GORDON’S ATTACK AT FORT S TED MAN.

583

either slope uncovered the retreat would he com-paratively easy and safe for Gordon, and the Has-kell battery was the one at once able to effect theseverest injury to his retreating ranks, and appar-ently the easiest to silence. The rifle and mortarbatteries and sharp-shooters in our front took fora target the right forward angle of Haskell, the°nly point from which Woerner’s guns could reachthat coveted slope. A heavy fire was pouredmto this angle, while the Confederates in Sted-nian began to scramble back to their own lines.3Voerner removed his ammunition to the magazine,°nt of reach of the bombs that were droppingall about the gun. His men cut fuses below andbrought up the shell as needed. The brave soldierniounted the breastworks with his field-glass andSl gnaled to the gunner for every discharge, andbe made the slope between Stedman and the Con-federate salient (Colquitt’s) a place of fearfulslaughter. My mind sickens at the memory of it — are al tragedy in war—for the victims had ceasedfighting, and were now struggling between impris-°nment on the one hand, and death or home on theother. Suddenly an officer on a white horse rode outUnder the range of Woerner’s gun and attemptedrally the panic-stricken mass. He soon wheeleda bout, followed by some three hundred men whombe drew back out of range, halted, and formed fora charge to silence the gun. The movement wasdistinctly observed by us in Haskell, and WoernerContinued to pound away at the slope, while theinfantry once more formed on the parapets. The

battery repulsed no less than three vigorous and determined^saults of the enemy. In repelling these assaults ForttieGil very rendered efficient assistance. Captain Jacobiioemer, commanding the artillery there, finding at one timehat he could not incline his guns sufficiently to reach the as-hhnlting column, had two pieces hauled out of tlie fort andbianted them near the City Point road. Battery IX endured( hr several hours the incessant and concentrated fire of tlieChesterfield” and“Gooseneck ” batteries, the mortar-hat-pries in front, and the guns of Spring Hill on the left, be-sides the desperate and stubborn attacks of infantry greatlyhperior in numbers to those within the battery. And whileie attempt to capture Battery IX was probably not so furi-hs or sanguinary as that upon Fort Haskell, it was suffi-lent to test to the highest degree the courage and endurancec ta e men. In his official report of the battle, General Will-°x, the division commander, says: ‘ The 2d Michigan foughtle enemy on this flank ... in the most spirited manner,btii they were drawn in by order of tlieir brigade com-0 ai| der (Colonel Ralph Fly) to Battery No. IX.’ And whenpeered into Battery IX, the movement was executed in■her, with steadiness and without confusion, though the’-hhucii r was heavily pressed by the skirmishers of thein both flank and rear. O 11 the morning of the 25tli,tei ' the final assault and repulse, a Confederate captain,10 was one of tlie prisoners taken from the enemy, told me

storming-party moved direct on onr center, as ifdetermined now to avoid contact with the guns ofeither angle. But our muskets were well aimed,and the new ranks were thinned out with everyvolley. The party crossed the ravine, and therethe leader fell, shot through the head. Many ofhis men fell near him, and the last spasm of theassault was ended. Gradually the fire on bothsides slackened, and many of the Confederatesthat were still within our lines laid down tlieirarms.

Major Randall now resolved to recapture FortStedman, and taking a number of the men of the14th Regiment, belonging to the Stedman battal-ion, formed on the parade in rear of Haskell. Hewas soon joined by detachments of officers andmen from tlie 3d Maryland, 100th Pennsylvania ,and 29th Massachusetts regiments, and the col-umn charged down the breastworks to Fort Sted-man, the 3d Maryland men, led by Captain JosephF. Carter, being the first to enter the work anddemand its surrender. At the same time MajorN. J. Maxwell, of the 100th Pennsylvania , and anumber of his men, mounted the parapet andplanted their colors there. This column re-occu-pied Fort Stedman and Battery X and the breast-works, and the prisoners and rifles captured wereawarded to the officers of McLaughlen’s brigade,who led the counter-charge from Fort Haskell. Ran-dall and his men took possession of the recapturedworks and continued to garrison them, j) [See, also,General Hartranft’s article, p. 584 and following.]

that the column making the last assault on Battery IX wascomposed of two brigades, Ransom’s and another, tlie nameof tlie commander of which I have forgotten. He stated thatthe orders to the attacking party were to move upon the flankand rear of our line, clear the works to McGilvery, and takethe fort by assault in the rear. As he expressed it, the as-sailants got along well enough till they ‘came to this rise(indicating Battery IX), where you-uns sort of discouragedus.’ Mention should he made of the service performed bythe other regiments iu our brigade, and also by Fort McGil-very, Battery V, and Battery IV, tlie two latter being bat-teries firing at long range.” EDITORS.

i The loss in the four companies of the 14th New York ,in Fort Haskell, was 4 killed and 23 wounded. The 3dNew Jersey Battery lost 1 killed and 7 wounded. Theeight companies of the 14th New York stationed at FortStedman lost 8 killed, 22 wounded, and 201 captured ormissing. The two sections of the 19th New York Battery,in Fort Stedman, lost 1 killed and 14 missing. The sectionof the 14th Massachusetts Battery, iu Battery X, lost1 killed (Lieut . Nye), 2 wounded, and 11 missing. Theloss of the Ninth Corps in repulsing the attack onStedman, Haskell, etc., was 70 killed, 424 wounded,and 523 captured,—in all, 1017.— Editors.

GENERAL HOSPITAL AT CITY POINT. FROM A WAR-TIME PHOTOGRAPH.