The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-06-08


sured an attack and rout, dashed tbs
division headlong against the rebels
and what with the belief this inspired
il them cf a larger force. and the stur
and panic Of the shock, drove them be
fore him at viii Supreme daring IN
this case was supreme safety. The Gen
eral ) peculiar and admirable tactics
were here clearly shown. Forming the
men in several lines of battle, lac push
Is them rapidly on by continual sorl
of a revolution. As the front line be
! comes exhausted, 1t is halted and the
extreme rear IS hurried to the front
which is thus kept constantly fresh.
Night put an end to the firing, but
all night trains and ambulances and
artillery were rumbling to and fro
troops were marching into line, and
every thing gave promise Of stern work
on the morrow. But it did not come
The woods were thick, the Notifications
had all to be built, the lines of troops
were immensely long, winding off To
the left and right into their places, and
50 the whole of
/ MAY 2G, passed away, and nothing
was accomplished save getting into po
sition But this was much, far more
shan one who has not seen it with his
own eyes can believe A continuous
/ front Of many miles in extent, in dense
/ forest. over creeks and hills and val
/ leys, with only a few rugged and mar
row parallel roads, out Of which to de-
! liver the huge masses Of men and guns,
IS not the creation of an hour, nor Of a
| day. But during the night a part OF
the 4th Corps had come up, and gone in
to the left, and in the morning, Gill
sons brigade (Wiliich's old) was throv n
out as skirmishers During the day.
the 23d and part of the 18th Corps, ad-
vanced 10 the extreme left, but General
Mcpherson failed to come up or the
right, as was expected. Scattering
shots of musketry flew either way all
day, and two or three batteries were
planted on a commanding ridge of
ground, which failed to elicit any reply
from the other side, beside an OCCASION
al angry she'll The rebels were chary
Of their powder, saving it for sterner
uses, and anxious to conceal their
pieces that they might again employ
them at a range of their own choosing
as on the day before. They were very
quiet, and concealed themselves in the
thick underground, to such an ex-
tent that our gunners must fire
pretty much at random, and seek
to discover their whereabouts. Evi-
IDENTIFY they had not completed their
preparations, had not received all the
reinfOrcements they expected and felt
that they could afford to bide their
time, while their skirmishers were har-
raising ours and their silence was emp
tying our caisOns TO no purpose, still
every thing was well ready. Somppris-
oners brought in, in the evening and
examined vigorously and apart, dis
closed the fact, that they had received
reinforcements from Florida, and now
claimed an effective strength Of 10000.
As their stories agreed, it was concluded
that reintOrcements had probably az
rived, but not in such numbers as rep
resented. 1t was accordingly expected
that the next day would seea general
engagement, but either they or we. were
not even yet ready. The sllirmishing
was sharp and continuous, but neither
party seemed to advance or retreat 4
few Of the rebel rihe-pits we carried.
and in the evening the lines got afowl
Of each other, and a small squad Of pris-
oners was broughtfn The underground,
which covers the whole face of the
ground, prevents the lines from seeing
each other, till very close, consequent
ly many of the wounds are very severe
About a hundred may be set down, as
the day Losses along q front of three
miles
MAY 2I-The expectations of the
day before were not destined TO be re-
allied, for operations on both sides
were confined 10 "A desultory artillery
practice, tortiiying and maneuvering
into better positions Mcpherson was
expected TO have closed up the gap on
the right, and failing for some reason to
do so postponed still further an active
work of any magnitude A general at
tack was to have been made early in
the day, but with the whole right wing
floating loose and detached. it was ut
terly impossible for Gen. JefE c. Davis
division Of the 18th Corps, however, oc-
cupied Dallas, and, late in the evening,
intelligence arrived that Mcpherson
had reported himself on Davis right.
and that the latter had "side-stepped'
ID the left, 50 as to I'LL up the gap inter
yening between himself and the Goth
Corps. On the right, then, all was as
II should be On the left also, connec-
ton was made between Schofeld and
the three infantry divisions under FL
lott commanded by Murray, (Kilpat-
rick's division,) Garrard and Ed. Nc
Cook, General McCook connecting with
the infantry. General Stoneman had
an Independent command, also, on the
left At daylight the mon
otonous popping of musketry and occa-
sional believing OF artillery opened
again TO continue the whole Of another
stale day of skirmishing
Early in the forenoon the monOtony
was sadly broken by the death of Major
Hampson, of the l24th Ohio, and aid to
Gen Wood He was struck in the left
by musket ball, which broke
the spine and ended his life in a few
hours. lie was a general favOrite, and
his death produced unfeigned sadness
among a wide circle of friends
The play of the artillery was, for the
most part; necessarily aimless, and con
sequently harmless. One gunner. how
ever, by the Telling of trees, ut last dis |
covered an inviting target, and sue
ceeded in throwing into it couple of /
shells, most handsomely A house was /
about two miles distant. in /
the yard of which the rebels had plant /
ed battery, and whose tall red chin |
ney stood out among the trees too |
temptingly to be refused A piece was
trained on it, and the first shell went
home without bursting, and left no in
dication except ito effects. These was
sufficiently obvious. Immediately a
prodigious futter was visible about /
the premises, men vigorously running
away among the trees, and most ludi-
crous and yet most cruel of all, a wo-
man in white, fleeing out Of the house
in the greatest apparent terror. The
gun was held a little to the left and a
second shell lodged directly in the
yard, bursting Immediately above the
surface of the ground, in a position to
do the utmost possible slashing among
the rebel gunners, if any were there. I
Two more accurate deliveries at that
distance, are seldom seen.
Early in the afternoon long lines of
dust were seen about four miles away
To the rear and left ri-ipt, o,-a, n, q +,,,e I