New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-23


troops had been concentrated near Fredericksburg,
opposite Mary's flights, where that stern and
steady fighter, Longstreet, awaited their attack
with his accustomed composure, and where our
great leader, Lee himself, inspired the troops by
his presence. This portion of our lines was IN
questionably the strongest, and the folly of the
Federal commander in sending his men here to
certain death and destruction, is certainly incom-
| prehensible. All along Mary's flights runs
sunken road, fenced in with stone wall either
side, which in itself formed a most formidable de-
fensve work for troops.
little higher up the hill there was regular
| line of lntrenchments, the defenders OF when
might fire over the heads of those below them,
| and the crest was occupied by the numerous
pieces Of the famous Washington Artillery, under
their gallant com nanier, Col. Walton; so mat
their assaants were received with tIlpie sneee
/ of fire. which swept them away BY hundreos: me
| Federals certainly behaved with the utmost gal
lantry. Line after line moved forward TO the as
sault only to reco again and again from the muir,
derous tempest of shot, and shell and bullets, ana
strew yet more thcky
proprately named the " slaughter-pen." Pickett
division was but little engaged here, the wider open
space of ground giving ample opportunity 70 our
artillery to play upon the hostile columns, scat
tering them and throwing them into disorder, even
! before they could form their lines Of attack.
About three O'Clock in the afternoon there
4 seemed to be new movement preparing on the
/ enelnys left, and General Stuart, suspecting it
i might be movement on our right flank, ordered
me to proceed with twenty courers to our extreme
right, reconnoiter the operations Of the Yankees
as closely as possible, and send him report every
five minutes. Captain Backford, who possessed a
| very good field glass, volunteered to accompany
me, and we at once trotted off together upon our
| hazardous expedition. Near to the point where
the Massaponax creek falls into the Rappahan-
| mock, and about one hundred yards distance from
the larger stream, there rises small elevation of
ground, thickly covered with pine trees, from
which we were well assured there might be OBJ
| tanned good view over the river and the whole
| left wing of the Federal army. This hillock was
4 quite outside of our lines, and there had been
pushed forward toward it only a small body of our
sharpshooters, whom we found lying concealed in
| the bushes below, for the Yankees, perfectly
aware of the Importance of this point of observa
| tion had cleared the summit of Its occupants by
severe fire whenever a grey uniform was seen
| there Leaving the couriers at the foot of the
| hill, Blackford and | dismounted and climbed
| cautiously up to the top, creeping along through
| the bushes and conceang ourselves behind some
pine trees that grew on the way. The view which
here presented it to our eyes far exceeded our ex
pectations. The Yankees, not more than thou
! sand yards distant from US, were evidently enough
| preparing for new advance reinforcements
were moving up at double-quick and forming
into line of battle they arrived; troops that had
been engaged in the battle and been repulsed,
were marching sulkily to the rear wounded men
| were being carried off by hundreds, while there
| galloped up and down the line general officers
with their stalls, some of whom we could person
we looked down upon the river for considerable
| distance, and could plainly see and count the
heavy guns on the opposite bank, and could even
hear the conversation of the cannoneers. eau
| tous as we had been, however, the Yankees
quickly discovered our presence, and a number of
| their sharpshooters sent forward to dislodgs US,
commenced sharp fire OF exploding bullets,
which, striking the objects around us, burst, with
the noise peculiar to those projectiles, and scat
tered their fragments in every direction like small
shot. Well protected by the pine trees, we paid
little attention to this fusiade, when suddenly
observed two pieces of artillery moving into posi-
ton, and before Blackford finished uttering the
words, 8" Won, the Yankees are going to shell us
out of this" missile, whizzng towards us, struck
the topmost branches Of one of the pines, and,
exploding there, raned down upon shower of
limbs and splnters. Others followed in rapid sue
cesson with increasing accuracy of aim, so that
we concluded to evacuate the spot and seek
shelter for time on the opposite side of the hill
Breaking at once through the bushes, we thought
it would be an easy matter enough to get to
place Of security, but the enemy sgunners followed
our movements with a nicely of calculation so adj
mirable that shot after shot came yet nearer and
nearer to US, and at the very moment that we sup
posed we had got out of their reach, shell passed
SO to our heads that my gallant friend and
myself were precipitated headiong, by the force of
wndage, at least fifteen feet down the hillside,
where we both lay motionless for a brief space,
and then in fit Of uncomfortable laughter as
we looked each other in the others blank and
astonished face. Returning, as soon as the firing
doned, we saw, the Federal lines moving forward
to their new attack, which was introduced and sup
| ported by cannonade of several hundred pieces,
equal in fury to that of the morn The balls fred
from the opposite side Of the river, hoElef anu
Kissed in their course over our heads, each shot
from the heavy guns reverberating from the cliffs
like rolling thunder, while the musketry soon be-
came audible again, giving proof by its increasing
vehemence, that the hostile parties were now
Aotly engaged An hour of anxiety and doubt |
passed away, until at O'Clock we saw scattered
fugitives Struggling to the rear, their numbers
augmenting every moment, until whole regiments,
brigades and divisions, in utter confusion and be-
wildered flight, covered the plain before Black
f1rd, excited as myself, jumped from his hiding
place. and throwing his cap in the air, cried out,
Thank God they whipped-they are run
ming Yes, there no doubt about t-they |
were running; ana I'll the Efforts of their officers,
whom we could dis jinctly see using their sabers
against their 10 cheek the precipitate re-
treat, were unavang. All discipline was lost
for the moment and those thousands oftroops
whom an hour before we had seen advancing in
beautiful military order now presented the spec
tacie Of d stampeded and de1noralized mob. Flaw
ing kept Stuart constantly informed of the enemys
movements, l was at this moment more careful to
send courier after courier to apprise him that the
Yankees were routed, and that in my judgment
the time for attack had arrived but my Gene
raj did not fully credit my report until, at my ur
gent request, he galloped up to us in person, to
see, Just little too late, how correct my account
of affairs had been. Off we now fastened. to
Jackson, who at once sent to General Lee the re-
quest that he might leave his intrenchments with
out delay, fall upon the enemy and render the VIC
tory complete. A single cannon shot, fred from
our center, was to be the signal for the general
alta ok by our whole line, at which moment Stuart
was to press forward with his cavalry and horse
artillery vigorously upon the enemy's flank.
Returning to our position the Port Royal
road, we awaited in anxious silence the ninch
desired signal but minute after minute passed by,
and the dark veil of night began to envelope the
valley, when Stuart, believing that the summons
| agreed upon had been given, issued the order to
advance Of we went into the gathering dark
| ness, our sharpshooters driving their opponents
easily before them, and Pelham with his gans,
pushing ahead at trot, firing few shots when
ever the position seemed favorable and then again
| pressing forward. This lasted about twenty min
utes, when the fire of the enemy's infantry began
to be more and more destructive, and other fresh
batteries opened upon us. Still all remained silent
upon our main line. Stuart himself, as usual, was
always in the extreme front, exposing his person
to the hottest fire; one bullet had already pierced
his haversack and another had torn the fur collar
! off his cape and the wonder was that any one of
| us had escaped unhurt.
| Our situation had become indeed critical one,
when courier from General Jackson galloped up
at full speed, bringing the order for Stuart to