 |
| Georgia heavy Infantry. |
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
[595]
position on the north side of the Warrenton turnpike, within the curve of Young's Branch.
The re-enforcements ordered by Johnston had not reached him when he commenced this movement.
He sent word to General Bee, who commanded the reserves nearest to him, to hurry forward in support, and leaving four of his fifteen regiments to guard the Stone Bridge, he hastened with the remaining eleven, composed of South Carolinians under Sloan, and Louisianians under Wheat, with two field-pieces of Latham's battery, to confront the approaching foe. He formed his line not far from the Pittsylvania Mansion of the Carter family, with the battery behind a house, his right covered by a grove, and his left sheltered by shrubbery along the road.
It was half-past 10 before the head of Hunter's column, led by Burnside, came in sight of Evans.
The division had rested half an hour at the ford, and, being well supplied with water, was quite refreshed.
The Second Rhode Island, Colonel John Slocum, led. As they approached the open fields he threw out skirmishers, and very soon his regiment, with Marston's Second New Hampshire, and Martin's Seventy-first New York, with Griffin's battery, and Major Reynolds's Marine Artillery, of Rhode Island, opened the battle.
Evans was soon so hard pressed that his line was beginning to waver, when General Bee, who had advanced with the detachments of his own and Bartow's Georgia brigade, and Imboden's battery, to the northern verge of the plateau, just described, perceiving the peril, hurried down the slope, crossed Young's Branch valley, and gave the Confederates such strength that the Nationals were in turn sorely pressed.
These re-enforcements consisted of two Georgia regiments (Seventh and Eighth), under Bartow, the Fourth Alabama, and some Mississippians, while Imboden's battery, on the plateau, poured a destructive fire upon the Nationals.
Burnside called for help; and Colonel Andrew Porter, whose brigade was marching down the Sudley's Spring Road, immediately furnished it, by sending a battalion of regulars
under Major Sykes, of the Third Infantry, to his aid. These made the National line firm, and while the battle was raging with equal vigor on both sides, Colonel Hunter was so severely wounded that he was compelled to leave the field.1 Colonel Slocum, of the Second Rhode Island, fell mortally wounded soon afterward, and his Major, Sullivan Ballou, had his. leg crushed by a cannon-ball that killed his horse.2
1 Isaac N. Arnold, a member of the National House of Representatives, was a volunteer aid to Colonel Hunter, and remained on the field until that officer was wounded, when he devoted himself to having the wounded removed, and in attention to their wants.
2 Major Ballou was taken to Sudley Church, which was used as a hospital, and there soon afterward died, at the age of thirty-two years. He was buried near the church. In March, 1862, the bodies of Slocum, Ballou, and Captain Tower, of the same regiment (the latter was killed at the beginning of the battle), were disinterred and conveyed to Rhode Island. When their remains reached New York, General Sandford detailed the Sixty-ninth, Seventy-first, and Thirty-seventh New York Regiments to act as an escort.
Scanned printed text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.