Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-12-17

THAI III point OF solemn grandeur history Itself
will fail to furnish a superior to. Fifty thou
sand men are Drawing death-coolly deliber-
ately marching l. his embrace. i Iang line
OF battle-hags and banners are streaming in
the wind. The earth shakes from the muffied
tread of men Spectators are chained trans
fixed in admiration.
The rebels in the rife pits peer over their
works. See the line grasp their guns and pre-
pare TO deliver their fire! The army has
scarcely left its defences, when all the enemys
batteries open on it. Ours reply, and work
with untiring vigor. The flags emerge from
the woods. From the enemys works leap
the storm OF bullets and now the valley is
resonant with every tone and semitone in the
dlapason Of battle. The roll is continuous
the explosion terrible. Our cannoniers do
SPLENDID work. A caisson is seen to burst /;
our shells explode under the rebel guns A
wild, frantic cheer escapes the assailants.-
The first line of fire is reached. Wood, with
his division, is over and after the fleeing
enemy.
Now one regimental flag waves highest up
the slope, and now another. The colors of
the 10th Indiana are conspicuous the bearer
dashes ahead of his regiment, several feet in
front OF the entire line, and presses forward
through storm of bullets meant for him.
that only riddled the flag. He is far UP to-
ward the works and sheltered behind a log :;
waves his flag defantly at the enemy. The
oSth Indiana loses her color-bearer who is
killed. Another starts from the ranks, seizes
the standard, and he, to, goes down to death
Thomas j. Graves succeeds to the honor
He quits the ranks, grasps the flagstaff reek-
ing with his comrades gore, waves it over
head, and like spirit impervious to the mis-
Siia hot ub q
shrivering the staff, he moves steadily, unfal-
teringly toward the crest. Is his charmed
life, OR does the God of battles shield him ,
Every eye at the Knoll in breathless suspense
follows his footsteps Onward, still onward
he goes, followed by the admiring cheers of
his dauntless comrades, who press hard after
him. He nears the rebel works, again the
death -dealing bullets fit by and overhead
and rend the flag The smoke of battle man
ties him. Let US scan the ridge. Here on
line as far advanced as any other portion,
struggles up the division of the eager, impet-
uous Wood. The colors of the 1st Ohio and
the 25d Kentucky, now consolidated, approach
the rebel works. The enemy, goaded to
desperation by our successes, pours down,
without a moments intermisson, his hail of
bullets All that storm is but the dashing of
the maddencd waves against a coast of rocks
Firm as the hill they climb, the men bear up,
and now far to the right, away down the
ridge, rattles the musketry of Hookers ad-
vancing column. Cheers answer it back.
Hooker refuses his left held by the infexibe
troops of johnson, that fought under Rosseau
at Perryville and Stone River They do not
recede. They tarry under orders. Hooker's
right swings round at rapid pace, and now
in the enemy's rear rolls up the eastern
slope. The rebels enveloped, caught be-
tween fire from front and rear, sway and
toss in wild commotion. Their gunners quit
their posts.
The panic flies along the rebel line, and it
begins to crumble and dissolve Who now is
foremost? it would be invidious to designate
Baird loses heavily, and the enemy still re-
fuses to yield. Van Derver with his sinewy
brigade lags not a foot. Col. Palmer, COM
handing the lst brigade, sheds his hearts
blood, and lies corpse few feet from the
rebel works. Turchin rises the crest grace
fully, boldly, and his brigade closes with the
enemy Beatty, cool but eager, holds toward
the top, and his gallant color-bearer of the
18th, mounting the parapet, plants his colors
there. At the same moment, as though the
same protecting spirit urged both f1agsmen
on, the banners of the lst Ohio and 23d Ken
lucky are seen on the works in front of Ha-
zen. Confusion peryades the rebel masses
They leave their artillery, and in wild dis
order, roll down the hill toward Chicka-
manga.
Three thousand of the enemy, hemmed in
by Hooker's bayonets and the line in front,
are taken prisoners. Hazen captures eighteen
guns, Beatty eleven, Turchin eight, Van Der
yer four, with caissons and horses harnessed.
Other brigades captured artillery also, and re-
g., ,@ol. r e II.
two pieces. Our prisoners will number, when
full reports come in, at least six thousand
Our victory was complete.
| have said that the storming of those
heights was a spectacle never exceeded in
conflicts that history chronicles. | have not
exaggerated.
Napoleon was thrilled by the sublimity of
that spectacle that met his gaze, when from
an eminence overlooking the field of Austen
litz he saw the intrepid Soult leave the tu-
multuous masses below, and watched his up
ward progress as he stormed the heights of
Pratzen. So with Davoust, who in painful
suspense followed he cheering legions of
Morand, as he carried the heights of Lennen
berg. l can conceive of nothing s'grander
than the assault of our united armies on the
rebel works of Mission Ridge
As the sun went down, tinging the feecy
borders of the clouds with an argent hue, the
camp fires of the Union army blazed along
the ridge where the night before slumbered
the now routed hosts of rebellion. All hon
or to the brave men who fought and bled
Let their names rank high in the catalogue
of heroes. Cheer them, aid them, honor
them. Let the memory of their deeds bright
en- with the decay of time.
A MAGNIFICENT CELESTIAL ExH1BIrIoN.-
Those who have occasion to rise at daybreak
these clear mornings will see the planet We
nus in the perfection of beauty. Its brillian-
cy is so great, that on clear morning it gives
as much light as the moon when three or four
days DID, showing the distinct outline of
window on the opposite side ola room. Dur
ing the next week it will be at its greatest
apparent distance from the sun. 1t is now
most favorably situated for observation, and
is by far the brightest star in the heavens It
arrived at its greatest brilliancy on the 9Th,
and its greatest westerly elongation takes
place on the 9th of December, when it rises
more than four hours before the sun. 1t is
more distinctly visible to good eye in the