The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1852-10-27


wing having been retarded in it's advance by t',r
wood. where j, mad come into conflict with J.-
snps battalion. Scott seized upon III favorable
moment with the eye oi veteran r neral, and
by skilfnl military nanGuv directed the
whole E'rce of his attack np"n the new weak
ened centre Of the enemy Tho swftness and
firrccneas ot this movement, backed by n mnr-
dorous FIRE OF our artillery. caused the enemys
line to answer. Al this cri ical moment he gave
! the rder to "'o charge bayonet The onset
w"e terrible. The British columns were borne
d'wn and he'd by The irresistible vigor Of the
de' p"rn'e assault They br,kc and fled IN c"n-
| tasion AMID terrible slaughter. Scott followed
mp his advantage with masterly activity, and
| pn"sued hts rout adversary over the plain in
| to his mtrenchments.
| Now the reader will oh, erve that this whole
| battle scene il filed up with ',he daring snd
jealous young American Genera" "-"with his
martial ardor and uncalculating in,repidity"-
"who mailed himself for the e..nffiot to wipe
OIL. previous disaster aud is,becility, and to cx:k
the glory Of his country!!" And here lse tells
us Of 1.-THE hopes which animated his bosom.
His hopes bent high in tie confidence ef spi'
rit TINT felt determined to aoresf reinetons ,iefo
ry from i0 tau0riie standard. In this A0y.
dy temper Of soul he led forth his troops spon
tie plain. t
why should General Scott make such pre-
Iiminary parade about his secret emotions! He
notlet that fact speak for his courage And why
after all this excrlIing heroism is displayed, does
he forget to say one word of the commanding
General Brown, who on the field direct ting
everything, Of The conduit Of the other fSc-
ers whose separate corps co ,l'y struck the lows
that put the enemy to flight Instead of doing
this, nc parades his courage again rs that which
electrified the whole Geld and suficcd for the
whole army. "The young and gallant ieadsr
'o"s ereryaohere along the line, encouraging ard
anin,nt,ng his troops, displaying an artirity an
enthusiasm and "a fearless disregard Of danger
thatinspired and electrified his little army
Doubtless General Scott did his duty vaIisnily,
but he forgets that il was not sshis little army,
but Gen Browns, and he forgets that it vas
bayonets led oy Jesup, (not by the direction Of
Scott) who perceived the favorable moment
with the eye Of a skilfnl General and improved
II on his own motion and that it was his (Je-
sup's and McNeills admirable nsaneuvers en-.
abling them to pour their fire on the front and
rear Of the enemy, that d. c'ded the battle. Com.
pare the account Of the action a. gwen by ths
Secretary Of War, General Armstrong, from the
| official reports, with that taken iron the "Lifs
Of Scott
The hostile armies being now about one milo
and q half a part, their pckets were found soon
after day break engaged in skrmishng-a mode
| Of warfare little adap,ed to Browns views, and
one he desrous Of terminating in q way
which should prevent this adversary from mah-
ing a second experiment of il. To this end,
while he directed bis outlying guards feign
flight, and thus draw those Of the enemy into
pursuit, he detached l,rigadicr Porter, Of the
New York militia, with light corps, TO march
rapidly under cover of an adjoining w"od and
throw himself between the u. itsh skirmishing
party and their main body
In executing this order, Porter fell in with
outpost or patrol of the enemy, which after
combat Of short duration, he routed and was
lively pursuing, when on debouching from the
wood he was expectedly fonnd himself in the
presence Of heavy British column, We need
scarcely add, that his retreat was necessarily
sudden and rapid and discontinued until no
reached the American camp.
although the intended manouvre thus failcdto
produce the effect expected from it, it Fortunate
liy became the cause Of another, Of a character
much more important-that OF drawing the Bril-
tish General and army from their fortified camp.
