USA > Ohio > The Forty-first Ohio veteran volunteer infantry in the war of rebellion. 1861-1865 > Part 6
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BROWN'S FERRY.
to be seen in all the valley. Meantime the laying of the pontoon bridge at the ferry had gone forward rapidly. Turchin's brigade was moved across and posted on the left of the line, and both brig- ades made themselves secure in their positions.
Once more the line of supplies was open to the Army of the Cumberland. The way for the junction of Sherman's and Hooker's coming reinforcements was also open. The enemy still held Look- out Mountain, but the valley in which was the railroad from Bridge- port was in possession of the Union forces. Before the sun went down, the advance of Hooker's corps came marching down the val- ley with full haversacks, which the men of Thomas' army had not seen since Chickamauga. The newcomers were generous. Hooker's troops went into position on the left of Hazen. That night they had some desperate and bloody fighting with a strong force which had been sent down from Lookout to make a final effort at recovery of what had been so quickly lost. The enemy had miscalculated both the number and the temper of the Union force in the valley. Though he made a brave attempt and inflicted some loss, he could make no headway, and soon withdrew.
The operation at Brown's Ferry was of a kind not often occur- ring. It was extra hazardous because of the employment of the pontoons in the swift current of the river. There was good luck as well as good generalship in the affair. The surprise of the enemy was complete. Finally, the notion that the Army of the Cumber- land had its spirit broken at Chickamauga was forever dispelled. Not a brigade in any army could have responded more promptly and effectively than did Hazen's brigade in this enterprise. The importance of the movement was immediately recognized by the Confederate authorities. A Richmond paper said mournfully that by one brilliant effort the Union forces had broken Bragg's grasp on the position at Chattanooga, and that the maintenance of that position was no longer problematical.
What of the relief to the men of the Union army? It was be- yond description. The depression which had lasted from the days at Chickamauga was gone. The troops felt as if they had been in prison, and were now free. There was relief of actual hunger, too, and a prospect of much-needed supplies of all sorts.
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
One of the incidents of the morning of the fight may be told. In front of the Forty-first as it lay on the ridge after the enemy had gone, was a farmhouse a few yards from the base of the ridge. There was a corncrib near the house, and its contents were quickly distributed. Then, as the men sat about their little fires, a savory odor was observed, coming from a kettle in one of the men's messes. A little crowd was attracted by the grateful smell, and it was ex- plained that two of the men had caught a couple of rabbits down by the farmhouse. There were many hungry sniffs of the odors from that little kettle. An hour afterward, two elderly maiden ladies, occupants of the farmhouse, came up to complain that "you uns have carried off our cats." Well, they smelled as good as rab- bits while they were cooking. Not many hours afterward, there was an issue of fresh beef -- an earnest of the good things coming in the wake of Hooker's men. By all odds, it was the finest and best-flavored beef ever issued to hungry soldiers.
The Forty-first remained on the ridge long enough to make some exploration of the valley, and even of the sides of Raccoon Mountain opposite. A queer little mill was found in one of the ravines here, and it ground some corn for the Yankees. But the stay was short. The valley was full of Hooker's men, and there was no need of longer delay. The regiment returned to its old place in the lines about Chattanooga. It had acquitted itself well in one of the most important and difficult operations of the war.
One of the incidents of this expedition was the meeting for the first time with troops from the East-Hooker's men. What was particularly noticeable about these men was the completeness of their outfit; beside the scantier outfit of the western troops, they looked something like walking museums of buttons and brass plates and ornaments. Some of their furnishings had never been dreamed of by the western soldiers. Everything, too, was fresh and in good condition-a contrast not relished by the men whose campaigns had been over long distances, taking them far from the base of supplies and compelling the wearing of wornout articles for months at a time. The advantages of campaigning on short lines and near the seat of government was apparent enough in this case.
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MISSION RIDGE.
CHAPTER XI.
MISSION RIDGE.
The re-establishment of freer communications with the base of supplies and the North brought much comfort. After the Brown's Ferry affair there was no fear of starvation. All the supplies needed were not forthcoming, but there was little disposition to find fault on that score. Although the Confederates still showed on Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain, and from their positions in the valley between, they were no longer in the rear, blocking "the cracker line." Never were army rations more enjoyed than in those days after the taking of Brown's Ferry.
