Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-04-08
Carroll and other general officers.


/ Carroll and other general officers. Bu
nothing could be more heroic than th,
behavior of our soldiers whose splendic
valor would have insured victory had it:
achievement been possible So vigor
ously was the enemy's line assailed that
| the left of Tackson's 5 old Division, undei
| TaHaferro, was compelled to give way
as was also Early's Brigade of Ewell's
| Division, holding the road, and nothing
| could have saved the enemy's line from
| being pierced and routed but the timely
arrival of re-enforcements. For two
| hours the battle ragged, but the odds were
too great and our decimated forces were
/ gradually driven back to their first posi-
ton. General Pope, appnsed by the
firing that he'll was needed, arrived on
| the field at dusk with Ricketts, Division,
with which he covered the withdrawal Of
| Banks .thinned and weary regiments.
The enemy followed warily, feeling his
way by shelling the woods and roads as
he advanced thus keeping up the can
nonade until midnight.
While this was going on Sigefs Corps
was marching to the front from Culpep-
per, having arrived there IN the after
noon and set ous for the field of battle
just at sundown. It was quite dark
when the column got fairly IN motion
AIilroys Brigade, which, as we have
seeHs had been waiting at CulPepPer al
day long, led the advance and soon be
gan to encounter the tide of teamsters,
suffers, stragglers and other recrement
of fighting army, drifting rearward.
The long, melancholy trains of ambu-
lances bearing the wounded suggested
the severity Of the conflict, and the ex-
cited crowd of camp followers and strag-
glers, not wounded but "demoralized.
retailed the widest stories about the
days adventures and Calamities. "Our
regiment was all cut to pieces, ''our
brigade was all cut to pieces, every
thing was "cut to pieces. his is all
there is left of my company, said
Commissioned officer with one or two
soldiers. General Banks is wounded
and probably killed" said another.
General Prince IS captured.',, I'VE
fired on our own men. Fifty thousand
Johnnies down there, and so on for
quantity.
The tide grew in volume and the ex-
-citement in intensity, as AIlroy's column
drew nearer to the scene Of action. The
cannonading was still furious and the
shells with ignited fuse streaming like
rockets through the air and bursting high
in the dusky heavens presented a grand
sight About ten o'clock a rebel battery,
having gained an advanced position,
Suddenly opened FIRE on the swarm of
s+ragglerS and the accumulated vehicles
blocked in the road, creating a tremen-
dOus panic. The teamsters broke in
all directions. wagons were overturned
and abandoned, and the miscellaneous
crowd rushed impetuously to the rear as
though an entire corps Of rebels with
fixed bayoncts was Immediately at their
heels. Milroy deployed his regiments
across the road to stop the runaways, and
when they came dashing pell-meIl
against his steady lines the screaming,
hOwling and swearing created a perfect
pandemonium. Fortunately some Of
our gunners speedily got the range of
the obnoxious battery and in a few min
utes silenced it. Where it stood were
found next day nearly a dozen dead
horses and among them the bodies of
several rebel artillerymen.
AS soon as. SigeTs Corps arrived it
was cautiously advanced to the front
and relieved Banks exhausted troops, |
who were withdrawn for rest and rations.
The firing gradually subsidized and about
midnight ceased Sigers troops lay down |
by their stacked guns ready for any fur
ther sallies the enemy might choose to |
make. Ihey Wa1e not disturbed, how /
ever, and the wild notes of the whip |
poorwill were almost the only sound that |
broke the silence of the night.
When morning dawned it was discov- |
cred that the enemy had Withdrawn his /
forces to his first position around Cedar |
Brigade, immediately pushed /
forward and occupied the ground A |.
truce being arranged between the two /
armies on the 10th, the whole of the nth /
was. occupied in bringing in the wounded /
who yet lay scattered over all parts of |
the field The day was intensely hot /
and many Of the wounded suffered /
greatly from the feverish thirst begotten
Of their injuries, before they could be
found in the thick copseS and relieved |
In the open field, where the heaviest of |
the fighting was done, the positions of |
the lines of battle were defined by the |
bodies of the dead thickly strewn among |
the rampled corn, and already bloated |
so bysthe heat of the sun as to be almost |
beyond recognition. In the merciful |
work of burying these and caring for the |
wounded, FederaIs and Rebels Joined |
alike until the sun had set and the truce
expired. During the night of the nth, |
Jackson having learned that King had |
arrived from Fredericksburg, and that
Pope was about to fall upon his COM
decamped with his entire !
force and withdrew beyond the Rapidan. |
So ended the battle of Cedar Noun
tain, in which the enemy saved himself
from defeat and disgrace more by the
sheer preponderance Of his numbers
than by his valor or tactical skill Of
all Tackson's battles, this one probably
does him least credit. On the other
hand nothing but the great gallantry of
our troops saved them from disastrous
punishment for the temerity of their
General in attacking an enemy so much
their superiors in numbers and position
The wonder is that Banks Corps was
not annihiIated or driven back in flying
fragments toward Culpepper. Had
Jackson fully understood his advantages,
or had Banks attack taken place earlier
in the day, this doubtless would have
been the case. As it was, darkness and
the timely arrival of Ricketts, Division
alone prevented it.
IN its results the battle of Cedar Noun
tain, though, It may be called a drawn
fight, was victory. Within three days
after the Army of Virginia had marched
from its different camps at SPerryville,
Manassas and Falmouth it beheld the
advance column of Lees army, under
the ablest Confederate Iearder, flying
back upon its main body behind the
Rapidan. This certainly was doing well
for a beginning, though General Pope in
tended and would have preferred to have
brought Jackson to a square pitched
battle. Nevertheless time was gained
which was the great potnt-for the ar
rival of the Army of the Potomac. We
shall see how that army improved it.
A correspondent of the Painesville
zSzeg1abh says of Bishop Thomson /:
Il