The National tribune., 1908-05-07
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE: WASHINGTON c. THURSDAY

Along the wall hand-tO-hand fight
took place, and the bayonet and the
butt of the musket were freely used.
The brilliant and successful charge oc-
cupied perhaps 10 or is minutes. and
Immediately after the wall was carried
the enemy became panic-stricken- IN
the flight they threw away their guns,
knapsacks, pistols, swords and every
thing that might retard their speed.
One thousand prisoners were taken, be-
sides several battle flags and pieces of
artillery. The commander of Louisi-
ana battery handed his saber to Col.
Thomas S. Allen, of the 5th Wis. This
regiment, out of 500 men, lost 123, and
the 9Th Me-, out of about the same
number, lost 16E in killed and wound
ed. Over 500 were killed and wounded
in the direct assault upon the Hights.
and the loss to the corps on the entire
front was about 1000"
A Brilliant ssccess.
So far the operations tho they had
cost the Sixth Corps 1000 men had
been a success of startling brilliancy.
The dreaded Hights, before which
Burnside'S shattered army had recoiled
in blood and anguish four months be-
fore, were now in full possession of the
Sixth Corps, the enemy's line had been
pierced, and the disjOinted portions
driven off in different directions. Less
than five minutes of exceedingly sharp
fighting had settled the matter. For
| one or two Of those minutes the scales
of battle hung SO evenly that Newton
says that IL there had been 100 more
men on the Hights he could not have
| taken them. One Of those things so
easy to say years later. when we know
all the facts, Is that if Sedgwick had
pushed straight on he could have
| reached Salem Church before the enc
my reinforced that strong position, and
captured Wilcox's and Hays's Brigades.
which were retreating toward that
point. It was at this time that Sedg-
wick felt the desperate need of cavalry,
and a single regiment of those who
were doddling around under Stoneman
would have brought in a rich harvest
of prisoners, and given Sedgwick such
information as to his front as would
have allowed him to move much more
boldly and audaciously. Sedgwick pru-
IDENTIFY, too prudently, -the-battle
critics assert, halted for four hours to
reform his troops and bring up BrOoks's
Division, which was still in its old po-
sition, three miles below Fredericks-
burg. He wanted BrOoks's fresh troops
to relieve those who had been fighting
and take the advance. While he was
at this the ConfederateS were not idle,
and Hays took advantage of 1t to lead
his brigade around the head of Sedg-
wick's column to rejoin Early, and Will
cox went into strong position at
Guests House, where he opened fire on
Sedgwick with artillery. The sound of
Hooker's cannon was no longer heard
to give stimulus to Sedgwicks manu-
vers, and II was not until 3 o'clock that
the march was resumed. The country
was open. so that the advance was easy.
Brooks's three brigades marched in or
der of battle, one behind the other, at
short distance apart, with Newton's
Division. formed in column, marching
by the flank along the road. Gibbon
remained at Fredericksburg to cover
the passage of the river and protect the
immense depot at Falmouth. He left
one brigade in the city and took the
other to the nights. Only a few pickets
were left on Marye's Hights.
Sedgwick Advances Toward Lee.
Sedgwicks advance along the Plank
road was made very cautiously, too cau-
tiously, and Gen.. Wilcox, noticing this,
decided to throw himself across Sedg-
wick's path at the strong position of
Salem Church. At that point the Plank
road is somewhat less than mile from
the Rappahannock and Wilcox saw
there a place to make a stand behind
a creek, which lies very near the
church and extends to the Rappahan-
mock. This creek and it's gorge, like
most of those in that country, was COW
cred with a dense woods with open fields
stretched out before them. Upon the
hight near these fields and $50 yards
from Salem Church stood the Toll
House, with the church standing on the
side of the road at the entrance to the
woods. Sixty yards south and little
in advance of the church was school
house. These two solid buildings were
of great advantage to Wilcox in form
ing his line of advance. and, taking up
his place there. he sent messengers to
Lee to inform him of the situation. At
the same time messengers arrived from
Early with the same news. and they
found Lee near the burning ruins of
the Chancellor House in his hour of
greatest triumph. The woods around
were full of the black smoke from the
burning house and timber, and under
the cover of this Lee was reorganizing
his enthusiastic, cheering men for q
renewal of the attack, while Hooker
was massing his men upon his new line
of defense. 1t was now 1 o'clock. The
reception of the news was chilly blast
upon Lees exultation, but. he received
it calmly, and at once made up his
a grave danger, it came to him at a
time when he was assured that he had
taken all the aggressive fight out of
Hooker and need fear nothing more
from him. Lee Immediately began to
make dispositions to meet the new dan
ger. He would leave the four divisions
of Jackson, which had been doing the
heaviest fighting. to watch Hooker, and
send Longstreets two divisions-those
of Anderson and McLaws--to meet
Sedgwick. and hold him in check at
least until dark. Mahone's and Ker-
shaw's Brigades were started imme-
diately toward Wilcox, with Semmes
and Wofford following them. In the
meantime Early. with what remained
of his command, was wasting his time
making preparations to dispute the ad-
vance of Sedgwick on the Bowling
Green road something Sedgwick had
had no thought of for hours.
The Battle of Salem Church.
AS Brooks's Division advanced it
found its course much impeded by ra-
vines that ran along its front, which
broke the organizations and interfered
with the impetuosity Of the attack. A
little before o'clock Brooks was in
touch with the enemy. and his battery.
which galloped into position, made
short work of the Confederate artillery,
since the ammunition of the latter had
been welI-nigh exhausted by the long
cannonading at Charlottesville. As
soon as the enemy's guns We're sileneed
the division charged, with Bartletts
Brigade in the lead. Brooks was on