 |
| The place where Sedgwick was killed.1 |
May, 1864. |
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
[306]
was sent that morning, with a heavy cavalry force, to break up Lee's communications with Richmond, and the greater part of the day was spent chiefly in intrenching, and making other preparations for battle.
There was skirmishing now and then, when troops moved to take new positions; and the Confederate sharp-shooters, having convenient.
places for concealment, were particularly active.
One of these inflicted irreparable injury upon the Union army, by sending a bullet through the brain of the gallant Sedgwick,
while he was giving directions for strengthening the intrenchments on his front.
He fell dead; and then there was sincere mourning throughout the army, for the soldiers loved him; and the loyal people of the land felt bereaved, for a true patriot had fallen.
He was succeeded in the command of the Sixth Corps, on the following day, by General H. G. Wright.
On the same day Brigadier-General W. H. Morris, son of the lyric poet, the late George P. Morris, was severely wounded.
Every thing was in readiness for battle on the morning of the 10th.
By a movement the previous evening, having for its chief object the capture of a part of a Confederate wagon-train moving into Spottsylvania Court-House, Hancock had made a lodgment, with three of his divisions, on the south side of the Ny, and he was proceeding to develop the strength of the enemy on the National right, when General Meade suspended the movement.
It had been determined to make an attack upon an eminence in front of the Fifth and Sixth Corps, known as Laurel Hill, whose crest was thickly wooded, and crowned with earth-works, which had been previously constructed as a remote defense of Richmond, and Hancock was ordered to recall two of his divisions from the south side of the Ny, to assist in the assault.
The divisions of Gibbon and Birney at once retired, when that of the latter was sharply assailed in the rear.
The remaining division (Barlow's) was left in a perilous condition, for his skirmishers had just been driven in. With great skill and valor their commander managed his troops, when a new peril appeared.
The woods, between his column and the river,
1 this is from a sketch made by the author in June, 1866, taken from the breastworks in front of the Union line. Toward the right is seen the logs of the battery, the construction of which Sedgwick was superintending, and near which he fell. The bullet came from the clump of trees on the knoll seen more to the right, on rising ground.
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.