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^a^
I away at tho latfer place, Jackson with ! his main-force had made a dctoiii- around our right and got in our rear'by way of Tliorougbfare Gap ; so,of course,wo wore obliged to tako the back track on Wednes¬ day niorning, and by 10 o'clock Thurs¬ day, wc wero at Gain"svi'le iKtalion—a point on the Warrenton Pike and Manas¬ sas Gap railroad. It was uow evideul that the enemy was in forcc on our front and fianks, and that wo would be ob¬ liged to cut 0.11- way through thcir Hues to Centerville, and thc sooner tho belter. 80 lato in the afternoon we started 01. thc pike for Centerville, moving cau- I tiously. Wo had g»nc aboul three miles (and it was uow about 7 P. M.) when thc enemy opened upon us as wo wero marching along the load, wilh artillery, the second shot of which cut thc throat of the horse of our Brigade Adjutant, within a few feet of where I stood. Our Reginicnt now came to a front and were ordered to lie down in a hollow by the ''oad side behind a fence, many of the rails of which were knocked into splint--^ ers over our heads by the enemy's shells. ttcre wo lay uutil our batteries got iutc« posi ion and had replied to thc rebels, al¬ most silencing their guns. At this change of affairs the enemy's skirmishers were seen advancing through thc woods,firing as they came, and out- Regiment was or¬ dered up—"forward guide centre." Com¬ pany A was thrown out ou the lefl aud wc on tho right, as skii misliers, on the double quick, and our right ran right iu¬ to tho woods on tho enemy's force.
When this was discovered, wc were or-' dercd lo retreat doublo quick, and while doing so, wc undoubtedly would have boon slaughtered by a doublo fire from our own uud tho enemy's lines, had wo not thrown ourselves fiat on the ground until the volleys had been fired. Wo then resunicd our retreat until wc reach
about one hour and 10 n.iDUtcs fighting, iu which our Regiment went in with* something over 400 men and came out ^• with lyO—thc rest being either killed, wounded or prisoners. Ainong thc lat¬ ter is your humble servant, who came oul without a scratch, tl.iink God, aud is here with ithcrs on parole until legally exchanged,which 1 hopo will not be long.
/ Wc held ibe battlefield until 10 o'clock that night, when our army fell back car¬ rying Aviih them all the wounded who were able to bo moved; and those who were BO severely wounded as not lo be 1 »We to endure XBOviDK--~nUjpil>erjina' about 00—were left behind, without any one to give thoui a drink of w«ter, or wait ou thciu iu any manner. The poor '- fellows begged of James Blakeslse and n.c su pilcously lo reinain and uol desert them as others had done, we r«u.;>incd, and iu consequence were captured iu th* morning by tha rcbelii. The aurgcou left iu charge of the hospital had also dcsir«d us to Slay to carry water aud assist in dressing wounds. '
Tho rebels aro nearly dostituo of food and olothing. I paid $2 in gold for two bard crackers, and $1 for four small biscuits. From the tiin* we w«r« tak«a uutil tbafollowiug Wednesday, wheu wo came within our liuos, we ruceivad but two little pieces of fresh be«f, aud so hungry were some of our boya that they actually picked up corn out of the dirt, where thc cavalry had been fed./ I hopo in Gud I never shall soe sucn limes again. Our hearts leaped with joy whea again under tho protecting folds of tho Stars and Stripes, aud Ihi ugh the prws- cnt seeuis cloudy, I am firm iu the belief that the cause of the Uuiuu ia yet souud, and has many stout arms to support it.
[Extract from a Private Letter.] From Ibc Army of the Potomac.
