The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Volume I., Part 2 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 365 pages of information about The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Volume I., Part 2.

The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Volume I., Part 2 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 365 pages of information about The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Volume I., Part 2.

I herewith inclose the official report of Captain Belly, commanding officer of the New York Sixty-ninth; also, fall lists of the killed, wounded, and missing.

Our loss was heavy, and occurred chiefly at the point near where Rickett’s battery was destroyed.  Lieutenant-Colonel Haggerty was killed about noon, before we had effected a junction with Colonel Hunter’s division.  Colonel Cameron was mortally wounded leading his regiment in the charge, and Colonel Corcoran has been missing since the cavalry-charge near the building used as a hospital.

For names, rank, etc., of the above, I refer to the lists herewith.

Lieutenants Piper and McQuesten, of my personal staff, were under fire all day, and carried orders to and fro with as much coolness as on parade.  Lieutenant Bagley, of the New York Sixty-ninth, a volunteer aide, asked leave to serve with his company, during the action, and is among those reported missing.  I have intelligence that he is a prisoner, and slightly wounded.

Colonel Coon, of Wisconsin, a volunteer aide, also rendered good service during the day.

W. T. Sherman, Colonel commanding Brigade.

This report, which I had not read probably since its date till now, recalls to me vividly the whole scene of the affair at Blackburn’s Ford, when for the first time in my life I saw cannonballs strike men and crash through the trees and saplings above and around us, and realized the always sickening confusion as one approaches a fight from the rear; then the night-march from Centreville, on the Warrenton road, standing for hours wondering what was meant; the deployment along the edge of the field that sloped down to Bull-Run, and waiting for Hunter’s approach on the other aide from the direction of Sudley Springs, away off to our right; the terrible scare of a poor negro who was caught between our lines; the crossing of Bull Run, and the fear lest we should be fired on by our own men; the killing of Lieutenant-Colonel Haggerty, which occurred in plain sight; and the first scenes of a field strewed with dead men and horses.  Yet, at that period of the battle, we were the victors and felt jubilant.  At that moment, also, my brigade passed Hunter’s division; but Heintzelman’s was still ahead of us, and we followed its lead along the road toward Manassas Junction, crossing a small stream and ascending a long hill, at the summit of which the battle was going on.  Here my regiments came into action well, but successively, and were driven back, each in its turn.  For two hours we continued to dash at the woods on our left front, which were full of rebels; but I was convinced their organization was broken, and that they had simply halted there and taken advantage of these woods as a cover, to reach which we had to pass over the intervening fields about the Henry House, which were clear, open, and gave them a decided advantage.  After I had put in each of my regiments, and had them driven back

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The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Volume I., Part 2 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.