The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-03-05

huD8 Lines OF wen hUShfnE reward
II Guns.
the Union line, and in front of us was
a light breastwork of rails and logs.
From noon to 4 o'clock we broke
ranks, stacked guns and took
things easy. At 5 some of the men
began to fry bacon and boil coffee.
At 6 every man of us was thus busy
and felt certain of spending the night
on the spot. OF a sudden two or three
rabbits came running out of the dense
woods beyond us, and scores of men
jumped up to try and kill or capture
them. Everybody round me was
laughing and shouting, when a shot
was suddenly heard and l say a pri-
vate soldier who stood in the highway
fall dead. The single shot was fol-
lowed by another and another, INT
hen some one shouted at the top of
his voice:
"Great heavens, but there are the
Johnnies in battle line!
There was a panic at once. No II
supposed there was a Confederate
within five miles Of us, and had they
been looked for 1t would have been
from the other direction. A few men
got into line here and there, but the
resistance melted away as the Con
federates advanced. 1t was a furious
fire which Jackson's men poured into
the Eleventh. They were elated and
very enthusiastic, and they swarmed
through the forest as If their number
was endless.
Men have said that the panic would
have extended no further, and that
the corps would have speedily recov-
cred from the surprise, and men have
written that but for n mans cool
ness at the critical moment Jackson
would have driven a wedge into the
Federal army. Gen. PleasantOn, then
commanding three regiments of cav
airy and a field battery, lay in posi-
ton to be run over by the frightened
fugltives as they sought a place of
safety. In the midst of the most en-
b%arrassing confusion he sent a regi-
ment of ~dismounted cavalry forward
to form a line and check the COnfed-
crate advance and the other regi-
ments, mounted, at once charged into
the mass of fugitives and drove them
clear off the field on the left of the
plank road. Then n by one twenty
two guns We're brought to the front
and u%nlimbered. 1t was in the cleared
field to the left of the Charlottesville
plank road and about half a mile be-
low the famous brick house. Those
guns enfiladed Jackson's whole front,
and the moment his lines broke cover
they were met with such storms of
canister that whole regiments lay
down after the first volley. For the
first quarter of an hour these guns
were supported by the cavalry alone,
but as regiment after regiment was
picked up, whirled about and sent to
the gap, the support soOn became a di-
vision. Other batteries were rushed
down the plank or across the field,
and by and by Jackson's golden mo-
ment had passed. The Federal army
had faced to the rear and the great
gap had been closed by artillery.
Just at shutdown Jackson grew rest
i've under the terrific fire and ordered
a general advance. Long lines of men
sprang to their feet and rushed for
ward with cheers and yells, de,ermin-
ed to have the guns. 1t did not seem
as if anything living could cross that
open space of 600 feet with such q
tornado of canister sweeping over it,
but whole regiments charged up to
within fifty feet and scores of Con
federates dashed in among the guns
and were killed there. The charge
was repulsed. but to be made again
and again. When night had settled
down Jackson gave it up. He could
no drive his wedge past the muzzles
Of PleasantOn'S guns. He had hood
winked Hooker, routed a whole corps
and laid his plans for a great victory