The National tribune., 1884-01-24
AT WILLIAMSBURG.
Some Interesting RccollectiOns from
Survivors of that Battle.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRrnUSE:

| To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
/ have been much interested in General
Howard's account of the battle Of Williams
/ burg, especially that part in which Generals
| Smith and Hancock were participants, and in
no other account has it been portrayed as saw
| it. was also personally interested in the ac-
/ count of Generals Sumner and Smith in those
! dark woods on the previous evening, where I
happened to run upon them as they were light
/ ing matches and trying to read some orders or
! lind out where they were. had been sent for
/ water with about half of company Cs canteens
when we first halted near the hotel or half
/ way house, as it was called, but, before I got
/ back, the regiment cd Vernontl had gone for
ward, and it was long after dark when at last
| ! found them in the woods, as before men
| TONED. But what was my surprise to find that
| my musket, which L left when [ went for
water, had been given to Captain Corbin's
| cook, and where he was then no one knew.
well, says T. "as for my staying here to-
night without my gun, I'm not going to do it,
and off | started but after wandering about
some time | gave it up, and finally settled
down for the night in an clubhouse near the
hotel. The next morning, after travelling all
over the plantation, finally found my gun
and rejoined my regiment, wet and nearly
tired out.
If it would not take TOO much of vorr yalu-
able space, / would like to tell how the old
Vermont brigade tramped around that day
through the rain and mud how we were sent TO
support Hancock, then ordered back again by
well, think, Franklin, but am not sure:
then how, after retreating a mile, a messenger
came post-haste on horse and cried ont " For
Gods sake, hurry back and help Hancock ~
and right-about-facew we ditand double-ouicked
But the ideal to doube-quiekp through that
slippery mudl and / have distinct recolIec-
ton that and several others were soon obliged
to fall out, completely exhausted. General
Smith soon came along and said, +" Well, boys
howS this?" l told him, and he said he would
like to know who it was that ordered us back,
and then added, " You had better try and get
up there If you can, for you may be needed
yet; and we moved on, but with great diff
Guilty. Not long after we met the prisoners
who had been taken, for by this time the fight
all along the line was at an end. Not another
gun was heard after Hancock gallant charge
| shall never forget that night, for, cold and
wet, nearly all our regiment had TO stand on
picket, and that, too, without any fire to dry
or warm us.
The sights on that battlefield the next morn
ing were terrible to behold. 1t was the first
had witnessed OF course, obtained quite
number of mementoes to keep in remembrance
of that time and place. which / still keep, with
many others from different battlefelds.
T. 2. BAILEY,
HUMBOLDT, IA. Co. G, Sd Vermont.
HooKER's DIVISION AT WILLIAMSBURG.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
I was somewhat surprised at the account
of the battle of Williamsburg by General
Oliver 0. Howard. 1t is very evident that
he did not have much to do with that
little affair, but he knows more about the
most brilliant skirmish of General Hancock's
farther to the right. / would like to ask Gen
eral Howard why was it that our noble diYis-
InYl mt re-a hot l.
tell me that? Why did brave Gen Hooker
fight all that long rainy day, from a. m until
p ~, without one regiment TO helphim /? Can
he tell me this: When the whole Union army
lay only a few miles in the rear, whyswas it
that the brave Gen. Kearney, with his noble
division, pushed through, the whole army as
they lay on both sides of the Yorktown road and
could hardly get through, they blocked the road
so. viii tell you the reason he got through.
Because he was a fighter, and Gen Kearney
would always help brother officer when he
ashard pressed, especially Gen. Hooker even if
the generals whom Gen. Howard called peers of
Gen. Hooker would not would like to tell Gen |
Howard just what our corps thought of that
business. They thought it was a shameful neg
ecton the part of those peers, and of Gen. Sum-
ner in particular. 1t was the candid opinion
OF all that heought to have been dismissed from
the service in disgrace. That is just how we
looked at it. Oh, Gen. Howard, you have not
OF those brave boys who helped to fight that
unequal battle are still among the living.
God knows, no division in the army did
more hard work than the division that wore
the white diamond.
l will let Gen. Howard read little history
from the pen Of an able writer, who is now |
member of the present Congress of the United !
States, and then tell me if he did not think |
something else was done well ON that day The |
loss OF Rockers division on this eyer-memorable |
day amounted to 335 killed, 500 wounded and |
80 mIssing-an aggregate of 1575. Hancock, |
IN his little affair upon the right, which many
people in the regions where his regiments be- |
long or were raised still persist in believing to
be the battle OF Williamsburg lost but thirty |
one men-a loss not equal TO that of some COM
panies in Hooker's division. Authentic history |
will give the credit of the victory TO the proper
persons. FRANK c. WAsLEY,
LOWELL, MASS Capt, I'd n. III. Vols.
General Howard, to whom we referred this |
letter, writes US that he had "no intention to I
depreeiate the grand services of General |
Hooker or his command at williamsburg as t
indeed a careful reading of his narrative must /
satisfy any unprejudiced person, and adds that |
he fHooker) obeyed his orders and put In his |
division in his usual gallant style. The rea-
sons he did not get re-enforcements I sifted as
we'll as | could, leaving out mere suspicious |
General Sumner might have been mistaken in /
criminal and deserved extreme punishment is
not true, as every man who ever served with t
him must know. When I commended Han
cocks movement and called it the only sensible
thing to do, meant that, in my Judgment, a
commanding oficer-McClellan or Sumner or
Heintzelman--should have masked the front of
that strong place and turned the flank. 1t
was just that which Sumner ordered at last.
and Hancock made the move. He accom-
plished much with very small loss of life If
ever seem to cast diseredit ON such troops as
those who followed the gallant Hooker or the
eager Kearney, desire to be oyerhauled.
Such was not my intent Our correspondents
are all too much inclined to fancy a slight is
intended, when none is meant by writers who
fail to lay as great stress upon the services of
the formers old divisions, brigades and regi-
ments as they think those services deserve.
Go slowly, comrades-ED]
THE 93D PA. VOLS. AT WILLIAMSBURG.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
am subscriber to and reader of THE
NATIONAL TRIBUNE, and am very much in
terested in the correspondence of comrades of
various regimentS-eSDecaly in General O O