National Republican., 1880-09-11
MISCELLANEOUS.
A "Reminiscences OF the Battle of winiaI

We mako the following extract from Captain
+, G. Adams description Of the battle Of viii.
lamsburg:
"Want Of harmony between generals in the
early part of the day had done IFS damaging
work. so apparent was this that IL excited
considerable alarm among number of anna
teur soldiers present with the army aud who
are always more ornamental than useful. One
of them who seemed more concerned than the
rest mounted his horse aud went of in pursuit
Of General Mcclellan. This alarmist was a
young man by the name of Sprague of Rhode
Island, who was studying the art of war under
Stoneman and doing the ornamental soldier in
tho upholsering of q brigadier.g general by
brevot. Some unkindly disposed officers of
the regular army were heard to say that this
little Rhode Island gentleman was the best
alarmed man that day. / am not ready to
vouch for the truth Of this. It quite certain,
h however, that no galopod all the way from
the battlefield tn General HoClellans head
quarters, near Yorktown, and begged him
(DlcCellan) to go to the front, where the
generals were quarreliug among themselves
aud the very devil was to pay generally.
General Mcclellan started and reached
the field a little after 4 o'clock, and
while Kearney was in tho thickest Of
the fight. The news OF his appear
auce on the fold had a cheering effect
on tho mon. Ii Koarncy possessed IN an
eminent degree tho power to make men fight,
Mcclellan had also the power of gaining their
confidence aud respect. The men knew that
our troubles in the early part of tho day were
due TO want Of gonoralship, not to want OF
valOr ON their part, and this enthusiastic re-
coption of Mcclellan was but another proof of
the hold he had on tho feelings aud affections
Of tho mon.
Mcclellan found tho troops fighting on
thrco sides of him, our line full of gaps, no
communication between the centre and loft
wing, and our ceutre pressed back, and on tile
east when il shonld have been on the west
side ofa belt of woods between the onemy's
position and our own. Not very skillfully
planned line Of battle this, TO say the least.
But perhaps tho three corps aud half a dozen
or so Of division commanders then on the field
were not to blame for its defects. We had
not fought many battles then, and certainly
not gained any victories, unless the first
Bull Run can be called one, and the steady
and practical in generalship was new to oven
our best generals.
Mcclellan quickly reformed the line, and
took advantage of the few positions we had for
| artillery. The good effect of this was visible
at once. He also comprehonded tho value OF
Hancock's movement and the ground he held,
and sent two brigades TO support him, but that
general had finished the job before they got
up.
"Kearney held the field also, and n light COM
ing on, closed the contest. The morning Of
the 9th came in, bright and beautiful. A re-
newal of the contest was looked for, but the
enemy had withdrawn during the night,
leaving us his deserted works, aud
Williamsburg filed with his dead and
wounded. A sad and sckening sight
was presented to the eye when we en-
tered tho old town. Public buildings aud pri-
vate mansions were turned into hospitals. In
the porticoes of private dwellings the wounded
| lay stretched in groups withoutany ono to care
for them. Others lay writhing in their ago
nies on the lawns. These were the epemy's
wounded who had been removed TO the
rear and left without anyone to care for
| them.
Our loss in killed. wounded and missing
summed up about 2,340. There were various
estimates, but am inclined to believe this
one, which | received from u reliable source,
| nearly correct. The enemy's loss was also
heavy, but probably less than ours, MS he fought
behind intronchments most of the time, and
his mon were well handled"
WHO WON THE BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG?
To he Editors Of The Boa0, Journal!
Ifany wishes to learn anything, OF the subject OF
| who won tho battle of Williamsburg of which so
much is now being written, would suggest the
propriety of reading the official report OF General
Heintzelman on The subject During the early
part of the battle our troops were worsted II not
| completely routed, and when General lIeintzeman
who had not yet arrived ON the field, came up
| to within milo or q mile aud n-half he found
| many OF the men Of our army rushing 10 the rear
| and In fact u route had fairly set in. General
| Hcntzelman, with his usual Keen perception, at
once took in the situation, and, as was his usual
habit, commenced to act ot once, There were
straggers from all arms of the service and all the
| regiments in IL motley crowd, and many musicians
| who had never played together in their lives
| General II. took on his old white hat" and COM
mencod swinging it over his head and shouting
Through his nose, us he always talked)
| General Mcdowell has got Richmond &c
In, boys! Go in, boys Give them HI We
have got Richmondr Turning to the musicians
he shouted You musicians, why don't You strike
| up-strike up Yankee Doodle, il you can't any
thing elsow all this time fuirly yelling through
his nose at the top Of his voice The men turned
| and ran to the front shouting, "McDOwell's got
| Richmondw The men rallied, went in under
| HentZelman, and tho rebels broke for the rear.
| General HcintZeman in his official report snid he
had to resort to questionable means to rally the
men, etc. This Is the man and these are the
methods that saved us this battle, and to this gem
| cral, and not General Hancock, Is tho credit due
was at General sedgwicks headquarters as first
sergeant of the provost guard of the second divis
ion, second corps ut the time, and well remember
| General Scdgwicks laughing at his modest report
Of the rally, | think General HelntZchnan cut
| about as comical figure as ever saw and his
words now ring i'll my ears as he rallied Oh those
musicians and 1t was the only time ever heard
| the band play when u battle was In progress, l.,