The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-08-12
Tentins on The Old Camp Ground
Or Co. G. 10th VT. Vols. to the Front.
BIZ Lieut.. T. II. WHITE.
MO. 2 q

side of the Monocacy river The,
were well posted along the river from
the Baltimore pike to and beyond tn,
Washington pike. They were twent!
thousand strong The Union troop
numbered less than five thousand. Thu
enemy's forces were veterans of many
battles Nearly one half of the litIl'
Union army was made up of, hundred
day men who had never been in battle
The enemy had thirty pieces of fiel(
artillery manned by veterans of score
of battles. The Union army had two
small field pieces worked by men who
had never been under fire.
Jubal Early had just routed Hunters
army of twenty thousand veterans anc
he looked with contempt on Gen. Wal
lace and his little army of less thar
five thousand men. 1t was well fol
the Union cause that he did, for of
course he would not think of attacking
so mall force with his whole army
Had he made the attack with his entire
army Wallace would not have been
able to hold out to exceed five hours
and Early would have been we'll on his
way to Washington that night and
would have captured the city long be-
fore troops could have been brought
from Petersburg for its defense.
1t must have been near eight o'clock
when a Georgia battery attempted to
go into position in little grove three
fourths of a mile in our front Capt
Chiffon and | were lying side by side
and we at once looked back to see why
our guns did not open un them. Chill
ton went to the Lieut.. commanding
the battery and asked why he did not
open fire. The answer was "Those
are our men," Chiffon argued but to
no purpose and be returned swearing
curses loud and deep on the head of
that Lieut..
Capt. Chiffon says, 81 am half in
clined to take half dozen of my men,
have them fix bayonets, 60 down and
force that Lieut.. to open fire or run him
through, what do you think% | told
him there was no time to lose and adj
vised the move. 1t was not long until
the gallant Chiffon was there and it was
surprising to see how ready the Lieut..
was to operate his guns when stimuat-
ed by few bayonets. The first shot
was ferfect and blew up rebel Gals
son. After the first fire had been de-
livered the Lieut.. and his gunners
worked faithfully and did good execu-
ton, but they would drop to the ground
when the enemy's shells passed uncom-
fortably near them.
The enemy continued to shell our
position for nearly an hour and then
as the artillery fire slackened Gordon's
attacking column could be seen advanc-
10 bo nh To Of
strong lines and then at our own little
army was not reassuring by any means.
The question would be brought home
to every man on the Union side GLOW
long can we hold out against such over
whelming numbers"
AS the attacking column neared our
lines there was apparent logged
determination to defeat the assaulting
column or die. AS the front line
struck the river the report of thous-
and Union muskets broke the stiffness
that had preceded the coming storm.
The enemy kept his lines well closed
up while fording the stream. The
Union troops moved them down like
grass before the scythe The battle
ragged fearfully for half hour or
more, but the enemy failed to gain a
foothold on the east bank of the river,
and finally they broke and run, but not
until the clear water of the Monocacy
river had run red with rebel blood.
The enemy soon formed for another
attack which began in all its fury a
a half hour later. The Union forces
again withstood the shock and the ene-
my went reeling back to the rear.
4 ha ird hoe
been delivered and repulsed that Cor
don gave up the idea of carrying our
position by direct assault. TWAS then
that Jubel Early was forced to the con-
clusion that it required twenty thousand
rebels to whip five thousand determin-
ed Yankees.
The whole rebel army was soon in
motion. Early moved his long lines
down the river to point some four
miles below the bridge where the river
was forded. Enough troops had been
left ON the west side of the river to
attack us in flank.
Our army was much weakened by
the battles of the forenoon. The num-
Der of the killed and wounded had
been considerable, while the regiment
of hundred day Marylanders had
thrown down their arms, colors and all
on the first fire and fled towards Balti-
more. On the west bank of the river
in the vicinity of the bridges the battle
had ragged necessarily. The detail
from the 106th N. Y. heavy artillery
had been withdrawn and the pike
bridge had been burned. This left the
force under Capt. Davis considerably
weakened, but the gallant Capt. still
held the position without losing foot
of ground. AT this junction the 10th
Vermont was taken from its position
along the river bank and placed in posi-
ton along the Washington pike and at
right angles to the river and our form
er position. The road was a sunken
one having been worn by time and
much usage to the depth of some four
feet making it nearly equal to line of
works for defensive operations.
A detail of seventy-five men was
made from our regiment, and sent
about one hundred and fifty yards to
the front and three hundred yards to
the left to watch the movements of the
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