, 1864-04-25

Gena. RAnss and Franklin thought differently, and
division Of the 18Th army corps, to take the s:
brigade Of bis division, and start at Il. H. and U.s.
eist Gen. Lee in dfzlodstng the enemy.
enemy sons eisht ,niles nom Pleasant Hi, Fo1t
ing him, and following him Ia line OF battle lor
about eight miles further ek15nis 1ing wlth MN
brave Lieut.. Col, Webb, Of the nth Illinois. Who
was shot dead while leathng his men On the "a; eaS-
na'e rear guard. ght miles from Pleasant ' ILL.,
tatlon which was undulatins and surrounded By
heavy timber but On the further side the belt was
narrow and opened into another plsnt,fsa1n @ 1I.. Of
tlon the ID brigade came up to the assistance OF
The lat, snd the 18th regiment wRs thrown forward
as ekIrmithe7p, and Minis massachusetts battery
the opposite woods, something like mile distant.
The enemy soou left his position, although 1t was
w w adSsnced N @ the 4th division to the timber on
the opposite eide Of the deld and sent back for the
Sd division, Gen. Cameron commanding. and lot
the Chicago Mercantile battery. and IT Indiana
ois A4es s9h Suaa1 is A1%
gaining the opposite side Of the deld We hared,
and the fatisued men Of the 4sh division lay down
o ea b I'll s. :' %S ns' ~ ad
through the woods: Minis battery Tas men pm at
IN position on the Shreveport rosd. Near the len
Of The road az was q1,e' EXIT ekmsnahS ahSt hsyns
from rebel Of Federal. Here Gens. Franklin and
Banks came On the he1d. Gen Stone, ol BATS
hsaE ba s SaS y Il %! m Se
Gen. Lee WAS also present With MS cavalry: dsa. e.
Ransom came up and was ordered TO advance ny
1e ha neo1e doing 20 ne to;d tcnh 1eR E. loag Z D9
dent TO droid AZ the tins. ut adrtsea tolAaraUing
s 1rp gSg gza2 so eSp M or o4 ta1s eesatg er
and nen ~ adranes SsM on Ms enemy and tehip Aim
soundly. But Franklin and Banks o.erruled him.
Ransom formed his line. Whi1e this WAS 1akinss
10 Gems. Stone and Lee and reported the enemy
massing his force on our right, a1d prepaEing.to
attack us, which they soon did with a Venssanee'
hut inst before The attack Gen. Banks ordered Gen.
Ransom to move his force TO the right. Gen. Ran
Eom then exclaimed, "that beats u.s." Too true1
fos the move to the right was only feint; but
ted tie movement, but obeyed the order of bis su.
perior officer. Nuns I'd Massachusetts, Battery
was At The extreme front. {and here LET nc say
eass5 se
On the left Of thst regiment was portion Of Lees
eaysry on the right Of Nims Battery was ths 18th
the ,9th Kcntucky, ash Ohio, and the sd division,
which came in inst as the enemy and our ekirmish-
ere met. We drove their skirmshers back On their
main body, which was advancing four deep IN
three linca, one after the other, at fright shoul
der Ehin arms In the form Of . half circle mass
ed in the centre. Our main lines soon met
1tt e engaged, @ then Nina ba,ier5, tbe s7th indans
and the 71th Illinois, and then the whole line, in
Gliding the Chicago Mercantile and the 1st Indians
airy, which was on the tanks, and came at double
posed .be hank .! t6s infantry, bolh rght and LEM
compelled to fall back or be captured. They then
fsli back, slowly at frs, dropping BY hundreds on
the wnyslde, bleeding and exhausted: but what at
hrst was IN orderly retreat eoou became olmost
rort. Minis battery worked macsally-the vetcr-
an battery, the hero OF sixteen engagements, a.
