The free South. (Beaufort, S.C.) 1863-1864, May 23, 1863, Image 3
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YOL L _____
General Pleasanton, too, succeeded in
turning back a dozen pieces takou from
the flying corps, and planting them in a
favorable position, while he drew up his
little brigade of cavalry, consisting of
squadrons of the Sixth New York, Eighth
Pennsylvania, and Seventeenth Pennsylvania,
with drawn sabres to protect the
guns, (a novel sight in battle.) Directing
the j ieces to be double shotted with canister,
he swept the position occupied by
the enemy with a murderous fire. The
traccessful check of the advancing foe is
in no small degree owing to the indomitable
energy of this gallant soldier.
While this is going on the panic-stricken
Dutchmen are sweeping past ns, and
V t 1 L _ ll.A 1
round, oy neaaquarwirs, xuto iur roau
leading to United States Ford. Many
members of the staff of General Hooker, !
and other general officers, placed themselves
in the road, and with drawn sabres
smote and slashed the cowardly retreating
rascals. It was all in vain, however. The
road for two or three miles down toward
United States Ford is now crowded with
their shattered fragments. Gen. Hooker
has, however, sent Sykes' regulars after
hem. As to the loss sustained by this
c*orps, either in killed or captured, it could
not have been great; they ran too fast for
that. I have the mortification tc add that
they allowed twelve pieces of cannon to
Call into the h nds of the enemy.
"What makes this retreat not only dis*
graceful, but well-nigh disastrous, is that
it completely foiled a splendid manoeuvre
which Gen. Sickles with his corps was enrn
in gaged in executing. He had gone in on
a branch road leading off from the main
pike, pierced the enemy's centre, penetrated
for a mile, cut them in two, and would
have secured the key to victory, when the
turning of Howard's position compelled
him to make good his retreat, though he
brought out with him four hundred rebel
prisoners!
The artillery combat was prolonged' till
onrl tli? Vtiiniti'nrr r\f fliii ?ihnw#?r
illium^ 11 ifj tauu uijlu uuiottuy^ v* ??*v
' of shells thrown by our batteries into the
^ rebels made a spectacle that beggars all
description. <
During the whole crisis Gen. Honker
was under the severest fire, and his swiff,,
made up of young braves, performed fyo.
digies of valor. \ ?
The task to be accomplished by,the
commanding general during those uight'
watches is one to tax his best energies.
The enemy has completely turned our
- right, is now in our rear, and will, unless
prevented, turn their immense advantage
to account with the first dawn of to-morrow's
light. He will, doubtless, draw in
. his line, bringing his right down perhaps
to the neighborhood of Ely's Ford. He
,' will replace the cowardly corps that has
fled by Meade's corps, than which there is
none better in the army, and reinforce it
? by that of Reynolds, which is coming up
from the feft, and is now within a couple
. of hours, march of here. If the enemy
resume the attack in the morning, as there
' is every probability that he will, I predict
. a reception that he is not prepared for.
1 The conduct of the commanding gen
oral during the whole operations, and especially
the amazing fertility of resources
. displayed in first checking what was wellnigh
being a crushing*disaster, and then
making such an arrangement of his line
will render it stronger even than before,
give him claims in rank as a first-alass
captain. He certainly shows powers
and qualities that have been displayed by
no general who has yet commanded this
. army. I have seen the cold pedantry of
_jt McClellan's mind, and tlia.feeble. wellmeaumGrnesB
of Burnside : but here is a
man who, while dashing in the extreme,
has resources that are inexhaustible ; who
has, in an eminent degree, that highest
quality of a general?that of promptly
changing his plans in the midst of battle;
who holds the thunderbolts of war in his
hand and wields them at his will.
THH GREAT BATTLE OF SUNDAY.
Hi AUDITA 5TM8 15 THi FIWD. I
Mzab Chajcoiclorville, Va., Sunday, May 3, 1833./
Another bloody day has been added to
the calendar of this rebellion. Another
terrible battle has been fought, and more
fields crimsoned with human blood. A
few more such days as this will rind no
Armies left on either side to fight battles, j
My last letter brought up the situation i
to Saturday morning. It*was then certainly
expected that the enemy would begin
the attack as soon as it was day, and
our dispositions were made accordingly.
iiat tlie attack diu not oegin. Events !
proved that the enemy did not design to
attack, but he chose to make that attack
in a manner and at a point different from
vrhat had oeen anticipated by us on Saturday
morning. Daylight grew broader,
and yet no guns. Finally about 6 o'clock
a brass Napoleon, looking d<fwn the plank
road in front of the Chancellor House, saw
a regiment come into the road, in column,
and attempt to deploy. One or two doses
oi canister caused them to deploy rather
Sr*' >
. THE FREE'SOUTH, SA1]
irregularly, and more like-skirmishers 011
the retreat.
