The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-12-25
FRIDAY DECEMBER IS. 1863 n4eobnl NEW

lery. did not bear upon the rebels, with
the exception OF one, which raked the ditch
from salient, and were useless but Ben
jainin was by Buckeyes guns, aiding and
abstting the. gallant officers to his utmost.
But even. Buckeyes guns were useless at
SUCH close quarters, and Benjamin fear
less]y supplied their place. Selling shell,
cutting it's fuse, lighting the stump with his
cigar, he pitched it oyer the parapet, and
|sent others after It ii quick succession.
Others of our gallant boys followed his ex-
ample, and it was the carnival of death
outside. The color-bearer of the 18th Mis-
sissippi had succeeded in planting his flag
almost upon the summit of the fort, but
down he'Went in the general doom, and the
f79th New York seized the jcolors. Still
Buckley's guns poured death upon those
furthest from the fort; still the shells
moved down the ranks under the parapet.
The rebel line could not stand it any long
er; it &avered, broke, and fed in wild
trout down the hill, and the few unhurt at
the base of the fort surrendered. Our boys
set up wild cheers of triumph, and in tar
less time than it has taken to write the
story, the most gallant assault of the war
was as CALAMITY repulsed. The glory Of
the repulse belongs to the 1st Division of
the 9Th Army Cotps, under Gen. Ferrero,
who was in the fort during the entire con-
tiict, directingthe affair with GOODNESS and
ability that fully establishes his right to his
high rank. Congress will be singularly re-
miss in it's duty if his appointment is not
| confirm al fho lo,y fha TO- aaasxro1
The smoke of battle cleared away, the
noise of conflict ceased and that little
4 patch of ground before Fort Saunders
presented as terrible a spectacle as war
has ever produced. Everywhere torn
fragments of humanity, arms, heads, legs,
rent from the trunks, bleeding, writing,
shrieking relics of men covered every foot
oftit In the ditch of the fort the man
gled remains of thirty eight rebels lay
piled one above the other: inside our lines,
inside those scant one hundred yards, were
| the bodies of ninety-eight dead; and the
wounded, four hundred at least, in the
same space-calling for help every one of
them. 1t was sickening sight, and Gen.
Burnside, purely from motives of humanity,
ent cut
FLAG OF TRUCE ..... .-
BY the hands of an officer of his staff,
proposing an armistice for the purpose of
burying the dead. General Longstreet
accepted the proposition, and after some
little negotiations it was finally agreed
that hostilities should cease until five F. M,
that we should carry the rebel dead and
wounded from before Fort Saunders to
their lines, that there should be general
exchange of the wounded during the
siege, who had fallen into the hands of the
enemy. This programme was substan-
TALLY carried out, and we immediately be-
gan clearing the ground in front of the
fort, and by noon all that mass of shat
tered humanity, dead and wounded, had
been removed, and shreds of clothing,
hundreds of muskets and pools of blood
alone remained, as memorials of the con-
flict. The inuskets we gathered up and
carried inside as trophies. During all the
day, under their parole to tell nothing
they saw, DIR. Barksdale, Longstreet's
Medical Director, and Dr. Mccullough,
another of their medical staff, were upon
the ground, experimenting the removal,
and talked afably to all our officers who
chose to address them. Many of them
availed themselves, and / noticed that a
new acquaintance was generally cemented
by our side producing a pocket pistol.
How the rebel surgeons sustained so much
liquid hospitality, was beyond my COM
prehension. Though little was said by
either side concerning the terrible fight of
+ the morning, Barksdale remarked that it
was made with seven picked regiments,
the best of the corps, and admitted that
they were all thrnderstruck that it should
have failed. A little further from the fort
Captain Poe met an old West Point &C:
quaintance in Colonel Alexander, Long:
street Chief of Artillery, and to PEGS
remark that Fort Saunders had received d
bloody baptism, he replied, Yes, ifdeed
it has," ....... ~
This day of truce gave US the oppor-
tunity to look quietly back on the affair
and balance our gains and losses. 1t is
certain that the rebel loss during the night
and the assault cannot be less than twelve
hundred men, and an undue proportion. of
officers, among them Colonel Rough and
Colonel Girarde were killed before the
fort, and the swords of seventeen others
were picked up on the field. We captured
eight hundred muskets and three regi-
mental flags. In short, we annihilated
the best brigade in Longstreets army,
and seriously crippled two Others. Among
our prisoners taken on the field, is Lieut..
Colonel OBryan, a brother of Mrs. Brown
low, and his details will furnish me gossip
for letter, but cannot be related now.
TO balance this, our entire loss during the
night, on the part of the line where we
inflicted such fearful punishment on the
enemy, was four killed, eleven wounded,
and ten. missing. On these terms we can
afford to let Longstreet assault US as often
as he sees proper.