Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-12-13

deal of ground, embracing usually
plains, woods, aud hollows; the move
ments on one part of the field were
unseen and unknown to those who
fought on another part; the sudden
changes in the conflict were like the
shiftings of the glasses in the kaleido-
scope; in brief, no one man ever saw
or ever will see the whole of a battle.
1t is for this reason that the exact
truth about almost any conflict of our
war is so difficult to obtain, and can
only be obtained by taking the state
ments of large number of witnesses,
comparing them, and harmonizing them
by keeping in mind the great fact that
each saw from different standpoint,
and that different accounts often refer
to different situations on the same
field. Therefore, the intelligent ac-
count of any soldier as to what he actu-
ally saw in any given battle is valua-
BILE, and ought to be welcomed as she'd
ding additional light on subject that
can never be made too plain.
Sheridan's battle of Winchester,
September 10, 1864, his first great trial
at arms with the Confederacy in the
Shenandoah Valley, and which grand
ly turned the almost unbroken tide
of Union defeat in that section, has
been largely written about by partici-
pants of both sides; yet there is always
room for more testimony. Some years
since [ had most interesting cores
pondence relating to this battle with
Major Ben w. Crowninshield. late of
the Massachusetts Cavalry, who was
on General Sheridan's staff during the
Valley campaign of 1864. His letters
were full Of deeply interesting infor-
nation, and are more valuable now.
when not only Sheridan but both the
division commanders that he mentions
have passed away. The precise situa-
ton that he refers to is the center at
the battle Of Winchester, about one
o'clock p m., when the Second Divis-
ion of the Nineteenth Corps had
charged and been badly repulsed, and
the two brigades of the First Division
present were holding back the enemy
with dreadful loss. Major Crownin-
shield writes without the least preiu-
dice or heat, and simply tells what he
saw i'll those most tempestuous hours ::
"The day after the battle Invent over
the field, and going through the posi-
ton of the Confederate troops who
fought the Nineteenth Corps, 1 fol-
lowed the line of their fire into the
position OF that corps, across the open
ground, and came to the point of woods
and the fence. Probably the Confed-
crates carried off many of their dead
during the long ]ull before the cavalry
and the Eighth Corps came ND. At
any rate, as I recollect it, our dead
greatly outnumbered theirs. Those of
the bodies that had come within their
lines as they advanced were more or
less stripped of clothes; all We're dis
colored and bloated by exposure to the
hot sun
cat the point of woods and along the
fence the number of dead was very
great, and there were many bodies
burned by the fire at the fence.* The
Second Division must have had a hastv
repulse, and the rough treatment Of
your regiment was quite natural in
stemming the tide of victorious Con-
federate troops almost alone.
General Sheridan had most accu-
rate map made of the battlefield, which
shows how the Nineteenth Corps was
entiladed by @ fire on the front by in
fantry and artillery, and on both TANKS
by artillery.
"Iwas with Sheridan when, just after
the repulse Of the Second Division, he
visited Dwights headquarters in the
woods, not far in rear of your posi-
tion.f He stayed there quite little
time. All the while cannon-balls We're
coming in pretty thick, and I, for one,
was glad when he moved on.
"Ihere is no doubt Growers (Second
Division was pretty badly shaken up,
and whole regiments-certainly their
colors-went nearly back to Opequan
Greek. l know that General Sheridan
and I had more than we could do to
rally an immense mob of soldiers run
ming to the rear of the barn where
Sheridan was when the fight began. 1t
was on the north OF the wood where
the barn was. and the General and +
galloped across to the other side to