Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1864-05-31
Our ll1ar Correspondence.

A Soldiers Lstter--No. 81.

Ok rnE Battle FIELD, May 9, 1864.
EDITOR FRgmAs Il presume you have
heard, before this, VII the incidents worth rea.
Ting OF the present bloody campaign 81 that
any further account will be only repetition Of
the same or similar scents, such as we all have
witnessed. Being one Of that fortunate mum
Der that lives to " tell the tale am inclined
however, to run the risk and do 30, though ~
completely worn out and exhausted as ! find
myself to day, should give very tame account
Of what have seen and experienced, for have
hardly life enough left to tell whore have been
or what have seen. OF course, no one Of us
can give much Of an account Of anything that
has happened beyond his own range Of vision
for it Is difficult TO &C. much Of an idea beyond
that ourselves
On the morning Of the 4th Of May We ivl,
our old camp at early dawn, AMI took the war
path oncl more. The morning was bright aut
clear, the air cool and refreshing as We bid
adieu to our winter home, and started OF what
We knew to be the most perlous campaign Of
the war. We took the same line OF march that
we did last fall, marching direct to Germauil
Ford, and halting for the night TWO or three
miles beyond
AZ daylight next morning We took the plank
road, and marched out to Its junction with the
plank road that runs from tredcrcksbutgh 10
Gordonsyle We saw nothing Of the enemy,
and heard nothing Of them until just before We
reached the latter point, when our column un.
e1pectedly came upon a column OF rebel troops
coming this way After little skirmishIng,
the rebels fell back Here was Il high point Of
land where the roads cross at right ang es, and
II is in the midst Of an endless wldernoss-"a
wilderness Of woe as the boys call it. The
troops massed in here in considerable numbers,
and after some moments g1t into working order
Our regiment crossed the Fre1ereksburgh road
and sled ioto the woods with other troops in line
in our rear and front. Pretty soon the order
came to advance. We marched in line OF bat
tie on the lett side Of the frederoksburgh road,
IA Nut namD NttNNAAAh hNAt AAAh ~ ia AhhFt 0uA
we soon came upon the enemy. There was one
line ahead OF US. We followed close 70 them
and we're equally exposed The rebels gave US
a warm reception. They poured their bullets
into US so fast that We had 70 lie down to load
and FIRE. The front line gave way, and We were
obliged to take their places. We were under
their fire over three hours, before we were re-
leyed We we're close on to them, and their
FIRE was terribly eaecuye. Our regiment lost
264 men IN killed and wounded just a little
10 the rear Of where cur line was formed, whore
the bullets swept close to the ground, every
bush and tsig was cut and splintercd by the
leaden balls. The woods was a dense ,hlckot
OF small trees about the size OF hop POLES, aud
they stood three times as numerous as they are
usually set in hop yard but along the whole
length Of the line doubt it single tree could
have boen found that had not been pierced sew
eral times with bullets, and all were hit about
breast high. Had the rebels fired little lower,
thoy would have ann.hilated he whole line; they
nearly did it as it was, Our Colonel WAS killed,
our Lieut. Colonel and a,tng Major wounded
aud only three captains were with rs after the
fight We all had our hairbreadih escapes tC
tell Of My propensity lor boasiiug has already
been discovered | could say that had u bul
let pass through my clothes on each side, one o
them giving me pretty smart rap, and one hal
split the crown Of my cap into two, knocking
/. OF my head as neatly as 1t could have beer
done by the most scientific boxer
Another line marched up to take our places
and we fell back to the ro,d and that night vi
throw up breast works the best We could consid
erius that we had to dig among roots and stump
with but few tools and poor ones at that. Ih
firing stopped at dark without our having gaino'
an inch on the enemy We were called up II
the morning before light Our hours Of sleel
were few and brief At half past four o'clool
we were ordered to advance into the same plde
again. There were pale and anxious faces II
our regiment when that order was given. w
had had very insufficient Test for the two night
previous, and the terrible nervous exhaustion {
fighting had left us in hardly lit condition
endure another such an ordeal so soon. The
there was so many men missing from our nun
Der that it hardly seemed like the same reg
ment. But the order was fltward, aud | do nj
know that single man failed to lake his plAe'
We advanced directly down to the same pa,
where We fought the day before. Our dead con
rades lay on the ground, just as they had hlle
many oil whom We recognized We would glad
have fallen out to give them decent burial, b'
we had no time to think Of that. We drove Il
eneny this time aud captured some prisoner
The prisoners we're mostly North oarol'n'an