Soon after, General Hodker and staff'
began an inspection of our lines, which
occupied full two hours. Evert* portion
was visited, and the'work of the night
, was closely inspected. On the extreme
left new lines were chosen, and the engineer
officers won marked out the line and
character of the defences to be erected.
When the inspection closed, the intrenchments
were pronounced to be of the very
nest character, especially those on the
right, where the columns of Slocum and
Howard were posted.
About 3 o'clock the pickets on the right
of General Slocum's front reported that
from a certain position wagons had been
seen moving in a westerly direction nearly
all day. It was at once surmised that this
might be a retreat, but subsequent, events
proved that it was a part of an affair of
altogether another nature. To ascertain,
however, what it really was, Gen. Sickles,
who was still in reserve, was ordered to
make a reconnoissance in heavy force in
i that direction, who soon found that the
" wagon train " which we had seen moving
during the day was composed mainly
of ordnance wagons and ambulances, and
j that Stonewall Jackson and staff were at
I the head of a column of troop3 which the
I wagons followed.
Nothing more was needed to convince
I us that this daring opponent was executing
another of his sudden movements,
and it was at once resolved to checkmate
' him. General Sickles was ordered to push
I on, und General Williams' division of
i Slotflm's column was ordered to co-opani
ate; ' Birney pushed ahead with great
vi#i$j and with Randolph's battery soon
sent to rear as prisoners of war the entire
- remnant of the Twenty-third Georgia regiment,
numbering over four hundred offi'.cers
and men.
But at 5 o'clock a. terrific crash of musketry
on our extreme rmht announced that
Jackson had commenced his operations.
This had been anticipated, but it was supposed
that after his column was cut, the
.corps of General Howard (formerly General
Sigel's) with its supports, would be
? cn i. A. i. l u J X5-.J
sumcient 10 resist m? uppruacu, ami aiming
that he was himself assailed in the
rear he would turn about and retreat to
escape capture.
But to the disgrace of the Eleventh
Corps be it said that the division of Gen.
Shurz, which was the first assailed, almost
instantly gave way. Threats, entreaties,
and orders of commanders were of no
avail. Thousands of these cowards threw
down their guns, and soon streamed down
the road toward headquarters. The enemy
pressed his advantage. Gen. Devens'
division, dialfected by the demoralization
of the forces in front of him, soon followed
suit, and the brave general was for the
second time severely wounded in the foot,
while endeavoring to rally his men. Gen.
Howard, with all his daring and resolution
and vigor, could not stem the tide of the
retreating and cowardly poltroons. The
brigades of Cols. Bushbeck and McLeon
only remained fighting, and maintained
themselves nobly,as long as possible. But
they, too, gave way, though in good order,
before vastly superior numbers.
Gen. Hooker now sent to the aid of
General Howard the choicest division of
his army, the creation of his own hand,
the famous Second Division of the Third
Corps, commanded bv Major-General
Berry. Captain Best sron moved his batteries
on a ridge running across the road,
and after a short, but sanguinary contest,
the further au7<vaee of tho on ox* je ,was
stayed.
Of course this disaster compelled the
recall of Sickles and Slocum, who had
been pursuing their work with remarkable
vigor. Gen. Williams' division returned
only to find a portion of their
works tilled with the enemy. Sickles' division
could not communicate with the
rest of the army at all by the way they advanced,
and only at great risk by any other
route.
Tiiis was the position at dark, and it did
not look ver7 promising. But our energetic
commander was more than equal to
the emergency. New dispositions to re
pair iiii? Uiaa?i/er wcio ab uncc icouatu
upon. Communication was at once had
with Gens. Birney and Whipple, and a
night attack ordered, to restore the connection
of the lines. Gen. Ward's brigade,
of Gen. Birney's division, made the
attack at 11 at night, aided by Capt. Best's
guns, massed on the ridge in front of the
enemy. Birney's position was on the extreme
left of this new line of battle, but
Ward's terrific attack was entirely successful,
communication was restored, and in
a charge made by the brigade, a portion
of the artillery lost by Howard was gallantly
retaken by Gen. Hobart Ward.
