, 1864-03-04

Tune daHuLON attempted hla 1uulaae Lovc-
ment. Hamilton know very well his pieoes
were In great danger Of being captured, and
be also had sense. enough to know thai by.
taking them to the rear it would instantly
cause panic among the infantry, and SO IN
evttallJ lose the dsy for us. Tho behav.o:
Captain Hamilton at this critical period Of
thc battle ls worthy Of special note, and
sincerely believe TINT it was owing mainly to
his persistent e1orts that the portion OF onr
line at his battery was not broken and scat
tered in confusion. He had not only bis
pieces TO command, bu. his infantry supports
TO keep f1em leaving the field. It was In the
midst Of this destructive fire Of the enemy,
and while Captain Hamilton WAS urging the
infantry to maintain their line, and at the
Same time giving orders to his battery, he
was struck In the arm by muskct bal, and
shortly after was again hit In the thigh. 10
add to tho misfortune, all Of his officers, four
in number, were wounded: Col Charles
". Fridley, Of the 9Th United States, was
also MORALLY wounded on this portion Of the
field. Ha did not cease for moment to en-
courage and rally his men, and BY his gallant
behavior proved himself an officer Of no Of
dinsry merit. Capt Hamilton kept his pie
ces at work until It was evident It would be
sure loss to fire another round, and then gave
orders to withdraw them. Horses Wefc a.
tached to only four pieces; the horses to the
other two had been shot, consequently tWo
guns fell into possession Of the enemy. On
the right Of Hamilton the 7th Connecticut
and thca7th New Hampshire were doing lear
fni execution. The 7th Connecticut espe-
cially were standing their ground with mark,
ed yalor. Every yolley from their guns told
splcndidly on the rebel line. But between
the two forces wide difference cxisted-the
rebels outnumborcd uB five to one. This
crushing superiority gave the two regiments
little chance for victory. After losing ono.
fourth of their number they were -compelled
to retire to the rear. At the same time Col
Ba1ton's brigade, the 47th, 48th mud 115th
New York regiments took the field, coming
up in line ee esate!on., On the right was
md one section Of the Sd Rhode Island. The
enemy had four pieces Of artillery. On
railroad car he had mounted q heavy gun,
supposed to be S3-pounder, und with this
he Kept up q regular fire, bnt not destructive,
as the shells passed over the heads Of our
men There can be no doubt concerning the
fighting qualities Of Barton's Brigade On
this occasion they fought like tigers, but the
same difficulty which opposed Haw1ey's bri-
gadc, presented Itself to them, viz, the mass
Of thc.enemy.
the First Moth Carolina, and Fifty Fourth
Massachusetts,, {colorcd,) Of Montgomery's
Brigade. They took bold position at the
front, and maintained theif ground with
commendab1e pertinacity. For three and
halfsuccessive hours did our brave regiments
stances of personal daring that occurred In
the meantime are numerous. Ncvcr before
did the troops in this department have such
m opportunity for displaying their valor, and
on no previous occasion hare they exhibited
such high degree Of bravery. Il the enemy
had presented IN equal force with our own,
or even if 1t had been only double, no doubt
could have been felt Us to the final result of
the contest. AS 1t was the enemy resisted us
With force In point OF numbers three times
that OF our own, which, taken together with
the circumstance Of the long and tedious
march and the III condition Of the men, #
would be hardly reasonable to suppose that
success would be on our side: Tho effect Of
our fire, both Of musketry and artillery, was
fearful At every discharge down went
body Of rebels. The gallant Elder on the
r1gat and the dashlng Langdon on the LETT,
will 60 far to Offset the misfortune that ulti-
mately overlook us. The fight was BY no
1acans trivial encounter: It was battle |
hotly contested, fought Mt close range, face
to face md foot to foot The command !
