The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-07-14
THE REBEL ArrAoK ON HELENA.

THE REBEL ATTACK ON HELENA. The Desperate Fight of Eight Thousand
 Confederates Under Holmes, Who
 Aimed to Pull Down the Flag on It.
 Own Day-An Attempt to Save Vicks
 burg That Failed.
 (From the New York Sun)
 These are souvenirs of the one Fourth of July shall never forget said Confederate veteran in Wash ington on his way to the reunion at Richmond. He held up in evidence pair of empty sleeves which showed both arms cut off just below the elbows so evenly that it might have been done by stroke from a butchers cleaver. And didn't lose them burning pow der for fun, either. I knew that every thing we toyed with that day was load ed; loaded to kill The same with the enemy. It was a Yankee shell at Hele- na. fired from the gunboat Tyler, which placed me on the retired list, where I have been since July 1, 1S63
 T was an officer in Fagan's Arkan- sas brigade and I never enjoyed pie nic beforehand in my life as did that stealthy hundred mile march from Little Rock to give the Yankees in their works at Helena Fourth of July sur- prise party. You see, we had been ly- ing idle all summer in Arkansas, while Grant closed the coils around our peo- pie at Vicksburg We numbered about eight thousand men, consisting of our brigade two brigades of Pap Prices Missourians, and Marmaduke's caval- ry. Jos Shelby's brigade counted In. Holmes was our commander and one day he telegraphed to army headquarr ters, T believe we can take Helena Please let me attack it. The reply was, Go ahead and do it!' Should we take Helena, why Grant would simply have to call off his dogs at Vicksburg and sick them on us, for don't you see, we could shut off Yankee naviga- ton in the Mississippi and starve the enemy out at Vicksburg. Oh, we en- joyed the prospect, for we outnumbered the garrison at Helena two to one.
 "The city of Helena lies in the low lands on the Arkansas shore. Its wat CT front was guarded by the gunboat Tyler, famous at Forts Henry and Donelson. On the land side there was an unbroken chain of Qualifications ex- tending from the river bank above the town to the bank below The western f,o of at h6tr belf ty,a | in length and just outside the limits. Nearly opposite the center was a heavy | earthwork, mounting siege guns. Half | mile further inland was a semi circu- l lar range of hills, on the crests of which l lay the outer line of Notifications. | This line comprised four redoubts, i mounting field pieces and connected by l breastworks The large central work was Fort Curtis; two batteries on the north and northwest stood on Fighters | Hill. On the west there was q battery on Graveyard Hill and on Hindman Hill, southwest, the fourth battery was l located. I made the acquaintance of 1 the Hindman Hill battery intimately, as you will learn later on.
 q give you these details to show that | there was a heap in our favor. The
 Yankees had but four thousand men in Helena. and although they had plenty | of cannon they lacked the trained artlt- lerists to handle them. The gunners | that day were green hands detailed | from the Thirty third Missouri Infan- | try, and the way they handled the | pieces made us wish we had met an- l other kind. But we knew very little of | the actual situation until we struck il 1 all of a sudden about daylight on Inde- | pendence day. Our three columns | Marmaduke's, Prices and Fagan's told off in storming parties and re- | serves, moved against the batteries and intrenchments lying across oul | paths. There were six roads from the l interior to the town and the defenders
 being ignorant as to the particular ono
 or ones we would use, were compelled to watch them all. Our brigade at
 tempted to take along some field artil' | lery, but about a mile out from thf lines we found the road obstructed and on both sides of it the country was cut up into ravines, making it impassa ble for cannon. Our officers were obliged to dismount and leave tht
 horses behind, and our men, with ire;
 use of limb, barely made their way
 through the labyrinth of obstruction!
 in time to meet the engagement. WI
 were the first to open the ball, and a
 soon as the struggling line could pull
 itself together it moved forward in bat
 tie order. Here a gorge intervened
 there steep hillside loomed before us
 and the thicket and trenches i'll iron
 were alive with sharp-shooting rife
 men.
 ''The three regiments of the brigade
 charged, on both sides of the road, ana
 soon after daylight had carried foul
 lines of rifle pits. But there had beer 10 attack at any other point, The da,