Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-07-15

Terrible Charge Of 4lh Wisconsin.
Correspondence of the Sh.boygsn Times.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF TIE GULF,

Ii Is with q lcdVy OearC That L attempt
to record the scenes and doings of the
past two weeks. Ny heart reco;is and
shrink from the task. In my last / in
formed you OF the piuful condition in
which the 4th Wisconsin was placed; of
its heroic actions on the well fought field
OF Nav 9th. June 4th the regiment was
relieved from its position IN the front,
after holding their post in advance OF the
rest OF the line for six days and nights
June 9Th they again mounted, aud &C
co,npanied Col. GriersoD, with bis Illinois
Cavalry, to Clinton, % miles distant,
where they fought desperate battle, los
ing several men and two good otficers,-
Capt. Blake, Co. |, killed, and 1t. Maxon,
of Co. L, MORALLY wounded. They were
driven back by superior numbers, return
ed, and on the 7th Gen. Paine started
with his whole brigade, and marched to
Clinton, when the rebels skedaddied. The
regiment remained uuder the command OF
Col. Geierson till the 18th, when it was
again ordered to the front. June 14th
commenced the grand assault.
The Ali Wis.,, 226 men, and the Sth n.
H., 2l7 men, were deployed skirmish-
ers, ia front of PaiEe's division. The
second consisted of the 1lOJh, l33d, 1880,
n \. aud 4th Mass, carrying hand gre.
nadea. The Sd line comprised the remain
der OF the division, who were to roll up
cotton bales for protection and advance
in line Of battle. The two regiments of
skirmishers advanced under murderous
fire of grape, shell and canister, to within
short ride range, without looking behind,
supposlDg that their supports were close
behind but on looking back, what was
their disrnay to find themselves unsup-
ported, the remainder OF the division hav-
ing faltered snd halted, seeking shelter
where they could find it. Only the l33d
and 1896 continued to advance, when Col.
Currie of the l33d was wounded in both
arms, and Major Galloway, the command
er OF the 173d, fell dead. They, too,
halted, leaving the skirmishers within a
few yards OF the parapet exposed TO one
of the most murder Gus fires ever showeTed
Oh man. The rebel Infantry was formed
in four lines behind their works, each
firing In succession, keeping up constant
| sheet of flame and terrific shower OF
bullets, while the artillery poured in the
grape, canister, shell, rail road iron. &c,
with amazing rapidity then TO crown the
| whole the enemy opened on them with
| he guns situated at the angles of the par
| apet, cross firing and raking them terribly;
| anu "OlSG Vi ali. IIO tlOOpS V" IIC1 w .
| to have been their support, opened a fire
! in their rear, CALLING them teartuly. If
| that was not enough to make the sIoutest
! hearts quail, | think it beyond the in
| genuity of man TO invent anything that
will do it; but those men never knew
| what it was TO retreat without orders, so
| they rushed on to certain destruction.
| Only six commissioned officers started with
| them in the morning from the 4th. Capt.
| Garter, Co. b. fell badly wounded. Lieut..
WiUtermeyer, Co. @, Adjt., WIGS complete
! ly riddled with balls. The other com
! panies were led by their ranking sergeants,
! most of whom were killed and disabled.
! and the men falling at every step. 1t
| seemed as though a frenzy had seized
! those men, rendering them desperate, for
| they rushed on, leaped the ditch, chmed
1.-THE parapet, aud what remained of them
went over the works in sight of the whole
army, and was either slain or taken pris-
oners.
Gen. Paine, in trying to urge the cow
! ardly poltroons in the rear to follow him
TO the rescue, was severely wounded in
the leg, about 10 a. Nj. He fell, crying
&" Forward Forward" but not step
would they go. 1t is said that be wept
bitterly when he saw those brave men
| hewn TO pieces, powerless TO aid them,
and those cowardly whelps in the rear
hiding for shelter. There he lay in fair
view between two fires, and our troops
were unable to rescue him. Two faithful
negroes. belonging to the 4th, volunteered
t. go and bring him off, but were killed
in the attempt. -Four of the hospital
corps, for carrying off the wounded, then
attempted the feat, but three of them tell :;
the remaining one reached him, tied up
bis leg as best he could, gave him some
water, and crawled off in safety. The
General told him to tell the men 10 keep
| away from him, and not sacrifice any
more lives in trying 80 save him; that IL
was of no use, he could remain there till
| they could take him off with more safety.
! The man got away and reported to Capt.
| DurgiD, the Adjutant General lie dis
| patched q messenger to Col. Fearing, of
| the Sth New Hampshire, who was 10
command of the division, asking HIM to
devise some means Of rescue. The Col
sent to Gen. Grover, who commanded the
| right wing, asking for orders. The Gen
eral said nothing could be done, they
would have to wait till night and take him
away under the cover of darkness, which
was accordingly done.
AFTER the OBSTRUCTION OF TIE line OF SKlF-
mishers, the rebel officers mounted the
parapet and called out to the wounded
who were lying about in all directions,
telling them they were brave men; that
they hated to shoot them, that if they
would give themselves up, they would
bring them inside the fort, and care for
them, and parol them; but if they at
tempted to stir to get away they would
shoot them. A few who were badly
wounded and who were suffering Tor wa
ter, and nearly dead from long exposure
to the sun, acceded TO the proposals and
gave themselves up; but the greatest part
chose .uffering.rather than to surrender
When one Of them moved hand or foot,
the rebels would firesa volley at him. So
it was death tn stir. They suffered awful.
ly for want of water, and the burning
heat of southern summers sun. A few
crawled off In safety. When night came,
those that were able, got away, and the
hospital corps searched the ground and
brought off all they could find. Some
were taken in by the rebels. The dead
lie unburried, so we can only estimate our
losses b. counting those that returned,
which can be easily done, they are SO few.