"The Water Hole" Part (2)

(In Part (2), the Union troops, get a new commander Col. Johnson.
"The Water Hole" Part (2)

A couple of days passed by and neither army had made any attempts to move in any direction. Major General Scott, had fallen ill during the lull of the cease fire. He was confined to his bed in the head quarters tent, gravely ill. The doctor Major Evans believed the General had contacted a virus, from being dehydrated and exhausted. Since he was in no condition to lead his troops, he turned his command over to full Col. Johnson.

Johnson, was one of the General Scott's Brigade commanders. His strategy differed a lot from the General's. Above all he did not like the terms of the cease fire agreed to by Gen. Scott and Gen. Grey. He felt he was not obligated in any way to follow what had been agreed too. To him the troops were there to fight, no matter the cost of lives. Therefore, he began to contrive a strategy for attacking the water hole, again.

Although Gen. Scott had promised not to attack the water hole again, Gen. Grey did not completely believe him.Therefore Gen. Grey had his troops alerted to any strange or sudden movement by the Union troops. Also, he was not aware that Gen. Scott had fallen ill and was no longer in command of the Union troops. He would soon find out, for Col. Johnson was going to attack him to gain control over the water hole.

On July 15, 1863, after a short illness Major General Scott died from the virus. The next day Col. Johnson began his attack on the Rebel strong hold. But, if he thought the attack would be a surprise and catch the Rebels off guard, he was wrong! Gen. Grey had been informed of the movement of the Union cannons toward the front lines. It was not hard to figure out the Unions intentions.

Gen. Grey put his army on the alert, and ready to do battle again. He increased his troops strength on the flanks, to prevent being encircled by the North. All though he had lost over a thousand men in the first attack, he still had an army of 2000 seasoned soldiers, ready to fight until death.

Col. Johnson plan of attack, was to broaden his front lines, and bring up his heavy cannons for a huge barrage of fire on the rebels. And so on July 16, his heavy cannons opened up with all of their fire power on the Rebels strong hold, while he kept his infantry in reserve, for 2 hours. During the barrage the water hole had taken a direct hit from one of the Unions heavy cannons, and by doing so had inverted the springs flow to under ground. because the springs fountain was located at the base of a big hill.

The barrage had inflicted heavy casualties on the rebel troops, in the front lines. Gen. Grey sent his reserves to the front lines and answered with his own barrage by the rebel cannons. This action brought havoc on the Union infantry who were preparing to attack in force. The remnants of Col. Johnson's infantry were given the signal to attack. As they did the fire power of Gen. Grey's reserves cut them to pieces and on the Union's flanks the Rebels inflicted heavy casualties.

These loses were enough for Col. Johnson to withdraw his troops from the attack. His army or at least what was left of it, had suffered tremendous casualties, it was nearly wiped out. The hospital tent in the rear of the Union army was filled with wounded soldiers, who had been mangled from the attack. There was not much the doctors had to give the wounded for their severe pain, except whiskey.

It was estimated that the attack, claimed over 2000 lives of the Union troops, plus all the wounded. The second attack left less than 1000 able body soldiers in the Union army. Which had originally been 5000 strong under the command of Major Gen. Scott. Col. Johnson had thoughts of breaking off any further engagements with the Rebels. He would send Lt. Richards, as a courier to the third army group and explain his situation, and ask for reinforcements.

During the battle, of the second attack the brilliant young Lt. Gen. Grey, had suffered a fatal wound to the head. The remnants of the Rebel army about 1500 was now under the command of Brig. Gen. Jones. He was another young, but seasoned leader who had served under the command of Gen. Grey, as one of his Brigade commanders.

General Jones, had the water hole inspected for its severity of damage. He was told by Captain Webber, one of the scout leaders it would take a long time to repair the springs flow. Because of its location at the base of the big hill, the explosion from the cannon ball had buried the springs fountain, beneath the rocks and earth.

General Jones was left to ponder his next move, should he stand firm at a water hole that could not be accessed, for a long time. He thought, it had cost over 6500 lives of America's best men, so far. After a couple of days of thought, and the dead were buried. On the night of July 22, 1863, he decided it was time to abandon the water hole to the Union troops.

BY: Kings