SEDGWICK AT FREDERICKSBURG AND SALEM HEIGHTS.
22 9
lowestM
slightly wavered. Sedgwick and Newton looked on with unconcealed anx-* e ty, and turned to each other, but remained silent. The suspense wasllr tense. Was it to be a victory or a defeat? Was the place a second time1° be a “ slaughter-pen ? ” Was the Sixth Corps to be driven into the river ?Staff-officers, waving their swords and hurrahing to the men, dashed downthe Telegraph road. A blinding rain of shot pierced the air. It was morethan human nature could face. The head of the column as it reached thepart of the decline near a fork in the road seemed to melt away,any fell; others bending low to the earth hurriedly sought shelter from theu ndulations of ground and the fences and the two or three wooden structuresalong the road. Out of 400 comprising the 7th Massachusetts , 150 were killedand Wounded. Colonel Johns, commanding, was severely wounded. Then, as^ moved by a sudden impulse and nerved for a supreme effort, both columnsa nd the line in the field simultaneously sprang forward. The stone wall wasgamed and the men were quickly over it. ^ Just as my horse was jumpingthrough a break in the wall one of the enemy, standing slightly to the leftand about a horse’s length from me, raised his gun and fired. The excitement°1' the hour must have unnerved his hand, for the ball sipped harmlessly by tom y right. In a second a bayonet was thrust into his breast by one of our men°n my left. Along the wall a hand-to-hand fight took place, and the bayonetail/ l the butt of the musket were freely used. The brilliant and successfulcharge occupied perhaps ten or fifteen minutes, and immediately after the wallcarried the enemy became panic-stricken. In the flight they threw awayguns, knapsacks, pistols, swords, and everything that might retard theirs P e ed. One thousand prisoners were taken, besides several battle-flags andhmces of artillery. The commander of a Louisiana battery handed his saber0 Colonel Thomas S. Allen, of the 5th Wisconsin . This regiment out of 500j aeu lost 123, and the 6th Maine out of about the same number lost 167 inhied and wounded. Over 600 were killed and wounded in the direct assaulthpon the heights, and the loss to the corps on the entire front was about 1000.f< General G. K. War ren, who had arrived that morning with instructions°m headquarters, said in his telegram to Hooker : “ The heights were car-ri e d splendidly at 11 a. m. by Newton.” Upon reaching the summit of theharp hill, after passing through the extensive and well-wooded grounds of
our side in front of the sunken road was a good s t 0 newall even with tlie level of the field. In tliis sunkenroad were two Confederate lines of battle, tlie front linefiring on our charging lines on the left of the road andthe rear lino sitting on their heels, with their hacksagainst the terrace wall at the base of the hill and rearof the road. About opposite the right of our regimentwas a depression on the hill made some time, I shouldthink, by water from the land above, but now grassedover; at the head of this depression was a batteryplaced, I suppose, to rake the ravine or depression.Some one looked through the board fence, and saw theenemy's flank. In a moment the men rushed to thefence, and we went through pell-mell right upon theflank of the Confederates, at the same time giving themthe contents of the muskets point-blank without aim-ing. The whole thing was a surprise; they were notprepared for anything from this quarter, as we werehidden from them, and they from us, by the house andfence.” EDITORS.
Private of Company F, 7th Massachusetts ,1 es to the editors:
°’e.lo^t aS8ault took place Sunday, May 3d, at about 11"hill ti A " ^ l0 Massachusetts leading the left eol-'han’i 0 New York Volunteers in support. Both7th l< a ' ,y the "auk. Our company (F), leading thetir e ’ " ailS0( luently caught the whole body of the firstiy ere r rile ‘ Johnnies,’ which they withheld until wetlie QiJ.^rihiuly within twenty-five yards. As some ofto y(,]|'? p H sa ug out ‘ Retreat, Retreat,’ tlie men beganUp . Forward! don’t go back! we sha’n’t get so closerile in"., 111 '' Lieutenant-Colonel Franklin P. Harlow wastVorjf 'J hflhve all others who held the men up to theirhleiiti ( ' H1<l 1 fluve never yet seen his name even worthilyfid".,. Just before and in front of the wall facing
«* ** street is a house standing in a small plat, V-
h] 0 , ’ an< l inclosed by a high board fence. This wall
iVall f 0 a7oi ’ff the base of the hill was a rough stoneriuiug the rear bank of the sunken road, while on