This night attack was the most grand
and terrific thing of the war. The moon
shone bright, and an enemy could be seen
at good musket range. The air was very
f
PTTRDAY, MAY ^3, 1863.
| still, and the roar ji ad reverberation of the I 1
I musketry and artillery was p:ist ail concep- j <
tion. Malvern HilJ was a skirmish com- I :
pared with this, savfc in the degree of <
slaughter. But it was successful?the en- ]
emy were driven back nearly half a mile,
and our tired men once more slept on I i
their arms. That night's work was end- J
ed. (
Now I come to Sunday. It was perfect- 1
ly evident, from the position of affairs on ]
Saturday night, that there must be a <
change of our lines, which would throw <
the enemy out of our rear and into our <
front again. It will be seen by what skill- j
'..1 ? - ? 1.1.1 M 41. A /.MAI., W n*Afl ^A,1 rtl, i At, /I ! I
llll geuerttiauijj w? ciicuijr noo luugut auu
checked on front, and flank, and rear,
while this was being done. i
Gen. Reynold's First Army Corps arrived
at United States Ford on Saturday <
afternoon. It was immediately put into I
position on our right, which was with- <
drawn from the plank road to the Ely's
Ford turnpike. This line was immediate- <
ly formed by Gem. Reynold's and Meade,
the latter's position, on the left, having i
been releived by Gen. Howard's Eleventh ;
Corp, which, notwithstanding its disor- j
gauized condition, was so far reorganized ;
; during the night as to be fit for duty again !
this morning. They were assigned the i
position on the left, where it was proba- j
ble there would be little or no fighting, j
and were protected by the strong works 1
built the day before by Gen. Meade's '
corps.
It was very evident at daylight this
morning that the day would bring forth, a 1
terrific battle. We knew that the enemy
had been reinforcing his line all night, at ;
th? expense, undoubtedly, of the strength '
of his force on our left. His intention
was, evidently, to fight for the possession I
of the plank road, which it was perfectly
apparent he must have, as that portion of
it which we then held was subject to the j
enemy's assaults in front and on both j
flanks.
But the possession of this road was not '
obtained by the enemy save at our own {
time, at his severest cost, and after one of .
the most desperate, tenacious and bloody 1
conflicts, for its short duration, of the
whole war.
Our line of battle was formed with Gen.
Berry's gallant division on the right,
Gen. Birney next on the left, Gen. Whip- :
pie and Gen. Williams supporting. At !
a. m., the advance became engaged in |
the ravine, just beyond the fridge where j
Capt. .Best's guns iiacl made tneir terrmc i
onslaught the night before, and where '
the* still frowned upon the enemy and J
threatened his destruction.
The rattle of musketry soon became a !
long continued crash, and in a few 'mo- '
rnents, as battalion after battalion became ,
engaged, the roar surpassed all concep- j
tion, and indicated that the fight would i
be one of the most terrible nature. Gen. j
Berry's division, which had checked the I
enemy's advance the night before, engaged j
him again, and if it were possible for
them to add more laurels to their fame, I
then they did it thrice over again.
The enemy advanced his infantry in
overwhelming numbers, and seemed determined
t(^ crush our forces. But the
brave men of Sickles and Slocum, who
fought their columns with desperate gallantry,
held the rebels in check, and inflfbted
dreadful slaughter among them.
Gen. French's division was sent in on the
right flank of our line at about 7 a. m.,
and in a short time a horde of ragged,
streaming rebels running down the road
indicated that that portion of the enemy's
liljt h?d been crushed. At ? o'clock a.
I m., General French sent his compliments
I to General Hooker, with the information
' that he had charged the enemy and was
1 driving him before him.
Sickles maintained the attack upon his
line with great endurance. The enemy
seemed determined to crush him with the
immensity of his forces, and, as subsequently
shown from the statements of
prisoner5 five whole divisions of tiie rebel '
army were precipitated upon this portion
of the li ie, forUrom these five divisions
we took during the day an aggregate of
I over t\so thousand prisoners.
The exploits of oar gallant troops in
I those dark, tangled, gloomy woods may ,
I never be brought to light ; but they would i
till a hundred volumes. It was a deliber- 1
| ate, desperate, hand-to-hand conflict, and .
| the carnage was perfectly frightful. Cool '
officers say that the dead and wounded of ]
the enemy covered the ground in heaps,
and that the rebels seemed utterly regard- j (
' less of their lives, and literally threw j ,
j themselves upon the muzzles of our guns.
| Many desperattrcharges were made during ] ,
the tight, particularly by Ferry's division,
j Mott's brigade ma^e fllteen distinct
j charges, and captured seven stands of <
! colors, the Seventh New Jersey, Col.
