USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. II > Part 60
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During the struggle on the left, heavy skirmishing, with a close and continual encounter of sharpshooters, occupied every other position of both lines. General Willich was severely wounded.
The morning of May 16, Sherman entered Resaca in tri- umph, Johnston having retreated across the Oostanauga dur- ing the night.
" CAMP SEVENTIETH INDIANA.
"We were nearly all night of the twelfth getting ready for the fight. Found ourselves next morning on a woody hill, and the Rebels just opposite. They were on a hill shaped, it seemed to me, something like an egg, and with an open space all round it, the strongest natural fortification I ever
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CHARGE OF THE SEVENTIETH.
saw. Then they had three or four lines of intrenchments. Between us and them, in the open space, was a deep, muddy ditch, so it would have been folly for us to make a charge there. We sent out skirmishers, who hid behind stumps in the open field, and shot and were shot at all day. One good thing, our hill was round, too, so we could get behind it. Bullets from Rebel sharpshooters kept flying past us all day, wounding a man now and then. General Ward couldn't keep still, he wanted to make a charge so bad. At last he ordered the brigade forward, so our regiment, the only one that advanced, went over the hill in about ten seconds, (110 exaggeration,) and hid behind a fence at the bottom. In those ten seconds we lost two men killed, and ten wounded. What would have been our loss if we had advanced across the open field! It would have taken us three quarters of an hour, supposing the ditch could easily be crossed. We waited behind the fence till dark.
"Saturday we only skirmished and shot at each other. Sunday morning we were relieved, (some thought to rest.) We passed round the Rebel 'egg,' where the space was not so broad, formed into line, that is, General Butterfield's divi- sion, and made the wild charge, our regiment in front. This, I know, we, our regiment, the Seventieth Indiana, took the enemy's guns. That we were not fired into by the Rebels from behind their intrenchments for ten minutes after taking the guns, proves the statement of a prisoner that a whole Rebel brigade behind those works threw down their guns and ran, found we didn't follow, rallied and gave us fits.
What a sad mistake in not advancing! But we did not know, thought that all there was to be done was to take the guns. The guns neither we nor the enemy could get all day. The next day the Rebels were gone. But I must stop. I shall have plenty to tell you another time, among other things, how a shell burst near me when I was asleep in a fence cor- ner! Oh but they are wicked sounding things! They have an awful, serecching, whining tone, and seem to say, 'You I'm after, nobody else,' or as the darkey said, 'Wha's dat nigga? Wha's dat nigga? I want dat nigga!'"
Sherman's loss at Resaca was more than four thousand.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The Rebel loss was about half as great, not including nearly a thousand prisoners.
The Twenty-Seventh lost twelve killed and fifty wounded.
During the charge, and in taking the battery from the fort at night, the Seventieth lost twenty-six killed, and one hun- dred and thirty wounded. An officer describes the burial of the dead: "The grave was six feet long and forty feet wide. We laid in it, side by side, with blankets for winding-sheets, the forms of those who had just died for their country. We tenderly dropped evergreen branches on the sleeping patriots to break the fall of the clods, and in token that their sacrifice should ever be green in our memories. We stood with heads uncovered while the Captains of the regiments east in the first earth, and while the chaplain prayed that the sad tidings might not break the hearts of the widows and the orphans. The sinking sun closed the mournful day."
Colonel Lennard, of the Fifty-Seventh, was mortally wounded on the thirteenth, although his regiment was not engaged in the fighting. He was in the act of mounting his horse, when a shell shattered his leg. As he was carried past the regiment on a stretcher, he said to Major McGraw, "Now take good care of the boys, Major." He was carried to a cabin in the rear, and laid on a pallet on the floor. It was soon night, and pine knots were kindled in the fire-place. . The surgeon was unable to amputate his leg, as his system did not react from the shock. He was told that he might die at any moment. "What, so soon!" he exclaimed. A smile hovered on his pale face, as he added, "It is necessary for me to make the sacrifice, and I make it cheerfully. Here I am in Georgia, away from my wife and my dear little chil- dren. To-night they don't know that I'm dying by the fire of these pine-knots."
His mind dwelt fondly on the home he was never to see, then turned calmly to the contemplation of the eternal home to which his spirit was flitting. A surgeon prayed with him, and encouraged him with assurances of the love of Jesus. He died in perfect peace.