us between Catletts aud thc Shcnnndoali ten to fifteen miles a day. unlil the 27ih, when they gave us a forced uiarch of near twenty-fivo n.ile.s down the railroad to¬ wards Manassas, and llien about ten miles west to Gieenwieh. The 28ih marched abont 20inil''s baik tu the railroad, down to M.in.issas and ta Cen'ervillo. Tiie 29i!i marched nhou^ ten mites west of Oentcrville to tho hattlefi'dd. Tho enemy were drawn up in ^iiie of battle 'n the woo Is. NVi! drove t^iem proinjitly thro* the woods across an open fi-dd, into the woods again, uutil they made a stand along an embauUment formed by an old railroad gnule, nevor completed. This was in front of our div^hiou, which oc cupied tho extreme rig.hl ; and hero was the most terrible anijl destructive fight from 11 o'clock. .\. il. nntil 9 P. M. that it is possihlo to itn.igino. Drigade aftor biigade was tliiow^i in there to fight desperiilely (or au hour I or an hour and a half, never longoi. ifien to return in i Uiorn or less disorder, Waving oiie-foiii ill, ; and iu somo regimci^ss, one-half llieir i.tiiiiher on the field, Isilled or vvouudcd. Our brigade,Kearney'A, lay on their arms
_ unlil about 4.V I*. M.,V>vhcn thcy were ordered in, nud mado B\iiiost brilliant and desperate charge, drove the rebels i from the ruihoad, oul of the wj»od.s and' ihiougli a condield, almtit a mile in all. | Here our regiui'iit and two others fouu.l themselves alone—ours'iii advance, one- third the number falleq(. receiving now n
_ imir.lerous lire ou bo^li tluiks. wilh no
support, nu'l of couifiH weic obliged to re
I lire, which thcy did i^ good order and
la.-; cooly as on parade. Tbo 101st did
nobly, won thc admiration of all, and a
, .1 T, . . , .1 Mar'-hini; nnd Counter-iliarchin"—Fiiiht nenr,
ed the Regiment, when wo took our post- **"J,,.3,.v-Deeim..ti< n of il.t^0..e Hundred | very strong au-i flattering complimrnt lion in liue and went in on our muscle- «„d First New York 1 cgiiiieul-A Night of ^^^^^^ (^^.,^ Kearney, Our men, weak- Suffering. I , 1 • / 11- . f .u
. ened by the har<l>liips nnd climate of the
standing our ground for aboul 16 min¬ utes against a whole Brigade./Wc wero now reinforced by thc balance of our
Ai.EXANDit A, Sept. 8th, 'GiJ. * * Our march from Hairi- J^^'ninsiila. were, many of them, unable
Brigade and the fight raged with fury.- son's Landing to Yoiktown occupied five t« e«"l"'e ^he force-V marches of the last
Gca^EweU's Division, consisting of two days. We wero shijped at onco up the ""e^ .lays, an.l had been obliged to fall
oxandria, August 0"t on tho maichUo that mily about
It the cars toward 225 went into the f.^ht. aud 71 of them
Warrenton—-were *^'«'e h:\\\ed or woiiudeil. I am uol equal
trcmeuaous yen anu wero comintr lor "»"•¦¦•-"»" ""•¦^"¦' t- »'a><i^"i"" "^"= 1 r -.- . r. n
the battery, (U 4th U. S. A., lie best in delayed six hours waling for the rebels to the task of wiiimff you a lull account
tho field) which we supported. Now was to flni.h that raid oVi Catlctl's station, "f«''!«'^""^ ''^" "^^^' "y "^ ^^g^'^- 1^ seems
the trying time, and nobly did our boys „„a were KCl down aU ut 10 o'clock the '" ^o every thing w^s mi>mauoged. aud
stand as immovable as a rock. Wo were ,„.^^ . j,,,^ the olh^ side of Cutlelts.
ordered lo reserve our fire, as it was now ,-. , • „„„..» »>„„„
..,,,,- . . , . , Our horses camo up on^a separafe trans-
quite dark. We received their fire aud
W|ks IIIIMII
our bravo men saci/fieed, worse than to IIO purpose. I am Confident if McClellan
vj....^ ........ .... ..,..v...v.A i..v.i ui« <iuu . ' ,-^. .„ onnr»m I had Lceu Itt coniiiinud we should have
jusl as they gained the crest of the hill, P^^ ^^ ^^\ ^^ ^^' ''''^'^'^''ZTok -"" « complete au& glorious victory, and we gave them a volley and our battery ^"y "^ ^^ -« ;- "/>«""« "n lia i" t»'"t ca e the Uel army could not mowed themwiihcannister.scudiuK them them until wo got back to Alexandria; " ' ^ V -i-. - /¦^ .
