he attended a parade of one of the rebel regiments at some distance from the encampment, and amid the noise and confusion of the affair, wandered off unobservedly, until he had succeeded in putting a hill between himself and his late companions, when he forthwith made rapid tracks for Carter’s picket. Having a Secesh uniform upon him, a portion of which he yet wears, he was for a time in mortal terror of being shot by prowling Unionists. The Gap, too, being in plain sight for many miles, he was afraid to take the open road for fear of pursuit by the Rebels. Finally he reached the Cumberland River, which he was obliged to swim and soon after arrived safely at General Carter’s camp where he was kindly received. Prior to leaving Northward, he gave Carter an exact account of all the Rebel troops in East Tennessee, their positions, guns, &c. During a portion of his “strange eventful career,” Mr. Kerbey was stationed at Knoxville, Tenn., where he frequently formed one the of guard detailed to watch over Parson Brownlow’s house. On the occasion of the Parson’s trip eastward over the Pennsylvania railroad last week that distinguished personage was probably not a little astonished at beholding his whilom guard standing at the station at Wilmore. He recognized him immediately, however, and the two shook hands warmly. The Parson was made the recipient of intelligence direct from his family by Mr. K. They parted with mutual expressions of esteem. Mr. Kerbey professes to be thoroughly acquainted with the rebel lines of defense at Yorktown, the position of the batteries, the number and caliber of the guns and much other valuable information, which he this week intends laying before the proper authorities at Washington. >From the 55th Penna. Regiment On our opposite page we copy a letter from Edisto Island, S. C., to the Harrisburg TELEGRAPH giving the particulars of the recent skirmish between a portion of Col. Dick White’s regiment and the Rebels, as also our list of killed, wounded and prisoners. As the 55th contains a large proportion of Cambrians, a number of whom may possibly be on the list aforesaid, it will prove interesting to our readers. >From the Fifty-Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment Correspondence of the Har. TELEGRAPH Camp Dick White, Edisto Island, S. C. April 1, 1862 The 55th regiment has met the enemy for the first time on the soil of South Carolina. On the morning of the 29th ult., the advance of the rebels attacked our pickets under Lieut. Bedell of Company K, and after a sharp skirmish drove them in. The enemy, under cover of a dense fog, advanced to within a few hundred yards of our headquarters, where several companies and one cannon were in waiting for them. They, however, turned to the right and drove our pickets in off the Russell Creek bridge, which connects this with Little Edisto Island and burnt it after crossing. On the latter Island companies E and F, of our regiment, were stationed doing picket duty and the intentions of the enemy were doubtless to cut off and capture these two companies. The rebel force consisted of at least four companies that crossed Russell Creek and they immediately advanced on company F, Captain Nesbit of Indiana county. Captain Nesbit was ready to receive them and a sharp engagement of at least fifteen minutes occurred between them. Captain N.’s men were entrenched behind an embankment. But the greater number of the enemy, enabled them to outflank him, and compelled him to retire with the loss of one man killed and several wounded and prisoners. Among the prisoners is First Lieutenant M’Illheny. During the retreat Captain Nesbit kept up a continual fire upon the enemy until he came to a dense woods where he awaited another attack. But the enemy refused to appear. Captain Bennett’s Company E, which was upon the same Island, was in line, awaiting an attack but the enemy were in too big a hurry to get off the Island. The whole object of the enemy was to cut off and capture our picket companies. After driving in our first picket a detachment of the enemy made a hurried advance and surrounded the house which was formerly the quarters of Captain Carroll’s Co. The exposed position of the latter company induced Col. White to remove it to more secure quarters, consequently the enemy were foiled in their attempt to capture it. The plans of the rebels were excellently laid and it was only through the vigilance of our officers and the alacrity and courage of our men that they were defeated in their designs. Lieut. Bedell of Company K, who was in command of the advanced picket, obstinately disputed every inch of the enemy’s advance and when he returned to headquarters but fourteen men out of sixteen that were with him returned, the others being taken prisoners. Company H’s pickets who were at the Russell Creek Bridge, only retreated when an overwhelming