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■'W* h‘— * *** -Off»S«0 SC*I\.* ^Our iurn now c imo—I rat an my ngi-njeui W t* had been ^peitatois of the dihi omforture wb.cft bvfep cur lt;tm-iodes on tne left, and a fueling of revenge .'piang up iu oar breasts as we wilneb.-xd thlt; ir decimated ranks fall hat k broken and apparently disheart-^entd Forming iu hue of battle Lieut.-i ol Leake »ave (be order, and thereginn lit moved forwaid at a chargingsitp Livery man was in his place, ......tvery officer with h»s men Gaps made J Vye fc.fj asleep”’m the ranks by rebel sharp shooters j lying down anwiio promptly closed without confusion and in sileuce. Col Leake and .Major Thompson was as cool and self-po^strs^d as on ordinary battalion drill Our fire was reserved until we had it!most gained the foot of the hill on which the n btls were awaiting us, when we were deployed us skirmisners, and opening on them as rapidly as we could load and fire, at the same Ujne leaping the fence audeUarging up thehill ^aiir.. i tango of position was made but each icginunt m s-ien *e la down on t mr arn * and endtavo (d to gun i .u 1 11 st as w u'.d epnbie them to mo Lie fat-gms of battle on t e r:or-ro wThe night was clear and the all frosty Our clothing was wet from peispiration and our haversacks and canteens empty But notwithstanding our cold, fatigue, hunger and thi*-l• 'n t imir diatt ! o . av oke next morning at 5 o’clock lefreahed and ready for our day -j v lt;.» kWe immediately formed In line ofbattle and distributed ammunition, Many of the men, after filling. (heir ex-hausted cartridge boxes, ppt sixty rounds in their epip-t-y- haversacks, swearing they woffid give the rebels “hell today/* We remained in line until 10 o’clock awaiting orders, when Lieut -Col joeake roclo over to Gen* Herron’s headquarters, soon returning 'with Information that the rebels had skipped during the night. ri his inform-— I ation was greeted with three cheers e houses, when we broke ranks. Soon after a l to meet few of our wagons came up, bringinga small amount of rations and twoi Hit h rm. h o 'IWe now found ourselves confronted by u heav foiee of rebels who previously had been concealed from view by (he tinnier in rear of who promptly came forty us. '1 heir start was prefaced as usual by a yeii, but as this was our first bat- barrels cyf whiskey, both of which was He we had not yet learned to fear dem- f iS!,tlPfi nnd dlsnoaed of lin the usual castrations so harmless, and therefore cooly met it with a ciose and low^sell-directed fire, which not only''spoiled the yell, but disorganized their charge, when it was changed from a forward to a backward movement. After a few minutes of sharp fighting we gained the house, set it on lira and drove theri b u I w % lt;• w I { t n i ♦ h h « • i i I • t»lt; nfi in h mtu’ i i tin nil»fi in nlv\i|t »«lt;? w ofor some minutes tailed to observe the uiovcnients ot^ our right, when we suddenly heard LUut.-Co! Leake give the order to fall back and in doing so we saw our right *\ iug iorming in front at one of Gen liiunt’s hatter.es Then our isolated position became apparent, and gU/orny forebodings for a moment Lock posession of our minds Was our army defeated0 Had we so long and well con tested the ground against fearful ochfs. hiiccessfully driving the rebs from their first and strongest p lt;sition, ami alieady, as we believed, on the eve tif winning a victory now to relinquish our hard fought advantage aid fly fiora the fie:d? But our position was too critical to admit ot de-la) Firing almost our last cartridge we dashed back down the hill just as Biuut s batteries opened, throwing grap and can n is ter over our heads and j among the rebels in our^/ear. The fir- j ing fioni the batten Irs cf abled u* to re- 1 jam i r get in line on the grounti weiniupfil at the commencement of thevery littie further loss bouy of Gen UUtfni's forc-arrlvcd and 1wej* forming on wur light with t\venty*four pieces of artillery and on uur left Gelt;p her-ron had twenty-six pieces, and from this the terrible artiPery fire the rebell recoiled along their whole line, taking position further «back la thp tipiber YV* now again moved forward. but meeting with no resistance we returned and as night had c«ose1 in we lay down on our arms with orders to be prepared to renew thk battle on the following morning, Our sentine’s occupied the field in front and there vftis no kind of alarm d uirg the night, but gnat commotion was observed among the rebels whose ambu’ances coubl be seen constantly moving from point to point am n« the timber on the hill No reorganization of ourbat* e with 1 in main es ha 1 now ____ ..... _ . theway, but tn an unusually short time.We then proceeded to ascertain our loss during the battle; out of 270 engaged 18 were killed and 39 wounded. I apeak of my own regiment* Orders were sent our trains which had fallen back to Fayetteville to move up immediately and they arrived the same. ..0, ... .ug.if*, u* tl.e fitav prjvic: V