Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1863-02-20

olal uGlu D4lttflttt Nlltu lAlAA nAiNoc AAo AAfe
two other heavy batteries joined IN the strife
and made Major Pelham aud his gun their tar
get For hours not less than thirty Federal can
} non strove 10 silence Major Pelham's pop-gui
and str7ve in vain. The unyielding and unde
: monstrative courage of Major Pelham, his com
posure under the deadlisst fire. have long mad
him conspicuous, but never were his noble quail
tiles the subject Of more glowing enlogy thar
I upon this occasion. Gen. Lee exclaimed /
is inspiriting 10 see such glorious courage in ont
so young" (Maior Pelham is not more thar
22) Gen Jackson remarked with Pelham
Hpon either flank I could vanquish the world.
GENERALS LEE, LoSGsTREEr AND JACKSON
Athalf past 8 NJ, General Lee, accoInpa
MED by bis flll staff, rode slowly along the
front of the Confederate lines from left TO right
and took up his station for a time beyond Ham
ilton's Crossing, and IN rear of the batteries on
the extreme Confederate right 1t would be
presumptUoUs in me to say one word IN COM
mendaton Of the serenity, OF, if / may SO ex-
press it, the unconscious dignity Of General
Lees courage, whom he is under FIRE. No one
who sees snd knows his -demeanOr 10 ordinary
life would expect anything else from one so
calm. so undemonstrstive and unassuming.
But the description applied 10 him of Alma to
1 Lord Raglan by Msrshsl st Armand, and in
which noticing Lord Raglsn's Inconsistencies
under Ere he speaks of his antique heroism"
seems to me so applicable to General Lee that l
/ cannot f0rbear recalling it here. At z subse
/ qnent period of the day General Les assumed
b 8 station on the bill which takes its name
/ from him, snd thence. in company with
| General Lonestraet calmly watched the reDnlse
ef the repeated Federal efforts against the nights
on which be stood, Occasionally General Jack
son rode up TO the spot and mingled in conver-
sstion with the other two leading generals. Once
General Longstreet exclaimed TO him, =" Are you
not scared BY that file Of Yanke you have
before you down there ?" to which General Jack
son replied "Wait till they come little nearer,
sad they shall either scare me or I'll scare
them
OPENING OF THE FIGHT
The battle opened when the sun had let in
enough light through the mist to disclose the
near proximity Of the Federal lines and field
batteries The FIRST shot was fred shortly be-
fore 10 A NJ, from the batteries in the Federal
center, and was directed against General Hoods
division. The Pennsylvania reserves advanced
boldly under heavy FIRE against the Confede
rates, who occupied one Of the e0psewood spurs,
and were, for time, permitted to hold it; but
presently the Confederate batteries opened on
them and delerAined charge of the Texans
drove the Yankees out OF the wood in confu-
sion from which nothing could subsequently
rally them. simultaneously heavy FIRE issu-
Ct uotu LlS Dhltelke5 OF Gbnofdl a. Z. EltiS
and Early's divisions, which was vigorously
replied to by the Federal field batteries The
only advantage momsnsariy gained by the
Federsls IN this quarter, and which is no.
tced in General Lees report, was on the
occasion Of the collapse Of a regiment of North
Carolina cOnscripts, who broke and ran, but
whose place WAS rapidly taken by more intrepid
successors. The cannonading now became
general along the entire line. Such 2 scene, at
F.
ted on before, unless the bOmbsrdment of Ssbas-
topol by the combined batteries of France and
England revealed more fearful manifestation
Of the sate and fury Of man The laundering,
bsowing roar of hundreds of pieces of artillery,
the bright jets Of issuing fame, the screaming,
kissing, whistling. shrieking projeetiles, the
wTeathes of smoke, Gs shell after shell burst
into the Air, the savage crash Of round shot
among the trees Of the shattered forest formed !
scene likely to sink forever into the memory !
of all who witnessed it. but utterly defying yer
bal delineation. A direct and enfsiing FIRE |
swept each battery upon either side as it was IN
masked; volley replied to voley, crash succeed !
ed crash, until the eye lost ell power Of distin
gushing the lines of c0mbatants, and the plain |
seemed g lake Of hre, a sesthing lake of molten |
lava, eoursed over by incsrnate fends, drunk |
with fury and revenge
THE FEDERALS TWICE REFUSED WITH GREAT
sLAGHTER.
