GENERAL ORDERS, No. 1.
HDQRS. OF THE RIGHT
COLUMN,
November 8, 1863.
The general commanding the Right Column congratulates the
troops of his command on the admirable success which attended their operations
of yesterday. The enemy was attacked in an intrenched position of great
strength, in inclosed works, defended by artillery and infantry, and compelled
to surrender, after a sharp conflict, to an assaulting column actually inferior
in numbers to the force defending the works. Four pieces of artillery, 4
caissons, filled with ammunition, the enemy's pontoon bridge, 8 battle-flags,
2,000 stand of small-arms, 1,600 prisoners, including 2 brigade commanders, and
130 commissioned officers are the fruits of the victory.
The prompt advance of the Fifth Corps to the river, the
assault from the right of its line, and its gallant entry into the redoubt
simultaneously with the troops of the Sixth Corps, are worthy of high praise.
The taking of the heights on the right by Neill's and
Shaler's brigades of the Sixth Corps, under Brigadier-General Howe, to obtain
position for the batteries, was admirably accomplished.
The assault of the storming party, under General Russell,
conducted over rough ground in the full fire of the works, could not be
surpassed in steadiness and gallantry. The brigades of Colonel Ellmaker and
Colonel Upton, and the troops of the Fifth Corps which participated in the
assault, have nobly earned the admiration and gratitude of their comrades and
commanders.
The Sixth Maine and Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers, for carrying
the redoubts; the One hundred and twenty-first New York, Fifth Maine, and
Forty-ninth and One hundred and nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, for taking
the line of rifle-pits with the bayonet and seizing the enemy's bridge, deserve
especial honor.
By command of Major-General Sedgwick:
M. T. McMAHON,
Chief of Staff, and
Assistant Adjutant-General.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
29, Part 1 (Serial No. 48), p. 575-6
