Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1864-05-21

| peratcy made. The right of the 9th was
turned, and almost instantly Milroy's old
brigade was swallowed up, with the loss cf
! Brigadier General seymour, of Olustce fame,
and General Shalcr, who were taken prison
ers, The disaster was retrieved, however,
and the enemy, in turi, met with rcpulse.
The safety of the irmy, at this moment,
was insured by General Scdgwick, for, had
the rebels succeeded in ovcrpawcring him,
the Army of the Potomac would have been
cut in twain, and it would have required the
utmost skill If the generals, as well as the
most indomiablc courage and heroic self
sacrifices of the men, to have checked tho
onward tide of the enemy, and saved the
army FROM ruin Happily, however, the
danger was avcrtcd. and the rebels, having
been toiled in their purpose, withdrew from
the field. In the early part OF the day the
enemy made an attempt to pierce Gen. War
rens corps, but failed us sigually as they did
in their later efforts. During the engage
ment of this day Brigadicr General Wads-
worth was killed Thus had the enemy at
tempted to pursue the tactics peculiar tn Lee
of hurllng heavy MASSES of troops, first upon
one and then upon the other wing and centre
of our arns- He failed in every endeavor,
however, and was compelled to give up the
contest at nlghtiall, batiled at all points,
Thus closed the second day Of the battle Of
the Wilderness.
OPERATIONS OF SATURDAY, MAY 2.
After the terrible struggle of the last two
days, and the vigor with which the enemy
had fallen upon and outfiauked Gen. Sedg-
wick's coIps az the very last moment on Fri
day, the Union army was in anything but n
hopeful condition. Judging by the temper
ofthe men, the feeling was that our troops,
although repusing every attack, had perhaps
on the whole, the worst of the fighting. The
valor of the rebels was SO desperate and the
handling of Lees troops so mastery, that our
men, at least many of them, felt they had u
harder job before them than they had antici-
pated. The battle recommended however
at daylight between the advance pickets of
the two armies. From all appearance Lee
seemed intent upon turning our right so as TO
get between the Union army, when Lieuten-
ant General Grant and General Meade came
up to the scene of action. The men, who had
been lighting all day, gladly hailed the Lieu
tenant General by loud cheers. The weather
throughout was exceedingly warm, and
many of the men were sun-struck.
MONDAY, MAY 9-FIGIITlMG NEAR
SPOTTSYLNAN1A.
After the continuous march and fighting
of whole week, the army imperatiyely de
mauded rest. The six days provisions, with
which the troops had marched out on the
Wednesday preceding, had about run out,
and it became necessary to rcplcnish the
haversacks and company wagons. y halt
was therefore made till the supply wagons
should be cmptlcd. The number of woun-
ded also was teartully large, and 1t would
be inhuman not to bend the whole energies
of the army to have them conveyed to tho
rear and attended to. The wounded, in all,
are estimated as high as nineteen thousand
men, which, of course includes all the bat
ties. The killed outright are supposed to
number three thousand five hundred, While
of missing there are in the ncighborhood of
five thousand, almost all OF whom had been
captured in the fights OF Thursday and FRI
day. Monday was well spent III bringing
! forward the artillery, IN getting the army III
motion, unloading the supply wagons get
ting new cartridges, and making prcpera-
tons for the advance on Spottsylvania Court
House, which took place during the alter
noon of that day. BY evening the whole
army was well advanced, and, unexpected to
the enemy, General Hancock's 2d Corps,
which was the freshest of the various COM
( mands, was ordered to the front to drive
the rebels from the village, and occupy tho
/ lower bank of the Pc. Ewells corps con-
tested the advance, but Hancock's went
yaliantly on, and for two hours one of the
most desperate fights of the whole four took
place.
There are two theories current in the
army touching the movements of Lee; one
; is that it is only Ewell's corps with which we
have been fighting for the last two days,
and that the rest of Lees army has fallen
! back to Richmond to overwhelm the forces
under Generals Smith and Gilmore. The
general opinion, however, is that all of Lees
army-is still near to the front. 1t was on
/ Monday that General John Scdgwick was
killed by a ball from a rebel sharpshOoter,
while engaged in directing his gunners
Y-PRELlAIlNARIES OF THE
BATTLE OF THE Pc.
Mr. Swinton writes to the New York
! Times. The military situation at this hour
, TUESDAY, 10 M.,) finds the line OF the army
drawn round Spottsylvania Court House in
the arc of circle, the concave towards us.
! The enemy is in force ut that point, and
seems determined to dispute passage. l
mentioned in my letter OF yesterday that
! the two armies ran n race from the Wilder
ness for Spottsylvania, but unfortunately the
enemy won the race. This should not bc
interpreted as conveying any censure ON the
Army of the Potomac, which has marched
with a new inspiration and a rapidity never
before seen in its history. But the very ne
cessitics of our condition as the invading
party, with our old base abandoned and u
/ new one not Vet opened, oblige us to take
I immense trains, which, OF course, relaFd the
general movement of the army; the enemy
constantly falling back on their base, ana
! favored 10y their very poverty can i,aully
! beat us ON an equal start. II woald Ger
tainly been grrut point gained had we
| been aldo tu mahe Sr"ttsylvania Court
uousr in advance of the enemy, I'm inspec-
tion of the map will show you thai il Is an
! important strategic point, being the point
of divergence OF the roads leading south
ward. both to the right and leu.
The rvbcls have as yet shown no disposi'
lion Ia a.sumc the offensive ut thls point.
\ IL Was curudeutly expected ua sunday
| nighl that an attack would take place on
/ Hancock front, toward the CaihnUicn iuad ,
and on q line With thr lHuck road. The
/ troops showed Vgyll u.lirrneg Ia throwing
/ up LrvastNor aud brigade Ns' 'a'are'd
out iur a nil, Dr Hurr lrum i.s mann mont
over some cleared l"l About ah t'uf
l before sunset ,his aIia,h was made. ln''i'r-
dia,uly upon ais Ir,lI,uirui 81 ihr HiNA'''r
/ Ibdpale. the eurmy charged i"N4d .u'
I line. bot never r,4shri o. turs put "a l.w
ulns ia position. aud sh1l,rd thr ""nls ''F