9 May, 1862
The Traveler, Jacksonport, Ark. US*

In the charge on this place, by small detachment of the First Indiana Cavalry, James Turner and Josiah Wickham, of Company “A”, were severely wounded. The former was shot in the head and the latter and the hip. We are happy to record that they are expected to recover. The charge was gallantly made as always by the Indiana First, and the actions of the wounded reckless. With such heads as are on the shoulder of its officers, and the kind of timber that the privates are composed of, it could be nothing less than what it is. The Illinois Twenty-First (Infantry) is a fit companion for the First Indiana.

Gen. Steele has issued an order forbidding fugitive slaves from entering the lines and punishing with severity all straggling and marauding on the march. Officers cognizant of violations are required to report the facts immediately.

Jacksonport, on White River, is, or has been, decidedly a commercial point; at present, however, it presents a doleful appearance. Most of the inhabitants have left, and the better part of those who remain, present a countenance resembling a person immediately after taking a dose of epicac. We have seen few handsome women, but they are scarce.

Considerable cotton and sugar is to be found here. What disposition is to be made of it we presume the General knows.

This office was found in a horrible condition, the type being piled up in one heap on the floor. If done by the secesh, it was bad enough; but if done by our advance, it is shameful in the extreme. Our army always needs an office, and where one is found it should be taken care of.

George Hall works the outside of this paper, John P. Haraden the inside, And John Carcy acts as our agent. All the printers engaged on this paper have their cards from the National Typographical Union.

L.W.B. Lowry, our old companion and friend (now in the 21st Illinois, with Capt. Jamison, than whom a better or braver man never lived) comes to our assistance with a bottle of “Hostetter’s Bitters,” to be taken in moderate doses. A material improvement in our editorials will probably be noticed –provided the supply don’t run out.

We would again state that, with the material in the condition in which we find it, it is impossible to get out a neat paper. If our patrons get their dime’s worth, all right; if not, they needn’t invest: there is no compulsion about it.

About ten minutes ago the editor of this sheet, Geo. H. Hand, dispatched a mounted messenger, requesting my immediate presence. Naturally labouring under the impression that he had been the recipient of a bottle of “old Orchard”, or some other genius–inspiring a drink, I tore myself away from an interesting game of euchre, in which I was engaged with my mess-mates, and hastened down the street, under a scorching sun, to sanctum of said editor. Judge of the mingled feelings of anger, surprise, and disappointment that took possession of me when he said that his only business with me was——. He continued his paper, and (I) am now spending my evenings endeavouring to convert the secesh ladies of this place by singing the Star Spangled Banner under their windows. F.A.C.

A certain cavalry captain passed the other day a respectable Arkansas lady drawing with difficulty along the roadside her boisterous child. “Madam” said he, “you should have a mule to draw that wagon.” Promptly came the response, “Take right hold, sir.”

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*This was a Union paper published by George Hand, a trooper in the Kane County Independent Cavalry Company, later Co. H, 15th Illinois Cavalry, after the occupation of Jacksonport by Gen. Frederick Steele’s Division on the 4th of May. This was made possible by using the confiscated office, presses and type belonging to the Jacksonport Herald. These stories are from Volume 1, No. 2, the only known surviving issue of this newspaper.