The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-27 00:00:00

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two miles and a half the right wing of our army
had teen driven, and faintness of heart came over
me as the destruction of our whole army seemed to
stare us in the face; but the word went forth from
Rosecranz—the flower of the left wing and the
centre of the right. The right of Davis's division,
assailed at the same time as Johnson's, gave way
simultaneously, and the rout of the remainder
seemed to follow as a matter of course. This left to
General Sheridan the task of repelling the hitherto
sunessful onset of the foe. Never did man labour
more faithfully than he to perform his task, and
never was a leader seconded by more gallant sol-
diers. his division formed a kind of pivot upon
which the broken right wing turned in its flight,
and its perilous condition can easily be imagined
when the flight of Davis's division left it without
any protection from the triumphant enemy who now
swarmed upon its front and right flank ; but it fought
until a fourth of its number lay bleeding and dying
upon the field, and till both remaining Brigadier-
Commanders, Colonel Roberts and Colonel Schaeffer
had met with the same fate as General Sill; then

it gave way, and as in almost every instance of the
kind, retreat was changed. to rout, only less com-
plete than that of the troops of Johnson and Davis.
All these divisions were now hurled back together
into the immense cedar thickets which skirt the
turnpike, and were hurried over toward the right,
and massed rank behind rank in an array of impos-
ing grandeur along the turnpike, and facing to the
woods through which the rebels were advancing.
The scene at this time was grand and awful as any-

thing that I ever expect to witness until the day of
judgment. I stood in the midst and upon the highest
point of the somewhat elevated spa ce, being between
the turnpike and the railroad, and forming the key
to our entire position. Let the rebels once obtain
possession of it and the immense train of waggons
parked along the turnpike, and the Union army
was irretrievably ruined. Even its line of retreat
would be cut off, and nothing could save it from
utter rout, slaughter, and capture—and yet each
minute it became more plainly evident that all
the reinforcements which had been hurried into the
woods to sustain and rally the broken right wing
and check the progress of the enemy in that direc-
tion had proved inadequate to the task, and had in
turn been overthrown by the great mass which was
straggling in inextricable disorder through the
woods. Such sounds as proceeded from that gloomy
forest of pines and cedars were enough to appal
with terror the stoutest hearts; The roar of can-
non, the crashing of shot through the trees, the
whizzing and bursting of the shells, the uninter-
rupted rattle of 30,000 muskets, all mingled in one
prolonged and tremendous volume of sound, and
though all the thunders of heaven had been rolled
together, and each individual burst of celestial ar-
tillery had been rendered perpetual. Above it all
could be heard the wild cheers of the traitorous host,
as body after body of our troops gave way and were
pushed toward the turnpike. Nearer and nearer
came the storm, louder end louder resounded the
tumult of battle. The immense train of waggons
parked along the road suddenly seemed instinct with
struggling life, and every species of army vehicle,
preceded by frightened mules and horses, rolled and
rattled away pell-mell in an opposite direction, pass-
ing onware. The shouts and cries of the terrified
teamsters,urging their teams to the top of their speed,
were now mingled with the billows of sound which
swayed and surged over the field.
Everything now depended upon the regiments and
batteries which the genius of Rosecranz had massed
along the turnpike to receive the enemy when he
should emerge from the woods in pursuit of our
broken and flying battalions. Suddenly the rout
became visible, and a crowd of 10,000 fugitives, pre-
senting every phase of wild, uncontrollable disorder,
burst from the cedar thickets, and rushed into the
open space between them and the turnpike.- Among
them all, perhaps, no half-dozen members-of the
same regiment could have been found together.
Thick and fast the bullets of the enemy fell among
them, and scores were shot down ; but still the num
ber constantly increased by reason of the fresh
crowd which burst every moment from the thickets.
It was with the greatest difficulty that some of the
regiments which had been massed together, as a sort
of forlorn hope, to withstand, and if possible drive
back the victorious cohorts of treason, could prevent
their ranks from being crushed or broken by the
mass of fugitives. From my position upon the ele-
vated ground between the railroad and turnpike,
I could view the whole scene, and with an intensity
of interest and tumultuous emotion, which I can find
no language to express, I watched the result when
the desperate soldiers of the rebellion should enter
the open space. A tempest of iron was whistling
all around my head, but for the first time since I be-
gan to participate in the transactions of this fearful
war, they whistled and burst unheeded. I make no
pretensions to extraordinary physical courage. He
who says that amid the horrors of a battle he expe-
riences no feeling of awe, and sometimes a shrinking
awe, is a falsifier, an idiot, or a madman. But at this
time I could not have retired, even if I had been in-
clined ; my feet were rooted to the spot; my gaze was
fascinated and fixed on the quarter where I expected
the enemy to appear, and had an earthquake rent the
earth before me I could not have moved from the
spot until I knew from the testimony of my own eye-
sight whether or no the troops upon whom rested the
last hope of the Union army were, like the ;est, to be
beaten and overthrown. It was not in consequence of
superior physical courage that I remained there, but
from the mental impossibility of doing otherwise.
The flower of our troops were ranged in order here,
and I had no fears for the result unless one of those
unaccountable panics, which sometimes ruin even an
army of veterans, should seize upon our yet un-
broken battalions. Yet these were men not liable
to panic, men whose lofty courage and devotion to
their country's cause overcame and extinguished
fear.
Other illustrious corps were there also, whose
patriotism and courage I should be glad, even at
this early day, to celebrate, if one individual could
have known and observed them all. Their zeal and
sacrifices will yet be known and appreciated by a
grateful nation. With cool, calm courage, Gen.
Crittenden awaited the coming storm, and conspi-
cuous among all the rest was the well-built form of
the Commanding General, his countenance un-
moved by the tumult around him, and his thought-
ful and animated features expressing a high and
patriotic hope, which acted like an inspiration upon
every one who beheld him, as he cast his eyes over
the grand array which he had mustered to repel the
foe. He already felt himself master of the situation:
At last the long lines of the enemy emerged from
the woods, rank behind rank, and with a demoniac
yell, intended to strike terror into theilorulesdofwtihth
" e
Yankees" who stood before them, c g
the very muzzles of the
fearful energy almost to
cannon, whose dark mouths y
dazzling sheet of flame awned upon them. A.
burstfrom
the teear
earth,
tnhk,
saocfrathshe
Union forces, an awful roar
shook
rent the air, the foremost lines of the rebel host were
swept from the field, and seemed to melt
literally
away like snow flakes before a flame, and both
armies were enveloped in a vast cloud of smoke,
which kid everything from the eye. In the still vi-
sible ground between the pike and railroad the tumult
redoubled. Not knowing what woulu be the result
of the strife which was raging under the great ca-
nopy of smoke that concealed the combatants, the
flight of those in charge of waggons and ambulances
became more rapid and disordered. Thousands of
fugitives from the broken right wing mingled
with the teams, and frequently a mass of men,
horses, and waggons would be crushed and ground
together. Every conceivable form of deadly missile
whizzed and whirled and burst amid the crowd, and
terror and dismay ruled uncontrollably. The whole
disordered mass rushed down as fast as possible
towards the river, into which it plunged, pushing
and struggling to the other side. The combat
under that great cloud of smoke was somewhat