The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1862-06-26

The Rebel Onset-An Awful Scene.
.d.,An extract from private letter Of .
member of battery A, N. Y, Artillery in
Casey S Division. better known as the
t'NspOlsonguu BatterY,"Din the front
line Of the first day s battle before Rich.
mOOd. says ~ '.sioa
|, Our spherical case shot were awful
missiles, each of them consisting Of a
clotted mass oil seventy six musket balls,
with charge Of powder in the center,
that is fred by fuse the same as she'll.
The missile first acts rs solid shot,
ploughing its way through masse Of men,
and, then exploding, hurlS forward a
shower Of musket balls, that NOV down
the foe in heaps Our battery threw
twenty .lour ofltliese a minute, and as We
had the exact range Of every part Of the
field, every shot told with frightiul effect.
But the enemy we're not at all daunted.-
they marched steadily on, and hailed a
perfect tempest OF balls upon US, Why
we, as well as our horses, were not eve
ry ooe shot down, will forever remain
mystery to me, We did not mind the
leaden hail, however but kept our case
shot into the dense masses Of the foe, ho
came on in prodigious and overwhelm.
ing force. And they fought spIendidly.
too. Our shot lore their ranks wide
open, and shattered them assudder in a
manner that was frightful 10 Witness Int
they closed up again at once, and come
on as steadily as English veterans
When they got within four hundred
yards, We closed our case shot and OPEN
ed or them with canister, and such de.
struction | never elsewhere witnessed.---
AT each discharge great gaps were made
in their ranks-i' deed, whole compa.
nies went down before that murdercus
FIRE; but they closed up with an order
and, discipline that was awe iDspifibg!--
They seemed te.be animated Nith tlis
courage Of despair; blended with he
nope OF a speedy victory il they could by
an overwhelming rush drive us from our
position. 1t was awful 10 see Their ranks
torn and shattered by every discharge of
canister that We poured right into their
faces, and while their dead and dying lay
in piles, closed up, and still kept adyan
cling right in the ace olthat fire. Al one
time, three lines, one behind aholher,
were steadily advancing, and three OF
their flags were brought IN range Of one
Of our guns shotted with Caniste r,---
"EireF shouted the gunner, and down
wentthose three Gags, and o gap was
opened through those three lines as if a
inunderbot had torn through them, and
the dead lay in Swa,hs. But they are at
once closed up, Ond came steadily on,
never halIing OF wavering, right through
The woods, over the fense, through the
field, right up to our guns, nd sweeping
everything before them captured every
piece When we delivered our last FIRE
they were within Gileen or twenty PAGES
Of us and, AS all our borses had been el.
ther Killed or wounded, We could not
carry offagun. Our whole division was
cut TO pieces, with what loss do not
know. We fell back to a second line Of
,lntrenchments andthere held the enemy
in check until reinforcements arrived,
and then we kept our position till night
put an end to the battle. This morning
the fight was renewed, aud we have driy.
en- the enemy back. rssained possession
OF our camp, rand it. Is reported with
what degree Of truth cannot say, that
our battery has been recsptured. The
rebels stripped our camp thorough
ly. h'rI'9noo 10 ''' ~. :
The Rebel Barbarities,