The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1911-02-09

grip on the Weldon Railroad. Five
days later Lee was more successful in
shaking off Hancock at Ream's Sta
ton"
A Prisoner Recaptured.
C. w. owen, Co G, 1st Mich. ouin-
cy. Mich, writes: Eu z a
After participating in the three days
opening fight in the Wilderness, May 5,
6 and Z, and marching all night of the
18th, 1 was taken prisoner at the battle
of Laurel Hill, on Sunday morning,
May 3, but was fortunate enough tosbe
one of the 400 prisoners recaptured by
Sheridan's cavalry at Beaver Dam Sta
ton the next evening. @s1
In your issue of Dec. is described
the capture of the Weldon road by the
Fifth Corps. The picture of the old
Yellow House. or Globe Tavern, and
also of Gen. Warren looked very nat
ural. Aug. 16 we were withdrawn from
our old line in front of Petersburg and
the morning of the 18th we advanced
TO the Weldon Railroad Griffiin's First
Division was on the left of The line,
the Third Brigade. to which / was at
tached. occupying the extreme left.
The road was soon destroyed for some
distance, the ties being burned and the
as to render them useless. The day
was verv hot. Towards evening a des-
perate effort was made to recapture
the road and drive us away, the fight
being very severe on our right After
two more hard tights. one on the 10th
and one on the morning of the 21st.
the enemy left us in peaceful possess
sion OF the road We established line
of works a few rods beyond the rail-
road and a short distance to the left of
the Yellow House. In our front was a
low strip of land dcnsely wooded, which
was slashed down in our front for
some distance A little to our right
was an open field, and here the line
was advanced some distance in front of
our position, fianking the woods. which
the rebels came near capturing the
morning of the 2lst; but when our line
opened on them they saw 1t was all up
with them and began to climb back as
fast as possible. We lay in this posi-
ton unmolested until Sept. 80, when we
made another move to the left, captur
ing a line of works at Peebles's Farm,
after hard fight. in which we lost
quite heavily. Here Col. WEIGH. of the
10th Mich, was killed as he mounted
a rebel fort. In the fight in the even
ing of the same day Capt. Wheaton.
who commanded the 1st Mich. at that
time, was killed. Later we were on
the Mine Run exposition and had a
hard fight. losing quite heavily. The
forepart of December the Fifth Corps
went on a raid south along the Weldon
Railroad, going as far as Hicksville.
destroying more of that road, and had
some hard fighting. sleet storm
came up, causing much suffering among
the troops before getting back to Win
ter quarters in the rear of the lines at
Petersburg"
As to Grants Orders.
C. C. Case, Sth Me, Maynard. Mass.
writes:
I'm answer to Inquiries recently The
National Tribune stated that the Sth
Me, 55th Pa, and other regiments were
in Ames's Division, Tenth Corps. Soon
after the organization of the Army, of
the James the Sth Me-, 55th Pa. and
some other regiments of the Eighteenth
Corps were placed in the Second Di-
vision, Eighteenth Corps, and so fought
under Weitzel at Drewry's Bluff and
Martindale at Cold Harbor and the
assault on northeasterly defenses Of
Petersburg, June II to IS, and later.
Grants instructions to Butler, April 9,
speak of the necessity of your holding
close TO the south bank or the Ja;les
as you advance toward Richmond. For
you To say that the taking of Peters
burg was so obvious n thing even 70 a
non military mind as to need no specific
order seems to me unwarranted. Rich
mond was The objective point. Smith
and Gilmore urged Butler to take
Petersburg but Butler Understood
Grants orders 10 negative 1T. Later,
on June 10, Grants orders to Hancock
whose prompt support of Smith was
desirable, We're obscure and confusing.
Let each take his share of blame. You
mention Buffers receipt of dispatches
from Washington stating that Meade
had completely defeated Lee, who was
in full retreat etc, and yet in the pre-
vious chapter you say Butler, who made
such pretense of being supremely well
informed should have had more ac-
curate knowledge. Sure he should, and
he should have had it from 'high-ups
rather than from 'contrabahds.'
Capt. Newbury's Death.
E. r. Estes, 18th L. s., writes:
at Warren's fight, on the weldon
Railroad, the evening of Aug. 10, Capt.
Newbury was in command of the 18th
u. S. After / reported to him that
shots were coming from the rear he
vent a little distance to the rear to
find the cause. j went with him, and
we had not gone far before we saw a
scattered body OF Johnnies advancing
from the rear. We returned to the reg
ment and he called out We are sur
rounded men; every man for him.
self Capt Newbury mounted his
horse and started to lead as many as
would follow him to the rear. / kept
beside him. We. were met by a half
dozen rebels. One of them sang out,
Surrender Capt. Newbury and his
sword drawn and making a cut with
his sword at the one who made the
demand, cleaved his head open. He
was Immediately shot by one Of The
rebels, and lurching 10 the left fell out
of his saddle, striking me on the right
shoulder and knocking me down. l
was one of the many taken prisoners.
got away twice and the third time j
was within 80 feet OF Gen. Hays. | write
this, as / wish ii to be known that
Capt Newbury would be the last man
to surrender without striking blow.
He was a cool, brave and gentlemanly
officer"
Praise for Silaicr's Brigade.
Jesse w. Shaw, Co. f, 126th Ohio.
Alliance, Ohio. writes;
MY regiment, the 126th Ohio, lost
derness, May 6, than it did in any other
battle. A few words in praise of Sha-
| lers Brigade, that was driven back in
the Sixth Corps that evening. T1ey
were blamed for not holding the works
longer, but to have done so would have
meant the capture of the entire tbri-
gade. The enemy charged in front, on
Seymour was advised the night before
Al cd III 10