Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-05-21

endure another ruth uA1s anu VIC Sohp WIS
the expressed conviction on all hands, and
this statement epitomizes the situation at
sunset.
The sun went down red. The smoke ofthe
battle of more than two hundred thousand
men destroying each other with yillainous
saltpeter through all the long hours of long
day, filed the vallies, and rested upon the
hills of this Wilderness, hung in lurid haze
all around the horizon, and built dense can
opy overhead beneath which this grand army
of Freedom was preparing to rest against the
morrow Gems. Grant and Meade had re-
tired to their tents. Quiet reigned, but dur
ing the reign of quiet the enemy was forging
a tbunderbOIt.
Darkness and smoke were mingling in grim
twilight, and fast deepening into thick gloom,
when we were startled out Of repose back in
to fierce excitement The forged thunder
bolt was sped, and by master. A wild rebel
yell away to the right. We knew they had
massed and were charging. We waited Tor
the volley with which we knew Sedgwlek
would meet the onset. We thought 1t but
night attack 10 ascertain if we had changed
our position. We were Alstaken-lt was
more. They meant to break through, and
they did.
On Sedgwick's extreme right lay the I'd
Brigade, Sd Division of his corps, under Gen.
Seymour, who had been assigned to it but two
days before. The brigade is new to the 9th
corps, and is known as the Milroy brigade /;
connecting on the left OF Seymour by Shaler's
and then Neill's brigades, the latter being a
brigade of Getty's division that had not been
sent to Hancock. These troops were at work
intrenching when fallen upon.
The enemy came down like torrent, roll
ing and dashing in living waves, and flooding
up against the whole 9th corps. The main
line stood like rock, but not so the extreme
right. That flank was instantly and utterly
turned. The rebel line was the longer, and
surged around Seymour's brigade, tided over
it and through it, beat against Shaler, and
bore away his right regiments. All this done
in less than ten minutes, perhaps not five
Seymour's men, seeing their pickets running
back, and hearing the shouts of the rebels,
who charged with all their chivalry, were
smitten with panic, and, standing on no order
of going, went at once, and in an incredibly
short time made their way through a mile
and a half of woods to the pank-road in the
rear. They reported, in the frantic manner
usual to stampeded men, the entire corps bro
ken. Grant, as in Hancock's case, didn't be-
lieve it. But when three OF Sedgwick's staff
rode into army headquarters separately and
stated how they had riden from Sedgwicks
TO keep SeymOur's men to their work, had
been borne back by the panic, and had last
seen Sedgwick and Wright hard to the front
working ike Trojans to hold the Yavering
line, the situation appeared more critical
No word came in from Sedwick. 1t began to
be feared that he and Wright, disdaining to
fly, were prisoners.
Artillery moved quietly to commanding po-
sitiOns, TO be prepared for the worst, and cool
heads felt that were the whole 9th corps bro
ken, the army, as an army, would still be in
yincible. Warren's corps is instantly, but in
perfect cOmpOsure, disposed to meet the stu
alton Grant and Meade and Warren are in
Grants tent, to and from which officers come
and go with a certain earnest air that be-
speaks urgent and important cares. So dur
ing an hour. No firing has been heard the
last three quarters of an hour. The rebels
must haved ceased to advance; but how far
have they penetrated, and what Is the pres
ent situation?
The 9th Corps flag comes in. Where is
the 9th Corps chieftain? Ny watch says 10
o'clock at night. A dispatch received. John
Sedgwick safe. Wright safe. The 9th corps
holds a strong line; only Seymour's and a
part of Shaler's brigade have been broken.
The enemy can do nothing more. The 9th
COEDs DIOptE Has uOb AosJ It's ptlSIAuC StOfl.
Compelled to withdraw, under orders after
the detection of its right, it is still nvincible
lis now, and ever shall be. | may not re-
frain from mentioning for gallantry, Sedg-
wick's staff and Wright's.
Riding in the thickest with rare presence
Of mind and rare judgment, they won and de-
served John Sedgwick's emphatic commenda-
ton. Gems. Seymour and Shaler were cap
tured. 1t should be stated that both are
awarded by their division and corps comman-
ders every credit for doing all men could to
recover their troops from panic, communi-
eating to the latter's brigade, not beginning
there. C. A. P.
ARMY OF TIE Potomac,
In s'The Wilderness Saturday Morning, May7}
With the exception of the line occupied
by the 9th corps yesterday, our original posi-.
tions are held this morning at o'clock. At
Z o'clock last night, furious attack was made
on Sedgwick's line-the main assault occur
ring on the right, which was finally turned by
the enemy, and the cerps forced to retire
some distance to the rear. A gallant resis-
lance was made by Sedgwick, and at p. m.
his line was re-established in the position it
nOw'Occupies. Considerable confusion occur
red in several regiments on the right but mo-
mentarily, however, as through the personal
efforts of Gen. Sedgwick and other officers
the stragglers were soon rallied and replaced
in line of battle.
All is quiet this morning, with the excep-
ton of picket firing opposite our center. A
thick volume of smoke and fog envelopes the
battlefield and prevents the continuance of
Yesterdays conflict. The fight at intervals
all day yesterday on our left was of the ferc-
est description. But very little artillery was
brOu0ht into reuuisitiOn owing to the nature
of the battlefield, which was covered with
an almost impenetrable growth of scrub-oaks
and underbrush. The fight was altogether
one of musketry, and although not continu-
Gus, was one of the most determined and
desperate battles of the war.
Our loss in the I'd Corps alone cannot fall
short of three thousand in killed, wounded
and missing. Charges and counter charges
were made at short intervals during the day,
and the CHASTITY forms of hundreds of the
combatants lying this morning side by side in
the vast chapparal which formed the battle
ground, attest the severity of the conflict.
Brig. Gen. Barlow, commanding the LIST
Division, occupied the extreme left of the I'd
Corps; Motifs division and portion of Gen.
Gibbons division held the center, while Bir-
ney with his own division, Robinson's of the
5th, Stevenson's brigade of the 9th, and Car
rolls and Owens brigades of the I'd Corps,
were stationed on the right, his line facing
westward, and extending across the plank
road running from Charlottesville to Orange
Courthouse.
At precisely five A. NJ, an advance of the
I'd Corps was ordered, and with cheers our
men charged through a dense thicket, sur
prising the enemy while at breakfast, and
driving them in confusion from their tempo