St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-07-30

Crooks camps were cleared in ten
minutes. The confederates did very
little firing after the first two or three
volleys. They captured men instead Of
shooting down. As they got possession
Of the artillery, however, they opened
on all the camps in rear, and by this
time the fugitives had penetrated every
where and sowed the seeds of a panic.
As a matter of military history. and
one giving rise to an incident which
will long be preserved in song and
story. the beginning was anything but
heroic. Emory lay behind Crook, and
his men had time to dress and turn out.
There was no holding them. however.
Fugitives came running and shouting
and veterans of dozen fights were
knocked out in a trice. As stood for .
moment in front Of a breaking regi-
ment saw no less than five men make
| for a loose cavalry horse which came
dashing up. All of them tried to mount
him at once, and all went down In q
struggling heap and kicked and struck
each other with the utmost vigor. The
panic lent wings to some men, while
only hobble away.
Its Lees whole army! We are
whipped! We are wiped out!" were the
shouts heard on every hand, and the
curses and appeals of the officers were
wasted on the air. saw a major, who
was mounted on a horse without a sad
die, strike half a dozen men with the
fiat of his sword and ride down others
as he tried to rally them, but not one
of the men who received his blows even
looked up at him. 1t was a wild enough
retreat before the confederates got hold
of the artillery, but when they had
turned IS or 20 of our guns upon
us, and the bursting shells were
following us up. 1t was stampede like
the rush of herd of cattle. Here and
there q man fell down and cried out in
piteous tones, but no one halted. In
stead of lodging the tents and camp
fires. the fugitives jumped against or
over them. The panic spread back to
the Sixth corps, which was in the rear OF
all, and diplomacy saved the men
from breaking away. They were or
dered forward to check the enemy and
cover the retreat, and action saved
them. When the panic-strickens soldiers
had reached Middletown, five miles |
away, they began to grow ashamed of
themselves and to halt. One of the very
men who had led in the fight suddenly
turned about and began shouting:
Halt, ye towards! Before God. but |
We all deserve to be shot in yer tracks |
for bringing such a disgrace on the
fag!"
Men began to form squads and com
panies, and pretty soon there was
general clamor to be led back against
the enemy. The trouble was that nine
men out of ten had left their arms in
camp or thrown them away on the
road. and they had nothing 10 fight
with. OF the 200 of US who "fell in" on
the main street of the village, not ten
had carbincs or muskcts. Had Early
to push along, he must have
made complete route Of it. His orders
were to advance, but his men fell out
by the hundreds to plunder the union
camps, and by and by he was so weak
that the Sixth corps could hold him.
From ten o'clock in the morning until
three in the afternoon the broken regi.
ments were being gathered, and bat
tle-lines were formed Of men who
hadn't gun to fire. Sheridan came
up soon after ten and began to
straighten things out, and at three the
whole federal army moved forward.
The fighting did not last half an hour,
and as Early broke back it was panic
over again, but this time on the other
side. We took prisoners by the hum
dred, recaptured every lost gun, and the
wagon train also fell into
our hands. The fleeing confederates
fairly clogged the highway against us
with the stuff they threw away, and
muskets, carbines, sabers, knapsacks
and stores were gathered up by the
wagon load. 1t was a battle won
through panic, and lost again from the
same cause. At ten o'clock Early had
every federal camp in his possession,
together with over 100 wagons, 1000
horses, 5000 stands of arms and "a field
pieces. He had also captured nearly I
/ thousand prisoners. At five o'clock in
the afternoon he was scattered and {
broken and flying for his life, with the
oss Of everything which could be I
thrown away or abandoned. Nearly
every confederate prisoner tuken was
either laughing or crying in the hys-
eria Of panic. {
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