Valentine G. Barney to Maria Barney
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I wrote you at Morehead soon after we were obliged to fall back
there. we came back here, found every thing destroyed. some
of the officers lost nearly all their personal property-
mine was nearly all saved by little Cooney who looks pretty
sharp after my things Many, yes nearly all our men lost much
of their clothing &c &c- The Rebels were about 3000
strong commanded by Genl Martin. They came upon our rear
which rendered our Ft of little account so all we had to
oppose them was Seven Cos of our Regt They had 3 pieces of
Artillery and a squadron of about 300 cavalry beside their
infy. I saw after a short time that there was no use wasting
the lives of our men to oppose so large a force- and ordered
a retreat. We have not been settled
since and
have been on the moove nearly all the time and none have
seen any shelter but fortunately we have had no rain. The
new recruits are seeing very rough times but bear up first
rate and even without blankets or over coats to protect them
from the cold nights they feel in good spirits. I cant as
yet give an exact account of the killed and wounded &c
but so far have found five dead bodies- four of our wounded
were left by the Rebs as they had no more transportation
than they wanted for their own. We have at present missing (
aside from the 8 killed & 15 wounded who are with us)
about 30 men who are supposed to be prisoners and perhaps
part of them wounded. The Rebs lost 1 Capt, Killed & 2
Lieuts - and some 12 or 15 men about 20 or 25 wounded. five
of their men they buried here. Our dead were stripped of all
their clothing and partly buried. I got 3 letters from you
to day am glad to
know that Fred is getting
along so well. I have just got orders to start with the regt
for Pelters Mills abt 20 miles out so I will have to quit
and get off it is now one OC P.M. will be back tomorrow or
next day
Your Aff HusbandV. G. Barney
Lt. Col 9th Vt