USA > New York > Dutchess County > The "Dutchess county regiment" (150th regiment of New York state volunteer infantry) in the Civil War; > Part 6
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Before the capture of Lookout Mountain by Gen. Hooker's troops during the November previous, a part of the railroad between Bridgeport and Chattanooga was commanded by Confederate guns on its top and this wagon road we were following was the only route for conveying subsistence to the troops at Chattanooga, and the dead mules left by the roadside were very numerous, and the turkey buzzards had not yet completed their gruesome task.
On the night of May 2nd we encamped at Whitesides, by the side of the railroad and well wedged in by moun- tains. We awoke in the morning to find there had been quite a frost during the night, the pools having a decided skim of ice on their surface and the leaves on the trees being frozen stiff. We thought this pretty good for the "Sunny South " in early May, Dutchess County seldom doing better.
During the day of May 3d we crossed the nose of Lookout Mountain, which extends northward toward Chattanooga and the Tennessee River like a cowcatcher on a locomotive. Chattanooga was lying to the north, seemingly at our feet, but really three miles distant.
The mountain itself rises a steep 1800 feet above the
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river which washes its northern base, and up near the top commenced a precipice thirty to sixty feet in height, re- sembling the "Palisades " on the lower Hudson River. How General Hooker's forces ever succeeded in driving the rebels from the top of this mountain seems unaccount- able, but they did and the " Battle of Lookout Mountain " will forever be famous in history. "Nothing succeeds like success." Had it failed, it would have been char- acterized as " foolhardy." It is sometimes poetically re- ferred to as the " Battle above the clouds."
The railroad from Bridgeport to Chattanooga was then quickly repaired and there was no longer a necessity for a "Potter's Field " of dead mules in the valley lying between them.
We encamped the night of May 3d on the western slope of Missionary Ridge in a location from which we could see the elaborate preparations the enemy had made to give us a cordial reception. The forests were leveled on the western slope of every hill to the east of us, while rifle pits, breastworks, battery pits and forts sprouted forth in every conceivable position. All those had been abandoned and they were awaiting our coming a few miles farther south, their main army being at Dalton, some twenty-five or thirty miles to the southeast of Look- out Mountain.
Somewhere during this march we had our first view of General U. S. Grant, who afterwards was to figure so con- spicuously in the history of the war of the rebellion. He was then known to us as the hero of Shiloh, Donelson and Vicksburg.
The story was then current that a party of temperance fanatics had called upon President Lincoln and informed
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him that the General was addicted to drinking too much whiskey and asked for his removal. After listening to them the President kindly asked them if they knew from what particular source he obtained it, adding that if they would inform him he would send a gallon to every Gen- eral in the army.
I have forgotten at which station it was that, when the cars stopped, he stepped out on the rear platform of the only passenger car on the rear end of a long freight train and quietly looked us over. The boys, recognizing him at once, began to call "Speech ! Speech !" With a smile he quietly shook his head, as much as to say, " You may hear from me later but not in the way of speechmaking."
We did not know then (at least I did not) that he had been placed in command of all the Union Armies. In March he had been summoned to Washington by Presi- dent Lincoln, with whom he then had his first interview, and had received his commission of Lieutenant-General, the highest rank in the United States Army. He had come south to Tennessee and Georgia to confer with Gen. Sherman, whom he had placed in command of the armies now concentrated in and around Chattanooga. From later information we learned that there was to be a gen- eral forward movement of the army under General Meade across the Rapidan as his centre, Butler's army at Fort- ress Monroe as his left, and Sherman's at Chattanooga as his right wing.
These three armies were to move simultaneously and the 4th of May had been selected as the date. Up to this time there had been no concert of action between the several Union Armies. Heretofore General Lee, occupy- ing interior lines, could easily detach a portion of his
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troops from one army to assist another when threatened with disaster, but a general advance of all the Union Army on the same date frustrated a repetition of these tactics on the part of General Lee.
It is related that when General Grant was making one of his forward movements with the Army of the Potomac, it was reported to him that General Johnston had detached General Longstreet's Corps to assist General Lee in the defence of Richmond. He telegraphed General Sherman about this report, and General Sherman telegraphed back this characteristic reply, "Don't believe a word of it. I am keeping him too busy down here."
