Evening star., 1864-05-11

success and repulse, and Gen. Wadsworth
orders charge to recover his command from
slight W avering. He is cheered loudly by his
men who loved the gray haired chieftaln. One
BORE is shot under him. He moants q second
and spurs to the front, hat in hand, and we
should have won then, but his men saw him
fall. He was shot through the head, Killed
instantly, and his body fell into the hands Of
the enemy.
sitlon with comparative order.
From noon until O'Clock number Of sharp
assaults at various points were made and in
variably repulsed, whether made by us or by
No aterial for long letter, but find it simply
impossible at this time to ascertain and write
out correctly the facts in detail.
Prisoners came In at the rate OF one hundred
an hour. The day was excessively hot, and
the men were much exhausted. We had neither
gained nor lost ground, but continued this thing
long enough, and we hoped to finally wear
them ont At 5x O'Clock Hancock was pre-
pairing for grand movement Of our entire left.
He did not make it, for the enemy anticipated
him, and he had to repel perhaps the most
wicked assault thus far MISUNDERSTANDING in
duration, but terrific In po wer and superhuman
The first few minutes we were staggered
Stragglers for the first time in all this fighting
streamed to the rear in large numbers, choking
the roads and causing panic by their stam-
pede and incoherent tales of frightful disaster.
It was even reported at general headq uarters
that the enemy had burst entirely through, and
supports were hurried up. Grant and Meade
seated, their backs against the same tree, uiet-
ly listened to the ofi1eer who brought the re-
port, and consulted a moment in low tones.
The orders for sending reinforcemens were
gwen, and for little time not word was
spoken in the group of more than twenty Off.
GERS. They but looked into each others faces.
At length, Grant says, with laconic empha-
before that Hancock had recovered from the
first shock, held his own awhile, and now was
eainng ground. In forty minutes from this
attack the enemy was completely beaten back
with tremendous slaughter, and the loss of
some hundreds Of prisoners.
1t was now nearly sunset. From one end of
the lire to the other not a shot could be heard
The days work seemed over. Our line Of to-
night would be that OF last night. The augu-
ries were good. In two days fighting we had
lost heavily, but no more than the enemy.
Our assaults had been futile, but the enemy's
had been equally so and 1t is by these massed
assaults that he has ever achieved his vcto-
ries.
The inference was clear that we had over
matched him fighting at his best and strongest.
Men separated in the he at OF the day, now
CHANGING to meet, congratulated each other.
The Rebels can't endure another such day,
and we can, was the expressed conviction on
all hands, and this statement epitomizes the
situation at sunset.
The sun went down red. The smoke of the
battle Of more than two hundred thousand
men destroying each other with vilainous
salt petre through all the long hOurs OF a long
udJp Alkcu Luc Valleys, duQ TcSlcO Tue Hills
of all this wilderness, hung in .urid haze all
around the horizon, and built of dense canopy
overhead, beneath which this grand Army OF
Freedom was preparing to rest against the
| morrow. Generals Grant and Me ade had re:
tired to their tents. Quiet reigned, but during
the reign Of quiet the enemy was forging
thunderbolt.
Darkness and smoke were mingling in grim
twilight, and fast deepening into thick gloom,
when we were startled out of repose back into
fierce excitement The forged thunderbolt was
rod md bu q mas sfor a wild rabo N
to the right. We knew they had massed and
were charging. We waited for the volley with
which we knew sedgwick would meet the
onset.
We thought it but night attack to ascertain
if we had changed our position. We were
mistaken-it was more; They meant to break
tIeme right lay the I'd Brigade, Sd Division Of
his corps, under Gen. Seymour, whe had been
assigned to it but two days before.
is known as the Milroy brigade; connecting
on the left Of Seymour by Shaler's and then
Neirs brigades, the latter being brigade OF
cock. These troops were at work entrenching
when fallen upon. The enemy came down
like torrent, rolling and dashing in firing
waves, and flooding up againstthe W hole Sixth
Corps. The main line stood like a rock, but
not SO the extreme right That flank was IN
stantly and utterly turned. The Rebel line
gade, tided over it and through it, beat against
Shaler, and bore away his right regiments.
All this done in less than ten minutes, per-
hsps not five, Seynour's men, seeing their
pickets running back, and hearing the shouts
OF the Rebels, who charged with all their chIy.
airy, were smitten with panic, and, standing
ON no order OF going, went at once, and an in
cIedibly short space Of time made their way
through mile and half OF woods to the plank
road In the rear. They reported, in the frantic
manner usual with stampeded men, the entire
corps broken. Grant, as in Hancock's case,
did not believe 1t. But when three Of Sedg.
Wlcks Staf rode into army headquarters sepa-
rately, and stated how they had ridden from
SedRwick's to keep Seymours men to their
work, had been borne back by the panic, and
had seen Sedgwick and Wrig ght hard to the
front working like Trojans to hold the waver-
No word came in from Sedgwick It began to
be feared that he and Wright, disdaining to fly,
were prisoners.
Artillery moved quietly to commanding po-
sinons, to be prepared for the worst, and cool
heads felt that were the whole 9Th corps broken,
the army, as an army, would still be in vincihle.
Warren's corps is instantly, but in perfect COM
and Meade and Warren are in Grants tent, to
and from which officers come and 20 with a
certain earnest air that bespeaks urgent and
has been heard the last three quarters Of an
hour. The rebels must have ceased to advance;
but how far have they penetrated, and what is
the present situation!
The 9th corps flag comes in Where is the 9Th
corps chieftain My watch says 10 O'Clock at
night a dispatch received. John Sedgwick
safe. Wright safe. The ON corps holds a strong
line; only Seymour's and q part of Shaler's
brigade have been broken. The enemy can do
nothing more The 9th corps proper has not
lost Its pristine glory. :.
SATURDAYS REPORT,
Flight Of the Rebels.
Especial Dispatch OF the New York Tribunel
WILDERNESS, S P.M Saturday, May 2, 1864
UP to this hour there has been but little fight.
ing to-day. Our position this morning was
unchan ged from yesterday, excepting that the
right had been bent back. Sedgwick's affair