The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-01-18
WAR OF THE REBELLION.
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CONTINUED from page IL
ly supported by the 4Stfi Mass, the I'd
La, of Dudley's Brigade, and the re-
serve of the 21st Me-
"O'Brien shook hands with the Off
Ger who brought him the last order,
and, turning to his men, who were ly-
ing or sitting near by, some on their
cotton bags. others on the ground, said
in the coolest and most businesslike
manner: Pick up your bundles and
come on The movement of the storm
ers was the signal for the whole line.
A truly magnificent sight was the ad-
vance OF these battalions, with their
colors flying and borne sturdily toward
the front; yet not for long. Hardly
had the movement begun when the
Whole force-officers, men, colors,
stormers and all-found themselves in
extricably entangled in the dense abatis
under a fierce and continuous discharge
of musketry and whitening cross-f1re
of artillery. Beside the tield-pieoeS
bearing directly down the ROAD, two
24-pounders poured upon their flank
storm of missiles of all sorts with frag-
ments of railway bars and broken
chains for grape and rusty nails and
the rakings Of the scrap-heap for cam
lister. No part of the column ever
passed beyond the abatis, nor was IT
ever possible to extricate the troops in
any order without greatly adding to
the list of casualties, already of fear
full length. Banks was all for putting
Dudley over the open ground directly
in his front, but before anything could
be done came the bad news from the
left, and at last it was clear to the most
persistent that the day was miserably
lost. When, after nightfall, the divi-
sion commanders reported at headquar-
tiers, among the wounded under the
great trees, it was known that the re-
suit was even worse than the first &C
counts.
1.-The attempt had failed without in
fiicting serious loss upon the enemy,
save in ammunition expended, yet at
fearful cost to the Union army. When
the list came to be made up, 1t was
found that Is officers and 278 men had
been killed, 80 officers and 1,455 men
wounded, two officers and 155 men
missing; making the total killed 293,
total wounded 1916, total missing 157,
and an aggregate of 1895. OF the
missing manywere unquest1onably dead.
Worse than all, If possible, the conf
dence that but a few hours before had
run so high was rudely shaken. 1t was
long indeed before the men felt the
same faith in themselves, and it is but
the plain truth to say that their reli-
ance on the Department Commander
never quite returned.
1.-The heavy loss in killed and wound
ed taxed to the utmost the skill and un-
firing exertions of the Surgeons, who
soon found their preparations and sup
plies exceeded by the unlOOked-for de-
mand upon them. All night long on
the 9th of May the Observation-Disclosures
were engaged in removing the wounded
to the field hospitals in the rear. These
were soon filled to overlooking, and
many rested under the shelter of the
trees. Hither. too, came large numbers
of men not too badly hurt to be able
to walk, and to all the tired troops the
whole night was rendered dismal to the
last degree by the groans of their SUI
fering comrades mingled everywhere,
the wounded with the we'll, the dying
with the dead.
among the killed were Col. Edward
p. Chaplin, of the 10th n. Y; Col.
David S. Cowles, of the 128th n. Y;
Lieut.-Col. William L. Rodman, of the
3Sth Mass; Lieut.-Col. James O'Brien.
of the 4Sth Mass; Capt. John B. Hub
bard, Assistant Adjutant-General of
Weitzers Brigade; Lieut.. Ladislas A.
Wrotnowski, Typographical Engineer
on Weitzers staff. Lieut.-Col. Oliver
w. Lull, of the sth n. H.. and Abel
Smith, Jr., of tie 165th n. Y, were
mortally wounded The long list of
wounded included Brig.-Gen. Thomas
w. Sherman, Brig Neal Dow, Col.
Richard e. Holcomb, of the 1st La;
Col Thomas S. Clark, of the 9Th Mich. !;
Col. William F. Bartlett, Of the 49th
Mass; Maj. Gouverneur Carr, of the
165th y. "
Meager Reports.
AS said before, the official reports are
astonishingly meager. Everybody was
possibly too angry and disguised with
the glaring mismanagement to trust
himself to write any account for pub
LEGATION. The gist of the few reports
made is as follows:
Col T. G. Kingsley, 26th Conn:
1.-The regiment is in Gen. BOWS Bri-
gade and in the Second Division, COM
handed by Gen. Sherman. We were
ordered to make an assault upon the
works, and to do it in four lines. The
lrst line was formed by the 9Th Mich.
Jccond, 18th y. H.; THIRD, 26th Conn.
fourth, 12Sth y. Y. In advancing In
high, parallel fences, and in getting
over them much confusion ensued, and
before we could get into line the enemy
opened on us with shell, shot, grape
and canister, moving our men down by
scores. AS our men advanced the ranks
were thinned, until, after one hours
fighting, our men were compelled tC
seek shelter behind stumps, logs, etc
Gems Sherman and Dow were both
wounded and carried from the field.
The Goth brought off the wounded
and did not leave the field until past {
p. m. This is the first time the regimen,
has been under the enemy's fire, and
permit me to say that. with the excep-
tion of two or three, they did honor to
themselves and credit to their State.
II am in the hospital, badly wound
ed (not fatality, and have not the op-
portunity of giving SO full a statemen,
Of the nature Of the wounds as / should
like"
Lieut.-Col. Joseph Selden. 26th Conn.
THE brigade was ordered forward
on the double-quick. Four fences in
tervened between us and the intrench-
ments. which greatly impeded our ad.
vance. In passing these fences the diff.
ferent regiments were thrown into con.
fusion and became somewhat mixed up
On entering the field a perfect shower
of grape, shot and canister met US, Sc
yerely wounding Gems. Sherman ant
Dow and cutting down officers and mer
by scores. Still, we advanced. and fo
more than two hours held the ground
and when obliged to fall back it wa
not in disorder. / rallied our men ant
formed the regiment near the entranc,
of the field, and we held the ground DC
cupied by our brigade during the day
This being the first time the regimen
had been under fire, must be permit
ted to say that they conducted them