Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-03-24

HlucnluS, tnougn the struggle was Uea0-
ly. At this critical juncture a shell |
struck General Bidwell as he sat on his
horse, holding his men to their work
he was man of remarkably large frame,
and the missile tore through his shoul-
ders and lungs, bringing him heavily to
the ground. Wonderful to relate he
lived until evening. and died rejoicing
at our victory. He is we'll remembered
by every member of our brigade, 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 Lieut. Col French of the
Seventy-seventh New York, next in
command, shouted, Don't run till the
Vermonters do % and with a cheer of
desperation his troops sprang forward
reaching their first position on the crest.
The astonished rebels formed in rows
behind the trees for protection, and these
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 actually sur
rendered themselves as prisoners two
of these were killed together, 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
therefore turned over the Division to
General Grant, though he still watched
its movements, the First and Third Di-
visions being far out of reach, no longer
confronting the enemy" Lieutenant
Colonel Amasa S. Tracy of the Second
Vermont was now in command of the
Brigade as its senior officer, Colonel
Foster not having as yet come in from
the picquet line.
The two repulses thus inflicted upon
the enemy must have annoyed him ter
ribly; he had previously routed all the
rest of our infantry and had good reason
to expect no further labor but pursuit.
The attack was at once resumed howev-
er, this time upon Warner more espec-
tally, though involving our right regi-
ments somewhat. They were checked
for time, and on the next morning the
slaughter of rebels in front of this posi-
ton was seen to have been terrible. But
their whole army was now up; we could
see heavy columns marching upon the
cavalry 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 Division entire if we longer main
tain our stubborness, General Getty sent
word to Grant to withdraw unless he
saw some especial reason for remaining.
The order was handsomely executed. A
full line of rebels took possession of our
hill almost the very moment we left it,
but for some reason they did not see fit
to pursue us except with scattering bull
lets. After retiring about half mile
we halted in an old road just west of
Middletown, where we remained for per-
haps twenty minutes. Not finding other
troops in the vicinity however, and the
position being of no value, Grant threw
forward Captain Wales with the Second
Vermont as skirmishers to cover our re-
treat, and the Division coolly marched
in line of battle mile further to the
rear, when we found a position that Gen.
eral Getty considered suitable to form
upon. We therefore faced to the front
again while he ordered the other Divi-
sions, then still further to the rear, to
conform to the movements of his own.
1t was then about 10 a. M, and Early
now lost the opportunity which might
have given him complete success. In
the night after the same day, General
Sheridan's cavalry pursued the routed
enemy to New Market without halt,
but Early, after his victory of the MORN
ing, kindly gave US three valuable hours
in which to reform our scattered troops,
without attempting 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, because his men had
SO generally left their ranks to plunder
our deserted camps and rife the pockets
of our dead and wounded. The blame
rests upon himself, for it was truly a
sad state of discipline which could not
keep together, in the flush Of victory, a
sufficient number of men to follow up a
disorganized retreat; his gallant army
was not alone in fault for this shameful
state of affairs which he reprobates so
bitterly. And even if his infantry was
beyond his control, where was his large
cavalry force, which had not fred gun
except IN their Insignificant skirmish
with our picquets in the early morning I?
Without doubt the report was correct.
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