River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-04-10

guns. massed ON the heights of Falmouth
while they rained shot and shell into the
town of Fredericksburg and on to the
hills beyond. thought that cannon
ade was terrible. But it was boys play
compared with the one we were
now witnessing. And yet. strange, and
improbable as the statement may seem,
above all the roar of conflict we could
hear the rebel yell of that reckless
charging column. 1t was shrill and
continuous, like the whistIi1g of the
wind in a storm. Finally the fire of
rebel artillery slackened little, as
there was danger now of their killing
their own men, but the battle was be-
coming more furious, for the battle of
musketry had begun, and the chatter of
small arms was continuous. The roar
of the guns ON Cemetery hill and from
every available point in the Union line
continued with increasing fury but still,
above it all, the rebel yell Would it
never cease? The rebels back of us and
from every elevated point far and near
were Watching their forlorn hope, and
officers of high and low degree gaZed
anxiously into that vortex of carnage.
Occasionally they would point in this
direction or that, and staff officers would
gallop away to distant parts of the field
as though preparations were being made
for a general advance. Our anxiety IN
creased every moment, but we were
still hopeful. As long as there was no
abatement in that terrible musketry fire
we knew our boys were standing their
ground. We dared not think of the
thousands of brave fellows who were
going down every moment.
But the climax came at last That
piercing veil had died away, and moth
ing could now be heard but the din and
roar of battle This continued for some
time, and then, as the sun is wont to
burst through the clouds and scatter
the mists and darkness, only more sud
denly, came the full, round, hearty hur-
rahs of our comrades. We needed no
interpreter to tell us the meaning of
those cheers. They were louder, even,
than had been the rebel veil, and we
answered them with will from our
position inside the rebel lines. Rebel
officers standing about the building tried
to stop us, but we only screamed the
louder, for we were beside ourselves
with JOY. Wounds and hunger
were forgotten, and tears
flowed down our grimy
faces. The enthusiasm of Appomattox
did not exceed ours. We cheered again
and again. A few of my companions,
in that extreme moment, 4pped the
slender cord that held them to earth,
and their spirits took flight to world
where wars never come. This was all
that marred the scene-all that lessened
our Joy.
"Ah, here they GOMEZ" we all cried
at once. Yes, sure enough, they were
coming But they were not coming
back in the order in which they adj
vanced. Far from it. They were
pouring back to the shelter of their
guns IN the widest disorder-swarm-
ing over every foot of ground III defeat
and confusion-broken and completely
demoralized. No order and no forma
ton anywhere. 1t was a terrible rout
"a wild stampede for safety. The de-
scendents of the cavaliers had
dashed themselves against
Plymouth Rock and been hurled back.
For some time wounded men had been
streaming in from the scene of the en-
counter in large numbers, and for
hours till far into the night, the mourn
full procession kept moving on. It was
sickening sight. and one L can never
forget.
1t soon became silent again. Despair
rested on the face of every rebel we
could see. Chaos ruled everywhere.
The enemy had staked their all on the
throwing of the dice and had lost. We
watched long time for the advance of
our comrades, that the work of over
throwing the foe might be completed,
butt came not. We have since learned
why Meade was too timid. A Phil
Kearney at the head of division would
have swept the rebel army out of exis-
tence Phil Sheridan in Meade's place
would have done it. The old sixth corps
was there ready for the work. The
war might have been virtually ended
then and there, for with Lee destroyed
the Mississippi open, Vicksburg and
Port Hudson in our hands, little would
have remained to be done.