The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-08-06
BURLINGTON WEEKLY HAWK-EYE.


BURLINGTON WE.
FROM GEN. sMERMAH's ARMY.
The Great Battle of the 81. !
Two MILES East or ATLANTA, I
- July q, 1854.
MY 22-2:25 A. Mt IL . splandidly
brtSht moonlight night, such g enabloa
on almost to read, and Ill about camp, and
al61g the whole battle line there b as21enco
contrasting strangely with the inceesant
rattle of musketry, which lu1led no to
sleep. What dos it mean? "Guard, I
say, how goes the nights Have the rebels
noise We heard last eveningen II 81 y I
Z M9niu9 showed that the rebels had
lions at which they Aed Arut brought o 20
: halt, about two and half miles from At
lanta, and had retired to another, which
was about mile and : half nearer tho
city,. This they had done ali along The
line from the extrosqe right Of General
Thomas n the lslt ,6f Gen. McPhsEson,
shoFtenin9 thsit front, q ooarse. ard s9-
a ab e e aeestsn or o ,.;, q dsys.
6r this movs Wis obvious. and Wa Is
dictate Of 4 daring and resolute mind. sueh
- now Appears to BE- ct the head OF the re-
bal armies, and drew IA on AFTER them into
: puEsuit which came near proving unfbr-
tunato. 1tseofhs 70 me to have BEEN aifn-
H. They .s Ss,s1: y sso: asfs
of their Army from their Lon, to push the
rSlieved corps rapidly, and desperately
a9ainat our LETT wing eatly In IN iorenoon,
ybefore our marching column had como In
proximity to the rebel, works, aud were
deployed and had thrown up sdo6onsea.-
They could rely on our following them up
closely % soon @ We discovered they had
fallen back; and, even If We did % with
the men fully deployed In line Of battle,
they hoped 70 strike M before any works
could be put In our front to break The a.
snult. ta 144 9Fss44
That this was their design appears nom
the testimony Of rebel Colonel who w1S
captured In the assault, and said that the
orders delivered to them were to assault
our Hines early in the morning. Fortu-
place ID their march, postponed the attack
till nearly eleven o clock, 1t which timeour
men had moved forward 30 - to come in
sight Of the new rebel works, had deployed
and partially, and in some places wholly,
completed their Entertainments.
u. -.e raR. POSITION.
The Army of the Tennessee advanced
along the main Decatur Road in . direction
nearly west and parallel to the railroad,
with the 18th corps on the right next To
the 2Sd, the 18th on both sides Of tho raill
road, and the 18th south Of it,its extreme
left being about two miles below it. The
I'D moved along . branch of the Bucktown
Road, which enters Atlanta in q south
west dipectiOn, and in consequence of the
convergence Of these two roads the 191h
oosps was early crowded out and throlp
in reserve, IN which position it WAS VIII
the assault took place. The Al CORDS
portion OF the ASSAULT was directed ageinat
- - : 4s.Aslr o. ~ s ID - e ...' !
"a The rebel force which slr1ck this portion
Of the line was the corps commanded. By
Hardee, and evidently expected to lind Ia
opposition only = thtns line, II il did not
count ON having gone 80 fhr arouun q to
come in below. am inclined to the lat
ter opinion. About eleven o. clock'they de-
bouched from the woods into an open lield
n which good part OF the works Of the
10th corps were constructed, along 4 ridge
called Le4gsGs's Bald Knob. and rushed
upon ~ with the utmost fierconoso. &C.
cor1tug 70 their usual manner. The Sd
Dtvblon, General LeRgett, was On the LEFT
OF the corps, and that commanded by Gem
sral Giles A. Smith occupied the right,
holding, p I have said. IT, general poai-
ton Of three sides Of . hollow square,
though, Of course. there wore many devil
attons and breaks from 20 exact . figure
The men received the ONSET with steadi-
mess, delivering their fire with all possible
rapidity bat the overpowering NUMBER
Of tho enemy, massed, - usual, In many
lines, bors down oil opposition ct nfst;
and breaking over the works, they drove
our men back, some many rods and some
len, and appeared likely to crush and SCAT
ter them tn hopeless confusion and ruin.
despite the obstinate valoE Of the troops and
their almost ouporhuman efforts. The
prospect was gloomy indeed, and dismay,
cat upon every c0untenance save those Of
tho brave men who commended in the ranks
now, II ever, for the very existsacs Of the
Army Of the Tenneoeeo.7 II theyuWere Mt
tsrly broken and scattered, then there va
dttle hope Or the rest ofthe gallant army,
nauked % It would b, and right well did
ehov know it. 3T fest8M .as4s4sS -
In the rear Aftssn hundred or two thou
san0 ponderouD supply wagons and ambn-
lances were greatly endangsro1 aad came
etreamih9 backdn ffoar o. the 18th corps
(which .till then was . aals refnge), and ok
tsaded over fhr along behind lhe ga.
providing and jammiug In ~ nArroW
roads, in the woods, IN the greatest confu-
sion and c0nseeruation. A couSioe arrived
Ut corps headquarters il hot ha1ae sum-
monin9 every man who hads guu or could
get ono, to mount his horse and come to-
ths fight. Every one bsseiEred himself II
Tie Soeoft and the Provoot- Guard oAddled.
mounted and were Oh to the eoeue Of PERIL
and did such service - they wore able. 4. tI
II was IN evil hour for ~ 19eh Cofpe.1
and they were rapidly appgoarhins thatdl
point whore the endurauc0iofp thgDfavesf
had reacAed H. limit. "a ID n ~ -.
!, ..i.-sNsttruo.> xksrsrs: = q, ssas|
3 AT this critical moment the 4tR 81 sisfbd
@ the 18th CorpS eud one brigade, Colonel
Morrill's II the 2d{the other was at Decs-|
tnfh arrived AZ the LEFT wing, and stayed
tiSe' tide Of the rebel onset Col. Morfillss
brigade had come up few minutes before
the attack comms6ced,, and constructe6l
very slight works somewhat ID tie rear OIL
me line Of the 10th Corps; butsas soon asI
the latter began to Be pushed back. they at
once leapsd' over their works, aud together
With the 4M Division which was aJusf them
arriving, rushed boldly into the open field
and INST the snstny face to face. they held
their grouN6 firmly, and when the rebels
nj last No11 ~ ~ IN6.A