The National tribune., 1902-05-08

Division had carried Maryes flights, and,
as then told, with 1000 prisoners. Then
followed the withdrawal in face Of the
enemy on our left, my regiment being left
to bring up the rear. We moved to the
right through Fredericksburg without mo-
lestation. and, taking the plank road, ar
rived in the vicinity of Salem Church just
as our division was repulsed. We met the
9th Me-. of our brigade marching back,
and among them ! remember well the in
precautions a big. burly soldier was hurting
at the rebels because they had hit him in
the breast. His blouse was thrown back
and his shirt opened wide, showing the
bullets bloody work; but, whatever may
have been the final result OF the wonnd. it
would have taken giant 70 have handled
him then.
The next day eight companies Of the
9th went on picket a little to the rear
and fronting to the left from where the
brigade had been in action the night be-
fore. My company Ck) and one other
company were in reserve, but in sight OF
the pickets. The ground in our front was
land from which the timber had been cut
and the brush lay in piles and sloped
toward u.s. To our left constant skr-
mish fire was kept up, but in our imme-
date front we suffered little annoyance.
A Massachusetts battery had six pieces
in position just back of our company, on
rising ground. Before sundOwn-the re-
ports say o o'clOck-the rebels advanced
in three lines on our front, and were so
close before the battery opened on them
that we could hear the officers cursing the
men for not keeping in better line as they
moved among the stumps and brush.
When the battery opened on them the
slaughter must have been terrible, for it
stopped the advance unaided by the in
fantry, except the pickets' shots. With
the check to this movement came our OPP
portunity to extricate ourselves from
peril.
The reports show that the corps was
formed something in the shape of horse
shoe, with the heel or open part toward
| Banks Ford, and the rebels occupying po-
sitions on both tanks and front So far
! as / am able to fix it, the 9Th occupied
the extreme, or toe, end of the horseshoe.
With the nightfall we began to race for
| that ford, starting with eight days ra-
| tons, and most Of with a full supply
of cartridges. What we left on the way
made some hungry Johnny glad. | had
already tried nearly years impriSon-
ment, end | had no yeaning for more.
| 1t needed no file closer" or provost
guard to make NE keep up. Besides the
natural desire to keep with the boys, there
were so many fireworks in the air | felt
as though | had TO hurry" How long
anu uulu Nc run Dp SlltSStu WHICH, 1
say that Doane. one of the largest men in
the company, after throwing away every
| thing else finally broke his gun and threw
it away by Lieut.. Gaskill's orders, so that
he might keep up.
| Gen. Bartlett. in his report, says that
out Of less than 800 men who went into
action at Salem Church $50 were killed
and wounded. The four regiments that
suffered this loss were the 10Th y. Y, 9TH
Me-, Goth Pa. and 121st n. Y, then COM
manded by Col. (afterward Maj.-Gen.)
| Upton.
Gen. Bartlett reported that his brigade
was left 10 bring up the rear, so it must
have been when we were on the bridge
that the countermanding order was re-
ceived. The corps could probably have
returned by daylight; but H. defenseless
position, with the whole rebel army to
| fight, we would inevitably have been
swept out of existence.
The disaster to the Eleventh Corps is
popularity supposed to have wiped them
out; yet the Sixth Corps lost almost twice
as many men as did the Eleventh Corps
either. If Sedgwick could nave had the
Eleventh Corps as il existed on Sunday
May 3, after its supposed humiliation, and
in addition to his own corps hurled them
against the enemy at Salem Church, the
result might have been different, for the
Eleventh Corps could fight IL given @
chance.
No part of the blame for the ignomin
ious results Of Charlottesville can be laid
upon Sedgwick or any of his subordinates
The errors or failures of anyone connected
with the corps did not cause the disaster
nor were they contributing cause there
to. The want Of success lay in the bad
management Of the other six corps. There
let the blame be fixed.-HENRY S. WELLS
lCO. * 9TH N Sapond RripaHa Firsi