The Charlotte Rifles
To the Editors of the Richmond Dispatch:--As an answer to the various inquiries of our numerous relatives and friends in
Charlotte, concerning the part
Capt. T. J. Spencer's Rifle Company took in the recent engagement upon
Bull Run, I propose as briefly as possible to give the desired information through the medium of your interesting columns Some have errcy pecusly supposed that we were at Mitchell's Ford on Thursday, the 18th.
We were not in any action until Sunday, the 21st.
Early in the morning of that memorable day. we were stationed upon the road leading to Lewis' Ford.
which we had been guarding with a sleepless vigilance for several days.
While standing here with the other companies of our regiment, arranged around at various points for the defence of the ford, our
Captain took the first prisoner taken that day — He was a spy belonging to an Ohio regiment.
He had unconsciously struggled into the es of our men. When it became evident that the enemy did not design to cross the ford in that direction, we were deployed as skirmishers to prevent them from planting a battery in an open field upon an elevated point that commanded a full view of the opposite side of the stream — Here we remained for 3 or 4 hours, listening to the heavy thunderings of the artillery, the incessant roar of the musketry, the awful cries of the wounded — intermingled alternately with the hearty theirs of the enemy and the vociferous applause of our soldiery as the tide of battle wound change from one side to the other.
Having be not withdrawn from our position and drawn up in battle array on the opposite side of the stream, we received orders to go forward to battle.
In our advance we were exposed to the enemy's shell and ball for more than a mile before we entered the battle-field.
We advanced under the most discouraging circumstances.
We met remnants of other regiments in retreat, saving that their companies had been cut to pieces and that the day was well-night lost.
The wounded also were brought out in full view of our line.--The firs appalling sight that met our vision was a wounded soldier with his left arm and a part of his left side entirely torn off from his body.
Wounds of various kinds presented themselves to our view.
Strange to say, the only encouragement we received was from some poor wounded soldiers, who as they were being carried off the field waved their hands toward the scene of conflict.
After marching through a body of thick pines, our company, being situated upon the extreme left wing of the regiment, happened to fall suddenly upon a half-core or more of New York Zouaves.
We took a captain and several others prisoners, and killed all the rest — They had on red pantaloons and a blue fatigue shirt.
It was by the bullet of one of these desperadoes that
Mr Jas Thomas, a worthy member of our company, lost his life.
Owing to various impediments in our route, our lines were thrown somewhat into confusion; but the regiment was soon arranged again, drawn up in full battle array in full view of the enemy.
We were held here as more spectators, awaiting further orders, and exposed, in the meanwhile, to a continual shower of the enemy's bullets.
When the command was given to advance, the whole regiment went in double-quick time, cheering and firing as they ran; meanwhile the flags of the Southern Confederacy were seen right and left, advancing over every hid. The enemy's battery had been taken, and it became the province of our regiment to hold it. We met with, but little resistance.
The Charlotte Rifles, with the aid of
Adjutant Hill, of
North Carolina, had the honor of turning the famous
Shermean's battery around, and firing in upon the owners.
When the
Northern vandals perceived that the invincible columns of the Southern Confederacy were coming against them in an irresistible tide, and that their own guns were turned against them, they set their faces towards the land of their birth, resolving, as no doubt many of them aid, never to set foot again upon
Virginia soil
Ii*****.