In accordance with this general plan, Sherman's army, of which our regiment had almost unconsciously become a part, started from Chattanooga and vicinity on May 4, 1864, to try conclusions with General " Joe " Johnston's army, whose headquarters were then at Dalton, Ga. Between the elevations of two great mountain ranges, the Cumberland and the Alleghany, lies the valley of East Tennessee. The Tennessee River sweeps southward throughout its length, and embraced in one of its graceful curves near the valley's southern extremity lies the town of Chattanooga, and from that point the river rushes away to the west through mountain gorges. It was a strategic point of great value; " The gateway to the Con- federacy," as it was termed, and our feet were firmly planted in the "gateway," never to be forced out again.
To the south and west of Chattanooga is a country where hills, spurs, valleys with rivers, isolated peaks, with mountains both large and small, are mingled to- gether in a manner confusing to the student of geography, and it was among these that the enemy had now-the
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Spring of 1864-taken positions of defense. One of the mountains, "Rocky Face," had been tunneled to per- mit the passage of the railroad. The mountain itself was known as "Tunnel Hill," while its top was known as " Buzzards Roost," names familiar to every survivor of the old regiment, for on and around them occurred a good deal of skirmish fighting and some severe battles, as these positions were the key to our further advance towards Dalton, our first real objective point.
Between these mountainous spurs are several streams winding their way in a southerly direction towards the Atlantic Ocean. Our Corps (Hooker's) was ordered through "Snake Creek Gap" several miles to the west of the railroad and terminating south of Dalton. Here we had the distinction of seeing General Kilpatrick of the Cavalry carried to the rear wounded, and where I had the honor of taking off his blood-soaked dressings, and substituting fresh ones. We thought a lot of "Killy " and were very sorry not to have him in front of us. His wound proved to be not serious and a few days later he was again at the head of his cavalry, selecting a pathway for us to the " Gate City," as Atlanta was then and is now called.
If my memory plays me no tricks we were one day and two nights in this "gap" without seeing a single "snake," but during one of the nights, owing to heavy rains, the creek became a roaring torrent, driving us from its im- mediate banks and causing us to seek such shelter as we could on the adjoining hillsides. Memory still retains a distinct recollection of the inconvenience and suffering we underwent that night in the cold, pouring rain, without shelter or chance of warmth, but the sun shone the next
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day and the miseries of "Snake Creek Gap " were things of the past.
For some reason not generally understood, General Sherman distrusted our Corps Commander, "Fighting Joe " Hooker, and during the day we were lying in this " gap " we had the mortification to see General McPher- son's Corps march past us to take the initiative in the attack upon Resaca when we should emerge onto the plains south of it.
All generals make mistakes and this was one of General Sherman's, in selecting McPherson to take the command instead of General Hooker. He practically admits this in his " Personal Memoirs " (page 34, 2d Vol.), wherein he says, "McPherson startled Johnston in his fancied security, but had not done the full measure of his work. He had in hand twenty-three thousand of the best men of the Army and could have walked into Resaca (then held by a small brigade), or he could have placed his whole force astride the railroad above Resaca, and there withstood the attack of all Johnston's Army, with the knowledge that Thomas and Schofield were on his heels. Had he done so, I am certain that Johnston would not have ventured to attack him in position but would have retreated eastward by Spring Place, and we should have captured half his army and all of his artillery and wagons at the very beginning of the campaign. Such an oppor- tunity does not occur twice in a lifetime, but at the critical moment McPherson seems to have been a little too cautious."
Knowing of their intimate friendship and of his esteem for McPherson it was not to be expected that he would criticise very harshly ; hence the mildness of the foregoing
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criticism. But had Hooker made such a blunder he would have had him court martialed and driven out of the army in disgrace. Think for a moment what this would have meant for us in that Atlanta campaign; " Half of Joe Johnston's army captured, and all his artillery and wagons, at the very beginning of the campaign." Why, the rest of the route to Atlanta would have been a " walk over," and Oh, the time, the skirmishing, the fighting, the flanking and the lives it would have saved! After forty years to get indignant about the blunder McPherson then made, is unseemly, perhaps, but how can I help it? Tennyson says, " There is no fool like the old fool," and I subscribe to the sentiment.
