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ionbv•rtflt.firThe Winchester Battle.JJornfr'* Company in the Fight.—*AllSa/t.—Mr. J. K. Wibi.e, n member of Cap*. Horner^ Cavalry Company, writes the fob!H l~. lowin'? letter to his Pieter:Wi^rHPSTER. V,„ March 2.1, 1RC2.»nS JV/rr Shttri—I had written you a short iia me ' letter on Sundayt but did not intern! ©los-il;»'n? ^ until the firing had oea«ec|t but to*t to ; warlt;* and before the bat tie was over, *uf wa were ordered out to take part in it. We in *or were ordered out about five o’clock in the bn Jev^nlne. The battle field I* about three old mile« South-ive*t *f Winchester, anionj the du* hill*. The wood was lined within 'VfM1T1fk*,l mr*n fvom town to the field, *ome at , veiv bftdly wounded and dying, and others ed He but slightly wounded. Some were riding lliejon horse*, other- were hauled in wagons * stM nml some were crippling along on their vl'* j gun? as they cruM. We started fromj town at a gallop, and kept at that speed to minr%~| the battle field. We arrived there ju*t in vil' the hottest part of the action. One of our j crf)r , brns« batteries wn« playing upon llio enemy a rffc i ju«t about as fast a* they could load their 1 pieces—which would average about one ?oi shot every two seconds. At this time the ilt its enemy were sheltered behind a stone fence, | ah- which eflve them a decided ad van t age overour infantry, as musket balls would not sel * ( pierce the stone fence, but whenever they *ftl IJ- dared to rftT*e their heads above the fence, eq i ty down would sro their carcass from the ef- 0f he f^t *■ ball from one of the Yankee guns ]rr (for thev call u« all Yankees.) Our arril- s,r j lens however, soon drove them back from ^°' ' their hiding-place, which gave our boys ( , cqnnl chance with them. The firing from Ha ?ns musketry and artillery was terrific at Ihis ^|tj time, and the woods vi as clouded with smoke. „, About six o'clock, and soon after our nrri- *rn vnl on the field, the enemy bioke and fled mu c'\ in all fTrertinns with the exception of their me Ij1- right fi ink w Inch m idea short stand behind C|,j '* one of their b itterios but two of our rcgi- . .in' mentc coming upon them with a sudden /,’ ‘ charge and a veil, they took to their heels ^ bagain and have not stopped running yet, or the bnd not at ln«*t accounts, Our men purMi- jM ed till dm k, when we halted on a dry high 35?‘ ridge for the night w ithont blankets or food.• * and it was pretty cold too I can a**ure you, tireJ vet we bme it cheerfully. And thus we tin tie spent ^und iv night of the 23rd of March.— _n. punncn were enlaced the whole night hunt-in up the wounded. The dead wove left lie i ^ 1 a { until the next day. A* soon as day broke CiXV on Monday morning nnr cannon opened on fgna t the enemy again and our \\ hole forces start-1 inn ed in pursuit. I f xj'*• Our company returned to quarters, gofci,V- breakfast, fed our horse*, ie*ted ourselves a ( 1-jp little,(foruehad lopt noneon Sund ij night) f elmand stalled after the enemy on the Straus- ingn^ bnror road. 'A travelled very fast, came up 'jto the encmv at Cedar Creek. sixteen miles , a* below this place, where thev had a battery nv ic and about four thousand infantry and some oon ^ cfl'-ah y, Their battery opened on our nd- bee ( v Ance, when our mm puny and an Ohio com- pOM paiiy of c iretry were ordei ml to churge the . ,n bntteiv. We were then about a mile d,s- ,nr r* tj nt from them. We woio formal m imir {,r_tmnks. drew caiVnes ind started at a g.it* | nui lop towmvU the enemy's balrrry, the ^he!N one from their gntw falling tldlt;k and t.^t n- |0 j iniind us. We charged for about n h df mile 1it miiUt n *torm of iion hail, when cco’ng m^{tfieir hoaw hodv of inrantn* and thojr ra- Pon vah v, our lino* w ere broken, and our two favr rnnip-mies fell li-ick fo,dlot\ otn artillm to ^0 plav upon them, ‘mx o[ our pru int gun-. ,y Merc conn nnlimhrieil nnd mmnienood ,lt;U'their work of lt;letrm tfnn. They -onn si- ■^u-!^ lencrd the nnnnnk guns, kiHini? ^oral of ohh(their men and wounding bur OI five *f ]rtXfn byllv tliat they have c ncp died, Monduv qjnight we camped at Pi dar Pieek,ami on1 J Tuesday morning we continued tl»e pui^uit. laK] We kept in eight of I be enerm all d:tv on evei Tncsdnv, and hv Tu*«di\ oy* nmg our out- the^ post*, were advanced to about ten miles he- ]ft v vmid Strauduirg. nnd ibout thirty he\onrl . c \V ncliestnr. lt;h\\ eorip nu his again re-n tinned to Winchester hou long »e will ic-0 main here I can no! sir.I_ The battle fi M of Sunday extended over about tin re sqnm^ mih s, Uur hiss in kd- A led. I should judge is about se\enf\ five nr v]rvI- one hundred. The Highly fonrih JVnnsvl- torlt;.1L i^nanisi. had ^rnicon k \]ot\ on the field, j among the killed their Polnucl {\Un^v) — n'll!l1’our of thf*ir men hive «xnoe dierl, makti. veee in all {v.cnlv-one. I -honld judge no halt;1 upmi six thousand men engaged on last Sund iv.— 1 o'|The rebel [o^s m killed, wounth^l and mis- ,pllT,srng |W ncknonjcdg^rl by rT,n kson hsmsrh (o, be one thousand, ^nnie nf the barhcs of (this place had written to lirm hi«tweok that j|l U » wo had but a small fotco here, a nd desired- him to ‘Vome.and relieve iliem of the ppe«-^ cnee of tlic Y inkers Tic came, but did J pr,jn not relieve them of fhr Y mkco^. The reb- j ^ el* in town here were so confident of Jack- ^n(\ son’s Micros that tliey prepmcd sMppor lor |,’ 1 his wholearim\ The\ bad faWcK^t in the f,,j ],- chuTches and other public place* for Id* nr- oul a mv, ulion they ivould arrive in town. We j, did not know this until the next div, or wewould have had a good Nipper on Sunday tnak ■ night. Tlio night wo were at Cedar Creek * , we had no provisions and as there was a i * flock o( ^heep clo^e bv we killer] several.r cooked them and cat them without bread 111 or any flung el*e. Please write soon. IT- ?Your aifectiorute Brother. will•T. Ik 'Vmef. -42.;•n*Trus Wcrt!r.The X. Y. TlerW. a Republican pape«nT*Al AL I C I 1A n ♦ ♦ + nf* f lm Cl, ..... na17'.:Stilt*On(Mus
Newspaper Details
Gettysburg Compiler
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, US
Mon, Apr 07, 1862
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Robert O.
VA, USA 24 Jan 2017
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