Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-05-02
Communicated.
Home Letter from the Camp.
SAVANNAH, April 18th. 1862.

Il SAVANNAH, April 18th, 1862.
+ Dear Eather:-I am at Savannah
taking care of Lieut.. Lasley, the onl
e one Of our company, SO far as we know
t who is much injured, and he will re
cover; but it will be months ere he will
be we'll [ shall join the Company il
a few days-just as soon as the crisis i
over with him. 1t has been so Ions
, since the battle, that will not under
; take TO describe it, but only relate Incl
dents, and tell the deeds Of Meip
County boys.
As wrote before, our Regiment was
the first one attacked, and, strange as il
may seem to you, We did not know thai
the enemy was approaching in full force
until they were within 800 yards. Gen
Grant was so over-co confident that thew
would never attack US, that he had out
70 plckets of any account, nor at dis :
tanco greater than 800 or 400 wards,
except very few, ard it was very few
cavalry; nor had we fortified, planted
batteries, or felled timber, or done any,
thing else to prevent surprise or ward
off an assault. We formed in line at 7
Sunday morning, wholly unconscious
of the reasons for doing SO, and re-
treated to run in the timber on the
left (southeasD Of our camp, where we
lay down awaiting the enemy. Jus :
| then Gen. Sherman and staff rode into
our camp to see what the matter was,
and Was fired upon, killing one of his
orderlies, the beginning of a mighty
| conflict. He and his staff retreated rap
idly. On came the enemy, three solid
columns, double quick across our camp,
moving as quietly and steadily as on
dress parade, magnificent sight to the
spectator, a more fearful one to the par
ticlpators. AS the head Of the first col
umn, the Mississippi legion, came in
sight, vclley from our Regiment killed
their Colonel and thirty-six Others $50
say wounded prisoners) and wounded
their Lieut.. Colonel and scores of 9th
ers, driving them back Their return
fire wounded two or three, among them
Lieut.. Lasley. You must remember
that we were concealed. Then was the
time, and that was the place for US to
have made an obstinate resistance, until
the whole force would have been
aroused. True, we would have been
dnaliy forced to retreat, and might have
lost many men, but we would have
killed more of the enemy and saved the
battle on Sunday, if we had staid there
half an hour. But Col. Appler sim
ply ''traveled, and cried "retreat," not
telling us how or where to rally. We
rallied without his help twice, only to
hear and see tho same thing repeated,
minus the firing On the enemy. The
last time he hurried three miles to the
steamboat, leaving US to look out for
ourselves. We did not see him again
till after the battle. By this time the
Regiment was much scattered dozens
went into other regiments, with some of
whom We never will know what han
pened. Others, following the example
of their Colonel, fed to the boats, and
'5out onethird remained with the Reg
nent under command of Lieut.. Col. r.
4. Fulton. Until 3 o'clock we were
battery of artillery in re-
serve, and were not under fire.
Then we were moved to the extreme
light, to SUPPORT the Sd Wisconsin +
Battery, placed there. Ere many
minutes, two batteries opened on us,
me splendid one, of heavy guns
)urs, though light, gallantly replied,
nd such noise I never expected to
lear in all my life. They got our
ange too we'll, and horses began to fall;
shell, ESQ says the Adjutant,) burst :
'lthln foot of me, but just beyond, so
hat 1t did not strike me, but it tore a
orse, about 20 feet behind, to peices. :.
'oor thing; it never kicked nor strug-
led, bnt sank down, looking so pitiful.
moment or two more, and a horse fell r
lst In front, shot by 10 ID ball. Our :,
artery ceased firing, and made prepa-
atoms to retreat. Then came she'll
nd canister, at least 20 rounds per :, -
lnute, none passing so feet from
here lay, and many as close as they
ould come and not strike. Whiz,
hlz, whiz. The shells play the alto, :.
I'D bullets the treble in the grand, the ',
randest oratorio that ever the genius
man composed. Some Of the men
1T at once, others staid longer. Lieut.. -
lack was the last man off the field, and,
lthout boasting, [ can say l was not
+ ahead of him. But if any one
inks we did not hug the ground
lille We staid, he is very much mis-
ken. Depend upon it, we were not
'rticular about getting clothes ,soiled.
e formed few rods to the right and
y, or stood, in line of battle in pour
g rain all night, aud dreary night
was. Driven from half our camp;
eadilY driven all day. with thousands