The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-08-15

| 10 our work with Will. AL JnlS Ilme We
were behind the crest which was between
us and the stone wall, which was little
way down the hill toward the valley; and
at the wall, between fifty and sixty. yards
! from US, We're the enemy, many OF them
over the wall. We now advanced, and
could see, as we did so, that the battle was
raging in front of the Sd division. We de-
livered steady fire from the crest, at short
range, which cleared the wall, to which we
| then rushed, flags waving and men shout
| ing. Webb, Hall, Devereux, Mallon and
Smith, were among the men. Officers on
both sides were using their pistols; the
color-sergeantof the I'D Pennsylvania went
| forward with his colors, the lance of which
had been shot in two. The soldiers follow
ed him with rush; no one wanted to stray
gle now. Other colors were borne as well,
| the wall was gained and crossed, and the
work of taking prisoners commenced
Hundreds, who threw down their arms and
| rushed toward us, were sent to the rear
Here and there was a struggle for flags;
but the battle was ended in this part OF the
| field. Lees great assault had failed. Co
ing back with some prisoners across the
wall and over the crest, i saw Gen. Meade,
who came on the ground with his son, who
was his aid. He stopped to speak to Gen.
Gibbons aid HASKELL and said, in his
sharp way, "How is it going here?'' or
something that sounded like it. He was
told that the assault was repulsed, when
he repeated. ''What, is the assault entire
ly repulsed?" When the aid again told
him he thought it was, he said, "Thank
God,' and made motion to wave his hat,
but he did not, but waved his right hand,
and hurrahed, while his son took off has
hat, and hurrahed like good fellow. We
men stood and stared, and then passed on,
as the General gave orders in quick sharp
way, which seemed to be about the placing
of reinforcements. The dead-men and
horses-were lying thick round; there was
stirl some firing going on, and we We're all
that is, all of US that were left-begrimed
with powder and dust, and many We're
bleeding; but it was good thing to see our
| General so cool, so much at his ease, and
speaking in such sOldierly way, and when
he said '"Thank GOd,'' many of us said
''Amen." The requirements soon came
up, but we had done without them, and in
a little while all was quiet under the clump
of trees, and the stone wall and the rail
fence, with their heaps of dead, were once
more at rest, the last forever,
One thing struck me much. It was the
| intelligence of the men. For a good part
of the time, and in the heaviest OF the fight,
the ranks were lost and there was no or
ganization. The officers were in our midst
everywhere; but still we kept together,
and seemed to understand, without orders,
what to do, and to feel that the quicker we
fired the sooner the thing would be over
AS to standing in line and blazing away
regularly, why, we never thought of it,and
yet our fire was fearful after the falling
back from the wall was checked.
| have tried to get some account of the
killed, wounded and missing of our divi-
sion, to show that I have not written &
boastful letter. but plain facts as they came
to my knowledge. have not got any &C
curate account. but think it about right o
say that we went into the fight with about
$500 men in the I'd Division, and came out
of it with a loss of near $50, which was a
greater loss, am told, than was suffered
| by any other division of the army. We
lost no gun, and the Provost Marshal cred
it's us with 1890 prisoners, and we buried,
| by count, within few of 500 of the enemy
dead in our front. =
| After the assault on our division was re-
pulsed, there was another made on the left
of US, good way off, but it failed and by
six o'clock the fight was done everywhere.
The great attack, our division think, was
on us. If they fought more elsewhere, it
was out Of our sight and hearing.
The next day some of US were talking
| the battle over, and our conclusion was
that the attack was splendidly made, after
| the cannonade ceased on the 3D., and that,
although it was at first successful, and
\ some of our guns were in the enemy's
| hands, yet that we beat them off, by hav-
| ing good pluck, some officers that knew
| their duty when we were shaky, and a fire
of musketry that human beings could not
sand.
When people who have been in battles
attempt to describe them as whole, don t
believe them. / have told you about as
much as one man can ever see or hear, and
am Your friend,
1 ID u,SrA A