The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-04
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slbllltY OF escape ShOuld they Dc at5a0Red "
@ largely superior torce-haqing deep river
in their immediate rear, spanned by only one
miserable, rickety pontoon bridge In 'front.'
there was an open space, half 81 mile In wdth
and mile in length, backed by thick woods
Of heavy timber, the whole presenting greah
advantages for the concentration Of large
masses Of troops for an attack.
Nov 7-As early as O'Clock In the morn4
ing
COL. PENN
rode out to the vidette line occupied bya
small detachment of cavalry, and satisfied
himself Of the fact that heavy bodies Of the
enemy were moving under cover Of the woods
beyond. This he promptly communicated to
Gen. Early, who with the remainder Of the
division was five miles distant. At 10 o'clock
| our videttes reported the movement OF
the tn u,a5 e59emys infantry, crossing 1 The he
Warrenton and Fredericksburg road, in tfls
| direction Of Keleys ford, three miles below
our position. Col. Penn and the writer rode
to be true, and another dispatch was imnle-
formaton 9 ao Of t the 9 sae. % 6tker % dspatces @ M
| were sent at IL and at O'Clock, the last eon~
| forming in the belt Of woods In our front, All
| 2:3o p. m. the enemy threw forward u very
heavy line of skirmishers, and advanced
| from the woods with two lines Of
battle. This revealed to us the oVarWhslfn~
ing numbers opposed to us, and we naturally
| looked with anxiety and impatence for the
arrival Of reinforcements. This was the pro-
per time for the withdrawal Of our brigade
| the place st all hazards was too explicit and
| imperative to admit OF his assuming the
responsibility, OF disFegardng it. At $50
O'Clock our skirmishers were drawn In, as
were the two regiments fthe Sixth AMI
Eighth), which had been. posted o little in adj
vance and on the right funk OF the works.
| The enemy soon placed three heavy bat
teries ON high and favorable ground In our
| EyytAn q I'm n FIfst
OF his shots being aimed OF our bridge: at the
same time strong line OF skirtnisters ad-
| vanced to q neck OF woods on our right flank
| and poured In O. heavy fire upon the bridge,
| for the double purpose OF preventing our re-
/ treat and to drive back any renforcements
that might be sent to our suecor. At this PEE
| ri0d
GEN. EARLY
reached us, and Col Penn representing to him
the utter futllity Of attempting the defense of
the works, proposed to Withdraw the brigade,
declaring, in his opinion, that he could doso
without much loss; whereas II 9 contrary
eytably be "gobbed up" Gen. EARLY
fully realizing the perils of the situation, ras.
piled that the orders to hold the place to the
last, came from Gen. Lee himself, and eould
not be disregarded.
/ at o'clock Gen. Hays arrived and took
command Of his brigade, and Col. Penn re-
sumed his place at the head OF his regimanft
the Seventh, which was posted on the left of
Of the division arrived, and Hoke's, CONF
manded by Col. Goodwin, was Immediately
sent across the river to our support. Unf0r-
tunately our works were SO contracted lii
their limits that they would not admit OF
being occupied by more than two small
brigades, q force totally inadequate to defend
them against the largely superior numbers g1
the enemy.
Gen. Meade had in our front two corps the
Fifth and Sixth, under Gen. Sedgwick, fully
10000 men, opposed to which we had only
1900 men and the Louisiana Guard Artillery.
with four guns. There were two batteries ON
; the south side OF the river, but these gave as
! little Or no assistance when the fight came on,
owing to the difficulty OF depressing the gums
sufficiently
THE FEDERAL GENERAL
sent forward g very heavy skirmish line,
which from time TO time he reinforced. fol-
lowed by two lines OF battle. A strong f0Taa
advanced against our left, held by the Fifth
and Seventh Regiments, but were quickly and
gallantly repulsed. When the skirmish lina
! came within the reach Of our rifles, 1t melted
away before the storm OF balls poured into
them. On the right the Federals came for
!, ward, IN columns OF companies, and under
cover OF q railroad cut, and reached to within
q few yards Of the portion Of the works held
} by the Sixth Regiment, while 81 heavy mass
formed In columns OF brigades, dashed as
! our centre-the Eighth and Ninth Regiments.
sand stubbornly, and the enemy was several
times driven back with great siaughters
but at last the blue coats swaraed
up to our works, and though our boys fought
them with bAyOnets and dubbed muskGtss
they were oVerpowered by the sheer weight
OF numbers, and the right and centre Of our
, line were forced to yield, The enemy poured
into the works, yelling Ike demons. aud
! forming at right angles with the trenches,
marched against the flank Of our left wing,
at the same time strong line advancing
against the front. Thus henmed In, night
was rapidly coming on. With deep, I'M
fDrBnhfA river in their tharn uya yyfI az
Tentative left for our noble fellows but to sur-
render.
Hays Brigade lost in this most unfortunate
affair GAO men, and Hoke's 800, and the artil-
lery four guns. Among tho captured were
Col Penn of the Seventh, Capt. Gusman,
commanding the Eighth, Capt John G. AM
gel, commanding the Fifth, and Col: Goodwin,
and Major w. FL. Manning, OF the Sixth
!, escaped by crossing the river on the debris of
the old railroad bridge, the water reaching
Seventh, Capt. Clarity Of the Fifth, and d
number OF men succeeded in swimming to the
south bank The water was intensely cold.
but they preferred to run the risk of being
drowned or frozen to death to languishing for
months amid the horrors OF Federal prison.
i TILE LOUISIANA GUARD ARTILLERY
maintained the high reputation they had won
on many @ hard-fought field serving their
guns until the enemy had swarrDed into their
little redoubt and oyerpOWered them. They
OF course, lost their four guns, which had been
captured from the enemy by our brigade and
presented TO them as g. token of our high APP
probation OF their conspicuous bravery and
skill as artillerlsts, and as worthy representa-
tves OF the manhood and chiyairy Of old LoEI-
isiana.
| Cen Hays had narrow escape from capture.
After the whole line Of works had been taken.
he was sitting on his horse surrounded by the
enemy, who considered him q doeile, harm
less prisoner. Seeing the confusion that pre-
vailed among the Federals, and knowing that
they could not fire upon him until he reached
the bridge without endangering their own
comrades, he resolved to make a bold effort to
regain his liberty. Putting spurs to his old
horse Cummings, he broke through the
crowd, dashed down the hill and over the
bridge, reaching the other side without q
scratch. The gigantic Col. Peck, of the Ninth,