Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-10-22

The Worlds 10th corps correspondent has
the following account of the affair of Friday
October 7th:
The point at which the enemy first made
his appearance was near the intersection of
the Darbytown and White Haven roads, and
VAS held by two brigades of cavalry, one of
which, under command of Col. West, was de-
ployed across the Darbytown road, while the
other, under command of Col Spear, was de-
ployed parallel to it across the Whitstone
road, covering the approach from this direc-
ton.
The enemy, when first seen, was coming
across the country from the Charles City
road, and moving toward the right flank of
Col. West. The Colonel changed front hasti-
ly, so as to form line parallel with the road
and facing the enemy He had hardly effect
ed this and sheltered his men behind a low
hedge skirting the road, when the enemy, in
overwhelming numbers, dashed on him and
the command of Col. Spears in almost stimuli
taneous charges. The men fred steadily, but
could not stay the rushing masses opposed to
them. 1t was evident they must retreat, so
the command was given and they moved off
down the Darbytown road. Suddenly they
were checked in this direction by the enemy
having outfanked Spears, who had possession
of this avenue of retreat. As there was one
more chance across the country, they went
almost without organization.
The batteries of the 4th Wisconsin and LIST
Q. S, which fought bravely, moved on in the
same direction, taking a blind wood road.
They had not gone far, however, when the
forward piece was mired This stopped the
remainder, and on this spot they were cap
tured, eight guns in all, by the enemy who
had followed closely and reached them soon
after.
The enemy having driven the cavalry be-
fore them, now ceased the pursuit and turned
toward the unprotected flank of the 10th
Corps which was held by the invincible old
lst or Terry's division. The enemy, flushed
with his easily gained victory, moved toward
this little band with all the confidence of vic
tors. The brunt of his attack was directed
toward Abbott's I'd Brigade. He might bet
ter have chosen almost any other point, for
half of these troops being armed with repeat
ing rifles, made hasty records on the rebel
ranks. Moving towards them steadily he ex-
hibited determination to force the position
at any cost, but the unerring volcanic fire.
arm more than equalled the game.
Onward they pushed; more dense grew
the fire; still they advanced until within
about 100 PAGES of our crouching death-deal-
ers Then signs of weakness began to mani
fest themselves in their ranks. They found
that to advance in the face of that fire was
simply marching to death, in short there was
nothing for them, but to stink away as best
they could, and stink away they did Salts
fed with the punishment he had inflicted,
Terry at once prepared to follow his advan-
tage. As our lines approached the enemy, it
became evident that he was Richmond bound.
Although hopes of overtaking him were flu
tile, still our advance was pushed on until
darkness interfered. Then just as Ponds
Brigade had reached within half a mile of the
Darbytown road the order was given to re-
turn within our defenses.
In the advance we picked up quite num-
Der of prisoners, stragglers and men who
waited behind to desert. These, with our
captures before our works, swelled our list of
captures to some 200.
Gen. Lee commanded in person, and had
evidently determined to make a heavy i'm
preston.
Our loss in men has been very small, but
the enemy has suffered horribly. Their pris-
~----- ~sroaS oUI4. oIORS aIIUng Jnelr Killed.
They brought two divisions into action one
under Gen. Field and provisional division
uDder HIKE