Alarmed by the firing on his right for the safety
Of his outlying party and suspecting that Brown.
while amusing him with yetiteguerre ,nhisfront
really meditaied an attack on his flank Riall
FASTENED to assemble bis whole disposable foroc
and take position on the plain, which would
better enable him to sustain his outposts and
hold in check any formidable movement attemp-
ted by his adversary. The execution Of this
purpose did moi escape the notice of the Amer,-.
il offered for bringing his enemy to battle on
open gronnd, where it was justly concluded.
he would be more easily beaten than if posted
behind his entertainments. Scott was accord.
ingly ordered to GROSS the bridge in his front,
and with his brigade and TowsOn's srtillery ii
attack Rails left-while Ripley, with the So
cond brigade and Hindman's artillery should az.
sail his right and rear.
s.The former Of these corps being under arms
in the exercise OF ,ta customary drill, soon
in motion-when its commander, suspec,ing frn,,
the detour necessary to Ripley movement, that
the two attacks cold not be made simultaneous,
ly, and inferring from the extended front of tho
enemv, that the first brigade would be greatly
ou.flankcd, promptly ordered Major Jesup, COM.
mandlng the 25ih regiment, to throw himself
forward and give such employment to Rails
right, would prevent it from disturbing the at
tack about to bslmade on his left This crderwas
quickly executed, and the 25thploced at theshort
distance of one hundred yards from the British
els which had in the mean time been careful
to cover its front with log fence. The action
soon commenced in parallel order and was man-
tanned with steadiness on both sides; when Je-
sup percciving from the fire Of the covered enc
my IN front, and his great liability to a flank
attack from body ofindan and Canadian mi-
lita collected on his left, that the position he
had taken would not long be tenablr, gallantly
charge was accordingly ordered, and executed
with its usual success as the enemy declining
to receive it, abandoned his position and fed in
disorder. ar &f
The Maisr being now in condition to take
part in the main action (yet warmly contested)
hastened to place his regiment across the
covered flank IF what remained Of Rails line;
and by an obliqnc fire on both its front and rear
was soon enabled to part another portion of it
to fiiget. II was at the moment of this occur.
renee, that the commanding General arrived on
the field bringing with him assurances of spea.
dy support from the second Brigade circum.
stance not even now unwelcome, but Of greatly
diminished interest To the gallant menof tn. 1st
in as much a flank movement then making
(by the 14th) under the direction of M Nor Nc
Neil, combined with SCOTS pressure in front
was sufficient to terminate no battle, and CON-
pei the enemy to Withdraw DsSiad his en,rench,
ments.'
lngersoll IN hi. History Of The War, gives
the following amount of the decisive crisis
in this battle which Jesup turned to victory:
"The enemy considerable outnumbering, out
flanked Scots line, and might have turned it.
but for ono of those inspired movements which
change perlous crisis into greater safety and
assurance, by the near approach OF danger. Ma
ior Jesup, at the head Of the 25th regiment,
Whose horse was shot under him, and his men
falling fast on the extreme eff, where he con-
tended with the British rightly ordered his fir
ing to be suspended, and his regiment to ad-
vance with the bayonet, in the teeth of deadly
volIeys gained thereby favorite position &cem
pelllng their odversaries tn retire from log
fence, behind which they stood. But driven
back by Jesup's gallant chnrge, exposed to flank
a. well as to front FIRE, Major Mcneil the
right, Major Leavenworth parallel to the ene-
my s attack, meanwhile poured IN their rapid
and destructive Gre, Mcneil judiciously occu.
pied an obliqne position. and delivered his we'll
aimed shots with fatal effect and though Cap.
tain Towson's own gun was thrown out of
action, he served with undated ardo at the
ps was not made use of,) volunteei ed to serve
out ofhis place, and had his horse shot under
him. Major Wood Of the Engineers, al o serv.
ed as a volunteer. Colonel Campbell, the only
officer disabled, was weunded as he led the 11th
re giment into action. While it was raging,
General Brown arrived and chaered the first
brigade, with the assurance that the SECOND
would soon come to its aid which in killed ann
wounded had lost fourth of its numbers, yet
unshrnkingly continued the action alone. -