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WiL Masox, 52d Pa. VolsT
* J :Sergt C. & Gat, Co. D. Ind. P?att Mass. C*r.
. Begiments will please send in their orders the *flTpart
of the week. I
JTiTA T T L E I N F L O R I D A.
Tke Enemy in Larfe Force at Oluatee.
UBmiimmt Ueharior of our Troops!!
JtETRKAT OF THE TBOOPS TOWABD JACKSONVILLE.
Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 22d, 1864.
In-my letter from this place last week 1 left the
main force of oar army at Barber'*, ten mile*
i beyond.Baldwin. On Saturday last at 7 a.m., th?
column with Gen. Seimoub at its head took up
- the line of march and proceeded on the road to
ward* Lake City. They passed through Sander>aon
without halting for rest, and pushed forward
1 in regular order. Col. Hexbt with the Indepen.
dent Battallion Mass. Cavalry, the 40th Mass.
.Mounted .Infantry, and Eldek's Batten* of four
jrmcealsdtiM
oounr*.
The wood traversed is famjjjar to your readers
*lrom former desc riptions which I have forwarded.
Suffice it to repeat here that for most of the distance
it i* of loose sand with iutenals of bogs,
and at times pools of water reaching a depth of
two and three feet The column marched forward
?*?? * firm ?t*r> and not a man in the line dream
*4 for a moment that anything but success would
^terminate the efforts of the day. On Friday night
it was not anticipated by the officers of the different
regiments that an advance movement would
he ordered for several days thence, much more
she very cext morning. Information, however,
ihad been obtained by Gen. Seymour during the
aught which disposed him to change his mind in
regard to the time the march should be made
ioward Lake City.
TH2 EXEMYB POS1TIOW
was believed to be in the vicinity of Lake City. It
was also supposed he would have an advance force
'* -J1- .4" miloa frnm J?olrtnn
;out na??t?v vtuotvTo, Uv.u T .
rilleand 14 miles from Lake City. With this anticipation
the troop) were hurried forward so as to
he in a good condition to light the rebels on. the
following day. It seems, however, the rebels bad
taken a strong position at Olastee and on that
point or rather three miles this side of it the fight
took place. The first intimation we had that^he
enemy was in oar immediate front was the report
of carbines proceeding from the direction of an old
mill on the left of the road as we neared the future
battle'field. *
or* tboops
cannot be said to lmve been ill a fighting condition
-when they met the enetny. 'ilie distance from
Barber's to the fighting ground is 16 miles, 'lbe
timple march alone would seem to hare been sufficient
for one day's work. But besides the lengthy
jMKh, the men had not eaten a morsel since they
^I^Borber's. They had the spirit to meet in battle
ten times their number, but their bodily condition.
weak and exhausted to say the least, won Id
<knrj?y.;
i'ByPM^tw*the!I
wm ?tft- I
rvonHRMHHH^HLi I
I ^T^^^E^Vnp^H^nPPPVPvtn once or
mored off twart? I
onr right. The cdffittitodor of flue rebel forces is
; believed to have been Gon. Mercer, who h?s been
stationed for sometime at Savannah.
THE BATTLE GROUND
was in the vicinity of a point at which the wagon
i road crosses the railroad. Three miles beyond
[ this point is the station called .Olnstee. Between
the crossing and Olnstee the railroad takes a
curve in the shape of a horse-slioe, so that as our !
, men advanced they had something like on eufi- j
i lading fire to contend against. It will be readily ;
j seen the enemy had an admirable defenoe in this :
i railroad, hehind which he could post his men and j
! pick off our gunneis and horses, while the emi
bankment would prevent us from getting the first
chance to retaliate. There was nothing like an :
I
; open space in thf vicinity. The battle-ground ]
was snrrounded by woods. In consequence of i
this timber it was impossible to form a line-of- i
| battle, and when Cfl. Babtox's brigade went into j
the fight they took a position, one reginisnt a j
I l'Hle to the light and in the rear of the one pre-;
I eeeding. The number of rebels at the mill was !
i five, and when our cavalry dashed toward them ;
they scampered off toward the maiu fufrce further !
up the railroad. Our Cavalry did not follow immediately,
but halted sufficiently long for the remainder
of the column to come up. This movement
having been accomplished, the Cavalry followed
by Elders *nd.Hamilton's Batteries, and
j the 7thConn., 7thK. EL, and bth U. S.--the latter
! colored?regiments pushed forward. It was
believed the five rebel cavalrymen had gone up to
j Olustee?tlia place at which he supposed the main
: l>ody of the rebels would concentrate. Gen.