Captain Peoples was killed on the thirteenth, a ball strik- ing his head, and passing entirely through his body. When
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709
THE ARMY ADVANCES.
passing through the woods from which the 'Twelfth emerged on making its charge, he expressed to a comrade one of those presentiments which are forgotten if they are unfulfilled, sadly recalled if they are realized: " I shall be killed in this battle, but," he added, "I am ready." He was buried at dead of night.
Lieutenants Boley and Caston, of the Eighty-Eighth, were killed. Of the Eightieth, Captain Showers, Lieutenants Archer and Craig were killed, and Captain Emery was mor- tally wounded. Lieutenant Colestock, of the Seventieth, was mortally wounded after the battle, as he was drinking from a spring in the rear.
The Eighty-Second lost twenty-five men.
A Lieutenant of the Sixty-Sixth, exhausted by heat, fatigue and excitement, lost his reason. He now wanders about the Soldiers' Home at Knightstown, hopelessly insane.
With very little delay the army pushed over the river on pontoon bridges. Davis' division moved down the north- west bank of the Oostanaula, to Rome, where it captured heavy guns, and destroyed mills and foundries. Thomas, having the direct road, was most frequently in contact with the enemy, whose habit was to fight for his trains in the even- ing, and hasten on during the night, but the whole army moved in the face of artillery, and with frequent cavalry en- counters and picket skirmishes. A spirited contest at Adairs- ville threatened to become a battle. Before Kingston Scho- field and Hooker engaged in violent skirmishing, which seemed nothing less than the opening of battle. At Cassville the enemy drew up behind fortifications of great strength, apparently bent on stopping, at that point, the tide of invas- ion, but only to disappear before Sherman's concentrated advance.
"CAMP EIGHTY-SIXTH INDIANA, "CASSVILLE, GEORGIA, May 20, 1864.
"We march sometimes night and day, and our habits are so irregular and universally fatiguing that every one feels dull and tired. No advance was ever made by a very large army so rapidly as this. The people nearly all desert their homes at our approach, scared away by the idea that we are
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
Vandals, and will destroy them if they fall into our hands. I saw in the pretty little town Calhoun, a house, with all its nice furniture, its beautiful flower garden, standing empty, a temptation for the soldier's rough hands and feet. I stopped and got some roses. While I was in the town the owners, an old lady and her daughter, returned. When they saw their house was untouched, the old lady broke forth into ex- clamations of joy and thankfulness to the Yankees for their good conduct."
General Kimball, who had been summoned from his com- mand in Little Rock, reported to Sherman on the twenty- first of May, and was assigned to the command of the First brigade of the Second division.
Passing beyond the Etowah river, and burning the bridges behind him, the enemy halted in front of Alatoona pass, in the Etowah mountains, in so formidable a position as to de- bar attempt at a direct assault. Sherman, however, lurked in his front and watched him until he was prepared to move out and strike him on the flank.
The Forty-Second was on picket duty seven days and nights, within fifty yards of the Rebel skirmish line, without being relieved. May 23, the railroad bridge having been re- paired, and supplies brought up, the army with twenty days' provisions cut loose from the line of communication, and struck out over painful hills and difficult ravines to Dallas, a town about fifteen miles southwest of Alatoona pass, and eighteen miles west of Marietta. McPherson worked his way to Van Wert, nearly twenty miles west of Dallas, to come in on Thomas' right. Schofield moved over to con- nect with Thomas' left. Davis went down directly from Rome. The slow, toilsome and dangerous march met its first serious rebuff on Pumpkin Vine creek, near New Hope church, at the meeting of roads from Dallas, Ackworth and Marietta. Geary's division, following a sharp encounter of cavalry, came suddenly upon the enemy in force. Butter- field entered into the engagement. Williams advanced just before sundown, moving but a short distance, through the thick pine woods of the region, before his right, the Twenty- Seventh, found itself in close proximity to the enemy's works.
711
NEW HOPE CHURCH AND PICKETT'S MILLS.