force drove them in. they lost seven prisoners, one of whom was wounded. Lieut. M’Illheny, who with eleven men were taken prisoners, was detached with his men to hold a position and prevent a flank movement by the enemy, but the overwhelming numbers of the enemy compelled him to succumb, rather than sacrifice the lives of his band of noble patriots. Capt. Nesbit to whose company Lieut. M’Illheny was attached, deserves the greatest praise for the noble stand he made against overwhelming numbers of the enemy. As an instance of his heroic devotion to his men, he refused to cross Russell Creek to Edisto island on a small raft his men constructed until every man was safely carried over. Lieut. Stewart, his second lieutenant, an excellent swimmer, superintended the crossing, remaining several hours in the water. This gallant company lost everything they had. Company G, Capt. Waterbury, although brought immediately in front of the enemy, very gallantly distinguished themselves, as I am pleased to say as did every other company of the regiment. The line of battle was formed immediately in front of Capt. Waterbury’s quarters. Several of the Captain’s men were dispatched to bring in the picket, who were skirmishing with the enemy. The detachment fell in with a lot of rebel cavalry who were dispersed by them. The cavalry ingloriously retreated across the bridge to Johose Island. This morning one of Capt. Nesbit’s men, who was taken prisoner, escaped from the rebels and returned to camp. From his statement which I have every reason to believe is reliable it appears the rebel loss is very severe. He helped to carry off the island fifteen dead bodies of the enemy and quite a number of wounded. The force brought against us consisted of six companies of infantry and one of cavalry. The force opposite us consists of seven regiments of infantry but from their signal defeat in this their first aggressive movement upon the Union troops in this State, the impression is they won’t attempt to make another attack. The following is a correct list of casualties sustained: Killed: Wm. Cunningham, Co. F. Wounded: John Steffe, Company F., and prisoner. Prisoners: Company F Lieut. M’Illhaney Corporal Samuel Moorehead Private Abram Coy Private Robert H. Kritzer Private Samuel Campbell Private Nicholas Cameron Private Wesley Cameron Private John L. Taylor Private Andrew Farren Private Noah Fisher Private L. L. Thompson Prisoners: Company K John Saupp Jonas Ritchey Prisoners, Company H Sergeant Silas Gollipher Walter E. Garlinger Isaac Ream Christian Whitaker John Mars Thomas Lockard John Warning Twenty-one prisoners and one killed. >From the Cambria Regiment Camp Cacapon, Va., Balt. & Ohio RR April 8, 1862 It has been some time since I wrote you last, but I have by no means forgotten you. My last epistle was dated from Camp Campbell. Since then we have taken the notion that like all good Pennsylvanians, we would have to make a move about the first of April. So we moved and are now posted as guard along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. We had a very tedious time of it from Camp Campbell until we got ourselves located by companies at nine stations along the road. The B. & O. RR was once one of the principal thoroughfares for freight and passengers from east to west and vice versa, but Secesh took the liberty of making it one grand track of wild desolation as far as they had means and power so to do. Bridges, houses, locomotives, cars, ALL, have been destroyed; the track torn up and carried far way into the interior and in fact everything that could possibly be rendered useless passed through a fiery ordeal. The government, I believe, has built trestle work over the streams where once were handsome bridges and these we are charged with the protection of. It requires us to be vigilant to prevent the Secesh from applying the torch for the country around is full of Rebels who are ever ready to do any act of violence that would be of the least benefit to their unholy cause or of the least disadvantage to the Federal Government. From my own personal observation and from conversations I have had with many persons here tinctured with Secession proclivities, I find gross ignorance of the causes of the war and the intention of the government towards the Rebels. I used to regard the newspaper stories about the ignorance of these people as bosh, but I can now vouch for their correctness. In fact, I have been told even by intelligent persons here that the South had always been heavily taxed by the North, that the North made all the money whilst the South furnished the material. “The South raised the cotton; it is then taken North and manufactured; and after, sent back to the South, and we have to buy it,” said an intelligent Southron to me a few days since. “And this is one cause of Secession!” “Well,” said I, “Why don’t you