The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-05-16
T,,e Battle OF Sunday.

:, furnishes the following description OF
'ss desperate fight on Sunday, the 81 inst,
achaneellorville. This will complete our
,oral occount of the contest under Hook
go, that place prior TO his repassing to the
with side of the Rappahannock. We
sa,, probably be able to pick up many !
V.,s of interest in relation to the battles,
thew gradually come to light, which at
,sst win fill up the whole picture. aaa
/ ,aer the disaster to our right wing of |
,...rday and the manifestation the rebels |
s oa.S of their position and intentions, Gen. |
"cker determined upon radical change
nffront. Hitherto, as the reader has seen,
Ssline faced east and south west. 1t was
INV certain that the main body Of the enc
NV had got around to our right, or on the
u rs of us, andthat butsmall bodies remain
| between us and fredericksburg. Act
y inc upon this supposition, and with the full
| nonnfdence that he would be powerfully as
sailed the next morning on his right, the
commanding General determined at mid
night of Saturday, to form powerful line
! If battle, facing directly to the right.
The organization of this line gave Rey-
! nolds the extreme right, with his right flank
l resting on the river, Slocum the centre, and
| Sickles the left, his left flank resting at
I Scott's creek. Couch and Meade were left
II 10 look tittG lilc lIOIt NOWtiu
I burg. while the remnant of the Eleventh
nsas to be used, if it could be organized,
~ sherever it could be made the most effect
i've. In the formation of this line ! have
even particular attention to those forces
that were most actively engaged. On the
previous night, during the confusion and
/ stampede. Gen. Berry, of Sickles' corps,
n had moved up the plank road and taken
r position just in the edge of the woods, where
l he met the enemy as they were advancing
l to complete the discontinue of the right
VIM, and had hurled them back most
L etfectually. He was then ordered to retain
L the ground he had thus defended, which
I was on either side of the plank road, as in
y dicated in the above diagram, which would
Il give him the left of our right wing.
During the night of Saturday, Birney,
having been annoyed by the sharpshooters
II Of the enemy living in the woods about the
cleared field in which he was bivouaced for
the night. ordered out his division, and
charged bayonets through the woods to the
~ plank road, eflectually clearing it OF all
bodies of rebels. He then fell back again
to the field with Whipple.
Atdayiight on Sunday morning the effort
was making TO withdraw both Whipple
and Birney from the field and put them in
position on the left of our new line, half q
\ mile back, Whipple TO have the extreme
y left. Birney the center. with his right on
4 Berry's flank. This new line had been
| provided for during the night by the con-
| struction ofbreastworks and ritie-pits along
| it's entire front, and throwing up field
| works for the artillery in the rear.
\ A little before sunrise, while Gen. Sickles
was removing his two divisions from thu
/ little farm that ] have so often had occa
| sion to refer to, the enemy fell upon him il
l great force, the attack coming from th'
/ woods on the northwest of the field. Ih
l bulk of the corps had been Withdrawn from
4 tha ,fnlI nn1 plrpo1v nOSltl0n n
4 the designated point. A single brigade
/ each of Birney's and Whipple's corps, re
L NAMED, and these set their faces bravel,
1 toward the enemy and returned the tir
that was so uneeTe,noniously poured upol
i them. ..sss gF taHs SINS 81 -7asE
| simultaneously. with thisattack the reb
! els pushed on down the plank road an
fell upon Berry's division at the edge ofth
woods, and then upon French, lying O.
Berry's right flank, land almost in me
i ment the fighting became general ana IN
tensely hot along the entire left wing OF tn
army. The position in which the two 81
\ visions of Sickles' corps were placed, so ia
| in advance of the rest of the army, an
with no breastworks to shelter them. wa
u delicate in the extreme. The enemy, &c
the first time, brought up several pieces {
field artillery, with which they opened W
on shat little body OF brave men with ylg
I or that threatened their annihilatlon. BIT
there are no soldiers III corps tuht eNe
submit to defeat. 1t is Hooker's old con
mand. and is now distinguished from tn
others by the Commanding General as tn
"Old Guard" 1t is one ofthe finest bodle
the world has ever observation-disclosures
4 a dozen hard fought campaigns-scarret
M ragged, trusty and brave-men that haN
n never been known to quail under howev'
severe fire they might be placed-doii
and daring in every emergency as thous
always sure of the success that has hither
invariably rewarded their efforts. Such
BODY of men deserve a distinguished pos
ton, and always feel badly used when n
permitted to occupy the front ranks in tin
L Of battle.
Here is the famous division of Shields
whose exploits in the Shenandoah vale
gavethem name that viii ever be glol
Gus. And here, too is the magnificent 9
vision of the lamented Kearny-men WI
y, never faltered under any fire, however ga
ling. And here, also, IS the veteran &C
i umn led by Hooker through the penins
lar campaign, and with which he esta
} lished his reputation as fighting gener:
Such material may be equalled in the ran
of American soldiers. but the world
I never, and never can produce their SUI
J riors. The "Old Guard is an approprii
| title to give them, and the dlstncuon
/ eminently meritorious.
On the occasion of this Sunday morni
attack the colors of the corps were ST
upon the field, as also the corps comman
| er. Their brigade colors were also the
I. and he is but poor soldier who deserts
M flag when it is in danger. There was ia
Z ger now They We're assailed by no Il
| than twenty thousand of the ene n
| against whom they could oppose scarce
| more than five thousand men in both
| gades combined. Fortunately there we
| one or two batteries yet remaining on
| field, which were so efficiently worked
\ to check the advance of the rebels. q
I lantly they fought, those two brigad
many of their number falling upon
field under the merciless fire of the shelf
| ed foe; but they would not run, howe'
severe that fire might be. But it was j
possible that they could stand long agail
l. such odds as assailed them here. For h
y an hour they held their ground, and tt
fell back in good order to the shelter of
/ stone wall that divides this field from
/ Charlottesville opening, dragging tn
cannon after them. And here they M;
I another glorious stand. If some of tn
numbers were left upon the upper tie
- : ~ Af Ia q ,,,lx0