The Daily Dispatch: September 24, 1863., [Electronic resource]

The raid on Bristol.

‘ The Yankee force which took Bristol on Saturday last numbered about 1,300 men — cavalry. Our forces there was under a General or Colonel Carter, of Tennessee, and numbered, as we learn, about seven or eight hundred men. Some 150 of them are said to have fought well, but the balance are reported to have run like clever fellows. The enemy lost one killed and two wounded. We lost none, and of course the resistance must have been feeble and cowardly. Seven or eight hundred men, or even half that number, well posted and brave, ought to have whipped the raiding party easily, especially as it was cavalry. Such shameful exhibitions of panic and cowardice deserve the severest censure of the country.

’ The enemy did not remain more than five or six hours in the town of Bristol. They burnt the new commissary building, containing some 100 barrels of flour and a small quantity of bacon. Only a few rails of the road were destroyed, and no other special damage was done to public property. A few private individuals were plundered, but no general system of outrage was practiced.

The rumored advance of the enemy on the Salt Works is not believed to be true. We doubt much whether there is any Yankee force in Southwestern Virginia.