History of Union County, Ohio; its people, industries and institutions, Part 32

Author: Curry, W. L. (William Leontes), b. 1839
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind., B. F. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1322

USA > Ohio > Union County > History of Union County, Ohio; its people, industries and institutions > Part 32

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BUCKHEAD

DECATOR

STONE MT.

ATLANTA

SANDTOWN

LATHÔNIA

EAST PORT

REDBANK

W-

1 SKIRMISH

HANCOCK

RIVER

X SKIRMISH

KILPATRICK'S LINE OF MARCH

XSKIRMISH

MCDONOUGH

1 .-- > SKIRMISH

- X CHARGE

LOVE JOY

SCALE OF MILES

5 10

KILPATRICK'S RAID

ŚNEWMAN

JONESBORO

SKIRMISH

COTTON RIVER

FLINT

WALNUT CREEK

CONS

NEST POINT RR

X SKIRMISH

AUGUSTARR

CHATTAHOUCHEE RIVER

337

UNION COUNTY, OHIO.

the left, and very soon the enemy retreated in confusion toward Atlanta, and were driven back a mile or two from the left of our column.

During all of this time General Kilpatrick's headquarters' band mounted on white horses near the railroad track, where the work of destruction was being prosecuted vigorously, was enlivening the scene with patriotic airs, which was rather an unusual innovation during a fight.

As the real objective point was the Atlanta and Macon Railroad, as soon as the left of the column was cleared of the enemy harassing the flank, that part of the command which had been participating in the fight joined the main column and moved forward toward Jonesborough, Long's brigade hav- ing the advance, while Minty's brigade was in close support in column, and the Third Division was protecting the rear and flanks.

We struck the enemy in a short time and attacked them at once, pushing them back slowly but steadily. The country was thickly wooded, and a very bad place for cavalry to operate. The enemy would throw up barricades at every favorable position, such as woods, streams or ravines, firing on the advance from ambuscades. The progress of the column was much retarded, and the enemy mnade every effort to keep our column back from the railroad until reinforcements could be moved down from Atlanta. About noon the advance halted and dismounted in a thick piece of woods to let the horses rest, and to eat a hard-tack, raw-pork sandwich. The men were all sitting or lying down, when all at once the rebels fired a volley and charged the advance guard, driving them back on the reserves before we could mount.

Colonel Long ordered the brigade forward, dismounted and on the double-quick, and the bang of the carbines was soon ringing out and the rebel horsemen were suddenly checked and sent scurrying back through woods and fields. The brigade then advanced, dismounted, with a strong skirmish line in front and flankers to protect the column, as the rebel cavalry kept a continuous fire from the woods to the right and left. The rebel force was pushed back steadily until we reached Flint river, and on the east side of this stream they had thrown up works, dug rifle-pits, and had a strong position.

As soon as our advance appeared a rebel battery opened up and the Chicago Board of Trade Battery was put in position, and after a lively artillery duel the rebel battery was silenced. The First and Second Brigades of the Second Division dismounted, advanced some distance in the woods on the west side of the stream, where we halted, and both of our batteries, with eight guns, were put in position on a hill in our rear, and at a signal they opened up by volleys for several rounds, and as soon as the batteries ceased

(22)

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UNION COUNTY, OHIO.

firing the two brigades rushed forward with a yell, and the rebel line left their works and rifle-pits and fell back rapidly toward Jonesborough.

When the bridge was reached the planks had been torn up, and there was nothing left but the stringers, on which the First and Third Ohio and Fourth Michigan crossed. As we crossed, Kilpatrick himself came up, and was ordering the men to jump into the stream after the planks to repair the bridge. The dismounted men moved forward, and reached Jonesborough about sundown. The bridge across the stream was soon repaired, and the artillery, mounted men and led horses were closed up by the time we reached the town.

We had some skirmishing in the outskirts of the town, and to the south on the opposite side of the town a strong force of rebel cavalry was drawn up in line of battle in plain view, and the officers could be seen dashing to and fro forming the lines. Our lines were straightened up, and, moving forward, the rear guard of the enemy dismounted, opened up fire on our skirmishers from houses and buildings, and a brisk fire was kept up from a brick church. A section of the Chicago Board of Trade Battery came dash- ing down the street up to the skirmish line, unlimbered, and sent a few shells into the church, making the bricks and mortar fly, and the church was evacuated in short order.

