The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-03-05


pausing second, our boys mounted the
WORKS. In moment the blue and the
srHs were mixed In a dense struggling
mass What must have been General
lees Feelings, thea, as nc heard the
crashing volley of the enemy, the wild
cneer OF his boys. and then comparative
silence. Tor the boys were 100 busy to
yeiiY soon his practieed ear could detect a
rcceding IRE. as the enemy broke In con-
fusion and were driven across the line
VI the horseshoe. towards Spotsylvania.
here they followed the line Of John Jtons
WORK towards the famous Bloody Angle
our boys in hot pursuit.
AS we advanced UP a long slope the
ground gradually rising towards the
bloody angle" we discovered a dense
mass OF tho enemy formed behi,td worm
Fence. which struck Johnston's works at
| rlght angles. Somebody got IL into his
mead that they had surrendered, and
officers dashed in amongst our men Yell
Ing. Cease firing. they have surrender
ed. After some time the firing ceased,
but our men continued to advance. every
man with his gun cooked and ready to
bril- II TO his shoulder. / was reminded
OF a big bird hunt. We were now, /
think, in forty yards OF the mass speak
Of, when a shot came from their line
AS quick as thought our boys hlaSed
away. and raising yell dashed Mt them.
In another moment the blue and the gray
became dense. surging mars. The fight
ing here was desperate. Pistols, guns
bayonets. swords. all came into play
A lieutenant of the Fifty-second Virginia
was just to my right, almost touching
me. / saw him put his hand upon a
Yankees shoulder. ordering him TO sur
render. The Yankee jerksd away ana
making a half turn, drove his bayonet
through the lieutenant's body, killing
him instantly. ! had a Loaded revolver
in my hand. and 1 emptled 1t. in many
Instances close enough TO burn their
clothing. ! recollect thinking during that
fight Of remark Murat was credited
with uaking that he had been in hun
dred battles and lid not know whether
he had ever killed a man. l saw then
how that might easily happen. When so
many bullets are flying II is impossible to
say which did the work, and l am glad
/ did not know. The enemy broke again.
retreating in the direction OF the angle.
We were now, I think, probably about
$50 yards from II. when we became aware
OF heavy fire from JohnSton's old
works, and discovered that they were
heavily manned by the enemy. Turning
from the pursuit of the mass in front of
us we charged the works, which were now
10 our left. killing. wounding and captur-
ing everything in them.
At this jrncture OF affairs / am salts
fed I was In less than fifty steps Of the
anglo. and am perfectly certain / could
have gone TO the angle without encoun-
tering an enemy The officer command
Ing our brigade that day was i think
Colonel Casey, OF Bedford. Finding that
our pursuit OF the enemy had separated
our brigade from the Georgians, he or
dered us to close TO the right In doing
- Hate hnfx
our left and the angle TO probably
hundred or possibly $50 yards. Not long
after this movement, about half an hour,
/ think, a large number of the enemy
made their appearance to our left and
rear. Running through the entire length
OF the horseshoe from toe to heel was
4 skirt of timber. Under cover of this
the enemy had crossed over at the angle
and passed down the centre about one
hundred yards coming out so as to strike
our left. AS they made their appearance
a part OF our left swung back from the
works so as TO front the advancing
enemy. A small party OF us on the ex-
IRENE left thought they were party cut
off, and were coming In to surrender.
We were so sure of IL that we stood our
ground until they came In ten steps OF us.
The foremost man was an Irishman. He
had cap in one hand and his musket
III the OlntT. NHcD he inc punt
have just mentioned he called out
"Surrinder!' We soon saw our mistake;
one of our party quickly threw his gun
TO his shoulder. fired at the Irishman and
missed him. The Irishman threw his
gun up, but before he could fire, another
one of our party fired. killing him. We
were too close to run, and knew that
our men would open, and we would be
between two fires. So we dropped fiat
On hn 10 gfr.rr L.y
and over us-just then our left opened
on them and they came back pell-mell,
and as they passed us going back our
party jumped up and gave them a part
ing shot. 1t was a close call for US. Had
our left given back we would have gone
on TO reinforce Johnston's party. This
party of the enemy retreated, and crossed
the works at the angle. From that time
out during the entire day, neither side
occupied the space between our left and
the angle. About this time Colonel Casey
directed me to go in search of General
Gordon or some officer on Lees staff
and directed me to explain the situation.
and ask for reinforcements to fill the
vacant space on our left.
/ started along the line OF works and
went towards Spotsylvania Courthouse
As | approached the part of our line
which was occupied by The Georgians
hind the works, and as l advanced to-
wards them they motioned to me to get
down. | couldn't understand what they
meant, until all at once l discovered a
line Of the enemy lying fiat in a tall
growth OF broom-sedge which covered an
old field in front of the Georgians.
Balaam when he saw the angel standing
in his way with the flaming sword was
not more astonished than / was. The
first thought which passed through my
mind was why on earth couldn't l see
those fellows? They were so close ]
could almost distinguish one face from |
another. and why they didn't shoot me |
is mystery, unless they thought / |
wasn't worth the ammunition. Under the |
l was very willing TO over |
look the slight. 1t has been said that |
Where ignorance is bliss, twere folly |
to be wise" This was an exception TO |
that rule. Ignorance was undoubtedly |
bliss in thio case, but IL would have beer |
very far from folly to have been wise |
II took me very little while TO disappear |
behind the works. / was now in a diem
ma. j couldn't stay there, and after see
ing what was out in the sedge l did not |
relish the idea OF again taking the |
chances. After creeping along the works
for some distance / found a place where |
the ground sloped back from them. Here,
by lying fiat and working along snake |
fashion / could keep out of sight until
reached the skirt OF timber alluded to
above, when / made good time Soon af-
ter leaving the Georgians i heard cheer
Ing and heavy firing. think the enemy
tried to break over the Georgians, and