The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-11-26
HEROIsM IN BATTLE
One Of Peekskills Boys-In the wildernel
He Fell, Charging the Enemy.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: One of tn
true heroes of the war, whom history ha
F not recognized as it might, was Lieut.
Eugene NJ. Wright, seth N. Y, killed a
Spottsylvania the last of the "Seven Days
Battle of the Wilderness" Thursday, Ma,
} IL, 1864. He was born and reared at LAX
Mohegan, near Peekskille N. Y, wher
now resides his comrade-in-battle and only
brother, James G. Wright. He was the sol
of the late Leonard F. Wright
In the Wilderness he fell charging tn,
enemy. Let memory recall the scenes o
that day of conflict. On the fr0wning ores
of Laurel Hill, thickly wooded. and sur
rounded by earthworks inaccessible ant
is the stronghold of the Confederate line
All its approaches are covered by artillery,
In front is wide extended space of clearing
and thee stretch Of wooded ridges occupied
by our forces.
Now Grant and Lee have, for the frs
time, confronted each other in battle and al
once cross swords for mastery of the road tt
the rebel Capital-Richmopd. Ours, the
Second Corps, is ordered at p. m. or
| Wednesday to assault the enemy's line Of
intrenchments.
From the woods and cleared space oul
boys charge upon the enemy's position.
Some reach the abatis, but only to perish
there, and our whole line is repulsed with
frightful loss. Again the assault is renewed
at O'Clock, resulting in like suffering, loss
and repulse.
In these attacks our Second Corps and
the Fifth lost over 5000 men, though on
our left we capture 900 of the enemy and
several guns. Night tails, in mercy staying
the storm of battle and hiding from view
Its horrors, but with the first gray light of
the coming morning the firing of a signal
gun at o'clock again summons our corps
at double-quick to the front.
With flying flags it charges across the
| cleared ground, already strewn with yester-
days dead and dying, facing q murderous
lire Of musketry and artillery. Whole lines
60 down, but the gaps close quickly, and !,
| without faltering, our men press forward.
Cheering wildly, they reach and carry the
| intrenchments
Selling upon the enemy's works, they
tear away the Instructions and Chamber
over the defenses Among the smoking,
belching guns, in hand-to-hand struggle,
suffering terrible loss, they overcome and
capture 1000 Confederates, being nearly all
OF Ewell's Corps, aud its commanding Cen
eral, johnson, with 30 rebel standards and
IL pieces of artillery.
Our men pursue the fleeing enemy to
their cover behind the next line of intrench-
ments, where they rally and drive our troops
back upon the works we had captured.
1t is now o'clock of this Thursday morn
ing. 1t is to be the last of these seven days
OF battle, but the blocdiest and most deadly
light of all. All day long and far into the
night there is continuous roll of musketry
along our whole front. The enemy again
and again assault tho works we captured
yesterday, and as often are repulsed. At
times both Union and Confederate flags are
together on the breastworks
Who shall be the master to-day? Our
concentrated fire continues to tell with
fearful effect. It is becoming irresistible.
About and in front of the salient the des-
perate conflict has become scene of horrors
In the clearing before the works lie the
multitudes of dead and dying who fell in
the charges of yesterday and at the charge
made at daylight this morning
Their numbers increase with every re-
pulse of the enemy, till the bodies of the
fallen lie in heaps and in rows. The enemy
seems possessed of superhuman courage and
endurance. His desperation appears in
vincible
When or where shows history like long,
continued and stubborn resistance under
such loss and suffering?
But the enemy is finally overcome, and
suddenly retires from the field to recruit for
another campaign. Night ends this con-
test, and the weeks tragedies are over.
Here in the sOmber forests of the Wilder
ness for seven days and nights continuous
conflict hundred thousand men. Union
and Confederate soldiers, have wrestled
with one another in mortal struggle
through tempest of shot and storm of shell, |
in a carnival Of death.
Upon this battlefield lie 10000 wounded |
and dying men, in every attitude of excru- |
ciating human agony, with parching thirst.
and writhing in delirium. Among these !
wounded and dying are also 5000 dead.
their CHASTITY, pallid faces upturned to the
starlit sky, where the plying angels weep.
And there, beside the other fallen. chilled
in death, lies sacrificed the form of our
comrade, Lieut. Eugene Morgan
Wright, baptized in his own young blood
the beardless soldier-boy.
Twice before he had distinguished him
self for heroism in battle, where his yalor
earned and won for him the sword now
lying by his side, fallen from his neryeless
grasp, at this moment of triumph over the
enemy, triumph too late for him to ioin in
the shouts of victory.
At An.ietam, Nd, he won his first anil
dierly honors, where our 59th N. Y. going
into battle with 1863 men, lost on that dav
IN killed and wounded 235 enlisted men
and Is officers, greater loss per cent. by
lar than hat suffered by the Light Brigade
n Its famous charge of the Six Hundred at
he battle of Balaklava.
Immediately in front of our Cos F and
largely recruited at Peekskill), upon the
verge of a ravine, was large oak tree. be-
heath which at one time lay eight of our
Boys, dead, upon one another, under the left.
iank cross-fire of the enemy at this "Bloodv
Angie" where our Second Corps alone lost
,ver 5000 men.
Here Eugene distinguished himself az one
II the bravest, and was promoted immedi-
'tely after the battle.
At Fredericksburg, Va, in that disastrous
epulse under Burnside, Lieut. Wright
ourted death. voluntarily bearing the
oiors, chief target for the enemy, Star
liter star was shot away from the flag. tin |
was tattered and torn and its staff shat
cred in his grasp, but aloft and forward nm
anted he bore it throughout the battle. and
,rought it Off the field, although were left
here 1900 Of our men fallen in the
laughter before Marye's lights, when. deci-
mated and defeated, our army, under cover
II darkness, retreated in dismay to the non