essee and Southern Kentucky may fall
into our hands again. To-morrow the papers will be filled with accounts
from the field of battle, and we shall have a more distinct knowledge of
the magnitude of it. There must have been at least 150,000 men engaged;
and no doubt the killed and wounded on both sides amounted to tens of
thousands!

Surely the Government of the United States must now see the
impossibility of subjugating the Southern people, spread over such a
vast extent of territory; and the European governments ought now to
interpose to put an end to this cruel waste of blood and treasure.

My little garden has been a great comfort to me, and has afforded
vegetables every day for a month past. My potatoes, however, which
occupied about half the ground, did not turn out well. There were not
more than a dozen quarts--worth $10, though--in consequence of the
drought in June and July; but I have abundance of tomatoes, and every
week several quarts of the speckled lima bean, which I trailed up the
plank fence and on the side of the wood-house--just seven hills in all.
I do not think I planted more than a gill of beans; and yet I must have
already pulled some ten quarts, and will get nearly as many more, which
will make a yield of more than 300-fold! I shall save some of the seed.
The cabbages do not head, but we use them freely when we get a little
bacon. The okra flourishes finely, and gives a flavor to the soup, when
we succeed in getting a shin-bone. The red peppers are flourishing
luxuriantly, and the bright red pods are really beautiful. The parsnips
look well, but I have not yet pulled any. I shall sow turnip seed, where
the potatoes failed, for spring salad. On the whole, the little garden
has compensated me for my labor in substantial returns, as well as in
distraction from painful meditations during a season of calamity.

SEPTEMBER 23D.--We have nothing additional up to three P.M. to-day; but
there is an untraceable rumor on the street of some undefinable disaster
somewhere, and perhaps it is the invention of the enemy. We still pause
for the sequel of the battle; for Rosecrans has fallen back to a strong
position; and at this distance we know not whether it be practicable to
flank him or to cut his communications. It is said Gen. Breckinridge
commanded only 1600 men, losing 1300 of them! Gen. Cooper and the
Secretary of War have not been permitted to fill up his division; the
first probably having no desire to