The National tribune., 1908-01-30

whererec. placed. His bump of caution
strongly predominated, and in any case
of unccytaintYs he was always sure TO
resolve the doubt by keeping away from
the enemy. Nor does the interpreta-
don that he put upon the order accord
at all with his statement that he strong
ly advised Burnside to allow him to
open the battle by making an attack
and gaining 1.-THE nights beyond. II
| FranklinI had been filled then with d
desire to do twhat he claims to have
wished to. do he would have interpreted
his orders. coupled with the force given
him, into permission to do as he had
requested. Certainly either of the 9TH
er two Grand Division commanders,
sumner or Hooker, would have so in
terpreted 1t. Franklin, however, was
absolutely wanting in Summers bulldog
iaggresSiyeneSs whenever the enemy ap-
peared or Hooker's splendid initiative.
| With all his accomplishments as an en-
gineer, Franklin as a soldier was cold
and inert. AT the same time Burn
sides use of the word "seize" shows
an entire lack of comprehension of the
situation in front of Franklin. In
military parlance, "seize' means to take
by dash a position that is expected
to be only lightly defended. Where
graver work is anticipated the word
carry" is used.
Meade's Gallant Attack.
As soon asFranklin received this or
der. he directed Reynolds to begin its
execution according to the understand
ing that had been reached, and Rey-
nolds ordered Meade forward with his
Pennsylvania Reserves, about 5000 in
number. This was the smallest division
in the corps. as it had suffered severely
at Beaver Dam and Glendale on the
Peninsula. AS had been shown, it was
made of true metal and every man a
veteran. The division stumbled on thru
the heavy fog as best it could, taking
direction from the memory of objects
seen the day before in crossing the riv-
er. 1t moved down the river for nearly
a half mile, then turned sharply to its
right, crossed the old Richmond road.
and between 9 and 10 o'clock formed
column Of attack after having been de-
layed in removing fences and bridging
bitches to enable the artillery to adj
vance with it. Gibbons and Doubleday's
Divisions, each having about 5000 men,
formed in column of brigades, and
marched a little in the rear in sup
port. Meade's advance had reached so
near the enemy that the latter could
hear plainly the words of command
from the Union forces moving against
them. After II o'clock the fog suddenly
lifted, and revealed to the Confederates
Meade's line within a few hundred
yards. Stuart had lined the crests with
artillery, the Incompatible Pelham in
the center, and with the lifting of the
fog came terrible blast from the rebel
artillery. Some of these shells reached
as far as the Bernard House, near which
Gen. Franklin had his headquarters in
fine grove of trees and Gen. George
d. Bayard, one of the most promising
of our cavalry leaders, received a round
shot thru his thigh as he was rising to
go to lunch, and was carried into the
Bernard Houze to die.
Before this blast of fire Meade's Di-
vision halted until his artillery could
suppress the Confederate guns, which it
did in the course of a half hour, when
Meade pushed forward again, and Dou
bleday came up to the position Meade
had vacated when he advanced. Not
an enemy was in sight, but the Federal
artillery searched the woods and copses
in which, Jackson had his men con-
cealed, infiicting considerable loss
upon them.
Meade at length reached an open
place within 500. yards of the Confeder-
ate position on Prospect Hill, when the
whole crest famed and Numbered. Two
batteries on each flank opened an aw-
full crossffe unon Meade. Batteries were
galloped up Srom Birney's and Glib
cC'' = 80 e. u MP Jul slioSC vi
Meade. There was a fierce artillery
duel for a half hour. in which Jack
sons artillery suffered the most and its
fire slackened very markedly. Then
Meade went forward again to encoun-
ter A. p. Hills Division, the brigades
of Lane, Pender, Gregg, Archer and
Thomas, with which the First Corps
was afterwards. to graprle SO bloodily
on the first day at Gettysburg.
Menie's Advance Magnificent.
Meade's advance under the clear De-
cember sun was magnificent spectacle.
The well-drilled Pennsylvanians closed
up their ranks. which had been search
ed and shaken by the awful fire, and
moved to the attack in superb order.
Nothing could be more spirited. They
drove peterborough across the rail-
road, and they carried the intrench-
ments beyond, which were defended by
Lanes Brigade. This pierced the first
of the Confederate lines. Archer's Bril-
gade was flanked and driven back in
disorder, and Gregg's Brigade, which
could not understand that the Yankees
We're so near, withheld their fire until
Meade's men poured into them a with
ering volley, which killed their COM
mander and sent them from the field
in rout. One regiment, Orr's Rifles, was
nearly annihilated. A wide gap was
if Meade had been supported by any
sort of soldierly skill the issue of the
battle would have been vastly different
But his division had spent its force in
this brilliant charge, and no reinforce
ments came. Doubleday, on the left
was watching the Richmond road, while
Gibbon, on the right, after a vigorous
attack, suffered himself to be stopped
by the last brigade in Hills line, which
still held the railroad.
In the meantime the Sixth Corps, I'M
der Gen. Smith, some 21,000 men, was
deployed in front of the enemy's center,
doing nothing but exchanging OCCASION
al skirmish shots. Birney's Division was
far in the rear, and Franklin, who had
not left his headquarters to give his
personal influence to the attack, claim
ed that he did not feel like sending for
ward any troops to uncover the bridges
and endanger the line of retreat.
Meade's Retreat.
Seeing the force of Meade's attack
spent, Hill rallied the broken brigades
of Lane, Gregg and peterborough,
and orders were sent back for Talia-
ferro's and Early's Divisions to come up
with all speed. Taliaferro struck Meade
in front, while Early fell upon his left
flank Assaulted thus by four or five
times their number of fresh troops,
Meades men began to fall back, and
in some disprder,t land Gen. Jackson was
killed while ,gDdeavoring to reform
them The, yelling Confederates rushed
forward upon the artillery, which was