Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1863-05-12

tenacious and bloody couaicts, for its short dura
ton, of the whole war. At O'Clock A. NJ. tn
rebels could be plainly seen up the plank roaC
about mile and halffrom the Chancellor House
which Gen. Hooker still retained as his headquar
ters, though a shell had gone through it the eve
ming before, and another had cut down a tree di
rectly in front Of it.
Our line Of battle was formed with Gen. Berry
gallant division on the right, Gen. BIrney next or
the left, Cen Whipple and Gen. Williams sup
porting. AT 3 IL A. NJ. the advance became en-
gagged in the rayne, just beyond the ridge where
Capt Bests guns had made their terrific onslaught
the night before, and where they still frowned
upon the enemy and threatened his destruction.
The rattle Of musketry soon became long con-
tnued crash, and in few moments as battalion
after battalion became engaged, the roar surpass-
ed all conception and indicated that the fight
would be one Of the most terrible nature. Gen.
Berry's division, which had checked the enemy's
advance the night before, engaged him again, and
if ii were possible for them to add more laurels
to their fame, then they did it thrice over again.
The enemy advanced his infantry in overwhelm-
ing numbers, and seemed determined to crush our
forces. But the brave men Of Sickles and Slocum,
ry, held the rebels in check, and inflicted dread
fol slaughter among them. Gen. Frenchs dyi-
sion was sent in on the right aink of our line at
sbou, A. NJ, and in short time a horde Of
ragged, streaming rebels running down the road
indicated that that portion OF the enemy's line had
been crushed. At o'clock A. NJ, Gen. French
sent his compliments to Gen. Hooker with the in.
formation that he had charged the enemy and was
driving him before him.
SlckIes maintained the attack upon his line with
great endurance. The enemy seemed determin-
ed to crush him with the immensity Of bis forces,
and, as subsequently shown from the statements
Of prisoners, five whole divisions Of the rebel
army were preciptated upon this portion Of the
line, for from these five divisions we took during
the day an aggregate Of over two thousand prs
oners.
The exploits Of our gallant troops in those dark,
tangled, gloomy woods, may never be brought to
light but they would I'LL hundred volumes. 1t
was deliberate, desperate hand-to hand conflict,
and the carnage was perfectly frightul. Cool Of
tcers say that the dead and wounded OF the enc
my covered the ground in heaps, and that the reb'
els seemed utterly regardless of their lives, and
literally threw themselves upon the muzzes Of our
guns. Many desperate charges were made dur
ing the fight, particularly by Berrys division.
Motifs brigade made fifteen distinct charges and
captured seuen stands Of colors, the Seventh New
Jersey, Col Francine alone capturing four stands
Of coors and five hundred prisoners. Gen. COUGHS
Second Army Corps, though only In part present,
did excellent work. Ii was Gen. French who
charged and drove the enemy on the flank, and it
was the indomitable Hancock who CALAMITY went
to the relief Of the hard-pressed Sickles. The
engagement lasted without the slightest ntermis-
sion from l.2 A. NJ. to S45 A. NJ, when there
was temporary cessation on our part, occasioned
by getting out Of ammunition. We held our po-
sluon for nearly an hour with the bayonet and
them being re-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 Sc
yerey as before, but with great havoc to the enc
my and considerable loss to ourselves.
The vicinity Of Chancellor House was now the
theatre of the fight, and my visits to that spot be-
came less frequent. Gen. Hooker maintained his
headquarters there until 10 A. M., when il was
set 90 fire by the enemy's shells and is now in
runs. Chaneelorvlle is no longer in existence,
having perished with the flame but Chancellor
Fiie Us IN history, never to be etflced
Oar new line was so far established as 10 render
il safe to withdraw all our forces on that 'front.'
which was accordingly done, and at 1880 A. NJ.
the musketry firing ceased. The engagement haG
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, but had been showed down directly in our
front, and is now directly between us and our for
ces in Fredericksburg, and we we're again 10 an
enrenched and iormdably fortified position. The
enemy has gained some 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 ef
fort, and over 1000 Of them have fallen into our
bands. Our right wing, under Gems. Reynolds
anc Meade, was not engaged, save the division Of
Gen. Humphreys, which went into the woods on
the enemy's left flank, and fought yaliantly under
their b ant leader until their ammunition was
exhausted.
During the afternoon the enemy has made sev.
era attempts to force our lines, particularly at the
apex of our position, near the Chancellor House,
but Capt. Weed has massed a large quantity of
artillery in such a position as to repulse with
great loss every thing placed within its range.
i"e e"e"y uleu seNeIa ua'tet'es anu reb'nehS
at that point at different times during the after.
noon, and they were literally destroyed by the fire
of our terrible guns. Nothing can live within
their range
Our present position is impregnable II our
troops continue to fight as thay have to-day Gen.
Lee, the prisoners say, has issued an order that
or lines must be broken at all hazards, Let them
Try it again, with what ,hay have LEFT. They can
and perhaps will destroy themselves by attacks
upon this position.
Our troops are perfectly cool and confident.
They have fought with great spirit and enthusiasm
and will continue to do so.