USA > Indiana > History of the Seventy-fifth regiment of Indiana infantry voluteers. its organization, campaigns, and battles (1862-65.) > Part 13
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Regiment. This Confederate Brigade of Alabamians and Mississippians, under Brig .- Gen. S. A. M. Wood, was most severely punished in attempting to charge across Poe's field (burnt house). It was subjected to a galling fire from our artillery and inusketry in front and on both flanks. It was hurled back, sustaining the loss of five hundred men in a few minutes, according to the statement in the report of its Divi- sion commander.
Well does the writer of this history remember the scene of the retiring tide of these gray coats of Wood's Brigade, as it moved precipitately to the rear! Officers with drawn swords and pistols threw themselves in front of the retiring crowd, and by every device which physical and mental nature for the moment could invent, they tried to rally and reform the column of men from the broken mass of humanity that was retreating over Poe's field. The Brigade advanced in solid columns on double-quick, until it reached the crest of the hill within fifty yards of our improvised breastworks, when our Batteries, supported by the infantry of our Brigade, swept it from the field, like chaff before a storm. This charge resulted in a fearful destruction of life in the Regiments of Wocd's Brigade. The shot and shell of our Brigade ploughed through their ranks with horrible effect. Owing to our pro- tected position, the Regiments and Battery of our Brigade did not suffer as much. Colonel M. P. Lowrey, command- ing the two Mississippi Regiments, reports that one-fourthi of his command was killed and wounded in the charge. He reports that, after the battle, nineteen of his men were buried in one grave near the spot where they were all killed around his colors. Lowery himself was promoted for his gallantry in this charge. Captain Daniel Coleman, who commanded temporarily the Mississippi Sharpshooters after their com- mander, Major Hawkins, had his leg shot off in the charge by a cannonball, from which he died, says in his report, that on tlie crest of the hill in our front many brave and gallant men in liis battalion were killed and wounded. Among the slain
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was his brother, a lieutenant, who fell pierced with four mor- tal wounds. Captain F. A. Ashford, who temporarily commanded the Sixteenth Alabamna (its cominander, Major McGaughy, having received a mortal wound in the charge) reports that over two-thirds of his Regiment were killed and wounded in this assault. Col. Sam. Adams, commanding the Thirty-third Alabama Regiment, and the Eighteenth Alabama Battalion, reports a loss of sixteen killed and one hundred and thirty-three wounded in this charge. Col. E. B. Breedlove, of the Forty-fifth Alabama, reports that dur- ing the time his Regiment was exposed to our fire, his loss was much heavier than that of any other battle in which his Regiment participated. Major-Gen. Cleburne says of Wood's charge in his official report:
Passing toward the left at this time, I found that the line of advance of my division, which was the left of the right wing of the army, converged with the line of advance of the left wing of the army. The flanks of the two wings had already come into collision. Part of Wood's brigade had passed over Bate's brigade, of Stewart's division, which was the right of the left wing, and Deshler's brigade, which formed my left, had been thrown out entirely and was in rear of the left wing of the army. I ordered Wood to move forward the remainder of his brigade, opening at the same time in the direction of the enemy's fire with Semple's battery. That part of Wood's brigade to the left of Lowrey's regiment and to the left of the southern angle of the breastworks, in its advance at this time entered an old field bordering the road (Chattanooga and La Fayette) and attempted to cross it in the face of a heavy fire from works in its front. It had almost reached the road, its left wing being at Poe's house (known as the burning house), when it was driven back by a heavy oblique fire of small-arms and artillery which was opened upon both its flanks, the fire from the right coming from the south face of the breastworks, which was hid from view by the thick growth of scrub-oak bordering the field.
Five hundred men were killed and wounded by this fire in a few minutes. Upon this repulse (Lowrey's regiment having also in the meantime been forced to retire), I ordered the brigade still farther back to reform. Sem- ple's battery, which had no position, I also ordered back.
