The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-10-08
.PECRAM'S GRADE
EARLY DIVISION
5Ewell's Corps in the Battle OF
the Wilderness in May
1864.
The FlFTY-sEC0ND VIRGINIA
.A Graphic Story Of War and
Carnage, BY Captain James
Bungardner.

y II Drlow Is a valuable article by Captain
James Bumgardner on tho Battle OF tho
Wilderness, May 5thsand 9th, 1854:
farrlm.s brigade defended two assaults
In that battle-one on the night Of the
9Th and one on the morning Of tho 9Th.
It ,oined in the attack on the afternoon
& of the 9Th.
General Gordon in his book sreaks Of
Ewc,!s Corps being idle" On the 9Th.
This is a great mistake, AS Will appear
fully from tho War Records Indeed. In
General Gordon's own report Of the Bat
55 tlc8 of the Wilderness, .his account III MS
bool, Is refued. lle speaks In his report
II Of the enenly's attack on the ntrnlng OF
I the 9Th, and declares that ''thc cncmSs
whole force on the part Of the line OPP
posite the enemy's right flank was APP
Spaiently occupied by repeated assaults
upon the front Of Johnsons Division
There were indeed repeated assaults
on Johnson's front. but also Tn Early's
front They fell heaviest on Pegmm's
brig AIDE, then under Colonel Joha S. Holf-
man Pegran having been wounded tho
&&nirhi before.
! lie reports of the Federal officers arc
MUIR. rolls, and they abundantiy slow the
mistake of General Gordon about this
battle in his book. and that the attack
was made heavily on the left. WHICH was
held by Early
General Meade says in hisyrepcrt:i Or
dela We're given on the night of tho 9Th
for ench corps to attack promptly at 5
& Al NJ the next day. Il was atn-isedi BY
the llcutenart-general commanding That
Tho Ninth Corps, Nlajor-General Burnside,
was ordered up, and would attack at the
4 came hour, going in between the Orange
Pink Road and the Turnpike. On tho
S6th. The attacks were made as ordered,
but without any particular success on the
part OF either the Fifth or Sixth Corps"
The Sixth Corps, with the exception
of one division, was on Ewelrs right con-
& fronting Johnson and Early.
a3 Brigade General q Truman Seymour,
of Pickett's Division. Sixth Corps, says:
Ion the morning OF the 9th, Brisader-
General Alexander Shaler reported to
me with part OF his brigade, which
was Immediately posted In extension OF
my right. This additional force did not
much more than compensate. for the loss
OF space due to the casualties OF the
preceding afternoon, and the closing In
to General Nell's brigade on my left for
the same cause. The second line of my
brigade now replaced tho first, and at 7
clock anotheE4a1 tack. was ordered. and
4 the two brigatlt.s moved forward I'M
petuously, but when within a few rods
Of the cneny's works received such dis
charges Of musketry as entirely to de-
rive tho attack of impulsion. The fire
from the enemys artillery was also Sc
we're and close. In spite of the superb
rteadincss OF the men and the best Of
forts OF their brave officers of both bril-
Rades no decisive advantage could be
claimed. Tho enemy's limo extended be-
ID yond our right, and our formation was
eevn now thin and weak for attacking,
The casualties We're again very heavy.
One Hundred and Thirty eight Pennsyl-
vania lost 1853 during tho day, with two
OF the finest young officers, Lieu,enniits
J. II. Fisher and John y. Essick OF
the One Hundred and Twenty second
Ohio, Captain Work was killed. known
for q noble GOODNESS In battle, an officer
held in high esteem by his regiment
md Captain Harding, Lieutenants Kill
Il burn and Nemeyer were. unfortunately
severely wounded. Captain Il. Nj. Lyons
of the One Hundred and Twenty Sixth
Captain o. w. Franco, Captain ], S
McCready, and Lieutenant Robert Hills
among the choicest and best ofofllcers
were kileG.--War Records, Sxv!, Par
]. l29.
ss The Confederate army was swept alonl
lie Spotsylvan!a campaign In such {
hurr!can Of battles, so many OF It's com
TX handlers fell and there were such SINAI
ABILITIES for other work than LOADING
and firing, that reports on the Confed
crate side are few. There are dozel
others besides that Of General Seymour
which could quote. but selected Hi
as 10 the action on the morning Of Ma.
n 9Th. because his WAS the brigade tina
contested tie right OF the Federal SIKH
Corps, and was opposite to Pcgram'
brigade at that time. with Genera
shaer's brigade which he put in exten
~ sion of the right Both Of these general
(Seymour and Shalery were captured II
- the afternoon, but the action in the morn
ing has been disputed and hence III
propriety Of this citation.
@ Captain Bumgardner's article Is apropos
When the history Of this battle is writ
ten 1t will be well understood why Eve
and Early were unwilling to send thei
pnly unengagcd brigade then In han
THAT of Gordon on Ranking expedition
While they were themselves occupied, an
While Ewell WAS under orders from I.e
10 keep his troops ready TO move to u
right 10 keep him II he could not hin
self move on the Wilderness EDGE,
takes time to remove the errors tn;
3E have crept into hasty history 1so-callei
but the war records remove many. The
q fnliy remove the criticism on Ewell I
well as that on his subordinate, Earl
Very respectfully,
JNo. ". DANIEL.
8 Early's old brigade, commanded