j Seymour was of this impression, and made ari
raneements and distributed his troops accord
! ingly. The 7th Conn, was the first to get into
i the fight Two companies of that regiment were
| sent off on t!<e right of the railroad to deploy as
! skirmishers, while at the same time a small body
| of the Independent .Battalion of Cavalry went t>
! the left to feel that portion of the enemy's posi'
tion. The
BATTU: OF OLr8TEX
1 commenced with these skirmishers, who fonnd
; the enemy had been vigilant, and had prepfired
to meet them with a far superior force. The
j fire of the skirmishers commenced suddenly and
{heavily. The few stray shots that are usually
I heard when two opposing forces are marching
toward each other, wes merged here into one
? ? ??MA?f eat* 4V?
continuous >. II o uiaj oaj mtu wuuuvuvx;
1 that the thick of the tight itself was in full play
with the skirmishers.
lUt A.BTILLSRT
came into position as speedily as possible, Hamilton
bronght his pieces into battery on the centre,
Langdon on his left and Elder on his right Remarkable
as it may seem Hamilton's batten- at ons
j time was but 100 yards from the ensmv's front,
i before he could get into position he lost several
' men and horses. Toe same was with Langdon.
i The enemy was so near he had but to fire and the
! ball was certain to bring down either a man or a
horse. For some little time the three regiments
, mentioned above were the only ones in the fight.
Trt ray that those reffiments stood their crround
against fearful odds would not be doing them justice.
At one time they actually compelled a force,
, three times the size of their own to run from them.
But superiority of nambers will weigh in the end.
The fire was destructive on both sides ami it was
Miiffil; to the rv?v Bat to
li^pgr&e Jgpit) the rear in safety, now that the
wjBEpSTfhot, fM KOTf difficult than to re Rpd
defend tliero. altbon^ by taking the
Ki? course theeheray would finally succeed in
{taring them. BeJbre this movement was com ^
LJ? .-...1 Vi.. * '
SMDCdO, tapiani muuuum UMI un uic ue<ucuamts
were wounded. Four pieces of ltia battery
were brought away by lient. 31yrick who wa*
wounded At the time in the foot. Tvro pieces fell
into the bands of the enemy for the sole reason
thrtt there vrere no horscw tobrha? tliem away, On
the left with Langrinn was* one eectkn o4 the 3rd
Rhode Island Arfilhry. They also har? a ban?
straggle to bold their piece*. The horses in Langdon'*
battery were shot and ?large nurotjer of hismen
were disabled. Lient. T. ifrOea ki command 1
of one of tLe sections wa? severely wounded ii?
both legs. The rebels finally overpowered thenr
and succeeded in capturing three pieces of fnugdon
s battery. Making a total number of fivepieces
taken from u* during the engagement Bylosing
the puns wc saved fheeotoraotidl Ifed the
battery commanders retired with their pieces to
the rear the moment they saw them m danger of
being captured, it would ban" ended a prwinr
among the infantry which would no* cwfy here*
last us the day but with it an entire command ami
army materials. Captains Hamilton and Langdon'a.
batteries suffered sevcrelv.
THE I f NTF.Y
fought well. Colonel barton was the second
to come into action and Colonel Ij^fetgomery
which was the last to advance did i^endidly.
Col. Montgomery's are colored troops, and here
they had an opportunity which they improved to
show their valor. If the enemy's force simply
doubled that of ours I venture to assert the day
would have been won by our troops, notwithstanding
their jaded condition when they entered the
fight and which was by no means improved as the
battle progressed. The battle lusted three
hours and thirty minutes.* Some desultory firing
was heard after our troops left the field- At 7 PM.,
everything was quiet as relates to. the firing
ova loss.
The killed and wounded that were unable to walk
were left to fall into the hands of the enemy. A*
before stated, we lost five pieces of artillery. Of
course a certain number of small arms, and knapsacks
were also left on the field. The enemy lost
in killed and wounded in number e^ual to oar
own. Of this we are positive for our batteries
were in a position to rake their columns tremendously.
THE R1TBEAT
was conducted orderly and quietly. Nothing like
a route or panic was risible. Our men reached.
Barber's at 3 o'clock Sunday morning. The rear
was guarded by Col. Henry with his column of
cavalry and artillery. The enemy pursued but
did not press onr column. A fe ?r shot#- only were
exchanged. At Barber's the troops rested till ^
A. M., and then took up the line of retreat reaching
Baldwin at 3 o'clock in the aftefnooiL At a.
small station between Baldwin, and Barber's wan
a building containing *2,000 barrels of turpentine:,
this was fired, as was also a trcssel bridge on. the.
railroad between the same points. The. troops,
made bnt a short holt at Baldwin and then went
on toward Jacksonville, some of them reaching
this place last night To day all the troops will
be here. Gen Seymour left Baldwin at tea o'clock
last night At Baldwin we were obliged to destroy
considerabl property, consisting of Commissary
stores, officer's baggage and soldier's knapsacks.
iyCIDKVTS.
Col. 8ammg** of the 115th N, Y., was-wounded*
in the foot while gallantly bringing forward, lii*.
men. CoL Moore of the 47th N. Y., was.wounded
in the arm when at the head of his command.
CoL Fribley of the 6th U. &, was killed CoL
Henry had three horass shot from.under him.:;