Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-02-03

of the dead and wounded, quietly taking their
places in the line. just at this time a heavy
force appeared 70 be advancing on the extreme
left Of the 4th Kentucky regiment, and portion
of Colonel McCook's brigade, which mad arrived.
engaging the enemy on my right. was ordered
by General Thomas 10 the extreme left Of the
4th Kentucky regiment. ] moved the regiment
through the brush and over logs TO the place
designated, and coming TO fence parallel with
nv line, we holly engaged the enemy, and after
a hard struggle of half an hour sduratiOn, drove
him before US and put him 10 flight with great
loss part of my left wing still engaged on
the right of the 4t Kentucky, against great odds.
being stron gIy opposed, ] was again ordered by
! General Thomas to their support | forthwith
obeyed this command, and in doing so brought
nv right wing upon the identical ground it had
been forced TO abandon during the earlier part of
the engagement. / then moved forward the
whole right wing and two companies of the left,
and soon got into fierce contest with enemy in
/ front. The whole regiment from right to left
was now warmly engaged, and slowly but surely
driving the enemy before them when | ordered a
"charge bayOnetsi' which was promptly executed
along the whole line We soon drove the enemy
from his place of concealment in the woods into
an open field, two hundred yards from where
ordered the charge. When We arrived at the
fence in our front. many of the enemy were found
lingering in the corners, and were bayoneted by
my men between the rails.
presse onward, and soon beheld with satia-
faction, that the enemy were moving in retreat
across the field; but / suddenly saw them halt in
| the southeast corner of the field, on piece of
high ground, where they received considerable
reinforcements and made last and desperate eff
/ fort to repulse TROOPS. in the meantime the
gallant Colonel McCOOk, with his invincible 9th
Ohio regiment came to our support, and for
twenty or thirty minutes terrific struggle en-
hofx I in oil
my military career saw a harder fight Finally
the enemy began to waver and give back before
the shower of lead and glittering steel brought to
bear on his shattered ranks, and he commenced
a precipitate retreat undera storm of bullets from
our advancing forces until his retreat became a
perfect rout. / ordered enough men to be left to
attend to dead and wounded, and receiving n
new supply of cartridges, (the most of our boxes
/ b eing entirely empty,) the men rehlled their
boxes, and, according to your order. | put the
regiment in motion after the retreating enemy.
/ Pursuing them the same evening a distance of
/ ten miles, we arrived near the enemys fortihca-
| tons Mt this place The way by which the enemy
had retreated gave evidence that they had been in
haste to reach their dem Wagons, cannon. mus
kets, swords, blankets, etc, etc, strewn all
along the roads from the battle field TO within a
mile of this place, where l halted the regiment,
and the men slept on their arms in the open
/ field.
The men at this time were powder besmeared
| tired, and hungry, having bad nothing to eat
since the previous night. On the following
morning. the Doth inst, after our artillery had
sheed the enemys works, by your order. |
moved my regiment TO his breastworks and into
his deserted intrenchments, where have since
/ remained.
! IL NAV be interesting to state here that our
regimental colors. which were those presented by
the ladies of Lafayette and borne in triumph at
! the battle of Rich Mountain, we're completely
torn into shreds BY the bullets of the enemy.
have had its scattered fragments gathered, and
intend preserving them. Three stand of rebel
cUlors we're captured by my regiment
l cannot speak in terms of sufficient praise of
the noble and gallant conduct of some of the
officers of my regiment. They did their duty
and fought like true veterans Major A. o. Mil
Ter was wherever duty called him, and in the
thickeSt of the fight, cheering on the men. Act
| ing Adjutant w T. Ludlow did his whole duty,
and rendered me valuable assistance during the
day. Assistant Surgeon c. s. Perkins, and the
Rev. DR.. Dougherty, Chaplain of the 10Th regi-
ment, rendered valuable service in their unre
lenting attention to the wounded. Quartermas
ter Oliver S. Rankins, and Nelson B Smith. of
the same department, are entitled to great credit
/ for the prompt manner in which they brought up
and supplied the men with cartridges. Commits
sarY Sergeant David B. Hart, our Rich Noun
tain guide in the three months service, pres
/ ent and in the line of his duty. Fife and Drum
/ Majors Dan'l and Jas Conkn shOuldered muskets
and fought valiantly during the early part of the
engagement, after which they were OF great service
| in carrying off and attending to the wounded
Captains Hamilton, Boyle, j. f. Taylor, Carroll
and Shorter, the three young tigers, were through
/ the entire battle, where none but the brave and
gallant 60, and continually pressed forward with
their men when the battle ragged the hottest, and
rebels were found most plenty. Capt. Vanars
DALI OF company B, was present. and discharged
his duty faithfully until the right wing was drawn
off Leutenants Cobb, Cohen, McAdams, IAN
Natts, johnson, Mccoy, Bush. Boswell. Shu-
mate and Hunt deserve the highest praise for their
brave and gallant conduct. Lieut.. McAdams fell
while nobly leading on his men. Lieut.. Bush
commanded company G, and quite distinguished
himself Second Lieutenants Rodman. COlwell,
Merritt, Lutz, Miller, Stall, Simpson, Scott and
Wilds, fully merit all that be said in their
praise, as do all the non-commissioned officers
and privates that were present during the engage
! ment
Many individual acts of bravery might be
mentioned. such as those of Orderly Sergeant
Miller, of company B. and my Orderly Sergeant
Abraham A. Carter, who took gun and fought
manfully during the intervals that his services
were not required by me in dspatching orders.
But nothing can say will add to the well. merit
ed laurels already on the brows of both officers
and men of the 10th regiment of Indiana volun-
teers.
My regiment lost in killed eleven men; in
wounded seventy hve--a complete list OF whose
names herewith submit.
Respectfully submitted,