The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-07-08
GRANTS ARMY.

Particulars or the Attack OF, Weldon
Railroad Failure of tho Aasack--
Our Men Surpst>ed by Rear At
tack..We Lose 1000 PrtsOners.- \ n
other Advance and tho Railroad
Gained..Expected Battle.
HEADouARrERs ARMY OF THE PoroMAc June
23.-The attack upon the rs h corps on We'd
peedar, nesr the Weldon railroad. did not re
suit so disastrously IA at first supposed The
line was formed by BarIow's division, being on
the left of Birney's and Mott in command in
the center and Gibson on the right. 1t was ex
pected that the 9Th corps wonld have coniin
,ued on the left with Barlow. but It seems quite
o gap was left into viii h A. p. Hills rebel
corps entered. and before our mrn were aware
of it they received volley from the rear which
crea ed panic in our ranks, and caused o
rapid retreat to the woods.
The left fl INK of the 33th division was un-
protected. and the enemy. taking advantage of
it. charged through and fairly into our pits or.
deriug the men to surrei der. Tue troops,
however left the trenches and fell back rap
idly, but many of them were captured aud
quite a number killed and wounded The
number of our loss in prisoners is reported at
/ 600, while some make the figure higher. ur
loss in killed and wounded il probably 1000
Some of our officers engaged in this fight had
just Joined their commands after being ex-
surrender, replied. +" Never. Death rather than
Libby Prison." and fighting their way out as
best they could many of them succeeded in
getting back safe to our lines.
At 8 p. N. q charge was made by the Second
corps and the line Of works from which they
had been forced in the afternoon was rec"v.
cred. We lost scarcely man in this advance,
as the rebels fired too high number of
prisoners were lak,n. Skirmishng was kept
up all night along the line. the pckets being
at some points not fifty yards apart at daylight.
This morning an advance of our entire line
was made when it was found that the rebels
had taken q new pOsiIipn some distance 1ur
Their back, where they had thrown up strong
entertainments during the night, which they
still held
Col. Blaisdell OF the 11th Massachusetts was
killed to-day by sharp ,hooter while visiting
the skirmish line Lieut.. w. FL. Child 5ith
Pennsylvania who was to have been reinstated
yesterday as first lieutenant, was shot dead by
a rebel sharpshooter on Thursday evening.
Major Halsey of the 18th New jersey is miss
ing and supposed to be captured.
The Sixth corps moved towards the railroad
this morning, driving the enemy before them.
During this afternoon it was reported they
were in possession of the road and arrange
ments were at once made to destroy it At 5
o'clock p. NJ a large force of rebels was seen
moving toward the front as if to resist an adj
vance of the SIKH corps. An engagement in
that direction is expected tonight
Under date of juno o. 11:30 p. NJ, he says
during last night the Sixth corps had moved to
the left. and masscd ut the Williams House
this morning. - -.e-.r
Wilson aud Kau:z's cavalry had cut the We'll
don Railroad so that orders were ut once given
to suspend the demonstration in that direction,
and turning the left of the Second corps round
so Us TO develop the enemy's works In front of
Petersburr without regard to the connection
81 hrx IL H. I,Ct 4 -
portion OF the corps was soon moving further
to the front
GibbOn was already in position and entrench-
ed, for last night he had advanced as near the
enemy's entrenchuents as he could get without
bringing ON heavy fight. Mott and Barlow
pushed forward their lines of battle with a
heavy skirmish line in front. Mott was partly
in position and entreuching, and Barlow was
nearing the crest in front of the rebel works
when he encountered heavy force of the enc
nv marching down in column by brigades and
with the intention OF forcing our position at the
interval which now existed between the left of
the I'd corps and the right ofthe 9Th. The I'd,
Sd and 4lh brigades formed his front line. the
LIST brigade leader, Gen. Miller being held in
the rear as a reserve in this assault by the enc
my. The rebel Gen. Wilcox's division march
ing in three brigades led the advance of Hills
veteran corps. 1t was early in the afternoon
when the head of the rebel column struck at
once the right of the 9th and the left of the Cd
corps.
The rebels pushed on with characteristic per.
tlnaclty and the shock was soon felt on the
Hanks OF both these corps. The position
Which they occupied rendered it imperatively
necessary that they should Immediately with
draw the TANKS that were thus exposed and
fill up the existing gap by making a connection
with each other along the line of entrench-
ments in the rear While this was being done
the enemy inflicted considerable damage on
our men by his n.urderous fire, and captured
seven hundred prisoners. AS the assaulting
column came down in diagonal direction and
as II happened, it struck the TANKS of the divi-
sion, which were disconnected, and hence the
disastrous consequences which ensued
This forced the retirement of Barlow the
hasty wi hdrawal of Mott. and of part of the
left of Gibbon, and the loss of four guns. The
enemy swept down over the ground our
troops had left taking quite number of pris-
oners as they advanced, pressing on still in a
diagonal direction. The column soon came TO
what from the shower The right held its
position with determined courage and poured
inrrderous fire into the advancing foe. The
musketry was terrific on both sides-as the
enemy swept over the angle which marked
the left of the devils line, he enveloped a bat
terry OF three-lnch guns which occupied an
advanced position behind parapet and al
most before the officers were aware of the sit.
uation of affairs the artillery was practically
| in the enemy's hands. 1t was Captain Nc.
! Knights 9Th New York battery The moment
the rebels appeared in sight, Capt. Mcknight
| opened on them with canister. They separa.
| ted in front aud coming in on the right and
| left completely surrounded the guns "A rebel
color bearer Immediately planted his colors or
the parapet. Capt Mcknight and Lieutenant
Bull scorned the summons to surrender arc
fred several rounds of canister ut the enem,
with the rebel flag floating at their battery
Both these young officers distinguished them
selves, but it was impossible to take them OF
the field. Captain Clark's First New Jerse
battery which was posted in the breastwork
further to the right, opened on the enemy an
contributed to check their further advance.
The rebels quickly turned upon us the car
tured guns and ut the same time concentrate
| the fire of some twenty other pieces on Cap1
Chrks single battery. The epaulment i
which this battery was placed was well battere
by the solid shot which came pouring over i
quick succession from the fort fcatiOn5 OF tn
enemy.
Whilst this active work was going on at tn
right of the corps. part of tho rebel attackin
column which by this time had been deploye
in line OF battle, was still pressing down upo
the left.
The Interval between the right of the Ct
corps and the left of the I'd was gradual
growing greater from the fact that 1t imperille
The TANKS thus exposed, and the enemy wer