The Portland daily press., 1863-01-01


slackened, but did not cease. We felt that we
must hold the position. though it was a des-
perate thing to think Of For the rebels know
ing the ground, might flank us in the dark
ness, and to be found under their very guns at
daylight would be offering ourselves to de-
struction. To retire however was to expose
the whole army to defeat. So we lay on the
trampled and bloody field. Wet and cold it
was too, and we had no blankets-the officers
mean. Little sleep we had then and thereI
assure you. Our eyes and ears were open.
we could near the voices of the rebels in their
lines, SO near were they, and could see many
oi their movements. L did sleep though,
strange as you may think it, in the very midst
OF heap OF dead close beside one dead man,
touching him, possibly-the living and dead
were alike to me. i slept, though my ears
were filled with the cries and. groans of the
wounded, aud the ghastly faces of the dead al
most made "A wall around me. 1t was very
cold in the night, and we suffered. Mr.. Brown
and wandered over the field hoping to find
blanket or an overcoat on some dead man, but
Others had been before u.s. Once. on such an
errand perhaps, or it may be to find some
friends. a man came and lifted our coat-capes
from our faces, peering into our eyes. thinking
We were dead.
The mornino broko--sahha,b mor,;,o
calm. silent serene There we lay I;f,Ie
handful. in a slight hollow ON the hillside and
only tins nro,eciod 6om tho ha,ta.ios and
rifles thai swent the cres,s hatore ne aud ho.
hind ps too n man conld st,A,d u;,hnn, bo-
ING shot down: troops ordered tn onr ral;ef
could not come up without beino annihi-
lated the aids that sougbt to brny ne orders
riding at full speed had their horses shot from
under them the instant they reached the crest
behind ms. The enemy tried to dsIodge ms hv
shell. but they did not sncceed in bursting
them exactly over us. and the ahot that swept
the two crests. lust skinned over our heads
if we kept down. Next they sent three or four
hundred skirmishers to- get a position on onr
flank under cover of a rayine. and we had tn
build a breastwork in The midst of their fire
and under this shelter we succeeded in driv-
ing them Off with our rifles. We kept mn the
firing all day, in momentary expectation of
some desperate attack, but resolved not to
finch in that fiery ordeal.
At last on the second midpioht HAVING been
in that hell of fire for thirty-six hours. an or
der came that we were to be relieved. But
our dead lay around us, and we could not
leave them thus "We will give them star
light BURIAL" il was said: but Heaven ordain-
ed a more sublime illumination. As we bore
them, the forms of our fallen heroes. ON frag-
ments of boards torn from the fences by shot
and shell, to their honored graves. their own
loved North lifted her oiorious ligbts and
sent her triumpbal procession along the arch
that snannad bar ba,ran. A, 49,, ~
lis mprvelons IN he,u,y FL F;arn ,onaa' no. and
banners of blood. and flame. columns of nearly
light, garlands and wreaths of rold-all point-
ing and beckoninp inward. Redtting scene,
Who womb die nobler death or dream of
more glorious burialp Dead FIR their conn
try's honor. and LIGHTED To burial nv the meteor
splendors of their Northern homei Then NAL
inc sure that our wounded had oil haen aa,h-
cred cold wei and battla-worn wo anfarad
the town and b;youacLa5 s;,r = Gu honrs ~
the payements Once then batoro ,,nrn;oa
we had 10 rally to ransI q ni,,,, s,.a1,. o'
Alter SO great labars we s.xnaa,ad s,o..
relief. that we might be ready inr another and
yictorious charos Rut in ,ba norn;nr ,,a
were ordered to prepare Immediately for ac-
ton again, and had scarcely fallen asleep on
the next night when our brigade was called to
arms. and in darkness and silence we marched
over that fatal field once more. Here among
the thick strewn dead, and scarcely to be dis
tinguished from them, we found a few of our
troops lying fat on their faces, and fairly
trembling with fearful apprehension. And in
deed ii was more thrilling and narrowing
business to be creeping around In that dark
and DANCE rous place, where YOU conld not zee
whether man was friend or foe, only two hun
dred yards from the enemy's works, amidst all
the ghastly relics of the slaughter, than any
thing we had experienced before Our friends
informed us in tones not calculated to re-assure
our feelings. that the rebels were in plain sight
extending their rifle pits close up TO us. that a
whole brigade had been crushed OFF, from that