After Wood's Brigade had been driven back, Deshler's Brigade was moved to the front to connect with Polk's Brig- ade. In this movement, Brig .- Gen. James Deshler was in-
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stantly killed by a shell from our Battery, which penetrated his chest and tore his heart out. His Brigade was forced back. In his report Cleburne says:
Finding it a useless sacrifice of life for Polk to retain his position, I ord- ered hin to fall back with the rest of his line, and with his and Wood's bri- gades I took up a strong defensive position some 300 or 400 yards in rear of the point from which they had been repulsed.
The whole of the Confederate right wing had now been engaged. The attack was spirited, but unsuccessful by reason of the persistency of our forces ensconced behind their im- provised barricades. There was now a lull of more than a half hour in our front. In the meantime the Seventy-fifth Regiment replenished ammunition, preparatory to receiving another assault, which soon came.
The Confederate left wing under Longstreet now prepared to advance from right to left in the same order as the right wing. Stewart with his Division of three Brigades, com- prising the extreme right of this wing, and with Wood's Brigade of Cleburne's Division, began his brilliant advance at II a. in. by the immediate order of Bragg. This was the initiatory movement, which resulted in the breaking up of the right wing of our army on the afternoon of this fatal day. Stewart's charge was a failure, as far as his attempt to break the line in his immediate front was concerned; but it was a success, so far as drawing our troops from the right and weakening it, by which the left wing of the Confederates was enabled to break our line on the right and sweep it from the field. The advance all along Thomas' front was sufficiently spirited for him to call repeatedly for help. Gen. Thomas says:
General Baird being still hardly pressed in front, I ordered General Wood, who had just reported to me in person, to send one of the brigades. of his division to General Baird. He replied that the division had been or- dered by General Rosecrans to support Reynolds' right.
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At the time that the assault just described was made on Baird, the enemy
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attacked Johnson, Palmer, and Reynolds, with equal fierceness, which was continued at least two hours, making assault after assault with fresh troops, which were met by my troops with a most determined coolness and deliber- ation. The enemy having exhausted his utmost energies to dislodge us, apparently fell back entirely from our front, and we were not disturbed again until near night, after the withdrawal of the troops to Rossville had commenced.
In his report Gen. Rosecrans says:
The battle, in the meanwhile, roared with increasing fury, and approached from the left to the centre. Two aides arrived successively within a few minutes, from General Thomas, asking for re-enforcements. The first was directed to say that General Negley had already gone and should be near at hand at that time, and that Brannan's reserve brigade was available. The other was directed to say that General Van Cleve would at once be sent to his assistance, which was accordingly done.
A message from General Thomas soon followed, that he was heavily pres- sed, Captain Kellogg, aide-de-camp, the bearer, informing me at the same time that General Brannan was out of line, and General Reynolds' right was exposed. Orders were dispatched to General Wood to close up on Rey- nolds, and word was sent to General Thomas that he should be supported, even if it took away the whole corps of Crittenden and McCook.
"General Reynolds' right " mentioned in both these re- ports was our Brigade and Regiment. Reynolds was pressed, but his resistance was greater than the pressure. Stewart's own account of his assault, and the stubborn resistance by which the assault was met, shows the nature of the attack. In liis official report, Stewart says:
Accordingly, I arranged with General Wood that he should advance with Brown, which was done without delay; Clayton was moved up immediately to Brown's position, and Bate's right thrown forward to bring him on line with Clayton, when they also advanced to be within supporting distance of Brown and Wood. For several hundred yards both lines pressed on, under the most terrible fire it has ever been my fortune to witness. The enemy retired, and our men, though mowed down at every step, rushed on at double-quick until at length the brigade on the right of Brown broke in confusion, exposing him to an enfilade fire. He continued on, however, some 50 to 75 yards farther, when his two right regiments gave way in dis- order and retired to their original position. His centre and left, however, followed by the gallant Clayton and indomitable Bate, pressed on, passing the corn-field in front of the burnt house and to a distance of 200 to 300
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yards beyond the Chattanooga road, driving the enemy within his line of intrenchments and passing a battery of four guns, which were afterward taken possession of by a regiment from another division. Here new batter- ies being opened by the enemy on our front and flank, heavily supported by infantry, it became necessary to retire, the command reforming on the ground occupied before the advance.
During this charge, which was truly heroic, our loss was severe. Several valuable officers were killed and wounded. Generals Brown and Clayton were each struck by spent grape, temporarily disabling the former, and General Bate and several of his staff had their horses killed-the second lost by General Bate that morning.
