The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-05-10


pany to bring water and provisions and thus,
without murmur, these weary soldiers lay, and
many of them slept within q few yards Of the
foe, With their dead and wounded comrades
scattered around them. Darkness, silence and
fatigue soon secured for the weary, broken slum-
bers and gloomy repose. The day had closed
on some reyerses on the right, but the left had
been unsullied and the centre had driven the foe
from the field. Z 80; .,55s-s.5 .,si~st4
Ny only anxiety for the fate of the next day
was the new front which it was necessary to
form by my weary troops. l directed Colonel
Davis to withdraw all the remainder of his re-
serve from the centre, and move forward so as
to occupy. the ground on Carr's immediate left.
Although his troops had been fighting hard
most OF the day, and displayed great energy and
courage at IL o'clock at night they commenced
their movement to the new position on the bat
tle6eld, and they, too, coon rested on their arms
Nothing further had been heard from General
Sigsls command after the message at dark that
he was on or near the left His detour carried
him around brushy portion of the battlefield
that could not be explored in the night. About
two o'clock he reported at my head quarters
with his troops, who he said were going to their
former camps for provisions. The distance TO
his camp, some two miles further, was 80 great
that i spprehended tardiness in the morning and
then were, at my headquarters, and.,send for pro-
visions, as the other troops were doing. This
was readily concurred in and these troops bi.
youacked also for tho night. The arrangement
thus completed to bring all four of my divisions
to face a position which had been held in check
ali the previous day by one, l rested, certain of
the final success on the coming day. a9
The son rose above the horizon before our
troops we're all in position, and yet, the enemy
had not renewed the attack. was hardly
ready to open fire on him, az the first and second
divisions had not yet moved into position. Our
troops that night rested on their arms in the
face of the enemy. Seeing him in motion /
could not brook delay. and the centre, under
Colonel Davis, opened fire. The enemy replied
with terrible energy from new batteries and
lines which had been prepared for US during the
night. TO avoid rakiDg batteries, the right
wing fell back in good order, but kept up a con-
tinuous lire from the new position Immediately
taken. The first and second division soon got
under way. and moved with great celebrity to
their position on the left. This completed the
formation of the line of battle. It was directly
to the rear OF the first, and was quite continuous,
much OF 1t on open ground We then had our
foe before US where we well knew the ground.
The broken defles occupied by him would not
admit OF easy evolutions to repel such as could
~
inevitable. As soon as the left wiEg extended
so as to command the mountain, and rest safely
upon it, Iordered the right wing to move forward
50 as to take position where placed it the
night previvious ~ repaired. myself, to the
extreme right, and found an elevated position
considerably in advance, which commanded the
enemy's centre and left. Here located the
Dubuque battery, and directed the right wing to
move its right forward 90 as to support it, and
gave directions for the advance Of the entire
right wing. Captain Hayden soon opened a FIRE
which proved most Calling to the foe and amark.
er for our line to move upon. Returning to the
center, directed the First Iowa battery, under
Capt David, to take position in an open field,
when he could also direct fire on the central
point of the enemy. Meantime, the powerful
battery of Capt. Welaey and many more we're
bearing on the cliff, pouring heavy balls through
the timber near the centre, splintering great
trees and scattering death and destruction with
tempestuous fury. .sa,ra ,i s,ss -,s sstCr So
At one time battery was opened in front of
Hayden's battery on the extreme right so near /
could not tell whether it was the enemy or an
advance of Hayden's, but riding near i soon
perceived its true character, and directed the st
Iowa and the Peoria battery, Capt. Davidson, to
cross hrc on it, which soon drove it back to the
common hiding place-the deep ravines OF Cross
taking position and advancing upon the enemy,
the infantry moved steadily forward. The left
wing advancing rapidly soon began to ascend
the mountain cliff, from which the artillery had
driven most of the rebel force. The upward
movement Of the gallant Seth Illinois, with its
dark blue line ofmen andits cleaning bayonets,
steadily rose from base to summit, when it dash,
ed forward into the forest driving and scatter
ing the rebels from these commanding nights
The 12th Missouri, far in advance Of others,
rushed into the enemy's lines bearing off a flag
and two pieces of artillery. Everywhere our
line moved forward and the foe as gradually
The roar, Of cannon and small arms was con.
tinuous, and no force could then withstand the
converging line and concentrated cross.fre of
our gallant troops. Our guns cor Etinued some
time, after the rebel fire ceased, and the rebels
mad gone down into the deep canOns through
which they had begun their precipitate fight -
Finally our firing ceased. The nemy suddenly
Vanished. Following down a main road which
enters deep canon, / saw some struggling
teams and men running in great strepidation
through the gorges of the mountains. d.
rected battery forward, which threw few
shots ct them, followed by q pursuit of cavalry,
composed of the Benton Hussars and my escort
from Bowen's battalion, which was all the cav.
airy convenient at the time. Gen. Sigel also
followed in this pursuit toward Keitsville, while
! returned, trying to check movement which
led my forces north, where I''was confident a
frightened foe I was not likely to 60. 1 soon
found the rebel forces had divided, and gone in
every direction, butit was several hours before,
learned that the main force, after entering the
canon, had turned short to the right, following
obscure .rayines which led into the Huntsville
road in due south direction, s,id 30 -si5,ia 3
Gen. Sigel followed some miles north toward
Keitsvilse, firing on the retreatng force that ran
away Col. Bassy, with cavalry and the little
howitzers, followed beyond BentonviIle. tafia
camped on the field and made provisions for
burying the dead and care of the wonnded -
The loss in the several divisions was as follows:
,.as 3,s i. ,is,:, i,9ae a,o,i .,ea E 80 90