The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-07-11

.op of Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg. From
the beginning of the war Hancock was
notable among those associated with him.
But his public fame began, I think with
accounts of the battle of Williamsburg,
fought on the peninsula between the York
and James rivers, the 9Th of May, 1862. 1t
CHANGED that l witnessed his share in that
days victory, and l now recall what i'm
pressed me so much at the time, almost as
If it were a matter of yesterday.
On Sunday, the 4th of May, when Gen.
Mcclellan at last was ready to lombard
Yorktown, Longstreets corps had skilfully
stolen away from that entrenched place
and its line of peninsular defence, and was
retiring on Williamsburg, with our advance
column in full pursuit. By nightfall our
cavalry, etc, had fallen foul Of the en-
emy's rear, discovered new line of works
stretching across the isthmus below Will
iamsburg and suffered a slight check to
the Reconnaissance in force Further
progress was not attempted. The infantry
bivouacked they came up. drizzing
rain began, instantly making the roads and
fields almost impossible with mire. The
troops, exhausted and mostly ratonless,
knew that a contest was booked for the
next day.
1 say they went into bivouac, but what a
night of misery! Those who could get
Tense rails, or even stones, to keep their
blankets and themselves from sinking in
what army mud is. 1t often seemed as if
the tramping Of men and horse, the pass
age of artillery and wagons, would make
imiry sink-holes in a road Of sand. But
Virginia mud, in the rainy spring of 80!
It is unforgettable. The open ground where
Of it ploughed; miry wheat fields stretched
bear Fit. Magruder. as the large earthwork
in front of Williamsburg was called. In
fantry and horse alike sank knee-deep,
the day Of the battle, and on this dismal
preceding night every soldier thought more
Of his hunger, of the rain above and the
mud below than Of his chances in the NOR
rows fray.
The battle Of Williamsburg was not ex-
actly "a soldiers battle" but it was fight
carried on by several commanders almost
independently of one another; Mcclellan
not arriving on the field Until the result
was decided. Early Monday morning the
leaders We're at headquarters, well-to-do
farm house, two miles from Williamsburg
and separated by woods from the open
ground along the enemy's works. Here
were Gen. Sumner, that brave and stub
born veteran, the ranking officer, with
Heintzelman. Keyes, Smith, Hooker and
various generals of divisions and brigades.
Here, also, you may be sure, were we cor
respondents, who, at such crises made
ourselves staff officers by brevet, and
plumed ourselves on permitting no orders
to go out, no important move to be taken,
without our knowledge and considerat ton.
Between headquarters and what was to be
the battlefield stretched forest on either
side, the field itself being an open plateau
two miles in length and half as broad
strikingly adapted for the traditional piano.
rama, now so obsolete, of general en-
gagement Beyond the forts the woods
again extended their cover, opening ONLY
at the spot through which WILLIAMSBURG
is approached. Sluggish streams, crossed
py several dams, and rising near each
other emptied into the York river on our
right and the James river on our left, re-
spectively. These, with their marshes in
the tangled thckets, formed a natural de-
fence on each side of the Confederate re-
doubts.
Sumner was our ranking officer, it is
true, but on this day he certainly failed
Of his inherent vigor, for he did not sue
coed in enforcing concerted action by the
Junior commanders. I remember that
Keyes and Hooker's forces with some
regular cavalry and artillery, had come
up and We're neutrality-suspicious. $4,000 men
IN all. at daylight picket firing began In
the woods. 1t was useless to advance d.
rectly upon the formidable central earth
work, Fit. Magruder. But Hooker felt the
need Of instantly attacking Longstreet, and
therefore under took a flank movement
engaged in fierce battle and sustained
the main conflict of the day. In those
drenched and dismal woods, and in the
abattis strewn beyond them, he confirmed.
with dire loss on his part and the enemy's,
his sobriquet Of fighting joe" 1t was
almost impossible to got his artillery into
service through the swamp and thicket.
We knew nothing of the forces opposed to
us-whether they were merely rear guard
covering the retreat to Richmond. or
whether the entire Confederate army Of
Virginia held this second line of defense
Rockers fight was brave, logged, un
ceasing, murderous. All day long he wait
ed for the support and reinforcement that
Would enable him to turn Fit. Magruder.
None arrived until the mid-afternoon.
when Phil Kearney, with part of his aivi-
sion, came to his comrades aid, seeking
the hottest fight to save the day, as he
did again at Seven Pines-Kearney, the
eagle-eyed, bravest of the brave, impatient
of delay stupidity and prudence: a born
fighter, who seemed to bear charmed
life until one fatal twilight at Chantilly
But, as he reached Hooker, the battle had
already been determined, and this sketch