Regular camp duty was resumed, and there were some days of rest. Sherman's army arrived in time, and it was felt that active operations were not to be long delayed. But the beginning came without a word of warning. A court martial was in session in the brigade, and other of the ordinary affairs of camp life were going on as usual, when at noon of the 23d of November the assembly was sounded from brigade headquarters. When the men had got into ranks, the regiments of the brigade were moved out and deployed on the plain in front of the lines. Then a skirmish line was thrown forward, and the advance begun toward Mission Ridge. The word went around that it was to be a reconnaissance, or a demonstration to help some movement unknown, at another point. The location of the Confederate pickets was known to be just in front of a low wooded ridge half way between the Union lines and Mission Ridge.
These pickets were soon approached. Apparently they had no thought that a fight was coming. They remained quiet until the opposing skirmish line was far within the range of their rifles. On Mission Ridge, too, the enemy was seen idly gathering in little knots to look at the Union troops as they came nearer the wooded ridge, which was known as Orchard Knob. But at last the Confederate pickets understood. They opened fire, and were at once driven 5
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
back by the advancing skirmishers. The little ridge at this point was covered with a thick undergrowth of forest, in which the Con- federate pickets disappeared. The skirmishers followed and en- countered a heavy fire from the ridge to the right of Orchard Knob. The Forty-first was in the first line, immediately behind the skir- mishers. There were no orders to halt, and the regiment went on until it came up with the skirmishers and was receiving the enemy's fire from his position, which was concealed by the underbrush. For a moment Col. Wiley was in doubt; to go farther was to bring on an engagement, for it was plain that a strong force, not a slight picket reserve, was in front. Wiley sent an officer to Hazen for orders, but before these could be returned he had decided for him- self and ordered the regiment forward. It opened fire and pressed through the underbrush. Approaching the crest of the little ridge, it was found that the slope for forty or fifty yards in front of the Confederate position had been cleared of the underbrush, and that the enemy was strongly posted behind a low breastwork. To the right of the attacking force the Confederate line bent forward and outflanked the assailants. A galling fire across the front came from this outflanking line. The Forty-first lost heavily each mo- ment, with the rapid and steady fire in front and from the right. But the enemy was in sight when the underbrush had been passed, and the regiment's fire began to tell on the men behind the breast- work. At the edge of the cleared ground the Confederate fire forced a check in the advance. The line of the Forty-first was fast thin- ning out, and gaps in the ranks were many and widening. The color guard attempted to go forward, but the enemy's fire was withering. Lieut. Col. Kimberly seized the colors and was instantly dismounted, his horse shot dead. A rod away, the same fortune befell Wiley as he spurred into the open ground, calling his men to make a dash for the breastwork. But the fight was telling on the Confederates as well. Many of them lay on their backs and thrust their guns over the breastwork above their heads, firing thus at random. Then the Forty-first responded to the call and rushed upon the breastwork. As they mounted it, most of the enemy were lying flat; a few were standing, some of these having thrown down their guns, and fewer still were running through the brush toward
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MISSION RIDGE.
Mission Ridge. One or two of the fellows who had been lying on their backs and firing over their heads, did this after the Union troops were on the breastwork and over it, and a man of the Forty- first was killed by a wild shot of this kind. The man who fired that shot was crazed with the fight, not seeing what was going on, for at the moment the men of the Forty-first were over the breast- work and the rest of its defenders had surrendered. It was said that the brother of the Forty-first man who was thus killed after the surrender was maddened at the sight, and with his bayonet pinned the fear-crazed Southener to the ground as he lay.
The defenders of the breastwork were the Twenty-eighth Ala- bama, whose colors, presented by the ladies of Selma, fell into the hands of the Forty-first, with many of its men prisoners. An hour or two after the fight, Grant and Thomas rode along the line, and Thomas called for the officers of the regiment. Then he told Col. Wiley to present to officers and men his thanks for the fight they made-"a gallant thing, Colonel, a very gallant thing," added the grim old warrior. It is to be said here, as something not to be for- gotten, that the Ninety-third Ohio was with the Forty-first in this fight, and shared fully the honor of the victory. Its commander, Major William Birch, a true soldier, died two days after, of wounds received while leading his men in this desperate struggle.
