August 1, 1864.
Since the glorious battle of the 28th, everything has been
quiet in our immediate front, though the heavy artillery firing continues to
the left. I think it is between the 14th and 20th Corps and some Rebel forts.
Prisoners say that our shells have hurt the city very much. We all think that
the last battle is by far the most brilliant of the campaign. Our officials'
reports show that we buried 1,000 Rebels in front of our and M. L. Smith's
divisions.
In fact, our two divisions and two regiments of Osterhaus'
did all the fighting. Our total loss was less than 550, the Rebels 8,000. In
the last 12 days they must have lost 25,000 men. Our loss in the same time will
not reach 4,500. There is no shadow of gas in this, as you would know if you
could see an unsuccessful charge on works.
The enemy is reported as moving to our right in heavy force.
SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an
Illinois Soldier, p. 287
No comments:
Post a Comment