After remaining long enough to reform the lines, to replenish ammuni- tion, and rest the men, the command again advanced to the corn-field men- tioned above, then moved by the right flank until it formed across a ridge wliich extended obliquely to the front and right. The enemy were still in position behind a breastwork of logs a few hundred yards in front of us, and General Buckner coming up, I understood it to be his wish that I should not then attenipt to go forward, but to await orders.
In their official reports, Brown, Bate and Clayton, com- manding the three Brigades of Stewart's Division, say:
At about II o'clock, when ordered to advance, I moved in line to the front, preceded by my skirmishers, who, soon driving in the enemy's skir- mishers, rallied upon the command. We moved at double-quick nearly 300 yards through an open woods, the enemy retiring before us, when the bri- gade on my right broke in confusion. My line still advanced 50 or 75 yards farther, and to within 50 yards of the enemy's battery and line of defenses, when the right, wholly unsupported and receiving a terrible cross-fire of musketry and artillery upon its flanks, broke and retired in disorder to our temporary defenses. I found all effort to rally the Eighteenth and Forty- fifth Tennessee short of the defenses in vain, and, indeed, impracticable, under the storm of grape and canister which prevailed upon every part of the field over which these two regiments passed. The center and left con- tinued steadily to advance until they crossed the Chattanooga road 200 or 300 yards, and passed the battery in our front, but on the right flank of the Thirty-second Tennessee Regiment; but being unsupported on the right in consequence of the retreat of the Eighteenth and Forty-fifth Tennessee Regiments, it became necessary to retire the remainder of the line, because to have advanced farther would have exposed it to the hazard of being cut off, while to have remainded stationary without shelter and under fire from a protected foe would have sacrificed the men without obtaining any com- pensating advantage. I therefore ordered it to retire, which it accomplished in comparatively good order, to the original line. While reforming my line
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I received a slight wound, which disabled ine from duty for the remainder of the day, and I refer to the report of Colonel Cook, upon whom the com- mand devolved, for the conduct of the brigade in the evening .- Brown.
After waiting, under a severe and incessant fire of artillery, until about II a. m., I communicated to General Stewart that no movement on my right had taken place ; that General Deshler had been killed, and desired to know if I should longer remain inactive. About this time there was firing in my front, and soon thereafter General Wood's command came back, passing over my line. I was then ordered by Major-General Stewart to advance and attack. My command received the order with a shout, and moved upon the foe at a rapid gait. The battalion of sharpshooters was ordered to maintain its position at right angles to the line, and check, if possible (if not, to de- lay), any movement in that direction, giving the earliest notice of the sanie. My right, as upon the evening previous, became hotly engaged almost the instant it assumed the offensive. It was subject to a most galling fire of grape and musketry from my right oblique and front, cutting down with great fatality the Twentieth Tennessee and Thirty-seventh Georgia at every step, until they drove the enemy behind his defenses, from which, without support either of artillery or infantry, they were unable to dislodge him. General Deshler's brigade not having advanced, I called on Major-General Cleburne, who was near my right and rear, for assistance; but he having none at his disposal which could be spared, I was compelled to retire that wing of my brigade or sacrifice it in uselessly fighting thrice its numbers, with the advantage of the hill and breastworks against it. I did so in good order and without indecent haste, and aligned it first in front and then placed it in rear of our flimsy defenses .- Bate.
About II o'clock, General Brown being in front and General Bate on my right, the whole division advanced under a most terrible fire of grape and canister from the enemy's artillery, before which several most gallant offi- cers fell bravely leading their men, among whom I cannot forbear to mention the name of the chivalrous and accomplished Lieut. Col. R. F. Inge, of the Eighteenth Alabama Regiment. Notwithstanding this, the brigade pressed forward through a narrow corn-field to the first pieces of artillery by the roadside, when two other batteries, one in front and one upon the right, assisted by small-arms, began a most murderous fire, before which all were compelled to retire. I was myself struck by a grape shot and compelled to dismount for a short time. The Thirty-eighth Alabama Regiment, scarcely breaking its line, fell back only a short, distance. The other regiments promptly reformed near the position originally occupied by them, and moved forward to rejoin it .- Clayton.