back crouching under covor of the hill'«ud I made this campaigning on foot.!''^^e escaped utter nW'h.laliou. Outhe Uaain, And here ended the battle, after Thoy marched us and couuier-marched I ^^ih our legiineut i^Us not actively en-
Object Description
| Title | Quiner Scrapbooks: Correspondence of the Wisconsin Volunteers, 1861-1865, Volume 2 |
| Source Title | Quiner Scrapbooks: Correspondence of the Wisconsin Volunteers, 1861-1865, Volume 2 |
| Volume | 2 |
| Author/Creator | Quiner, E. B. (Edwin Bentley), d. 1868. |
| Description | When the Civil War broke out in 1861, journalist Edwin B. Quiner began clipping from newspapers any letters written home by soldiers who were serving at the front. He also included some letters from journalists embedded with the troops and from civilian agents appointed to accompany each regiment. Quiner bound these clippings into ten scrapbooks totaling 3,793 pages, and compiled handwritten indexes to eight of them. They formed the basis for his thousand-page book, ""Military History of Wisconsin: a record of the civil and military patriotism of the state, in the war for the Union..."" (Chicago: Clarke & Co., 1866). The scrapbooks are arranged chronologically, with each volume broken into rough sections devoted to individual regiments. Their text is not keyword searchable, but each volume has been carefully tagged by WHS staff and can be searched at the Quiner collection home page. The scrapbooks can also be browsed effectively, since within each regiment, letters were generally pasted in chronological order. At an average of 3 letters per page, the scrapbooks offer legible texts of more than 10,000 letters written by Wisconsin Civil War soldiers. |
| Subcollection | Letters |
| Source | Wis Mss 600; WIHVQ500-A |
| Source Type | letter |
| Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Publication Date-Electronic | 2010 |
| Rights | © Copyright 2010 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin) |
| Digital Format | XML |
| Digital Identifier | CWQU0020000 |
Description
| Title | 300 |
| Source Title | Quiner Scrapbooks: Correspondence of the Wisconsin Volunteers, 1861-1865, Volume 2 |
| Regiment | 2nd Infantry |
| Volume | 2 |
| People | Blakeslee, James P.; Scott, Robert |
| Source Type | letter |
| Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
| Publication Date-Electronic | 2010 |
| Rights | © Copyright 2010 by the Wisconsin Historical Society (Madison, Wisconsin) |
| Digital Format | JPEG |
| Full text |
^a^
I away at tho latfer place, Jackson with ! his main-force had made a dctoiii- around our right and got in our rear'by way of Tliorougbfare Gap ; so,of course,wo wore obliged to tako the back track on Wednes¬ day niorning, and by 10 o'clock Thurs¬ day, wc wero at Gain"svi'le iKtalion—a point on the Warrenton Pike and Manas¬ sas Gap railroad. It was uow evideul that the enemy was in forcc on our front and fianks, and that wo would be ob¬ liged to cut 0.11- way through thcir Hues to Centerville, and thc sooner tho belter. 80 lato in the afternoon we started 01. thc pike for Centerville, moving cau- I tiously. Wo had g»nc aboul three miles (and it was uow about 7 P. M.) when thc enemy opened upon us as wo wero marching along the load, wilh artillery, the second shot of which cut thc throat of the horse of our Brigade Adjutant, within a few feet of where I stood. Our Reginicnt now came to a front and were ordered to lie down in a hollow by the ''oad side behind a fence, many of the rails of which were knocked into splint--^ ers over our heads by the enemy's shells. ttcre wo lay uutil our batteries got iutc« posi ion and had replied to thc rebels, al¬ most silencing their guns. At this change of affairs the enemy's skirmishers were seen advancing through thc woods,firing as they came, and out- Regiment was or¬ dered up—"forward guide centre." Com¬ pany A was thrown out ou the lefl aud wc on tho right, as skii misliers, on the double quick, and our right ran right iu¬ to tho woods on tho enemy's force.