The sound of the guns and scream of the shells was sweet music to the ears of the skirmishers, and they moved forward with a shout, and the bang ! bang! of their sharp-ringing carbines swelled the chorus as the mayor and a few citizens appeared in the main street with a white flag to surrender the town and claim protection for the citizens.

The line advanced rapidly through the town, the rebels fell back along the railroad, and we soon had undisputed possession. The shells from the artillery had fired the cotton bales, used as barricades around the railroad building, and soon both cotton and buildings were blazing, and the water tank at the station had been shivered by a shell. Our men took possession of the telegraph office, and it was reported that an old operator in our com- mand caught a dispatch stating that reinforcements were on the way from Atlanta, which was very important news to Kilpatrick. Jonesborough is about twenty-five miles south from Atlanta, and a considerable amount of clothing and commissary stores were found, with whisky and other necessary munitions of war. All of these supplies that we did not need for immediate use were burned and destroyed.

As Hood's whole army was now between us and Sherman's army, it was not particularly desirable for less than five thousand cavalrymen to re-

339

UNION COUNTY, OIIIO.

main in this position very long, and the destruction of the railroad, which ran through the main street of the town, was commenced at once. Tearing up the track and destroying the rails and ties was done principally by the Third Division, as they had not been engaged in the fight when we entered the town. The Second Brigade formed a line of battle south of the town and across the railroad; the First Brigade was formed facing Atlanta, and skirmishing was kept up all night. It was a wild night and a most graphic scene. The sky was lighted up with burning timbers, buildings and cotton bales; the continuous bang of carbines, the galloping of staff officers and orderlies up and down the streets carrying orders or dispatches, the terrified citizens peering out of their windows, the constant marching of troops changing position, Kilpatrick's headquarters' band discoursing national airs, with the shouts of men -- all made up a weird scene never to be forgotten by the troopers who were on that raid.

By midnight about two miles of the road had been effectually destroyed, and in attempting to move farther south along the road a strong force of infantry was found posted behind barricades, with timber cut in front. This position could not have been taken without a hard fight and heavy loss, and Kilpatrick then determined to withdraw from Jonesborough, make a detour to the east and strike the road again farther south. The movement was com- menced about two o'clock on the morning of the 20th by Murray's division and Minty's brigade of the Second Division marching on the McDonough road to the east. and the Second Brigade, under Colonel Long, remaining in the barricades to hold the infantry in check. The Second Brigade withdrew just as the first streaks of dawn began to appear in the east, and they were followed up closely by the enemy. both cavalry and infantry, the First Ohio holding the rear. After we had marched about five miles, the advance regi- ments halted to feed their horses, and the enemy made an impetuous attack on the rear guard, and one battalion was dismounted, throwing up barricades hurriedly of logs and rails, and prepared to give the enemy a warm reception.

The enemy attacked the barricades, and as their line was much longer, the battalion was outflanked on both sides, and the balls were soon whizzing from the flanks. and, as the Johnnies would say, they took us "end ways." Although heavily outnumbered. this battalion of the First Ohio held its posi- tion until reinforcements were ordered by Colonel Long, and the rebels were soon driven back in confusion toward Jonesborough. General Kilpatrick, in speaking of the fight. complimented Colonel Long for the manner in which he maneuvered his command. As Gen. Phil Kearney once said to a brigade commander who reported to him during one of the great battles in Virginia,

340

UNION COUNTY, OHIO.

and asked as to the position his brigade should take, "Fighting Phil" replied, "Just go in anywhere; there is lovely fighting all along the line." This seemed to be about the situation at this time.