The regiment lay that night on the ground taken from the enemy. There were a few shells, by way of practice, from the Con- federate artillery on top of Mission Ridge, but no damage was done. Still in the same position next day, the mien had a full view of Hooker's action on Lookout Mountain. The Confederate uniform was not of a color to be easily seen at a great distance, but the Union troops could be seen very plainly. The fight was eagerly watched as Hooker's line swept around the end of the mountain on the broad slope below the summit. The enemy made his last stand on some fenced ground near a farm house, well around on the Chattanooga side. While the fight was going on here, the side of the mountain below the fighting ground was covered with haze or fog, and from this circumstance the action was called "a battle above the clouds."
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
Next day, the 25th of November, Sherman began his attack on the enemy's right flank, which was on Mission Ridge, far to the left of the line at Orchard Knob. Grant's headquarters were estab- lished at the latter point, and all of Thomas' army was on the line. Hooker's troops were in the valley in front of Chattanooga, to oper- ate in the direction of Rossville. The line of the Army of the Cumberland squarely faced Mission Ridge, and nearly opposite the centre of that line was Bragg's headquarters on the Ridge. At the foot of the Ridge, directly in front of the Forty-first, was a line of log breastworks in front of a winter camp which the enemy had built. The shanties had stick-and-mud chimneys, all arranged for occupancy in cold weather. Above this camp, on top of the Ridge, artillery was in position, and this was added to during the earlier part of the day.
Almost from the beginning of Sherman's attack away to the left, the Confederates could be seen moving along the top of the Ridge in that direction. Relying on the natural strength of the position in front of Thomas' army, and not alarmed at Hooker's movement toward Rossville, Bragg was hurrying his troops to his threatened right flank. The weary hours dragged on with watch- ing of this movement on the Ridge, but at last the order came. Six guns were to be fired from Grant's headquarters at Orchard Knob, as a signal for a general advance on the Ridge.
The men were called to attention and the stacks of arms broken. The color-bearers unfurled the flags and shook them out. Field and staff officers took their places. In the rear the surgeons mustered their stretcher-bearers. Everything was in readiness when the six guns were fired from Orchard Knob, and instantly the army moved briskly forward in well-ordered lines. Passing the strip of bushy woodland on the little ridge from which the start was made, the lines came out into the open plain which stretched to the foot of Mission Ridge. It must have been the sight of a lifetime to the Confederates on the Ridge-those double lines of blue, marked at intervals with the crimson flags and fringed with the glittering arms carried at a right shoulder; stretching away to right and left, divi- sion after division, along the plain above and below. But their artillerymen took little time to admire the splendid pageant. Fifty
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MISSION RIDGE.
guns massed to the left of Bragg's headquarters burst forth in rapid fire, and the air above the Union lines was filled with bursting shells. But these were all too high; the fragments fell far behind the ad- vancing lines. The first effect of that tremendous discharge of ar- tillery was stunning; but in a moment it was plain that no harm was being done. The much-talked-of moral effect of big guns was missing; there was no wavering in the lines. Rather, a feeling of new confidence came upon the men as they moved on, always too fast for the Confederates' depressing of their pieces. In the Forty- first, one man was struck on the shoulder by a fragment of shell, but this was the extent of the casualties from several tons of shells.
At the moment of starting, the Confederate infantry could be seen still hurrying on toward Sherman. But this was quickly stopped when Thomas' magnificent menace came into view. Better risk Sherman on the right with too few men, than this host steadily moving on the centre. The .Ridge was high and steep, and the ascent was obstructed with gullies and felled timber. But this on- coming army-would it storm the Ridge, disdaining the obstruc- tions? Brown's Ferry, Orchard Knob, Lookout Mountain-these were samples of the enterprise which Bragg must face. He could not recall the men gone against Sherman, but he could stop that movement, and he did.
