The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-03-03

to shin his gunsto % avoid capture. -~a5.s.4
stand to their guns, and faithful hands
grasp the rife, it is easy 10 sBredict the
result Every. assault met a as,6loody re-
pulse. The promised artillery nil was not
rendered: the few batteries used were
beaten in .detaiLt3O Afterwards, Magru-4
der and Huger attacked, but III was with
out order or ensemble, q brigade, or even a
regiment, being tbrownsforRard at time.
EACH In succession, met e. like receptions
from the steady lines Of infantry and the
concentrated fire from the artillery reserve,
under its able commander, Sol. Hunt. The
attacks fell mainly on Porter o. the left,
and on Gonch; and the suctsss.ae thesaay'
was In a large degree duets the skill
and coolnessso of tierAtfer, who, an holding
the hottest part OF the Union line, was
gradually REINFORCED by the brigades OF
Caldwell. Sickles, Meagher, and several
OF Porters, till he came to command the
whole left center, displaying in his conduct
OF the battle high order Of generalship.
BLUNDER COSTLY FOR coNFEpKRATEs.
Night closed on the conibatants still
fighting, the opposing forces being distin-
guishable only by the lnrid lines OF fire.
Thus till near o'clock, when the FIRE,
slackening gradually, died out altogether,
and only an occasional shot from the bat
teries broke the silence TINT peryaded the
bloody field. The repuIse OF the Confeder-
ates was most complete. and entailed loss
of 5000 men, while the Union loss was not
above one-third that number. Lee never
before nor since that action. delivered a
battle 80 ill-judged inacpncention, eor 50
faulty in it's details of9axecuti9n. It was
as bad as the worst Bl,pderI ever COM
mitted ON the Union ssidet bufs he pfofited
by the experiment, and ne yer repeated it.
yIcToRs WITHDREW
Victorious though the Army Of the Po-
tomac was on the field Of Malvern, the po-
sition was not one that could be held; for
the army was under the jmperious neces-
sity of reaching it's supplies. During the
night, accordingly, the troops were with
drawn to Harrison's Bar, on the James.
Col. AverilI, with regiment Of cavalry, a
brigade Of regular infantry, and battery.
covered the rear. Lee threw forward
absent during the whole pursuit on an ex-
pedition to White House and the lower
fords of the Chickahominy, and only re-
/ n. Gen. Mcclellan, mistaking the move
ments OF these two divisions, fell into an
erroneous apprehension, regarding the part
they played in the battle. In his Report
Up. 139) he says: about 2 o'clock a col
umn OF the enemy was observed moving
towards our right. Arrangements were at
once made to meet the anticipated attack
in that quarter; but though the column
was long, occupying two hours in passing
it disappeared, and was not again heard
Of. The presumption Is that 1t retired by the
rear, and participated in the attack after
Uards made on our left"i This was the coll
| umn OF Longstreet and A. p. Hill, getting
into its position in reserve on the Confed-
| crate left; but, as above stated, it took no
part in the action. During the battle, the
| observed movement of this column gave
| Mcclellan great concern fer His right, as
he conceived it was making a1 detOur with
the view to fail upon that flank; and this
caused him to remain on his right. "My
apprehensions," he says '.axere for the
extreme right l felt 40 concern for the
left and ter."-Report on the Conduct
Of the War, VOL. ,isp. ,437. .Sach trouble
some errors are the necessary result of the
nature Of such theater OF war as that on
which the two armies weres operating.
/ % This repulse was detefmined by the
excellent practice Of Kingslsufy's 8 battery,
together with the ssteady Gfe OF the 10th
the latter regiment capturing the colors
Of the 14th N. c. in d hand-te-hand con-
| fict. ~. II 4e
20. Reports Of the Army Of, Northern
Virginia, vol. !. p. 1S8.
/ 30. Instead OF ordering Iup 100 or 200
pieees VI a,ll'ely " piuy ~ the 1ahkees.
La single battery was ordered up and
knocked to pieces in, a fey minutes; one
or two others shared the same fate of be-
ing beaten in detail. Thesfring from our
batteries was of the most farcical char
acter. Report OF Gen. D. III. Hill: Ke-
ports Of the Army OF Northern Virginia,
! vol. j, p. 1856. Gen. Lee says: ''The OBJ.
lstacles presented by. the woods and
swanips made 'imprae aeticaAle to bring up
suficient saJpDunt Of artillery to oppose
that arm employed by the nnemy.',-Ibid. 1,
psy12. See also report OF Gen Pendleton,
Chief OF ARTILLERY, fhld. q. f227.
tContmued ON sixth msxe.,