Its right was enfiladed by two pieces of artillery, while its front suffered also from a heavy fire. After losing fifty-six men it was compelled to take refuge behind a little hill. The Rebels also retreated, being pressed by the increasing Union force. 'They took shelter in their intrenchments, and threw back their assailants, inflicting a loss of six hundred. Howard hastened up, but, overtaken by night and storm, he was compelled to halt. Three days were spent in manœu- vring, skirmishing and battling along the lines, which were discovered to stretch from Dallas to Marietta, and to be scarcely less strong than the position at Alatoona pass. Wood's division was engaged twenty-two hours. It marched early in the morning of the twenty-seventh, and at four o'clock confronted the enemy's right. At half-past four, Hazen's brigade made its way through innumerable obsta- cles, and under a front and enfilading fire, almost to the Rebel intrenchments. Unable to preserve the line, yet un- willing to retreat, the men sought shelter behind logs, stumps and rocks, and held their ground until they were relieved by Gibson's brigade. Gibson was equally unfortunate and equally resolute, not falling back until his withdrawal was covered by Kneffler, in command of Wood's Third brigade. Becoming engaged immediately, Kneffler's front line was thrown into confusion, but his rear, the Seventy-Ninth, gal- lantly came forward, and driving the Rebels, pushed through woods and across an open field within three hundred yards of the breast works. Compelled to halt in the edge of the field, the Seventy-Ninth covered its front with fence rails, and under this slight protection resisted the returning enemy until nine at night, when it fired away its last ammunition and fell back. The Eighty-Sixth guarded the left flank of Wood's division, and lay on the ground an hour under the fire of a Rebel battery. A shell burst at the feet of Colonel Diek, a piece of it glanced aside from his sword-belt, yet wounded him sufficiently to disable him a month. A part of Palmer's corps was also engaged in the fight at this point, and his left, the Thirty-Seventh, lost fifty-five men in killed and wounded. The next day Johnston desperately assaulted McPherson, striking him, as, protected by good breastworks,
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
he was reaching out to Thomas, with the intention of nov- ing back to the railroad. Harrow's division had McPher- son's right, with Williams' brigade on his right. A fearful cannonade announced the assault, and the troops, crouching behind their works, waited in awful expectation for the wild yell which introduces a charge. It rose, mingled with the closing artillery fire, and continued after that had ceased. Then the enemy rolled in billows toward McPherson's cen- tre, sweeping over or breaking up heavy lines of skirmishers. He was himself broken under a terrific fire from the trenches, but reformed and returned, and returned again, each time weaker, and at last reeling back with a loss of more than three thousand. McPherson did not lose one thousand.
Sherman had failed in his effort to gain the enemy's right flank, and he now gradually moved his army to the left, at length overlapping the Rebel right, Stoneman's and Garrard's cavalry seizing Alatoona pass. Stoneman's division included the Fifth and Sixth Indiana. Garrard's ineluded the Seven- teenth and Seventy-Second. The Rebels withdrew their left from New Hope Church, and fell back slowly and sul- lenly to the mountains which cover Marietta and the Chat- tahoochie. Reinforced by fifteen hundred Georgia militia, they ridged the spurs with trenches and barricades, over- topped the summits with batteries, and crowned the lofty conical peaks with signal stations. The mountains were like grisly giants armed from top to toe. Polk had the centre and advance, Pine Mountain; Hardee the right, Kenesaw and Hood had the left, Lost Mountain. Fifteen thousand cavalry covered the flanks. The country lay spread out be- neath like an open map. Sherman could hope nothing from concealment, and could find little encouragement for strat- egy. He waited to hear the railroad whistle, and was rein- forced meantime by Long's brigade of cavalry, and by two divisions of Blair's corps, which had marched more than three hundred miles. General Gresham was in command of one division. Colonel Sanderson was in charge of Gresham's brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel Davis had command of the Twenty-Third Indiana. When the advance was resumed, McPherson was on the left, and Schofield was off toward
713
THE ARMY BEFORE KENESAW.
Lost Mountain, Stoneman and Garrard covered the flanks, and M'Cook guarded the rear. Thomas moved directly to- ward Kenesaw and Pine, and endeavored to break the line which connected the two mountains. June 14, during sharp cannonading, General Polk was killed. The following night his command abandoned Pine Mountain and retired to Ken- esaw. Manœuvring, skirmishing, battling and assaulting, at one time throwing forward a division, at another depend- ing on a single regiment, Sherman gained line upon line. In the morning of the seventeenth, Hascall's division, under a furious fire of grape and canister, captured an intrenched point, with many prisoners. At the same time the Eight- eenth battery, with its division (cavalry), attacked the lines from the south, and after a sharp engagement of an hour, occupied the Rebel works. At last, Lost Monntain, with a long line of admirable works, which connected it with Kene- saw, was gained. The Sixth cavalry was the first to enter the works, and the first to raise the flag on Lost Mountain.