Francine, alone capturing four stands of j
; colors and live hundred prisoners.
General Couch's Second Army Corps,
i though oniy in part present, did excellent | '
I
-1
f _ NO. 2Q.
work. It was General French wha
harmed and drove the enemy on the flank,
md it was the indomitable Hancock who
gallantly went to the relief of the hardpressed
Sickle*.
The engagement lasted without the
dighest intermission from 5}* a. m. to
d:45 a. m., when there was a temporary
cessation on our part, occasioned by getting
out of ammunition. We held our
position for nearly an hour with the bayonet,
and then, being resupphed, an order
was given to fall back to the vicinity
of the Chancellor House, which wc did in
good order. Here the contest was maintain
e 1 for an hour or more, not so severely
as before, but with great havoc to the
enemy, and considerable loss to ourselvea.
The vicinity of the Chancellor House j
was now the theatre of the fight, and my
visits to that spot became less frequent.
General Hooker maintained his headquarters
there uutil 10 a. m., when it was set
on fire by the enemy's shells, and is now ' 0
in ruins. Chancellorville is no longer in ,
existence, having perished with the flame, N
but Chancellorville is in history, never to
be effaced.
Our new line was now so far established
as to render it safe to withdraw all our
forces on that front, which was accordingly
done, and at 11:30 a. the musketry
tiring ceased.
The engagement had lasted six hours,
but had been the most terrific of the war.
Oar artillery had literally slaughtered the
enemy, and many of the companies had
lost liea\ily in men themselves, but the
guns were all saved.
The enemy was now no longer in our
rear, but had been shoved down directly
in our front, and is now director between
us and our forces in Frederickstmig, and
we were again in an intrenched and formidably
fortified position. The enemy
has gained some ground, it is true, but at
the sacrifice of the flower of his force, five
of his seven divisions having been cut t?
pieces in the effort, and over 2000 of them
have fallen into our hands.
Our right wing, under Gens. Reynolds
and Meade was not engaged, save the division
of General Humphrey's which went
into the woods on the enemy's left flank,
and fought valiantly under their brilliant
leader, until their ammunition was exhausted.
During the afternoon the enemy has
made several attempts to force our lines,
particularly at the apex of our position,
near the Chancellor House, but Captain
Weed has massed a large quantity o? artillery
in such a position as to repulse with
great loss everything placed within iU
range. The enemy tried several batteriea
and regiments at that point, at different
times doling the afternoon, and they were
literally destroyed by the fire of our terri
bleguns. Nothing can live within their
range. ' ' . * ^
Onr troops are perfectly cool and confident.
They have fought with great %
spirit and enthusiasm, and will continue
to do so.
The rebel prisoners report that Gen. A.
P. Hill was killed this forenoon, during
the sanguinary conflict his division had
with Gen. Berry's division. Gen. Berry
wits himself killed, while gallantly fighting
his brave men.
An old woman was praising, in rather
e^husiastic terms, the sermon of a Scotch
minister, who had acquired a great name
for depth and sublimity. The suspicions
of her auditor were a little aroused, and
she ventured to propose a question to her:
"Wen, Jepuy, do you understand him?"
"Understand him!" holding up her
hands in astonishment at the question??
" me understand him ! Wad I hae the
presumption ?"
A good story is told of an irish hostler
who was sent to the stable to bring forth a
traveler'^ horse. Not knowing which of
. . A 1 iL. ii.U. U
tile two siraiige nurses in lue sutiu uciuuf;ed
to the traveler, and wishing to avoid
the appearance of ignorance in his trade,
he saddled both animals and brought them
both to the door. The traveler pointed
out his horse, saying, "That's my nag."
"Cerfhinly, your honor. I knew that;
but I didn't know which of them was the
other ftee gintleman's."
A few years ago, a little fellow was taken
by his father to a carpenter, to be bound
apprentice to him, after the fashion of old
times. In settling the business, the master,who
was one of the. stiff kind, observed
: "Well, my boy, I suppose you can
>?at almost anything, ca0t you, I always
make my boys live on what they don't
44 f l!bA AfA*n4bi'n/? Knf minfli UTlfl
Llht*. X illVC C?C1J MUV AM4.A4W**
ipple pith," lisped the boy.
Hartford has given the confederates?
lemocrats, we me;m?a municipal victory.
? ? S
Wanted.
5Q BUSHELS FLN'E SALT to flU balance of a com^
n'20-lt Address P. P.. this offlca.