Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1863-06-04
From the Springfield Republican.
PRISON REFLECTIONS ON THE CHAr
CELLORSyILLE FIGHT.


PRISON REFLECTIONS ON THE CHAM
CELLORSvILLE FIGHT.
LIBBY Prison, Richmond, Va, May llth.
Dear Republican :-Richmond is jubi-
liant over the great victory that the South
has gained, the tremendous threshing the
chivalry has given the best army on the
plannet," though to be sure their Joy is
fringed with mourning to-day over the
funeral ceremonies of their hero, jackson.
Doubtless great many reasons are given
for our most disgraceful and disastrous
defeat. There is only one real reason and
that the simples. possible. Our army
didn't fight as we'll as that of our enemies.
we had every possible advantage. Our
numbers more than double theirs till
Longstreet's reinforcements came up which
didn't then bring their forces up to l00,-
900 to oppose our l30, 600. Indeed, it
would now seem that Longstreet didn't
come up at all. We had the advantage
of position and no inconsiderable amount
of entrenchment. Gen. Hooker's plan was
admirably arranged and excellently car
ried out, until the fighting took place He
exposed himself in the hottest places of
danger, and set an electrifying example of
heroism to the whole army. The terrible
loss of life among our generals shows that
on the whole they were not found wanting
at their posts Of duty. We had men
enough, we'll enough equipped and well
enough posted, to have devoured the rag
ged, imperfectly armed and equipped host
of our enemies from off the face of the
earth. Their artillery horses are poor.
starved frames Of beasts, tied on to their
carriages and caissons with odds and ends
of rope and strips of rawhide. Their sup
ply and ammunition trains look like con
gregation of all the crippled California
emigrant trains that ever escaped off the
desert out of the clutches of the rampag-
ing Camanche Indians The men are i'll
dressed, ill-equipped and ill-provided, a
set of ragamufins that man is ashamed
to be seen among, even when ne is pris-
oner and can't help it. Aud yet they have
beaten us fairly, beaten us all to pieces,
beaten us 50 easily that we are objects
of contempt even to their commonest pri-
vate soldiers, with no shirts to hang out
of the holes in their pantaloons, and car
fridge boxes tied round their waists with
strands of ropes. I say they beat us ca
silly, for there hasn't been much of fight
up here on the bank of the Rappahaunock
after all, the newspapers to the contrary
notwithstanding There was an awful
noise, for | heard it. There was tre-
mendous amount of powder exploded. for
l saw the smoke of it ascend up to heaven.
There was a vast amount of running done
" faced by the rear rank" bat | cannot
learn that there was in any part of the
field very much real fighting have seen
men from every part of the ground fought
over men from almost every division of
the army, and have inquired diligently
after every vestigc of conflict, and not one
Of them all had seen great deal of spir-
tied fighting though good many had
hoard a vast amount of it. The partic-
ular brigade or regiment or company of
each man was captured because the enemy
appeared in vast numbers on their flank or
on their rear. They didn't fight much
because they we're 50 unfortunately situa-
ted or surrounded that there wasn't any
use in resisting ! never heard of SO much
cross firing and enflading FIRE. and fire in
the rear, in all the histories Of battles