May 6, 1863, The New York Herald
THE GENERAL ENGAGEMENT.
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF MR. L.A. HENDRICKS.
FIFTH ARMY CORPS HEADQUARTERS, IN THE WOODS BACK OF CHANCELLORSVILLE, Va., May 3, 1863.
We have had some of the heaviest fighting of the war since sending my despatch yesterday afternoon. Happily the Fifth corps has been blessed with the good fortune of being only slight sufferers.
GENERAL TYLER’S BRIGADE, of General Humphrey’s division, is a painful exception, however, as will be seen by the account below, in the terribly sanguinary conflicts of the past twenty-four hours. What may be yet in store for us – through what new scenes and changes we must pass, and how we may come out of the series of contests so fiercely begun and presented, and with no show of speedy termination – involved in deepest darkness and doubt.
GENERAL SKIRMISHES.
Hardly had the messengers left with my last despatch when a general skirmishing began nearly the whole length of our line. It was kept up rather desultorily, cannonading and musketry intermingling until about five o’clock, when it waxed into a pretty
GENERAL ENGAGEMENT.
The attack was mainly on the right, where the work was warmest. For one or two hours the roar of artillery and musketry was incessant. The disastrous and disgraceful giving way of General Schurz’s division of Gen. Howard’s corps (Sigel’s old corps) completely changed the day. The men, I am told, fled like so many sheep before a pack of wolves, and the enemy rushed up, taking possession of the abandoned line along the Gordonsville plank road and compelled the construction of a new line.
SHELLING OF THE CHANCELLOR MANSION.
Owing to the falling back of Schurz’s men the enemy were in position to bring their pieces to bear on the Chancellor mansion, which they shelled and burned, and that notwithstanding it was filled with our wounded and had a hospital flag flying in front. Our wounded, who could not be removed, met death from the shells or the flames. Some of their own wounded, who were being properly cared for there, met the same terrible fate. The scene here – the fleeing of the female inmates and abandonment of the place by Gen. Hooker as his headquarters – will be graphically described by your headquarters correspondent, who remained and witnessed the entire scene, which I did not.
THE RESULTS OF THIS AFTERNOON’S BATTLE
cannot be fully told for some time. Many of our killed and wounded (I refer to those of other corps) had to be left on the field, and many a brave one, through neglect of his wounds, must have died since.
A MIDNIGHT ATTACK.
About eleven o’clock last night, as the moon was obscured by a passing cloud, the enemy renewed his attack of the afternoon. The attack was most desperate. Our men stood firm and fought like tigers, and refused to yield an inch of ground. The enemy thought to follow up the advantage gained in the afternoon; but through change in the position of our line and our brave resistance their attempts to advance were as frequently repulsed. When the enemy made the attack they came with terrific yells followed by instantaneous volleys of musketry and incessant artillery. Our men were not taken as much by surprise as was expected. They rose with responsive yells, and responsive musketry and artillery added to the roar of the enemy’s fire. The fight lasted two hours. It was part of Malvern Hill over again – moonlight and mournful massacre of men. The Fifth corps lost but very few, the force of the attack being directed on other parts of the line.
FIGHTING THE MORNING.
The enemy made a third attack this morning at six o’clock. It was in this attack that General Tyler’s brigade, of General Humphrey’s division, met with their severe loss. Besides the One Hundred and Thirty-third and One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania regiments, Colonel Alobach’s brigade and the Sixth United States infantry, of General Sykes division, these were the only troops of the Fifth corps sustaining loss. The men fought splendidly. No troops ever fought better. A determination to hold his position caused General Tyler to sustain the loss he did. His men made four separate charges upon the enemy and drove them back each time. Our men had the best of the fight in the end.
STILL ANOTHER ATTACK.
About half-past five P.M. another attach was made upon our troops. A change in our tactics meantime had been made, which the enemy were not long in finding out to their sorrow. The attack was in the centre, where the Chancellorsville mansion stood. They massed in the field beyond the house. Our men lay in trenches, which they had dug in the interim, and not seeing any men the enemy advanced right in front of several of our batteries concealed in the woods. At the word our batteries opened on them. Col. Gurney, of the Ninth Massachusetts, who was looking at the enemy at the time through a field glass, says the effect of our firing was terrible. It was like touching off powder in a basin filled with flies. He saw one officer on a white horse blown high into the air. In a moment the dead lay in heaps. Our batteries had an enfilading fire on them. The enemy, those who escaped, flew wildly before our murderous rain of shot and shell. Even Gen. Griffin division, which occupied the trenches fronting this attack, in support of the batteries, met with very little loss. I give below a list of killed and wounded in the above attack, as far as I have been able to procure the names. In the present state of activity and confusion, and occupying the trenches as the corps does at this time, it is impossible to get the full and accurate details. As stated above, our loss thus far has been only slight.
GENERAL TYLER’S LOSS.
In addition to the loss sustained by Gen. Syke’s division day before yesterday, Lieutenant Colonel Locke, of General Meade’s staff, informs me that General Tyler reports that he went into the fight before he met with such severe loss with 1,800 men, and had only 600 men left at the end of the action. Notwithstanding this report, the general impression is that more than half the missing men will make their appearance […..]
I have been obliged to be brief to get my despatch in readiness for the messenger, who has walked while I have written it. Our officers and men still feel confident, and are made more so by the news reaching us of the taking of Fredericksburg and holding of the crests beyond by our troops on the enemy’s left.