Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1861-08-14
THE HERALD.
"A Soldiers account OF the
Great Hattie.
ARL1veToN HsreHTs, VA,
July oath, 1861.

July Z4tD, 1851,
On the 21st of July at half-past two
o'clock il the morning, weleft our encanp-
ment and marched about four miles to join
Patterson's and Mc'Clellan's divisions Of
the army. Large forces were accumulated |
in this neighborhood, general opinion esti-
mating the same at about one hundred
and eight thousand men. Our artillery
were ordered to advance, the brigade
being posted in the rear to cover it. Very
soon our cannons began their song but re-
ceiyed no response for some time, Being
ready for action we waited until 2 o'clock,
when suddenly we received orders to join
Col. Hunters brigade, the distance being
about four miles, through woods and fields,
over hills and prairies; we marched in
double quick time; we finally reached the
field Of battle, being nearly exhausted, and
at once found ourselves, at about four
o'clock, within thirty steps Of our foe, face
to face. AT this moment you could not
have seen a pale face in our whole regi-
ment, fear and anxiety being something yet
unthought of and unknown to us. AT
this moment dreadful fire of musketry
opened upon us, and leaden balls hailed
upon our ranks, carrying many a good
conrad to the earth, F. Reckler, Of Cass-
yille, being one of the number; he received
ball about two inches below the heart;
be walked few steps forward and fell dead.
At this instant German from Mineral
Point fell into my arms MORALLY wounded;
III. NJ, Of Cassvile, and myself, afterwards
carried him to the hospital, where he
shortly afterwards died. | cannot describe
the sights that saw at that hospital; hor-
rible the mangled and mutiated bodies of
soldiers, brave men, it was a sickening
sight; like slaughter house, it was per-
feet butchery.
Up to this time the artillery had been
playing upon the enemy and his works, but
dow ceased, and i,r bali an hour the battle
was fought only with small arms. The
smoke did not prevent us from distinctly
seeing our enemy, as it were, through a
thin veil, enabling us TO single out our
men, at whom we could shoot with consid-
cradle precision. Go not know how long
we were engaged, but byesnd-bye found
ovr position to be very bad one. Our
little force, numbering altogether from
thirteen to fifteen thousand men, opposed
by forty thousand under the command Of
Geh. Bauregard, who was in the mainline
reinforced by johnson with thirty-two
thousand fresh troops. We were exposed
TO the heavy attacks of the rebel cavalry
in their first charge upon our regiment
they broke our ranks aud scattered our
men, but we received their second attack
with better success; having formed our
selves in the form of half-moon, or circle,
We gave them few effective yollies; they
were obliged to give way in great disorder.
You ought to have seen the heaps OF dead
and wounded men and horses covering the
epCuHder before us. Notwithstanding all
our bard fighting and endeavors to main
lain our ground we were finally forced to
yield, give way and retreat, although eight
thousand troops were held in reserve with
in quarter Of mile Of us; they were
not ordered to our assistance.
Our Lieutenant Colonel, Peck, was no
where to be seen, and no command was
given by the chiefs of our regiment, but
each company was obliged to fight upon
its own hook, under the command Of our
brave CAPTAIN. In this state of affairs we
could make no effective resistance; the en-
envy bore us down and we were obliged to
retreat, leaving many of our wounded
upon the field to be bayoneted by the rebel
biood-hounds. The rebel cavalry pursued
us unit we came to a bridge, when
charge from our forces drove them back.
AT CentrevilIe our retreat was covered by
Gen. Blenker's Division, the Decalb Regi
nent and the Garibaldi Guards. Our
whole regiment was so scattered that hard
lv two hundred men could gatheredinto
one body; no wonder; we had been in the
hottest fire and suffered the heaviest attacks
of the enemy; we marched all night;
slept an hour at Fairfax Court House, and
under the command of Capt. Mckee, who
IN absence of Colonies and Majors, took
command Of the whole, we reached Ar
lington Heights on Monday the 22d at
o'clock 4. NJ.
- JosRPH BRocK.
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