Battle of Blue Springs

Battle of Blue Springs. "Drove the enemy in confusion". As daylight dimmed in the early evening of October 10, 1863, the low hills around you twinkled with muzzle flashes as the thin line of Confederate defenders opened fire. A blue line of Federal infantry advanced steadily into the fire from behind you despite the barrage of bullets from rifle pits and the hills, as well as cannon shot., Confederate Gen. John S. William's men held their ground at, first. They had skirmished In the morning for the second time since October 3) with Union Gen. Samuel P. Carter's cavalry division. Carter drove in Williams's pickets and forced him to stretch his liens until they were more than two miles long, a thin skirmish line. This strongest point was the center, with two companies of troops and four cannons. Burnside sent his chief engineer, Capt. Orlando M. Poe, to reconnoiter the Confederate position ahead of the infantry attack. Poe reported the Confederates well positioned, but with thin lines, on the high ground here., Ferrero's division attacked Williams's line at 5 P.M., with six guns supporting the infantry. which included the 79th New York Infantry (Highlanders). When Ferrero's men encountered Williams's cannons, of wounded they "opened upon them with grape and canister, mowing them down," according to the Confederate report. Burnside, in contrast, merely reported that Ferrero's division "charged and cleared the woods gallantly, and drove the enemy in confusion until dark." The Confederates withdrew in the night, were pursued the next day, and soon retired to Virginia., (sidebar) , Pvt. Andrew Tweedy, Co. I 79th New York Infantry as among the casualties of Blue Springs. Captured at the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861, he was soon paroled. He was seriously wounded at Blue Springs and died of infection on October 15, 1863, age about thirty-two. The surgeon's postmortem report noted that "a ball entered an inch to the right of the symphysis pubis [part of the public bone],...tearing the bladder and rectum, and making its exit through he coccyx [tailbone]." Popular engravings such as this one of wounded men and attractive nurses romanticized the sufferings and grisly cost of war. Courtesy Library of Congress., (caption) Officers of 70th New York Infantry in camp. Note the officer seated in the center wearing a tam or Highland cap. Courtesy Library of Congress