Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-12-26


: ticularly contractors ammunition. IF shel
should fall short, or take an obIi1uc direc
I ton, and explode among our troops, it woul'
2 be difficult to see how panic could be pre-
p vented. Promptly seeing this DANCE, Gen
Hunt, chief Of artillery, instantly dispatched
orders to cease firing. 1t was well he die
, So for immediately aftcrward an Aid came
{ galloping from Gen. Couch, from the Other
f side ofthe river, begging that our batteries
should cease az they were actually firing into
his command.
! While the broken column rctires to its
original position in the outskirts of the town
; to re form for a new encounter, let us SEE
what goes on the left. Considerable resis.
) lance was met with, yet the force continued
to move forward, until at midday the line OF
battle was three quarters of mile in ad.
vance Of where it had been at the outset
: But now came the reserve fire of the enemy
with terrific force. Shot, shell and canister
were poured into our men from various
points, while the rebel infantry appearing,
fred with rapiflty. Still they continued to
press on. Several batteries moved forward
at the same time. As orr troops saw the
enemy giving way, cheer after cheer rent the
air .-.
At about one o'clock, Gen. Meade ordered
a charge which was well executed-the men
pressing Oh the edge Of the very crest, and
skillfully penetrating by movement on the
flank, an opening which happened to occur
between the Division of A. p. Hill, and Ear
Tvs Brigade, captured several hundred pris.
oners belonging to the 6lst Georgia, and 3lst
North Carolina. t.-.."
/ Very heavy musketry firing continued
along the line, neither side gaining any ma
terial advantage. 1l-2 o'clock, the first line
Of battle in Ger. Glib n d vision was re.
lieved by the second, when Towers brigade,
now comm ,nded by Col Root, charged over
an open field beyond the railroad, and down
into the edge of the woods, occupying the
breastworks, which the eneay had construct.
ed here and capturing 200 prisoners belong
ing to the seth North Carolina and South
Carolina regiment Gen. Gibbon was SC.
vercly wounded in the right hand. They
held their own for some time, but were
eventually compelled to fall back The I'd
Maine battery advanced with G,bbon's d.
vision. VIII it fell back three guns were
left to bear upon the advancing enemy. An
order came at that moment to cease firing,
as the force coming from the woods were our
own men, When it had advanced however,
to within so yards, the commander of the
battery became convinced that they were
rebels, and moving on to capture this battery
five guns were opened upon them, but after
five rounds had been fired, the battery was
ordered to fall back. Having fallen back,
the captain called for volunteers, to return
for the battery, Sergeant Berry, Sergeant
Stubbe, Corporal Greeley, and - men be-
longing to the 10th Maine regiment stepped
forward. The undertaking although a haz-
ard us onc proved successful, as the aban.
doned gun was brought off in safety.
The result of the days fighting on the
left, so diversified in it's character was to
give the left possession of a space about 500
yards in extent. So far as stubbornly hold
ing its own and even gaining somewhat on
the enemy, the left grand division deserves
credit. 1t had, however, failed to perform
the tactical mancuvre assigned to it.
Returning to the right, found Gen. Sum-
ner seated on the front seat of an unyoked
ambulance, at The Lacey House, directly op.
posite Fredericksburg, at the Point where the
first pontoon bridge spans the stream. The
veteran soldier had been extremely DESTROYS
of crossing over and directing iTperson the
movements of his grand division, but the
commanding General would not permit it
Meanwhile as Fredericksburg had become
entirely too hot to visit with decent respec,
for ones safety, remained with the General
in the ambulance to follow the tide of battle
as reported by constantly arriving aids and
courierS,
The old man looked ANXIOUS and fearful
Things were not going well with his conf
mand. For three hours his men had been
Gcr6t ot al al
exhausted, their loss was excessive, and
nothing had been accomplished. Indeed, tc
the test of the ear, st the point where VIC
were located, it seemed as though they were
being badly pressed. The batteries had been
brought down and planted at the heads oil
the streets. The troops were hugglng the
city closely to escape the tremendous fire
where is Frankfurt" was the eager inquiry
" Everything depends on Franklin's coming
upon the flank" Franklln's position was
plainly observable by the line of smoke and
fire couple of miles to our left below He
was making no nearer. At 8 o'clock an aid
arrives from Gen. Couch to say that his
(Ccuch's) troops were advancing finely; but
that Wilcox was not keeping up. "Tel
!; Gen. Wilcox" replies Gen. Sumner, " tel
him he must make the 9th army corps keep
pace with the End, if he can.
At 81 o'clock, Sturgls, who has been cling
ing to the valley amid showers of fire, is SC
holly pressed that he hardly thinks he car
hold his own till Griffin comes up'
At 4 o'clock, French reports that his right
is held by brigade (SIason's rhicA is with
ont ammunition!
Sumner sends message begging Burnside
that Franklin be directed to advance. Blu
Franklin cannot advance. He has enough tt
do at this moment to hold his own, for Jack
son has just thrown in reinforcements, ant
is pushing hard to turn his left.
Meantime the reserves have not been touch
ed Hookcr's Central Grand Dvison-50,-
900 fresh mcn--have not yet been engaged
indeed are yet mainly OH this side of the riv
err.
"Tel Gen. Burnside that he had better by
all means, throw some of Rockers i'm
Burnside replies that he has directly or
dered Hooker to go in, and that every mar
on this side of the river shall cross
Promptly the column is pushed down tc
the pontoons, Humphreys division Of But
terfeld's corps, leading. The wary rebels
sharply OH the alert for the movement o.
troops, and having battery or two admira
bly, trained On the bridge, pour in the shells
and somewhat delay operations. Happily
l Il n I