The cavalry fight on the Chickahominy was very severe. The
Yankees escaped on Thursday night; they should not have been allowed to get
off. Our sad deficiency in numbers is always in our way.
The death of another of our beloved E. H. S. boys has
shocked us greatly — I mean that of Colonel Robert Randolph, of Fauquier, for a
long time the chivalric captain of the famous “Black Horse Company.” After
fighting desperately for hours, he was ordered to change his position; he
immediately raised himself in his saddle, exclaiming, “Boys, we will give them
one round more before we go!” fired, and was at that moment struck in the
forehead by a Minié
ball, and laid low, a few hours after the fall of his General. Thus our young
men, of the first blood of the country — first in character and education, and,
what is more important to us now, first in gallantry and patriotism — fall one
by one. What a noble army of martyrs has already passed away! I tremble for the
future ; but we must not think of the future. “Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof.”
General Lee's last telegram tells of a furious fight on
Thursday, near Spottsylvania Court-House. The enemy was repulsed, and driven
back; and yet General Grant prepares for a fresh attack. It is said that 15,000
wounded Yankees are in Fredericksburg. We have heard cannon all day in the
direction of Drury's Bluff; yet we are calm!
SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern
Refugee, During the War, p. 267-8
No comments:
Post a Comment