the battle would, from this delay, have been
worse for us.

Merritt and Averill, by skillfully maneuvering their troops in front of
Bunker's Hill, had enabled us to seize this advantage.

The Nineteenth corps was formed on the right of the Sixth, in four lines
of battle; Wilson's cavalry was on our left. It was eleven o'clock when
the advance was sounded. In our front were undulating fields, traversed
by deep ravines, almost stripped of timber, except where the rebels had
formed their line of battle in a belt of woods that skirted the
turnpike. It was an imposing spectacle to watch that line of battle,
stretching three miles across the fields, as it moved toward the rebel
lines, the men as composed as though on parade, the line straight and
compact, the various division, brigade and regimental flags floating
gaily in the sunlight. Away in our front we could see Winchester; its
gleaming spires and shining roofs, bright with the warm glow of mid-day,
and we proudly felt that before night it would be ours. Onward, through
the cornfields and over the grassy knolls, now descending into a ravine
and now rising upon the open plain, where the rebel artillery swept with
terrible effect, the long line pressed forward, regardless of the
destructive fire that constantly thinned our ranks. At every step
forward, men were dropping, dropping; some dead, some mortally hurt, and
some with slight wounds. Now on this side, now on that they fell; still
the line swept forward, leaving the ground behind it covered with the
victims.

Thus we pushed onward, the rebels falling back, desperately disputing
every step, when a murderous fire, from batteries which the enemy had
skillfully placed, suddenly swept our right with fearful slaughter.

Thus far all had gone well. Now our hearts were sick as we looked far to
the right and saw the Nineteenth corps and our Third division falling
back, back, back, the grape and canister of the hostile cannon crashing
through the now disordered ranks, and the exulting rebels following with
wild yells of victory.

The retreat of the troops on the right of the Second division left its
flank, held by the Vermonters, exposed, and they, too, were forced to
fall behind the Third brigade, which still held its ground, the fire in
its front being at the moment less severe. Our batteries were rushed
forward, and the gallant First division, the noble Russell at its head,
came bravely up to the rescue.

As the noble