The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-03-26

ndu IOunu Sneltef. ana tnen AT tne coiii-
| mand of 'Sedgwicks Man of Iron the
brave fellows started eagerly forward.
They reached and passed the skrmishers.
| and the white puffs of smoke and sharp
| cracks Of their rifles became more and
more frequent; first the rattle of an active
| skirmish and then the continuous roar of
| a musketry battle. -.-
I'm magnificent order and with light
steps. they ran forward up the ascent,
through the orchard, through the little
grove on the right, over the fence rail, up
to the road making straight for the OBJ
jectiye point. the frame house Cranberry
in front. The rebels at first stood their
ground, then gave way before the impetu-
ous charge. and though forced to seek
safety in fight, turned and poured their
volleys into the ranks of the pursuers.
Lieut.-COl. johnson, commanding the 49th
n. ", brave man, who had never shrunk
from danger, and who had shared all the
various fortunes of the brigade since its
| organization, fell MORALLY wounded Col.
Visscher, of the AID n. Y, who had but
lately succeeded the beloved Wilson, was
killed. Maj. James p. Jones, command
ing the 9TH Me-, was also among the slain,
and Maj. Crosby, commanding the G1st
Pa, who had just recovered from n bad
wound which lie had received in the Will
derness, was taken to the hospital, where
the Surgeon removed the left arm from
the soldier. Col. w. b. French. of the
18th n. Y, was injured. The commanding
officer of every regiment in the brigade
was either killed or wounded.
THE fight had lasted but few minutes,
when the stream of bleeding. mangIed ones
began to come to the rear. Men leaning
upon the shoulders of comrades, or borne
painfully on stretchers, the pallOr of their
cOuntenances rendered more CHASTITY by
the thick dust which settled upon them,
were brought into the hospitals by scores,
where the medical officers, ever active in
administering relief to their companions,
were hard at work binding up wounds ad-
ministering stimulants, coffee and food. or
resorting to the hard necessity of amputa-
ton.
AT THE SUMMIT OF THE ASCENT
the COnfederates were strengthened by
their second line of battle, and here they
made 81 stout resistance; but even this pO-
sitiOn they were forced to abandon in
haste; and as darkness closed in upon the
scene our men were left as yictors in pos
session Of the ground lately occupied by
the rebels, having driven their adversaries
more than n mile
The Vermont Brigade now came to the
relief of the boys who had so calamity
won the field. and the Third Brigade re-
turned mt midnight to the bivOuac it had
left in the morning. But not all returned
Many of those brave men who went with
such alacrity into the battle had fallen to
rise no more, in the orchard, i'm the road.
about the frame house, and upon the sum
init where the rebels had made so deter
mined resistance; their forms were
stretched upon the greensward and upon
the dusty road. stiff and cold. Many more
had come to the hospital severely injured,
MANNED for life or MORALLY wounded.
"The little brigade, numbering only 1 900
men when it went into action, had lost $50
of its number. We gathered our dead
comrades from the field where they had
fallen and gave them the rude burial Of
the soldier on the common near Fort
Stevens. No officer of state. no lady of
wealth, no citizen of Washington was
there, but we laid them in their graves
within sight of the Capitol, without coffins,
with only their CORY garments and their
blankets around them. With the rude ten
derness of soldiers. we covered them in
the earth. and marked their names with
our pencils on the little headboards of pine
and turned sadly away to other scenes"
On an eminence near the Confederate adj
vance was John C. Breckenridge, the can
dldate receiving the votes of the seeding
States for President, expecting to enter
the Capital with the Army Of Northern
Virginia.
On the parapet of Fort Stevens bv tho
side of Gen. Wright, amid the whizzing
bullets. stood the successful candidate in
that great political struggle,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
watching with that ''grave and pensive
counfenance" the progress of the battle.
A few years ago, in company with tbe
old commander of the Sixth Corps, l stood
upon that same parapet. After contem-
plating the surroundings, Gen. Wright
said:
"Here on the top of this parapet, be-
tween this old embrasure and that, il the
place where President Lincoln stood wit
Messing the fight; there. by his side a
Surgeon was wounded by q mimic bali.
Il entreated the President not to ex.
pose his life to the bullets Of the enemy;