Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1863-10-15

minute detail can be given was tha
which ragged along the line of the s.
Brigade of Brannan's division. 0
this we propose to speak at length
It without wishing to be understood a
g undertaking the action Of any other por
e ton of the line.
i The Sd Brigade in the morning hat
: advanced in two lines, with skirmisherl
j along the front. and Smiths Reguls
: battery in rear of the center. After q
E short advance, the skirmishers becam,
sharply engaged at 8 o'clock A. NJ.
t and the line was placed in position
, with the 35th Ohio, Lieut. Col. Boyn'
ton commanding on the right; the bat
. terry Immediately in'its rear so disposed
7 as to Ere over the troops in front; the
Cd Minnesota, Colonel James George
commanding on the left, and the 87tt
, Indiana. Col. N. Gleason. in the real
of the 35th.
Hardly had the regiments taken
their places before the skirmishers were
! driven iu by an advance Of the enemy
10 heavy force. But the Sd Brigade
never moved, not a soldier but steadily
faced the CALLING fire. and though the
dead were increasing at fearful rate,
and the wall OF the wounded was
drowning the noise Of the fight, con-
slant stream Of fire poured from that de-
voted band into the ranks of the foe,
while from the battery in the rear ter
rible storm Of heavier metal went crash
ing through the underbrush and into
the rebel ranks.
Field officers rode up and down
those ranks waving their hats. cheering
their men and shouting defiance to the
foe. Lieutensnts Smith and Rodney
worked their guns cody but with ut
most precision and rapidity, while Col.
Vandevere and his staff seemed ON
nipotent, and, with one exception, rode
unscathed through that storm OF shot
and shell.
Such fighting brought its appropriate
reward. Those veterans from Virginia
went back dismayed, and the prisoners
that come in one after another, in
nearly every case made this remark
"We never turned our backs on
Yankees before"
And this thought was doubtless
working on the minds OF their COM
rades who had Withdrawn, for so soon
as their shattered columns could be put
in attacking order, on they came with
increased fury. determined, if possible,
to wrest victory from defeat.
But the dead that lay along our
ranks were stern monitors, and as our
men glanced from them to the ap-
preaching foe, the fate OF the latter
was sealed. Very terrible was the
conflict; shame and fury urging on
those Virginia troops, who had boasted
that they would show Bragg's men
how to fight. But our men had hurl-
ed them back once. By the same
means they proposed to do it the
second time. And so the roar of the
battle waxed hot, and the earth was
plowed with burrows, and watered
with blood, and crossed with new
heaps of dead, while the trees were
riddled with the crashing discharges,
and went down SIS if an army Of giants
we're reaping there.
And through all these scenes, off,
GERS whose names will live, rode
along the lines and held them steady.
The 9th Ohio bad returned from a
charge and poured in their FIRE, and
the second brigade bad joined us on the
right, where Croxton had fought
successfully and well-and in a few
moments the field was all our own
again.
The lines of the two brigades were
once more arranged, the 87th Indiana
relieved the 35th, when another ad-
vance was attempted by the enemy,
but this was speedily repulsed.
Then came the final act The
Regular brigade, from the right and
front, came back across the line in con-
fusion. Every effort to rally them
was in vain. Field officers, company
officers, and men Of Brannan's division,
with a portion of their own officers,
tried in vain to check them. Private
Savage of Smiths battery struck one
of their officers with his gun-swab, and
cursed him for marching over his bat
terry.
Gen. Brannan with part OF his staff,
Col. Vandevere with all Of his, joined
in the general cry to these flying Off
GERS to halt, but all to no purpose, and
the rebel force that had driven them,
Joined to those who were IN Brsnnan's
front, came on with seeming irresistible
force. But Brannsn's men had that
day, for the first time in all the war,
been baptized in blood and born into
the life of the veteran soldier.
Six guns were so disposed as to rake
their flank. for even while the Regulars
were dashing through their ranks and
guns the 35th had changed its front,
and the battery had wheeled, and
withering fire in front and flank
checked that advance, which but q mo-
ment before seemed like the oncoming
Of doom. A sharp advance, tremen-
dous cheer, and the rifles of the Sd |
brigade ceased to pour out death, and
the cannon roared no longer.
Then came silence profound, awful,
and painful in the extreme.
The dead and wounded were gather
ed up, and the troops, after some two