The distance between Dalton and Resaca is about eigh- teen miles. They are both on the railroad leading from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and at the former place Gen. Johnston had concentrated his main army behind very strong natural and artificial fortifications to await our coming.
Sherman in his "Memoirs " says that the passage of our army through Snake Creek Gap was "a complete surprise to the enemy." To a non-combatant this seems utterly incomprehensible. Further on (page 36) he re- peats the statement, "The movement through Snake Creek Gap was a total surprise to him." (General Johnston.)
According to the scale of miles on the war map in my possession the distance between Resaca and Snake Creek Gap is, in a straight line, about seven miles.
Ilow a general of Johnston's acknowledged ability could allow an army of twenty-three thousand men to be placed in his rear, and on his principal line of communica- tion without his knowledge and to his " complete sur-
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prise," is unaccountable. He must have been laboring under the delusion that Sherman's army, in order to ac- complish its purpose, must first capture his extraordinary fortified position at Dalton. The appearance of Hooker's and McPherson's corps some twenty or more miles in his rear must have been a startling revelation to him. At any rate, it caused him to abandon his almost impregnable position at Dalton and to fall back to Resaca which had also been strongly fortified lest some unlooked-for emer- gency should compel its occupation. In fact, the whole route down to Atlanta for a hundred miles or more had been strongly fortified in many places in anticipation of reverses to the Confederate army.
As I look back over a vista of forty years it seems to me that had General Johnston fortified this " gap " in the mountain, a thousand men could have held it against Sherman's whole army, as the three hundred Spartans held the pass of Thermopylae against the immense Persian Army of Xerxes. Fortunately for us he did not do it.
We emerged from "Snake Creek Gap " into "Sugar Valley " on May 9th and during the next few days were shifted from place to place as we might be needed as a "reserve " for the 23d Corps, now in our advance. Everybody felt that the prelude to a big battle was being played and that it was not far off. A rebel battery on Buzzard's Roost was belching away in plain sight of us. but as we were beyond its range it did not interest us very much. There was never a day nor scarcely an hour we did not hear the roar of cannon or the sound of musketry somewhere in our immediate vicinity, but we had no part of it.
About sundown on the 14th heavy firing, both artillery
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and musketry, was heard a short distance in our front and we were hurried forward some two or three miles toward the place from where it emanated. We soon heard that the rebels had made a determined effort to capture a battery (5th Indiana), hoping thus to double back our left flank, and thereby control a very advan- tageous position.
When we arrived on the scene it was just between day- light and darkness, not so dark but that the troops of both sides could be plainly seen from the little eminence on which I was standing, and yet dark enough to see the streams of fire as they issued from the musketry and cannon below me.
General Hooker and his staff had ridden forward in ad- vance of the infantry and seeing at a glance the perilous position of the artillery, had dismounted and rushed among them, and in emphatic language urged them to stand by their guns. "Give them hell!" he shouted, " My boys will be here within five minutes." His " boys " were there on schedule time, and as the 3d Brigade of our division met the advancing rebels with a volley of musketry they halted in their charge and then turned and fled in the utmost confusion. It was a small affair on our part but from where I stood it made a picture that is still vividly impressed on my memory.
The 15th of May was Sunday, but instead of listening to " church-going bells" there was the echo of heavy cannonading on all sides of us. About eleven A. M. there was a council of war held in our immediate vicinity. Besides General Sherman, there were Generals Thomas, Hooker, McPherson, Howard (with but one arm), Sickles (with but one leg), Slocum, Logan, Williams,
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Geary (afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania), Davis, and Palmer; men whose fame covered the earth as the waters cover the sea, making the name of the American soldier, like the ancient Roman, an honored passport throughout the world. This council was the prelude to a pretty stubborn battle that afternoon, although Gen. Grant in his works alludes to it as a "skirmish." To the man who gets the bullet right, it matters but little whether it be called a " skirmish " or a " battle."
