Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-06-16
The hattie 81 Friday.

corps, say 1000; I'd corps, 400; 9th
corps, 1000; 9th and 9th corps, say 600
to 1000. The object of the action was to
force the passage OF the Chickahomlny,
ON the north side of which, and cover
ing the roads TO Richmond, the rebels
had planted themselves In a fortified |
line. What we have done is TO feel this |
line by a vigorous attack, in which,
though gaining some temporary sue
cesSes, and at one or two points actually
the enemys works, we have,
on the whole, reached the conclusion
that any victory that could there be won
must cost too much in its purchase
''It is in this view that the action as
sumes to me the aspect of great re-
connoissance. But it might easily have
been more. Were prudence not as much
q Characteristic of Lieut.-Gen. Grants
mind as pluck, did he not know as well
how and when to cry halt as to order
an advance, he might have pushed the
action from reconnaissance to bloody
battle; but to me it is clear we should
have had only another EredericksburSh
and its useless slaughter. Gen. Grant Is
not so poor in resource that he need do
this; and | think already his eyes are
turned away from the Chickahominy to
lines ana combinations more bold than
any yet essayed,'
Mr.. Swinton writes Into ten mortal
minutes this morning was crowded an
are of action. Ten minutes OF the 1lg-
ment men call time and yet that scant
space decided q battle! There are
thousand details, ten thousand episodes,
but the essential matter is this, that first
rush Of advance carried our whole front
butt up against line OF works, which
we were unable to break through, or,
breaking through, were unable to hold,
Conceive of this in the large-the fierce
onslaught amid deafening volleys Of
musketry and the thunder of artillery,
and the wild, mad yell OF battle, and sec
the ranks mown down, and the lines
break here and there, and the sullen, OBJ
stinate retreat, every inch contested, and
we shall then be able to descend to some
of the points of action as they individu-
alize themselves along the line.
Not until the splendid attack of Han
cocks corps had been made, not till at
ter its blood bought victory had been
wrested from our hands, was he or any
man in this army aware of the supreme
importance of the position this morning
carried and lost. This position is bald
hill, named Watts Hill, dominating
the whole battle ground, and covering
the angle of the dispatch road" Along
this ridge the rebel works formed a sal
Of a
road. OF this road Hancock got posses
sion, and the brigades of Miles and
Brooks actually struck and carried the
work directly on the salient. Had we
held this point we would have had a
position whence the entire rebel line
might have been enfladed; and l think
it is not too much to say that the day
would have been ours, and Lee pushed
across the Chickahominy. Had we even
known i'll advance its commanding i'm
portance, very different dispositions for
attack would have made: we would
have massed on the left, and made the
victory certainty.
CLOSE QUARTERS.
am about to narrate an incident
WHICH Will IiluhC III dls O1l UliC 1dluh VI
the reader even greater than did the as
sertion that portions of our line held
their position within fifty yards of the
rebel works-and that is, that one por-
ton of our line retained all day posi-
ton within fifteen yards of the rebel
works. This heroic band was the bri-
gade of Col. Mexican, a brigade OF Glib
bon's division Of Hancock's corps, and
numbering about eight hundred men.
The conduct of these eight hundred is as
splendid stroke of heroism as ever lit
up the story of the glory we call
Greece and the grandeur we call Rome
Through the live-day these men held
their line, within fifteen yards of the
enemy, and all his force could not dis
lodge them. Repeatedly during the day
the rebels form double columns of at
tack TO come over the work and assail
them, and the officers could be heard en-
couraging their troops by telling them
there are only four or five hundred OF
them-come or" But the moment the
rebels showed themselves above their
parapct a line of fire flashed out from
behind the earthen mound where those
eight hundred heroes stood in new
Thermopyla, and many a rebel threw
up his arms and fell prone under their
swift avenging bnllets. The sequel OF
this bit of history is as curious as the
deed itself-for while the rebels dared
not venture out to assail McKean's men,
neither could he nor his command recede
from the perilous position. He could
not get back to us-We could not go
forward to him. In this dilemma the
ingenious device was hit upon of RIM
ming "sap'' or zig-zBg trench up from
our line to his. In this way working
party were able to dig their way up to
where they lay, begrimmed with powder
and worn down with fatigue and a few
hours ago they were brought safely
away. "All that were left of them, of
eight hundred !" But Mexican, their gal
liant leader, he came not away alive.
Since eleven in the morning he had lain
behind the bulwarks his valor defended
"a corpse.
There were other scenes along those
lines drawn SO close up to the enemy
not so grave, and others Of grim kind
of jollity. For example, a man would
sing out from behind our breastworks
the signal of attack, Forward. guide