BEVERLY, Va., July 15, 1861.
The Thirteenth Indiana Regiment, together with the Eighth and Tenth Indiana, the Nineteenth Ohio, and Captain Burdsal’s cavalry, were ordered on the morning of the 11th to turn the position of the rebels encamped on Rich Mountain, and attack them in rear. After a very tedious march, following a path which led us through thickets so dense and woods so filled with undergrowth that it was impossible to see fifty feet on either side, now following the bed of a mountain stream for our path and then using the compass for our only guide, we climbed and scrambled to the top of the mountain in their rear. Just as we reached the summit of the mountain we were overtaken by a terrific storm, which raged with great fury, making it seem as if our duty led us to encounter nature, the elements, and man. While marching along the ridge of the mountain, to take up a position which commanded the road leading to Beverly, we were fired on by the picket guard of the rebels. Driving them in, we continued our march down the side of the mountain into a valley which opened on the road. Between our forces and the road the ground was covered with a dense thicket of underbrush, from which and the hill on the opposite side the rebels opened a heavy and continuous fire of rifles and musketry. Directly opposite on the road was a battery of two guns, brass 6-pounders, which were well served, firing shot and shell with great rapidity. In the rear of the guns was built a breast-work to protect the guns in case of a charge or an attempt to carry them off. One of these guns was soon silenced by the effective and heavy fire kept up by the regiments named above. The Thirteenth Regiment was divided, five companies being detached under Lieutenant-Colonel Heffren to guard the flank of our position, while five companies under my own command moved forward toward the position of the rebels. Driving the enemy before us as we advanced, my command was again divided. One portion under my lead, composed of Company A, Captain Dobbs; Company B, Captain Wilson; Company H, Captain Clinton, charged up the hill, while two companies under command of Major Foster—Company E, Captain Kirkpatrick, and Company G, Captain Sayles—charged down the road to turn their flank. While charging down the road they met a re-enforcement for the rebels under command of Captain Skipwith and Lieutenant Dorset, numbering some fifty men, with a brass 6-pounder. After a very sharp fight of some minutes the rebels fled, leaving their captain and several men dead on the field and Lieutenant Dorset and the gun in our possession. The companies under my command were during this time engaged in a hand-to-hand fight in the woods, routing the rebels, who fled, leaving 32 dead and numbers wounded, my loss amounting to 6 killed and 8 wounded (whose names you have in paper inclosed).*
I cannot speak too highly of the conduct of the men engaged in the fight. The number of the dead and wounded bears testimony of the determined foe they encountered, while their being victorious is sufficient evidence that they did their duty. I would notice especially the conduct of the officers, every one of them fighting at the head of their companies. To my adjutant, C. H. Ross, I am indebted for valuable assistance, and I would also notice that he was with Major Foster’s command when the cannon under Captain Skipwith was captured. I would also call your attention to Private Benjamin Smith, Company H, who killed a rebel while in the act of firing upon you as you charged with my command upon their position. That portion of the regiment left to guard the flank was the principal mark of the rebels’ cannon, several round shot and shell falling directly among them, fortunately doing no injury.
JER. C. SULLIVAN,
Colonel, Commanding Thirteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteers.
[Brig. Gen. W. S. ROSECRANS.]
* Omitted
Sources
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. LI, Part I. With additions and corrections. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902.
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