LETTER FROM SALT LAKE.
[FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT]
GREAT SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 4,1863.
The Great Fight of the Volunteers and Indians.
By telegraph, California has been made ac-quainted with the desperate fight between her volunteers and the Indians, about a hundred miles to the north of this city; but as I, of course, know not to what extent private dis-patches may have reached the public, and what this one and the other may have said, shall give the full general particulars, so far as learned up to the present time.
In my last letter I gave the details of the marching of the infantry under command of Captain Hoyt, and three days after the depart-ure of the cavalry under command of Colonel Connor. From that time nothing further was learned of the volunteers till the first Express arrived here between Saturday night and Sun-day morning, with a communication from Col-onel Connor to Lieutenant Colonel Evans, at Camp Douglas, informing him of the desperate fight, and calling for more medical aid than what had accompanied the expedition.
No person has yet returned from the battlefield but the wounded and Dr. Reed, whose at-tendance upon them during the fight, and his unceasing attentions to them since, while trav-eling back here and after arrival in the camp, have preserved him from the claims of corres-pondents. The statements, therefore, in circula-tion are in every particular very disjointed, and in our humble opinion should be left till the re-turn of the command, when something official will give every man his honors. Beyond all contradiction, the California volunteers have covered themselves with glory, and honored the State whose name they bear. One young fellow, who had been a nine months' volunteer in the East, and who had his share of the first Bull Run fight, claims that this Indian affair was infinitely more interesting and warm than the famous affair of the rebellion. I have no doubt that the Indians thought the volunteers of the same cast as the regulars who had visited them in past years, or they never would have placed themselves in a position so unfavorable to re-treat. Their position, in a deep ravine, was ex-cellent for defense, and with the usual style of fighting Indians—at long range—they could have kept the volunteers at bay for any length of time, picked them off as they advanced, and ultimately tired them out; but the Officers and men were eager for the fray, and once that Mr. Indian had opened the ball, there was nothing but a blaze of heroism manifest in the souls of the volunteers. From all I learn, I judge the fighting commenced earlier than was expected. Only two companies had crossed Bear river and got in front of the Indians, when the latter tired and shot one of the dragoons through the head. That was enough to bring out the order to commence, and in the boys started with en-thusiasm for death or glory. The first at-tempts to reach the Indians cost the vol-unteers the loss of several good men, which only served to increase the ardor of their comrades. The other cavalry companies got across the river and joined in. The infantry, enthusiastic to have a share of the entertainment, could not await the return of the cavalry horses to carry them over the river, but dashed right in to the the icy water, got through and joined in the fight. From some break down or other the howitzers did not get up in time, and so without them, after the min-ies had done some execution in enfilading the ravine, the forlorn hope of seventy-five brave fellows rushed up to the Indian defenses, with revolvers in hand, and closed with the savages and dealt murderous vengeance among them. Overpowered and disheartened by such an un-expected visitation, the Indians who had not fallen by the revolver attempted to make their escape down the ravine, but the volunteers meeting them there again shot them down in great numbers. Some got into the water and tried to escape in that way, but very few of them were successful. Altogether it is computed that between 250 and 300 In-dians were killed in the ravine and in the water, and that probably not more than a dozen or fif-teen of the warriors escaped. The loss to the volunteers is set at fourteen killed and forty-four wounded—in the latter number four of-ficers. When it is considered that only a little over 150 of the volunteers were in the brunt of ficers. When it is considered that only a little over 150 of the volunteers were in the brunt of the battle, and of these so many have been killed and wounded, it can easily be conceived that it was a desperate fight. Anxious to fur-nish the UNION with as early and reliable a statement as possible, I rode out to meet, the wounded on Monday, and came up with them at Farmington, and was pleased to at once put eyes upon the reported dead Captain McLean, and to find him better "than a thousand dead men." His excellent lady had been traveling night and day to reach him and render him kind offices. She sat in that ambulance like an angel of goodness. How I wished that the other brave fellows had had the same minister-ing spirits around them; but without these, there was no word of complaint, and the praises of the citizens were on the lips of the wounded whenever I questioned them. Drs. Reed and Williamson, assisted by Dr. W. Steel, of Dayton, Nevada, were unremitting in their attentions, and everything was as well as the circumstances could admit. I had heard a whisper against a settlement near the scene of battle, accompanied, by the com-plainant, with a possible excuse that the citi-zens there might have been afraid of Indian vengeance; but all that is fudge, contemptible fudge, and I shall take every opportunity of finding out whether there was lack of sympathy or service to the wounded. At Farmington, where I came up with them, every kind atten-tion was paid to them, "Brother Grover" told the surgeons that everything in his house was at their disposal, "money or no money," and his family and help did do the cookery with an expedition that was gratifying to the on-looker. The wounded had been sent on in sleighs to Og-den and then to Farmington. At the first men-tioned settlement they stopped all night, and there the Bishop showed them every attention, procured them all they wanted, and made them comfortable. Two of the Twelve Apos-tles, John Taylor and George A. Smith, hap-pened to be there, and were round among them kindly encouraging everybody, and no people could have been more attentive than were the people of Ogden. At Farmington, Governor Harding requested your correspond-ent to thank the people of the north, in his name, for their attentions to the troops. With his usual eloquence he expatiated upon the good he saw and the good he had heard re-ported, and, with a feeling which many in the Territory would be slow to credit, spoke of the kind feeling it would create in behalf of the peo-ple of Utah.
