Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1864-05-20

Li,iiv intS- I''''''..'
Is LlSs II B.gcAs ils2rHs!,
SroTsYLrANIAC. H, Va.
Friday Morning, May Is, 1861.
Dear -:
Another grea, battle has been fought. and oe
! nd Ind myself equally well ss before NN'A''
Tins far have I escaped unhurt; but, On,
key syrraYins ere the scenes On al siueo y,
arr nns,t;on, Some Of my hest friends and
nnnna;ntanccs are killed, and some dreadiully
,sonrdsd. Last Sunday We left our camp
.'snr Orange Court House, marched oil day,
md until o'clock Monday morning, in order to
each this raeo as early as possible. On the
march, Tom met me, and handed me most
rlea2iue and welcome letter from you, which
| i read, aud re-read while trudging along
.hrccgh thick dust and hot sunshine, and
assure you, it gave mo much food Tor
I. Election aud thought, and added new lie to
nv dropping spirits and wearied limbs. :
I can only give you birds eye view Oh
tina. portion Of tho battle in which cur bate
~, Or battalion. is Immediately engaged.
cnud give you many rumors ana SENSATION
stories but they woudbe Of little Importance
AID anything but reliable. feel most Gafpy
today, ard somo old adago forgot whose,
has taught mo that whcu feel most happy l
must write nv friends of it. ani happy to
say that Mr Grant has been terribly cut up
and whipped by our Bobby Lee (God bless
him). Yes, Mr.. Grant and his army Of 2oo'-
coo l.ireliugs, have been put through IN beau
;itul STYLE His repulses BY this army nave
| been far moro severe and destructive tns9
INV he ever met with out West. You wouln
SCARCELY believe your own eyes were you to
see the field in front Of the works ON our LETT,
where Gen. EwclpS corps (2l fought. 1t is
literally blue with dead and dying Yankees.
! Thav nI.ssel very heavy forcs in Ewsifs
troT5 Yesterday 1.-THE l2th) charged successive.
Ilv Mree times, and each time were repulsed
w;,b t.rrible slaughter These charges could
! ~ San FROM orr battery, and they were ter
! r,DlT grand Such sight could scarcely be
! .:rirc.!. Yesterday was rhe boobies: day
; O.. the way The 18th Of May, 1904, Will
cgsr IL memorable in tho annals OF DIR hi5tc-
lry. ,,..,
lion Of our artillery, and captured ~ OF
rs ours. One of the HowitZer companies
, tCab,,Ps) ~ in the battalion, and It's .oss Is
i>ni,! 10 be ~ killed, wounded and prisoners.
| hage no authority for saying thiS, for 1t IL
vniym report. Tho rumor comes from
riragsliug soldier, So you SOC it is doubtful.
4 friend Of mine on L0ngstrset'5 stall Il
Il. Anderson in ccmmand) tells me that al
estimate Wa made last night of the loses Oh
hyL sides, and thcy arc thus stated by the
=; G,nrra,+: Oar loss fifteen Or twenty Thousand
killed. wuundel and prisoners. Tho excess
= eXt.=.ius5Y large in iaror Of slight wounds.
rhe i,.-s VI tie "nam: Is estimated hy the
>.,,rr C:.rcrs!4 NJ j. " $4,000 killed, wound
I'll and p.isuucrs We have a. many Yam
i,ae- f;ln; il front Vi our works ID our whole
LumOcr Is estimated 1T.
The Casualties ut Our battalion, thus f:Lr,
have been few compared with other battles
u. 3 GoUdc, Of the Purcell Battery, q native
yf Bedford county, WAS killed On the 9th in
slant, aad Capt. Caycc, Ct the same battery, q
r.tiy, u, Petersburg, was wounded on the
l2:b instant supposed to be mortality.
