The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-12-11
the Colonel back to the rear, as he could
moi see a ward without his ebecks.

| u l1ea1U SOHO sOne CAll OUT hpJ Siuso
| killed Major Pitcher" and eaw that some
OF my own mea, had fallen. Thet, / lost
my head and became as reckless as any OF
my men. laushittg them through the woods
and coming out myself on their extreme
| right flank close to a ditch of moderate
dimensions, witt, whitish gray earth
thrown out In front, marched across Il
fRmall branch near the foot of the woods,
and up to a bog or 1norass, which proved
to be impnssable to man. While We were
being here delayed, the Tdfty-second Vir-
ginia, under Captain Watkins, and the
Thirteealh Virginia, Under Colonel Ter
rill rushed by US ut half speed. leaving
the Tl,irty-ilrst, Fifty-eighth and Forty
ninth Virginia. Regiments with me. THESE
last avoided the obstacle almost before
the orders could i,e given by a sive-way
OF tho left to tho right. and n showdown
OH the right, and rushed after tho enemy,
who fed IN detached squads like h mob.
We did not come UP with any, of them
until after wo passed a narrow little
ditch. On the Ear side OF this ditch we
found a Federal cap tain with Il drawn
sword III his hand, and behind him about
u score OF his men, with guns Il, both
hands. AS none OF them attempted to use
their arms. i demanded their surrender,
bu us they would not throw their arms
down the men bayoneted q Few of thgnn,i
and told the men TO knock them down
and take their arms away; blu. the crack
Ing OF skulls OF unresistlrg men grated
OH my nerves, and ordered the men
to knock their hnnds away from their
guns. tried to make! the captain under
stand what meant by surrender, but
lie held his naked sword ins both hands
and ans wered in "a lam uag go which had
never before heard spoken, sung or acted.
1T was neither English, French, German,
Spanish nor. Italian. My men coming,
up were about to knock him lii tho head,
but / told theurl to knock his hands away
from his sword. sent. tho captain and
hiss few surviving mon to tho rear under
n guard OF two Of my men. This little
episode over,.I looked to the: front, and
saw some OF tho enemy on the edge of
n pine tll1cket OF vcry irregular shape
on ground which rose from tho ditch aud
at q distance Which varied from ono hun-
dred to one hundred and: tfty. yards nom
It, We. charged them, and they disnp-
men were about to- follow them when
1 recovered my senses and ordered O halt.
ti CEASE FIRING
My mon continued to fire. rapidly fo1'
several minutes, but as the enemy did not,
respond, and tallS I could ace by looking
III tho thicket was q deep hollow, l or
dered Cease firing. Seeing q body Of
Confederates close to my right flank, i
rode up to the nearest files and asked
what men they were and who was In
command. sergeant answered that
they were Gordon's men,, Evans's bril-
gade; that only two regiments and afews
files Of third were on that ground; ; that,
Evans was not there, and he did not
know who commanded them. told him
that would take the men OF his little
squad; that the only command I had
to givo was to keep in general alignment
with my right flank, and not to waste
his ammunition on the pine thicket; that
If any Of the enemy were in there they
were in a deep hollow. II rode quickly
back to my own regiment which had
again commenced firing OH pine trees,
as thought, and again stopped them.
Just then some half a dozen men on
both sides of the colors of the Forty
ninth Virginia cried out that they had
rells men had shot them. It'd them It
was notso, and ordered tho color bearer TO
lower his flag, rode around an acute
anglo of the pines and thought / saw
through the smoke OF baltic the heads OF
two or three men OF the 1tifty-second
bobbng over their parapet and enquired
If any Of the Thirty-flrst had been shot,
was told that none had been, l then
went back and, told the Forty ninth that
Terrell's mon (Thirteenth virginla) had
not shot them and could not have done
SO without first shooting through the
Thirty-flrst Regiment and the angle of
the pines, that the enemy in the rear
had seen our flags, although we could
not see them and fired on It.. ordered
tho men back to the little ditch andfA.to
gather the cartridge boxes sof the dead
and wounded as they went; and rode
over the ridge In rear of the ditch and
saw a body Of tho enemy who seemed TO
be firing IN our direction. then rode back
to Gordon's men and seeing General
Evans there with staff officer, explain
ed to him that I had given all order to
some of his men in his absence, for which
l hoped he would excuse me, and that
came TO suggest that his men fall back
as far as mlno had done. Flo answered
all right, that only two OF his regiments
could squeeze through and that he had
been In action with the other regiments
on another part OF the field. I rode back
and thought 1t was time to look up Colo
mel Terrell; started to ride from the left
flank Of the Thirty-first up the ditch, as
1t ran eastward ove1l the Hill; had gone
only few PAGES when the head Of
man lying In the ditch bobbcd up >and
said that Colonel Terrell had sent him
there to warn mo against coming over
that hill, that the enemy swept 1t with
a deadly fire, that he had a strong posi-
ton which he could hold without my
assistance, and that he was using two
recaptured guns against the enemy.
When l came back to my men examined
tho ditch. It was about knee deep, with
some six or eight inches of grayish white
dirt thrown up on the outside, and was
presumably a continuation Of the ditch
which I saw on my right as came out
OF the woods. and connecting this with
tho fact that the enemy that saw in
my rear were within tho limo Of n similar
stretch OF white earth. running east
ward and westward. l concluded from
tho confused and confusing situation in
which found our men, that we had pro-
jectcd a quadrilateral from our main line
OF works, silly planned and badly excf'
cutcd. The ditch in which my men tried
to stand was scarcely two feet wide, and
the rear ranks set down on the surface
OF the ground behind. could well see
how Johnston's division could have been
rushed, but could not see how they could
have been surprised. nor why they did net
finish the nuadrllateral extension even ir