Ing officers Of The various regiments are
heroic manner In which they led their |
men. At the acme Of the battle, Col Sam |
mons, OF the One Hundred and Fifteenth |
New York, was struck in the foot, and was |
IN consequence compelled to leave the |
tfeld. nis horse was shot from under him:
~Nts
Wns also wounded, bull striking his hand |
and passing out ut the elbow. Col Burton |!
had his coat pierced In several places and his
horse shot. Col. Henry had. three horses
shot, but himself escaped in a miraculous
manner. Provost Marshal General Hall had
q horse shot under him, and as Tor himself, |
no one would believe that It would be possi.
ble for him again to Grass through what he
did on that day, and come out unscathed
Lieut.. Jackson, Of Gen. Seymour's staff, hsd
had two horses shot. IT space would per-
nit, J might fill column Of just such mar
row escapes.
Gen. Seymour was not away from the
ground for an instant. At first on the right
and then on the left, he seemed to be every
where at one and the same moment. His
aim was apparently to be In the thickest Of
the tight, aud at the front Of his troops
at 5p. m, the fire slackened on both sides;
Oh ours, In consequence Of the ammunition
giving ont, and on the enemy's because VIC
did not press him. A demonstration by the
rebels to capture Iangdon's Battery, at about
the T. middle stage Of the fight, was prevented
quick aud deadly fire But in coming from
iae tcla iae 7sas t6 lt 10 ttho -ene-
my three Of his pieces, not because the enc /
ny charged upon them, but for the reason
tnat nc did not have horses to draw them |
oil At ~ o'clock tho heavy firing had ccas-
cd: The cessation was Simultaneous on both
s1des: We held our ground until Z O'Clock,
and then the order came from Gen. Seymour
to gradually withdraw.
.. RETIRE.
Ihc retreat was conducted 1eieurcly and Or
derly. There was no confusion, no panic,
that indicated hurry. Col Henry,
with hia cavalry, brought up the rear. At
Tha enemy followed low 'ePo elosey SSFt 6u
lid not press. A few Of their cavalry only
sept well up to the rear Of Hcnry's column.
At Bsrbers, our men rested TIL 0 a. m, and
hen aguin took up the line Of retreat, reach
ng BALDWIN about p, N. They halted here
short time, and then went on toward Jack
'onvi]le, arriving at the camping ground, slx
niles out, Monday afternoon, On the way
toWn many OF the poor fellows could hardly
lrag one foot after the other.
OUR LOSE.
10 estimate our loss is indeed m unpleas-
mt task, but, nevertheless, one which must
'e performed IN giving the record of the day's
vents In Killed, wounded and missing, I
i've the number one thousand two hundred.
III our killed and the severely wounded, that
{, those who We're unable to walk from the
leld unaesisted, fell into the hands Of the
ne1ny: Lest night, at y o'clock, about tiye
10 Jacksonville. Their names are embrnced
a the list Of casualties which present In an
,ther portion OF this letter. At that time
bout 200 wounded were on the way, but did
aoL 4eAC4 0ACh6OuF1lle IN Eea9QO 10f me 10 |
.et their names SO az to send on by this mail
Tho surgeons estimate 500 wounded to have !
,een left on the field. The proportion of 200
iilled to LOCO wounded Is thnt usually allow
d. This would make the aggregate Of 1,200.
We also left on the field i've guns, and not
small number Of small arms. The road
rom Darher's to Baldwin was streWn with |
pms, knapsacks and blankets.
At station on the railroad between Bar
er's and Baldwin NC burnt building con-
aining 600 barrels Of turpentfne This We
a3ght have got away several days previous
ad transportation been accessible. We also ! j
urnt trestle bridge On the railroad not far
7om Barber's. At Baldwin we burnt large
upply Of commissary stores, knapsacks and
ficers' baggage. The wagons used to trnns-
ort thsse things to the army were filed on
be retreat with the wounded.
THE ENEa9's LOSS,
It is customary to make the enemy's list Of
lsua1tfes equal to our OWL In this instance
believe can follow the rule, and not be
cry far out Of the truth. When we consider | =
lat the enemy had but four or five, and we a
xteen pieces of artillery in position, 1T is not
ltt1cult to believe that we inflicted upon him
uite as much injury as he upon us. The {
ct that he did not follow rapidly is slgnif- !
mt Of the immense damage lie sustained. 1
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL, Z
n,1xp nft,vVxy rT.u1-r