Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-05-27
Y%HOROUGHFARE GAP.
by NJ. QUAD.

the federals, and at every gap in the
Blue Ridge he left a force with instruc-
tions to hold out to the last and give
him all the time possible to reach and
cross the Potomac. 1t was the aim of
the federals to break through at some
point and penetrate his movement, and
there was fighting On every mountain
trail and at the mouth of every noun
tain gap. The major general had said
TO the brigadier ordered to proceed to
Thoroughfare Gap:
Il do lot know how many Confeder-
ates are holding that gap, but be the
number 500 or 10000 you must break
through. That is the order-break
through. If only one man of your
command is left alive, he will bring us
the news we want"
And the major general on the Confed-
crate side had said to the brigadier:
You will detach one regiment of
your command to hold Thoroughfare
Gap. 1t must be held against the fed
erals for three days. We can spare
only a single regiment. If there is but
m man left alive at the end of that
time, he will follow on and overtake
U.S."
A narrow wagon road, twisting and
turning between walls from 20 to 100
feet high, with alternate spots of sun
shine and gloom-that was Thorough
fare Gap. AS the skeleton regiment of
900 C~onfederates entered it and pressed
forward to its western mouth, it's rug
gedness and gloomy solemnity brought
a feeling of 1--WE 1t reminded them of
a tomb, and they shuddered t think of
dying in the semi-darkness. Two field
pieces rolled along with the regiment
OF infantry, and the jar of the heavy
wheels loosened a stone now and then
to come gathering down from above.
When a blue brigade came Gathering
up, it was to find the 600 in possession
n the position n which the dullest
private must see was we'll nigh i'm
pregnable. Every hour was worth a
thousand lives to the federal army, and
the federal brtgadier lost no time in
beginning the attack. In the open he
would have gobbled up that skeleton
regiment at a. dash. Behind a rocky
wall hastily thrown up, with no way
to get at the enemy except in front,
his surplus of men did not count. At
the sound of the bugles they dashed
forward with cheers, but not a man got
within five rods of the wall. Grape and
canister and bullets tore the lines to
pieces, 1t was tried again and again.
The orders were to break through the
gap. A thousand dead and wounded
would be a cheap price for the infor-
nation to be had at the other end.
Artillery was brought forward to bat
ter down the wall, but it could not be
placed to advantage. The pieces had
only been fired once when their crews
lay dead or wounded and the carriages
were shattered. The federal brigadier
rode back and forth and stormed and
sWore and almost wept.
whether 500 or / 1000. you must break
through!" were the orders, and IL he
Ialled to carry them out his career as a
soluler was al an end. An army of 200, 900
men were waiting to checkmate Lee. A
WhoIe nation was waiting to hear the
Splash or Confederate feet in the waters
OF the Potomac. The men in blue could
haruly form company in the mouth of
that dehle. A charge against the wall
meant death to every other man, but
they formed up and charged and cheered
and-died. After half a day of bloody
fighting the Federal ~brigadier rested. He
was still bleeding from a wound when he
opened a dispatch and read:
You have one of the best brieades in
the corps, and it is certain you are OPP
posed by only a handful of Confeder-
ates, BY . o'clock in the morning you
must ave authentic news of Lee"
The brlgadier had sacrificed 600 men
that day, and he could not believe the
Confederate loss to be over fifty. There
was but one way to reach them on the
morrow-over that stone wall. He would
drive them or die with the last man.
There was no jollity in the Federal camp
that night. Men will sing and joke as
they swing into battle line in the open,
but these men peered into the darkness
of the gap and thought of the dead in
'front.' of the stone wall n spoke to each
other in whispers. 1t was a brave sight
to see them swing into line as the sun
gilded the tree tops. Every face had its
pallor, and every eye looked into the
midst of death, but there was no drag
ging or faltering. You saw them tighten
ing their belts and setting their Jaws
as they waited, and you held your breath
for the signal which was to send them to
death.
On the other side of the stone wall there
was no exultation. The dead and the
wounded We're comparatively few, but
every hour would add to the number, and
only one day of the three had passed. The
colonel knew what was coming and pre-
pared for it. When the blue lines, ten
deep, came dashing forward, they met
with such a hail of iron and lead that
the first three or four were blotted off the
face of the earth. Then, under the smoke
cloud, some of them wounded and all
desperate, the other lines crept forward,
the wall was reached. 1t was q hand
TO hand fight now and every man was a
devil, and after a quarter of an hour of