a cu ill thii ty f^ur h u s. . tLite ha. J tack and a half pintof whiskey we had in the morning.On the morning of the 9th we proceeded to perform the melancholy task ( of burying our dead comrades. We j could picture in imagination the anguish of the mothers and ^fathers, of the sisters and brothers and the girl we left behind us when the sad intelligence reached them and our tears of sympathy flowed unrestrainedDuring the afternoon of the same day we visited the battlefield, which was still strewn with rebel dead and wounded Long trenches were being dug by our own men into which the dead wen* thrown with but little ceremony and covered with dirt. The facT that our own dead and wounded had been stripped of their clothing and robbed by the rebels bad much to ao with the rough manner of their disposalAll the houses in the vicinity had been taken possession of 1v txe®.lilndman and converted into hospitals and were still filled with wounded. In ,♦ L**ge farm house about one mile south from the battlefield when some five or six of us visited it about 4 p.m.. the floors were strewn with wounded and the yard surrounding it was also covered by them. They were lying in the hot sun moaning piteously, while at a large table in the principal room the surgeons were busily engaged dressing wounde and 9 amputating limbs. After amputatic-n the limbs were thrown out at t* back door and as true as I am star ding before you I. saw a number of hog f ?eding on them. The sight was so disgusting to me that I hastened away, feeling a still deeper degree oT hatred fa those viilians who had been instiga^s of a rebellion which had placed these poor wretches ih a position where they had become food for hegs, and I resolved in myown mind that I would u.j all J eon to pm it down and punish these w had been instrumental in origlr.ati it.The rebels outnumbered us four one, had selected taeir own grotin planted tholr batt*rii s and cooly wai ed for us to march up and fall an e pio* 11.to their hands. But this W (dir firBt bat fie and vr did not pau to Consider, if we had tnown the gre • d u against us. teach man fought a though the result depended on his ow Imhv.dual cxeiUons. aever allowifi the poV.bilit^of defeat for a momento enter intd* his calculations; instaa therefore of overwhelming U3 by numbers the rebels were themselves overwhelmed by our impetuosity, whic drove them back from their first an Qtiongrst position, whr^tiisy wore !$• turn assailed in the rear by Ge Blunt, who fell upon them like a than derbolt. Once routed the day was 1 and this splendid army on which rebels had depended for great thin became a disorganized mass of fu$ tives it was impossible to ever rally*.The following brief report of th battle wras made by Gen, Blunt t headquarters at St. Louis: Headquarters Army of the FrqntieiBattlefield near Fayetteville, Dec.1862.To Maj -Gen Curtis—This plac£ 0 yesterday was the scene of a har fought and bloody battle resulting I complete victory of the Army ot fch Frontier The rebel forces under GeHindman, Marmaduke, Parsons- an I\lt; t ** twenry-five thousanwhite my fore* and Gen. Hei run lid net exceed six thousand. I ha been holding the enemy on Bosto mountains for two days ekirmisfinnj With their advance, holding them i: check until Gen. Herron could com up with reinforcements. On the 6tthe^ drove in my outposts and gxt po session of a road by which they co“ manded a flank movement on my 1 during the night, while they made heavy feint in front., Thier abject w^f to cut off communications betwee* Gen. Herron and myself, as he knev Gen. Herron would be at Fayettevill about daylight. They attacked Gen Herron dt 10 o’clock a. mu, who by ga lant and desperate fighting held the in-check for three hours until I cab and attacked them in the rear; tn fighting/was desperate on both side and continued until it was terminate by the darkness of the night. My co mand bivouacked on their arms reaxi to renew the conflict at daylight in morning, but the enemy had tivail themselves of the night to retfe across the Bostop mpuntains.The loss on both sides has bee heavy. My loss in killed is small 1 proportion to the number woundei The enemy’s loss compared with our Is at least four to one. My artilleri made terrible destruction In the! ranks. They had greatly Lie advant age in number and .position, yet Gen Hindman and Gen. Marmaduke ac knowledged to me in an interview utf rder a flag of truce they had been whip Ped. . • fThe 19th and 20th Iowlt;a, 37th lUln64 and 26tlvlndiana suffered severely Gen. Herron deserves great credit f the promptness wltih which he rein forced me, marching from near Spring field, a distance of one hundred eight miles, 1* three days, and also foigallantry upon the field. Respectfully;JAB. G. BLITWF. BMg.-Ge*s*•(it!'
Newspaper Details
Moline Weekly Mail
Moline, Illinois, US
Thu, Sep 28, 1899
Page 2
Full Page
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USA 09 Nov 2020
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