“At the critical moment General Wright, who was for the day
in command of the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps, though (as he says) ‘it was too
early in the battle to choose to put in the reserves, still, seeing that the
fate of the day depended on the employment of this force,’ promptly ordered in
the First Division with two batteries; it marched gallantly down, with its full
Division front, to the very face of the enemy, relieving the Third Division,
which, reforming, presently took up its position still further to the right,
where the interval had before been left. Sheridan held back General Upton's
Brigade of the First Division until it could strike the flank of the charging
column of the rebels, when it made the most remarkable and successful charge of
the day, completely breaking up the rebel assault, and permitting our shattered
line again to knit itself into coherence. General Upton was there wounded and
the brave unostentatious Russell, the idol of the Division he commanded, was
shot dead, while personally employed restoring the broken line.
“The two hours following were spent in re-arranging the
troops, issuing ammunition, and making dispositions for another advance.” * * *
General Russell's Division started to march on the field en
masse and deployed en route; it was one of the grandest sights of the day
or entire war. I never saw such splendid discipline under fire in a large body
of men. It didn't relieve our brigade in the sense taken above, but did in
partially drawing the enemy's musketry and artillery fire from us, which was
appalling and effective. Our Brigade didn't reform. I was close on the enemy's
rail breastworks in the ravine with my men leading the assault. There was no
chance to reform: it was give and take. Russell's men didn't even get the opportunity
of getting near enough the rebels to get satisfaction, for they ran when my men
and I were within a rod of their works directly in front. There was no
considerable bend in the road or anything else that obliqued my men
either way to any great extent. The enemy ran before Russell was within
effective striking or flanking distance. The enemy didn't charge. If
General Upton assaulted its flank it wasn't here. I am emphatic in
this, for not twenty seconds after I was twice almost simultaneously wounded
during the enemy's last volley, it was running for dear life and Sheridan
thirty seconds later was on his horse on the high ground close in my rear
looking through his field glass to see where the enemy was going to make a
second stand, and at other things evidently displeasing to him on his left,
where Colonel Walker and the Second Division were. The whole field of active
fighting could be seen from here. Five of the battlefield views herein were
taken from this point. Colonel Walker is such a graceful, fluent writer it is a
pity he couldn't know the whole facts about the battles the Vermont troops were
in. His works would doubtless then be charmingly interesting and entertaining.
As several eminent persons, mistakenly as I think, in recent
years, in a moment of weakness and gush have classed General R. E. Lee as one
of the greatest of modern field marshals, and as the battles of Opequan Creek
or Winchester, Va., Sept. 19, 1864, and Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3, 1863, both
of which I have carefully studied, furnish an excellent opportunity for a few
pertinent questions as to the ability of Generals Grant, Sheridan and Lee to
plan and manage successfully great battles, I cannot refrain from taking up the
matter at this point, and I defy any honest man of expert judgment to
successfully controvert my stand.
It might as well be said of Sheridan or of Grant, as it has
already been of Lee by partial and incompetent judges, that either of the
former were the equal of Marlborough or Wellington, and far more truthfully so
than of Lee. Had the fortunes of war placed Sheridan in command of the Army of
the Potomac at any period of the Civil War, there is no doubt but what that war
would have developed in him a field marshal exceeding in dash, ability and brilliancy
any military genius of either ancient or modern times. He was a born soldier,
unspoilt by training, success or anything else, and was blessed with splendid
common sense. He was a genius, for, says a popular poet:
“There is no balking Genius. Only
death
Can silence it or hinder. While
there's breath
Or sense of feeling, it will
spurn the sod,
And lift itself to glory, and to
God.
The acorn sprouted — weeds nor
flowers can choke
The certain growth of th’
upreaching oak.”
One secret of Sheridan's success lay largely in his ability
to so plan a battle as to fight his whole command effectively all at
once, and in such a way that with his dash and unexpected coup de main, the
enemy was usually whipped before the fight was fairly commenced. With Sheridan
in command during the Civil War, President Lincoln would never have had to urge
action on the part of the Army of the Potomac as with McClellan and others,
except Grant, when ready to fight, nor would it have been fought in detail,
which was invariably a fatal fault with both armies, for Sheridan didn't fight
that way; there were no unfought reserves in his army. When he struck it was
with so much method, dash, determination and judgment it brought brilliant
results, such as astonished even his own army, which always expected victory,
as well as the enemy and every one else; and in consequence he could accomplish
more with fewer men than any other General in the army; not only because he
used his force to the best advantage by fighting it all at once, but because
his personal magnetism, or hypnotism, enthused the men and gave them
confidence, which is a great thing in battle; besides, they had implicit faith
in his ability, splendid judgment and quick perception on the battlefield,
which are indispensable gifts in a great General; and when combined with an
alert, active temperament such as his, it was grand. He was a great field
marshal. This is proven from the fact that anything he undertook in the Civil
War was not only well done if decently supported, but he proved himself
grandly equal to any occasion on the field of battle, wherever the fortunes of
war placed him — not tamely so, but brilliantly; he electrified his men
as well as the world by his splendid dash, pluck and surprisingly overwhelming
victories. A slight reverse not only left him undaunted but, like a raging
lion, it seemed to arouse his wonderful gifts and raise him to such sublime
heights it awed one; so that the moment the eye of his command caught a vision
of him at any distance on the battlefield, his very pose and action was such it
electrified and imbued his men with the same spirit of conquer or die that
dominated him, and no enemy could or ever did stand for any length of time
before his intrepid command.
SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections
and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 192-7
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