The Cleveland Herald has the following account of the battle
of Winchester by an eye witness:
THE BATTLE
For ten days previous to the fight skirmishing had been
going on, and on Sunday afternoon when about three miles from Winchester, the
rebel General Jackson ordered his men to attack us on the right, and turn our
flank, thus to take Winchester. At this
same time Gen. Shields ordered his men to turn the enemy’s left flank, which
movements were executed simultaneously, thereby bringing on a general
engagement. The combatants were not more
than two hundred yards apart when the fighting commenced, and as usual the
rebels were behind a stone wall, from which they opened a murderous fire on our
unprotected men. After the fight commenced
there were but few orders given and it soon turned into a free fight, going on
the principle, “every man for himself, and the devil will take the hindmost.”
There were about 6,000 on each side, and it was a fair test
of Northern vs. Southern valor the result showing that “mudsills” can fight. – Wishing to dislodge the
enemy from their strong position behind the stone fence, which they occupied
two hours, Col. Tyler ordered the 7th Ohio to charge. At the enemy they went giving a most unearthly
yell, and away scouted the rebels, coat tails flying and muskets trailing.
They rallied on a slight knoll after running a short
distance, when our boys gave them “a hair of the dog that bit them,” which routed
them again. The 7th captured in this
second charge, two field pieces, which was presented them for their valor. They fought splendidly, as steadily as
veterans as they are, and Col. Tyler behaved in the most gallant manner. The officers were cool and collected, and the
men intrepid and daring. Being on the
extreme right, they received the first and most destructive fire. – The battle
commenced at 3 o’clock Sunday afternoon, and lasted precisely 3 hours and 47
minutes. The Ohio 5th, 7th, 8th, Indiana
7th and Pennsylvania 110th, bore the brunt of it, with the 1st Virginia; and
all fought desperately. Colonel Daum,
the Chief of Artillery, fought with the Ohio 7th. For two hours it seemed about an even thing, the
chances being against up, but the charge of the 7th Ohio, to their honor be it
said, won the day.
The retreat of the rebels soon became a rout and our balls
did fearful execution as they ran. Their
dead and wounded were scattered from Winchester to Strasburg, every farm house
being filled with the wounded and dying. – They carried the dead in wagons, but
when too closely followed, they killed their mules and piled the dead on the
ground, and left them for our men to bury.
The mortality among them was fearful, over 300 being killed and many
wounded. They fought desperately, but
could not resist Northern valor.
THE SCENES OF THE
BATTLE-FIELD AND THE HOSPITAL.
(Correspondence of
the New York World.)
The enemy fought well, and it is useless and untrue to speak
lightly of their bravery. – They fought well and held out long against the
superior firing and daring of our forces, as their immense loss makes very
evident.
No wonder Stone-wall Jackson thinks it was a desperate
fight. I am informed, by one of the staff
of Gen. Shields, who has just returned from the track of their retreat, that,
as far as he moved, the enemy’s dead were found strewn along the turnpike. For twenty-four hours from the beginning of
the fight the enemy were burying their dead.
In one barn along the road there had been left fifty, all but eight of
whom were buried. The estimate of their
loss is carefully made, and is very nearly accurate without doubt.
The scene of the conflict is terrible. Civilians are generally prevented from
visiting for the present. It is
impossible to describe the scene so as to give a realization of its ghastliness
and terror, which any one ought to blush not to perceive while walking amid the
remnants of humanity which are scattered about.
Bodies in all the frightful attitudes which a violent and frightful
death could produce, stained with blood, mangled and lacerated perhaps, often
begrimed and black, lay scattered here and there, sometimes almost in heaps.
Some had crawled away when wounded to a comfortable place to
die. Two men lay almost covered with
straw, into which they had scrambled and lay until death released them. In the woods through which our troops had to
pass to charge the rebels lie the largest number of our dead, and beyond on the
other side of the wall from behind which they poured their volleys of balls at
our men, large numbers of the rebels lie, pierced in the forehead or face as
they rose above their hiding place to shoot at the Federals. There is a peculiar ghastliness in the
appearance of the enemy’s dead. Did not
their dress distinguish them, their faces would enable one instantly to tell
which were Federals and which not. One
would think they were all Indians so very dark had they become by their
exposure, sleeping without tents as they did for a long time at the beginning
of the war.
One who has not seen it can not tell what it is to see a
battle field.
