The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-10-03

corps was ordered in to their relief,
but Mansfeld's troops came back again,
and their general was MORALLY wounded.
The left nevertheless was too extended to
be turned, and too strong to be broken.
ricketts, sent word that he could not ad-
vance, but that he could hold his ground
Doubleday had kept his guns at work on
the right, and had finally silenced rebel
battery that for half an hour had poured in
a CALLING enfilading fire along Hooker's
central line
There were woods in front of Double
days hill which the rebels held, but so
long as those guns pointed that way, they
did not care to attack With his left then
able to take care of itself, with his right
impregnable with two brigades of Mans
field still fresh and coming rapidly up, and
with his center second time victorious,
Gen. Hooker determined to advance. Or
ders were sent to Crawford and Gordon
the two Mansfield brigades-to move d.
rectly forward at once, the batteries in the
center were ordered on, the whole line was
called on, and the general himself went
forward
To the right of the corn field and be-
You'd it was point of woods. Once car
ried and firmly held, it was the key of the
position Hooker determined to take it.
He rode out in front of his furthest troops
on a hill to examine the ground for bat
terry. At the top he dismounted and went
forward on foot, completed his reconnois-
sance, returned and remounted. The mus
kerry fire from the point of woods was all
the while extremely hot. AS he put his
foot in the stirrup fresh volley of rifle
bullets came whizzing by. The tall sol
dierly figure of the general, the white horse
which he rode, the elevated place where
he was-all made him most dangerously
conspicuous mark. So he had been all
day, riding often without staff officer or
an orderly near him-all sent off on urgent
duty-visible everywhere on the field. The
rebel bullets followed him all day, but they
had not hit him, and he would not regard
them. Remounting on this hill he had not
ridden five steps when he was struck in the
foot by ball.
Three men were shot down at the same
moment by his side The air was alive
with bullets. He kept on his horse for a
few moments, though the wound was Sc
we're and excessively painful, and would not
disnOunt till he had given his last order to
advance. He was himself in the very
front Swaying unsteadily on his horse,
he turned in his seat to look about him.
''There is a regiment to the right Order
it forward! Crawford and Grouchy are
coming up Tell them to carry these
woods and hold them, and it is our fight !"
1t was found that the bullet had passed
completely through his foot. The surgeon
who examined it on the spot could give no
opinion whether bones were broken. but it
was afterwards ascertained that though
grazed they were not fractured. OF course
the severity Of the wound made it imposs-
bic for him to keep the field, which he be-
lieved already won, SO far as it belonged
to him to win it. 1t was nine O'Clock.
The fight had been furious since five. A
large part of his command was broken, but
with his right still untouched, and with
Crawfords and Gordon's brigades just up,
above all, with the advance of the whole
central line which the men had heard Or
dered with cheers, with regiment already
on the edge of the woods he wanted, he
might well leave the field, thinking the
battle was wOn-that lis battle was won,
for am writing, of course, only about the
attack on the rebel left.
l see no reason why should disguise my
admiration of General Hooker's bravery
and soldierly ability Remaining nearly
all the morning on the right, / could not
help seeing the sagacity and promptness Of
his man9uvres, how completely his troops
were kept in hand, how devotedly they
trusted to him, how keen was his insight
into the battle how every opportunity
was seized and every reverse was checked
and turned into another success. | say
this the more unreservedly, because Ihave
no personal relation whatever with him,
never saw him till the Gay before the fight,
and don't like his politics or opinions in
general. But what are politics in such a
battle?
Sumner arrived just as Hooker was leav-
ing, and assumed command. Crawford
and Gordon had gone into the woods, and
were holding them stOutly against heavy
odds. As | rode over toward the left |
met Sumner at the head of his column adj
vancing rapidly through the timber, oppo-
site the point where Crawford was fight
ing. The veteran general was riding alone
in the forest far ahead of his leading brig
ade, his hat off, his gray hair and beard
and moustache strangely contrasting with
the fire OF his eyes and his martial air, as
he hurried on to where the bullets were
thickest.
Sedgwick's division was in advance,
moving forward to support Crawford and
Gordon. Rebel achievements were APP
preaching also, and the struggles for the
roads was again to be renewed. Sumner
sent forward two divisions, Richardson
and French, on the left. Sedgwick NOV
ing in column of divisions through the
woods in rear, deployed and advanced in
line over the cornfeld. There was a
broad interval between him and the near
est division, and he saw that if the rebel
line were complete his own division was in
immediate danger of being flanked But
his orders were to advance, and those are
the orders which solder-and Sedgwick
is every inch solder-lOves best to hear
To extend his own front as far as posi-
BILE, he ordered the 34th New York to
move nv the left flank Tho manmnvra