The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-05

to Bunker Hi and bivouacked there
Tor he night, as after events proved,
q most laInentable error.
September 81 now come to A pc
riod in the history OF our operations
In the Valley, to chronicle the events
or which fills me with equal NORTH
catlon and pain. That grand old
corps, which had conquered gIoriously
upon a hundred well f~oughten" fields,
and whose banner had never hereto
fore been lowered in defeat. was now
destined. under a combination Of
causes, to experience d series of dis
aSterS.
early this morning rapid
aiding in the direction and vicinity of
winchester that the enemy
had evidently advanced i'll force. Ram
seur was at the Immediately
point, breckenridge was a few miles
off, we were lying at Stephenson's, five
miles off. and Gordon was at Bunker
Hill, twelve miles away. We were i'm
mediately and rapidly moved forward,
the noise Of the incipient onfic in
creasing deepening as we proceed
ed. AS the various divisions would
reach the field. they had, OF curse, to
be put in by detail. At d point about
one and one-half miles from Winches-
ter, we first struck the cnenny-the
left of the 18th and the right Of the
9Th Corps, confronting us. The men
went to their work in splendid style,
and, almost at the first dash, succeed
ed IN driving the Yankees in great con-
fusion before them, though our losses
were quite heavy-nOt, however, to be
compared with theirs. 1t was in this
first collision that our gallant Major
General, ROdes, fell, pierced through
the head. / was quite near him when
he was struck, and cannot describe
my feelings of regret and dismay when
I witnessed his fall. Cool. brave, eau
tious, sagaciOus and skiiful, ne COM
manded the confidence and affection
Of his troops to the fullest extent. [
regard his death as"one of the severest
losses which our cause has sustained
during the war.
At almost every other point, as our
forces successfully came up and en-
gagged the enemy, victory seemed to
incline in our favor; and towards noon
there was a pause Of several hours in
the conflict, or, rather. I shall say, a
cessation Of general fighting, and we
all began fond1y to hope that the foe
was too badly crippled and democrat
lied to resume it. But their great nu-
merical superiority not only ave them
the power of reinforcing their lines
and thereby restoring confidence, but
also to extend them SO far as to over
lap and envelope our left, where we
had cavalry protection alone. 1t is a
we'll known principle, or, at least, eX-
perience Of warfare, that cavalry even
where advantage of numbers rests
with them are Incompetent to cope
with infantry; and, accordingly, when
the enemy bore down in force upon
ours, they were swept away like chaff,
our left was completely turned, and
the enen1y came rushing in like an
avalanche upon our fan and rear.
This, of course, neceSSitated a rapid
falling back upon our part for new
pnSitjnp and iC1ncitinr aud aim oct
inevitably engendered confessional
confusion which was sOo1 converted
into a panic, and became, with some
few isolated and glorious exceptions,
general, that all efforts to rally, re-
animate and reform the men were an
aVaiiing, and the army retreated in
disorder through and beyond Winches-
ter, losing a umbe Of prisoners
slowly pursued by the enemy, who,
CONTINUED on Page S~ixteen.)