As the Forty-first, in its place in line, approached the log breast- works at the foot of the Ridge, the Confederates posted there sprang up and ran up the Ridge, taking paths that led obliquely to the top. The battery on Orchard Knob fired at these flying men on their way up the Ridge, but this was mere boy's play, and likely to do more mischief to friend than to foe. The order given out when the start was made was to take the line at the foot of the Ridge. This line was abandoned by the enemy before the assailants could reach it, as has been told. Coming up to the line of logs, the Forty-first threw itself down against the logs for shelter, and the second line of troops followed and did the same. The infantry on the Ridge had opened a severe fire, and the artillery, by firing obliquely down the face of the steep slope, was able to be effective. Both arms together made the firing hot, and damage was done. The shelter of the logs was insufficient for refuge for a single line, and two were
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
here. Then the logs were laid at angles like a rail fence, and some of the faces thus formed were enfiladed from the top of the Ridge. The mounted officers, of course, had dismounted-whatever was to be done, it was plain that horses could go no farther in that fight. The animals were set loose, and most of them galloped off to the rear. But Col. Wiley's horse, bewildered by the din of battle, hung about the feet of the prostrate men, and was likely enough to tread on them. The Colonel rose from the ground to turn the horse's head to the rear and drive him away. Wiley's hand was on the bridle as he turned the horse about, when he himself sank to the ground, his leg shattered at the knee by a rifle ball. The command of the battalion thus fell to Lieut. Col. Kimberly.
The Confederate fire was increasing, and they were getting the range more accurately with both small arms and artillery. No fight could be made from that insufficient and overcrowded shelter, but there were no orders for any further movement-all orders given had been fulfilled. It was destruction to remain, it was im- possible to withdraw without confusion and great loss. The roar of battle from the Ridge was deafening; no command could be heard at the distance of a company front. Hazen lay on the ground a rod away from Kimberly, and signalled to go forward. Kimberly and a dozen officers and men nearest him sprang to their feet shout- ing to the others, then jumped the logs and ran forward to the shanties of the winter camp. This movement instantly spread right and left, and the whole battalion dashed forward to the ascent of the Ridge. It was the intention to gather the men behind the shanties for a better beginning of the ascent, but this could not be done. The oblique fire of the Confederate artillery knocked the shanties about the heads of the men, while the infantry riddled them with bullets. So the start was made as it could be. Once the ascent was begun, however, the men came together, for the gullied and broken face of the Ridge afforded shelter not to be found on the level ground below. All the Confederate fire was also less effective, though it was not lessened. On went the assailants, closing together as they made their way over or around obstructions. As they neared the top, a battery to the right, which from first to last had done more damage than all the rest, came into full view at little more than
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MISSION RIDGE.
pistol range. Kimberly called to his nearest men to pick off the gunners. When the first of these men dropped on one knee and fired, an artilleryman plunged headlong to the ground in the act of passing a cartridge. A dozen other shots followed instantly, and that battery fired no more. The artillery immediately in front could not sufficiently depress its guns, so steep was the ascent, and when the battery to the right was still, there was an end of the trouble from artillery.
The Forty-first was near the top, the enemy's line of works in full view, not a stone's throw away. Just to the left of the Forty- first, Bassett Langdon was leading his First Ohio straight at the works, himself the foremost figure, his men following as they could keep up with his long legs. For an instant he was seen to stagger as a rifle ball went through his cheeks from side to side; then re- covered, ran to the works, and fired every cartridge in his revolver at the enemy. But they were leaving their works. The Forty-first came up and over, the enemy a confused mass of fugitives a hundred yards or so down the slope to the rear. Not that their spirit was all gone; two or three of their officers began to rally them, and in a moment had half a regiment in line. The victors were flushed, jubilant, and for the moment careless. Then the flag of the Forty- first was advanced toward the gathering Confederate force, and the men leaped forward into line. That was enough for the enemy; brave as they were, they had just then no heart to stand another charge. Meantime, Fetterly, Kramer and others of the Forty-first had seized the destructive battery to the right. One of the pieces was wheeled to the right, pointing toward Bragg's headquarters, where the enemy was still holding out. The piece was loaded, but the men had no primer. They emptied a cartridge into the vent, and then one of them discharged his Springfield rifle over it. The shell skimmed the ground and burst in front of the Confederate headquarters. In another moment, Newton's division had them all in flight. In the coming dusk a horseman was seen to ride down the rear slope from Bragg's quarters. He was said to be Braxton Bragg himself-I do not know.
