“Hudson rode up to him and inquired his name.
“'My name, sir, is Stephen Lyon. I belong to an Ohio regiment. I joined the Army of the Center only a short time since, and this is my first battle. I have lost many men; my Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel were both killed, and I am the Major and now in command of the regiment.'
“This was my fifth son in line of birth, and sixth in the service. I am digressing, however. Their conversation was here cut short, as Gen. Buda had ordered an advance along his line, which was the left wing of the army. The advance was duly made. The rebels, however, in the meantime had been re-enforced on this part of their line. The contest, therefore, became a very stubborn one on both sides. The advance of Buda was soon checked, and the fighting became desperate. Both armies to our right seemed to have partially ceased their advance, seemingly to understand how the event was being decided on this part of the line. The enemy was driven slowly to the rear for some distance. A halt then came and a rally on the part of the rebels. They organized into column of regiments and made a desperate attempt to break the center of our left. Buda massed his artillery against them, keeping it well supported, and mowed them down with shell and canister until they lay in piles on the ground. They advanced to the assault three times with a heroism and desperation seldom witnessed in any ancient or modern battle, but each time back were their shattered columns sent in utter confusion. Thus the battle continued until late in the afternoon, when both parties reorganized for a last and desperate struggle. The lines of the enemy showed all along the skirts of timber, leaving the open space to our right and center, and extending to Buck Lick Run. Both seemed eager to make the attack, but our forces were first in motion, and with a quick-step movement they advanced against the enemy. The firing opened all along the line. First one and then the other line staggered and swayed to and fro. The forces on both sides seemed determined to win or die on their ground. At last Wilkins crossed Hawks Run and struck the enemy in his flank, causing consternation to seize him, and he gradually gave way, his left flank doubling back on the main line nearer the center. At this moment Gen. Silent ordered an advance with infantry and artillery simultaneously. This was executed in good order, the firing again became general. The roar of artillery now was almost deafening. The yell of the enemy was heard in every direction as though assaulting, but they could no longer stand against our determined forces. Steadily on the advance continued; the enemy stood, delivering his fire with deadly results, until our army approached to the point where one or the other must give way. The rebels, seeing that our force was coming with a steady step and determination unmoved by their fire, broke in different parts of their line, and finally the moment arrived when they could no longer stand our deadly aim, and their whole line gave way. They retreated through the woods and on different roads in great disorder; our forces followed up their lines of retreat and kept a constant fire upon them until night intervened, which protected them from any further disaster. This closed one of the bloody battles of the war. That night our army again slept upon their arms. Some supplies were brought to them during the night, which stayed their hunger. The next morning the enemy was nowhere to be seen or heard; he had made his retreat in the night, leaving many wagons, ambulances and guns. The roads being made almost impassable by the rain of the night before, their dead and wounded were left in our hands, save those whom they had removed to the rear the night of the first day's contest, when they held the ground. The battlefield presented a ghastly and sickening sight,—the dead, the dying, the wounded; the hospital in the rear, near the river; the parties burying the dead, finding Union men and rebels piled up in heaps together; the long trenches being prepared; the soldiers being wrapped in their blankets and buried without any knowledge of who they were, or to what command they belonged; the words of the dying to be taken back to their friends; the messages to fond wives and blessed children; the moans and shrieks of the wounded as they were carried on stretchers from where they had lain and suffered, some of them, for two days and nights.
“These things, when first recited to me by my son Peter, filled me with deep sorrow and pain. O, my friends, the suffering of our poor men for their country was great-it was heartrending to hear of it. When the sick, wounded and dead had been cared for, of course the army could not move again very soon,—it must have rest and reorganization. So the camp for the present was established a little in advance of the battle-ground. Many were furloughed for a short time and returned home. My son Peter came home on a leave, having been wounded late in the evening of the second day. His wound being in his foot, he was unfitted for duty for some time. His Lieutenant-Colonel having been killed that day, he was promoted to the vacancy.
“While Peter was kept in the house (where he was confined by his wound), he constantly entertained us by his recitals of all of these incidents and movements that I have given to you in my poor way. It is a matter of great interest to me to follow the history of men on both sides, and see what their good or bad fortune may have been since. Now, on our side in this great battle, Gen. Waterberry, one of our leading generals, was killed on the first day. Gen. Hudson went through the war creditably and died away from home in some of the South American states. Gen. Buda soon left the army under a cloud, and I do not know what became of him. I think, however, that he is dead. Wilkins went through the war with some credit to himself, but was killed in Mexico afterwards in some of their periodical revolutions.”
“Uncle Daniel, do you know the history of the rebel generals since the war, who commanded in this battle of which you have been speaking?” asked Dr. Adams.
“Oh, yes! You know Sydenton Jackson was killed on the first day. Bolenbroke was in the rebel army up to its surrender, but died soon after from dissipation, as I have been informed.”
“I am curious to know what became of Dick, the darky,” he said.
Uncle Daniel smiled and said: “Dick, poor fellow, has not been seen since his 'backer sticks' ran off with him, just as he said they would.”
“What became of Harrington, who wanted every d—— Yankee killed like cats—bayoneted—without any quarter being shown, etc.?”