The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1863-07-16

the little step of the Headquarters Cot
tage, and ripped bags of oats ~ with
. knife. Another soon carried of enc
OF Its two pillars. Soon spherical
case burst opposite the open door-an.
other ripped through the low garret,
The remaining pillar went almost i'm.
mediately to the howl of fixed shot
that Whitworth must have made.
During this fire the houses at twenty
and thirty feet distant, were receiving
their death, and soldiers in Federal
blue were torn to pieces in the road
and died with the peculiar yelIs that
blend the exterted cry Of pain With
horror and dispair. Not IN orderly
not an smbulauce-not stragglsr was
to be seen upon the plain swept BY this
tempest of orchestral death thirty min.
utes after it commenced. Were not
one hundred and twenty pieces Of ar
tillery, trying to cut from the field
every battery we had in position to rs-
sist their proposed infantry attack, and
to sweep away the slight defenses be-
hind which eur infantry were waitingr
Forty Minutes-ffty minutes-counted
on watches than rant Oh so lauguid.
ly. Shells through thetwo lower rooms.
A shell in the chimney that daringly
did not explode. Shells in the yard.
The air thicker and fuller and moro.
deafening with the howling and whir-
ring of these Internal missiles. The
chief of staff struck-Seth Williams
and respected through the
army, separated from instant death by
two inches of space vertically meas
ured. An Aid bored with fragment
of iron through the bone of the arm,
Another, cut with an exploded piece.
And the time measured on the slug.
gisb watcher was one hour and forty
minutes.
Then there was lull, and we knew
that the rebel infantry was charging.
And splendidly they did this work the
highest and severest test Of the stuff
that soldiers are made of Hills divi.
sion, in line of battle, came first on
double quick, their muskets at the
"right shoulder shift" Longstreet's
came as the support at the usual dis
tance, with war cries and savage in
science as yet untutored BY defeat.
They rushed in perfect order across the
open field up to the very muzzles of the
guns, which tore lanes through them an
they came. But they met men who
were there equals in spirit, and their
superiors in tenacity. There never
was better fighting since Thermopyle,
than was done yesterday by orr infan-
try and artillery. The rebels were over
our defences. They had cleaned can
noniers and horses from one of the
guns, and were whirling it around to
use upon US. The bayonet drove them
back. But so hard pressed was this
brave infantry that at one time, from
the exhaustion of their ammunition.
every battery upon the principal crest
Of attack was silent, except Crowen's.
His service of grape and canister was
awful. 1t enabled our lines outnum-
bered two to one, first to beat back
Longstreet, and then to charge upon
him, and take great number of his
men and himself prisoners. Strange
sight! So terrible was our musketrY
and artillery fire, that when ArmsteadS
brigade was checked on its charge, and
stood rseling, all Of its men dropped
their muskets and orawlsd on their
hands and knees underneath the stream
Of shot, till close to our troops, where
they made signs of surrendering. They
passed through our ranks scarcely
noticed, and slowly went down the
slope to the road in the rear.
Before they got there the grand
charge of Ewell, solemnly sworn to and
carefully prepared, had failed.
The rebels had retreated to their
lines, and opened enew the storm Of
she'll and shot from their l20 guns.
Those who remained at the riddled
headquarters will never forget the
crouching, and lodging, and running,
Of the Butternut- colored captiyes when
hey got under this, their friends, ERE.
It was appalling to as good soldiers
even as they were.
What remains to say of the 6ghta
It struggled surlily on the middle of
he horse shoe in the west, grew big
md angry on the heel at the southwest,
asted there till o'clock in the even
L G<~L It