The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-11-03
FIGHTING THEM OVER,
What Orr Veterans Have to Say About
Their Old Campaigns
THE SECOND CORPS.
a Comrade Tells of Some of the fictorit
They Mon After Hancock Left Them.

- NEVER have written anything for THE
NATIONAL TRIBUNE, as l WAS always sat-
isfed with my own record rs soldier,
and That of my regiment. brigade, dlvis-
ion. and corps, as history and the war records
placed them. Having been soldier OF the
Second Corps in itself is enough record for any
man. and | think the old comrades have per-
feet right TO refer by letter or circular to their
achievements NV own regiment won dlstlnc-
fion by being the SD in Col. Foxs lndlsputabie
record OF he 800 fighting regiments of the Union
srmy. Now comes THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE
and gives il greater prominence by stating that
its losses were greater than any Infantry regi-
ment engaged in the close aud ferrlnc Dghtlhg
of 20 hours at Spottsylvania.
The old boys of the 14Sth Pa. are evidently
not much on the write, but they are good read
ers and grand listeners. When / came West IN
1865 caiae crippled and fresh from the heos
of Virginia. i had TO listen. To have be-
longed Ia the Army of the Potomac was con-
Eidered to be unfortunate and concluded
that there had been no fighting in Virginia
that it WAS simply deluson on my part and
therefore / serenely bowed in silence TO the
tales of the wholesale slaughter of my Western
relatives aud friends. and was thankful that
my regiment was assigned to the army ON the
Rappahsnnck. But, with all this silence on
my part for p years. now comes }. w. Hull OF
Alexandria County, Va, member OF the Ia
NOUS Confederate " Stonewall Brigade" with
No. - kick against the victories won and the
triumphs gained by that grand military organ
ization the Second Corps, whose long line OF
victories emblszoDs the pages of history from
Pennsy lvauia to Appomattox in Virginia /;
whose colors were famed by the breeze OF
every prominent battlefield in Virginia from
1852 TO 1865.
Mr. Hull thinks the invitation grandlo-
euent and winds up his bugle pop by saying ::
Eft is a well-known fact the Second Corps, sf-
FER Hancock left it, got knocked out every
time" That man ought TO hang his ignorance
and his gall up as cholera preventive along
the Atlantic coast; 1t would disinfect the Ham,
burger scare the germs out of him, and start
him at once for Alexandria County, Va
he winds his fiigree article up by asking
some survivor of the Second CORPS to show
him whore they ever licked the rebels" 1 do
not know exactly what he considers being
licked. | thought they were licked quite Of
ben by the Second Corps; as they ran away,
leaving heir coiors, cannon, and lost OF pris-
oners IN the hands of the men of the Second
Corps.
They certainly did not drive the Second
Corps out of the works at Charlottesville
Honors were easy; they got as good as they
sent. Mr.. Hull wants victories by the Second
Corps. We cite him TO Gettysburg as one in
stance. 1t may not appear to him as a victory,
but to those men who were proud to wear the
ace of clubs Tor the trefoil) their caps, it had
all the symptoms of being victory The men
of the Second Corps certainly did not capture
1850 prisoners and q battlefags in a disaster;
they must have been crowding the rebel army
pretty close-in fact, they must have put their
bayonefs against the bread baskets of the Con-
federate soldiery to CORRAL $500 of them and
q battiefags History gives the corps the
credit OF this, and says it was victory.
Again, the Second Corps, under the command
of the intrepid Warren, on the 14th of October,
1863 out!ouSht and outgeueraled both Ewell's
and Hills Corps. Giving Ewell a rib-roaster
at Autumn, it marched rapidly to Bristoe Sta
ton, where Hills Corps had occupied its line
of retreat, and which, although in line of bat
tie, he did not even hesitate to attack, although
greatly outnumbered. 1t was a small battle
but q great victory, the Second Corps adding to
its trophies 45e prisoners, two battlefags and
i've pieces of artillery.
The driving of Hills Corps through the
thickets of the Wilderness for mile and half
or the 9Th of May, 1864, and holding both
Longsireei's and Hills Corps from doubling up
the LETT OF the army, may not be considered
victory, but it kept Lee from repeating Chan
eellorsyile; and on the 9TH he was glad to hide
his army behind breastworks. We will add
here that the arrival of Longstreet on the field
just in the nick of time prevented the Second
Corps from achieving the greatest victory dur
ing its or IAN iZstion.
1t was on the right at Spottsylvania on the
10th of May, 1864, that the corps lost its first
gun. il was abandoned in the woods because
Of runaway horses. who wedged ii between
trees. where it could not be extricated. The
writer stood close beside it; it was silent, but,
oh hos j wished it could speak. Before leav-
ing fred, ut rest. of the left wheel at the
rebel color bearer just opposite. This was not
q victory, Mr.. Hull, neither was it defeat as
our brigade had imperative orders to withdraw,
and which had to be repeated several times be-
fore the men fell back
Two days later the Second Corps scored an
other triumph. refer, Mr.. Hull, to the records
of the battle of Spottsylgania Courthouse and
the morning that Hancock sent his famous dis
patch: have cleaned out Early and am now
going into Ewell both commanders of rebel
infantry corps. The net proceeds of this 20
hours battle of the Second Corps at the now
famous angie is, according TO history, 1900
prisoners. The enemy's fortified line, an album
dance OF dead Confederates, 20 cannon, and 30
rebel battlenags This may not be much of
victory ia the eyes of Mr.. Hull but to the rank
and hle oi the Second Corps il seemed and was
q great success. To the Confederates IL gave
them 10 understand that although they might
build earshworks to the skies, the Yankee sol
der was al any time Liable 10 climb over them
and bayonet the strongest before break fast
II Seems strange that men who like Mr. Hull,
claim TO be conversant with war history should
have the audacity 10 assert that the Second
Corps wss constantly knocked out after Han
coSk--sGPr11re.
The facts areNand every soldier of the Second
Corps viii bear nae out in il. well as official
records and history that the Second Corps,
under Gen. Humphreys in the final campaign
OF 1865 did net lose q single battle. Beginning
with the 3ist of March the First Division,
under the lead of that prince of soldiers Gen.
Miles attacked the enemy along the White Oak
Road while reeling in victory over forcing the
Fifth Corps back. Miles led his division in
and drove the Confederate line into their
works. capturing many prisoners
The assault on the Crow House redoubts by
the Second Corps on the I'd Of April capturing
the works with all the cannon therein, and
nearly the entire garrison, gave the rebel
cbie.gain 10 understand another victory had
been won. The retreat OF Pickett from Five
Forks and the rebel divisions ofAuderson and
Beth from the Confederate right being forced
TO fight by Gen. Niles's command 1.-THE First
Division AZ Sutherland Station. April 2, would
not. according to the vision of Mr.. Hull, be a
Second Corps victory; nevertheless the rebel
line Vac carried by the men wearing the red
trefOil. The brigade to which the writer be-
longed commanded by Gen. Ramsey, alone
captured COO prisoners two pieces of artillery,
and Private Philips, Of my own company, a
bstfleaag., From Sutherland Station to Apo
rnattox il was one continuous victory. The
morning fight with Gordons Confederate Corps
OF the 9th of April is still vivid in my boyhood
memory. Its last stand. nesr Parkinson's Mil,
on Sailors Creek, where a sharp short contest
gave the victorious and weary soldiers of the