When this was discovered, wc were or-' dercd lo retreat doublo quick, and while doing so, wc undoubtedly would have boon slaughtered by a doublo fire from our own uud tho enemy's lines, had wo not thrown ourselves fiat on the ground until the volleys had been fired. Wo then resunicd our retreat until wc reach
about one hour and 10 n.iDUtcs fighting, iu which our Regiment went in with* something over 400 men and came out ^• with lyO—thc rest being either killed, wounded or prisoners. Ainong thc lat¬ ter is your humble servant, who came oul without a scratch, tl.iink God, aud is here with ithcrs on parole until legally exchanged,which 1 hopo will not be long.
/ Wc held ibe battlefield until 10 o'clock that night, when our army fell back car¬ rying Aviih them all the wounded who were able to bo moved; and those who were BO severely wounded as not lo be 1 »We to endure XBOviDK--~nUjpil>erjina' about 00—were left behind, without any one to give thoui a drink of w«ter, or wait ou thciu iu any manner. The poor '- fellows begged of James Blakeslse and n.c su pilcously lo reinain and uol desert them as others had done, we r«u.;>incd, and iu consequence were captured iu th* morning by tha rcbelii. The aurgcou left iu charge of the hospital had also dcsir«d us to Slay to carry water aud assist in dressing wounds. '
Tho rebels aro nearly dostituo of food and olothing. I paid $2 in gold for two bard crackers, and $1 for four small biscuits. From the tiin* we w«r« tak«a uutil tbafollowiug Wednesday, wheu wo came within our liuos, we ruceivad but two little pieces of fresh be«f, aud so hungry were some of our boya that they actually picked up corn out of the dirt, where thc cavalry had been fed./ I hopo in Gud I never shall soe sucn limes again. Our hearts leaped with joy whea again under tho protecting folds of tho Stars and Stripes, aud Ihi ugh the prws- cnt seeuis cloudy, I am firm iu the belief that the cause of the Uuiuu ia yet souud, and has many stout arms to support it.
[Extract from a Private Letter.] From Ibc Army of the Potomac.
us between Catletts aud thc Shcnnndoali ten to fifteen miles a day. unlil the 27ih, when they gave us a forced uiarch of near twenty-fivo n.ile.s down the railroad to¬ wards Manassas, and llien about ten miles west to Gieenwieh. The 28ih marched abont 20inil''s baik tu the railroad, down to M.in.issas and ta Cen'ervillo. Tiie 29i!i marched nhou^ ten mites west of Oentcrville to tho hattlefi'dd. Tho enemy were drawn up in ^iiie of battle 'n the woo Is. NVi! drove t^iem proinjitly thro* the woods across an open fi-dd, into the woods again, uutil they made a stand along an embauUment formed by an old railroad gnule, nevor completed. This was in front of our div^hiou, which oc cupied tho extreme rig.hl ; and hero was the most terrible anijl destructive fight from 11 o'clock. .\. il. nntil 9 P. M. that it is possihlo to itn.igino. Drigade aftor biigade was tliiow^i in there to fight desperiilely (or au hour I or an hour and a half, never longoi. ifien to return in i Uiorn or less disorder, Waving oiie-foiii ill, ; and iu somo regimci^ss, one-half llieir i.tiiiiher on the field, Isilled or vvouudcd. Our brigade,Kearney'A, lay on their arms
_ unlil about 4.V I*. M.,V>vhcn thcy were ordered in, nud mado B\iiiost brilliant and desperate charge, drove the rebels i from the ruihoad, oul of the wj»od.s and' ihiougli a condield, almtit a mile in all. | Here our regiui'iit and two others fouu.l themselves alone—ours'iii advance, one- third the number falleq(. receiving now n
_ imir.lerous lire ou bo^li tluiks. wilh no
support, nu'l of couifiH weic obliged to re
I lire, which thcy did i^ good order and
la.-; cooly as on parade. Tbo 101st did
nobly, won thc admiration of all, and a
, .1 T, . . , .1 Mar'-hini; nnd Counter-iliarchin"—Fiiiht nenr,
ed the Regiment, when wo took our post- **"J,,.3,.v-Deeim..ti< n of il.t^0..e Hundred | very strong au-i flattering complimrnt lion in liue and went in on our muscle- «„d First New York 1 cgiiiieul-A Night of ^^^^^^ (^^.,^ Kearney, Our men, weak- Suffering. I , 1 • / 11- . f .u
. ened by the har |
| Digital Identifier | CWQU0020252 |