The National tribune., 1895-03-07
POPLAR SPRING CHURCH.
Comrade Carter Has More to Say About
Gen. Potter's Failure,

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: appreciate
highly the expression OF Right General Guide
who is SO much concerned about my spiritual
welfare, and his wish that j might be de.
livered from hatred, envy and malice,
which he asserts is manifest in my reply To
him about that fatal gap" which ne
| claims was the cause Of the defeat OF the
Second Division.
III erred in expressing an opinion con-
corning the responsibility of Gen. Potter for
permitting the surprise and rout OF his d.
vision, it is all owing to the testimony OF the
| Right General Guide, which corroborafed
the testimony of Comrade Hotter. 45th Pa,
the only difference between them being that
Comrade Hotter was frank enough TO admit
that the rebels had fanked them, while the
Guide wanted to cover UP the fact
am willing to present the facts in the
case Of Gen. Potter's failure TO close the gap
between Hancocks Corps and the Second
Division of the Ninth, and let them decide
whether have been guilty of "mahcious
attack on him, as the comrade asserts; for
beg leave to differ with him on bis state
ment that the Second Division was part OF
the assaulting column.n He gives Gen.
Grant as :" high authority" i prefer Han
cocks note in Rebellion Record, Vol. Sc, Part
4,
5:45 D. m, May H. 1864, which reads as fol-
lows:
"Gen. Burnside: Your right does not con-
meet with my left. Do you intend To connect
your line-of battle with me tonight? i am
afraid the enemy may break through"
Such was the condition OF affairs at the
close of May II. know that Hancock was
right, and that there had been large gap
between the Second and Ninth Corps from
daylight in the morning, which the 81 Md.
was called TO occupy, and held their ground
all day and night without aid until 8 a. m.
on May ID.
On the morning Of May IL we were de-
tached from our brigade and division, and
sent to Gen. Potter commanding the Second
Division, who held the right flank of the
Ninth Corps. We were led by one of his
aft along a wagon-road that led to n farm
house inside of the enemy's works. We
passed through a heavily wooded country,
along the Nye River, being sbelled by the
enemy, who kept firing down said road, no
doubt thinking that some Of the Yankees
were moving along there Before we reached
the edge of the wood, we left the road and
marched by the right flank for about 100
yards, and halted under the brow Of hill,
cut of range of their guns.
Here the officer left u, telling us to wait
for his return. About half an hour after he
came back with Gen. Potter, who approached
Us from the right ana asked:
lis this the Sd Md" and "Where is the
Colonel?" Then Gen. Potter said: Colonel,
have heard of your regiment, and sent for
you to take the place Of the I'd Md, in
whom j have great confidence. but who are
away on veteran furlough. j have just come
from Gen. Hancock, and he has charged and
taken 5000 prisoners and so pieces. All you
viii have 10 do is to advance and take them
in the flank. / will go down and order my
division 10 advance Also"
He did not give us any order to charge the
enemy in our front, but left us in complete
ignorance of their position in our front. We
heard some firing on our right front, and took
il for granted that il was Potter's line of
skirmishers connecting the Second Corps
with his division, or he would not be walk
ing along with one or two Of his staff over
such an exposed place; but, strange to say,
neither Potter nor the rebels had any line of
pickets in front of their works, which were
about 200 yards from the edge of the woods
In which we were posted.
AS soon as Gen. Potter left us we were
ordered TO advance. When we reached the
edge OF the woods we did not see the enemy's
works. as they were not very high, and had
been built in pine woods the other side Of
a small open field, and the pine trees had
been felled in their front So that we did
not realize our position until the rebels rose
up from behind their works to give us
yolley. Our men dropped to the ground
instinctively, but one or two color-bearers
went down at the first fire. We realized
that the rebels had set trap for us. But
we soon made the Johnnies take cover, and
found that we had them ratified SO badly that
the gun posted to command the road over
which we advanced was at our mercy, and
we made il so hot for the gunners that they
could not use grape and canister upon us.
We stayed before the rebel works at least
10 minutes, during which time / had a
chance to look around aud discover that the
line was not held by troops more than 80
yards TO our right, beyond which it was va
cant, the troops, no doubt, having been with
drawn to defend the line of works at the
base of the Bloody Angle, where Hancock
was checked and driven back TO the breast
works that he had first captured. Many
times have / wished that the balance Of our
brjgade-the 21st Mass. and Tooth Pa, the
old "Ronndheads had been with us TO take
advantage OF such an opportunity; for they
COutu nave sMtpb tHiOuRH the zap III Tue
rebel line and seized the gun in our front,
and ultimately divided the rebel army in
twain and saved the deadly struggle that
the Second and Sixth Corps kept up from
the outside of the works at the Bloody An
gle.
As it was, we would have captured the
works in our front if the regiment on our
left, which belonged to Gen. Potter, had not
abandoned US at the first fire and left our
flank exposed to an enflading fire, which
made our position untenable. We had the
best Of the rebels in our duel at short range,
as the pine brush hid us from view so that
we could take good aim.
cast my eyes toward the center, expect
ing TO see the colors advance as signal to
charge the enemy; when, instead Of going
forward, they were retiring TO the rear, while
the whole OF the left wing was retreating in
disorder across the field over which we had
advanced. knew that would allow the
rebel guns TO be used upon our right wing.
and turned to Capt Littleiohn, the senior
of my division, aud said:
"Littleiohn, there go the colors back.
We cannot stay here, and the quicker we get
out of here the better.n He gave the order
10 retreat, and made it stronger by adding
Double-quick."
The enemy in our immediate front had
not discovered the retreat of our left wing,
as they were too dem0ralized 10 look over
their works, and our only chance was 10
reach the woods before they had n chance to
riddle as. i speak for myself when i say
that never ran so fast in my life before that