Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-12-21
Rally Of The Confederates.

IN extreme dlSoruer. --s -...
Rally Of the Confederates.
No supports followed the detachment
of the Third Vermont. Meanwhile the
Confederates gathered In heavy force.
BY the exertlonss of General Howell
Cobb and Colonel Anderson the de-
moralized regiments were rallied and
others brought up. TIL no less than
seven regiments hemmed in the little
band of yermonters. Captain Pingree
sent back two successive messengers
to Colonel Hyde. asking either for re-
endorsements or for permission to re-
tire.
The rattle Of musketry and roar Of
artillery was too continuous ut this
time to permit orders to be heard for
any distance. but those who did not
hear saw that a retreat was ordered.
and In Eve minutes the line had scat
tered back across the creek through a
shower OF musket balls. OF the 1872
brave men who crossed the stream
about 100 came back unframed. bear
Ing with them as many, as they could
of their wounded comrades. They
had carried line Of rife pits and had
held their position In front of two
Confederate brigades for forty min
utes till they were ordered back.
A general cannonade was then open
ed by the Federal batteries. and four
companies OF the Fourth Vermont
dashed across to attack one gun re-
doubt near the stream. while four com
panies Of the Sixth Vermont assaulted
the Confederate rife pits below the
dam. Colonel Ayres' batteries fired
over the heads Of the Vermonters and
then dashed into the stream with fix.
ed bayonets. But an outburst OF Con-
federate musketry and artillery fire
met the assailants. and General Smith
recalled the battalion of the Fourth to
save 1t from destruction. The men Of
the Sixth. however. waded the stream.
holding their muskets and cartridge
boxes above their heads The excited
: Confederates beyond fired over the
heads Of this column. and only a few
rushed to the breastworks. twas
madness to try to hold on. and orders
came to retreat In the advance about
forty men fell and an equal number
on the retreat. >a
/ Smiths division lost 1914 killed and
wounded and Magruder's Confederate
command ninety-hve in all. General
Smith said in his report, There were
more individual acts Of heroism per-
formed than | ever heard of in the
great battle"
Opening the Mississippi.
Farragut's naval expedition fitted out
during the winter Of 1862 to attack
New Orleans came as an afterthought
in Washington. The first plan adopted
for prosecuting the war on the water
was to blockade every important har-
Dor on the southern coast But the
feet of new Federal ironclads built on
the upper Mississippi in the fall Of
1861 was looking for more sea room,
which could only be had by seeking
1T downstream. Now. If ships could
pillow one way they could the other,
and in spite of the woeful unprepared-
ness Of those times the contract was
given out on the spur of the moment
to open up the lower Mississippi and
cut the CGnfederacy in two.
The outlook in the winter of 1862
didn't worry the Confederates block
AIDED in the Crescent City. Nothing
that walks can cross the swamps,"
was the cheerful cry Of the populace
on the levees. When Lincoln was ap-