The National tribune., 1909-06-17

contact with the F'ederalS in the vicint-
ty of Ezra Church, where spirited Ell
gagement ensued. The enemy was al
ready in possession of portion of the
ground Lee desired to occupy. and the
struggle grew to such dimensions that
| sent Lieut.-Gen. Stewart to his sup
port. The contest lasted till near SUM-
set without any material advantage
having been gained by either opponent
4 Our troops failed to dislodge the enc
my from their position, and the Fed
erals likewise to capture the position
occupied by the Confederates."
Satisfactory to Us.
| The Union officers and men were
quite willing that Hood should continue
to fight in this way. 1t was much pleas
i anter for them to be attacked standing
behind shelter than to attack. AT the
rate of the losses in the recent engage
| ments Hood would soon lose his entire
army. while iDfiicting comparatively lit
| tie injury upon that of the Union Since
crossing the Chattahoochee the Con-
federate fighting strength had been inn
| mensely reduced, and the Confederates
were losing confidence in themselves
as rapidly as the Federals were gaining
| that inestimable military quality.
Gen. Sherman in his Memoirs esti-
mates that during July the Confeder-
I
| and 1000 captured. making total of
| 1854. Sherman figures up his own
| loss during the month as 9,719 killed,
| wounded and captured. This loss was
swelled by the unusual number of pris-
oners taken from the Seventeenth
Corps on July 22
The Confederates We're feeling Sc
verely the effects of this attrition. and
when the Union picket shouted over to
the Confederate, '.Well, Johnny, how
| many of you. are left?" the other re-
| piled. "Oh, about enough for another
killing" The results were so appalling
as to. discourage even Jefferson Davis,
who wrote to Hood, after hearing of
the affair at Ezra Church,: "The loss
| consequent upon attacking him in his
intrenchments. requires you to avoid
that. if practicable" ~
This. was a strong censure upon his
policy in relieving Joseph f. Johnston,
and appointing Hood to supreme COM
mand- -t
StOneman's Raid.
For few days Sherman halted the
swing of his infantry around to the
right, hoping to hear that Stoneman's
destruction Of the railroad would COM
pei Hood to evacuate Atlanta and re-
treat. A bitter disappointment was
awaiting him in this respect. Scouts
came in aud reported that Stoneman
had gone ON, to Macon, and that Hoods
railroad, was stiA in good working or
der. This twas confirmed by the pick
cts hearing the rattle of the trains and
the screecho of -the whistle of the loco
motives. @ ,-g..
oA AS stated previously, Stoneman had
gone out with his division, numbering
300 men; AT and Garrard's, Division, num-
bering. 1000, to-; pass around Hoods
right and Strike the railroad, while Nc
Cook, going froip our extreme right
should pass around the Confederate left
and meet him somewhere south of At
lanta, near Jofiesboro. and help effec-
ually to destroy the railroad, The best
story of Stoneman's, operations is told
in the report of Col. Horace Capron,
14th Ill. Cav, commanding the Third
Brigade. Capron moved with his bri-
gade from Covington, July 2S,- crossed
the U1cofauhachee River. destroyed two
bridges, a large flour mill and a cotton
factory, and then marched with the rest
of the command toward Macon. Col
Biddle's Brigade. being in the advance
drove in the enemy's pickets seven
miles from Macon, and Col. Capron's
Brigade set in to strike the Georgia
Central Railroad and destroy it up as
far as Macon. 1t burned and DESTROYED
five miles of track. two passenger trains.
stock train loaded with hogs and
L
burned long railroad bridge near the
city.
In the meantime the enemy was col.
lecting in front and on the f1anks and
attacking with increasing earnestness.
Capron attacked one portion of the
enemy's line, broke it, and drove it for
mile and a half, but the enemy rail-
lied, and came back with a superior
force, which, turned the fanks and
forced the front hack. The situation
now became desperate. and Stoneman
and his brigade commanders attempted
to relieve it by "a vigorous charge on.
root This was quickly shown to be fu-
NE py the numbers of the enemy en-
countered. So closely did the Confed-
crates press the cavalrymen that the
latter We're in many instances unable
to regain their horses Gen. Stoneman
and his staff and portion of his cona-
mand were captured outright. The
Union lines were ,everywhere broken
and Individual Colonels and. command
they could and cut their way thru tha
enemy's lines, but We're hotly pursued
Col. Capron collected as much az bis
command as he could, and began a
rapid retreat, pursued by the yictoriops
enemy. These hung on his rear and
killed, wounded and captured his men
LOT some seven or eight miles. when
Niio uau made their
escape, reinforced Capron and tennnn.
rarily drove the enemy back. AItogeth-
er he had then only about 400 men.
made up of squads from every one of
the regiments. Among these were
Lieut.-Col. e. Mix, with some of the
Sth Mich; Col. Adams. with what he
had saved from the wreck of his hrie
gade, and Lieut.-Col Matson 9Th Ind
Cav, with the remnants off Col Riddia.,
Brigade i'iuuie
Ill-luck stili followed the command
and hourly,t was in danger of being
surrounded and cut off. Aup . Col
Capron, finding his men and animal.
worn 9nt by their run of 56
miles, went 3nto1 camp to feed and rest
TOT Two hogrs. Is With the command
We're largo number of negros. whom
It was found impossible to shake off
and these lay in the rear of the force
Just before daylight on the morning of
Aug. the enemy's cavalry oane ,,n ;n
the rear. strucki the negros. drove
them In a. panic into camp. and
followed, driving and scattering
everything Reforss them. A stampede
then ensued, and in irving to
get across the river the bridge gave
way. throwing al who were on it into
the water, The Confederate cavalry
man were aided by the citizens of the
country. and there is no doubt that
many OF the fugitives were murdered in
their flight Capron, with a few of his
men, made their escape thru the woods L
and arrived at the Union lines at Ma |