Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-05-07

these dark, tangled, gloomy woods may
never be brought to light; but they would
ELL a hundred volumes. It was a deliber-
ate, desperate hsnd-to-hand conflict and
the carnage was perfectly frightful. Cool
officers say that the dead and wounded Of
the enemy covered the ground in heaps,
and that the rebels seemed utterly regard
less Of their lives, and literally threw
themselves upon the muzzles of our guns.
Many desperate charges were made during
the fight, particularly by Berry's division.
Moore's brigade made Is distinct charges,
and captured seven stand Of c%olors, the
18th New Jersey, Colonel Francine, alone
capturing four stand Of eOlors and five
hundred prisoners.
General COUGHS second army corps,
though only in part present, did excellent
work. 1t was General French who charg-
ed and drove the enemy on the flank, and
it was the indomitable Hancock who gal
lantly went to the relief Of the hard-press-
ed Siokles.
The engagement lasted without the
slightest intermission from 54-A. N. to 81
A. NJ, when there was a temporary eessa-
ton on our part, occasioned by getting out
2 4 nAAA4AAAGAOAs " AE4A u PN9ANAAA -
nearly an hour with the bayonet, and then
being r~e-supplied, an order was given to
fall back to the vicinity Of the Chancellor
House, which we did in good order. Here
the contest was maintained for an hOur or
more, not SO severely as before, but with
great havoc to the enemy, and considerable
loss to ourselves.
The vicinity Of the Chancellor house was
now the theatre of the fight, and my visits
TO the spot became less frequent. General
Hooker maintained his head quarters
there until 10 A. N, when it was set on
FIRE by the enemy's shells, and is now
in ruins. Charlottesville is no longer
in existence, having lerished with the
flame, but Charlottesville is in history,
never to be effaced.
Our new line was so far established as to
render it safe to withdraw all our forces on
that front, which was accordingly done,
and at half-past eleven in the morning the
musketry firing ceased.
The engagement had lasted six hours,
but had been the most terrific of the war.
Our artillery had literally slaughtered the
enemy, and many Of the companies had
lost heavily in men themselves, but the
guns were all saved.
The enemy was now no longer in our
rear, Du mad been showed down directly in
our front, and is now directly between us
and our forces in Fredericksburgh, and we
were again in an intrenched and formida-
bly, fortified position. The enemy has
gained som ground, it is true, but at the
sacrifice of the flower Of his force, five of
his seven divisions having been cut to
pieces in the effort and over 1000 of them
have fallen into our hands.
Our right wing, under Generals Rey-
nOlds and Meade was not engaged, save
the division Of General Humphreys, which
went into the woods on the enemy's left
flank, and fought valliantly under their
brilliant leader, until their ammunition
was exhausted.
During the afternoon the enemy has
made several attempts to force our lines,
particularly at the apex of our position,
near the Chancellor House, but Captain
Weed has massed a large quantity of ar
tillery in such a position as to repulse
with great loss everything coming within
its range. The enemy tried several batter
les and regiments at that point at different
times during the afternoon, and they were
literally destroyed by the terrible fire of
our guns. Nothing can live within range.
Our present position is impregnable if
our troops continue to fight as they have
to-day. General Lee, the prisoners say,
has issued an order that our lines must be
broken at all hazards. Let them try it
again, with what they have left. They
can, and perhaps will destroy themselves
by attacks upon this position. Our troops
are perfectly cool and con6den5. They
have fought with great spirit and enthusi-
ssm, and will continue to do so.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE PorouAc, NEAR,
FALMOUTH, VA, Sunday Evening-lO Pm. J
have arrived here from Chancellors-
vile, and learn of the complete success of
General SedgWick's attack upon the strong
hold of the enemy at Fredericksburgh
Heights.
The position was brilliantly carried by
storm to-day by Pratts glorious l~ightdivis-
ion Of the Sixth Army corps, capturing
two whole regiments Of rebels, the Six
tenth and Eighteenth Mississippi, one
company of the famous Washington Artil-
lery Of New Orleans, and part Of Alexan-
der's artillery, including in all eight guns
and nearly one thousand prisoners. The
storming forces were aided by General
Gibbon, of the Second Army corps, who,
with a force, came upon the flank and rear
of the enemy, planting the American flag
upon their works before they had actually
ceased firing upon our charging column.
The captures were complete, and our
loss only moderate. General sedgwick
afterwards engaged the enemy and drove
him back. At six o'clock in the evening
he had advanced TO the Brick Church, four
miles and a half out on the plank road,
Charlottesville.
He had a severe engagement with Ear
ly's division, reinforced by troops from
Lee, but repulsed them, and SEN in an
other lot Of prisoners.