Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-05-12
INow York Tribune CorreNpondence.l
WAaufNarnN- Mon1oy NTot, q 10QJ

WAsHINGToN, Monday, May 8, 1854.
FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS,
Friday, May ell p. NJ.
Fourteen hours of severe fighting to-da,
and still nothing decisive. The positio
this morning was that of last night, sui
stantially. Gen. Sedgwick, with two ,
his divisions. Ricketts's and Wright's, hi
fought upon the right; Gen. Hancock, wit
the four divisions of his corps, viz, Birney'
Carr's, Barlow's. and Gibbons with Getty
division of the 9th corps has fought upo
the left; and Gen. Warren, with his fu
corps and Stevenson's division of the 9t
corps (Burnside's), has fought in the center
Burnside's corps has constituted the re
serve, and has marched and counter-march
ed necessarily. and gone in by brigades a
the center and on the left.
Scdgwick was to advance. at 5 A. NJ, bu
Ewell, who commands opposite him, attack
ed at 4:45. Sedgwick says Ewells watcl
must be 10 minutes ahead of his. This ac
tion on our right was spirited and wei
fought. At the expiration of an hour tn
rebels were handso nelly borne back, tn
firing ceased, and each side held the grount
they had bivouacked upon. Our loss wa
severe, and the enemy's could not have beel
less.
Gen. Sedgwick's staff were brilliant ant
ubiquitous throughout, while the old Gen.
eral was the man of Antietam and Fred
ericksburg repeating himself. This action
barely over, and suddenly we heard from
the extreme left that peculiar monotonous
swell and volume of sound which tells OF
large numbers engaged-so many that sim
| gle shots and even volleys of long lines are
not distinct, but are merged in the mighty
noise of great battle. Hancock was en-
gagged.
The details of his two hours steady strug-
| gle | do not know, but l know that he did
his work clearly and completely. Long
street had joined the rebel right, and this
was a second determined attempt to turn
our left, and q second utter discontinue.
Only 10 o'clock and Lee had tried each
wing and had met in each case more than
he could overcome, and we asked ourselves
what next. All his movements were silent
and invisible, and unknown until he devel-
oped them in the event. We can deliver
blows over in the direction whence blows
are dealt us-nOt against an enemy advance
ing in bold sight, but against one who has
mysteriously gathered and poised himself
tor a deadly spring.
But the suspense is not long. Both COM
batants are too eager to compel the issue
for either to delay another and still another
| encounter. Shots begin to ring all along
the six miles of front.
At IL o'clock the enemy press close upon
Warren and Sedgwick, and train a number
of guns exactly upon the latter's headquar-
tiers. A man and three horses are killed
within twenty feet of the General, and in
the very center of his grouped staff. Find
ing the enemy disposed to renew the en-
gagement Of the early morning, Sedgwick
accepts the challenge, and advances his
whole line. The men 90 in with more dash
and hold on more sturdily than in the morn
ing. Ewell is driven back to his second
line where his guns are in position, and there
makes stand.
At this juncture, Warren, who connects
with Sedgwick's left, is extremely anxious
to go in with all his might, but the enemy's
position in his front seems too formidable.
| see troop of hOrsemen riding rapidly
up to the perilous edge of battle, and recog-
nize Warren and his white horse. as Jehu
was recognized by the Prophet of old, for
they came furiously. With him are Gems.
Griffin and Hunt, and officers of Gen. Grants
and Meade's staffs.
Hating at the first line they dismount
and walk more than half mile in front of
the men. who are fiat upon their breasts
and firing rapidly. We hold the woods on
one side of an open space, perhaps one
fourth of a mile across, and the rebels lay
along the trend of the woods upon the
other side. Their intrenchments are plainly
visible, and the open mouths of their artil-
lery peer over.
No; it will not do to charge across. 1t
were stark madness. The sharpshooters
NAV continue to reply to this, but no man
shall start across the plain and live. War
rem had perhaps hope that his own judg-
ment would be overruled by the officers
with him. but all declare that no advance
can be made here. But more to the left,
where Wadsworths and Robinson's divi-
sions of Warren corps lay up to Hancock,
the prospect is better, and there an assault
is ordered.
1t is noon, and Sedgwick's second fight is
over, and he again rests on the line OF his
last nights bivouac. Wadsworth advances
and finds the enemy-A. p. Hills corps
strong and prepared. The divisions on his
right and left become engaged with him,
and the work is warm. Here, as elsewhere,
the contest is in q tangled jungle, and the
soldiers push aside the bushes and find
mortal enemies bursting through the ad
joining growth of bushes, and face to face
with them.
Half or three-forths of an hour of alter
mating success and repulse, and Gen. Wads
worth orders charge to recover his COM
mand from slight wavering. He is cheer
ed loudly by his men who loved the gray
haired cheftain. One horse is shot under
him. He mounts second and spurs to the
front, hat in hand, and we should have won
then, but his men saw him fall. He was
shot through the head, killed instantly, and
his body fell into the hands of the enemy.
His command fell back to their original
position with comparative order. Wads-
worths death is a heavy loss-scarcely an
officer but could have been better spared,
and none would have been more deeply re-
GREETED. Yesterday and to-day he had dis
played such marked ability and gallantry
as to compel his recognition on all hands as
an able soldier, who, now that he is gone,
can hardly be replaced.
But this ba.tle does not pause for hero
slain. From noon until o'clock, number
of sharp assaults at various points were
made and invariably repulsed, whether
made by us or the enemy. Each one of
these affairs were material for long letter,
but find it simply impossible at this time
to ascertain and write out correctly the facts
in detail.
Prisoners came in at the rate of one hu' :.
dred an hour. The day was excessiv 3
hot, and the men were much exhaust( -
We had neither gained nor lost ground, but
continued this thing long enough, and we
hoped to finally wear them out. At 81
O'Clock Hancock was preparing for grand
movement of our entlfe left. He did not
make H. for the enemy anticinatpd him and