In front of our breastworks of logs, we had a line of pickets, and these were the troops referred to in the above re- ports as being driven across the road. Twice these Brigades
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formed and advanced after they were driven back; but the fierce leaden rain was too terrible for them to withstand.
Who could say there was no hard pressure upon the brave troops that resisted the onslaught of the Confederates, of whose daring, recklessness and loss of life, these above official re- ports give an account? "Meantime, Cleburne and Walker were assaulting Baird and Johnson in front. The Con- federate attack swept furiously down Thomas' line. Frank Cheatham with his Tennessee soldiers, lead by Maney, Pres- ton Smith, Marcus J. Wright, and Strahl, charged desper- ately, but could not withstand the storm of fire concentrated upon them. Liddell, with Walthall and Govan, taking up the attack in succession, five times charged the Union lines, but all in vain. Hindman's Mississippi and Alabama troops shared the same fate. Bate, Brown and Clayton of Stew- art's Division assaulted and reassaulted with great impetu- osity, but were beaten back. Brown and Clayton were wounded. All recoiled from the unrelenting line of fire. It was the same story of assault and repulse, with fearful losses in the Confederate ranks. When the storm lulled, and the smoke cleared away-the Union lines well-posted and partly protected-Baird, Johnson, Palmer, Reynolds, Brannan were still there." (Thruston). After this attack, Stewart's Divi- sion was not able for scarcely any more duty in the battle. His Brigades got all they wanted. Although Reynolds and Brannan held their ground unassisted by any reinforcements, yet Stewart's attack upon them made it only possible for the Confederates to succeed in producing the rout on the riglit of our line. Lieutenant-General Daniel H. Hill, the commander of a Corps in Polk's wing, said: "At eleven a. in. Stewart's Division advanced under an immediate order from Bragg. His three Brigades under Brown, Clayton and Bate advanced, with Wood of Cleburne's Division. This was the celebrated attack upon Reynolds and Brannan, which led directly to the Federal disaster." (Century Mag., April, 1887). Stewart made the attack with four Brigades. He was confronted by
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four Brigades-Reynolds' two and two of Brannan's-one of Brannan's Brigades being in reserve. Nearly one-third of our Division was also in reserve. Stewart was successfully repulsed all along our line without the aid of our reserve. Our Regiment knelt down behind the logs, and held fire until Stewart's column was within fifty yards of our line, when we poured into it volume after volume of a murderous fire, which, together with the grape and canister from our Battery, cut wide gaps into the ranks.
Several men of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment were killed and wounded while resisting this fierce charge; among them were William Mathes and John W. Nelson of G Com- pany, who were shot through the head and instantly killed; and Elijah Moore of I Company, who was mortally wounded. These men served faithfully in their respective Companies, and fell at last as pure patriots as any men in the Regiment. They might have done duty where dangers were less great, but they refused every position removed from peril.
Elijah Moore's movements and general appearance were not indicative of the soldier, for he was crooked, awkward and slow. In ante bellum days he was a brawny-armed woodchopper; but when the tocsin of war resounded in his ears, he laid down his axe for the musket, and a braver and more courageous soldier never lived. Besides the regular drill, the Sergeants and Corporals of his Company, during the early part of our service, exercised him in the "Manual of Arms" for half an hour every day. Elijah bore this pro- cedure with heroic fortitude for several months; but after all attempts to learn proved fruitless, he appealed to the Captain to be released, to whom he said: "Captain, I wish you would excuse me from drill; I can't learn-its all foolishness anyhow. I enlisted to fight." At this battle, in which he fell mortally wounded, Elijah proved the truth of his asser- tion that "fight" was the object for which he enlisted.
