Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1862-12-25

: q day long. The enemy occupied
2 the woods and bills in the rear Of th,
! city, and in point Of advantage fhe odd
! were decidedly in their favor. Tn,
. courage ofIhe Union troops <Ras un
bounded. however. and eYsrs inch o
: the ground was hotly contested. 1
} soon became evident that the 6rst ridge
! or hills on which the enemy were pos
ted behind earthworks. could NOT sbs
! catried except at the point of the bayo
net. and accordingly Gen. Sumner or
! dered Freneb's division to charge upor
!, the batteries. General Howard's di-
vision acted as support. and the
troops sprsng forward to obey the or
der With much enthusiasm. By This
time the atmosphere was clear. except
! from the smoke Of artillery, and a great
view could BE- bad of the reb-ls posi-
ton and the country adjoining. 1t was
great sight to see that devoted COL
umn,
"seeking the bubble reputation cen at the
lannon's mouth"
Steadily they marched across the
plain. and never faltered until they
were within dozen yards of the ridge,
when suddenly they were met BY a
calling ire from the rebel infantry. who
were posted behind stone wall. For
few moments the head Of the column
exhibited some eonfusion; but, quickly
formed into line. they retired back to
a ravine, within muskel shot Of the enc
my. Here the Union troops were re-
enforced by fresh body of infantry,
who advanced to the assistance OF their
comrades 10 splendid style, notwith-
standing large gaps we're made in their
ranks at every step. The REINFORCE
menls having arrived. and the line Of
assault being again formed. the order
double quick. with fixed bayOnetsw
was given, and once more the column
advanced to dislodge The rebel artillery.
From the moment the storming party
left the ravine up to the time they
reached the foot OF the hill they were
exposed TO the hottest FIRE of the enc
my. The concentrated FIRE oil Lees
artillery and infantry rained upon their
devoted heads in a manner truly ter
rife. No troops however disciplined
and brave. could withstand the shock,
and after suffering terribly our soldiers
were thrown into disorder and brought
to sudden halt. At this juncture the
center OF the column gave way and
fled in dismay, but they were alter
wards rallied and brought back. A
second and third attempt was made TO
the. rebel artillerists, but in
VAN, ana III eaCH arrvert,.-sLa -anLs Of
th" storming party grew thinner and
thinner. Sumner now brought all his
available artillery into use, hoping to
shell the rebels out. and from that time
until dark the roar Of cannon was in
cessant. The rebels, who had been
driven back a short distance during
the day. returned TO their original po-
sitlOn when night came, so that we
were unable 10 remove our dead
Several attempts were made 10 remove
the bodies during the night, but the
rebels opened upon us with their in
fantry and compelled US to desist. All
our wounded were removed. however,
and such Of the dead as were not within
musket range OF the rebels were bur-
ried.
THE CENTER.
The Third and Filth army corps. un-
der Gen Hooker, formed the center
and co-operated with Summers column
during the battle. Gen. Burnside was
anxious that movement should be
made as early as possible, and accor-
dinghy at the break of day the troops
commenced to move toward the enc
my's earthwOrks. The men were full
of hope and confident of success. and
they fled out fthe city in splendid or
der. Skirmishing commenced shortly
after daylight, and in short time
afterward the rebel artillery cOmmen-
ced playing upon US through the fog
The firing was so inaccurate, however,
that our troops paid but little stten-
ton to it, and kept pressing on regard
less Of the deadly missiles which were
flying through the air. BY and by our
artillery responded, and for hours a
most terrific cannonade was kept up on
both sides. The enemy's position was
one of exceeding strength. and appeared
to be invulnerable to our artillery, not |
wIthstandiug our guns were excellently
handled. About noon. the infantry,
who had been waiting for the fog to
clear of. advanced for the purpose Of
storming the enemy's position on the
hill. Confident Of victory, the troops
marched steadily up to within musket-
shot Of the batteries; but a murdsrous
fire from the rebel ridemen, added to
the fury Of the canuonade, compelled
our men to fall back with heavy loss
The attempt TO carry the rebel batteries
was repeated again in the afternoon.
and the attacking party, strongly re-
enforced, started on the "double-q -quickj' /
but the enemy, who was also heavily
enforced. proved too much for US
All along the line the battle ragged with
unusual frceness, and when night |
came il was hard to say who were the
victors. OF the killed and wounded
there were probably as many on the side
of the rebels as on ours. No correct es- |
innate can be formed of the loss 10 |
Hooker's corps. but it was pretty
q