Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-04-15

Before we set out in pursuit of Jack
sons fugitive column, perhaps the read
er would like to take a view of tn,
battlefield as the recent struggle left it
Let US then go over it on the day of tn,
truce, while the two armies are yet con
fronting each other and the fatigue par
ties of each are covering up the deac
and gathering in the wounded. Pro
ceeding along the road toward Cedar
Mountain we pass, on the right, in the
edge Of piece of timber, little knoll
whereon stood the rebel battery that dur
ing the night withdrawal of Bank:
created such fright among his camp
followers and stragglers. Fearfully ha,
the enemy been punished for his temeri
ty in thrusting that battery SO close upon
the retreating column. Over that knoll
the bodies of men and horses lie thicI
and are indescriminately mingled. A
fatigue squad is at work digging, in the
hard dry ground, a ditch in which the
bodies of the rebel artillerymen viii
soon be laid and covered up together
Entering the woods which screen us
from the intense heat of the sun we pass
on the left, a broken gun-carriage around
which the ground is strewn with shreds
of garments and tufts of wadding. On
either side of the road the cannon shot
have been plupging through the woods
and the trees freshly splintered, or with
tops and branches Topped as if wrenched
and twisted off by an infuriated Titan,
bear witness to the violence and fury OF
the battle. Emerging from the woods
we come to the open fields into which
Banks regiments advanced from the
covert of the woods and where occurred
some of the heaviest fighting. The
ground is beaten with the tramp of many
feet and strewn with the wreck of de
molished fences and with muskets,
clothing and accoutrements flung away
by the soldiers when wounded or when
overcome by the heat and excitement.
Some of these fields were lately green
with growing maize which is now cut
down by the bullets and trampled down
! by the swaying battalions. Passing into
one of these we come to the position oc-
cupied by some of the Ohio regiments
at the crisis of the fight All around lie
| the bodies of the dead, in some places a
| dozen or more within few PAGES of
each other. All night of the 9th and all
day and night of the 10th they have
lain here, Just as they fell, and now pre-
sent a spectacle reyclting beyond de-
scription. Reader, would you realize
the dread solemnity and cruelty of war,
/ look at it. In the roasting heat the
! bodies have swollen to twice or three
times their natural size, the clothing is
/ he. oh
as if in mute appeal, the faces are turned
black as an Ethiopian's. Be not shock
ed. These are brave Ohio boys who
have died for their country and you now
have one picture, and but one, of their
suffering and sacrifice. Soon the piO-
neers-you see them yonder covering up
others-win be here and give these, just
where they lay, a soldiers burial
Ever since the fight occurred, over
/ thirty-six hours ago, many of the wound
| ed have lain uncared for in the thick
woods and some, unable to move, ex-
/ posed to the hot sun in the open fields.
/ Whole regiments are now detailed in
small parties to hunt these up and attend
to their conveyance to the field hospitals.
] Here and there you can see these lit
tie squads of four or five tenderly bear
ing away a wounded comrade on a
| stretCher or a blanket. If you would
listen to tale of suffering, stoop down
and hear from those pale and quivering
lips how the wounded soldier, half fam
ished for food and consumed with thirst,
his wounds fostering and his brain burn
ing with fever and anxiety, kept solitary
company with his own thoughts through
those two long nights and that weari
some day, doubling at length if human
help would ever come to him. Listen
and be convinced that the story of the
war will never half be written and that
what the correspondents tell and the
historian will chronicle gives only the
outside of the battle picture and conveys
but a faint idea of the price of victory.
/ The multitude loves to dwell upon the
pomp and circumstance of sieges and
campaigns, upon strategic plans and
tactical devices, but how little it knows
of these whose business it is simply to
stand shoulder to shoulder, load and
fire, and that others may win glorious
names, bear the heat and burden of the
battle.
1t is not pleasant to dwell upon these
Il scenes. Let US turn from them to re-
sumo the course of events.
The withdrawal of Jackson left ou1
cavalry corps under Buford and Bayard
free to occupy their former positions, and
their line of outposts was again extend
ed from Raccoon Ford, on the Rapidan
westward to the base of the Blue Ridge
On the 18th General Reno arrived with
height thousand men from Burnside's
Corps which, having embarked at Fort
ress Monroe on the Ist, had reach Ac-
quia Creek and Falmouth on the Cd
This, the reader will mark, was the frs
accession Pope received from the Army
of the Potomac. He now pushed his
whole command southwark to the line o
> the Rapidan, Sigel, with Milroy's Brig
ade leading, pursuing the immediate line
OF Jackson s retreat as far as Robertson
river. At the point where the Orangt
Court House road crosses that stream
Sigel went into position, his commanC
now constituting the right, as McDow
ellis, holding both hanks of Ceda
. Mountain did the center, Reno's, a
Raccoon Ford, the left, and Banks, a
Culpepper, the reserve of the Army c
Virginia. A glance at the map vii
( show that the army in this position hell
an interior line, its hanls resting on tn
two sides of an acute angle describes
| Dy INODEIlSOu lIhG1 OlA lAlC llSl4l dllQ III
Rapidan on the left, the apex of til
angle being at the confluence of thos
streams.
Directly in front, at Gordonsville an
Orange Court House, on the line of tn
Alexandria railroad, Lee was now as
sembling his entire force let loose fron
Richmond. A cavalry expedition sen
out on the 10Th in the direction of Louis
a Court House captured Stuart's Adjutan
} General, in whose. possession was foun,
an autograph letter from General Lee
dated Gordonsville, August 5th, show
ing it to be the purpose of the enemy t
: envelop and overwhelm Pope before tn
arrival of any part of McClellan's forces
To gain all possible time for their arriva
General Pope had taken his present ad
: vanced position, and for the same reasoi
now proposed to hold it to the latest mo
= ment. No other consideration woul
have justified him in placing his com
! mand in situation of such imminen