The National tribune., 1900-06-21
SABINE CROSSROADS.
The Part an Eastern Regiment Took in the
Battle.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: ! have
seen number of accounts of the battle
of Sabine Crossroads, La, but never any
mention of the part taken by the 16lst
n. Y. The battle was begun at or near
Sabine Crossroads by the troops in the
advance, and l am unable to tell just
what troops those were. The 18th Corps
was in the advance with, think. two de-
tachments of the 18th and 18th. The
rebels received heavy reinforcements that
turned the tide in their favor and en-
abled them to drive everything before
them, after stubborn resistance, and help
being asked for only resulted in reinforce
meuts of one brigade Mt a time which did
not do much good. Finally, when it was
found that they really had a fight on their
hands, the balance of the force was sent
to the front too late 10 be effective, and
everybody had to look out for himself. 1t
was a stampede when the 161St y. Y.
met this army.
At Little Washington. on the way up
the river, the Nineteenth Corps lay by
one day while the Thirteenth Corps
passed. 1t was rather humliating, and
| to make things worse, the Thirteenth fel-
lows would sing ont: Take a rest, boys;
we'll chase them out for you" We did
not see them again until we met them on
April :, as described above. Then we re-
riEdcd them of their promise and asked
! il this WAS the way they did it,
| The 16lst y. Y, 1J3d y. v, 10th y.
Y, 111th y. y. and 18th Me. comprised
the First Brigade, First Division, Nine
tcen;h Corps. 1t WAS ordered that the reg
imcnt that marched in advance one
| Inr ShnuIl t.,E. hn hn .
So it happened that the 161st was in
| the advance this day. There were
about 5000 of the Nineteenth. and
there being but one road through the
woods, it would necessarily take some
time to march up to the opening and
| form line. Something had to be done,
and that pretty soon. The army that had
driven our advance army off the field was
| coming on without resistance. The 16lSt
| being the first troops on the field were or
dered to advance just as soon as they
could form. The 161st to a man respond
ed and succeeded in crossing the open
| field before the rebels came out of the
woods on the other side, thereby prevent
ing them from ascertaining the number
of men cOntesting their advance. For if
they had discovered that less than 800
men were directly in front of them we
would not have succeeded as well as we
did.
| Iue TeDeIS tdIne Oh, udNlUS udu IL reg
| ular walkOver, until they We're met by the
lG1st. Things changed when we began
to shoot, and we kept on shooting. By
| the way the advance was ordered the
| whole line did not come upon the rebels
at once; the center, advancing straight
| to the front, met them sooner than the
| right companies, that took an ObliQue
| course. AS the men on the right deployed
and advanced and met the rebels, the line
seemed to be extending all the time to the
| right, thereby deceiving the enemy. |
have often thought it was this order that
saved the day; for if we had advanced in
a body we would have developed our
strength at once. As 1t was. the rebels,
| not being able to estimate our force, Or
dered a halt for reforming, and right
| there is where they gave themselves
away" They gave the Nineteenth Corps
time to form its lines; and l want to say
right here that when the Nineteenth
| formed q line across a road travel ON that
road was blocked.
everything being keyed up to a concert
pitch, the 161st had to retreat or be run
| over and captured. The rebel force was
estimated at about q, ZOO men. Well, the
| 161st got out of it with 4 loss of about
one-fourth its number. 1t seemed a long
time, as we were falling back, expecting
every second to hear the Nineteenth fir
| ing. l was on the extreme right of the
! line, farthest from home" of anybody.
| This being my introduction to the John
| MES, l began to get anxious. All at
| once, however, the Nineteenth tore loose.
| They fired by battalion. By the time the
last battalion had fired the other end
down the line. The rebels got back in a
hurry into the woods.
The Nineteenth lay on their arms until
about IL o'clock, and then fell back to
Pleasant Hill. The 161st reached Pleas
ant Hill at sunrise and were placed on
the extreme right of the brigade, in ra-
vine.
One reason why l write this article is
that every other account | know of has
mentioned only Western organizations.
Some one did once mention the Nineteenth
Corps as saving the Thirteenth. The
Eastern men do not write enough, any
way, nor is there enough written for THE
NATIONAL TRIBUNE about Eastern bat
ties and expeditions.
Now about a. j. Smith. He and his
corps never went farther than Pleasant
Hill. Banks sent orders to him to choose
a position for the army. and when we got
back to Pleasant Hill Smiths Corps was
in position and the other troops were
formed on his line. Smith and every
other General there did his duty and put
up such fight that the rebels were rOut-
ed worse than the Thirteenth Corps had
been the day before, the artillery being
all recaptured and more pieces taken.
Whether Smith and his corps saved the
day or not, the very last and greatest eff
fort to break our lines was made against
the First Brigade of the First Division,
Nineteenth Corps. 1t was charged no
less than Ave times and never finched.
The rebels finally left the field. and pris-
oners who came back to the regiment said
that one regiment could have marched to
Shreveport, the rebels were SO badly
whipped.
l do not wish to disparage any organi-
zatiOn of troops engaged in the battles of
April s and o. 1864. Night coming on as
it did saved the Nineteenth Corps on the
Sth / do not think the same number of
men of any corps would have done better
than the Thirteenth and the troops with
them on the Sth; but l do think it unfair
to give n General and corps all the credit
when they did not hear the guns of all
of the hardest fighting. l do not want to
convey the impression that the 161st was
the only regiment in our brigade that
would have performed the same service.
Any one would have done its full duty.
After the army got back to Grand
Ecore. Banks, Emory. Franklin and
Dwight addressed the 161st, and among
other things all told us that We saved the
army. We were also told that one regi-
ment had to be sacrificed and that they
could not chOOSe-the one first at hand
had to be used.-W. A. HESS, Co. a,