National Republican., 1885-03-07

tho regiments OF the brigade now being |
pretty we'll aligned, until we were brought |
to a halt by large tract of huge fallen !
pines, felled holter-skelter in front of one
of the confederate redoubts. At this |
uncturo we we're ordered 10 replenish
our cartridge boxes from tho extra pack
ages which wo carried rolled up In our
blankets While we were doing so
noticed that Maj. Williams citizen Of
Fairfax county, some 20 years old, had fol-
lowed us into the fight armed with an old
squirrel rife. He had two sons In the
18th, and they wero begging him to stay
In the rear swearing that they wouldn't
go foot further IL he did not 60 back,
but the old gentleman was obstinate and
IL was not until tho colonel ordered his
withdrawal that he went back to serve on
the ambulance corps.
The brigade was now ordered forward
into the fallen timber.
II WAS ROUGH CLIMBING,
aud IL was impossible TO keep an align
ment Of the ranks. Wo had scarcely PEN
etratod the obstruction more than hun
dred yards when suddenly flag was up
reared seemingly not more than twonty
yards in front OF the Seventeenth, and q
regiment popped up like Jack-in-tho-
box and levelod their rifles at us, but they
were just second or two too late In pulling
the trigger, for we squstted like rabbits
in the bunch grass, and the volley swept
over us almost harmlessly, or as Po-
Kicker, Of the Fairfax rifles, remarked
afterward, "When their bullets got thar,
wo warn't thar" Then began tho cloost
and most prolonged fight that occurred,
as far as l have heard, during tho war. II
was every man on his own hook, except
when the officers, who also squattod
among the timber, called out for
more rapid firing whenever IL slsckened.
In some places the lines were not more
than ten yards apart but tho rain aud
smoke combined prevented the opposing
.hn. Y. SI.. soos oavn o."oI oVou W. ,. Iuas
.,T 20 eAIop. ss Suah n.iun wnun
"a S.t a.S sun Ius,s Iinap
snhios ..oni5 49, M on Soo, LII Sia.t;, 90 eU p,S
o,har ,tro,,s.,nn.o. ia hpnn S''H o"N0'
''"o, e'iounosan'eS, n"u no,e
AN ELEMENT OF THE buplckous'
Whenever man on either side thought
he had "pinked" an enemy he would
yell, oh you ID scoundrel. got you
that time" &c. The fight vent on In
this way for two hours or more, and tho
18th lost heavily. Dead and wounded
men were thickly scattered along our
line. Our ammunition was giving out,
and, moreover. the short aud small-bore
Mississippi rifles, with which three OF our
strongest companies were armed, had be-
come so befoulod that bullet could not
DO driven down the boro except by driv-
ing the ramrod against stump, and then
with difficulty. Some of US had fired
sixty rounds, and our boxes were empty.
nhrice we essayed TO charge, although
tneso tnroo COMPANIES hau no oayouets
suu snao wo reoo,lou VIII noaSy @ iosS, s,
torno. =, ''tn W ,h. We ooo ,"a ~ W." ~ ,naa
E;nsa,y,, Co. u;II Iy ,..s no.inod or o,r ~.
r..;a NJ H. III. "ss hnar ~ y, ,,snss.as o,s
u"''o"' 'us no oniS eon' paoA v.o 'A0'0ak0
RIFLE THE DEAD"
Now, we had already used up the am
munition Of tho dead and wounded, and
as l have above stated, even If we had
had ammunition the rifles Of at least 20C
men Of the regiment had been disabled by
fouling. When things began to look
squally for us, as reinforcemonts could b