The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-07-07
ANNALS OF THE WAR.
BATTLE OF sPOTTsYLyANIA.
Hays Louisiana Brigade The Bloody
Twelfth Of May, 1s6i-Gen. Hays
WOunded-COl. Mrnger Killed, Etc.
BY AN Ex-oFFtCER, q. s. A.

thereby force the Confederate commander to
fight at the great disadvantage OF having his
communications with his base OF supplies cut
off. Therefore, it became necessary for Grant
to alter the details Of his general plan, and on
the seventh of May he withdrew bis army to
the Wilderness and 5pottsyiyania road, with
the evident intention Of trying the Freder-
icksburg route to Richmond.
| The great battle of the Wilderness was the
| bloodiest Of the war, the losses OF the Confed-
crates amounting to 6231 men, while the OIL
cially reported losses Of the Federals footed
up %, ,967. It was fought almost exclusively
| by infantry. Owing to the density Of the
woods artillery could not be used, and there
were not more than six pieces OF cannon
brought into action, which were posted on the
| two roads which bisected the lines Of the two
armies. Thus 1t was that three hundred of
these usually loud-mouthed "dogs OF war"
were dumb and inocuous. But the more un~
erring and deadly musket piled it's awful
work, and heaped the field with hecatombs OF
dead. Never was there a more grim and
CHASTITY spectacle Of the horrors and terrible
destructlveness OF war than that presented
under the deep and solemn shades OF the
Wilderness, while the atmosphere for miles
around was filed with the noisome odors that
came MP from thousands of putrefying
corpses.
On the evening of the seventh Of May 1t was
observed that Grant had extended his left.
and that a portion Of his army was on the
march to
sPoTTsYLvAN1A COURTHOUSE.
! At dark Gen. Lee sent Longstreet's corpss
now commanded by Gen. Anderson, preceded
by large force of cavalry, to prevent the
Federals from seizing that place and the Conc
manding positions in the Vicinity. The race
between Anderson's ard the Fifth Federal
corps to get first to the courthouse was an
exciting and closely contested one The Fed
eral General, Warren having the shorter
road, reached there first but his advantages
was but temporary, for Anderson came up
soon after, and, driving the enemy back fer q
mile, held the line that Gen. Lee had pre-
viousiy fixed upon until the remainder OF the
army reached the ground.
May Sat 8 o'clock o. m. Hays Brigade
started from the line of the Wilderness,
passed through White Hall to the Catharpen
J Road, down that road TO within mile of
: Spottsylvania where Ii turned Of to tho left,
and went into position on the right of ToIess
Division In the line Of Johnsons b, 10 which We
had that day been assigned, Stafford's Laula
lana Brigade being on our left.
May at was o'clock in the morning be-
fore our division reached its allotted piece,
when the men were hastily put to work TO
, build Notifications. Though the supply of en-
, trenchment tools was very limited, our boys
} toiled with such will and vim that by day.
light they had quite a strong line Of works 10
, fight behind.
| oIyi hITo, ~
during the morning. and the commander 81
the Sixth Federal Corps,
GEN. sEDGwIcK,
, was killed. He was one Of Grants best gen
erals; our corps (once Jackson's now
Ewell's) had been pitted against his on sev~
I eral memorable occasions-at Fredericks-
3 burg Rappahannock Station and the Wilder
ness-and the Sixth was recognized as the
best fighting and best handled corps Ia the
Federal army. An ardent, practical believer
= In the potency Of ardent spirits" In arousing
that species of valor denominated Dutch
courage" he piled his men freely with whig-
ky before putting them into battle. This
7 pleasing little indlosyncrasy together with
, his conspicuous skill and bravery had rens
dered him extremely popular among his sol
diers, who sincerely mourned his loss.
|
salient angle and our men did not Hike 1t at
all 1t was so liable to be enfil .ded by arttI-
: lery, and would be dangerous trap 10 be
caught in should the line be broken 8u Gh6
/ right or left An unfortunate work 1t proved
b to be.
) May 1O,-Heavy ,sskirrnishing began earlyIn
the morning, and "those people" as Gen. Lee
always called the Federals, manifested d
strong inclination to feel Of our line and az
: certain it's strength. They soon gained the
. wished-fOr information and paid dearly for IT.
|, |, At 10 a. m. they marched In beautiful line un
= to the front OF our works. Jumping q fence
q 200 yards off, the cOlOrbearers planted their
flags in a road the blue coats rallied around
them, looked fierce and seemed determined to
do something desperate. Their officers -four
I ished their swords and ordered their men to
: charge. They had not advanced fifty paces
q before they were greeted by
z wITHERING voLLEY,
which brought them to a halt; another put
them to the right about and made them
scamper In inglorious haste back 70 their
Il Notifications.
!, On the left of Hays brigade, staford's and
O Walkers intervening, DOles' Georgia brigade
was posted. At that point the tive opposing
lines Of battle came within two hundred yards
of each other; the FederaIs occupied range
, Of thick woods behind which was valley.
= afforded them great facilities for secretly
r massing troops for a sudden attack. 1t 5 b.
4 M a dash was made at DOles line which,
after hard fight and gallant defense, Was
successful. The Eederals broke through, and
getting some three hundred yards behind our
entertainments, capturing battery of tho
- Richmond Hewftzers, seemed to have effected
. a permanent Judgement. The stu Ition Of
l. our division was extremely critical, as 1t Was
t.. almost entirely cut Off from the remainder o9
the army But the Federal success was
l. luckily short-lived. Gen. Gordon quickly
formed his own and Pegram's brigade At
- right angles with the works, and making g
4 gallant charge drove the enemy out, taking
many prisoners, capturing the How
II tiers battery and restoring the line TO itS
m old formation. few minutes after the IT.
tack made In the morning,
N GEN. HARRY HAYS,
the brave and dashing commander OF Our