W. arrived ne:e or Monday, the 18th, and
-.rrc glazed i'll position on our extreme rlsh'
wing. lighting with the gallant j. f. B. Stu
art a7d his cavalry, Stuart advanced SEQ
lion If our battery, under Capt. Elicit, 4 hall
mil. AaYou,! :ar tFeastwo,ks, AID there we
me- & lsrgo force Ct the enemy. We hurriec
into position. firing an eche'On. Being sup
pertcd by Stuar5's cavalry. we held the Yam
;ses in check for awhile, but could not do 9:
Iore; for tt;ey advanced heavy forco, and We
} rad TO retire We did 80 slowly, however
SEinp our guns as We retired. Gen. Stuar
and Col. Pesram accompanied ua in this af
vance. In this movement We had ore Q: oul
boys wGuu1ed-Nr. Hatcher, of Liberty
l;"!f.ri County. lie was only slightly wound
s1 in tho i.t hip By Minnie ball.
Our position, a!;tr ,bis, was inside of ou
.ar.hwork4, until ucXt in"rnlng, when twt
more gus were asked f)r from our battery Il
report to Col. Charles Richardson. or cours
- one # those two guns must be mine (being {
incfv fcl!oy). Well, VIC reported to bin, aNt
fnuud he hsi tbs Norfolk Light Artillery
Blues Battery and lIuger's Battery under hi
S rlI7mard, Sith orders to report to Genera
Early then commanding Hips 81 army
corps. Gen ELL being too unwell to takc com
maut) !;e moved off to cur extreme lel
YSia:,, and found Gen Early IN command 0
C,2t'-, kirkl,ud's, Walkers and Mahone'
R7ssni,s. After parshiog some eight or tel
nj e. 'owarGs onr extreme leit, We took al
oblicuo direction, .hureby enabling Genera
, 9nriy 70 attack the enemy on their RICH
h.rk. Ater crossing Tho little riser Po, 3
. came uuon the Yankees, and with this force
, four brig .dcs lone Lo5 engaged at alD ant
oh. glrs-vc drove the Yankee corps O
Gen. Warren some twJ mies-nearly mil
herond the rain road Of our operations
, Tp;s r, al runs from Orange Court House t
Guinea Depot or fredericksburg. This mnT
was a most brilliant affair, and was accom-
plished with very small logs. We captures
by il. somo one or two hundred prisoners, kill
= ing and wounding as many more and tool
, Cwn guns.
Oar guns were moved about considerably dui
ing fhe day bu. did no firing unit! late in thu
, ercriug The Hueer aud Blues artillery beiDt
Engaged ssve,al times during The morning. hat
several Of their men wounded whose names
.as u,,ahie 70 learn. A Mr. Peed, Of Norfok, ii
ore NJ .h.ss batteries mad his leg taken off, from
" hch ne died About 3 O'Clock that evening
(-.h) our so guns and one from the Blues artil
l.ry, undor Capt. Thos. Et,5t., were orde1e1 int
i.osi'ion and were doing splendid execution in tn
, ranks ,f The enemy when an order from. Genera
Ha'h Go whose division we were aitnched) wa
, received, "r:sring us to advance our three guns
up 10 his line Of battle. Capt Elicit mounted tn,
=, caunoriers on the chests and started down unde
4 murderous fra to establish our battery wher
Inc General had ordered it but we had not pro
caeded iar before one of our caiesons W. struck
: by q shelf or solid sbot from the enemy's guns
and exploded with terrible noise, thereby burn
ing four of cur boys in q dreadful manner. Gu
guns had TO pass. over All open piece of grount
for half mile on which the Yankees had two
batteries bearing, and were firing upon us grape
/ shell and SHOT with telling effect Thanks be t.
M \ Wise Providence for it was LA who savet
lis from further injury. we established our bat
: terry where It was ordered, accompanied by some
f guns from Col Mclutush's battalion But We
did no firing from this position. Darkness COM
ing on soon after, We moved hack TO Col. Rich
ardson's camp for the night. Next morning Col
r., after expressing regret at losing 10, and in
forming us that Gen. Eary's object, (Which was
10 heat back the enemy from this road and 81
tend our lines, )baving been accomplished, ordered
,,s to our battalion. The casualties by the explo
sion Of our caisson were Messrs. j. A. and j. c
. Coleman, of SpotsylvaniR comfy, Mr.. Cooper o
Surry, and Dir j. A Vass, of Hanover. The lat
ter was struck on the left toe by piece of shell
which exploded in our chest, and it is remarkable
tLat no Others were hur for the shells we're burst