The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-12-19

All felt that an eventful moment was at
hand for veal or woe, in the destinies of
East Tennessee and her brave defenders
The enemy dashed upon the left of our po-
sition several times, as if in confident bra
yado, and finally drove our skirmishers
from the advanced rife-pits and occupied
them about daylight Sunday morning.
Our men rallied and as determinedly re-
gained them. driving The rsbels back in
turn. Suddenly an avalanche of men wers
hurled upon the disputed ritie-pits, our
skirmishers were forced back and covered
by our guns from the fort by our retreating
men. Two storming brigades were ena-
bled to approach within one hundred yards
of the bastion. It was their intention,
probably. to draw out our boys and then
attempt to return with them and enter the
works. In this they were foiled. Our
s,Sirmishers fell in on the left, and the reb-
e. stormng party advanced directly upon
the bastion. Then ensued scene OF car
mage and horror which has but few paral-
leis in the annals of warfare Balaklava
was scarce more terrible. Stunned for a
moment by the torrent of canister end
lead poured upon them by Buckley's LIST
Rhode Island Battery and our line of mus
kerry, on they came. Again and again the
deadly missiles shattered their torn and
mangled columns. Their march was over
dead and wounded comrades, yet still they
i3UercQ not, onward, Sllll
whole ranks stumbled over wires stretched
from stump to stump, and fell amid the
dead and dying, yet still over their pros
trate bodies marched the doomed heroes OF
that forlorn hope.
At last the ditch was reached, and the
slaughter became butchery, as II on wa
ger of death against mortality. Benja
MINIS guns on the salients swept the ditch
as the tornado woulfthe corn. The earth
was stated with blood-men waded in blood,
and struggled up the scarp and slipping in
blood fell back to join their mangled pre-
decessors in The CORY mud below. The
shouts of the foiled and infuriate rebels,
the groans of the dying and shrieks of the
wounded, arose above the din of the can
non. Benjamin lighted shell and threw
dhem over the parapet, and artillery-men
followed his example. One rebel climbed
the parapet and planted the flag of the
Thirteenth Mississippi Regiment on the
its appearance had scarce left the lips that
framed it than man and flag were in the
ditch together, pierced by a dozen balls
Another rebel repeated the feat and re-
Joined his comrade. A third essayed to
bear off the flag and was cloven with an
Ak. One man entered an embrasure and
was blown TO fragments: two more were
cut down in another, but not one entered
the fort. The three veteran regiments of
tae Ninth Army Corps stood up to the
work before them untlinching and glo-
TiouS to a man. The heroes OF a dozen
campaigns from the Potomac to VickS-
burg, they found themselves for the third
time arrayed for trial of courage and en-
durance with the flower lof the Southern
army-the picked men of Longstreet's
boosted veterans, and saw the sun rise, on
tnat chill Sunday morning In November,
on an entire brigade annihilated, and two
more severely punished. Even the dead
outnumbered rs, for not more than three
hundred of ur force participated in the de-
tense of For Sanders. BENJAMIN, of the
Sd U. S. Artillery, and Buckley of the LIST
r. 1. Battery, uere foremost in acts of dar-
ing and Sallaatry. Gen. Ferraro, who has
never lett tire fort since Longstreets APP
pearance before it, to whose skill and fore
sight much Of the admirable dispositions
for the defense were due, was in command,
and right molly has he earned his star
His GOODNESS, energy and skill are subjects
of universal ecomiums.
The dead and wounded were left on the
field, and the CHASTITY horrors were render
ed sickening by the vain cries Of hundreds
for water and help. In full view from the
enclosures the ground was covered with
dead, wound and dying. Forty-eight
were heapec. Up in ditch before the bas
dton; thrice in another place, almost
within reach OF those who, though late
heir foes, you'd have willingly needed
their anguished shrieks for water; yet none
dare go to their assistance. The humanity
OF General burnside was not proof against
sc direct an appeal, and he at once sent in
a flag of true, offering an armistic until
5 o'clock, =. NJ. for the purpose of burying
their dead and caring for their wounded.-
Our own loss s5as killed and IL wounded.
Some pickets have been cut off and Skin.
4niShers cart1-ed, raising our loss 10 45 in
all. Before Fort Sanders, south of the
Viver, howeve-. the 9th Kentucky having
abandoned The rife-pits, the enemy of
course entered them, and, entilading the
line, killed. wounded and captured some
80. Colonel Cameron pushed forward other
troops and recccupied the works without
further mischief. Our entire loss during
the night and Gay is within one hundred.
The rebels removed their dead and wound
ed, and the occasion was improved to ex-
change the wounded of other OCCASIONS
Among OURS I note the gallant Major By
ington of the I'd Mich, who was wounded
in the charge OF his regiment upon the reb-
ei works CT Tuesday last. His wounds
are severe. but not mortal. He speaks
highly of tie Kindness of the rebel surgeons.
Among the -ebel officers killed was Col.
McElroy O. he 18th Miss. His Lieutenant,
John O'Brian y brother of Mrs. Parson
Brownlow, IS our prisoner. The rebels
were posted On the right between Grant
and Bragg, and nave two stories concern
ing it. AS one OF them agrees with ours,
tried the seige plan and the assault, and
failed in Doth, we can conceive no further
necessity fox his longer residence in East
Tennessee, and il he be not gone tQ-mor-
row, we shall be unable to account for it.
Many ante: pate another assault. do
not. For IA I have asserted before, he
cannot uu!ess largely REINFORCED, either
invest or take Knoxville.
have numerous incidents of the storm
ing of For. Sanders, and items from rebels
during the a-inistice, that may interest you.
The chief points are in my dispatch Of yes
serday, and "A this iettter.-Cor. GIN. Ga
sette.
CONGRATULATORY ORDER,
HEADQAr.-ERs ARMY OF THE OHIO. IN
THE FIELD, Nov. 80, 1S63.-Generdl Field
orders No. cS.-The brilliant events of the
10Th inst, so successful to our arms, seem
to present a fitting occasion for the Com
manding Genera! to thank this army for
their conduct during the experiences Of the
past seventeen days, to assure them of the
hoo hol