Excerpt
As soon as the sun hit the east the Rebels hit the Union lines. Sergeant Cruikshank and the men of the 123rd New York were ready for them. They appeared in one solid mass of living grey. The whole woods in front of us seemed to be full of themThe enemy charged on us in solid column again and again, their battle cry sounding above the roll of musketry, the roar of cannon and bursting and crashing of shell. The enemy would come so far, when their ranks would become so thinned that they would fall back a little to fill them up again. When our men would see them giving way cheer after cheer would then be heard. It would be only for a moment as the empty places in the enemys ranks would be filled and on they would come again. Corporal Bull was in the thick if it, It was now load and fire at will as rapidly as possible and in the excitement of this work we soon found that the nervousness and fear with which we begun the fight had passed away and a feeling of fearlessness and rage had taken its place.
For three hours General Lanes Brigade of North Carolinians hammered on the area of the 123rd New Yorks entrenchment. Like Vikings slamming a metallized log against a Frankish castle door, the Union line began to splinter, cave in and falter. During this time we loaded and fired our guns as fast as was possible but on they came and while the smoke was so dense we could only occasionally see their forms, we could see the flash from their guns, Bull wrote of the pandemonium. Dead were dropping into the dust, wounded crawling away from the line, smoke swirling among those seeking more ammunition, shirtsleeves wiping sweat from brows, Rebs leaping upon the works pitching dead into them, screams, officers yelling, bullets snapping, shells cracking scant feet above their heads the men of the 123rd fought on. Ed Tanner a fellow that taught school at your district a few days hd both his legs shot off above the knees Al Done had one leg shot offBryon Briggs was shot dead. He was wounded by a musket ball which passed close by my head passing entirely through one of his thighs, entering the other until it struck the bone, then it passed down lodging near the knee on the opposite side. Second Lieut. J. C. Corbett, of Co. C, was left on the field dead, and first Lieut. Beadle and second Lieut. Albert Shiland of Co. I, were badly wounded I saw a bullet strike him in the head two dead men were lying close to me, one lying across my feet... I found William H. Dennison (Sergeant) who had been shot through the body, mortally wounded; William E. Stewart (Corporal) shot through the arm; Garrett W. Briggs (Corporal) wounded in the hip and gone to the rear; John S. Dory shot through the face with tongue nearly cut off; Archibald Johnson mortally wounded
Almost from the first volley of the Confederates the 3rd Maryland broke and fled. The rebs charged on the 3rd Maryland to our right, and they like cowards, ran [S]ome of our boys also ran then [T]he rebs then had a cross fire on us but our Regt. did not flinch, Corporal Albert Cook (Co. A) of the 123rd New York notes with disgust. Although elements of Union General Motts Brigade rushed to fill the gap Confederate forces broke through the front line pouring flanking fire into the 123rd and Federal troops to the north of the Plank Road. A great melee began with charges and counter-charges of regiments. The artillery along Fairview ridge roared shell into the Rebel ranks doing horrible carnage but could not use canister due to their comrades desperately fighting at the barricades before them.
Compounding the problems for the Federals in the area of the 123rd New York, enfilading artillery fire now entered their midst from Hazel Grove. Major General Sickles and units of his 3rd Corps had held the small hill the night before, even making a night attack into the Rebels from it. But in the early dawn before the battle renewed on May 3rd General Hooker had ridden up to Hazel Grove and ordered Sickles back into the trenches towards Chancellorsville. It was a grievous mistake. There was a channel of open field (like a modern power-line trail down a slope) running from Hazel Grove right towards the Chancellor House not quite a mile away. The entire left flank of the Union 12th Corps was in range and could be enfiladed by artillery. Within an hour Confederates had massed 30 cannons atop Hazel Grove and commenced pounding everything that moved, ducked or prayed below them. Union artillery behind the 123rd New York had to swing several guns off the Confederate infantry attack to deal with the Rebel artillery. Still, the Union soldiers were taking a toll on their attackers. By 8 a.m. Lanes Brigade of North Carolinians had broken and fallen to the rear. They had suffered 805 casualties in killed, wounded and missing. The 33rd North Carolina alone losing 41% of their men they took into the fray. Replacing them in a headlong rush at this section of line were ONeals Alabamians, Perrins South Carolinians, Penders North Carolinians and Paxtons Virginians.
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