Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-08-10
CHAPTER XIX.-CoNrINuEp.

and fields to the SOUTH. AGAIN 10 lHo
great organizer showing his infantry
in to the attack of an army in posi-
ton. over ground unsearched by cav
airy, though cavalry are with him IN
abundance, eager to be of service, but
he knows not how to use them. East
of the big cornfield, to their left front
as they march, is still another grove,
the east wood, and in long, thin line,
at right angles to the pike, stretching
through the woods, through the corn-
field, silently awaiting their coming
foe,s are aligned the very men they
fought so ~savagely at sunset OF that
August evening barely three weeks
back.
And, Just as before, not a man OF the
hostile line is seen when the guns be-
gin the battle. Off to the left front,
near the east wood, a southern battery
spies the blue battalions issuing from
the skirt of the northward wood nearly
a mile away, dressed on their waving
colors, the skirmishers trotting well
out to the front. Then loud below the
guns and Shrek the shells as line upon
line. brigade upon brigade, Hooker
sends his new command, the newborn
First corps, in to its bloody baptism.
The confederate flank is covered by
Stuart and his dashing horse batteries,
and there is abundant room and more
than abundant need for similar troops
between Doubleday's right and the
river, but not so much as a squadron
rides where it may be of such infinite
service. Mcclellan holds his horses
east of the dividing stream, for again,
as on the peninsula, are his forces thus
bestowed.
Full 500 yards, almost due south,
march the doubled lines in blue,
Meade's little division of Pennsylva-
mans alongside and east of Double
days. Hatch's old brigade is on the
left of Gibbons, Patrick in it's rear, in
support, and for a time the Sixth Wis
consin, at the post Of honor, has the
Hagerstown road IN its right for a
guide. But now comes a thin patch of
woods and a turn-only a slight turn
in the line of the pike, and here, little
by little, through pressure from the
center, the first company begins to
edge out over the highway, the second
follows, and by the time they are
bursting through the barnyards and
farm enclosures at Miller's, and the
shells have changed to shrapnel and
men are dropping fast, the entire right
wing of the Sixth is across the pike
and wading through that westward
field. Then up the pike, just as at
Gainesville, comes g%alloping battery
B." and into the farmyard it turns,
and there, whirling the guns in line
to the south, delivers its resonant an
swer. The Sixth is just striding Out
from the cornfield and into the woods
to the west of the road when, sudden
as a thunderbolt, there bursts the
crash Of an infantry volley, and from
front and right flank, so close that thu
smoke jets forth in their faces, a low
aimed lead storm shrieks through theil
ranks and down goes half the wing
Then blaze the whole west wood ant
the hedgerow south Of the cornfield
and all from an unseen foe F1esl
and blood cannot stand such a gal
in the open. The survivors swing bacl
to the highway, rallying instantly a
the edge of the field, and there, fla
on their faces, they take vigorous ham
in the fight, while Patrick's men, clos
at their heels, rush in to prolong tn
line to the right and fill the gaps a
the front. Five minutes-and bot
woods, east and west, and the inter
vening cornfields are in dense cloud
of sulphur smoke, for Ricketts,, too, ha
come up with his division on the lei
of the corps, and a battle Of giants i
oG.
But vain are the efforts of Hooker
Grave men. Three fine, disciplined d
visions he has led to the field, think
Ing to turn an exposed left flank, Will
Mansfield, with his new Twelfth corp'
supports the attack, and the mai
army, advancing in force from the lin
of the Antietam, covers and holds th
long confederate front extending far
the south of the town. Just whom
blame nobody will say, but, not unit
Hooker's right division is swept /
tapping fires and fiattened out by tn
fierce storm of lead: not until Mead
and Ricketts,, farther to the east, hay
charged again in line with Doubleday
left; not until Doubleday, not whippe
but brought to a stand, is fairly ba
Ting for breath, do the %brigades
Mansfield appear at the east, comiI
ate into action, and even then by I
means prepared. Many battalions a
new and unskilled, and before Il
brigade car be brought into line, ga
liant, gray-headed old Mansfield dro,
dying from his horse. Williams su
ceeds to command; but before Hook
half finishes giving his orders, he, to
commanding all troops at that nome
west of the stream, is stricken al
borne fiom the field, stripping it ther
by Of both corps commanders, al
leaving the right to the care Of m
ignorant of McClellan's plans, and co
fronted by the best fighters in t
southern host.
Campbell. the captain, is shot frc
his saddle. Half the right wing of
Sixth is gone. Half the commando
are now killed or wounded. Not
lieutenant colonel is left in the Ir
Brigade. Allen, Bragg and Bachm
are borne from the line, the last nam
to his soldier grave. The lone eff
is fruitless, a v for its glories a
the fierce punishment given the foem
in front. There, indeed, is destructi