Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-05-26

iment first named being nearly IN the CEN
ter. The rebels charged upon tnem WIN
their peculiar short-lived enthusiasm anu
their yell, and were met firmly, and the
position might have been held without oli,
ficulty, had not the 9th Maine broken and
fled to the woods, thus permitting the reb-
els to enter the pit and flank the remaining
regiments, compelling them to retire. Two
| Iieutenants of the 9th MaiLe, who retired
their men without orders, were brought
this afternoon before Gen. Ames, and by
him sent to Gen. Butler, who summarily
dismissed one of them from the service.
Both deserve severe punishment, for this
unfortunate affair has cost hundreds OF
| lives to-day, and threatens us with severe
battles as the price of holding our posltion'
The rebels in the pit, and the woods which
vet stand next the Hewlett House, are the
twin sources of apprehension.
Onr men once out of the pit and in re-
treat, the impetuous rebels pursued, reck-
lessly charging into full view in the clear
ing. Then our guns, angry but silent while
they shclled away at us yesterday, opened
with spherical case, and they tumbled back
to their newly acquired pit. ;,
Now came momentary lull, and then
the Sd Regular Battery, in the left redoubt,
the 4th New Jersey adjoining it on the
right, both facing the pit, and the ISL Con-
necticut in the elevated red0ubt 1urther 10
the right, pointing diagonally and partly
across it, opened fire, roaring without
moments stop from lO1a to II 2. using at
first mostly spherical case. Inc practlce
was mainly excellent, under the personal
direction of Gen. Ames, most OF the shel
bursting over the pit. The rebel guns re-
turned the fire, but their shots counted
hardly more than fifth of ours and only
an insignificant number were struck, while
our own fire was not in the least retarded
Meanwhile the 18th Indiana, Col. Dobbs,
made gallant and as it seemed, imprudent
charge upon the pit on the right, but were
repulsed when within about hundred
wards of the work. During this charge we
took prisoner Major General Walker, OF
South Carolina, who was here temporarily
in command of a brigade. lie mad ms ioot
torn off by shell, and states that his Drlg-
ade ran off and left him on the field.
The firing being over for the present, our
men could be seen huddled behind apple
trees and others in the clearing. The
Lieutenant Colonel of the l15th New York
rode airily out upon an elegantly capari-
soned horse, against warning, when down
went the horse, off went his rider Oh foot,
and soon after man was seen to crawl
carefully to the animal and remove the
trappings, the rebels amusing themselves
with firing at him.
For q rarity, there was no rain, ana the
day was oppressively hot. The hot noon
steamed away, and.at 215 our guns began to
roar. Word was brought that the left of
the pit was empty, and soon the 97th Penn
sylyania was seen advancing against the
left of the ritle-pit, in the open clearing.
Their leader had mistaken or not followed
precisely his orders, and the rebels had
come in, and suddenly they rose and poured
upon the 9th murderous fire OF infantry
and grape, and they seemed to fall in
swaths. 1t was a sad sight, without help,
but they ran deperately forward, hesita-
ted, wavered and ran back all In the space
of moment of time.
Meanwhile our guns were turned upon
the spot. and the fire of the rebels rapidly
diminished. Thenceforward, for something
like an hour, it was possible with fair
chance of impunity to sit upon the parapet
and watch our shells, although for time
rebel shot flew wildly over u.s. and the trees
flew into splinters. The clearing was now
nearly empty of men, but about o'clock
word came that Col. Howell's brigade was
in the ritie-pit on the right. Five o'clock,
and musketry cracked vigorously in the
woods, showing that Terry's division was
contesting there the right of the pit, and
the guns were turned in that direction.
They fired without intermission until 51199,
then came lull, during which the rebels
could be seen busily spading and throwing
the pit over the other way, while our men
repaired the embrasures, many of which
were too narrow, beside having been torn
by the guns themselves.
Evening came, and all was quiet on the
front, but on the extreme left we heard
heavy firing from gunboats on the Apo
mattox or from Kinks battery on the other
bank, shelling the ravine which runs from
the river to the rebel position here. The
woods have been so slashed that the signal
corps communicate between the redoubts,
and Terry's headquarters OH the bank of the
James are plainly visible. ....
Our losses to-day cannot now be esti-
mated. In infantry fire they are heavy,
and probably exceed that OF the enemy;
but our artillery practice was good, the
rebels being sometimes seen on the run for
the woods, and, perhaps, thus we have re-
stored the balance Of death. a few casual
ties occurred from our own guns. Not
musket shot was fired from our works.
Some shells of the Sd Artillery failed
to explode this afternoon. One or two were
examined and found to be filled with HARM
less plaster.
SATURDAY, 7 A. M.-Firing on the left
continued far into the night. Our batteries
have just begun to fire again slowly, and
the pit must be retaken to-day at whatever
cost, for its loss will be the loss of our po-
sition on the Peninsula.
find, in looking over my first letter from
Fort Darling that inadvertently wrote the
name of Gen. Smith for that of Gilmore in
one connection. l should have stated that
on Friday, Gen. Gilmore, with the 1st
brigade of Brooks's division Of the 18th
corps, charged upon and took the rebel
right. j. w.