The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-03-30

very crest and is among the guns Neither
storms of bullets nor walls of bayonets hat
checked it, 1t was only when the living
wave had reached the crest and actually cap
tured some of the guns that the surprised
| Federals rallied The recklessness-the cold
blooded abandon of that rush had so amazeo
the defense that many men stood without mr.
ing shot.
THE REPULSE.
Cheers OF victory and shouts of defiance
roe above the trees and hoated down to
! Longstreets men i'll reserve, but the SOUND
died away in a wall The Federal arm was
| uplift.d-it swept through the air and almost
! in a moment that gray division was hurled
back to its starting point-shattered-lm
blood stained-and a fifth of its number ~
ing dead behind it. 1t was one OF the most
gallant dashes of any war-it was arepulse SO
bloody that men shuddered at the sight. Ii
was the men under Gregg who led that assault
it was the men under Morel and Sykes who
hurled them back.
REVENGE.
The repulse was not enough. AS the Con-
federates retired they were followed by the
Federals with rush which nothing could
'Nheck for nearly half mile. Back. back,
/ MckI and for a, timeit looked as if Hill would
Tbe annihilated. Itseemed beyond human power
to reorganize those shattered regiments, but it
was accomplished, and Hill stood up and took
his pounding like the brave man and stubborn
fighter.
At Groveton, Pope hurled Kearney at Jack
son to pierce his armor. Kearney could fall
back and endanger nothing. Hill had hurled
himself at the center of the Federal position
and been repulsed. II driven too far Long
street would be taken in f1ank-Jackson's adj
vance checked. Thus it was that when the
great wave of blue had rolled over swamps
and thickets, and woods and fields until its
impetus was weakened, it suddenly found Hill
again in battle-llne with feet firmly planted.
For an hour the firing was terrific and MUIR
derous but Hill would not bulge foot. By
twos-by fives-by dozens his men went down
where they stood. but those unhurt held their
lines against every assault.
LoNGsTREET's ATTACK.
The Confed rate army was waiting for the
arrival of Jackson. who had been recalled
from move on the Federal flank. He was
coming, but his advance found q foe at every
step. Hill would be wiped out IN another
hour unless relieved Longsreet was ready
To relieve him, not with fresh troops, but by
making an attack on the Federal position
higher up-squarelv against Morell's division.
He swept forward like a mighty wind, COM
,g so suddenly against the Federal position
hat the scene of Hills assault was reenacted.
At the first rush Anderson's and Picketts
brigades were carried over the lines of blue
and right among the smoking cannon. For
ten minutes that rocky crest was a scene of
dreadful carnage. Men used the bayonet-
they clinchcd with bare hands-gunners WELD
ed their ADMINISTRATION were discharged
with the foe touching the muzzles The
mighty wind had struck stone wall. The
wall stood firm. Ten minutes of that awful
lighting was enough for the Coniederates, and
II strong volley lifted them off their feet and
hurled them back.
C'slc DhbaDc VI WYNN.
Warrens troops faced to the northwest its
LETT flank near the road running down across
Powhite Creek to Gaines Mill, and connecting
with Gr.ffins right. A part of Longstreet's
men advanced on this highway as the fight
opened, but never man lived to reach it. A
Federal battery, with infantry supports lying
in Che dry roadside bitches, checked every
dash 1t might well have been said OF the
regiments pushed at this battery that every
man had lost all Consciousness of fear As
they swung out of telt of forest they dressed
their lines in the face of grape, canister and
bullets, which numbered the ground with dead
before man had advanced. When the order
came they rushed forward with heads down.
us if the shower of death was a snow storm
Over the open ground-across the bit of marsh
tore of legs and arms--it left headless bodies
it mangled human beings beyond recog-
nition-it blotted bodies off the face OF the
earth, leaving only horrible smirch of bloody
atoms 10 tell that they had been there. Again
and again these charges were MADE, but they
OHiy W Vic awful SlSulS Ill tuG open
field over which the Federal torrent of death
swept unchecked. For an hour Longstreel
Numbered at Morell and Hill az Sykes, and
then all of IL sudden there came
DREAD SILENCE
AS if the voice of some man rising above
the crash of $4,000 muskets and the roar of
lilly cannon had commanded it, there Was al
most absolute silence Ii Was time for the
bravest to trembe. Nothing is so grim in war
a sudden silence falling upon field of bat
tie. Death is gathering lis bloody robes clear
Of the ground TO strike new blow. Men re-
nil their Cal, ridg e-boxes-iines are moved-the
artillery wheeled about-blood-s eyes peer
into the woods and over the fields. What
meant that silence there?
JACKSON + HERE!
A shout rose on Hills left and ran along the
lines to Longsreet right. jackson had come
up from Old Cold Harbor d. H. Hill on his
left Ewell on his right Each line was now
almost a halt-circle, but jackson had scarcely
got into position Oh the left before Slocum
came up to strengthen the Federal right. Mid
afternoon had passed. The thick spots of for
est began to cast dark shadows. The whole
Confederate army was up-McClelan could
not give Porter another man. If he could
not hold his ground with what he had, good
by to the entire Federal position before Rich
mond which had been reached at such a cost
Of blood and treasure. The cheers for Jack
son subsidized and then the woods were so still
that men looked at each other Ill wonder.
JACKsoN's ADVANCE.
From the Gaines Mill road clear around to
old Cold Harbor wave suddenly rises up and
sweeps forward. The Federas hear it as it
STARTS 1t is a roar in which the voices of men
the tramp OF teet--the rumble of wheels and
the gallop of horses are combined Jacksons
whole corps. with the exception of the Stone
wall Brigade, is advancing. The roar increases
the tramp comes nearer, and almost at the
same instant 10000 streams of fire leap for.
ward and 10000 muskets crash into the same
echo. Hoods Texans rush forward like a
thunderbolt, but they are checked by fire, so
rapid and destructive, that men fall flat to es-
cape it. Hill seeks to overlap Buchanan's
right flank, but swamp blocks his path, and
in ten minutes he is not even able to hold his
ground. Hood, too, is being pressed slowly
back. when up thunders score of Con federate