Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-06-09

it can face about and fight with hope
of success, but If the flank gives way
disaster follows. Jackson's coming was
a surprise. His attack was as sudden
as the stroke of a bell. 1t d~umfounded
and dismayed the Federal flank, but
only for a few minutes. Mcclellan was
not far away. He had fatho1ned Lees
plans and discovered his true object.
The flank gave back until it had a front
of a mile long. and then it halted and
battled to save that great army. What
was to be done must be done right there.
Requirements were ordered up, guns
advanced, and for an hour there was
such fighting as war had never witnessed
before.
On the Federal flank were swamp and
forest and tangled thicket. Engineers
had said that the nature of the ground
protected this flank. Wading through
swamps deep with ooze, bursting
through thickets which caught off their
caps and left their jackets in rags, adj
vancing their lines amid the thick
forests, jackson men rushed to the at
tdths 4i4lO anu tiiuO dAdln tAC l1uCc
were repulsed, but fresh troops poured
out of the woods to take the places of
the dead and wounded, and the battle
grew more vindictive and murderous.
There is u key TO every battlefield.
There is always a key within a key.
Cold Harbor was the key of this great
field OF slaughter. The exposed flank
was the key within the key. Jackson
could count his dead by the thousand.
His entire force was up. and he had
charged and stormed and battered in
vain.
The coming of night does not always
end a battle, but as darkness shuts down
the combatanis lose their desperation
and become more wary OF each other.
Hunger, thirst and fatigue begin to tell.
AS the fire CT artillery and musketry
slackens the cries of the wounded are
heard, and those who have escaped un-
hurt begin to estimate the losses. If
jackson could not break that flank be-
fore night shut down, then his sacrifices
had been in vain. Then the thousands
of dead and wounded belonging to
Longstreet and Hill had simply been
led to slaughter. An order was sent to
General Hood, whose brigade of Texans
had been held in reserve for an emer-
gency. Hood placed himself at the head
of his 4, 900 men and dashed forward.
They had to traverse a swamp and then
cross al open space OF which the dead
already lay touching each other. The
Texans had only begun their forward
movement when every piece of artillery
and every musket on that flank was
turned upon them. With yells of def
ance they rushed forward. The skele-
tons of men struck down in that swamp
were dug out years afterward as burial
parties sought for the dead of the war.
Wounded men fell into the pools of
black water or foundered about in the
ooze, but those unhurt used them for
stepping stones.
Nothing could check that rush. Grape
and canister and bullet killed and
wounded 2, 600 men, but the other 9, 900
swept forward, dashed over the earth
works and were driven like a wedge
into the Federal flank. 1t was the eli
max. Beaten but not panic stricken,
the men in blue fell back step by step,
fighting over every foot of the ground,
and at length they rested on a new
line. Mcclellan alone knew that he
was beaten. He alone realized what
would result. That great army, only a
portion of which had been driven, must
retreat to a new line and a new base
of supplies. Jackson's coming from the
valley and placing himself on the flank
had imperiled the fate of the nation.
Like the strategist he was. Mcclellan
assumed much, concealed much. While
he brought up fresh troops to hold the
victorious enemy at bay he issued orders
for retreat.
For weeks and weeks stores had been
accommodating in rear of that grand
army. There were thousands of beef
cattle, train loads of bacon, rice, salt,
beans and other eatables. Thousands
of spare tents had come forward, thou
sands of blankets, uniforms, shoes, mus
kets and other supplies. Boxes of hard
tack were piled up 10 feet high for
miles and miles. Barrels of -four, COW
cred with tarpaulins, shut out some of