Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 5.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[328] occupying the extreme right, and fighting nearly all the time in the woods, did not come under the observation of your correspondent, but from a great variety of sources, and from several officers in the brigade, I hear that they encountered the same overwhelming masses, and were not beaten back until more than one half their men had fallen and were taken prisoners. The brigade of Gen. Crawford especially suffered terribly, and this morning it hardly has an existence. It will be impossible to state the actual loss in any of these brigades for many days. The regiments in nearly all the brigades were very thin, some of them not having more than two hundred and fifty men.

The One Hundred and Ninth Pennsylvania went into action with two hundred and fifty men, and came out with one hundred and twenty-five; the One Hundred and Second New-York with nearly four hundred men, and has but Major Lane and Captain Avery with sixty-six men remaining,¹ and in about the same proportion can an estimate be formed of the losses of the brigades of Generals Prince, Geary, and Crawford. The number of men actually in the fight was not a man more than seven thousand, and your correspondent doubts if there were 6,000, although I learn the official report will place it much higher. Gen. Augur, commanding the Second division, was wounded early in the fight, and was taken from the field. General Geary displayed the greatest coolness, and constantly led his men; and it was not until a Minie ball shattered his left arm that he fell back and was carried off:

Various reports are in circulation about Gen. Prince. One is, that he was wounded, and taken prisoner; another, that he was wounded, and is now in a private dwelling in Culpeper; still another, that he was killed, and the enemy have his body. I cannot find any one who has seen him since the battle, and the report that he is wounded and a prisoner is probably correct. General Prince fought as if the success or failure of the battle depended upon his efforts. General Augur, himself severely wounded, spoke, this morning, in terms of highest commendation of the conduct of his entire division, to your correspondent. He gave it as his. opinion, that if Gen. Banks had been promptly reinforced by the thousands within a short distance, the result of the battle would have been very different.

The division of General Ricketts remained within sound of the battle three hours, and did not move an inch. Not, however, because the General commanding did not desire to take part in the engagement, for all this time himself and his Generals were under the curb of a superior General, and that General still awaiting the orders of his superior. Generals Ricketts, Hartsuff, and Prince would gladly have been in the thickest of the fight, but having been officers in the regular army, they were too much accustomed to its peculiar discipline to march to the relief of Gen. Banks without orders.

The only batteries engaged in the fight were the Fourth and Sixth Maine, Knapp's and Best's. Best lost one gun, twenty-seven horses, and about one third of his men. Knapp lost two caissons, and seven wounded. Every battery fought until every pound of ammunition was exhausted. Within three miles of the battle-field were eight or ten batteries, apparently doing nothing but moving backward and forward over a hill to the right of the Orange road. Why only four batteries were left to fight against seven, when so many more were within so short a distance, your correspondent is unable to comprehend.

Between Culpeper and the battle-field we had artillery enough to have blown Slaughter Mountain from its base, but by the superior skill of some one, only four batteries were brought into play. Indeed, so great an amount of artillery was constantly moving on the roads, that it seemed as if the army of Virginia was composed of artillery and nothing else. The position chosen by Jackson was an admirable one. The mountain itself, defended as it was by seven batteries, was impregnable to the force brought against it. The rising ground to the right of the mountain afforded perfect shelter to vast masses of infantry, which could be poured upon us at any moment.

The position of our army on the battle-field could not have been worse. The enemy had every advantage, in position and numbers, and were therefore successful. Yes, I say successful, although official reports will probably announce a victory. General Banks, however, covered himself with glory. There is not a man living who could have managed his men with more skill under the same circumstances. He was constantly in the thickest of the fight, and shared all the dangers of the common soldier.