Letters From War Wednesday: Civil War – Charles Fall.

Charles Fall served in the American Civil War with the 26th Michigan.  In May 1864, General Grant launched his Overland Campaign.  Opposing armies first clashed at the Battle of the Wilderness, then met outside Spotsylvania Courthouse.  Fall and his 26^th Michigan found themselves at the center of it all.

On May 12, 1864, at dawn, Hancock’s II Corps cut through the fleeting darkness, morning drizzle and rolling fog to attack the Confederate defenses at an exposed salient called the Mule Shoe.  Fall led the way as the 26^th Michigan broke through the enemy lines.  He would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics.  According to the citation, Sergeant Fall “was one of the first to mount the Confederate works, where he bayoneted two of the enemy and captured a Confederate flag, but threw it away to continue the pursuit of the enemy.”

Unsupported, the federal push ground to a halt.  Confederates soon counterattacked.  The ensuing hand-to-hand brawl would ebb and flow across the same small area for the next 20 hours.  The death trap would come to be known as “Bloody Angle.”

Charles Fall-26th Michigan Infantry

Only days later, Fall attempted to explain the events in a letter home, but fell admittedly short.  “That was a hard day’s fight, and I do not care to see another such. …We just more than butchered them. I saw them piled up some places five deep.  …We lost 186 in killed, wounded and missing in our Regt. Out of the number was but 25 killed, the others wounded and missing. …

“It was terrible, but had to be done, & your humble servant must have been crazy as he run his bayonet through some three of them, and with one of them had to put his foot on him to draw it out, besides shooting two or three that he knows of and using up 123 rounds of cartridges firing at them.

“Just imagine, a solid white oak tree, 20 inches through, standing between the two lines being cut down so that it fell among the rebs, with musket balls alone, and you may form some opinion of what the battle was. I cannot, neither can the pen describe the terrific struggle.”