Twice the Federals galantly led and han
died by their officers, dashed against the fore es
of Gen. A. p Hal aud Gen Early, and twice |
they reeoiIed, broken and discomftted, and in /
capable Of being again rallied to the Fray The |
Confeierates drove them with horrid carnage |
across the plain, and only desistsd from their /
work when they came under the fire of the Fede |
rails batteries across the river Upon the ex-
treme Confederate right Gen. Stusrt's horse ar
hllery drove hOtly upon the fugitives, and kept /
up the pursuit, subsequently understood to |
have been effective uatl after dark Upon the |
Confederate left, wh4Te the antagonist fought |
upon more equal terms, the equality of loss By |
the COnfederates was greater than on the Con
federate right; the Federal loss in ofic,rs AID /
men fer outbslanced that of their opponents
Gen Bsyard, the best cavalry officer in the !
Federal service, aud almost on the eve of the
day which would have witnessed his nuptials,
shared his tate. Msny other general officers
were carried to the Federal rear, erieyously
wounded whereas, of the Confederates, only
one officer of rank (Gen Gregg fell upon the
right, aud only one (Gsn Cobb upon the left.
ACTION az THE IRISH BRIGADE
-THE MEN OF FoETENOY, ALBUERA AND
WATERLOO ECLIPsED.
Meanwhile the battle which had dashed fari
Ousiy against the lines Of Gen Hood, A p Hill
compared with he onslaught directed bv the
F1edarais IN the ir1u1u-listg ueighborhoOd of |
The impression thai the Con-
federate batteries would not fee heavily upon
the Fe1erals advancing in Tits qusrter. for iaar
Of iniuriDg the town Of Frsdericksburg is be-
Iisvei 10 hAvs prevailed among the Northern
generals. How bitterly they deceived them
selves subs quent events served 20 snow 70
the Irish division. comrlaaded by Gen Ma
CHER, WAS princip ally committed the desperate
task of bursting ous Of the town Of Frederies s.
burg and forming under the whitening fire of
he Confederate batteries, to attack Marye's
Hights towering Immediately in their front,
Never st Fentenoy, Albuers or at V9saerloo was
more undoubted courage displayed by the sons
at Erin tlsu during those six irantie dashes
which they directed against the almost impreg
nsbe position OF their foe There are stories
hat General Msagher harsngued his troops in
mpassi0Ded language on the morning of thu
18Th, and piled them extensively with the whisky
found in the cellars Of Fredericksburg After
witnessing the gsllantry aud devotion exhibited
BY his troops, and viewing the hillsides for
scres strewn with their corpses thick as su-
umnel leaves, the spectator can remember
nothing but their desperate courage, and regret
hat is was not exhibited in q hOiier cause. That
any mortal men could have carried the position
before which they were wsntoniy sacrificed,
defended IS it WIS it seems to me idle for mo
nent to believe. But the bodies which lie in
dense masses within forty yards of the muzzles
of Colonel Walton's guns are the best evidence
what manner of men they we're who pressed on
TO death with the dauntiessness of race which
has gained glory on thousand Ssttle-6elds, and
never more richly deserved It than at the foot OF
Marye's nights on the 18Th day Of December,
1862.
DEMoRAIIzATIoN OF THE ARMY.
An opportunity of sending this letter, with
an encouraging prospect Of IFS reaching Eng
lend, compsls me to defer a further sccount
Of the gallant defense on The Confederate
LEFT OF the iowns Of fredericksburg, and Of
the battle field. until a. SUBSEQUENT letter.
But il is important 10 add that, even at this
early date, there are abundant evidences that
the Confsderates, themselves sustaining but a
loss of about eighteen hundred killed and
have inflicted upon their enemy q
defeat, from which it viii take him months I
urta thr tn AZ A. u,