The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1863-10-15

N''"S ehA "Np biiO NuA hlI6
point in the days strife, and that hec.
acomb Of lives would soon saturate the
ground with its CORY sacrifices. Eight
massod lines Of gray and steel eight
miles of flashing flame! $4,000 human
beings bent on human destruction !!
Before them a living, breathing, palpi-
tating wall Of anxious hearts-anxious
forthe coming of the foe, anxious for
the Unions fame and glory, yet like
wise anxious fot those far-off sisters,
brothers, fathers, mothers and friends
who, in the distant North, knew not of
the sanguinary strife where SO many
sank exhausted, where so many laid to
die. Flesh and blood could not with
stand the overpoweripg impetuosity of
the assault, and that flesh and blood
weakened by series of marches over
the roughest roads and bypaths it has
ever been my lot to travel. Our left
flank crumbled into nothingness; our
centre gave way; the right was COM
promised, and the hard earned laurels
of the day passed from our grasp in less
than three-fourths of an hour! Re-
serves were brought up, the enemy
checked, new line formed, and the
dark pail Of night fell Ger the scene of
Seccssion's joy and Nations tears.
Sabbath day broke forth bright and
beautiful, not a cloud of darkness cast
"a shade of gloom over the luminary
whose resplendent rays shonc on Nor
thron and Southron alike The turbu-
lent engines of destruction for space
were stilled, the chirps. of either bel
ligerent force paying mute homage to
the day Of rest, but little picket firing
on the fianks, a few scattering shots in
the centre, then volley of musketry
on the right-another and another
and now the ud-mouthed cannon
belching forth its fire and smoke, rends
the very air, and the struggle has COM
menced !. No wonder the contest was
bloody in the extreme; no wonder it
was prolonged without cessation the
the entire day; no wonder it exceeded
in vindictlvenoss and desperation any
battle heretofore fought in this Depart
ment. ChicaIry was fighting for the
hey that unlocks the door to all the
able bodied negroes of the South; fight
to whip "Rosy's' y little army of not
over $4,000 electives before reinforce
ments could arrive, fighting their last
fight, if defeated, in this Department.
Freedom fought for Nationality, for
honor, glory, fame, for cqualrights and
the God-given Inheritance of man.
After series Of most hotly contested
engagements, successful assaults, gal.
liant repulscs, with dead and wounded
scattered over miles of mountain land,
the grand Army of the Cumberland
gradually, and mile by mile, Withdrew
here, experiencing for the first time q
partial defeat, and losing Il victory
whose good results would have been in
calculable to the Union.
We are now around and over Chat
tanooga, have intrenched ourselves
and the rebellious hordes, elated with
a partial success over the army of the
Southwest, (an army that has never
before experienced one solitary, single
reverse,) are going through the farce
of n siege at very long range. But
thanks to spades and picks, axes and
bouldered embankments, together with
the rebel Notifications we compelled
them to abandon, aided by firm de-
termination to do or die, we have com
pletely checked the advancing wave Of
the combined forces of Bragg, John.
ston, Buckner, Breckenridge and Long,
streets corps from Eastern Virginia
with probably part of A. P. Hills.
The rebel loss must have been tre-
mendous-ours was proportionately
heavy. Official reports will give you
the generalities and plan of battle. l
shall only give you casualties in our
own regiment, remarking that no Di-
vision did better than the I'd division of
McCook corps, under Johnston, nor no
Brigade did better than the Sd, which,
under Col. P. P. Baldwin, of the 9Th
Indiana, maintained its old renown
and held ground against superior num-
bers many times during the last ten
eventful days.
Lieut.. Colonel E. Bassett Langdon,
of Cincinnati, was in command of the
1st Owl, and showed himself man
of nerve and valor; Major ]. A. Staf-
ford, as usual, proved himself genius
for the battlefield, whilst all the line
officers without exception, gained ad-