Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-10-08

wounded had passed over him. Still on, I'M
derneath the glowing sun, revived by fresh
breezes, revived still more by the conscious
ness of victory, the Army of the Shenandoah
thundered after its prey.
At the beginning of the battle, before its
issues are fairly made up, there is sure to be
some Struggling There is no struggling now.
One, gazing along these columns, wreathed
in the smoke of their own discharges, cannot
imagine that a thought of retreat dwells
among them. H
The word is g Forward |" along the miles
of the contest. Forward ~ You shall hear
it from the lips of commanders everywhere.
From generals and colonies and captains, with
/ "a superabundance of oaths and curses and
unnecessary entreaties added. The woods
ring with it. Cheers succeed it, and the
lines advance anew. Yonder, in an orchard
on the left, the troops of Getty's division of
the Sixth corps are making havoc among the
enemy. They have crossed a ravine and
taken a crest, and the batteries of Mozart
ney and others, posted in their rear on this
side of the ravine, are sending over their
| heads worse than equinoctal tempest of
| bOmbshells. On the right-far to the right
now-the army of Western Virginia, still
pressing the foe with resistless ardor, are re-
venging Winchester. The First and Third
divisions of the Sixth corps, in center, are
making an angle out of the triangle described
before. The cavalry of Torbett, on the ex-
treme right, are sweeping around, prepare
| tory to a last and overwhelming charge soon
to be made. The artillery, closing up on our
rear thunders still more heavily. Back from
the mountains, back from the nearing spires
| of Winchester, the echoes of the battle are
trembling. The last plateau directly over
looking the plain before Winchester is gained
| by the whole army. The enemy, encompass
ed by semi-cirele, fought still, retreating
upon the furthest verge OF the plateau, their
artillery, driven to the plain below, being
completely silenced. Along the plateau the
! forward march of our battaliOns is as I'M
swerving as upon parade.
Down lower and lower yet the heads of the
rebels sink, and are lost behind its verge
| What cheer then goes up from the Army of
the Shenandoah! A cheer that, like the
sweep of billow, ranges through the army,
making its heart glad. Forward, still for
ward, at double quick, cheering and firing
| still Winchester lis in full view, its roofs
and steeples glowing red in the setting sun.
| Our artillery, borne across the raXine to the
plateau, and along the plateau to its furthest
verge, now does a work so terrible that to
witness it is sickening. The whole rebel
army, swept down the slope and on to the
! plain below, is completely demoralized. At
every discharge of our guns its ranks bend
helplessly forward, like the grasses of a field
| before a storm. Rebel horsemen galloping
everywhere upon the plain sway useless sa-
bres and shout useless cries for their men to
rally. There is no rallying there.
And now on the right flank Of Gen. Crook
sweeps around into view, the enemy flying
helplessly before them everywhere, the cav
airy Of Gen TOrbett still forward to the right,
are seen galloping in resistless columns around
the left flank of the rebel army.
O, what sight is there These horsemen,
each hero, bent on vengeance, gallop in
close ranks, with sabres cleaning red, with
cries that sound above the roar of musketry
and artillery, to complete the work of this
| great day. Their horses, each arching a
| proud neck, and with nostrils wide and glow
ing, have look like the Roman chariot hors-
es of old in the midst of victory. Faster, yet
faster, with a speed greater than the weary
| feet of the enemy they encompass, they gal
lop on and in among the flying crowds The
saber, that arm of which so many mythical
| deeds have been recorded, does actual work
now, Generals Torbett and Merritt, with their
stats, joining in the splendid glee of the mo-
ment, are in the very front of the first line,
charging and dealing death with their men.
Generals Custer and Lowell, whose brigades
/
! ing good service. The Sixth and Fourth New
York, Devins' brigade, join in the good work.
The enemy, surrounded on their left by this
brilliant movement, can make but a mOmen.
tary opposition
Scores, forsalling their comrades, fly to the
houses near, and conceal themselves therein.
Numbers. are cut down and captured, the rest
make their escape, join their flying comrades
across the Winchester pike, making toward
the town. -Four hundred prisoners, four bat
tie flags, and one piece of artillery, are the
prizes, aside from the dead and wounded OF
the enemy, of this brilliant charge.
The sun, alas, sits on the horizons verge.
Across that plain before Winchester, its
beams shine upon a scene rivaling in pictur-
esque sublimity all historic fields of most his
toric wars. Vast, and level, and beautiful for
miles, the field itself, unpeOpled, would be
full of romance Peopled as it is by thou
sands of rebels, shattered, demoralized, fly
ing, by thousands of still pursuing troops,
moving in we'll ordered battalions, resound-
ing with torrent of musketry and the boom
of cannon, surprising the roar of Waterloo,
it is a scene which /, at least, exhausted by
its excitement and the sleepless marches
which have succeeded, cannot hope to sug-
gest to any Imagination.
The smoke of the battle alone would have
| tOlU VINO were the VICIOUS. AIOIR the
ged front of the rebel hosts it rose in patch
es; along the solid front Of the Union army il
rose in straight thin clouds far off on the
heights surrounding Winchester, the enemy's
artillery, again hurriedly posted, Numbered a
faint answer to our own.
The missiles from these guns, badly aimed,
plowed along the plain, endangering the rebel
wounded who we're left in the retreat, quite
| as much as our own men.
One more charge ere the sun goes down.
One more charge with victory in its meaning
victory as its result. The day is won the
rebel army is beaten and overwhelmed at eV-
cry point.
Flying through Winchester, scarcely at
tempting a stand, except to protect the re-
naming pieces of their artillery, they are
pursued by our men. In half an hour Win
chester and the heights beyond are in our
possession. The twilight gathers; darkness
falls The only signs of the enemy, met in
the morning and fought during the day, are
the echoes Of their artillery wagons retreat
ing along the pike toward Newtown.
We have taken twenty-five hundred prls-
oners, FIVE thousand stand of arms, five piec-
es of artillery, and eleven battle flags. Near
ly three thousand rebel wounded have been
left in Winchester and on the field. Gen.
Rhodes is killed. Gems. Gordon, Goodwin,
Lomax, York, and Others, are known to be
wounded. The rebels must have lost at least
six thousand in killed, wounded and prisoners.
| Our own losses amount to between three