Elijah was as "raw" after months of experience of army life, as he was on the day of his enrollment. Time and ex-
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perience never changed him. In drill, he could neither learn the "Manual of Arms" nor the "step." He could never tell the difference between a "right shoulder shift " and an "order arms." On dress parade, when other guns had moved, as if by one pair of hands, and his comrades were ready for another command to be given, his gun was just seen moving into position. He would not fire his gun in battle, until he had picked his man. He always loaded down his pockets with cartridges, because he could not get them out of his cartridge-box. He loaded his gun in battle with the coolness and style of a squirrel-hunter, and in taking aim always raised his piece to his left shoulder. If the other boys had been as slow reloading as he, Stewart's column would have undoubtedly swept over the barricades. Whilst the firing was terrific, and the horror of the deadly strife was ap- palling, the yells of the advancing Georgians, Tennesseeans and Alabamians were heard amidst the noise of belching ar- tillery, and the thick curtains of smoke enveloped the field of contest, Elijah, having discharged his Springfield rifle turned around and said to the writer: "Sergeant, just hold my gun!'' Apparently unconscious of the awful situation, and as if he were about retiring for the night in his peaceful home in Indiana, he deliberately sat down on the logs that were piled up for breastworks, and with his back to the ad- vancing enemy, coolly pulled off his boot and shook out a bullet that had lodged therein. He died from the effect of the wound which that bullet made, November 24th, 1863.
To illustrate the esprit de corps of the Western soldier, the writer may be pardoned for giving a pen-picture of a soldier of our Brigade at the time of Stewart's charge. When the dense fog, which had overshadowed the field of carnage, disappeared, and the Confederate Brigade in our immediate front was busily preparing for the advance against our Brig- ade, which was just as busily engaged in piling up logs for a cover in resisting the charge-far out in Poe's field, which lay between us, suddenly, as if he had risen out of the ground,
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appeared a Yankee soldier, standing in plain view of both armies. Who lie was-where he belonged, other than to our Brigade-we to this day do not know. How he came to be in that perilous situation, we cannot explain, except that in the withdrawal of the pickets in our front during the morn- ing, this one had been overlooked, and had fallen asleep, and the commnotion in the Confederate camp, preparatory to the assault, had awakened him. The Confederates were now ready to begin the advance. We heard the words from the mouth of the commanding officer, clear and distinct, for the column to move forward: "Forward, guide centre-march!"
We were now curious to see what this Union picket would do in an open field, between the lines and in front of an as- saulting column of a desperate enemy. He took in the situ- ation at a glance. He was equal to the emergency of the hour. For a few moments he stood there, facing the ad- vancing foe as defiantly as Goliathı of Gath, when he defied the armies of Israel. Presently we saw him raise his gun to his shoulder; we saw the white puff of smoke, and then heard the report. He had shot in the direction of the approaching enemy-indicating thereby the warm reception his Brigade would give them. His clear, shirill voice was next heard, ringing out upon the deathlike stillness which immediately precedes the stormn of battle: "Come on, Old Guide-Centre, we'll give you h-1!" He now took to his heels, and joined his command, to be prepared with the rest of us to give "Old Guide-Centre" and his daring column just what he said we would.
The fierceness of the savage assault of the five Confederate Divisions of Hill's, Walker's and Buckner's Corps along the line of our left wing, which remained unbroken, and the per- fect silence along the front of our entire right wing up to II a. m., induced Rosecrans to believe Bragg was concentrating all his forces in front of our left wing in order to turn it. Hence Rosecrans withdrew his right for the support of his left, and issued the following order to Gen. McCook, the
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commander of the right wing, at 10 a. m., through his Chief- of-Staff, Gen. Garfield:
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND, September 20, 1863, 10:10 A. M. MAJOR-GENERAL MCCOOK, Commanding Twentieth Army Corps :
General Thomas is being heavily pressed on the left. The general com- manding directs you to make immediate disposition to withdraw the right, so as to spare as much force as possible to re-enforce Thomas. The left must be held at all hazards-even if the right is drawn wholly back to the present left. Select a good position back this way, and be ready to start re enforcements to Thomas at a moment's warning.
J. A. G[ARFIELD].
That now famous order of General Rosecrans to General Wood, by which the latter, through a misconception of the purpose of the order, withdrew his Division out of line and moved it in the rear of Reynolds, was issued because of the vigorous pressure which part of Cleburne's Division-Wood's Confederate Brigade, supported by Stewart-was making upon Reynolds. The following is the order, dated 10:45 a. m .:
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