Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-12-16

move the troops. Here Is spectacle sub
liner than America ever before. One
that IN point Of solemn grandeur history itself
will fan to furnish superior to- Fifty thou
sand men are braving death--cooIIy, deliber-
ately marching TO his embrace. A long line
| of battle-iags and banners are streaming in
| the wind The earth shakes from the 1nuffied
| tread of men. Spectators are chained, trans
fixed in admiration
The rebels in the riae-pits peer over their
works. See the line grasp their guns and pre-
| pare 10 deliver their fire The army has
| scarcely left its defences, when all the enemv's
| batteries open on It. Ours reply, and work
| with untiring vigor. The flags emerge from
| the woods. From the enemys works leap
| the storm of bullets, and now the valley is
| resonant with every tone and semitone in the
diapason of battle. The roll is continuous
| the explosion terrible. Our cannoniers do
/ SPLENDID work. \ caisson is seen 10 burst
our shells explode under the rebel guns
| wild, frantic cheer escapes the assailants-
| The first line of fire is reached. Wood, with
| his .ivision, is over and after the fleeing
enemy
| Now one regimenta flag waves highest I'D
the slope, and now another. The colors OF
( the 10Th Indiana are conspicuous the bearer
/ dashes ahead of his regiment, several feet in
| front of the entire line, and presses forward
| through storm OF bullets meant for him.
| that only riddled the flag. He is far up to-
ward the works and sheltered behind log
| waves his flag detantly at the enemy The
SSth Indiana loses her color-bearer who il
| killed. Another starts from the ranks, sezes
| the standard, and he, to, goes down to death
Thomas j. Graves succeeds to the honor
| He quits the ranks, grasps the flagstaff reek-
| ing with his comrades gore, waves ii over
| head, and ike i spirit impervious TO the mis-
| siles that whistle about. cutting the flag and
| shrivering the staff, he moves steadily, unfal-
| teringly toward the crest. Is his charmed
| life, or does the God of battles shield him
| Every eye at the Knoll in breathless suspense
follows his footsteps. Onward still onward
he goes, followed by the admiring cheers Of
! his dauntiess comrades, who press hard after
him He ncars the rebel works, again the
death-dealing bullets fit BY and overhead
and rend the flag. The smoke of battle man
ties him. Let US sean the ridge. Here on
| line far advanced as any other portion
struggles up the division of the eager, impet-
u0us Wood. The colors of the Ist Ohio and
the 23d Kentucky, now consolidated, approach
the rebel works. The enemy, goaded to
desperation by our successes pours down
without a moments intermission, his hail of
bullets. All that storm is but the dashing of
the maddenCd waves against a coast of rocks.
Firm as the hill they climb, the men bear I'D,
and now far to the right, away down the
ridge, rattles the musketry of Hooker's ad-
FdICiNg cOIunn. CHeerS answer II DdCk.
Hooker refuses his left held by the infe xible
troops of Johnson, that fought under Rosseau
at Perryville and Stone River. They do not
recede. They tarry under orders. Hooker's
right swings round at rapid pace, and now
in the enemy's rear rolls up the eastern
slope The rebels enveloped, caught be-
tween a fire from front and rear, sway and
toss in wild connection. Their gunners quit
their posts.
IL, IL, .I.zI1
begins to crumble and dissolve. Who now is
foremost? it would be invidious to designate.
Baird loses heavily, and the enemy still re-
fuses to yield. Van Derver with his sinewv
brigade lags not foot. Col. Palmer, com
mauding the 1st brigade, sheds his hearts
blood, and lies corpse a few feet from the
rebel works. Turchin rises the crest grace
fully, boldly, and his brigade closes with the
enemy. Beatty, cool but eager, holds toward
the top, and his gallant color bearer of the
18th, mounting the parapet, plants his colors
there. AT the same moment as though the
same protecting spirit urged both hagsmen
on, the banners of the lst Ohio and 23d Ken
lucky seen on the works in front of Ha-
zen. Confusion pervades the rebel masses.
They leave their artillery, and in wild dis
order, roll down the hill toward Chicka-
manga.
Three thousand of the enemy hemmed in
by Hooker's bayOncts and the line in front
are taken prisoners. Hazen captures eighteen
guns, Beatty eleven, Turchin eight, Van Der
yer four, with caissons and horses harnessed.
Other brgades captured artillery also, and re-
ports footed up, when | left the field, forty
two pieces Our prisoners will number, when
full reports come in, at least six thousand.
Our victory was complete.
| have said that the storming of those
heights a spectacle never exceeded in
grandeur of display by any of the terrible
conflicts that history chronicles. l have not
exaggerated
Napoleon was thrilled by the sublimity of
that spectacle that met his gaze, when from
an eminence overlooking the field of Auster-
litz he saw the intrepid Soult leave the tu-
muituOus masses below, and watched his up
ward progress as he stormed the heights of
Pratzen. So with Davoust who in painful
suspense followed he cheering legions of
Morand, as he carried the heights of Lennen
berg. | can conceive of nothing grander
than the assault of our united armies on the
rebel work of Mission Ridge.
As the sun went down, tnging the icccy
borders of the clouds with an argent hue the
camp fires of the Union army blazed along
the ridge where the night before slumbered
the now routed hosts of rebellion. All hon
or 10 the brave men who fought and bled.
Let their names rank high in the catalogue
of heroes. Cheer them, aid them, honor
them. Let the memory of their deeds bright
en- with the decay of time.
| a MAGNIFICENT CELESTIAL EXHIBITION
! Those who have occasion to rise at dsybreak
| these clear nornin.s will see the planet We
! Il % IT,