The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-04-05
than 500 men, and this arm played very
unimportant part in the action on either

Our right wing was made up of the
Fifth and Eighth Ohio Regiments and {
battery of the First Virginia Regiment
The reserves consisted of the Twelfth
Indiana, the Thirty-ninth Illinois, and 9
squadron of the Michigan Cavalry Gen
Shields was unable to appear on the field
in person, and the command in the field
devolved upon Acting Brigadier Kimble
who led our centre; and our right was
commanded by Acting Brigadier General
Tyler, while Colonel Sullivan directed the
operations on our left.
The battle ragged along the whole line
with great fury from II A, NJ. till halfpast
2 p. NJ, when Gen. Shields, who received
accounts of the progress of the isht on
his couch, ordered the right, where the
Contest ragged the hottest. to charge upon
the enemy. That was an awful charge.
The left of the enemy prepared despe-
rately to repel our gallant troops, but
their rush was as irresistible as the tide
in the Bay of Fundy. Previous to this
! time our line of battle had been somewhat
changed. The Eghty-iourth Pennsylva-
MIA reinforced our right, and also battery
of artillery. Our whole force now engaged
was about six thousand men, while that
/ of the enemy was at the lowest estimate
/ eight thousand. The rebAls had also
changed their line. and, extending 10th
their wings, presented concave front to
our army. They had also reinforced their
left wing, and the charge TO be made by
our hight was all-imrortant in its conse-
quences. bn 1t, at three 0 clock, depended
the fate of the entire battle The gallant
Tyler led the charge, sword in hand, at
the head Of the line. The rebels fired
from the woods with artillery aud small
arms, while our men advanced against
their murderous showers OF lead and iron,
. returning few shots and reserving their
fire. Up to this time the armies had not
been much nearer 10 each other than
three hundred yards, unless in some few
instances. The wood WIS soou cleared at
the point of the bayonet, our men dis
Charging their pieces at twenty aud even
live yards distant from the rebels, and
then dartilg at them with the bayonet.
The rebels fought well, however They
contested the ground, foot by foot. and
marked every Ward of it with blood. Re
tiring behind their stone wall, on the
ridge, our men Jumped over after them,
and drove them along in the greatest CON
fusion and with fearful slaughter upon
their CENTRE he panic communicated
kimble ordered a charge along the whole
iiue and for a Short time the fighting was
most desperate The roar Of the cannon
was 40 longer heard. unless IL occasional
bursts of tit!ul explosions, and the rattle
of mus ketry was more boi-ieroUs than
ever, and sounded like tue Eoi,e made by
a very close th Under clap, except that it
was sharper and continuous
The rout Of the rebels had fairly COM
meuCed, however. and two Of their guns
aud four cass.cns were now ouis. and
though many pf them turned and fired
again and again at our pursuing host,
many more threw away muskets and
hayonets with but hesitation. Darkness
and the extre ne fatigue of our troops,
however, saved the enemy for the time,
and we retired about two miles and
bivOuked til Yesterday morning. At day
break Gencarai Shields ordered the rebel
position 10 be attacked, and the enemy.
after replying by a few shots from his
artillery, continued his retreat.
Meantime General Banks, who had
been at Harp er's Ferry, arrived, and,
taking AID OF the troops IN person,
nov continued the pursuit with about ten
thousand men, and AZ latest accounts had
pressed the rebels beyond Midd.eburg,
cutting off many s;ragglers aud pressing
the enemy very soreiy The object Is 10
1t was not till yesterday morning tLa,
any Of the force OF Gen. Williams arrived
on the field, and then they were too late
To participate il the action They Joined
in the chase.
The loss Of the enemy in killed and
wO,Iaf!ci will foot up about go men. of
which 30 were killed. The number Of
prisoners taken from them Is go. These
figures are independent OF what they have
lost ard will lose in the pursuit The
regimen, which lost most ou the side OF
the rebel. was the Fifth Virginia
Our loss in killed 50 far as ascertained
is less than 100, and about three hundred
Of our men are wounded. Though the
enemy had much larger force. four
pieces of cannon more than our army, the
selection Of fighting ground aud every
other advantage. Yet all the trophies of
the occasion belong TO the Union army
There were many deeds Of heloism per-
formed on the battlefield While the
Fifth Ohio was charging against TIE enemy
the color bearer WAS five times shot down,
ye, another instantly replaced him 1T TIE
rIsk of his life. The last colorbearer was
Il private NAMED T. B Isdell. The flag
staa was broken, yet the glorious banner
never ceased TO float in triumph over the
gallant regiment.
The rebels had an Irish battalion of ono
hundred and fifty men, of whom forty
were killed on the field and nearly all the
rest wounded.
The loss on our side was heavies in the
Eehty.iourth Pennsylvania Regiment
OF the five companies of three hundred
men in all engaged, they lost Col. Murray,
as dashing ana brave an officer as ever
drew sword one captain, one lieutenant
and twenty-:hree prvates and non com
misioned officers killed, and sixty three
wounded. The loss in the Eighth and
Fifth Ohio Regiments is about seventy
tiveand sixty, respectively, killed and
wounded
Lieutenant Colonel Thoburn, of the
Third Virginia, is among the wounded on
our side. These are the only field officers
killed or wounded in the Union forces.
The rebels carried no knapsacks with
them into the action, and all the rations
in their hayesracks was a small cake OF
bread to each man. They counted to a
certainty on capturing Winchester The
only wagons they brought with them were
provisioI wagons. This explains how it
was that they did not lose much besides
arms in their retreat
The battle field after the struggle was
sight to be seen and remembered. The
night was dark and cold After the battle
the ambulances were busily engaged re
moving the wounded. The enemy car
ried off most of their wounded and some
of their dead The wounded were inter
| mingled with the dead, and their suffer
ings before they were removed to the
hospitals were very poignant Yesterday
was spent in burying the dead. The
ghastly aspect of the field yesterday, after
| the wounded were removed, and before
the dead were inferred, was appalling.
Some with their faces off, some with their
hands off, some torn into fragments and
| Yrini, fully manplad hv the ronnl shnt