Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-11-08


breastwork. Cur men had the ulrect fire
, in front and raking fire from their RICH
, flank and rear. There is no parallel t.
this fight at the salient, in this war. nor any
, that I know recorded III history since the
introduction of firearms.
For eighteen hours there was no suspen
sion of the musketry fire. Cartridges coulc
be brought to the breastworks on the left
and then passed down to the right by hand
and this was done until our men were with
drawn about ( o'clock the next morning to
the new line in the rear constructed while
the fight was going on in front. The enc
my disappeared from tilis part of the line
at daylight and had probably retired about
the same time that we did.
TO appreciate properly the severity and
intensity Of the fire on this part OF the line,
/ may be excused for reporting the fact that
several trees were cut down by the contin-
ued striking of the enemy's musket balls.
These trees were in the rear Of our lines,
and one of them, an oak, % inches Ill d.
ameter This tree was visited afterwards
by the Adiutant General of the Division
and by one of my aid de-camps and meas
ured. It had rained during the most Of
the day and the pits were, in some parts Of
the line, over ankle deep in water; this was
Redeemed by the blood of Our fallen COM
rades, and more than once it was necessary
to remove the dead from the pits to give
more space for the living.
| The brigade lost many brave men and
gallant officers in this protracted fight.
(See below McGowans report Of this
fight made to Gen. Wilcox
THIRD.-As to Jericho Ford l cannot
speak of my own knowledge. I Was at home
wounded at the time, but I never before
heard it intimated that the brigade behaved
badly [ believe the statement to be IN
true.
Caldwell. in his history of the brigade,
which is very reliable, says that the infor.
nation of our Generals as to the force and
character of the enemy across the river was
incorrect; that Il few troops fought War
ren's whole corps, and that Heth's Givis-
ion came late and did not renew the at
tack
Col. Brown was in command of the bri-
gade at that time and [ have written to him
on the subject. His reply is, of course,
not yet received, but in the meantime en-
close the statement of Capt. J.. G. Haskell,
Assistant Adjutant General of the brigade,
and who was present on the occasion.
CAPTAIN L, c. HAsKELLs STATEMENT.
ABBEvILLE, c.. H., S. c., Dist Oct 1867.
DEAR SIR: Having been asked by you
to say what / recollect of the affair at
Jericho Ford on 23d May, 1864, in which
our brigade was engaged, 7 send the follow
ing, which | believe to be strictly correct
as far as it goes
On the morning of 23d May, N[cGowans
brigade (Col. Brown commanding moved
from bivouac near North Anna river to the
highway which runs parallel with the Cen
trail Railroad. We had gone but a short
distance when we were halted and order
ed to wait until the wagon trains and artil-
lery had passed us. This detained us
until after midday; when we resumed our
march southwark along the railroad and
had gone about two miles when we were
met by Major General W. FL. T. Lee, who |
Col. Brown that the enemy had |
crossed a small force supposed to be cav
airy, at Jericho Ford and were adva:: cling
toward the railroad. He requested Colonel |
Brown to send forward Il regiment to feel !
the enemy. Orr's regiment of rifles was |
ordered to move in the direction of the !
Ford, and having advanced about eight |
hundred yards slightly engaged the enemy |
and retired upon the brigade, having taken |
one prisoner. This prisoner was of the in
fantry and satisfied us that Gen. Lee was |
as to the nature of the enemy's |
force.
Col. Brown now determined to move on |
in obedience to our original orders to re- |
Join our division. We had not, however, |
gone more than mile and half when we
were met by Lit. Gen. A. p. Hill, who |
halted the brigade, formed it IN line facing |
nearly in the direction from which we had |
come and sent out skirmishers to discover
the position of the enemy. Remaining in |
this position for something more than an !
hour we were joined by Gen. Wilcox with |
three other brigades of the division, and |
ofE -h@lo =
back upon the road we had come nearly to |
the point at which we had first left the en-
envy.
Our brigade was now formed in line, with |
two other brI gades (Lane's and ThomaS0 |
Of the division, facing towards ericho ford. |
were thrown forward to a dis
lance of one hundred yards and the three
brigades Immediately commenced rapid |
advance in line We soon crossed the
and coming into an open field, |
our skirmishers became engaged with those
of the enemy, driving them back. By
this time the two left regiments of the |
brigade, and the 1st and 10Th South Caro- |
lima Volunteers, had entered wood which |
ran obliquely with our direction. The
firing now became rapidly heavier, and our
retiring, the line Of battle be-
came hotly engaged, still keeping up the
tIuFduCt' Iue GLIltS 1l$5uG ItSlluCIllo VI VIC
brigade had now reached dense thicket
through which they advanced slowly and
never got into it more than fifty or sixty
yards. The two left regiments moving
through more open woods, drove the enc
hay rapidly and advanced far beyond the
line of the three right regiments until they
came upon a battery which opened upon
them with canister at short range. They
still. however, gained some ground, and
had, am informed, nearly got the bate
ry, when an enfilade fire WAS opened on
their right, and they fell back fighting to
avoid being cut off from the rest of the
brigade, and were formed on the other re-
giments, the left of the line being thrown
back at a considerable angle to protect our
flank, which was entirely uncovered. The
three other regiments had withdrawn to
the edge of the thicket, into which they
had advanced, and the whole brigade now
kept up an irregular fire until dark, the
enemy making no serious effort to ad-
vance.
Heth's division, which l had observed
an hour before moving in our rear, now
came up and took position Immediately
habin1 INIT took 1orL in ba tirl,t