The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-01-21
The "Bloody Angle"
One of the Most Desperate Engagements In tn,
War,

One of the Most Desperate Engagements In the
War.
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 assaults, in all,
that day, in a 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 a 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 pre-
sented features which were absolutely ap-
palling. 1t was chiefly savage hand to-
hand light across the breastworks. Rank
after rank was riddled by shot and shell
and bayonet-thrusts, and finally sank,
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 We're run up close
to the parapet, and double charges of
canister played their part in the bloody
work The fe nee rails and logs in the
breastworks were shattered into splinters,
and trees over a foot and a half in diane
ter were cut completely in two by the in
cessant musketry fire. A section of the
trunk of a stout oak tree thus severed
was afterward sent to Washington, where
it is still on exhibition 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 We're fired
with muzZle against muzZle. Skulls were
crushed with dubbed muskets, and men
stabbed to death with swords and bayo-
nets thrust between the logs in the para
pet which separated the combatants
Wild cheers, savage yells, and frantic
shrieks rose above the signing of the wind
and the pattering Of the rain, and formed
a demouiacal accompaniment to the boom
ing of the guns as they hurled their mis-
sies of death into the contending ranks.
Even the darkness of night and the pitt
less storm failed to stop the fierce contest
and the deadly strife did not cease till
after midnight. Our troops had been I'M
der fire for twenty hours. but they still
held the position they had so dearly pur
chased. My duties carried me again to
the spot the next day, and the appalling
sight presented was narrowing in the ex-
IRENE. Our own killed were scattered
over 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, exhibit
ing every CHASTITY phase of mutilation.
Below the mass of fast decaying corpses,
the convulsive twitching of limbs and the
writhng of bodies showed that there were
men still alive and struggling to extricate
themselves from their horrid entombment.
Every relief possible was afforded, but in
too many cases it came too late. The
place was well named the ''Bloody Angle"
The results of the battle are best sum-
med up in the report which the general
in chief sent to Washington. At $50
p. M, May 18th, he wrote to Halleck as
follows: 1.-THE eighth day of battle closes
leaving between three or four thousand
prisoners in our hands for the days work,
including two general 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 a company, whilst we
have destroyed and captured one division
(Johnson's), one brigade (Dole's), and
one regiment entire of the enemy The
Confederates had suffered greatly in gen
eral officers. Two had been killed, four
severely wounded, and two captured.
Our loss in killed. wounded, and missing
was less than seven thousand: that of the
enemy between nine and ten thousand as
nearly as could be ascertaned T''Cam-
paigning with Grant" by General Horace
Porter, in the January Century.
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