The National tribune., 1901-09-12

was embroidered Of exquisite beauty AMI
workmanship.
The gratifying presentation took place
in the center of square formed by our
regiment, and the flag was turned over
to Col. Z. X. Quincy by Gen. Measher,
in one of those magnificent rhetorical eff
forts for which he is distinguished, and
appropriately responded TO by Col. Quincy
in the name OF the regiment.
The remainder of the Winter months
soon passed away.
Gen. Burnside, having resigned his
command, was succeeded by Gen. Hooker,
and preparations were then made for
Spring campaign, which eliminated in the
battle of Charlottesville.
AT CHANCELLoRsyILLE.
On April 81 our army, under the com
mand OF Gen. Hooker, moved from Fal-
mouth in the direction of Kelley's Ford,
on the Rappahannock, which we crossed,
surprising the enemy and driving him
back upon the formidable works in his
rear. The army then crossed the Rapl-
dan at Ellis's Ford, and marched to
place called Charlottesville, in Orange
County, Va. Here we halted, and soon
our forces were in position, and prepared
to give battle to Gen. Lee. The engage
ment was commenced by the artillery Of
the Union troops, which kept up a con-
tinuOus fire throughout the day.
The Fifth Corps, under the command
of Gen. Sykes, commenced the conflict;
and succeeded in driving the rebel force.
from its position. A large number of the
Xouaves, a fine regiment from New York,
were killed and wounded. They fought
magnifcently that day, and succeeded in
maintaining the position they had so
bravely won. The 9th, upon the extreme
left of the right wing, had thrown up
strong breastworks facing the enemy's
center, which they had been instructed to
maintain to the death.
The columns of Jackson, escaping the
clutch of Sedgwick, at Fredericksburg,
changed the face of affairs, however, max
ing it necessary for our division to leave
their works, and march on the plank road
to intercept Jackson, and keep him from
the field until the forces Of Lee, in the
front were beaten by Gen. Hooker.
BY some mistake upon the part of sub
ordinate commanders, wrong route was
taken and Jackson, in full possession of
the plank road, marched without Interrupt
ton to the support of Lee, and succeeded
in repulsing the main force of Hooker,
compelling him to take up new posi-
ton on the fields in front of the Chancel-
lor House, where a portion of our ar
tillery was posted, and about a quarter Of
a mile in the rear of our original line.
The fine fighting of our troops, however,
preserved all our original advantages OF
position, and the general feeling among
them was that Lee would be defeated.
The movements of Gen. Hooker were
characterized by celebrity and decision, and
the troops had the fullest confidence in his
ability; and, being in the best of spirits,
the defeat of the rebels was anticipated.
From prisoners that were captured we
learned that the rapid movements OF
Hooker had taken Lee completely by sur
prise; and many of them further remarked
that we had taken the right way to mas
ter Lee" in fact, they all seemed to be-
lieve that Charlottesville was the begin
ming of the last days of the Confederacy.
Our regiment was engaged great part
of the time in supporting Gritin's Bat
terry and doing picket duty. Two of the
companies of our regiment, while on
picket, were engaged with the enemy,
and handsomely repulsed him. The battle
of Charlottesville occupied about three
DAYS, when Gen. Hooker found it neces-
sary to fall back, the army crossing safe
ly at the United States Ford on the morn
ing of May ;, having marched all night
without being harassed by Lees forces, to
whom our retreat was entirely uneX-
pected.
The battle cost a great many lives. and
following as it did upon the heels of Fred
ericksburg, seemed to leave our army in
n very bewildered state. They could
scarcely understand how these cOnsecu-
tive defeats had occurred, after all the
splendid fighting they had done and the
extraordinary marches they had per-
formed.
INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE.
We are reminded of an incident Of that
battle which may be worth relating. We
were engaged on the provost guard of the