The National tribune., 1908-02-06
WASHINGTON THURSDAY FEBRUARY 1905

NE: WASHINGTON, q. C., Thu
assault had ,sbecdafaae still more hopeless
of success. ii HoTard's Division was now
sent forwa|Sa tSsdlhelp out French and
Gen. Ho,yard Advances.
Howard s1ad t4irst been ordered to
move to the rigas to try to relieve the
pressure byistriRihg at the flank of the
men behind thebWaIl He had prompt-
ly deployed "a company of sharpshoot-
ers to pick off the gunncrs. when the
order was -countrcmanded. and he was
directed ES SdSport Hancock He
moved up, with dol Owens Brigade in
front. 1t consisted of the 69th. list,
I'D and 106fh Ro., and was ordered to
cross the etridgee over the mill-race,
reach a plowed field on the left of the
road. and ,shen tseploy and move for
ward in line of. battle, which Gen. How
srd SAYS he did i'll fine style. He reached
tae vicinity of a small brick house.
within 100 yards of the enemys line,
where he halted to have his men lie
down. Col. Norman j. Hall, command
ing brigade made up of the 18th and
10th Mass, 18th Mich, 42d and 59th N
Y. and 127th Pa, moved to the right
OF Owen. and made several spirited
charges on the enemy's rifle pits, each
or which was beaten back by the awful
storm of artillery and musketry con-
centrated upon it. The 10Th Mass. dis
tinguished itself by capturing several
houses near the enemy on the road.
which they held, and the goth Mass
displayed anew the good qualities it
had shown in crossing the river on the
previous day. Gen. Alfred SulIy, COM
manding brigade formed of the Gath
and SID N. 18th Mass, 10th Me.
and 1st MIMI, moved up to support
the other two brigades, and detached
his regiments as they were called for
to the assistance of the rest. The bri-
gade was fortunate IN finding a toler-
apie sneiter, suffering much less than
the others. Gen. Howard does not
state the number of men he took into
action. but it was probably about 5000,
or which he lost 104 killed, 71S wound
ed and 92 missing, making total loss
of ga, against 2,032 in Hancock's Di-
vision and 1,169 in Frenchs.
| What Gen. Couch Saw.
| Gen. Darius N. Couch, in Battles
and Leaders," says. with reference to
| this part of the fight:
| without clear idea of the state Of
affairs at the front, since the smoke
and light fog vailed everything, 1 sent
| word to French and Hancock to carry
the cnemy's works by storm. Then I
climbed the steepIe of the courthouse,
and from above the haze and smoke
got a clear view of the field Howard,
who was with me, says 1 exclaimed,
oh. great God;-see how our men, our
poor fellows are fallingr 1 remember
| that the whole plain was covered with
| men, PROSTATE and dropping, the live
| men running here and there, and in
| front closing up on each other and the
wounded coming back. The commands
seemed to be mixed up 1 had never
before seen fighting like that, nothing
! approaching it in terrible uproar and
| destruction. There was no cheering on
the part of the men, but stubborn
! determination to obey orders and do
| their duty. I don't think there was
| much feeling of success. As they
charged the artillery fire would break
their formation. and they would get
mixed; then they would close up, go
forward, receive the whitening infantry
fire, and those who were able would
run to the houses and fight as best they
| could, and then the next brigade COM
ing up In succession would do it's duty,
and melt like snow coming down on
warm ground.
/ 4 was in the steeple hardly 10 sec
onds, for +, saw, at a glance how they
We're being cut down, and was con-
WINGED that we could not be successful
in front, and that our only chance lay
by the right. I Immediately ordered
Howard to work, in on the right with
the brisades of Owen and Hall, and
attack the ene1nY behind the stone wall
in flank, WHICH was done. Before he
could begin this movement both Ham
cock and Freifch had notified me that
they must have support, or they would
not be responsible for the maintenance
of their position. Sturgis, of WillcOx's
Corps, who had been supporting my
left, sent the brigades of Ferrero and
Naglee to the fruitless charge"
While the Second Corps was engaged
in its attack Sturgis's Division was sent
toward the left flank of Marye's flights
to support the attack, and opened al
sharp musketry fire Ferrero's Brigade
led, supported by Naglee's Brigade.
These troops found the stone wall too |
much for them, and did not make 81 |
serious effort to carry it. The troops
behaved to the satisfaction of their |
commanders, and lost 1.02S of their
number. Later in the day, generally
stated as about p. m. Getty's Division |
was sent further to the left, but did |
not become seriously engaged. Griffin's |
Division of the Fifth Corps was sent to |
the support of Gen. Sturgis, and one
of his brigades relieved Ferrero's Brf- |
gade, and Gen. Griffin says that his |
lines reached to within a few yards of |
tic tii~.iy tHe IlFe De- |
came so scorching that his men were
compelled to fall back behind the crest
of knoll. with the loss of SIS killed
and wounded.
Burnside's Obstlnacy.
Statements regarding time intervals
on such a terrible dag as this are not |
reliable, as it is then that men live
years inside of minutes, and in their
minds the event-filled seconds assume
the proportion of hours. Some time
between / o'clock and $3.50 the assault
on Marye's Flights had spent its force.
and the hopelessness of carrying that
bristlng citadel was apparent to every
one except Burnside. Altho not over
four divisions of the Confederates had
been brought into action, French Han
cock, Howard, Sturgis and Getty had
all tested the strength of the Confed-
crate position without finding the
slightest weakening anywhere. and
every attempt to advance further had
been met by slaughter before which the d
boldest quailed. Those who remained
unhurt after the first volleys were too
few in number to produce the least i'm
preston upon the massed defenders OF
the stone wall. Courage such as was
never before shown on any battlefield
had demonstrated to the utmost the
futilty of carrying the hill, no matter
how many men We're rushed against it.
Only Burnside remained unconviuced
and his obstinaey was one of those alb