Eighteen sleighs brought the wounded to Farmington on Monday afternoon, and at dusk about the same number of wagons were engaged to bring them from there to Camp Douglas, where the last of them arrived about four o'clock on Tuesday morning. Parson Anderson had gone out to meet them as far as Ogden, and when I met with him he had a reserve about him that bespoke severe fatigue and a great deal more thought.
The Wounded at Camp Douglas.
Surgeon Reed did well to bring on the wounded to camp, though it was a long ride before they could get much attention. Had they been attended to in the settlements, it would have been with great difficulty and much anx-iety; but when the wounded readied the camp, they were at home and in the midst of all they required, and with abundance of attention. Colonel Connor dispatched an express to Colo-nel Evans to have everything ready for them, and well the latter fulfilled the instructions of the former. Though hardly able to keep the saddle, from the fatigue of the preceding day's riding, I rode yesterday up to camp and went round with Dr. Reed visiting all the wounded. Colonel Evans had the theater, and the parson's big meeting house tent very comfortably fitted up and warmed as hospitals. Everything was there that could be of service and an air of com-fort that evinced the assidous care that brought everything together. Colonel Evans looked careworn and fatigued, and when I saw what he had done for the wounded I could not but congratulate him on his newly received com-mission of Colonel, and think how fitting was the change. In brief, Colonel Evans is a soldier, and respected as a brave man. While I was passing round among the wounded, I saw Mrs. Dr. Reed and another lady visiting the men—“showing"— as said the former- “our sympa-thy at least." I presume the other ladies of the camp will be equally kind and attentive. While in camp I prepared the following list of killed and wounded, with the ages and nativ-ity of the former, as they deserve to be remem-bered in the records of your State:
THE LIST OF THE KILLED.
Second Cavalry, Company A—Private James W. Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, 24 years of age, enlisted at Fort Churchill. Private George German, of New York, 29 years of age, enlisted at Contra Costa.
Company II—Private Charles L. Hollowell of Mas-sachusetts, 27 years of age, enlisted at tort Churchill. Private John K. Briggs, of Massachusetts, 27 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco.
Company K Christian Smith, Bugler, of Wiesbaden, 21 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco. Private Shelbourne C. Reed, Kentucky, 36 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco. Private Adolphus Rowe, New York, 29 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco. Private Lewis Anderson, Ohio, 35 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco. Private Henry Trempt, Germany, 26 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco.
Company M—Private George C. Cox, Iowa, 19 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco. Private George W. Hoton, Canada West, 25 years of age, enlisted at Fort Churchill. Private Asa F. Howard, Ohio, 33 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco. Private Wm. Davis, Pennsylvania, 30 years of age, enlisted at San Francisco. The mail has come in from the East sooner than I expected. I shall, therefore, reserve for a letter to-morrow the names of the wounded and their present condition.
We expect Colonel Connor and command every hour.
LIBERAL.
HEAVY GUNS FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICE.—The Bulletin has the following notice of two large guns brought out by the Constitution on her last trip:
One of them, weighing 4,909 pounds, and car-rying a 50-pound conical ball, is what is styled the "James gun," and is rifled with twelve creases or twists, and from its great length (12 feet) must be very effective and of long range. This gun is mounted with patent brass trunnions and breech-strap countersunk in the iron, which adds much to its strength, and in case of breakage of trunnions from any cause, enables it to be readily remounted with dupli-cates. The other gun is of "Parrott's Patent," being entirely of iron, with a very heavy sleeve or band of wrought iron on the breech, which had been heated and then shrunk on, thereby rendering the gun of extreme lightness and perfect safety, such process adding more strength than if it had been cast together and of solid metal. This gun is a little shorter than the James gun, and of smaller bore, it having only five creases or rifle twists, carrying a conical ball of thirty pounds weight, itself weighing 3,513 pounds.
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