The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-07-21
pulsed and shattered on it's first
attempt to drive US from Marye's Hill.
Hardly was this attack off the field
when we saw the determined Federals

pulsed and shattered on it's first
attempt to drive us from Marye's Hill.
Hardly was this attack off the field
when we saw the determined Federals
again filing out of Fredericksburg and
preparing for another charge. The
C~onfederates under Cobb reserved
their FIRE and quietly awaited the ap-
proach of the enemy. The Felerals
came nearer than before, but were
forced to retire before the well-direct-
cd guns Of Cobb's brigade and the fire
of the artillery on the heights. By
that time the field in front of Cobb
was thickly strcwn with the dead and
dying Federals, but again they formed
with desperate courage and renewed
the attack and we're again driven off.
At each attack the slaughter was SO
great that by the time the third attack
was repulsed, the ground was so
thickly strewn with dead that the
bodies seriously impeded the approach
of the Federals. General Lee, who
was with me on Lees Hill, became
uneasy when he saw the attacks so
promptly renewed and pushed forward
with such persistence, and feared the
Federals might break through our
line. After the third charge he said
to me-: General, they are massing
very heavily and will break your line,
1 am afraid" General" I replied,
IF you put every man now on the
other side Of the Potomac on that field
to approach me wei the same line,
and give ME plenty Of ammunition, l
will kill them all before they reach my
line. Look to your right you are in
some danger there, but not on my
line"
I think the fourth time the FEEDER
ais came, q gallant fellow reached
with 100 feet Of Cobb's position and
then fell. Close behind him came
some few scattering ones, but they
we're either killed or fed from certain
death. This charge was the only
effort that looked like any real danger
to Cobb, and after it was repulsed I
felt no apprehension, assuring myself
that there was enough of the dead
Fec .als on the field to give me half
the battle. The anxiety shown by
General Lee, however, induced me to
bring up two OF three brigades, to be
on hand, and General Kershaw was
ordered, with the remainder of his
brigade, down to the stone wall, but
rather to carry ammunition than q
reinforcement for Cobb. Kershaw
dashed down the declivity in time to
succeed Cobb, who fell from a wound
in the thigh and died in few minutes
from loss Of blood.
A fifth time the Federals formed
and charged and were repulsed. A
sixth time they charged and we're
driven back, when night came to end
the fearful carnage, and the Federals
withdrew, leaving the battlefield
literally heaped with the bodies of
their dead. Before the well-directed
fire of Cobb's brigade, the Federals
had fallen like the steady dripping Of
rain from the caves of a house. Our
musketry alone had killed and wound
ed at least 5000 and these, with the
slaughter by the artillery, left over
1000 killed and wounded before the
foot of'Marye's Hill. The dead were
piled sometimes three deep, and when
morning broke, the spectacle that we
saw upon the battlefield was n Of
the most distressing I ever witnessed:
The charges had been desperate and
bloody, but. utterly hopeless. l
thought, as I saw the Federals come
again and again to their death, that
they deserved success if courage and
daring could entitle soldiers to vic
tory.