Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-07-03

A brigade of Missourians under Colonel
cocberell and one of North Carolinians and
Texans under General Young climbed the
steep activity of the west ridge to storm
tIe main fort, and General Sears Mississip-
plans marched squarely around the pass to
the north and destroyed the railroad and
telegraph, so as to isolate the garrison COM
pletely. That done, French summoned
Corse to surrender In order to save ''need-
less effusion of blood" allowing five min
utes for deliberation. Corse replied at once
that he was prepared for heneedless effu-
SION of blood whenever it was agreeable" to
General French. He told his men to pre-
pare for the worst. The ditch outside the
main fort was filled with ri1emen, and three
companies of the Ninety-third Illinois were
posted in a trench overlooking the store
house in the cut, with orders to keep the
enemy's torchmen away from it at all haz-
ards. The moment the saucy reply of the
garrison commander reached French he
gave the signal for an assault all along the
line. Emerging from the woods on the west
ridge and threading the tangled abatis and
felled timber, Cockerell's Missourians and
| Youngs Texans dashed forward, their
| lines swept by the fire frem the pits and
the fort. The Thirty-ninth Iowa and the
| Seventh Illinois bore the brunt of the first
attack. Two companies of Iowans were far
to the front skirmishing, three companies
were posted in observation on knoll out
side the works, and three companies lay in
the trenches. French's lines overlapped the
defenders, and the Iowa skirmishers with
their supports were driven back on a tan
gent. Colonel Redfeld ana four lieuten-
ants were killed, scores of men were killed
and wounded, and few survivors got back
to the main fort. The three companies lying
in the rifle pits were overrun by heavy
massed column of Confederates, and all but
nine were killed, wounded or captured. The
color guard stood out until the last man of
them was bayoneted. The color companies
having been dispersed, the flag fell into the
hands of the Confederates. The fighting
was chiefly hand to hand, with bayonets,
stones and clubbed rifles, and was desperate
to the extreme
Out of six Iowa officers shot down five
were killed, and out of So men hit 35 lay
dead on the field Colonel Redfield was
shot four times The Seventh Illinois,
fighting beside the Iowans, suffered equal
slaughter and lost 67 wounded and 81
killed outright. The bloody work on the
west ridge lasted over two hours. In the
heat of 1t Corse sent an aid across the cut
to the east fort for help, and the Fiftieth
Illinois reached the west fort just as the
hard pressed fragments of the Seventh and
Thirty-ninth got back to the shelter of its
walls. Before the assailants of the west
fort could recover from the staggering
blows delivered by the Iowans and Illinois
ans and form for a regular assault the para
pets and trenches of the works were lined
with men. Even the rough ground, the
rocks, stumps and logs outside the fort
sheltered marksmen waiting coolly for the
onset When it came, it was terrible, and
the fire poured in on the north, south and
west forces of the work, sweeping the bitches