The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1897-01-28
SOLDIERS STORIES.
ENTERTAINING REMINlCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account of Stirring Scenes
Witnessed on the Battlefield and in
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-
cite Experiences of Thrilling Nature.

1
Camp-Veterans of the Rebellion Re-
cite Experiences of Thrilling Nature.
The "B1oody Angle"
| l had been anxious to participate in
the scenes occurring at the angle,
and now got permission to go there and
look after some new movements which
had been ordered. Lee made five as
saults, in all. that day, in series of
desperate and even reckless attempts
to retake his main line of earthworks;
but each time his men were hurled
back defeated, and he had to content
himself in the end with throwing up n
| new line farther In his rear.
The battle near the 'angle" was prob
ably the most desperate engagement IN
| the history of modern warfare, and
| presented features which were abso-
lutely appalling. 1t was chiefly sav-
| nge hand-to-hand fight across the
| breastworks. Rank after rank was rid
| died by shot and shell and bayonet-
| thrusts, and finally sank, n mass of
| torn and mutilated corpses; then fresh
| troops rushed madly forward to re-
place the dead, and so the murderous
| work went on. Guns were run up close
TO the parapet. and double charges Of
canister played their part in the bloody
work. The fence-rails and logs in the
breastworks We're shattered into splin-
ters, and trees over foot and half
In diameter were cut completely in two
by the incessant musketry fire. A sec
ton of the trunk of stout oak-tree
thus severed was afterward sent to
Washington, where it is still on exhibit
ton at the National Museum. We had
not only shot down an army but also
a forest.
The opposing flags were in places
thrust against each other, and muskets
were fired with muzzle against muzzle.
Skulls were crushed with dubbed mus
kets, and men stabbed to death with
swords and bayOnets thrust between
the logs in the parapet which separated
the combatants. Wild cheers, savage
yells, and frantic shrieks rose above
the signing of the wind and the patter-
ing Of the rain, and formed a demOnia-
cal accompaniment to the booming Of
the guns, as they hurled their missiles
Of death into the contending ranks.
Even the darkness Of night and the pitt
less storm failed to stop the fierce con-
test, and the deadly strife did not
cease till after midnight. Our troops
had been under fire for twenty hours,
but they still held the position which
they had so dearly purchased. My du-
ties carried me again to the spot the
next day, and the appalling sight pre-
sented was narrowing in the extreme.
Our own killed were scattered over a
large space near the angle while in
front of the captured breastwOrks the
enemy's dead, vastly more numerous
than our own, were piled upon each
other, in some places four layers deep,
exhibiting every ghastly phase of mutt
latiOn. Below the mass of fast-decay-
ing corpses, the convulsive twitching
Of limbs and the writhing Of bodies
showed that there were wounded men
still alive and struggling to extricate
llOul thSll uoIilu ChlohiD-
ment. Every relief possible was af-
forded, but in too many cases 1t came
too late. The place was well named
the Bloody Angle"
The results of the battle are best
summed up in the report which the gen
eral-in-chief sent to Washington. At
6:3O p. m., May u, he wrote to Hal
leck as follows: "The eighth day of bat
tie closes leaving between three and
four thousand prisoners in our hands |
for the days work, including two gen.
eral officers, and over thirty pieces Of |
artillery. The enemy are obstinate and |
seem to have found the last ditch. We |
have lost no organization, not even |!
that of company, while we have de- |
stroyed and captured one division
(Johnson's), one brigade OOle's), and |
one regiment entire of the enemy" The |
Confederates had suffered greatly In
general officers. Two had been killed,
four severely wounded, and two cap
tured. Our loss in killed, wounded,
and missing was less than seven thou
sand; that of the enemy between nine
and ten thousand as nearly as could
be eascertained.-"Campaigning with
Grant" by General Horace Porter, in
the Century