As soon as the enemy was repulsed, Long's brigade was ordered to the front on a gallop of three or four miles toward Lovejoy Station, where we found that Minty's brigade, on striking the railroad, had been attacked by a heavy force of cavalry and Reynolds' division of infantry. The infantry line was concealed in a railroad cut, and the Seventh Pennsylvania and the Fourth United States Cavalry dismounted, drove the enemy's line in, and were within twenty or thirty rods of the railroad, when the infantry line raised up, delivered a very destructive volley, and, rushing from the cut, drove the line of Minty's brigade back in considerable confusion. Just at this moment Long's brigade arrived on the field with the Chicago Board of Trade Battery. The brigade was dismounted, formed a line of battle, and by this time some of the dismounted men of Minty's brigade came rushing back through our line, and it was not safe to fire, as it would endanger the lives of some of our own men. Although the balls from the rebel infantry were whizzing on all sides, the officers of Long's brigade made every effort to keep their men from firing until the rebel line was almost upon us, but when our troops did open up, the rebel line was repulsed and driven back with heavy slaughter. The Chicago Board of Trade Battery was up on the front line, and did excellent execution, and the rebel infantry fell back into the railroad cut. During this fight the lines were so close together that the officers of the First and Second Brigades used their revolvers with good execution.

Our ammunition was exhausted, and a detail was sent back to the am- inunition train and got a supply in boxes, and the boxes were broken open with stones, and the cartridges were distributed in a few moments, much to the delight of the troopers.

The Second Division held this line for an hour, and during this time staff officers were busily engaged in forming the led horses in columns of fours facing the rear. One of the guns of the Chicago Board of Trade Bat- tery was disabled in a cornfield just to the left of the First Ohio, and it was hauled to the rear by some of the troopers of the Second Division. When the Second Division had driven the rebel line back, and the firing had about ceased. Colonel Long and Minty were ordered to withdraw their brigades and fall back to the led horses, a few hundred yards in the rear.

Now we began to realize that we were surrounded, and the chances began

341

UNION COUNTY, OHIO.

to look desperate, as our ammunition had already been pretty well exhausted, and we must cut our way through the lines. The distance between the two lines of the enemy could not have been more than three-fourths of a mile. When the Second Division was fighting along the railroad and near the sta- tion, King's brigade was in support of the rear and right and had some hot work. Jones' brigade was protecting the rear, and was hard pressed by the divisions of Ross, Ferguson, and Martin, and kept up a continuous fight for two hours all along the lines. The rattling volleys from the front and rear echoed back and forth alternately, mingled with the shouts and cheers from both the Union and Rebel lines.

At this critical time the situation was as follows: In our rear were two brigades of Clebourne's division of infantry, the cavalry brigades of Ross and Ferguson, and about a thousand state troops which had been sent from below Lovejoy Station, and on the right were the remaining brigades of Clebourne's division. Martin's and Jackson's brigades of cavalry were on the left, while Reynolds' division of infantry, with a brigade of infantry and a six-gun battery sent up from Macon, were along the railroad at Love- joy Station, with twelve pieces of artillery sent down from Atlanta. A total of five brigades of infantry, eighteen pieces of artillery, six brigades of cavalry, in all a force of more than ten thousand of all arms surrounding our two divisions of cavalry, numbering less than five thousand.

Kilpatrick, finding that he was completely surrounded, ordered his divi- sion and brigade commanders to cut their way out. His cavalry had been up to this time fighting almost entirely as infantry, but they soon were going to be given the privilege of drawing their sabers from their rusty scabbards for a cavalry charge, and the opportunity was hailed with delight. Saddle girths were tightened, revolvers examined, saber belts and spurs adjusted, and all equipments were made taut for the shock and melee of the charge. When all was in readiness and the order was given to mount, many a brave trooper sprang into his saddle for the last time and rode to his death in that wild charge, cheering his comrades on to the front as he fell.

Kilpatrick, a cavalry general, remembering the mistakes which had been made on a former expedition for the same purpose, instead of scattering his troops, massed them. The brigades of Minty and Long were formed on the right of the road, and one regiment of Minty's brigade formed in the road. The Third Division, under Colonel Murray, formed on the left of the road, all facing toward McDonough, while the artillery, ambulances filled with wounded, and ammunition wagons, were formed in the road with

342

UNION COUNTY, OHIO.

orders to follow up the charging columns as closely as possible. The troops were formed in columns of fours or platoons with the proper intervals, as it was thought best to strike the rebel line and pierce it in several places rather than charge in line, as it was a long distance to charge, and in some places the ground was cut up by ditches and washouts, with two or three fences between our forces and the rebel lines.

