The National tribune., 1907-12-26

~, tSOsS
son to Hoods support with his own divi-
sion and that of Ewell. With these he
5 had six batteries in action, and besides
Stuart's command of cavalry and ar
/ tillery.
: Hooker made his attack with his
3 usual impetuosity, and his magnificent
: troops Joined conclusions with the enc
my with the greatest vigor. Ricketts,
Division on the left seems to have gain
5 ed the most ground, and forced its way
! forward until it was almost parallel to
the Hagerstown pike The fighting had
been terrific, and Meade's Division kept
up its advance with Ricketts, on his left.
tho, the ground being more difficult, he
did not reach as far. Doubleday's Di-
vision was astride the turnpike. with
Gibbons and PatTick's Brigades west of
the pike and Hoffman's to the east.
Gibbons front line was first formed of
the I'd and 9th Wis, but presently he
had to bring the 7th Wis. and 10th Ind.
into line, and his battery. the famous
Battery b, 4th U. S. Art. into the open
field to fire at close range into the enc
my. sheltered behind the rocky lodges.
The fighting in the West Woods be-
came bloody in the extreme. Jackson
brought up every man he could get, in
Guiding all such as were available from
Stuart. and the two sides are said to
have literally torn each other to pieces.
| The reports of the loss on both sides
confirm this. Ricketts, lost a full third
of his division, and in that OF Double
day the mortality was similar, with
Phelpss Brigade losing A per cent and
/ Gibbons about the same proportion.
on the Confederate side the casualties
were equally severe. All of JacksOn's
] Brigades lost more than half killed and
wounded, acknowledgements and Col
onels failing in appalling numbers. and
Jackson found his divisions so shattered
that he had to withdraw them and re-
place them with other troops. If there
had been no other troops present the
! fight would have ended in a drawn bat
| tie. with both Jackson's and Hooker's
men incapable of further effort. D. H.
Hill, who was stationed on Jackson's
right, came to his assistance with three
brigades, and the Twelfth Corps came
up to take the places of Hooker's eX-
hausted men.
All this had happened probably be-
fore 8 o'clock in the morning. Gen.
| Mansfield had crossed the Antetam dur
ing the night. and gone into bivouac
about n mile in the rear of Hooker.
II The venerable Cen Mansfield could not
forget the Colonel in the corps COM
! mander, and went to the immediate
front to personally place his regiments
| in position as they arrived, a duty
which he could well have assigned to
| his staff officers While engaged in this
he was killed by a sharpshooter, and
the command of the corps fell to Gen
| A. s. Williams, of the First Division
Gen. Crawford succeeded to the COM
mand of the First Division, and with
| his own and Gordon's Brigade advanced
across the open field to capture a point
! of woods or the west side of the pike.
| At the same time Greene's Division
headed toward the left and the bunker
Church. The Twelfth Corps was not a
strong one. AID had found it impossible
| to make strong offenSe against the
heavy force now being massed in its
| front, and the utmost it could do was
| to hold what it had already gained
| While Gen. Hooker was aiding in this
he received a severe and painful wound
| in the foot and had to be carried from
the field The Twelfth Corps was then
| forced to yield to the impetuosity of the
attack which Jackson was making
against it, and retired in some confu-
sion. This brings the battle up to about
10 o'clock, when Gen. Sumner arrived
with the Second Corps.
Summers Criticism.
Gen. Sumner afterward said in his
testimony before the Committee on the
Conduct of the War:
Il have always believed that, instead
of sending these troops into that action
in driblets, had Gen Mcclellan author
lied me to march these 10000 on the
left flank of the enemy. we could not
have failed to throw them right back ir
front of the other divisions of our army
on the left"
| At o'clock a. m. the advance had
gained good deal of ground, and held
parts of the line extending from the
woods near Miller's House, on their
right, to the bunker Church, on the
left. The First Division was established
well to the north of the bunker Church.
perhaps half a mile from it, with much
of it facing south. The Second Division
had effected a lodgment in the woods
about the bunker Church. and it, or
much of it, was facing north or north
west There We're practically no troops
at all on the ground over which Sedg-
wick presently advanced with the front
| of a deployed brigade, or still further
| to the north, for the statements are
positive that there was a stiff post and
rail fence on both sides of the pike in
the part of the field where Crawford's
men were. and it is certain that all or
+ most of Sedgwick's men encountered no
such obstacle.
| HOOker's Account.
In his official report, Gen. Hooker
gives the following incident:
I'VE had not proceeded far before
| discovered that a heavy force of the
enemy had taken possession of a corn
| field q have since learned about a 80
acre field) in my immediate front, and
! from the suns rays falling on their
bayonets projecting above the corn,
could see that the field was filled with
the enemy, with arms in their hands
standing apparently at support arms
| Instructions were Immediately given for
the assemblaSe of all my spare bat
teries near at hand, of which, / think
there were five or six, to spring into
battery on the right of this field, and
to open with canister at once In the
time l am writing every stalk of corn
in the northern and greater part of the
field was cut as closely as could have