The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-08-05


tack us in the rear! What If Sweeney had
been elsewhere? Who can tell what MIGHT
have been the result?
In a short space of time Gen. Sweeneys. line
was formed. Col. Rce's brigade faced 10 the
rear eastwardy, and Col. Messy's fronting
south; the Nth Ohio battery at The angle of
the two lines. and Walkers battery Gst Mis-
rour H. in the center of Rices brigade. Find.
ing rom the skirni,h firing that this fire was
100 snort. zen. Dodge first ordered out one re-
giinent from Gen. Fullers division. and then
tne whole brigade (Morrill's) to be formed on
I:ic rlgn u OF col: Messy. The remainder of
General Fuller's division Ind hnon cont IN n,
catur on the Dist to guard the wo~on trains
Gen. Fuler's brigade was hardly in Iosi,ion
when the few skirmishers of the 1Z,h corns
who had been in the front, were driven in. and
close after them, at the edge of the woods not
three hundred yards distant appeared the main
rebel line. Gen. Dodge at the time was at the
18th OHIO Battery, and ordered it to open on
them. In a moment the shell were flying with
deadly certainty into the rebel ranks. 1t
stopped for moment. then steaded itself
LOT dow and came forward. TIE quick eve
OF Gen. Dodge at once saw that the line was
all 100 long for three brigades, and. if it was
,iot checked or driven back, would turn his
lelt and Wors untold mischief Riding amid
the storm of bullets to the commander of the
S!st ONO regiment, Lieut.. Col Adams. he
directed him to charge with his REGIMENT
Passing on to the next regiment 9th IlIinois1
he gave the same order to Lieut.. Col Van
Sellar Inspired by the presence and bravery
of their Commanding General. these two
regiments moved out with a shout. and com.
ing around the point of a ridge unexpectedly
on the rebel force, slaughtered them terribly
and captured large number of prisoners
with two stands of colors.
Lieut. Laird's and Capt. Welker's batteries
poured ceaselsss vol.eys into the ranks now
plain before them in the open fields, and in
the woods
Meanwhile, Col. Morril,'s impetuous brigade
on the right, charged and drove the enemy
before it to the edge of the timber In this
position 1t was without support on the right
and was compelled to fall back-a most haz
ardous movement, yet by no means demon
allzlng. as the line was promptly reformed at
It's original position, and again started to
drive the the rebels back. Once more this
gallant brigade crossed that bloody field. and
once more it WAS compelled to fall back
under CALLING fire; but, never despairinp-
the weakened line bravtly rallied the second
time and held its position. Severely it suf.
fored in these movements. Col Morrill,. its
commander, was severely wounded in two
places.
Early in the engagement Gen. Dodge had
sent to Gen. Giles A. Smith to notify him of
the situation in his rear, his being the left di-
vision on the line, and to ask him to throw his
reserve at right angle with his line, He had
no reserves! The enemy soon pressed on his
flank and rear, and compelled him to fall back.
Soon this became impracticable and his men
attacked in rear, jumped over their works and
fought in reverse. Hardly did they repulse an
attack of this kind until their new rear would
be attacked, and again they would have to
change sides of the works. In this wav Dor.
tons OF Gen, Smiths division changed six
times. Of course all this was not done with
ont pnnfy ~
of and some two hundred of them captured.
Here, too, Murrav's Battery. I'd U. s. A., tenn
porarily detached from the 10th corps. was cap
tured. 1t had been ordered back to Gen. Fni.
Ter at the beginning of the action. and while on
the way was cut off and the pieces captured.
over one hundred ofthe men have since report
cd. Lieut.. Murray was captured
The event which will cast gloom over the
whole country occurred about this time in the
front Gate rear of Gen G A. Smith, division
At the beginning Of the battle with General
Dodge, General Mcpherson had visited him
an dhaving looked at the ground and Dispatch
ed every one of his staff on various brands
sald ne would go and see the left. Away he
galloped alone; plunged into the timber
where he met the rebel line of battle. Too
cowardly to respect the bravery of such an of.
ficer, the rebels fired q volley at the General
His horse plunged aside the Iifeess rider feli
to the earth, and the Army of the Tennessee
was withOuta leader.
It was dark hour when staff officer dashed
up 10 Gen. Logan and whispered to him sad
tidiDgs; for it was thought best to not let the
army know SO early in the action such bad
news The designs and strength of the enemy
were not yet developed. Precisely where to
LOOK Tor blow no one knew. The 10Th corps
had repulsed the attack on its position and had
oraVely held its ground The 18th was being
pushed In, though fighting with the stubborn.
ness OF veterans as they were Gen. Loean's
nrst order was to send q division on General
lodges lett to guard against rear attack
This was taken from the 23d corps and the
10Th corps had to lengthen out to fill the space
The force came on Morgan L. Smiths diyi-
sion, and after one of the severest fights of tho
campaign, they drove back his division. can.
turing the artillery, among which was the "a.
nous De Gras battery. 40
zen. Logan repaired in person to Genera,
Dodge to get assistance in returning the line
ana lhe guns. Gen. Dodge sent to Col. Mer.
sys brigade. 1t had already fought a severe
oattle ana mad endured the fatigue of a davis
WatcnIulneSs, but at the sound of dancer
1t moved off without word Arriving IN the,
ground, tne brigade went in with veil de-
ploylnS as 1t went up Company officers vied
with each other in being first to reach the
WORKS held by the enemy The line was tri.
umpnantly carried, and with it a large number
o, prisoners son IL was Hoods corps which had
Inc loss of the 10th corps will nrobab,v
Ieach Voo. The 18th lost 500, while the 18th
oi an not l0se more than 5OO making total of
2oOO. Judging from the front of the 10th
corps, the rebels lost at Least twice as heav-
ny as we; They left 'her dead and wounded
III our hands everywhere except where the
18th corps yielded.
hardees corps made desperate effort to get
10 our rear, but fortunately was met by the in
ueiatlgaDle COMMANDER of the 10th corps and
was hurled back Only with the left of the
18th corps, which was cut off before it could
smaneuver, did he gain any sucress. Hood tried
to break our centre. partially succeeded with
heavy loss, but was by the timely arrival of
Col. Mersey's brigade, driven back with greater
loss. Although the splendid achievements
which were expected to be accomplished. ut
terly failed.
part of the plan consisted in sending Gen.
WheeIer's cavalry to destroy the trains in our
rear. The only guard we had tor these was
three regiments of Col Sprague's brigade. post
ed in Decatur OF his severe engagement and
successful defence of our train, too much can.
not be said in his praise. His loss was over
two hundred yet all unaided he withstood the
onset of two divisions of Wheelers cavalrv
and saved our tr ms.
truce for burying the dead was had to.dav
during which tue rebel officers reported that
u n Hardee is missing. We have not cantnr'
ed ho 10 MI,