During the time the troops were forming the surgeons and ambulance corps were busy gathering up the wounded, and caring for them as best they could. The rebels had formed two or three lines with infantry behind bar- ricades of fence rails and logs, as it seems they had anticipated a charge, and they were not disappointed in their expectations. When our troops were forming two batteries opened up on our lines from the front, and the infantry was closing up from our now rear from the railroad. When all was ready every eye was turned intently toward the line of barricades in front, from whence shells were now coming thick and fast, and through this line and over these barricades we must cut our way out, or surrender, and, perhaps, starve in Andersonville.

Draw saber! and forty-five hundred sabers ring out as they are drawn from their scabbards, the reins are tightened, the horses are excited, with nostrils extended as if they "sniffed the battle afar off."

It was a glorious sight, with horses stamping and champing the bits as if eager for the fray, standards and guidons flung to the breeze, with the dashing here and there of staff officers carrying orders, the serious face of the commander. the stern, quick commands of the officers as the squadrons are forming. Many of the boys who witnessed and participated in that charge, but whose hair is now silvered with gray, can feel the flush of youth again mount their cheeks, and the blood course more rapidly through their veins, as they go back in memory to the day they charged with Kilpatrick, August 20, 1864.

The command "Forward!" is given, the bugles ring out "Trot! Gallop! Charge!" in quick succession. and the columns swept forward under the spur with a yell. scaling fences, jumping ditches, in that wild and reckless charge : the shells from the batteries were sweeping the lines, while troopers and horses were falling on every side.

The First Brigade struck the rebel line at and just to the right of the road, and Long's brigade struck farther to the right, and Capt. W. H. Scott. of the First Ohio, fell mortally wounded in front of one of the guns of a rebel battery. When our columns struck the barricades, the rebels retreated

343

UNION COUNTY, OHIO.

in great confusion, but a lieutenant, commanding a section of artillery, who gave his name as Young, was mortally wounded just in front of where Cap- tain Scott fell, as he was attempting to fire one of his pieces after all of his men had deserted their posts. Both brigades urged their horses over the barricades, cutting right and left. Many of the prisoners had saber cuts on their hands, arms and leads, and it is estimated that from six to eight hun- dred prisoners were sabered. Infantry, cavalry, led horses and artillery were fleeing in confusion, and at one time we had at least one thousand prisoners, but they nearly all escaped in our rapid march that dark night fol- lowing.

After this long charge over broken ground, ditches, fences, and woods, the regiments and brigades were considerably broken up, as many horses had been shot, troopers wounded or killed, and some horses falling in a ditch that we crossed were with great difficulty extricated, so that many of the men were dismounted.

Before Long's brigade could get into position, as Colonel Long had been ordered to cover the retreat, Minty's brigade and the Third Division having moved out on the McDonough road. Long's brigade was furiously attacked by Pat Clebourne's division of infantry, and a battery of artillery, and this fight lasted about an hour, with a part of the brigade dismounted. In this assault Colonel Long was severely wounded, but rode his horse to the rear, supported on either side by two mounted orderlies from his escort.

The First Ohio was forming on some high ground just as Colonel Long rode to the rear, pale and bleeding. As he passed by the regiment he smiled and bowed, and was given a rousing cheer by the boys. The Third Ohio was still fighting, dismounted, and the brigade was falling back by alternate regi- ments. and just at this time the Chicago Board of Trade Battery came gallop- ing back. dashed through a gate and into the dooryard of a plantation house on the opposite side of the road from where the First Ohio was forming. On the long porch in front of this house there were twelve or fifteen women and children wringing their hands, while some were crying, others were praying.

The battery opened up at once, and the rebel battery in our rear soon got range and sent the shells thick and fast, and at least one of them struck the roof of the house, thus adding to the terror of the women and children. While our battery was firing one of the guns burst, injuring two of the gun- ners. There was not a grim veteran of our command whose heart was so hardened by the every-day scenes of carnage that it did not go out in sym-

344

UNION COUNTY, OHIO.

pathy for those mothers with their children, and who would not have freely risked their own life to have saved them; but no aid could be rendered those helpless ones, as no soldier could be spared from his post of duty.

The enemy was crowding the rear guard, and making a desperate effort, by shot and shell, to create a panic and stampede in the brigade. Never were the words of General Sherman more truthfully demonstrated that "War is cruelty, and you can not refine it," than by this incident. Lieutenant Bennett, who commanded the section of the battery in this fight, informed the writer the next day that all of the women and children escaped injury, which he considered almost a miracle under the circumstances, as the shells tore up the ground on all sides of the house.