Sherman now drew up his lines, and prepared to storm Kenesaw. The rain rained every day during three weeks, flooding the camps and destroying the health of the new
troops. Nevertheless advance was made inch by inch. Picket firing stopped only when it became skirmishing. June 17, the Thirty-Eighth, under Lieutenant Colonel Griffin, drove the enemy from his rifle-pits in its front to his main works, and gained a position six hundred yards therefrom. On the eighteenth the Fortieth, about three hundred and fifty strong, shot away over sixty thousand rounds of ammunition, and lost thirty-three men. The same day the Fifty-Seventh captured skirmish pits' and forty men, and, supported by the Twenty-Sixth Ohio and One Hundredth Illinois, gained a point in the enemy's second line. On the twentieth the Thirty-Fifth, while in the front line, was fiercely and unex- pectedly attacked and thrown into confusion. It rallied and fought hand to hand, using muskets as clubs. Sixty-five men fell. Major Duffiey, in command, was killed.
"CAMP SEVENTIETH, May 30.
"Even if one has to remain quiet, the constant firing and
1
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
the continued waiting exhaust body and spirit. Scarcely a night passes without an attack, and no words coined on earth can describe the terrific nature of such affairs. One could hardly imagine that the bursting of all the fiends from the pit would be able to create so fearful a confusion. I thought I had been in some terrible thunder storms; but I feel now like David after he had taken the census, and was offered a choice of punishments; I should rather fall into the hands of God than of man.
" We are gaining very slowly. Indeed our regiment occu- pies the identical ground we siezed a week ago. S. M."
"BATTLE FIELD, ALATOONA MOUNTAIN, "EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT, June 5. -
"Our regiment has been in the front for the past few days, and so near the enemy's works that we dare not put our heads over our works. It has rained, and made it very disagreea- ble to lie in the ditches. We have had to do most of the work by night. Our regiment was within three hundred yards of a battery of five guns, which opened on us last evening, and sent their infernal shells so near our heads that it seemed we should all be killed. D. T."
"ACKWORTH, June 8.
" We have just succeeded in getting the enemy out of an- other very strong position, but I expect to-morrow noon will find us pop, popping away again. It seems strange not to hear the bullets cutting through the leaves about my head. We fought the Rebels twelve days in their last position. They make all their positions so strong that it is impossible to take them by direct attack, so we have to flank them out. I hope we can go on with the good work until we get them out of these everlasting hills. An open field fight would be almost a luxury.
" We are about thirty miles from Atlanta. I presume the fight that is to decide the fate of the place will not be much longer delayed. I am anxious to get there, for I think we may get a little rest then.
"Shells have burst all about me, but no piece has hit me.
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"ROUGH TIMES, SURE."
One burst near my head, burnt my face and tiekled my ears. I can stand a good deal of noise, and a 'miss is as good as a mile.'
"D. T."
"SEVENTIETH INDIANA,
"IN THE WOODS THREE MILES BELOW ACKWORTH, "SUNDAY MORNING, June 12.
"Rain! Rain! Rain! I never saw the like. Thunder- storm after thunderstorm. Rain all night. It was nine o'clock this morning before it stopped long enough for me to crawl out (the only way to get out of these little tents) and make a cup of coffee. We were ordered to pack up the other morning at daylight; just as we got ready it commeneed to rain, and we waited, and waited, and waited for further or- ders all day in the rain. The hardest rain I ever saw fell the other day when our regiment was on pieket, but I'll give an account of the whole day. At daylight we were called up unexpectedly to be ready to march in ten minutes. We were ready, and waited two hours, couldn't take off our things to get breakfast. At dinner time we stacked arms, but couldn't leave ranks to get dinner. Resting about an hour, we went several miles further, and put up our tents for the night. Just got them up when an order came for the whole regiment to go on pieket. Then the rain came down by the bueketfull, and constant firing was kept up all night. The supply train can't get up, and we are on half rations. I have seen fellows offer twenty-five and fifty cents for a hard taek, In passing a battery near us yesterday I saw a fellow from our regiment picking up a few grains of corn which a battery horse had left. We are having rough times, sure! It won't last long, though, and I don't mind it at all while I am well.
" We havn't been under fire now for several days, thoughi we can hear cannon now and then on our right. We were under fire almost a month every day from the tenth of May to the first of June, skirmishing or fighting. We had over eight hundred men for duty at Wauhatchie, and now havn't four hundred,-one hundred and sixty-three killed and wounded, and the rest played out. And this I'm afraid is only the beginning. I .. K .??
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
"SEVENTIETH INDIANA, ?
"NOT FAR FROM MARIETTA, June 19.
