Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-04-08

- ~ 61<
close up 10 The reoels. they we're clsmounted, I
and acted a. infantry to all intents- A portion
Of them. Under Gregg ard Mackenzie. still ad.
hsred 10 the saddle. that they might be put IN
rapid motion for habking and charging purposes;
but fully ere thousan1 indurated men, who bad
seen service 10 the Shenandoah and elsewhere.
we're formed in line Of battle on foot. and BY
charge and deploy essayed the difhcul, work Of
pressing back the entire rebel column.
This they we're to DO 90 evenly and ingenious
" ths, the rebels should go no farther than their
works. either TO escape eastward or 70 discover
the whereabouts OF Wafren's forces which were
already forming. Had they eSpied the latter they
might have become so discouraged ~ 10 break
and take TO the vOods: and Shetidan's object
was 20 capture them ss well a. 70 rout them. 80.
all the afternoon the cavalry pushed them bard,
and the strife vent on uDinteuuptedly and terri
6cslly. have 10 space in this hurried dispatch
TO advert either TO individual losses OF 70 the
many thrilling episodes of the fight. IL was
fought At so close quarters that our carbines were
never out Of range; for had this been otherwise
the long rifles Of the enemy would have given
them every advantage. With their horses within
call, the cayalrymen. ia line OF battle. stood to-
gether like walls Of stone. swelling onward like
those gradually eIevating ridges Of which Lyell
speaks. Now and then a detachment OF rebels
would charge down upon us. swaying the lines
and threatening to annihilate Us: for at no part
Of the action. till It's crisis, did the southern men
exhibit either doubt or disnay, 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 individual cour-
age which are the miracles Of the time
A colonel with 3 shattered regiment came down
upon Us in a charge The bsyonets were fixed.
the men cam on with a yell; their gray uniforms
seemed black amidst The smoke; their preserved
colors. torn by grape and ball, waved yet defiant
~; twice they halted. and poured in volleys, but
came On again like the surge from the iog. de
| pleted. yet determined; yet, in the bot faces OF
the carbineers. they read a purpose as resolute,
but more calm. and, while they pressed along,
swept all the while by ~scathing volleys. a group
OF horsemen took them IN flank. Ii was an awful
instant; the horses rec0led; the charging column
trembled like a single thing. but At once the reb
els. with rare organization, fell into a hollow
square, and with solid sheets Of steel dehtd our
c~entsurs. The borsemsn rode around them in
vain, no charge could break the shining squares
until our dismounted cstAneers poured in their
volleys afresh, making gsps in the spent ranks.
and then In their wayering time the Cavalry thun-
dered down. The rebels could stand no more;
they reeled and swayed, and fell back broken and
beaten. And on the ground their colonel lay,
sealing his devotion with biz life.
Through wood and brake and swamp, across
field and trench. We pushed the fighting defend
CD n III - K8lN W wv tIA0
himself was there. short and broad, and active,
waving bis hat, giving orders. seldom TO fire, but
never stationary. and close by fell the long vel
low locks OF Custsr. sabre extended. fighting
like a Viking, though he vas worn and haggard
with much work. At 4 O'Clock the rebels were
behind their wooden walls at Five Forks, and
still the cavalry pressed them hard, in feint
rather than solemn effort. while a battalion dis
mounted. charged equarely upon the face OF their
breastworks. which lay 10 the main on the north
side If the White Oak road Then while the
cavalry worked round towsrd the rear, the in
fantry of Warren. though commanded by Sheri-
dan, prepared to take part IN the battle.
BIZ EcHELoN TO THE EIoHr.
The genius OF Sheridan's movement lay in his
disposition of the infantry The skill with which
he arranged il, and the difficult msneuvres be
projected and so veil executed, should place him
a. high in infantry tactics ss he has heretofore
shown himself superior in cavalry. The infant
~ which had msrceed at 2l2 p. m from the
house OF Bolssesu, on the BOyutown plank road,
was drawn up in four battle lines, q mile or more
in length, and in the beginning facing the White
Oak road obliquely; the left or pivot was the di
vision OF General Avres, Crawford had the cen
ter and Griffin the right. These advanced from
the BoydtOwn plank road. at ten o'clock, while
Sheridan was laundering away with the cavalry,
mounted and dismounied, and delnding the reb-
els with the idea that he was the sole attacking
party they lay concealed ia the woods behind the
Gsayelly run meeting house. but their lett was
not a half mile distant from the rebel works.
though their right reached so Tar of that a no
! vice would have criticised the position sharply.
Little by little. Sheridan. extending his lines,
drove the whole rebel force into their breast
works; then he dismounted the mass of cavalry
and charged the works. straight in the front. still
laundering on their flank. At last every rebel
was safe behind his entertainments Then the
; signal was given and the concealed infantry
many thousand strong. sprang up and advanced
by echelon TO the right. Imagine a great barn
door shutting TO and you have the movement, if
you can also imagine the door itself, hr &c and
all. moving forward also. This was the door.
FITCH OF THE BATTLE.
We we're already on the rebel right in force.
and thinly in their rear. Our carbireers were
making teint to charge in direct front, and our
infantry. four oe.p. hemmed in their entire left.
All this they did not tor an instan. note, so
thorough was their confusion, bu, seeing il di
rectly they, 80 far from giving up, concentrated
all energy and fought like 6ends. They bad a
battery in position which belched necessarily.
aud over the breastworks their musketry made
one unbroken roll, while against Sheridan's
providers on their left, by skirmish and sortie.
they stuck TO their sinking fortunes so as to win
unwilling applause from mouths of wisest cen
sure.
Ii was just at the coming up of the infantry
that Sherldsns little band WAS pushed the hard
est. At one time, indeed. they seemed about TO
undergo determination; not that they wavered.
but thai they were so VASTLY overpoSered. Ii
will remain TO the latest time a matter of marvel
that 80 psltry a cavalry force could press back
sixteen thousand Infantry; but when the infantry
blew like a great barn doOr-the simile best ap-
plicable-upon the enemy's left, the victory that
was to come had passed the region Of strategy
and resolved 10 81 affair of personal cour
age We had met the enemy; were they 10 be
Oursi
To expedite this c~onsummstion every officer
fought az II he were the SIlorn hope Mounted
on his black pony. the SINE which he rode at
Winchester, sheridan galloped every where. his
flushed face all the redder. and his plethOric but
nervous figure ali the more ubiquitous. He gal
Hoped once straight down the rebel front, With
but a handful of his staff. 4 dozen bullets
whistled for him together; one erazed hs arm, at
which q faithful orderly rode; the black pony
lesped high IN fright. and Sheridan vas unt9ueh
ed. but the orderly lay dead in the field, and the
saddle dashed afar empty.
SURRENDER o. THE REBELS