If there is anything more dreadful it is a visit to the
hospitals after a battle.
In the Court House are placed a large number of the wounded
of our own and the enemy’s without discrimination, and in several places in
town, hospitals have been established since the battle. It is difficult to compel one’s self to dwell
long enough upon the scenes witnessed here, of the dying and dead, to give them
a faithful description. Surgeons and
attendants have been constantly at labor, without rest, in attending to the
unfortunate soldiers in the hospitals.
Yet, after all their efforts, it was long before many of the
wounded could be properly cared for and their wounds properly dressed.
The Court room was filled with the sufferers lying upon the
floor, so many that it was difficult to pass among them. Among them was the Confederate Captain Jones,
who had both eyes shot out, and whose face, covered thickly with clotted blood,
presented the most repulsive and pitiable sight which one could well
behold. Some, from loss of blood were
swollen, distorted and discolored. Some,
indeed were cheerful, and rejoicing that while their comrades were many of them
so seriously injured their slight wounds [would] soon heal and become honorable
scars, testifying their patriotism and loyalty.
But the majority of those which I saw here were dangerous wounds, and
some were to suffer amputations, and their fellow soldiers about them,
suffering from their own wounds, were obliged to listen to their cries and
groans, and to hear the grating of the surgeon’s saw, a premonitory of their own
hard fate. I saw many in the agonies of
death. – One, who was seated and raised half upright, haunts me now with his
pale sorrowful, countenance. He was
almost dead, and every moment would raise his head, open his eyes, and stare
vacantly around as if he would assure himself that he had not yet lost all sense
of sight.
Here, also, lay some who had just died, and as I passed
through the hall a gray-haired guard, resting upon his musket, with a solemn grave
countenance, was standing beside a number of dead, in the attitude of a death
struggle, each with a paper pinned to his clothing, stating the name, regiment,
etc., of the deceased.
Many ladies of the town were seen visiting all the
hospitals. Must it be said that their anxiety
was to find out the Confederate prisoners only, and administer to them the
comforts which they did not extend to our own? – Can it be, in such a case,
that humanity can so distinguish between friend and foe stricken down by
suffering and death? Yet many have
observed the unconcern for Federal sufferers and the anxiety and care for the
Confederates which was very generally exhibited at our hospitals. The people of the place have displayed more
sullenness and hatred toward us since this battle, ten times over, than they
ever have before, and when the approach of Jackson on Winchester was reported,
the people, many of them were exultant and triumphant, thinking that Jackson was
immediately about to march in and redeem them
When the rebel prisoners were being sent away to Baltimore,
the ladies in town sought to lighten the imprisonment by bringing delicacies to
them, and little presents – and their disloyalty was manifested openly, the men
assuring the fair ones that they were still for Jeff. Davis. All who had started for Fairfax Court House
have returned to Winchester. – The breaking down of the bridge was the
principal event. One brigade had passed
over on the previous (Friday) night, and a few had gone over in the morning,
but as the baggage train was crossing the bridge broke under the weight of one
of the wagons – fortunately near the commencement of the bridge, however. –
This part had not been properly strengthened.
The mules splashed about, and the two leaders were drowned in the rapid
current. The bridge appeared quite frail,
but I am informed that except at this end it is quite substantial. Several boats were fortunately at hand and
these were anchored, and beams were thrown across and planks placed upon them,
and after about four hour’s delay the whole was placed in good contention. This was quite fortunate, however, for as
they were called back to Winchester it was well that they were saved the
advance of four hours and the return over the same route, which they would have
made had the bridge been in good order.
People crowded the streets to see the soldiers pass and were
wonderfully amazed at a very novel sight, for though they had seen soldiers before,
they had never seen such as those. “Such
perfect gentlemen,” said they in [astonishment. Their uniform and appearance
was] in such contrast to what they had seen of the Southern army that I found
it the general impression that our soldiers were a “very genteel” class of
men. Our cavalry horses, too, impressed
them. At some places the most hearty
Union feeling was manifested. Many a
duck, goose, turkey, and chicken disappeared before our troops, yet we were so
much more generally well behaved that the people expressed the greatest
surprise at the order which was manifested by our soldiers.
But this march was very unexpectedly cut short, and will not
probably be resumed at present, as I understand that Strasburg is now the
headquarters of Gen. Banks.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 3
