The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1907-06-13

Ricketts, was badly wounded and cap
tured, and his First Lieutenant-Ram-
sey-was killed. Griffin managed to
drag off three of his guns, but the
other nine were left On the field and
became the whirlpool o1ofIu battle in
which the Union rcgiriientIs exhausted
their remaining strength in trying to
, rescue them. Several timts did gal
liant Colonels animate their regiments
to rush forword 10 drive THE enemy
away from the guns. But Before they
could be removed the encGiy would in
turn assault and drive theM back. In
this Col. Cameron. 18TH N. Y, was
killed; Col. Michael Corcoran, Goth n.
Y. wounded and captured; Col. Heint-
Zelman, Division Commander. who was
leading in regiment after regiment, was
wounded. Each assaulting regiment.
after brief but terribly bitter strug-
gle with the entire Confederate line
infantry and artillery-was driven Ia
shelter in a shattered condition, with
demoraliZing loss of officers and bray
est men.
Col. WiIicOx's Assault.
A characteristic incident of this kind
was the 1st Mich, whose Colonel, Or
lando r. Wilcox, commanded bril-
gade.
Col. Wilcox led forward the Fire
Touaves to rctake Ricketts, batter,
and when the Zouaves broke under the
fire of the enemy he managed to rally
about 100 of them, and made dash
into the woods where he killed.
wounded and captured some 80 of the
enemy. This seems to have ended the
Zouaves, for in few minutes Col.
Wilcox found himself alone. He start
ed out in search of his own regiment.
and soon found it marching up the
slope under command of Maj Bidwell.
He led it back to Ricketts's battery.
which he found in possession of the 9TH
Ga, and drove them off after n brief
| fight. Col. Heintzelman then came up.
and ordered Wilcox forward to find
the enemy's left flank. promising to
support him with another regiment
the 3Sth n. Y. Wilcox did as ordered.
crossed an open field under the enc
my's fire. and rushed back the cnrmy's
left toward the Sudley Road. killing.
, wounding and capturing n number He
speedily found himself in hornets
nest, and no help reaching him. The
3Sth n. Y. had become cn.angled with
the enemy's center and was Stopt ana
driven back. Wilcox quickly found
the enemy massing in the woods on
both his TANKS. but continued to lead
on. waving his cap in front of his men
until he was shot down and his horse
killed. Officers and men fell rapidly
under the murderous fire, and Maj
Bidwell gathering as many as he could
around the colors. withdrew the regi-
ment to the shelter of the hill. 1t had
gone in TO action with 500 officers and
men. and lost in killed, wounded. and
missing nine officers and 10S men
one-fourth of its number. Its dead
marked the farthest point reached by
any Union troops. Capt. Lum. acting
Lieutenant-C Colonel. was wounded in
the knee. Capts Wilmington and But
terworth. and Lieuts. Casey, Maneh.
and PARKS mt,
with Col. Wilcox. Butterworth. Manch
and Casey died of their wounds: Will
cox was exchanged Aug. II. 1862, and
wilmington in JanuarDG1SSg.
The strength of thu traops, which
had been fighting under aIilot sun for
five or six hours. was now exhausted. |
They We're encounterinS waves of fresh
troops constantly. and finally Kirby |
Smiths Brigade, the last Of Johnston's |
army to arrive, came uDOnathe field on
the extreme left of BeauEFgards line, |
and opened fire upon the right flank of
McDowelfs sadly shrunken front. |
Beauregard says that about p. m. he |
ordered a general advance.
The Retreat.;Hf
The concurrent evidence is to the
effect that on our side there were no |
orders to retreat. ThdSTneri We're sim |
ply worn out and discouraged and |
quit" They moved back quietly at |
first across Young's Branch. Quite "A |
number of officers say'that they made |
attempts to rally them. but without eff
feet. These statements must be con-
sidered as having been. made long after
the battle and subject to the usual |
discount. The regiments had all been
naturally very much broken up by the
continual fighting and shifting of |
ground; they had lost their cohesion
and it was hard to get any number to
Of the Colonies were killed or wound
ed, and only few of the men knew
their Brigadier-Generaf or any of his
staff. In the absence of any definite
orders, one man went off the field
when he saw another do so, and so the
movement became universal.
The heat, dust and fatigue of the day
We're frightful, and the thirst of the
lighting men became intolerable. They
drifted back to Young's Branch ana
drank 1t dry.
Gen. James B. Fry, McDowelrs Chief
of Staff. says that he rode back to
Burnside and told him the condition of
move his brigade to the front and
bring some order out of the confusion
Fry could mt find Mcdowell, but sent a
note to Col. Miles. ordering him to move
MS reserve up to the Stone Bridge and
@ telegraph TO Washington to forward
- ahC tioppo tIdt CuulU De spared.
Had this been done the retreat would
nave stopt at the Stone Bridge; but the
evidence Is that Miles was too drunk to
De competent for anything Mcdowell,
coming to Buck Hill, where the battle
had begun in the morning, found Ar
holds battery, which he had unlim-
Der and make stand as a rallying
Dclnt. Near it were formed Sykes's
of Regulars and Palmer's
battalion of Regular cavalry. But it
vas useless, the men had lost all cohe-
'ion and they seemed to remember the
ong, tortuous, difficult way by which
hey had approached the battlefield
md these difficulties greatly deprest
hem. There was no pursuit by the I
Notorious COnfederates. Some cavalry
made dash out across Young's
Branch, but two or three rounds of Ar
holds canister discouraged it and il |
Nens back. A portion OF the Confederate
artillery, which had arrived too late to {;
Engage in the battle. began firing long {
'ange shells at the retreating troops. ,
'tlll there was no semblance of panic
ii any precipitation in the retreat. A II
great many carriages and vehicles of 4.
Ill kinds carrying Senators, Representa- Is
ives members of the Cabinet, officers
IF various grades, and newspaper cor I
respondents, had come out from WASH
ngton to follow the route of the turn
ng column thru the woods. When It {
was understood that, the battle was s
ost and the army in retreat, these vehi- {
les began scramble ethru the woods.
INTO the narrow, hardly passable ford s
q ct,fl 1rse IL