Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1862-06-23
4 SPIRITED DESCRIPTION OF THE BAT.
TIE AT HANOVER COURT HOUSE.

wAsHISsT0NIANs IN The FIGHT.
A washingtonian, well known in this city as a
professional muIician and composer OF ability
and who Is now with the ed PENNSYLVANIA Reei.
ment (Porter's division) az bandmr sser, writes a
lively description to friend here of the battle st
Hanover Court House, from which we take the
following:
'T was In the thickest OF that affair, and will
give you some particulars When we started
from our camp (nearly twenty miles from the
Court House) II was raining very hard We
travelled until we were within ak miles of the
Court House, when we halted, completely worn
Su1sS GUY WIN Waking through so many new-Plowed
nelds. sometimes we would be In the mud over
our boot tops. Martindale's and Butterfeld's
brigsdes were ahead OF US. Directly we heard
the artillery hard at It. Orders came for eur
brigade 10 follow up quickly, which we did
Presently we came to an open field, where Martin
with the enemy we fSreeseaed On on tkforgS
another beautiful wheat held. On one side was
fne house, occupied by our surgeons az a hos
pital We soon got on the road Leading to the
Court House: Suddenly we halted. General
eS, S6S danbs Sy dnet thuTy giving S.ds.
not feel much Ike going at a double quick -
"Ehe rebels had got In our rear, with the full
determination Of cutting US Of, and taking the
whole Of our zee prisoners. The ID Maine
REGIMENT had been in the fight in the forenoon,
and had s'eid, behind, close by the ospital to
rest When our whole frce had gone By, the
tke rebels at Ray until our forces could come M
We arrived just in time to save the I'd Maine
and battery, for the rebels had got a strorg
force, and Were preparing 20 make a charge on
our battery as we came in the rear Of them sSain
The General gave orders for the SD Pennsylyania
and the 9lh Massachusetts, to charge, which thew
did: never heard in my life such yelling and
such roars Of muske;Ty. The rebels did not know
what in thunder had broke loose The roar of
InusketrY was as II three hundred drummers were
trying to see who could roll the loudest and
the longest, for two hours steady
Il was laughable to see the secesh run fol-
loved up close by my regiment The hrst
wounded man / came across was a rebel He
was shot through the breast, and begged Of me 10
give him drink Of water, which did The
next was rebel. shot In the forehead Close by
him another rebel was living, with his hanis
over bis head Father inquired II he was hurt.
He answered no, and father said stYou are nv
prisoner" Re begged to be permitted TO siay
with bis companion-that he wanted to take care
OF him 50 father gave him over to one Of the
saarPshooters, and both Of them were taken care
To make a long story short, the woods was
covered with the dad and wounded. AS the
rebels were running oTer field, Griffin came up
with his battery While the rebels were In the
act Of getting over fence he let drive one Of his
shells Il ex ploded Immediately in their mid Il
killing great many Of them. Griffin went to bis
done, my son.n
Nest Of .he rebels were shot through the head
and breast IL was horrible TO look at them
Ihey lay IN all manner OF shapes. Some Were
shot while In the act Of biting OF their cartridges;
IN this shape they died One rebel showed des-
perate bravery. He got behind tree, and close
by him was.en old stump. He placed all his car
tridgcs on this stump ard as fast he could load
and dre be did The tree was completeIy
rlddled with bullets shot bY our men, and he soon
got his walking papers. The ground was covered
with blood where he 5 oOd.
An lrishmaa IN the 9th Massachusetts came
ec-oss three rebels. As soon as they saw him one
OF them fred his piece and missed Pat ran rig ht
at him, before he could load again, and took hi $
gun away, kicked him smartly IN the rear and
said ''take that, ye vsrmint, IL ye can't shoot
better than that, giving him another kick, ''take
thst- J." By this time his regiment had come up,
and found Pat in possession Of three prisoners.
Another IriShnsn, OF the sane regiment, took
rebel prisoner while in the act of aiming his
piese. The rebel said, Il surrender, take my
gun-n Pat said "Carry your gun yourself, you
lazy, good for nc:hing blagguaTd. Do you sup
pose am agoing to carry our gun and mine too,
Go In font Of M, march,"
Six Cf our regiment are wounded None killed.
twill not oe long before you will hear good
news. We are SURE OF success. Our division was
not In the battle OF Fair Oaks. We are with the
regulars in reserve. Il was a hard fought battle.
Nothing but a continual roar Of musketry and
cannon all the day long.