" Fall in, non-combatants to the rear!" was the signal that hot work was near at hand. "To the rear " did not mean much in this Georgia campaign. Taking it in a too literal sense meant to get lost or gobbled up as a straggler, so that the point was never to lose the trail of the regiment, no matter how threatening affairs at the front might appear.
The regiment followed a lonely road through a ravine for about two miles. A hill between the first line of battle and this ravine gave effectual shelter during the march, but at the end was an open plain swept by a rebel battery. Over this plain the Ist Division marched in two lines of battle, the 150th forming the left of the front line, to the top of a little hill that in the morning had been occupied by a rebel battery.
The three divisions of the 20th Corps marched out and formed two lines of battle on the plain. Rebel shells were exploded in their midst, causing great swaying back- wards and forwards, but when the lines were formed, the whole body of six thousand men moved majestically across the plain towards the enemy, with our regiment still on the extreme left, to a little hill crowned by a small house. Here breastworks were hastily constructed of fence rails and
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such other things as would stop a bullet. Company B being thrown out as skirmishers crossed a plain some three or four hundred yards wide and entering a piece of woods on its farther side, they quickly came in contact with the advancing rebel force. One of the most vivid im- pressions of the war is the remembrance of that company of skirmishers as it emerged from the woods into the open plain in our front, and their run for life across it, rebel bullets kicking up a dust as they struck the ground all around and between them. Yet, according to the best of my recollection, every one of them got back safely.
After the return of our skirmishers the rebels in force came out of the woods on the other side of the plain op- posite our lines, and formed their line of battle as coolly as though on dress parade. The order to advance was given and they started for our position. Our orders from Colonel Ketcham were not to fire until he gave the word, and fully one-half of the distance had been trav- ersed before the order came. The volley that followed decimated their ranks as a staggering blow, but like the brave men they were, they closed up and started for us afresh, "Eager as love and wild as hate." Then it was "Load and fire at will," and the terrible fire we poured into the advancing lines would have quickly discouraged any soldiers not of American blood. They were repulsed; but not until their dead lay within eighteen feet of our slender line of breastworks.
Without intended egotism, I hope I may be permitted to say that I was one of the best shots of the regiment, and with the carbine the Union Ladies of Baltimore had presented to me (a singular gift to a non-combatant) I entered a log corn-crib in our lines before the attack
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and there, comparatively safe, "loaded and fired at will" until ordered out to take care of the wounded. During this experience I saw advancing a man carrying a sword, who turned and waved it to his followers as though urg- ing their advance. As he faced again, I pulled the trigger of my carbine, and he fell prone, face downwards.
In the midst of the severest part of the fight I was ordered to come out of the log corn-crib, where I was practically safe, to attend the wounded. The first person that met my gaze after coming out was Adjutant Cruger, who was standing holding on to a little tree, spanning it with his hands above his head, with blood pouring out of his mouth in a stream. Without a thought of the danger I seized and carried him behind the house where "Tommy " O'Neil and another relieved me, and he was carried to a place of safety. We believed then that his wound was fatal and it was so reported, but after two or three months he returned to us, seemingly as well as ever.
There were several casualties that day but not one of them immediately fatal. From my diary of that date I find the casualties to be as follows: Adjt. S. V. R. Cruger, Corporal George Stage, Co. E; Benjamin Watts, Co. E; Tolson Richardson, Co. B; Thomas Wright, Co. G; Benjamin Harp, Co. G; Americus Mosher, Co. K; seven in all. Considering the number of the dead rebels who were found lying in front of our regiment, number- ing into the hundreds, the nearest one but eighteen feet from our slight breastworks, our loss was remarkably small.
After the battle was over, Colonel Ketcham and I were going over the field together and when we came to a man lying prone on his face with arms extended and a
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sword clutched in his right hand, I said to the Colonel, " If I shot this man he got it right in the centre of his forehead." With his foot the Colonel turned the body over, and, as he saw the bullet wound in his forehead, his only remark was, "Well, by Gol!"