Soon after Colonel Long was wounded his brigade fell back in column through the lines of Minty's brigade immediately in the rear, and Minty's men covered the column during the afternoon and had some sharp skirmishes with Clebourne's division, following up with infantry and artillery.

The whole command moved rapidly toward McDonough. Both men and horses were tired out and exhausted, and after the excitement of two days and nights of almost continuous fighting, there was a complete collapse when the fighting ceased, and then men had lost so much sleep that they seemed perfectly indifferent to all surroundings. The command marched all night in a drenching rain, but it was utterly impossible to march in any kind of order or to keep out an advance guard, as men and officers would go to sleep. In some instances the horses would halt along the road in fence cor- ners, and the riders would either unconsciously dismount, or fall asleep until dragged out by the rear guard and compelled to mount and move on with the column. Many of them lost their hats, and no doubt others were taken prisoners by the enemy, and the column moved on silently, horses exhausted. half of the men and officers asleep, and the night as dark as pitch. About two or three o'clock in the morning of the 21st the column halted.

We were ordered to unsaddle, as we had not unsaddled since leaving Sandtown on the evening of the 18th, and as soon as the saddles were re- moved the men tumbled down among the trees on the wet ground at their horses' heads, and were soon sound asleep. We halted there until six o'clock. about three hours, then saddled. Moving on about half a mile, we found ourselves on the bank of a stream called Cotton Indian creek, at high flood. the banks full to overflowing, and no bridge. We had to swim our horses across this stream, and, as the banks were steep, there was a deep cut on either side of the stream, leading to the ford, and it was not possible to get up the bank only at one point, so that the process of crossing the stream was

345

UNION COUNTY, OHIO.

tedious. Picket ropes were stretched across the stream, and General Kil- patrick and his division and brigade commanders were on the bank superin- tending the crossing. Men, horses and mules were floundering around in the stream, and it was no doubt the first attempt of some of the horses to swim, and in some instances the men would get frightened, pull on the reins, and as a result many of the riders were unhorsed, and were saved only by the ropes. A number of soldiers were drowned. Forty or fifty horses and a number of mules were lost, and the dismounted gun, hauled in an ammuni- tion wagon, was abandoned. But the ambulances, carrying nearly one hun- dred wounded, were all safely crossed. Having crossed this stream, we were not again troubled by the enemy; they did not follow us up, as they were in no better condition for fighting than our own forces. Guns and ammunition were soaked with water, as every man in the command was wet above the waist after fording the creek.

The command marched on all day, and about dark reached Lithonia, on the Augusta Railroad, and went into bivouac for the night, rejoicing to have the opportunity for a much-needed rest, as we had now been out three days and nights, had only unsaddled once, and had not more than two hours' sleep. excepting what we had snatched in the saddle. The next day the command marched through Lattimer and Decatur, and reached our old camp at Buck Head about sundown of the 22d, having marched completely around Hood's army in five days.

General Kilpatrick, in his report to General Sherman after the raid, stated that the defeat of the Confederates in the charge "was the most com- plete rout that the rebel cavalry had sustained during the war."

In summing up results he stated that "four miles of railroad track was completely destroyed, and ten miles badly damaged. Two locomotives with one train of cars were total destroyed, and another train partially destroyed A wagon train and many ambulances were captured, and a large amount of army supplies burned at Jonesborough. One four-gun battery, three battle flags, with a large number of horses and mules, were captured, and one hun- dred prisoners of the eight hundred to one thousand taken at Lovejoy were brought into our lines, the balance having escaped in the darkness during the rapid march in a pouring rain on the night of August 20th."

General Long, in a letter written to the writer a few years ago. stated that in the fight with Clebourne's infantry, after the charge, and when Long was severely wounded, that he "maneuvered his brigade by bugle commands or signals as he had never seen done before or since in a battle."

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History of Union County, Ohio; its people, industries and institutions, Part 32

Author: Curry, W. L. (William Leontes), b. 1839 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind., B. F. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1322

Author: Curry, W. L. (William Leontes), b. 1839
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind., B. F. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1322