About Hazen's headquarters that night were gathered eighteen pieces of captured artillery. Six of these fell to the Forty-first and
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THE FORTY-FIRST OHIO INFANTRY.
its comrades in the fight, the Ninety-third, and the Forty-first had a Confederate battle flag.
While the men were still exulting over the victory, the new division commander, Gen. Thomas J. Wood, rode in among them. He, too, was jubilant. "Men," he cried, "I'll have you all court- martialed. You were ordered to take the rifle-pits at the foot of the Ridge, and here you've got the Ridge itself and all of Bragg's artillery!"
In the two days of battle here, the Forty-first lost 115 men, nearly all of them the first day, at Orchard Knob. That brief but desperate struggle was, with one exception, the most costly one encountered by the regiment. Compared with Orchard Knob, the general action which carried the apparently impregnable position on Mission Ridge was but a trifle, so far as losses in the Forty-first are concerned. In the second fight there was a loss not to be esti- mated in numbers. Col. Wiley lost his leg as the result of the wound which has been mentioned above. Perhaps the loss of this commander may be best understood by reading the characterization of him in Hazen's book of recollections of army service. "Wiley," says Hazen, "was the most efficient regimental commander, regu- lar or volunteer, I ever knew."
One of the minor incidents which deserves to be recorded as of the kind that can not be forgotten, occurred when the regiment was half way up Mission Ridge in the assault. A boy who was enlisted in A company as a drummer, but who went into this battle carrying a gun, came tremblingly to the regimental commander when the fight was hottest. He stood at attention, but he could not salute, for with his right hand he held across his breast his shattered left arm. He was faint with the shock and the loss of blood; and his face. as smooth and fresh as a girl's, was pallid under the pain he bore. But he would report himself. "Colonel," he said, "I must go and have my arm fixed." And tottered off down the Ridge through the storm of battle.
There has been much dispute about the details of the Mission Ridge fight, especially as to orders or absence of orders to assault the Ridge after the line at the foot had been gained, and as to the troops first in the works at the summit. In regard to orders to
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MISSION RIDGE.
assault the Ridge, there can be no question so far as Hazen's brig- ade is concerned. No command could have been communicated to the brigade as it lay close to the ground behind the line of logs. In the din of the tremendous fusillade from the summit, it was impossible to make a command heard by so much as a regiment. Orders could go only from man to man, in the way described above, as the beginning of the movement of the Forty-first. Gen. Wood's words of greeting to the victors on the Ridge, heretofore quoted in this narrative, seem to be conclusive proof that no orders for the assault were given by or through the division commander. It is certain, then, that Wood's division had no orders; Hazen always said he had none; what orders the Forty-first had, and how they came, is told above. The assault, by this part of Thomas' army at least, was the voluntary movement of an intelligent soldiery, without direction from the higher officers of the army. It was the judgment of the soldiers, not the orders of the commanders, which brought about the assault.
As to the first arrivals at the summit, no attempt will be made here to settle that question. The essential fact is that the enemy in front of the Forty-first were driven from their works by that regiment; if any other command had cleared its front before the Forty-first entered the Confederate works, that fact did not affect the fight of this regiment, the enemy in its front holding out until the regiment was right upon them, ready to use the bayonet.
The victory was a new experience to the Forty-first. It car- ried its point of attack at Shiloh only to waste itself in wild and fruitless pursuit. In the defensive fighting at Stone River and Chickamauga, it kept its ground, gaining nothing beyond the re- pulse of the enemy. At Brown's Ferry it made the capture, barren of trophies and leaving the enemy still in the field, aggressive as opportunity offered. But in the two days of Mission Ridge, there were substantial fruits of victory. The first day's fight left the defenders of the line at Orchard Knob prisoners in our hands, with their captured flag testifying the completeness of the conquest. When Mission Ridge was crowned, there remained no organized enemy in front-nothing but crowds of flying soldiers hunting the security of the woods beyond the Ridge, anxious only to get away
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