The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-09-25
Report of General S. MCGOWAN OF
BATTLES of the Wilderness and
~Spotsylvanlu Courthouse.


Instructed fran Hr Ocfohcr n,nnhar Of The Sonth-
crn historical Socicfy itT"T.I
I'VE are indebted to our gallant friend,
General McGiowan, for a number OF ms
reports. and take pleasure in giving the
following in continuation of the reports
Of the campaign Of lSG1, the publication
of which was begun in our August nulIi-
her.
HEADQUARTERS McGOwAN'S BRIGADE,
LINES NEAR PETERSBURG,
September lSt, 1851.
Najnr-In obedience TO orders from
division headquarters, July 18th, !"ii,
have the honor to submit the following
report Of the engagements of this cam,
raign in which my brigade participated
under my command.
WILDERNESS.
About noon of Wednesday, 4th May,
under the orders Of MajOr-Gencral Will
cox, my brigade left their winter quarters
on the Rapidan and marched through
Orange Courthouse, following General
lIcth's division down the Plank road to-
wards Fredericksburg. That night we
bivouackcd near Fcdiersburg. The next
morning took up the line of march in
the same order; heard ~skirniShinG in
front, and about > o'clock II. NJ. reached
the point in the Wilderness where the
column had halted in the presence of the
enemy. Puaguc'S battalion of artillery
was i'm position on m cmincncc i'll Il little
old field on the left of the road. Heavy
firing ut some distance to our left ana
front indicated an engagement Of General
Ewcll, who had marched down the turn
pike parallel with and between the Plank
road and the river. In order. as sup
posed. to cooperate with General Ewrll,
our division left the Plank road ut Poa-
CUES artillery, and, filing square to the
left. advanced about half 4 mile, and
rrachin" open fields, formed line of bat
tie looking towards the right OF General
| EwclI. then in sight. The hri@adcs of
Generals Lame and Thomas advanced
some distance. My brigade was formed
perpendicular to the line Of advance to
support it. Whilst in this position Il
heavy fire of muSkctry was opened on
our right at the Plank road upon the di-
vision Of General lIcth. An officer of
Licutcnant-t;cncral Hills staff in a few
minutes gallnprd up, and in tie absence
Of General Wilcox (who WAS with Cen
erals Lane and ThoniaS) ordered me to
return ut once to the Plank road. ASthc
fire was very heavy, | did return hastily
without waiting for The orders Of Major
General Wilcox. As | approached the
point of fire, | met General Lee, who dl-
rectcu me to proceed down the Plank
road and report to General lIcth, who
was conducting the fight. / did so, and
was directed by him to dcploy my brig
adc OH both sides Of the Plank road, and,
if possible, drive the enemy down to-
wards the Brock road. | was instructed
to put three regiments on the left and two
on the right Of tho road but as the for
nation was made under fire, | soon per-
ccivca that the enemy pressed heaviest
on the right of the road, and | therefore
took the liberty to place three regiments
on that side. The Twelfth Colonel j. l..
Millcr) on the extreme right; on his left
the Rifles I.icutenant-Coloncl McDutlic
Millcr); on the left of the road the Thir-
tccnth Colonel Brockman); and the
Fourteenth Colonel BROWN on the cX-
trcmc left. In this order we pressed
through the dense underground. and,
passing over the line Of General lleth,
my and drove him some diStancc-fOur
or five hundred yardS-thc whole extent
Of our front. \ battery in the road fired
!two.or three rounds of grape after the
charge commenced, hut as we approached
! the uns twO) were hastily removed
NCavinm ono caisSon) down the road by
hand, and were not used again. We
passed over the dead and wounded of the
enemy, and through his lines, until our
left struck and crossed 4 marsh and there
was 10 firing in our front, except a little
on our extreme right. The firing on both
tlankS and to our rear still continuing
very heavy, ! halted the brigade; and as
the firing seemed closing in behind us,
information of our position was given 10
General Wilcox, who directed The brig
! AIDE to be withdrawn through the gap
made. On our return, the enemy was so
near the road on both sides that their balls
crossed each other. They pressed so close
to the road on the left that / sent 4 part of
the brigade in to drive them back, where
they found General Thomas engaging
them. 1t was now snndown, and this
portion of the brigade remained with
General Thomas all night. The remain
ing portion was maSScd on fIc road to
| the left of General Thomas. Night closed
in and the firing ceased, both sides re-
tanning the ground on which they had
fought.
In this charge the brigade behaved cx-
trcmcly well. They drove the enemy mt
all points and captured some prisoners.
If our force had been sufficient to drive
the enemy in the same way along the
whole front, the b]lOodshcd Of the next
day might possibly have been prevented.
The night of the 9TH was an anxious
! one. The troops stood to their arms all
| night in the same broken Oldcr in which
they were at the close of the fight /; the
line, if any, was something like III irrcg-
ular h0rsc-Shuc-nO two hrigadcS touch
ing each other. They had ma lc Il good
march in the forenoon of that day, and
then had fought until after dark. Hun
CRY, thirsty. and fatigucd, they had t"
pass Il slccplcss night. during the long
hours of which he enemy could be dis
tinctly heard in the thick covert of the
Wilderness making arrangements to cn-
NClOp them. 1t WAS expected that We
would be relieved about daylight by Gem
cral Longstrcc;'s corps, and hence, l sup
pose, the line was not rcadiuStcd but us
the day began to dawn without any APP
pcarancc of relief, and as | believed from
many indications that the enemy would
attack us as soon rs they could see, | sent
for the portion Of the brigade left with
General Thomas and formed line Of bat
tie at All angle with the Plank road and
facing the enemy on that (tlIc lcil) side OF
the road.
AS soon as it was light enough. the en-
envy could be seen moving on our front,
rear anu right, completely c%nvcloping
us, except up the Plank road in the dircc-
| tlOn 1GOll WHICH tIltN ndu come. ~ Tic
request Of General Thomas, who was to
my right and already nearly cut of, / adj
vanccd my brigade to shove the enemy
farther from the road and prevent him
from being entirely surrounded. Whilst
| was advancing and driving the cncmy's
skirmishcrs, | saw a brigade retiring in
haste and confusion up the road in my
rear. \ omc after, ! saw Thomas
rolling mp from the right and also passing
in my rear, pressed by the enemy coming
up the road. My brigade, fighting the en-
envy in front, and being thus uncovered
upon the right and rear, seeing all the 9TH
or troops retiring and themselves in dam
ger of being surrounded and captured, al
SO began to roll up rom the right and
fell back Il shor distance in confusion.
1t was Notifying, but under the circum-
stances could not be helped. The left reg
imcnt, the Rifles, remained unbrOkcn
and came off in good order. The brigade
was not dcmoraliZcd or panic stricken,
but acted from necessity. They reform
cd ut once in rear of Poaguc'S artillery,
which opened upon and checked the ad-
vancing enemy. AT this moment the ell
envy had wen thanked the cmincncc
where the artillery StOod---thcir balls
reaching that position from the south side
ofthc road, and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Hill
directed nc to cross the road and drive
them back. l ohevcd at once, and in
crossing the O c;llnc for the first time
in contact with General Longstrcct's for
COS, then Just coming up. Soon after, !
was directed to rccross the road and pro-