Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-05-19

sunset.
The sun went down red. The smoke Of the
battle OF more than two hundred thousand
men destroying each other with viIlainou,
saltpeter through all the long hours Of Ions
day, filed the Fallies. and rested upon the
hills of this Wilderness, hung in lurid haze
all around the horizon, and built dense can
! opy overhead, beneath which this grand army
of Freedom was preparing to rest against the
morrow. Gems. Grant and Meade had re.
tired to their tents. Quiet reigned, but dur
ing the reign Of quiet the enemy was forging
a thunderbolt.
. Darkness and smoke were mingIing in grim
twilight, and fast deepening into thick gloom,
| when we were startled out of repose back in.
to fierce excitement. The forged thunder.
bolt was sped, and by master. a wild rebeI
! yell away to the right. We knew thev had
massed and were charging. We waited for
! the volIey with which we knew Sedgwick
would meet the onset. We thought it but a
| night attack to ascertain if we had changed
| our position. We were nistaken-it was
more. They meant to break through, and
| they did.
On Sedgwick's extreme right lay the I'd
Brigade, Sd Division of his corps, under Gen.
! Seymour, who had been assigned to it but two
days before. The brigade is new to the 9th
| corps, and is known as the Milroy brigade !:
connecting on the left of Seymour by S6aIer's
and then NeilPs brigades, the latter being a
brigade Of Getty's division that had not been
sent to Hancock. These troops were at work
! intrenching when fallen upon.
The enemy came down like a torrent roll
ing and dashing in living waves, and flooding
up against the whole 9th corps The main
| line stood like rock, but not so the extrem
| right. That flank was instantly and utterly
! turned. The rebel line was the longer, and
surged around Seymour's brigade, tided over
it and through it, beat against Shaler, and
| bore away his right regiments. All this done
! in less than ten minutes, perhaps not five
! S9ymOur's men, seeing their pickets running
| back, and hearing the shouts of the rebels,
who charged with all their chiyalry, were
smitten with panic, and, standing on no order
| of going, went at once, and in an incredibly
| short time made their way through mile
and half Of woods to the plank-road in the
rear They reported, in the frantic manner
usual to stampeded men, the entire corps bro
ken. Grant, as in Hancock's case, didn't be-
| Geve it. But when three of Sedgwick's staff
rode into army headquarters separately and
stated how they had riden from Sedgwick's
to keep Seymour's men to their work. had
been borne back by the panic, and had last
seen Sedgwlck and Wright hard to the front
working like TroanS to hold the wavering
line, the situation appeared more critical
No word came i'll from Sedwick. 1t began to
be feared that he and Wright, disdaining to
fly, were prisoners.
Artillery moved quietly to commanding DO
sitions, to be prepared for the worst, and cool
heads felt that were the whole 9th corps bro
ken, the army, as an army, would still be in
vincible. Warren's corps is instantly, but in
perfect cOmposure, disposed to meet the stu
alton Grant and Meade and Warren are in
Grants tent to and from which officers come
and 90 with certain earnest air that be-
speaks urgent and important cares. So dur
ing an hour. No firing has been heard the
last threc-quarters of an hour. The rebels
| must haYed ceased to advance but how far
have they penetrated, and what is the pres
ent situation?
The 9th Corps flag comes in. Where is
the 9th Corps chieltain My watch says 10
o'clock at night \ dispatch received. John
Sedgwick safe. Wright safe. The 9Th corps
holds strong line; only Seymour's and a
part OF Shalers brigade have been broken.
The enemy can do nothing more. The 9th
corps proper has not lost its pristine glory
Compelled to withdraw, unGcr orders after
the detection of its right, it is still inyincible
is now, and ever shall be- may not re
train from mentioning for gaIlantry, Sedg-
wick's staff and Wright's.
Riding in the thiclleSt with rare presence
of mind and rare Judgment, they won and de-
served John SedgWck'S emphatic commenda-
ton. Gems. Seymour and Shaler were Cap
| tured 1t should be stated that both are
awarded by their division and corps comman-
ders every credit for doing all men could to
recover their troops from panic, communi-
eating to the latter's brigade, not beginning
there. C. a. 2.
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
In ''The Wilderness Saturday Morning, May
With the exception of the line occupied
by the 9th corps yesterday, our original posi-.
tons are held this morning at o'clock. At
Z o'clock last night, a furious attack was made
on Sedgwick's lile-the main assault occur
ring on the right, which was finally turned by
the enemy, and the corps forced to retire
some distance to the rear. gallant resis-
lance was made by Sedgwick, and at p. M
his line was re-established in the position it
now. Occupies Considerable confusion occur
red IN several regiments on the right, but mo-
mentarlly, however, as through the personal
efforts of Gen. Sedgwick and other officers
| the stragglers were soon rallied and replaced
| in line of battle.
All Is quiet this morning. with the excep-
ton of picket firing opposite our center. A
thick volume Of smoke and fog envelopes the
battlefield and prevents the continuance of
| yesterdays conflict. The fight at intervals
all day yesterday on our left was of the ferc-
| est description. But very little artillery was
brought into requisition, owing to the nature
of the battlefield, which was covered with
an almost impenetrable growth of scrub-oaks
| and underbrush. The fight was altogether
| one of musketry, and although not continu-
Gus, was one of the most determined and
desperate battles of the war.
Our loss in the I'd Corps alone cannot fall
short Of three thousand in killed, wounded
and missing. Charges and counter charges
were made at short intervals during the day.
and the CHASTITY forms of hundreds of the
combatants lying this morning side by side in
the vast chapparal which formed the battle
ground, attest the severity of the conflict
Brig Gen. Barlow, commanding the LIST
Division, occupied the extreme left of the ID
Corps; Motifs division and portion of Gen
Gibbons division held the center, while Biz
ney with his own division, Robinson's of the
9Th, StevenSon's brigade of tho 9th, and Car
rolls and Owens brigades Of the ID Corps,
were stationed on the right, his line facing
westward, and extending across the plank
road running from Charlottesville to Orange
Court House.
At precisely FIVE A. NJ, an advance of the
I'd Corps was ordered, and with cheers our
men charged through dense thicket, sur
prising the enemy while at breakfast, and
driving them in confusion from their tempo
rary works, literally strewing the ground
with the bodies of their killed and wounded,
and capturing a large number of prisoners.
The rebels, astonished at the celebrity of
HancOck's movements were unable TO rally