The National tribune., 1901-11-14

I accordingly moved through the woods,
as directed, for some distance, halted and
formed line, which point must have been
somewhere near the place where Pleas
onton had had his fight the evening be
fore.
| caused ranks to be broken, resting the
men, and awaited orders. Soon these
came, as Capt Wilson, of Geary's staff,
rode up, stating that Geary had been hurt,
and that he (WilsOn) was then on Hook
er's staff, and that the orders of Gen.
Hooker were that the command in that
woods where l then was should move
forward, engage and stop the enemy.
l asked Capt. Wilson if he thought
Gen. Hooker knew that the only COM
mand in these woods was the Goth Ohio.
| asked if he knew what force Of the
enemy was then in my immediate front.
He answered that he did not. l told
him that l knew, and that it was vir-
tually Lees army.
A REGIMENT AGAINST AN ARMY.
Capt. Wilson then added to the orders
that he had already given that Gen.
Hooker empowered me instantly to shoot
any officers or men that should quail or
fail in doing their duty. Upon this Capt.
Wilson turned, rode back and disappeared
from view. 1t struck me that If Gen.
Hooker was dependent upon single regi
ment to stop Lees advance there, then
some calamity had befallen the Army of
the Potomac that l did not know of. My
orders were to move forward, and as
from the place where we had been rest
ing we had heard for some time the shout
ing and commands of officers forming the
Confederate column for this renewed ad
vance, | had no idea that we could 90
very far; but | sang out, Attention"
and the regiment was ready. Forward"
followed, and the regiment was in motion,
i i'll
both upon our right and left the skirmish
ers of the enemy advancing, evidently TO
get in our rear.
/ called for skirmishers from our right
and left companies to go out and engage
them as they moved forward with the
regiment. We soon met the advance of
the enemy, and drove back their skir-
mishers and caused q halt in the enemy's
advancing columns. This audaciOus ad
vance Of ours must have been a surprise
to them, and their halt was to find out
what was in their front.
This l considered a compliance with
my orders, as | had advanced, engaged
the enemy and stopped him, and / felt
that now it was my duty to try and rescue
my regiment from the perilOus position
that II was in, and gave the orders to
fall back, which was done, we frequently
halting and driving back the skirmishers
Of the enemy, which were severely press
ing US. Many Of my men were falling,
some killed, others wounded; but all such
had to be left to their fate, as we were
! struggling for existence.
| When we reached our former place at
our fieldworks what was our surprise to
| see that they were entirely abandoned by
| our troops, we having no knowledge as
to where they were. 1t looked as il when
we moved forward they had fallen back
and that my regiment had either been
| forgotten or deserted.
We continued TO fall back, making the
| best resistance possible and 81 nsy i'm
| peding the progress of the el--.ny; but as
we emerged from those woods we found,
| just across the roadway going south from
/ the Chancellor House that a large Union
force had been assembled upon the higher
| ground there TO resist the farther advance
| Of the enemy; but with a rush and yell
| those forces of the enemy drove our men
from that position and toward our new
line that had been formed with less time
than they had wasted upon my regiment
while in those woods.
Hooker's line of battle as reformed was
| a much shorter one than had been the
one from which he had just been driven,
| as il merely covered enough space for the
recrOssiDg of the RappahannOck, should
that be determined upon. Lee passed
close upon HoOkeTs new line, but made
no serious attempt at an assault. Each
army was apparently waiting for the
other to move.
HooKER's LOST OPPORTUNITY.
At the close of Pleasonton's fight one
Of the best opportunities ever in the grasp
| Of a commander OF great army was in
| HOokers hands, and had he been a divi-
sion or corps commander he would have
sought the privilege Of heading such an
assault. as then the forces of the enemy
were widely separated. and the Army OF
the Potomac was between such forces,
and had them cut in two and their larger