"We started on our journey again after the Rebels, and got into a fight just before dark. We ran on one of their strong forts, and how we ever got out again is wonderful. 'They had eight guns playing against our regiment. The shot and shell were terrible, but only some forty were wounded, and a few torn all to pieces. Some had very narrow escapes. A bullet struck a spy glass in Major Ragan's pocket, and af- terward a cannon ball cut his belt in two, and only bruised him. One man had his haversack torn all to pieces, another his gun bent like a hoop. After dark we went back for am- munition. The men had nearly all shot their sixty rounds. After midnight we went forward again, and built breastworks. All next day we fought behind our breastworks, and the Rebels behind theirs. The skirmishers out in front did most of the fighting. We lost several wounded during the day. I was making a detail, when a ball passed under my chin, and struck a man right by me. I have a ball in my pocket now that hit me. It was a spent ball, and didn't hurt.
"'Toward evening the Rebels opened eight guns on us for about ten minutes, but did not hurt a man. Next day the Rebels fell back, and we followed, passing through the fort. This fort was the strongest thing I ever saw. The Rebels had cut down trees in front, and sharpened every limb, so that a rabbit could hardly have got nearer than ten feet. We flanked them, though, and they had to skedaddle.
" That day we had advanced in line of battle, but were not in the front line. Had a rest that night and all next day, though it rained in torrents.
"To-day is shower and sunshine, and we are encamped in an open field, the first time for nearly two months. Glad to get out of the thick woods, where we were nearly tormented to death by bugs, ants, scorpions, snakes, and creeping things of every description. A big black snake, two feet long, came crawling up by my side one day while I was lying in my tent. You better believe I jumped. One ten feet long was killed not fifty yards from our tent.
"LEWIS KETCHAM."
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ADVANCING THE LINES.
" HEADQUARTERS EIGHTY-SIXTH INDIANA, Į June 20. 1
"I can catch but a moment to let you know that up to this date I still live. The enemy drives never so stubbornly, and we are yet three miles from Marietta. His right rests upon a large mountain, at which our cannon are thundering this morning. Our brigade is not now engaged, but prob- ably will be this afternoon. At the last position our regi- ment was continually in front but our loss is comparatively light. It continues to rain unmercifully, and we are some- times almost drowned."
"Twenty-fifth. We have had some sharp fighting and are now jam up against the enemy's works. Many bullets cut close to our cars inside the works and it behooves us to keep as quiet as possible. We tried to advance the lines even closer last night, but it was impracticable in front of our di- vision, and all that was accomplished by the fight was the advance of the division on our right, thus protecting us from a coss-fire. Some of the battles that occur in these forests are very exciting. The last our division had that gave us the place we now hold so near the enemy, was brought on by our artillery, which opened on the enemy from unexpected points in the woods along our lines, and got them to running from their front line in great haste. We followed and kept them going, until almost to their main works, when we made a breastwork under a hot fire. We are now prepared to stay until the genius of Sherman causes them to fall back again, or suffer for not doing it. We have some heavy artillery fights on this line. I like it, but it is very dangerous except when we get close in the breastworks. Ten days ago our lines faced southward, and now the enemy's left and centre are pressed around so far that our front is directly toward the rising sun. The Rebels seem to be massing on our right this afternoon, and will probably try Hooker's strength again this evening. They charged him two nights ago, as he was taking up his position, but gained nothing by it. The Thirty- Third lost several in the fight.
"General Johnston is displaying great ability in this cam- paign, or he has many more men than is represented."
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
"June 25. This is a peculiar campaign. The Rebels take up a position which affords the best means of defence, and fortify it as if they intended to hold it to the last extremity. We fight right up to them and fortify as strongly as they do. Then General Sherman goes to work to flank them out, and sooner or later the morning dawns with no enemy in our front. The last two positions they abandoned were only abandoned by their left and centre, the right resting on Ken- esaw mountain, which served as a pivot. Our line faces the cast now, with Hooker on the right, then Schofield, Howard, Palmer and McPherson's army on the left-extending elose round the foot of the mountain, and amusing themselves every day with shelling somebody. There has been more cannon- ading at this position than any other during the campaign. Our artillery holds some very fine positions, and masses upon the enemy so that some successful duels are fought. A few days ago a party of ladies came upon the mountain to enjoy the sight of their friends shelling the Yankees. The show began as usual, by the enemy opening eight guns in the direc- tion of Palmer's corps; but to the dismay of the ladies, twenty Yankee guns that had been placed in position and masked, all opened immediately. It is feared some of the fair crea- tures had their crinoline disarranged, and perhaps worse, as some were seen carried away on stretchers.
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