Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-07-02
THE BATrLE or WINCHESTER.


GFrom Carpenters History of the Eighth Regiment
VI. Vos.l
As the Eighth Vermont Regiment lay in
camp at Berryville, Va, on Sunday Sept. 10,
1864, a careful observer might have noted an
unusual air of expectancy in their faces and
demeanor. The men, many of them, were
gathered in groups, engaged in grave and
earnest conversation. Some were writing
letters to parents, brothers, sisters, wives and
sweethearts. Others did those last things
which thoughtful men are apt to do when OPP
pressed with presentiment Of coming evil.
Tho camp was remarkably quiet, and every
face wore a serious aspect.
This uuwonted gravity was evidently some
thing apart from any feeling that the sanctity
of the day would be likely to impose, and to
a civilian the cause of it would have seemed
wholly iuadt quate. No startling orders had
been issued nor had the apparent relations
to the enemy materially changed General
Grant was in consultation-that was all but
to the experienced soldier the presence of the
com mandtr in chief was a grim and terrible
omen. For more than month we had been
apparently playing at war When the enemy
reiterated, we advanced when he advanced
in (, rec we fell back to Halltown aud en-.
ireuched for miles, as il we expected to with
stand a siege but the moment the enemy
withdrew a part Of his force in our front, we
advanced pgtir. Some of our new recruits
thought it would be ever thus, and the wish
may have been father TO the thought But
the Vermont soldiers were thinking mon, and
those who had seen long service knew the
time must be near at hand when the magnih
cent army under General Philip II. Sheridan
must strike mastery blow for the Union.
Hence there were many grave faces in the
camp of the Eighth Regiment that bright
Sunday morning. Col Thomas desiring
some religious service in the absence of
chaplain called upon Qnartermaster Dewey
who read an appropriate service from the
Prayer-book. We believed, we hoped, we
feared the time had come
No better troops ever faced cannon than
ours. Under the leadership of our gallant
CD. Thomas, the bravest man l ever saw, we
had never flinched. II we bad ever felt timid
or desired to shirk danger the impulse was
repressed for no man could faltAr under the
calm eve Of Col Thomas. We had been so
proud of his leadership, and Of Gen Welt
zel's cordial approval of our conduct, that
| believe the fear of death was a = condary
consideration. No man, unless he is fool
or a brute, goes into battle without very grave
feelings expressing him, and the best soldier
is sometimes terribly frightened but the
brave man Is he who 40 holds his fears in sub
! lection ~ to be able to say, aud prove his
words, Death before dishonor'
History tells us that on this Sunday, after
a long interview with Sheridan, in winch he
found him fully prepared to take the aggres
zive and only waiting the order to attack tho
enemy, Gen. Grant gave him the order IN
two words Go in" Late in the afternoon
we received command to be ready to move in
| light marching order at two O'Clock Monday
morning, equipped with two days cooked ra
| tons aud a hundred rounds OF cartridges to
each man.
At the appointed time the march WAS be-
| gun under cover of the darkness, and as We
filed out Of camp the column turned toward
Winchester. While hating for a little rest
| Just after day break, We first heard that sound
| which believe strikes a chill through the
bravest man that lives, and causes him to feel
| that his heart is sinking down, down, till ii
seems to drop into his boots. | mean the
dull rustliug of air which is hardly more than
Il vibration but which to the experienced lis
tener betokens artillery firing at u distance
| When one expects soon to join in the exeT-
cises, that signal is not inspiriting. A We
advanced, the sound grew more distinct and
ominous. Pressing forward at a rapid march
we entered a deep, wooded gorge, and while
| there got the order to quickstep and then to
double quick, while the noise of fierce strife
beyond and out of the woods gave Il fearful
meaning to the haste with which We were
urged forward. In this d, file was established
a hospital, and as the regiment passed We saw
the surgeons taking out and examining the
| bright, keen knives and on a table was a
victim undergoing amputation of the leg,
while other nIangltd men, and pools of blood,
showed only too plainly what WAS going on at
the front | must confess to Feeling pale
at that sickening sight, and | distinctly saw
the men turn a shade whittier a. they hurried
on. | believe it was mistake, locating the
hospital where the men must these sights
be fore going into action.
And now let me sketch briefly the plan OF
battle, and the events that had already trans
PRED The raIiue through which we were
| passing led to steep and thickly wood ed
crest, beyond which lay an irregular, rolling
valley, on the further side of which was the
enemy's stronghold, formed by heavy belt
of woods in the centre, which was amply for
tilted, and series of bluffs or heights extend
ing to right aud left, and at one point by a
long ledge Of rock all forming complete
natural protection for troops. Iu the back
ground rose the heights of Winchester. Ear
ly's army lay diagonally across the mouth of
the ravine, through which our army must
pass, his left being held nearer the gorge than
his right with the evident purpose, as devel-
oped by his actions, to let part of our army
through, and then, by throwing his whole
weight upon it, to crush it before the remain.
der could be made available. He came fear
fully near success.
Sheridan's plan of. attack, as carried out,
was to hold this gorge At all hazard fight the
enemy's centre sharply so rs TO draw from his
eft, and then with the Eighth Corps and the
cavalry crush his left. Ia obedience to this
plan Growers second division of the Nine
teenth Corps (our corps) aud Ricketts, dvi
sion of the Sixth Corps had been pushed for
ward over the steep hills and through the
thick woods beyond which was a rolling val
| ~. - -. A.. l..
strength Struggling through this thick for
est, in face of heavy artillery fire, the lines
emerged under a fierce fire of musketry. But
with great impetuosty they swept across the
valley, and, striking the enemy heavily neal
his centre, forced him back some 500 yards
and for the time seemed likely to end tn,
battle th, n aud there.
But E4rly's strongest troops were massed a
that point and, at the moment when the vic
tory seemed almost won, large body of the
enemy suddenly appeared and attacked ou
two divisions with great fury aud, to add tC
their discontinue, not only was the attach
made in front, but their advanced position
exposed them to a heavy enhlading fire FROM
both TANKS of the enemy. They fought mos
stubboruly, as the dead and wounded on botl
sides testified but tn, ir position WAS simply
untenable, and they were forced back toward
the gorge. From retreat their repulse sooI
became almost rOut ana IL Was only by III
most desperate ana gallant eIertions of gene
raj, staff and field officers that organization
were held together at all, and in some in
stances even these efforts failed for the tim
being.
1t was just at this junctuIe that, after be
ing held IN reserve for few minutes, we wer
moved to the right and FORMED in line OF bat
tie on the slope of the thick wooded crest
Ours was he second brigade in the first divi
sion, and in military experience have neve
seen a situation more appalling than was pre-
scented at the time our reserve was called int
action. The enemy WAS pressing heavily will
both artillery and infantry, and the groun'
was strewn with the dead and dying, for boil
forces had been driven over il. Commander
were making heroic, but for the most par
vain efforts to stem the tide, which seemed l.
be surely setting against us. Amid this con
fusion and disaster, our division moved for
ward under cover of the trees. 1t was
thick wood, but the shot and shell screamed
fearfully yet our line advanced handsomely
A shell bursting near our oolOrs killed tw
men and wounded several others, aud jus
then the whole regimental line seemed to re
coil FROM the terrible IRE to which it was eX
posed, but recovered in moment under Col