The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-23


rear OF tho right OF each regiment, IL
lire along the Seven Pines road. iH
tue field, ready to fail In, each behind
their own regiment al 1t moved dowL.
the road tn the battlefield. Ifa toi&
me that General Longstrcct would pssl
our front about dawn, and that tn,
road must be kept clear OF obstrtic,
uon by ambulanccs or wagons until II,
had gotten out OF our way, and thai
when he had passed our front ".
must follow him Immediately. was
ordered to SEQ to II that no confusion
or obstruction of the road occurred.
These orders executed with exact pre-
clslon, and Hills Corps was In position
and ready to move at a moments mo-
tice. on the edge OF the Seven Pines
road, leaving the road clear for Long
street to march past our front. We
were formed In front OF General TIilrs
Headquarters. In the yard OF Major
John Poe. General Fiji told me that
LonSstreet would form his line Of
battle on the right of the road, and his
corps on the left; that General Long
street would fire signal gun, and
the assault would be made all along our
line as soon as 1t was light enough
for us to see.
Long Deiny Before Attack.
4 Not until about O'clock A. M. did
General Longstrcet appear. lie halted
] his column in the road Just In front
i OF where we lay on Our arms IN the
= edge OF the field, and there the two
i corps, which were to have assaulted
the enemy's position at dawn, re-
NAMED stationary and idle until 2 z.
! M. Then Longstreet moved down to
the battlefield and took position on Che
right OF the road, and Hill. following.
took his place in tho limo of battle to
tho left of the road. There wc waited
in line for I suppose nearly an hour.
| l take 1t that everybody knows that
a General Longstreet was waiting all
; those precious hours for General Huger
40 come up. regardless OF the fact that
4 all tile while to enemy was rushing ar
Il tillery and troops across tho Chicka-
hominy bridge. over which the water
was pouring waist deep. At length
tho signal gun was fired. and our gal
| liant troops rushed to the assault Our
signal gun was replied to on the in
slant by the enemy. their shells burst
| Ing among the horses attached to our
piece and killing or wounding every
one OF thcm.
My orders had been to be with tn,
STAFF on tho field. but just before this
| firing OF the signal gun. General
George b. Anderson requested Gem
eral Hill to elbow me to servo Ills old
regiment on the field. az both the sur
geon and hi5 assistant were down With
Typhoid fever. General Hill very up-
willingly complied, with the under-
standing that IL needed for himself
or STAFF courier would be sent for
met Accordingly took my place
1 at the field hospital to look after thu
wounded Of the Fourth North Caro-
\ lima Regiment. The position taken
up was Immediately opposite Federal
generals headquarters. where we ar
terwards found ouch luxurious APP
pointments; but what most concerned
us at 1.-The tIme was that our hospital
station was soon under heavy
showed OF musket balls. and that a
wounded man or two received an adj
d1tional wound. We. however. moved
the operating tables and wounded
men behind the buildings. and down
the slope OF tho hill. and received no
further harm.
The Awful Cost of yynr.
4 BY nightfall tho firing had prac-
tically ceased. and 1t appeared that
we had won the fight We worked at
| the field hospital nearly all night, and
early In the morning, which was Sun
day. we had succeeded in removing
all the wounded from the field. !
| then rode out on tho battlefield to see
| IL could find General Hill. About
400 yards in front of our hospital l
l saw General Anderson sitting on his
| horse alone. and so motionless that
thought no was asleep. I congratu-i
lated him upon our victory, and he re-
piled. with great emotion: .Ye3, doc
tor: but how fearful has been the cost:
and how terrible Is war! As I sit here
can count moro than seventy dead
i men; they were my neighbors. my
1! friends, my school-fellows; some of
them my nearest of kim" l knew
1 General Anderson we'll. then and af-
forwards, and believe a drawer and
i truer man. more modest and perfect
\ gentleman. never knew. On the
field Of Sharpsburg he received triv-
ial wound in the foot, and In forty
| eight hours he was dead of tetanus.
In his brigade at Seven Pines tho
loss in killed and severely wounded
was two-thlrds OF the whole number
engaged. I have the numbers now on
an old pieco OF brown confederate
paper taken by me the day after
the battle. by direction OF General
ELL. who instructed mo to direct the
lregmental surge coma not to report any
wounds which were not sufficient to
disable a man from duty at tho front,
This he did that the enemy might not
be encouraged and our own people
depressed by unnecessarily swelling
tho list OF casualties. We observed
this rule for his whole corps, which
was probably the heaviest loser of any
in the fight. This battle was. be-
lieve. the most disastrous to tho Con-
federacy OF any fought by the Army
of Northern Virginia. The wounding
of General Johnston. followed by the
paralysis OF General Smith, who sue
ceeded to tho command. and then by
the succession OF General Lee to the /
command of the army. resulted in no
! accurate official report of the battle
being possible. But another anu great
Ter disaster awaited our army n tho
interval between Seven Pines and the
Seven Days Battles, when the mortal
lily from sickness was truly appalling.
4 or the actual number Of deaths, lhere
exists no official account. but atsr u
hope to give some account Of {.
nhulS Tn.nAY