During the evening the Colonel and I rode back to the field hospital to learn the condition of Adjutant Cruger and the other wounded of the regiment, and while return- ing rode into a lively musket fire of the enemy, which rattled around us like the drops of rain in an April shower.
In the morning we found the enemy had deserted their strongly fortified position, and the Battle of Resaca was a thing of the past.
CHAPTER VIII. FROM RESACA TO KENESAW MOUNTAIN
By JOHN E. WEST.
Difficult Campaign to Record-Pursuing the Enemy-"Left in Front ! There'll Soon be A Fight ! "-Battle of New Hope Church-Bloody Assault-Death of Gen- eral Polk -- Battle of Lost Mountain-Hot and Wet-Bluecoats and Blackberries-Battle of Kolb's Farm-Death of Lieutenant Gridley and Others-Picket's Protection-Tan- talizing Confederate Flag-Enemy Re- treats to Kenesaw Mountain.
It must be acknowledged that that portion of our cam- paign in the summer of 1864 which extended from the Battle of Resaca to the time when the army closed in its strangling grip about the City of Atlanta, is the most difficult to follow in all its details, and accurately record, of any in our time of service. Though it lasted but little more than two months, yet during that time the conflicting forces were in close contact and the fighting was practically continuous.
The armies were two great giants engaged in desperate combat, constantly striking and sparring, and constantly shifting ground as the various parts were moved to the right or left-often in the night-while Sherman drove his antagonist from point to point with a consummate skill and energy that made the old-world military critics rub their eyes. It has sometimes been compared to a vast game of chess, in which the constantly moving "pieces " were corps, divisions and brigades; organizations in which in-
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dividual regiments hardly found themselves mentioned in the official reports of those kaleidoscopic movements.
During the month of June it rained three-fourths of the days, as shown by records and letters, and many of these rains were heavy and continuous, while much of July was little better. Under these conditions the roads and fields became quagmires which, combined with the in- tense heat and humidity of that summer, would have daunted any but the most energetic of commanders; one commanding the best army in the world.
At this distance of time the memories of individuals cannot be implicitly relied upon as to all the details, and aside from the letters and diaries consulted recourse has been had to various histories. The best of these for the purpose-because following most closely the detailed movements of the 20th Corps-is that by Colonel William F. Fox, of the 107th N. Y. (of our brigade), entitled, "Slocum and his Men," and the writer of this and the following chapter has made copious extracts from that work, feeling sure that these chapters will thus be of more interest than they would be had they been entrusted en- tirely to my own pen.
The last chapter brought us to the close of the Battle of Resaca, and during the night which followed the enemy retreated while our wearied men slept, but early on the morning of May 16th we were moving again, passing through the wreckage of the two days battle. Going thus over the position which had been held by the enemy we found their dead scattered about, and the ground strewn with clothing and broken guns. There was also considerable captured property, consisting of artillery and ammunition.
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We crossed the Conesauga above the town of Resaca, and on the 17th we crossed the Coosawattee. These two streams form a junction near Resaca, and below the town the river is known as the Oostenaula. Then, keeping to the east of the railroad, we marched twenty miles to a point near Calhoun. May 18th we moved to Spring Mills, a place south-east of Adairsville, and bivouacked that night on the so-called " Gravelly Plateau."
On the 19th the march was continued over a rough country covered with dense woods and thickets of under- brush, and after some lively skirmishing we reached Cass- ville, where our Corps formed in line within four hundred yards of the enemy's breastworks; but during the night the Confederates again retreated.
The rapidity with which our army repaired the badly broken railroads was almost miraculous, and has often been commented on by historians. We had hardly left Dalton before trains with ammunition and other sup- plies arrived, and while we were skirmishing at Calhoun the locomotive's whistle sounded in Resaca. Commencing May 2 Ist our brigade was given three days of rest while the railroad and telegraph were being repaired. Baggage left behind came forward to officers and men, and neces- sary supplies, at the hands of smiling quartermasters and commissaries, now found us. The dead were buried, the wounded made more comfortable, and everybody re- ceived and wrote letters.
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