The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-03-01

derful to relate, he lived until evening, and
died rejoicing at our victory. He is well
remembered BY every member Of our bri-
gade, which had fought at his side for
years, and he was so much beloved and
respected by his own men that it seemed
impossible but that they would now give
up the contest when Lieutenant Colonel
French. Of the 77th New York, next in
command, shouted "Don't run till the
Vermonters do 7" and with cheer Of des-
peration his troops sprang forward, reach
ing their first position on the crest. The
astonished rebels formed in rows behind
the trees for protection, and the files were
forced to swing first to the east and then
to the west as fire was poured upon
them from our brigade or Colonel French's,
until, strange as it may appear, many Of
them actully surrendered themselves as
prisoners; two of these were killed to-
gether, far behind our line, by the same
rebel shell.
Thus our position was for the second
time left unvexed. At about this time
General Getty learned of the serious
wound of General Ricketts,, which left
him in command of the corps. He there
fore turned over the division to General
Grant, though he still watched its move.
ments, the 1st and Sd divisions being far
out Of reach, no longer confronting the
enemy" Lieutenant Colonel Amasa s.
Tracy, of the I'd Vermont, was now in
command of the brigade as its senior of.
6cer, Colonel Foster not having as yet
come in from the picket line.
The two repulses thus inflicted upon
the enemy must have annoyed him terri
bly,. He had previously routed all the
rest of our infantry, and had good reason
to expect no further hlbor but pursuit
The attack was at once resumed, however,
this time upon Warner more especially,
though involving our right regiments
somewhat. They were checked for a
time and on the next morning the slaugh-
ter Of rebels in front of this position was
seen to have been terrible. But their
whole army was now up. We could see
heavy columns marching upon the caval-
ry on our left, while Warner was struck
upon his unprotected flank, and line of
rebels even came upon his rear At this
time, Early having now men enough in
position to bag our stubborn little divis-
ion entire if We longer maintained our
stubbornness, General Getty sent word to
Grant to withdraw unless he saw some es-
pecial reason for remining. The order
was handsomely executed. A full line
Of rebles took possession of our hill al
most the very moment we left it, but for
some reason they did not see fit to pursue
us except with scattering bullets. After
retiring about half mile we halted in an
old road just west of Middletown, where
We remained for perhaps twenty minutes.
Not finding other troops in the vicinity,
however, and the position being of no val
ue, Grant threw forward Captain Wales
with the I'd Vermont as skirmishers to
cover our retreat, and the division coolly
marched in line Of battle mile further
to the rear, when we found position that
General Getty considered suitable to
form upon. We therefore faced to the
front again while he ordered the other
divisions, then still further to the rear, to
conform to the movements of his own.
1t was then about 10 A. NJ, and Far
ly now lost the opportunity which might
have given him complete success. In the
night after this same day, General Shcri-
dams cavalry pursued the routed enemy
to New Market without halt but Ear
ly, after his victory Of the morning, kind
ly gave US three valuable hours in which
to reform out scattered troops, without at
tempting to prevent it. A general order
which he subsequently published to his
} troops, recognizes his failure to properly
} push his success, and says he was unable
to give the rapid pursuit he desired, be.
: cause his men had so generally left their
, ranks to plunder our deserted camps and
rifle the pockets Of our dead and wound
, ed. The blame rests upon himself, for il
was truly sad state of discipline which
, could not keep together, in the flush Of
victory, a sufficient number Of men to fol-
low up disorganized retreat his gallant
army was not alone in fault for thi'
, shameful state of affairs which he repro
bates so bitterly. And even if his infan
4 try were beyond his control, where Wa.
his large cavalry force, which had moi
fred gun except in their insignificant
' skirn.ish with our pickets in the earl,
, morning? Without doubt the report wa.
s correct. which attributed to some OF Gen
: eral Early's brilliant young subordinate,
: the inception of the wonderful plan, whicl
: it il certain he left to them to execute
5 and its success, which his own feeble au
=, thority aud lack Of energy were, by hi
, own confession entirely incompetent t.
I pursue, or even to preserve.
The position selected by General Gett,
: was behind long fence, for part of tn
way stone wall, stretching west mil
. or two from the pike, across ravines, an,
e beyond our own division extending into
: forest. Ii was evident that we could her
h check the enemy's next advance, an,
! probably could him at bay until he shoul
e should again outfsnk u.s. Atthe very wors
: we could make IN organized retreat. Gen
n eral Wright now devoted himself 10 al
v ranging the troops on their new line, an
j. to our division belongs the credit Of ren
IS dering the formation possible. While W
d had held the hill near Middletown so t.
nsciously, General Wright had got to
d gether the regiments of the 10th corps an
~ of our lst and Sd divisions, and no,
n placed them on our right. forming stron
and detensible line along which rud
IN protection Of earth and rails was at one
'r improvised. He frequently said that h
A. could yet defeat the enemy, and his sta
e, have claimed that he issued orders ool
l. ing to n counter-sttack but il is doubtfi
if such a movement would have been su,
" cessful. as the army was much dishear
es ened. Still We now had an oppertunit
IS TO rest, and even 10 breakfast roughly.