build your own cotton mills and manufacture your own goods? This you co’d have done easier without Secession than with it. As to your being taxed heavily, all the taxes you pay go into the treasury of your own county and State; and besides, we of the North have to make up your postal deficits which amount to a very large sum every year.” All this is true. The South would have been a thousand times more able to have built their cotton mills before they entered upon a terribly exhaustive war, which has beggared thousands of them that they will in any event be for twenty years to come. As to their postal deficits, every intelligent man knows that the North really keeps up the post office in the South. And again, as to their being so heavily taxed by the North, how every shallow the assertion! How childlike the lie! But these are indeed the flimsy arguments used by Jeff Davis and his crew to lead a people into a suicidal war upon a government the most beneficent in the world! Poor, misguided men, when will ye learn that you have been duped and blinded by men whose only object in leading you into this war is to gratify their own selfish ambition! The further we penetrate into the South the more are we convinced that the great mass of the people are entirely ignorant of the cause of the present war and the designs of our Government in waging it. And, as step by step our forces step over the South and the people see for themselves the manner in which the Union troops demean themselves, there will undoubtedly be a revulsion of feeling which will grow stronger and stronger until it eventually breaks out in an unconquerable rebellion against the Rebels. More powerful indeed than Northern bayonets and bullets will be this tide of popular feeling in working the downfall of Treason. Before it the foeman of constitutional Liberty will pale as does the silvery light of the slowly sinking moon before the bright rays of morning. Then will this Union be once more united as firmly as the polar star is fixed in the firmament above us. Ashamed of their past folly the people of the South will be more devoted to the Union than they were when they scouted the very idea of the New England States seceding in the earlier days of the Government. Attached to our regiment for the present, assisting in defending the railroad are four companies of the First Maine cavalry. They are all well armed and equipped. Their horses are those brought with them from Maine and are vastly superior to most cavalry horses in the U. S. service. They are for the most part of the celebrated “Morgan” and “Black Hawk” strain. The company stationed at our headquarters is under the command of Capt. Cilley, son of the lamented Jonathan Cilley, the talented member of Congress from Maine, who fell in a duel at Blandensburg at the hands of Greaves. The murder of Cilley, for such it has always been accounted, was accomplished thro’ the instrumentality of the notorious Gov. Wise of Virginia, now in command of a portion of the Rebel troops. Would to Heaven that Captain Cilley could be opposed to Wise on the field of battle that, by taking the life of that notorious Rebel he might after the lapse of many years become the avenger of his parent’s murder. Capt. Cilley is a lawyer by profession and judging from a slight acquaintance with him, is yet destined to take a prominent place in the galaxy of intellect in his native State. His noble father fell whilst the Captain was a mere babe and he has worked his way through life unaided by a father’s protection and counsel. May he long flourish and meet success in his every effort! Since the above was written we have received orders to remove our headquarters to Sir John’s Run, Balt. and Ohio Railroad, to which place all communications intended for us should be addressed. When anything of interest transpires, you will hear from me. [Signed] Horace --------------------------------------------------------------- MARRIAGES Davis-Clement Married on Thursday, 17th inst., by the Rev. L. Powell, Mr. Thomas G. Davis to Miss Lydia Clement, both of this place. Accompanying the above notice was a delicious cake for which the happy couple have our unqualified thanks. --------------------------------------------------------------- DEATHS Jerry Powell Mr. Jerry Powell, a captain of a gun in Taylor’s Chicago battery and who participated with marked bravery in the Fort Donelson battle, was killed outright at Pittsburg Landing on the first day of the fight. He was a son of Mr. David Powell of Cambria Township and formerly resided in this locality. We understand that his remains are to be brought home for interment. _________________________________________________________________ Access your email online and on the go with Windows Live Hotmail. http://windowslive.com/Explore/Hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_access_112008