The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-08-27

80.
|s,nust haye met Just about Where tt',
|4trees stood. IL seemed TO me, While ~ =
iWhnt ,Sns Tie toe or tho 4hofsesnoe lhht
,r,oyt,lnr. Tho dir was full OF bullets, anu
ftra fnct Tint these twD trees were
tWhIitied tlowl, III the manner q nave
athted proves That part, for no such other
occurrence Is recorded III the nhnnls OF
our war. or III those OF any OTHER war;
of (which II ever road Isl Z. Ii Y v. 3. !, I. 4, !.
THE - tCRslsstl y E"s i, Or BLOODY
isi ANu1,1I5 H n sss5S
willie + Nm writing o., the is,'bjoct. y
hcpe you and youts rcudefs VIII l'afuot OH
me, lfi1 write It tie more.
b Major stiles, pnHe 2G3 touches upon tho
subject or faulty formations In our lines,
WITH MI implied query nbout what was
Known, ns the salient, !" or bloody
angle" s5
iii tho first place, The line botl, TO tho
right and left of the snllent WAS
on N considerable ridge overlook-
ing tho low grounds between III.
ana tho Ny River. On the march from
Tie wilderness Oh May, sth. Jphhston's
Division which followed 1sodes Division,
reached the spotsylynnn field lnte IN the
afternoon, and was ordered to form OH
Rodes's right, and extend It. When llodes
lad gotten his men III line.8 nnd the
head OF our column Ind reached his right.
uron which We wore to form, IT was
nearly dark. Rodcs's right rested Oh. tho
edge or the woods, and to extend his lihc,
10 Ind to 20 through tho woods. We had
no Guide and no Lights. and General,
Johnson at the head Of his division, IN
column Of four, or double flo. think tho
nttcr, began to get his men In line. as
best he could I was riding by his side,
md soon after we entered tho woods,
with thu division following, we ca me upon
thicknt, mostly pine, 30 thick that the
darkness was almost n1pcnetrablc.
4 remember well that Kept my hand
before my eyes, which were really Of no
use to mo at bat time, 10 protect them.
md TINT moro thnn once I was nearly
dragged OFT my horse by the traos with
which came In contact. Our progress,
under such circumstances was ncccs-f
salily very slow. 1vc l,now nothing Of
hc9topography OF tho country but soon
we came to the end or the iliicket through
which we had been passing for 3fcrnn-
tlon, and saw camp fires before MS. nj
most directly In the llnerof our march.
rhis was tho first light which We had
seen. Tho ground was examined ana
General Johnson found We were on the
brow otsn ridge. which turned somewhat
shortly ID tAn right The camp nrcs IN
below the plane OF cur position. as they
we're in fact. It was now quite lato in
tho .nitht. and General johnson DETECTED
his line and followed tho ridge, 80 far M
1T could be DISTINGUISHED In the darkness.
In to tho noit,t Of DETECTION there was
room for Walkers Brigade. our left
tho Louisiana Brigade, %nnd the greater
part OF Jo1,es's Brigade, so that Stew
arts Brfgndc. which occunied our right.
@hna JpGf pf
nolnt. If it Ind hccn' extended In n
strnlght line. Stewards right would have
hccn worry close to and rather&in front.
Of the camp fires which we had seen.
1T was under those circumstances that
Johnson's Division wns plncnd IN line,
c,'l fortified IT. md 70 painfully slow
wac our movement. on account or Inc
wocds mn darkness md jgnnrnncn OF
tle tororrnrhv OF the rrnund upon which
wn wore forming. we were in our saddles
MI night.
When daylight came General Johnson
found his dlvision was on tho ridge and
cxccpt some slight changes IN Stewards
formation, It 40 remained. and the enc
nv was in our front ard to our loft and
roar so that we were cnfllntrd. scspcclallv
| Stewards Brigade. Rreastworks had al
ready been thrown un. especially along
tho line OF tho brigade which had first
soldier knows how soon this could be
done. MS II by magic. but General john
son had tho toe OF the horseshoe fortified
for artillery In the form OF salient,
and this was done, ms recall It. under
tho supervision of some OF our engineer
officers md 1t was well done General
Stewart had traversns built IN rear o.
his line ns he was much entladed. and
General walker and General HAYS also
IN,
Same renson, though their brsgadcs DID
not suffer as much M General Stewards,
uJav's BrIendc OF Fnrly's Division. anu
sta cords Brigade Of Jnhnson's DIVISION
we're consolidated under General Henry
r. unys on tho march from the wilder
mess. on May Sth, General STAFFORD nav nav
tnr been biIlnd on May 5th)
Ny recollection IS that on the YIN 9,
Nav tha engineer officers. with General
NJ =, smith Mt their head, went over
tho limo and considered It safe with ar
tillery, and with this wo were at once
s,lpnlIed-.two batteries OF four guns each.
On Nav 10th Scdgwlck's corps broke
through Rodcs's line to our left, ana
penetrated some distance In our rear,
but inter some severe fighting the enemy
was driven back and our lines were re-
stored Il WAS not present on thal occh--
sion, as General Johnson had sent Major
ED. MOOrC una lIlyScil W tSsAN>t-Ab
HEADQUARTERS \ wagon, which had broken
down ana been abandoned on the march
from the Wilderness on tho sth.y On May
nth. however, General Ice. with General
Smith. visited our Ines and were OF
opinion, as I wns Informed that they.
could be held with our artillery On that
day General Johnson, with several MEM
bers of his staff Including, myself, went
In front Of our lines beyond the Ian
drum house. which was outside Of our
skirmish line; and no signs of the enemy
were seen In our front, nor did there ap-
pear to be any activity on tho enemy's
limo in our front. until late In the nfter-
noon of that day.
AT THE WILDERNESS.
In addition to what i hayo said In re-,
gard to the selection OF this line. one
very important fact-one that VIII DO
fully appreciated by those conversnnt
with that campuign-must not DO over
looked. Johnson's division received the
| opening attack Of Grants army on May
eth. and during that day and night, and
| the succeeding day and night, were in