ACTIONS ON THE WELDON RAILROAD.

573

that heavy skirmishing was going on, and an at-tack pending, probably, on the left. He desired,as he said to Meade, “to know as soon as possiblewhether yon wish me to retire from this stationm ease we can get through safe — think it too latefor Willeox; had he come down the railroad heWould have been in time. Have ordered up Mott’sdivision by way of precaution.” Evidently he ex-pected Mott first at the junction.

At 5 o’clock Hill had opened with Ms artillery,t>oth shot and shell, some of which took the works,so-called, in reverse, but did little actual damageother than demoralizing the men, of whom thereWere many, even in the old regiments, who neverhad come to fight, but to run on the first chance,°r get into the hospital, and, ho! for a pensionafterward! “Some of their officers could notspeak a word of English, ” says Hancock in his re-port, and were therefore without that mutual in-telligence and support which battle demands, andWith nothing in common with their men but panic.

The first assault came on Miles, opposite hisFourth Brigade, and at a part of the line held bythe consolidation of material of different regi-ments. For a time the severity of Miles’s fire, theslashing and other obstacles on the ground, stag-gered the assaulting column, and they must havebaffled it completely if the fire had continued onlya few minutes longer. As it was, the assailants werethrown into considerable confusion when, sud-denly, our recruits gave way, and a break occurredof two regiments on the right, and though Milesordered up what little reserve he had these menWould neither move forward nor fire. Still Lieu-tenant Gteorge K. Dauchy, of McKnight’s 12thNew York Battery, turned his guns on the breachWith effect, until the enemy crept along the silentrifle-pits, captured the battery, and turned a guninside our lines. Murphy’s brigade of the SecondDivision being likewise driven off, the enemy cap-tured the 10th Massachusetts Battery, and Bat-tery B, 1st Rhode Island Artillery, on his front,though it was served with “ marked gallantry” tothe last.

Gibbon’s division was ordered to retake the worksthat were thus lost, but the men responded feebly,a nd fell back to their other works. Here, however,they were exposed to such an interior fire that theyWere compelled to throw themselves over to the out-side of their parapet. Affairs looked desperate.Dut the gallant and indefatigable Miles, rallying

J Captain Christian Woerner’s 3d New Jersey Batterytendered important Bervice at this time.— Editors.

1' General Humphreys in a letter to me of October 9th,l8 83, says:

“ I considered your not having taken part in the figlittohehue entirely to the route you were ordered to take, as indeed] ' was. Meade was at Warren’s headquarters. I was at'eadquarters Army of the Potomac. The telegrams were alltaken off for me and I was sorely tempted to telegraph Meadeto send you down the railroad to hit the enemy in flank, hut1-e frained from delicacy, to my great regret ever since.”

some brave men of the 61st New York, formed lineat right angles, swept down, recaptured consider-able of the ground lost, including McKnight’s bat-tery, and threw two hundred men across the rail-road, threatening the enemy’s rear. This force wasinsufficient to hold their advantage, and Gibbon’sfellows were ordered to reenforce it. But in vain.“They could not be got to go up,” said the veteran,who, with his staff, tried his best, with swordand expostulations. His own side was soon at-tacked “ by dismounted cavalry, and driven fromtheir breastworks with little or no resistance,”until some dismounted regiments of Gregg’s andSpear’s cavalry, fighting with bravery that shamedour infantry, rescued the prize from the enemy,who finally fell back. Gibbon partially rallied hismen behind the right wing, and formed a new lineof pits a short distance to his rear, on the left ofwhich Gregg withdrew his troopers.

Every attempt subsequently made by the enemywas successfully repelled, j In one assault Milesmade a counter-charge and recaptured part of hislost line and a gun, and so matters stood at myarrival near the scene of action some time beforedark. With the assistance of my division it didnot seem too late to recover everything that hadbeen lost. But, considering the utter demorali-zation of one of his divisions, and the fatigue of allthe brave men that had stood, Hancock did notthink it wise to renew the fight that evening,though both Miles and Gregg offered to retake theirportions of the works. Nor did he think it worthwhile to sacrifice any more men for an object thatwas so far accomplished that, previous to theaction, he had telegraphed Meade his own inten-tion to withdraw that night anyhow. Nothingmore could be done to destroy the railroad now, andconsequently there was nothing to keep Hancockat the station. “Had our troops behaved as theyused to I could have beaten Hill,” he said to me.“But some were new, and all were worn out withlabor. Or had your force been sent down therailroad to attack the enemy’s flank we would havewhipped him; or a small reserve about 6 o’clockwould have accomplished the same object.” Thesepoints were also mentioned in his report. ^ Herequested me to draw up my division as a rear-guard and let his troops pass by after dark. Inever had seen him in better form. It was morelike abdication than defeat.

The enemy did not attempt to follow us. |

The general also furnished me with copies of notesintended to correct mistakes and fill omissions whichoccurred in his history, “ The Virginia Campaign of 1864and 1865,” and which are corrected and supplied in thesearticles, so far as the Weldon Railroad fights and mydivision are concerned.— O. B. W.

The Union loss was 140 killed, 529 wounded, and 2073captured or missing=2742.

The loss of the Confederates reached a total of 720,mostly in killed and wounded. —Editors.