The Republican journal., 1882-02-23

making another charge we all cried, as we
heard the fearful onset, and with compressed
Inns we waited for further developments. But
the conflict seemed to be receding from us. III
must have been our boys who made the charge
Yes. General Wards brigade had been masseh
on our extreme right, and had made this MD
night charge to regain the ground lost by How
ard in the afternoon. The rebels were surprls-
ed and unable to resist the assault and fell back'
Our men rushed on, and regained the line OF
works from which the 18th corps had Deeh
driven. Sunday morning came. A most beau-
tiful dav, designed for the worship of God, but
destined to be a day of bloodshed and DEATH III
had been busy night with our boys. New lines
of defence had been constructed and the OLD
ones made stronger. Reynolds was on our
right Socum in the center, and Sickels ON the
left. The battle was opened about sunrise py
the rebels advancing from the place of conceal
ment where they had massed their forces, upon
the divisions of Sickels and the divisions OF
Berry. The flames of war soon spread along
the line for about mile. Stonewall jackson,
who was in himself host, led in person the as
saulting column, and in most reckless manner
1nt mower Oh llt FNOulutlH 1hlaitiN SSN
wilh their beloved commander. In close col
umns they plunged from the woods upon the
divisions of Berry, Birney, Williams, and
Whipple No boodier struggle ever ragged on
the American continent than where Sickels on
that Sabbath morning stayed the tide OF the
rebel advance His artillery hurled shells, shot,
grape and canister through the solid columns OF
the enemv Line after linz went down, but
only to be replaced by new lines ever appearing
from the pine forest beyond. Slowly SlckelS
was pressed back his lines were in good ORDER
and every inch of the ground was disputed
They reached stone wall and here desper-
ate stand was made. Gen. Berry was mortally
wounded The situation rendered our men
desperate, and the rebels were repulsed; but
once more they charged, pulling their mats
down low over their eyes, and With that well
known peculiar Souther. yell they came. The
ground is rakcd by our artillery and Is soon
covered with their dead. For four hours the
rebels breasted that iron storm, i'll their en-
deavor to push our men back to the river. At
eleven o'clock we could tell by the firing that
our men were slowly yielding ground. They
had fallen back to charlottesville, and here
the battle broke ont afresh. The Old brick
house. which 50 many of the survivors will re-
member, was now filled with the woGn'ied.
Shells went tearing through the rooms, sending
| death and terror among the bleeding victims or
| war. Joe Hooker. unmoved by danger and
threatening Disaster stood on the Yeranda right
in the track of death, and gave his orders. \
! shell struck Il post ut his side, and so terrific
was the conclusion that the commanding Cen
eral of the army was thrown TO the earth. An
other shell at the same moment burst in one of
the rooms and in ia few moments the house was
| in flames. The hour of noon was passed and
the rebels made another desperate endeaVor 10
| hurl our forces back into the river; but our
men were so we'll posted and our artillery was
in such an excellent position that they We're
pushed back in defeat.
While the battle had been raging at Chancel-
lorSvillr, Sed@wick had charged and carried the
heights at Fredericksburg; but for some reason
he did not press his attack upon Lees rear, as
Hooker had designed. and at Il favorable mo-
mrnt, Lee turned large portion of his force
upon Srdgwick and hauled him back with great
| loss upon the river, which he gladly recrossed
and thus made his escape. Our hearts grew
heavy and sad. Monday passed. There was
heavy skirmi>hing but no general engagement.
| Tuesday ii was evident that our men We're pre-
| pairing to rrcrO>S the river. \ cold rain storm
came on. and through the darkness and storm
our brave men, discouraged, defeated and de-
moralizcd. came back across the river and re-
| turned to their old camps. Never since the
first battle of Bull Run was the old army of the
| Potomac demorIlzed rs then. We had expect
ed 50 much from the battle and it had ended so
ngloriouSy We had one thing to encourage
Us. StoneWail jackson would never lead his
men in another assault upon our lines. This
brilliant and daring rebel chicftan was among
the Slain In his death we felt much As the
French people did after their novel defeat at
Trafalgar. They could build another fleet of
vessels but the English could not produce
another Nelson. So we could raise another
army, but the CoufcdcratcS could not have an
other Jackson.
The prime cause of our defeat at Nhancrllor,-
willie has always been disputed point Some
have attributed it To Howard. some to SrdgWck
and others to Hooker. It was perhaps neither
of these alone, or al! Of them combined, that
caused our disaster. 1t was the same old fatal
method of fighting our men in detail against the
whole rebel army-tha method used at Antic-
tam and Fredericksburg. Wherever our boys
fought they We're outnumbrrrd, and we had
thousands of troops who were not engaged and
scores of batteries that never tired a she'll Gen.
Lee with rare good genrralship ma>Sed his
troops and whipped our men As they fought III
single divisions. and thus turned what threat
cnrd to be serious rebel defeat into Confcd-
crate victory. 1t was fortunate thing for Us
that the heavy rains prevented General L."
from following up our retreat. for in our DO
moraIizcd condition we could have made but Il
feeble resistance to his advance. We had lost
our courage by this fearful reverse; but the
campaign that followed proved that the germs
of patriotic endurance still existed in the
hearts of the old army of the Potomac.
AN OLD PKIN ATE.