The Portland daily press., 1865-04-07

become so discouraged as to go back ard
take to the woods, and Sheridan's object was TO
capture them as well as TO rout them. 30. an
the afternoon the cavalry pushed them hard.
and the strife went on uninterruptedly and
terrifcally. IS
/ have no space in this hurried dispatch to
advert either to individual losses or to the
many thrilling episodes of the fight. 1t was
fought at so close quarters that our carbi-
neeis were never out OF range; for had this
been otherwise, the long rifles of the enemy
would have given them every advantage
Now and then detachment of rebels would
charge down upon US, swaying the lines and
threatening to annihilate us; tor at no part of
the action Till its crisis, did the Southern men
exhibit either doubt or dismay, but fought up
10 the standard OF the most valiant treason
the world has ever had, and here and there
showing some of those wonderful feats of in
dlVldual courage which are the miracles of
the time. -
A colonel with shattered regiment came
uoWn upon us In a charge. The bayonets
were liked the men came on with yell their
gray uniforms seemed black amidst The smoke !;
their preserved colors, tore by grape and bali,
waved yet dedantly; twice they halted, and
poured 10 volleys, but came on again like the
surge from the fog, depleted, but determined; !;
yet, in the hot faces OF the carbineers, they
read purpose as resoIute, but more calm,
and, while they pressed along, swept all the
while by scathing volleys, a group OF horsemen
took them in flank. 1t was an awful instant;
the horses recoiled; the charging column
trembled like single thing, but at once the
Rebels, with rare organization, fell into ahollow
! square, and with solid sheets Of steel defed
our centaurs. The horsemen rode around
them In vain; no charge could break the
shining squares, until our dismounted carbi-
neeIs poured in their volleys afresh, making
gaps in the spent ranks, and then in their
wavering time the cavalry thundered down.
The rebels could stand no more: they reeled
aud swayed, and fell back broken and beaten.
And on the ground their colonel lay, sealing
his eviction with his lie.
Through wood and brake and swamp, across
field and trench, we pushed the fighting de-
tenders steadily. For part of the time,
Sheridan himself was there, short and broad,
and active, waving his hat, giving orders, sell
dom out of fire, but never stationary, and
close by fell the long yellow locks of Custer,
sa5er extended, fighting like Viking, though
he was worn and haggard with much work
At O'Clock the rebels were behind their
wooden walls at Five Forks, and still the cav
airy pressed them hard, in teint rather than
solemn effort, while battalion dismounted,
charged square.y upon the face of their breast
works which lay in the main on the north
side of the White Oak road. 81 ~
PITCH OF THE BATTLE.
We were already on the rebelright in force
and thinly in their rear. Our carbineers were
making teint to charge in direct front, and our
Infantry, four deep, hemmed in their entire
lett All this thsy did not for an instant note,
SO thorough was their confusion, but seeing it
directly they, SO far from giving up, concen-
frutQd All anprOV nd mn nh liDs dnnA.
had battery in position which belched inces-
sanity, and over the breassworks their musk
etry made one unbroken roll, while against
SheIidan's prowlers on their lett, by skirmizh
and sortie, they stuck to their sinking fortunes
so as to win unwilling applause from mouths
of wisest censure. ia @4 lA
It was just at the coming up of the infantry
that Sheridah's little band was pushed the
hardest At one time, indeed, they seemed
about to undergo exLermination; not that
they wavered, but that they were SO vastly
oVerpowered. 1t will remain to the latest time
marvel that so paltry cavalry force could
press back sixteen thousand Infantry: but
when the infantry blew like a great barn
door-the simile best applcable-upon the
enelny's left, the victory that was 10 come
had passed the region of strategy and ie-
solved to an affair of personal courage. We
had met the enemy; we're they to be ours
fought as il he were the forlorn hope. Mou t.
ed on his black pony, the same which he rode
at winchester, Sheridan galloped everywhere,
his flushed faceail the redder and his plethoric,
but nervous figure all the more ubiquitous.
He galioped once straight down the rebel
front, with but handful of his staff. A doz-
en- balets whistled for him together; one
grazsd his arm, at which a faithful orderly
rode; the black pony leaped high. in fright.
and sheridan WAC n M had l,,,f4 4bo ordo -l,,
lay dead in the field, and the saddle dashed
aiar empty. Br.., ts ~ 9b Esstt. efl,3
One prolonged roar of rife shook the after
noon; we carried no artillery and the rebel
battery, until its capture, raked US like an ir
repressible demon, and at every foot of the in
trenchments true man fought both in front
aud behind. The birds Of the forest fed afar;
the smoke ascended to heaven locked In SO
mad frenzy, none saw the sequel of the closing
day. Now Richmond rocked in her high tow
ers to watch the impending issue, but soon the
day began to look gray, and pale moon came
trenlor0usly out to watch the meeting squad
rons. Imagine along a line OF full mile,
thirty thousand men struggling for life and
prestige; the woods gathering about them
bat yesterday the home of hermit, hawks, and
chipmonks-now ablaze with bursting shells,
and in the dusk the curl of flames in the tan
gled grass, aud, rising up the boes of the pine
trees, the scaling, scorching tongues. Seven
hours this terrible spectacle had been enacted,
but the finale OF it had almost come. 49, ~
DEATH OF WINTHROP. M ~
1t was by all accounts in this hour of victo-
ry when the modest and brave General Win
throp, OF The first brigade, Ayers division, was
morally wounded. He was riding along the
breastwoiks, ard in the act as am assured,
of saving friends life, was shot through
the left lung. He fell at once, and his men
who loved him gathered around and took him
tenderly TO the rear, where he died before the
stretcher on which he lay could be deposited
beside the meeting house door. He was a
cousin OF Major Winthrop, the author of
Cecil Dreeme." He was twenty-seyen years
of age. al .tL 4a.fI,4 f pis .5ssg nos
SURRENDER OF THE REBELS. sng
At seven O'clock the rebels came to the
conclusion that they were outAanked and
WHIPPED. They had been SO busily engaged
that they were long time finding ost how
desperate were their circumstances; but
Low, wearied with persistent assaults in front,
they fell back 10 the lelt, only to see four
close lines OF battle to drive Them across the
field, decimated. At the right the horsemen
| charged them in their vain attempt to fight
"out,p and in the rear struggling foot and
cavalry began also to assemble; slant fire,
cross hre, and direct Gre, by file and voley
rolled IN perpetnaly, cutting down their brav-
eat officers aud strewing the field with bleed
ing men; groans resounding in the intervals
ofexploding powder, and to add to their ter
ror and despair, their own artillery, captured
from them, threw into their own ranks, from
its old position, ungrateiul grape and canister,
enflading their breastworks, and plunging by
air line and ricochet, and at last bodies Of
cayairy fairly mounted their entertainments,
and charged down the parapet, slashing and
trampling them. and producing inextricable
confusion. They had no-cemmanders, at least
no orders, and looked In vain for some lead
ing hand to guide them out of a toll into
which they had fallen so bravely and SO blind
ly. A few more volfeys, a new and irresisti-
Bile charge, shrill and warning command to