Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-05-13

ny is mas<ed IN the woosis in front Of 4
! out can be shelIed out as soon as Won 81
sage their flank. Keep heavy reserves Al
} / use your batteries, keeping well clost-Si /
stlur right al the time. IN case yoT aI
{ bliged to fall back 50 50 TO your right M
K rear, 50 as to keep you IN close c0nmrlni ir.
ion with the Fight wing.
+ JEo. PoPE.
RQ5oq . aqeroi Consi1saTai1iig.
About FIVE p. m. when General Porte
should have been coming into action !
e compliance with this order. Mcdowell
{ being then reported near at hand, Ger
3 | sral Pope ordered Heintzelman an
d. Reno to attack the enemy. Ii was We
ully two hours till daylight would cease
md our army being now superior in mum
oers might confidently hope, with Por
ter's splendid corps falling upon lack
sons right and rear, to achieve a deci
sive victory.
The attack was made with the utmos
yallantry General Kearnev having
aCed his. division to the left fell witt
great impetuosity on that flank of the
-nemy, rolling itsback upon his center
Hooker swept forward over the ground
where Milroy's fasco had occurred ir
the morning, and attacking the enemy
in front carried by brilliant bayonei
charge the railroad embankment. The
battle on the right was now at the hight
of its fury and the vollevs of musketry.
| interlarded with peal after peal from the
great guns, sounded Ike the continuous
i roar of Niagara. Our forces under
| Hooker and Kearney were. masters of
| their part of the field and held posses
sion of the rebel dead and wounded.
Growers brigade 1Hooker's division
broke two of the enemy's lines and even
penetrated third in its impetuous on
set. Heintzelman and Reno were doing
splendidly on the right, and now if Por-
ter were only doing as well on the left
we could be sure the sun would set on
| Jackson's army completely crushed and
routed
McDowelIs corps, which by this time
arrived, was moved immediately to the
left and pushed to the front along the
WarTenton turnpike. Kings division of
| this corps attacked the enemy's right
near the turnpike about sunset, and
gained a point three-quarters of a mile
beyond our main line of battle. But
LongsTeet's corps had now commenced
to reach the field, and King encountered
an obstinate resistance. Meanwhile
Jackson's discomfted left had been
strengthened by Hoods division of
Longsueet's command, and counter
charging Kearney y's-advanced regiments
drove them back. Capturing one gun
and one hundred prisoners.
By this time it had grown too dark for
further fighting and the first dav of
Groveton was ended. Our troops held
part of the ground which had been
wrested from the enemy, but had failed
in their main object. Jackson was not
crushed and the opportunity for crush
ing him was gone forever. Seven thou
sand brave men lay dead upon the field
or writhing with wounds, holocaust to
imbecility and treachery. Fitz John
Porter, who was to have made the at
tack on the enemy's right and rear that
would turn the tide of battle decisively
in our favor, had taken no part what
ever in the action. In positive and
studied disobedience of orders he had
suffered his men to lie idle on their arms
during the whole day, within sight and
sound Of the battle.
And now let US go back the space Of
twenty-four hours and gather up the his
tory of this unparalleled military crime
which thus caused brave mems lives to
be spent for naught and sacrificed a vic
tory. We quote from the diary of this
campaign written by General Strother,
-
published in Harbes5 1fagn .l1te
August 28. General Porter, who was eyz-
pected to be up during the night, did not ar
rive until 10 a. m. There Is much indig-
tie n' GengeTaus deiav was sent
back with message to Generals Porter,
Hooker and HeintZelman, ordering them
to move their commands on Manassas
without delay. 1 found Porter at BristOW |
and delivered the message.
August 29.-At three O'Clock this morning
Nr,4
carry written orders to Gen. Fitz John POr- |
ter, supposed to be lying at Manassas juno |
broad DAYLIGHT when 7 reached POrter's |
quarters at Bris1OW. While he cOOlly read ]
it over (the dispatch, nuted the time by |
his watch, which marked five O'CLOCK and |
twenty minutes precisely.
1t appears from this, first, as we have
already seen, that on the 18th Porter de |
liberately violated an order to march |
from Catletts at one o'clock in the |
morning so as to reach Bristow by day
light, and that he did not arrive there |
until six or seven hours later. At noon, |
Same day, Pope sends him an order by |
General Strother to come forward to
Manassas and Porter utterly disregards
it. Next morning Pope, supposing him
to be at Manassas, sends HIM another
order bv General Styother to move at
once to CentreviIle and Strother finds
him. at sunrise, still at Bristow Porter
does not reach Manassas, where he
should have been on the 18th, until nine
o'clock on the 10th, when he was met by
another order from General Pope direct
inc him to move straight to Gainesville.
In compliance with this order Porter
reached Bethlehem Church, only three
miles from Manassas, between eleven
and twelve O'Clock and here rested his
column. His corps was the Fifth Army
Corps and, having been REINFORCED by
Piatt's brigade, now numbered fully
twelve thousand men, or nearly a third
of all Pope's available forces. 1t con-
tanned the entire regular army of the
Union, excepting a few regiments serving
in the West, and had eight batteries of
light artillery, many of them batteries Of
the regular service. 1t had marched but
six miles on the 10th and but little far
ther on the 18th, and was by far the
freshest, as it was the best disciplined
corps on the ground.
Hearing the sound of heavy battle at
Groveton Mcdowell, who had marched
in rear of Porter from Manassas, passed
him at Bethlehem Church and pushed
forward on the SudleyzSPTings road to
the front of action. Porter, now less
than four miles from the position as
signed him on the left of our line of bat
tie and within full hearing of the con-
| fict, (as he was for six hours), stacked
arms and remained at Bethlehem Church
until three or four o'clock in the after
noon, when he sent the following note to
| General Mcdowell:
/ Generals afcD0i0eU and King: I found il
/ impossible to communicate by crossing the
roa'is to GrOveton. The enemy are in
! strong force on this road, and as they ap-
pear TO have driven our fOt ces back, the
/ hring of the enemy having advanced and
ours retired, hare determined to tOith7ru1O TO
/ Manassas. have attempted to commun :
/ cate with Mcdowell and Sigel, but my mes
| sengers have run into The enemy. They
| have gathered artillery and cavalry, and
| infantry, and the advancing masses of dust
show the enemy coming in force. Had you
not better send your tram back?
! +. +. PORTER,
Major General.
In other words. believing our army on
his right and within less than four miles
of him was being defeated, Porter de-
lberately writes, not that he proposes to
! ~. -, bic