Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 2 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the warStephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
History
Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 2 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the war
Stephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
“Remounting on this hill, he had not ridden five steps when he was
struck in the foot by a ball. Three men were shot down at the same
moment by his side. The air was alive with bullets. He kept on his horse
a few minutes, though the wound was severe and excessively painful, and
would not dismount till he had given his last order to advance. He was
himself in the very front. Swaying unsteadily on his horse, he turned in
his seat to look about him. “There is a regiment to the right. Order it
forward! Crawford and Gordon are coming up. Tell them to carry those
woods and hold them—and it is our fight!”
“It was found that the bullet had passed completely through his foot.”
General Hooker being disabled, General Meade was placed in command of
Hooker’s Corps. Gordon and Crawford were sent to the woods, where they
fought slowly against a rebel force far outnumbering their own; General
Sedgwick’s division was rapidly moving to the aid of Crawford and
Gordon, who required the coming assistance, for rebel reinforcements
were constantly arriving. Observing that the struggle for the works was
about to recommence, General Sumner sent the divisions of French and
Richardson to the left of Crawford. General Sedgwick, with the eye of
practiced generalship, quickly saw, as he moved his troops in column
through the rear of the woods, that, with so broad a space as was
between him and the nearest division, he stood in danger of being
outflanked, if the rebel line were completed. Under a dreadful fire he
was obliged to order the Thirty-fourth New York to move by the left
flank, and the consequence was that the regiment broke. The enemy, not
slow to perceive his advantage, came round on the weak point, and
obliged Crawford to give way on the right. The routed troops poured
through the ranks of Sedgwick’s advance brigade, causing great
confusion, and forcing it back on the second and third lines; still the
enemy’s fire grew hotter, while they steadily advanced upon the
disordered Union forces. General Sedgwick, wounded in the shoulder, the
leg, and the wrist, still bravely kept his seat, nor thought of leaving
the field while any chance remained of saving it. But the position could
not be held; and General Sumner, having in vain attempted to stop the
confusion and disorder, himself withdrew the division to the rear,
abandoning the field to the enemy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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