Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-09-04

| upon our left and occasionally our centre
that were most severely pressed the re-
mainder of the day.
Up to this time Sigel had command of the
field He had made the dispositions before
| the fight, and conducted it successfully six
hours. Pope arrived from Centreville
about noon and assumed command, but
wisely and generously deferred to Sigel the
rest of the day, as being best acquainted
with the position.
At two o'clock the fight was raging along
the whole line terrifcally, musketry like
Gaines Mills, artillery like Malvern Hills.
The was not ten minutes cessation at one
time for the next three hours. We ad-
vanced not step; we retired not step.
The enginery Of war, men, guns, and "vil-
lainous saltpetre," seemed equal, each side
to the other AT o'clock Schenck was or
dered back from the left, and the artillery
of that wing fell back to the next eminence.
During the three hours, scarcely reg
| iment on the field that had not been into
the thickest. Promptly and skillfully, as
command would become exhausted, it
would be replaced by another, but only for
a brief rest, then to up and at it. These
! splendid "passages of lines" as such
/
me feature that ought not to pass uncom-
mended. Gaines Mill would have been a
victory had such movements been made
properly and orderly.
The withdrawal of the left was not a
giving up of the battle. Troops were
rushed to the right, and redoubled onset
made there. Again the enemy was forced
back. His left was swept upon his centre
we took him "endwayS," in flank
While the infantry fought those, our artil-
lsry, eleven batteries in line, played stun
ningly, each gun pointed well to the left,
that no unlucky shell might harm
friend
We could move the rebels no further
| than their centre. Musketry in rolls, in
crashes, sounded out of the spot of woods
where our advance was stayed how tena-
ciously the enemy held their ground can
not hope adequately to express. How
Schurz fought-ask any eyewitness of
his men, led by the orator fighter.
1t was o'clock. The enemy not only
held his centre but advanced upon our
left It was critical
0pportunely, McDowell's corps appear
cd, coming to our relief Two brigades
Hatch and Doubleday 81 Immediately met
the enemy's advance upon our left, and, al
though suffering terribly, stayed him un-
til dark
The days work was ended. We held
more ground than in the morning, but not
so much as at noon.
Waking in my fence-corner sleeping
apartmentat daylight Saturday morning, 1
walked to the su nmit of the hill to ascer-
tain the position Of affairs. Everything
indicated a renewal of the battle. Al
ready columns were marching in every di-
rection, men at the left being brought to
the right, and rice versa, being brought
from front to rear and from rear to front,
Generals with stats and body guards rid
ing over the field, each, of course, with a
purpose; but to an eyewitness seeming,
with the other movements like Confusion
worse oonfOunded." Every few minutes a
shell from our batteries furthest to the left,
replied to as often by guns whose smoke
clouded in the far western horizon, made
me question whether the enemy had not
retreated. While my horse was eating my
hay bed, had speech with several Major
Generals staff officers, and they participa-
ted in the fear that the enemy had sprang
from under our finger.
The day wore away until noon, with
continuance Of desultory shelling {" bum
in" the butternut prisoners call it. Gen.
Pope on horse the whole time, giving or
ders, rapid and imperative, each carried
instantly by a galloping aid, receiving or
ders from all parts of the field, and never
detaining the messenger long for his re-
ply, from each eminence sweeping the po-
sition with his glass-he was evidently
ascertaining the position of the enemy,
and determined to fight if he stood or if he
ran.
The division commanders were seeing
that their men were provided with rations,
made difficult matter by the forced cross
marchings Of the week which prevented
quartermasters from knowing where to
conduct trains. For once red tape was
summorily cut, und rations issued to ev-
cry unsupplied regiment from whatever
stores were at hand. l heard Sigel ex-
claim that crackers were "Worth as much
as muskets."
Porter corps had arrived on the ground
at 9 o'clock from Manassas, making five
corps ready for action. The number of
men comprised in these 1 should estimate
at 10000. Hooker's division had but
2, AL men in the ranks, so terribly has it
shrunk by battle and disease.
In the order of the battle for the day
Heintzelman commanded the right, Porter
the centre, Mcdowell the left, and Sigel,
whose corps had born the brunt the day
before, the reserve. At 10 Heintzleman
advanced skirmishers into the wood on
the right of the battlefield of the day be-
fore, and found it only held by few
troublesome bushwhackers. Driving them
back large numbers of wounded were got
off, and passed to the rear.
rode in with these skirmishers as far
as l deemed prudent. At any rate got
upon ground where the corpses attested
the fighting of the day before First
came upon bodies in blue These were our |
fallen. Then there those in blue mingled !
with others in gray and nondescript. |
That ground had been fought over. A lit |
tie further they were all blue and monde |
script. And there the bodies were the |
thickest. Upon ground that judged to
be not over half an acre, | counted 79 |
bodies, dead and wounded. Advancing !
further still, l saw Union soldier seized, |
not ten rods from me and carried off by |
bushwhackers. ! retired lin good orderl |
that the enemy's loss exceeded our |
own. At o'clock, BY the movements of |
troops from right toleft, inferred that the
positions of the enemy had been found in
that direction. By this time our line was
different from that of the day before.
Our right was further advanced, our left
so that we fronted almost to |
the South. At Bull Run, year ago, we
faced exactly South.
At 9 o'clock Gen. Stevens attacked at |
the right, and soon after Gen. Butterfeld
at the left. The enemy's shells seemed
equally distributed along the whole line,
and at each point of attack he met us with