Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1862-07-10
sThe Fight ON fire Peninsula.

The Fight ON the Peninsula. -.
When the news first came to us Of the change
of the base of operationyby the army of the Pc
ninsulas and at the same time Of the terrific
Fights which hsted with scarcely AM Hour sSnter,
mission through six Iiong days and nights, we
WEB burdena With thefeaSs hat or 8ore,s had
hst~ith a eeDsideSsbse reverse. and tnat n 4
were further from taking Richmond and braal.
ing up that foul nest of traitors than we had Been
Tor the weeks Of weary waiting before Now that
the smoke Of battle lifts ITSELF however, and ave
come 10 know more of the movement and Of The
present position of our army, the state Of affairs
presents itself in different light, and we have
cause for gratitude and rejoicing for decisive and
glorious results, where we had before feared dis.
asIeir and reverse, mingled only with our sorrow
ingItea,s for those brave heroes who have fallen
in the struggle aggf ssatii 9sT:. Il
A,ev Undoubisdlys the. movement of McC LEhLAN
will be matter Of criticism and Of diHenng opin-
ions in, history, but from all We can gather now,
we are of the opinion thatthep eommandet Of our
forces pursued the wisest1 course. That his plan
was most skiifa1ly accomplished all admit and
though the loss Of life Was necessarily great, othe
only wonder seems 10 be that ii was lot greater,
il ACCOMPLISHING such vast movement, while
the advantage Of the change of position is plainly
apparent to all. 'ljal aonaa7 b beiH 2fi ]
'Theoss Of The rebels in these engagements ga yan
which they made upon our, forces during the days
we were employed in making the change Of Stu
alton, was most imI1ense. Infurriated with .whis-
key and gpnpsYaaef, which were freely admins.
tered them by heiroaiceps, they rushed upon our
forces withtbe fe1ocisy ofdevils. In no instance,
however, gid ouranen give way, but holding their
ground by day, whenever attacked, they piled up
the rebels infbeaps, some accounts say 10 the
number Of se0eatyjsce thousand, and by night
we retired in good order, saving all our guns.
Neversin history have there been accounts of
such severe and terrible fighting Our men were
attacked at every point by overwhelming num-
bers, and by men, as we have said, Infatuated by
drink and passion, For five nights scarcely a
man in our army slept an hour, and then rested
only on their arms. One engagement lasted
sixteen hours, during which regiment after reg
imeut Of the rebels were hurled against one of
our divisions only to be beaten back with ter
rife slaughter. The rebels themselves admit a
loss Of Mi:y Alousttad in those six days fights,
but will permit no communications with their
lines by flags of truce, by which we might make
fairer estimate. From private letters we learn
that their dead upon the battlefield on Tuesday,
were piled up in heaps four or five deep. but
their actual loss we shall probably never know ;
certainly not by their lying bulletins hereafter.
of our own loss we have as yet no reliable esti.
mate, but can hardly be far from twenty thousand
men, SO brayey did our forces meet the onslaught
OF the foe, and in which number the loss of Off
engaged is extremely large. '
The LIST Conn. Artillery was the only Con-
necticut regiment engaged in the action, brief
account of part of whom will be found in a
letter from one Of our Litchfeld BOYS in anoth
er column. The losses on our side were mostly
in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Massachusetts
regiments
The present position of Our army upon The
James river ismost favorable TO our advance up.
on and capture of Richmond. 1t NAV be That
moe lime will be required for The accomplish
ment Of This last blow 10 the rebel conhedelacv
than We had hoped before. Our AMY must and
will be speedily enforced, and then, with The
aid Of our invrncible gun boats OIL the river: the
fall Of Richmond must be bot the mater Of a
few weeks time. Already we are told that
burnside with his lille Spa..an baud, is moving
to The aid of MCCLELLAN; we shall hear from
I PORE soon upon the other side Of Richmond
the rebels, so terribly handled and SO weakened
by the six days fight, can never again rally to
as formidable a resistance as before, and our al
mics now must march OH 10 victory. .s
q Then with the Mississippi in our hands from
source to outlet, with North Carolina, Tennes.
see: Alabama, Louisiana, firmly held, the hand
writing on the wall will appear to the ARCH rait-
ors at Richmond, and the base fabric Of their
dreamy Confedeiacy viii Jade away into thin air
But long hereafter, how trnea shall be MoCLcL
LAWS stirring wo.ds.' of each Of those brave men
who fought on the PENINSULA, !; Your conduct
ranks you among the celebrated armies of His
tory. No one will now question that each Of
you may always with pride, say, I BELONG Ed
! TO- TUE, Army OF THE PoFoNAG.'"' t,a a-4.
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