Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-21

!: WASHINGTON, d. G,
can, sharp and clear, sets the keynote Of death.
Il b taksH up al sl0ng lie blds<eoAted hnes.
Ons nelsent Of tiGhtenihg tlse bolt fer dAsfef-
SIC w0Rk, gK4fPMk 81 tAe 1AasAet WITH . hfi6ef
eAsp md they ere eh-0n up lie Hope ahA on
psFsas, bsstse Gags httssrink h NE efisp BE-
csnbss bfssse, slofioas sffxy indeed
THE MOST FEARFUL cAhNAoE.
Listen TO WHIST followed: ssfrom the moment
~ Aeif appearance began the most fearful
carnage, Win our artillery from The front,
right and feaf, tearing through their ranks, the
fetlsfaA pressing forward with alAlost invinci-
BILE determination, maintaining their steady
| step and closing mp their broken ranks. Thus
resolutely they marched upon the stone fence,
behind Which e. quietly waited the confsdsrste
reach Of This brigade a storm Of iex6 was
poured into tAeir sdvaacing coldMns and they
wore swept from the field flhe eha4G bsfere Vie
Wind. cloud Of smoke shut ont the scene for
2 moment, and rising revealed the scattered
hopeless charge. The artillery sin piosed
through their retreating ranks and searched
cut the places Of coneeslment into which the
retfeatfhg troops had plunged" Sc says Long
street, no incompetent or biased crictie eer
Couch m command Of Che Union forces IN this
part Of The field for the purposes Of observation
took his positiO in that court house steeple over
there. He says: "A few minutes sitter noon
French's division charged in the order Of Kim
bans, Andrews and Palmer's brigades, part
OF kimbal.s men getting into the cluster Of
houses In The forks Of the road. Hancock fol-
lowed thefn. There was no cheering on the
part OF the men, bat a stubborn determination
70 obey orders and do their duty don't think
there was much feeling of success. Al they
charged the artillery fire would break through
their formation and then they weuld get mixed,
theh they would close up, 90 forward, receive
the whitening infantry fire, and those who were
able would run to the houses and fight as best
they could, and then the next brigade coming
up in succession would do its duty and melt like
snow coming down on the warm ground"
PEACEFUL SIGHT NOW.
Standing on the spot this bright May morn
ing, watching the sleek, welEfed COWS grazing
over the verdant slopes our brave fellows
charged over again and again, one feels dim
ming Of the eyes and choking sensation in the
throat, at such useless, needless slaughter and
tries to picture that terrible scene Of thirty
years ago. COUGHS dreadful picture rises be-
fore me: 81 remember the whole plain was
covered with men PROSTATE and dropping, the
live men running here and there, and in front
closing on each other, and the wounded coming
back. The commands seemed to be mixed up.
had never before seen fighting like this, moth.
ing approaching it in terrible uproar and de.
stfuction."
Longstreet's IL even worse: ESQ the struggle
went on. A fifth time the fedefals formed,
charged and we're repu1sed. sixth time they
charged and were driven back when night
came to end the dreadful carnage and the fed
erals Withdrew, leaving the battlefield literally
heaped with the bodies Of their dead. Before
the welkdirected fire Of Cobb's brigade the
federals had fallen like the steady dripping Of
the rain from the caves Of a house. Our mus
kerry alone killed and wounded at least 5000,
and these with the slaughter by artillery left
over 1000 killed and wounded before the foot
Of Msrye's Hill. The dead were piled some-
times three deep, and when morning broke the
spectacle We saw upon the battlefield was one Of
the most distressing I ever witnessed.
again to their death that they deserved success
N courage and daring could entitle soldiers to
victory"
After reading this touching tribute from the
pen of Il generous and plying foe the mind re-
verts to parallel scene in history, where amid
night the wasting battalions Of the imperial
guard on the field Of Waterloo disappeared for
ever from the pages Of history, leaving only q
memory crystalized and immortal in its glorious
epitaph, The Old Guard dies, but never sur
renders"
Il
honor to them, living and dead!
THE RED BRICK HOUSE.
We ride slowly and with uncovered head
along the street they tYod toward the red brick
house. Here Was the very center Of that scorch-
ing whirlwind of destruction. Every cannon
shot from the peaceful-looking hill over there
tore down here through "a fiery mass Of living
valor" and carried broken hearts and eroans
and tears through many northern home.
All the accounts l have read Of the battle
state that our farthest advance never reached
farther than fifty or sixty yards beyond this
brick house. Gen. Couch, in his story, speaks
of riding to this brick house late in the after
noon and finding 1t packed with men, and be-
hind it the dead and living were as thick as they
could be crowded together. and the dead and
also dead horses were rolled together for breast
works. OFF here to the left on this plain of
death try to locate the line where the second
brigade Of Sykes division was placed during the
night after the assault
One who was with the command writes that
when morning unveiled the ghastly picture
about them almost an army lay about us and
scattered back over the plain toward town. Not
only c0rpses but many Of the badly wounded,
there too. To die groveling on the ground or
fallen in the mire is dreadful indeed. The psllid
faces and the elammy hands clenching their
muskets looked CHASTITY in the morning fog
light. The new bright blue Overeoats ONLY
made the sight ghastier. This brigade when
daylight came found itself so near the dreadful
stone wall that the men we're unable to retire
or move in their places, and lay upon their
faces all through that trying day without food
or drink. To lift a head was death. Night came
at last and they were withdrawn. One vivid
picture Of Fredericksburg the night after the
assault and have done. "We marched past
the court house, past churches schools. bank
buildings, private houses-all lighted for hos
pital purposes, and all In use. though q part Of
the wounded had been transferred across the
river. Even the door yards had their litter
beds, and were well filed with wounded men,
and the dead were laid in rows for burial The
hospital lights and camp fires in the streets. and
the smoldering ruins of burning buildings,
with the mixture Of lawless fiotinG of demoral-
ized stragslers. and the suffering and death in
the hospitals, gave the sacked and Quilted town
the look Of pandemonium."
And this Is war.
FEATs OF PEDEsTRIANIsM.