The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1862-04-18

for after having a warmly contested fgh
with the rebels in which the Slst performed
their part most valiantly, all at once, Ger
tain rebel battery ceased firing that wa
placed in a ravine back in thicket O
bushes, and Gen. Grant supposed they wer,
moving it to another point and directed ar
| orderly to order us to go and find out where
they were moving it to, and then report
so we could place our battery TO compete
! with it.
And on we went into the rayine, to make
the discovery, but, behold, the battery had
not been moved, as was expected, and as
the rebels saw Us moving in that direction,
they sent about 500 cavalry around on our
left, with the intention to flank us, and with
the aid of their battery take us all prisoners.
But in that they failed, as we soon discov-
cred the battery, and sought to make our
retreat good.
Although we were in fair range of the
guns, when they opened on us, with The
whole entire battery, with ball, shell and
shot, it is the greatest wonder l., the
world, that we We're not all killed; but be-
ing good dodgers, we all escaped unhurt,
except Capt. Armstrong, of Lima, who was
killed instantly by grape shot that passed
through his head. We retgeated back till
we came to an open field, south of piece
of woods, and not deeming it safe to cross
said open field, we took shelter under the
thicket and woods between us and the rebel
battery, where we all laid down on the
ground, seemingly each man trying to see
hiob ,po oortl b,,or tho orrounI tho olocact
while the ball and she'll were falling all
around us, until about dusk, when they
ceased firing and no one was hurt. We
remained there on our guns till next morn
ing.
During the night, Gen. Buell's forces ar
rived also Gen'l Wallace. with some 49,
900 men and artillery. We then felt much
encouraged, and confident of success. Our
battle field was on the west side of the
Tennessee river, about ten miles south of
Savannah.
On the morning of the 7th, our forces
were in line of battle by daylight, our
skirmishers thrown out in advance, and we
were ordered to make forward move and
engage the enemy, which was done; our
Regiment taking the same position as on
the day before, which threw us into the
hottest of the fight. Our line was very
long, running from East to West Our
batteries opened heavy on the Rebels and
played into them till after 9 A. NJ. when
our batteries ceased firing, and then the
Federal forces made grand charge upon
the enemy with the infantry, with continual
firing and charging, which continued till
about 8 P M, when the rebels gave way
and retreated, with loss of killed and
wounded of not less than 5000. Our loss
of killed and wounded will be about $500.
Our regiment was ordered to leave the field
about half past IL, to give room for the
18th and 49th Ohio regiments, who took
our positions. Our regiment was under a
heavy fire for about two and half hours
before we left the field. The loss of our
regiment was not great. My company suf-
fered the most of any in our regiment-be-
ing the color company was the cause of it..
Lieutenant Post, of my company, was
killed in the battle, while bravely encour-
aging the men to stand firm, and not give
way. Although the bullets and Shot
were pouring in all around us, he had no
fear. He kept constantly waving his
sword in the air, and exhorting the boys
to load and fire, when ball struck him
in the right side and came out at the left
His wound was soon dressed, but he lived
only about half an hour. The next morn
ing we buried him, about one and half
mile little north of west of Pittsburgh
Landing, with head board, and his name
thereon, so that he can easily be found.
The wounded Of my company were, Sam
uel Dame, who received 4 shots through
the left hand, Oliver H. P. Reed,
fear was mortally wounded by ball pass
ing through his right lung, and came
out on the right side of his back. VIII
lard D. Tyler was shot in the right breast,
the ball passing out under the arm, being
a flesh wound also hit by ball on the
ankle slightly, Stephen Healy was slight
ly wounded in the hip, also Jacob Miller
received slight wound in his shoulder
The rest of my company escaped unhurt
and Drawer set of boys I never saw
Every one appeared to know what he was
about. They took the ground to shoot
and to be shot at, coolly and deliberately,
and l could see serious thoughtfulness
in their countenances and determination
that never before saw. which appeared
to indicate that they had great and bloo-
dy work before them, and that they were
determined to conquer or die. l don't
like to single any one out in particular,
that did better than the rest, for they all
did nobly. But I must speak of Sergeant
Longabaugh, who rushed on the enemy
with the fury and courage of a war horse.
He showed that bullets were no terror to
him. After our regiment had taken the
enemy's battery that was placed in front
of US, and killed all their horses, and af-
ter he had killed several rebels, he rushed
on to rebel with an unloaded gun, who
stood with pistol in his hand, and or
dered him to surrender, OF he would
shoot him, when the rebel laid down his
pistol and surrendered. Sergeant Tonga
baugh then took his pistols and has them
both in camp.
Our field officers appeared cool and de-
| liberate. 1 noticed Gen. Grant in the
very hottest OF the fight, passing up and
down the lines, on horseback, perfectly
cool and undisturbed, as though nothing
serious was taking place, and at the same