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The battle of Alleghany Mountain.

Camp Alleghany, Dec. 20, 1861.
Editors Dispatch; No doubt you have been inundated with letters from this camp, filled with incidents of the late battle, and praises to the favorites of the writers. These laudations are well understood and properly appreciated. But justice demands the correction of an erroneous impression which some have most industriously sought to spread.--It has been repeatedly stated that the 31st Virginia regiment suffered most severely in the fight. Absolutely, this may be true; relatively, it is certainly untrue. Now, on the right, where the battle was fiercest and longest, the 31st regiment and Hansbrough's battalion, and some of Maj. Reger's men, were commingled indiscriminately, fighting shoulder to shoulder.

Of the regiment, there were certainly over 300 men in the fight, whilst of the battalion there were scarcely 100. You publish the loss of the former, in killed and wounded, to be 42, and that of the latter to be 28. Of the forty-two, nine we killed; of the twenty-eight, six were killed. The battalion lost Capt. Mollohan, the noblest looking officer I ever beheld. The galla of Luther D. Haymond, Lieutenant of Molionan's company, lost his right arm. Several others were severely wounded Col. Hansbrough himself was wounded severely in the thickest of the fight, urging and leading on the men around him, many of whom were 31st and Reger's men; the writer belonging to the latter class. He exhibited throughout an enthusiasm highly contagious, and a courage second to no man's.

He has picked up a Yankee musket, which I loaded for him more than once. I was near him when he was shot. He placed his hand on his thigh where the bullet entered, and then staggered and fell. I heard him exclaim, ‘"they have hit me, but I'll give them one round more"’ Sulting the action to the word, he drew up to a log and fired his musket and several barrels of his navy revolver with deliberate him. He continued to urge on his men till Lieut. Robinson and another bore him off the field. This was about 11 o'clock, and the enemy were then recoiling before our incessant fire and deadly aim.

It is just, also, to say that the battle was commenced by this Battalion. As soon as his scouts announced the approach of the enemy through the woods, on our right, Col. Hansbrough led his battalion to meet them. He got within 125 yards of the enemy and gave them a deadly volley. The 31st and Reger's men, were 400 yards distant, and out of sight. The battalion fell back and met the 31st, which was gallantly advancing. As it fell back, the enemy poured upon it a shower of Minnie balls.

The enemy at this point were 1,500 strong. Then it was that the 31st and this battalion advanced to the charge and became commingled. Both corps acted as bravely as men could act, though they evinced but little discipline. Hansbrough's men, as well as the 31st, are all Northwestern Virginias. These are facts well known in camp, and it appears strange, letter writers and others should be so utterly forgetful of them. I believe the enemy's loss in killed and wounded to have been at least 500. Their absurdly false account of the result is rather a confirmation of our statement. Soldier.

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Hansbrough (4)
Reger (3)
Sidney Robinson (1)
Mollohan (1)
Molionan (1)
Luther D. Haymond (1)
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December 20th, 1861 AD (1)
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