Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-09-30

changes 10 assist MN AnulpfeVent tue
thanking OF the position with he held so
tcnaciously and with such EVIDENT distress
to the enemy. Davis was tonove OF from
the right and Sheridan wa to step into
his tracks. II would take ht moment
Van CIeye, who was not In be front line,
had only to move to the leftand go in
The extreme right front lie would be
weakened aud the centre would be left
without its reserves, and therefore weak
eued to that exteut; but the right centre
bad not been engaged all themoruiug, and
it was evident the enemy WIS all on our
left. The plan was good bnl Heaven had
ordered that it should prove toortiVe.
THE RXEMT ATTACK rHN 9NrRR.
Lying under Reynolds ,wfks at this
hour, my AtIentiOn was ealldl lNavilent
movements in the thick woVtis in his front
aud on his right Tue dutf revealed that
the enemy was there, and soon Il WAS
known all along the line that he was push
iug forward to attack the right and centre.
Tue fight on the left continued with
great fury, but BrannGn had arriV-
ell in time to save that flank. The dau-
ger WAS now in the trout aud right. The
enemy issued from the woods iu echsi0H of
brigadss-the formation plainly distinct,
aud in II moment more easily trAceAble by
the line of fame which leAped along it
1t advanced with great rSpldity, aud in
moment Reynolds, Brannaa, Palmer, Wood
and Sheridan were hOtly engaged. But
the fight was of short duration. The right
aud oentre-l will not attempt to explain
how-gavc way ia ten minutes after tue
6ght began, and fed rapidly across the
fields toward the mountains. Davis, struck
In flank WAS cut of with Sheri-
dau, while Palmer and Wood, making des
perate efforts to repel the overwhelming
assault OF the rebels, made with an impetus
which of itself should have insured sue
cess, were forced back In the opposite di-
rectioD. Van Glove, struck while en- route
to aid the lett, made no resistance deserv-
ing Of the name, but was seen flying iu
mad retreat across an open field, where
RosecrAns' headquarters were. | can re-
member seeing in the distance the vain en-
deAvors Of Rosecrans aud his staff to rally
them. The rebels pushed on after the fy-I
ing columns, Increasing the wild panic
which possessed them, and the personal
exertious OF the chief and his staff were
in vain. The rout Of Sheridan, Davis, Van
Cleve, and the most of Wood aud Palmer,
was now complete. General RUsecrans, cut
of with Sheridan, Davis and Van Glove,
was forced, with McCOOk and Critteudeu,
far to the right, and in three hours after.
borne along by the current, and cut off
from Thomas, all three were pushed by
the flying columns into ROssvile and Chat
tanooga.
The day looked gloomy as saw this
from Thomas' retreating right II had
been gloomy en0neh at noon, and even
Rosocrnns began to despair. Lieutenant
Moody. sent by Negley to say that he was
hard pressed on the left, could not md
Thomas, and reported to Rosecrnns; Rose
Grams had replied, in the despair of his
bear,:-
"Tell General Negley that can't help
him"
The day was lost. and at last the irwin.
chile Army Of the Cumberland bad been
defeated.
Not all.
Thomas still remained on the field, with
remnants of his glorious old corps; and
and the man who had the day before. 10
equal contest, defeated the boasttul chiv-
airy of Longstreet, now bent all his euer-
gies, with All unequal force, to cover the
retreat and save the flying army from ab.
solute destruction.
He had remaining to him Negley-his
brigade separated-Baird, Reynolds, Bran
uan-his brigade in two parts Of the field
nearly intact; Palmer, Of Critteuden's,
reduced to almost nothing; aud gallant
little Wood, with gallant little Harkers
gallant little brigade. But they were not
in the position in which we left them
Joe Reynolds said he could hold the key
| II only BrnnnAn were left TO him, and he
had kept his word aud repulsed the enemy
at the very moment when the right and
centre broke. But this abandonment Of
the field by the centre and right enabled
the enemy to do with Thomas right what
be had signally failed, at frightful cost, to
do with his left, and soon the rebels were
pushing forward upon Wood and Palmer,
doubling them up and pushing them back
upon Brannau and Reynolds, at the same
time getting in a cross fire upon them,
which forced them tU abandon the field,
and a retreat of Thomas right wing be.
gan, which l shall not attempt TO describe
in detail It was not the wild panic Of
| McCook and Crittenden. The right fell
back disputing the ground, retaining their
organization IN some measure, and making
A stand wherever the opportunity present.
ed itself. But the lines OF retreat were
iudescribably confused, and when General
Thomas succeeded in forming "a line At one
O'Clock he found that brigades which had
retreated from positions on the left were
now in the centre, that those which had
been right were on tue left, and all very
much mixed. But the new line had this
relation to the former line OF the whole
army: the left had fallen back two hun
dred yards from its hrst position, while the
right had swung around so that the line
between the two was divergent from the
other at au angle of about sixty degrees.
Il was now not over one third as long,
aud the forces holding it represented not
more than one. fourth of what the army
had been. There were just three batteries
in the line. There were posted two on
the right centre, with Reynolds and Bran
nau,T while one thundered away on the
left with johnson, q gallant soldier who
was doing nobly, and who this day, under
Thomas leadership. regained all the lnu.