The National tribune., 1907-10-10

ordered to make would be entirely use
| less. and so he ordered direct assault.
In this he suffered correspondingly with
HILL
Gen. Whiting says: Men were leaving
the field in every direction and in great
disorder; two regiments, one from South
Carolina and one from louisiana, were
actually marching back from the fire.
Men were sltulking from the front in d
shameful manner
Gen. Lee apologies for these men by
saying that most of them had never
been under FIRE until the day before"
Gen. j. ]. Archer, ommanding the
Fifth Brigade. says that he took into
action less than 1000 men. of whom 40
were killed and 271 wounded, or moro
\ than one-third of his command. He
| reached within 20 steps 1f the Union
line. but was driven back by IAN ire
sistible fire of artillery and rifles" The
obvious impossibility of carrying the po-
sition without support prevented him
from attempting to check the retreat.
Col. McGowen, of the 14th. S, c., SAYS,
! that he took 500 men int6' battle, of
whom 291 were killed, wounded or miss
ing. Col. j. Foster Marshall, 1st S. c.,
the regiment which had received Gen.
Writings censure, gives vivid zpietufe .
| of the desperate fight, where many of
his regiment struggled hantY' to- hand
with gun barrels and bay onets until
they were fianked by some New York
Zouaves. when they had to- fall, back
after sustaining a loss of 76 killed, 22l
wounded and So missing, leaving him
149 in his regiment. .s H.. ,..t
On the Left of the Line. -~
| Gen. Mcclellan has been strongly
censured for allowing Gen. Fitz-John
Porter to fight this battle against over
whelming numbers with so little assist
nd fn not fIa lze& 80
his army directly. against the, smaller
| force of the enemy in its front. This
blame must be shared with his corps
commanders. Indeed, it all belongs II
them, except that responsibility of a
Communicating Chief for doing the thing.
that he sees ought to be done, without
reference to the opposition of his subof-
dinates. -.. ..
| Gen. John B. Magruder. c. S. A, who
was repeating the grand bluff which het
had so successfully practiced at York
town, says:
From the time at which the enemy ,
| Withdrew his forces to this side of the
lChickahominy and destroyed the bridges
to the moment of his evaeuation7vthat
lis. from Friday night until Sunday
morning. considered the situation of
our army as extremely critical, and peri.
lous. The larger proportion of it was
on the opposite side of the Chickahom,
my; the bridges had been all destroyed,
but one was rebuilt (the New Bridgel,
which was commanded fully by the enc
Imy's guns from Go1dings, and there We're
but $4,000 men between his army of
| 100000 and Richmond. l received re-
fpeated Instructions during Saturday
night from Gen. Lees headquarters, en-
Joining upon my command the utmost
vigilance, directing the men to sleep on
their arms and to be prepared for what
ever might occur. These orders were
promptly communicated by me to the
different commanders IF my forces, and
were also transmitted to Gen. Huger on
my right. l passed the night without
sleep and in the superintendent of
their execution. Had Mcclellan massed
his whole force in column and advanced
it against any point of our line of bat
tie, as was done at Austeriitz under
similar circumstances by the greatest
Icaptain of any age, tho the head of his
column would have suffered greatly, its
momentum would have insured him
success and the occupation Of our works
about Richmond. and consequently OF
the city, might have been his reward.
His failure to do so is the best evidence
THAT our wise commander fully under
sto ID the character of his. opponent.
Our relief was therefore great when in
| telligence reached US almost ',simulta-