TaJs successful, but this time doomed to defeat--
RI fyr30n anil atp nnH
adding bag Of bullets. moved the enemy down,
only to have their place. hl.ed again byNe adva1
eins ho1tes: Batth battery supports were forced
guns. The cavalry By this time were In panic,
our infantry were driven out Of the woods to the
!hlcaso Mercantile Battery. where they nade a
desperate effort TO check tho enemy. This battery,
in connection with the 1st Indiana, did good work.
bat all to no purpose as lar as checking tho enemy
Was concerned. The troops fell back to the woods
on this stde Of the dcld. the enemy In close pur-
Euit.
Now all will AK, where was the 10Th army corps,
Let me- tell you, bscR1n the woods IN camp, some
Fix miles distant By order OF Gen. franklin. They
we're sent for, were the 18th and 83d Ohio, ofthe
4th division, who were guarding, train. These
two 1esiments soon came up and went At 1t des-
their tanks advanced aud they were compelled to
give way. Now comes the most painful part OF
this rad sf5aiE. Gen. Ransom Is wounded In the
G. Killed, shot through the head. Our artillery re-
to the rear, and that was blocked full of wagons
1o y sqss
Frnnklin) SO the batteries had to be abandoned
We lost here seventeen pieces Of artillery but the
Wood Roon gara way and on they came Oh, may
lneser ZEE the Ike again Horses, men. wagons
all going to the rear an saying lostl lost!
the day WAS lost and large trnin captured, mp
came the 18Th .ar1ny corps on the doublo q1tck,
having run the entire distance Of some miles.
has r. nd fp,{f {faE r5n Ar1 -eyf ar
The roar OF muskety was awful, but they soon
checked the enemy. who had By this tune been Sc
sere,y ganshed Here the hard fought battle of
Now let Ne sum up our position: In q dense
wood, in fronts victorious enemy, at least 16 900
G2 6 ttaaPs to oPPGnse
distance Of more than nineteen miles to Pleasant
Hills, by only road and that bad and lined with
At our feclins dsp1ritsd knowing owl hal The enemy
would attack us In the mornlngf Bnt we fell
back BUILDING huge ores oil along :be road 10 dis
L. on t6a ns whets e
found Gen. a. ]. Smith with his column ready to
dispute with the enemy tor the final mastery Of the
fled into the road Tor + Ibis place. / came at The
Rame time, Gen. Smith had formed h1s line OF bat-
tio and YVES skirulishinz when I LEFT. The ;13th
army coEps also came here, they being worn out
Now let me est.m.te our losses. First, IN the
18th army corps alone put 1t At LOCO Killed and
Of 4, 200 men. We lost seventeen pieces Of nrtil-
le1y and about Peyenty-dve wagons, loaded With
ammunition. supplies and forage; also elxseen am
hulanecs and nearly al our wounded. Poor boys1
to be wounded and also psisuuess-nyheart bleeds
ior them. Now, let mo say, think, and VIC Ill
think, ne might just as weli had victory a. de-
feat, and II mistake not, sonae high official will
get beheaded. most sincerely hope 30. 1amop-
posed to incompetcncy IN any place more particu-
]ar]y here in the army Gen. Smith fought his own
men and won 4 victory, md had Gen. Ransom mad
the same privilege, We would not have been whip
ped.
Wewere always victorious until We came here,
and would be 80 here IL We had Grant to lead us;
yes, or McClernnnd. who is buried at Pass Caval-
10 because he ranks franklin, and the noble, brave
and generous Raneom Ia sacrificed. May he vend-
iate this a. be well knows how. I think he will,
hope he will report, ......
could fil sheets with incidents Of this battle;
eome would cauee nirth, rome tears, all would
The hearts Ut the brave to do battle for the1e
brothers and their country. Mn1y OF those report
ed among the missing will certainly be numbered
with the dead and wounded. May never see the
Ike again..
rebels and after a fierce struggle drove them back
ten miles. capturing great number Of prisoners
and sobne eannnn. The 77th went In 100 strong,
and now can muster bnt 1853 men. Many were
Killed and many were taken prisoners.