Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-12-30
The Fifteenth Wisconsin in the Battle of
J ChiekamaHga-Letter from the Command

From a private letter J. 4. JOHNSON, Esq, of
this city
LIEgf PgIsoS, Richmond, Va, Nov. :, 'e2.
DEAR BRoTHER | have written you a ouple
of letters before, but by no means such as l
would like to write, but such as I was ob
lised to under the circumstances. | writ.
lines without its being submitted for the IL
spection of the conceited tops who hare
command of this prison.
You have undoubtedly read better accounts
of the battle of Chickamauga than | give
you, but L shall relate some of my own TX
periences and the movements and doings OF
our own regiment, as l suppose you have no
one in the regiment from whom you receive
letters.
OF our movements in the mountains of
cept that we moved back and forth theIe for
over half a month, our corps separated from
the rest of the army to carry out Roserans'
plan of compelling Bragg to evacuate Chatta..
nooga. Finally, on the 18th OF SEPTEMBER,
we descended Lookout Mountain at steven
sons Gap and joined the rest OF the rmy-
the extreme right, in Macklemores lane,
where we stayed till dark on the lSt, when
we were ordered TO move, and marcled five
or six miles toward Chattanooga and eamped
for the night. We were ordered t, follow
Johnson's division at daylight on he next
morning, but that division did not passus until
about O'clock, which consequently gave US
late start. We had heard occasional can
non shots early in the morning bit as the
day advanced they grew ore'and more fire.
quent, and it soon became evident that the
great battle which had been SO lonsexpected
could not be long delayed 1t seemed evil
dent to US at that time that Br;gg was en-
deayoring to get between Chattanooga and
our army, and that Rosecrans was doing his
best to get to Chattanooga, and hat he had
fought the battle where he did because he
was compelled so to do. | do lot say that
that this supposition correct. but that
was the belief with US at the tine, and from
what little | have been able TO learn since.
| do not see that it was SO very ar out of the
way. We were hurried up vely fast on Sat
urday, going part of the tim: on double
quick, until We came near the )attle gro md,
where we halted for some tim awaiting or
ders, which we soon received, md we started
on the double-quck. After ,oing about a
mile we were brought into lin. of battle, the
Sth Kansas and 18th Wisconsin in front. and
the 18th and 35th Illinois in the rear, and
Immediately pushed forward We had adj
vanced perhaps fifty yards wien we encouu-
tered the skirmlshers of the .nemy whom we
rapidly drove in. The timber was very
heavy as was also the unlerbrush, so we
could but impertectly see the enemy, but
still we were steadily dancing under a
heavy fire, when the Sth knsas, on our left.
began to slacken and wave Still pressed
ON, with +i, I'll a
IN advance of the 8th Knsas, when they
ceased to advance altogether, and began to
slowly fall back. l halted the 18th and held
the ground waiting for o,ders, but as the
other regiment was falling back, and the en-
envy advancing on our right flank, which was
exposed, ordered retreat, which was well
conducted, firing as we ell back. We con
tinued to fall back slowly till we arrived
where we had before formed a line of battle,
when assistance reached US, and we checked
the enemy. Our loss so far had been C H.
siderable, especially il. wounded Capt.
johnson was shot dead ana left in the hands
of The enemy. Maj. Wilson and Adj't Nelson
were both slightly wounded but not enough
to disable them for duty The color-bearer
was also wounded and tie colors picked up by
private Hanson Of Co. L.
We were now ordered to support the 10Th
Illinois, which was sent 70 the front, and took
our position Oh little knoll for that purpose,
and laid down while the 10Th advanced,
Meanwhile another line was forming in our
rear. The 18th engaged. the enemy hotv for
awhile, butwere finally compelled to fall back,
and as they retreated over us the commander
OF the regiment told ne he would form in
the rear and support US Col. Heg came ND
while we were occupying this position, and
complimented the regiment for the gallant
fight it had made, and passed on. When the
10Th III. had passed 10 the rear we became
engaged with the enemy, ana
the line in our rear, when the 25th Dasscd
over them, probably thinking that thev were
tue last of our troops in front of them imme-
dlately opened fire, and we were thus placed
between the fires OF friends and foes, suffer
ing more from the former than from the latter.
1t was at this time that Capt Hanson received
the wound that afterwards terminated his life,
I to this the regiment had been kept well
together and our ground had been braveIy
but being attacked in the rear bv
our own men was more than we had bargain |
ed for, and / told every one to take care of
himself, and acting upon that suggestion each |
one got TO the rear as best he could | start |
ed for what | thought from the firing was the !
right of the line in our rear, (the brush was
so thick | could not get through direct) when |
found myself Immediately in front of half a |
:
the enemy, but by some dextrous Ieapino and |
rapid runningI got TO the rear unhurt.
When our regiment broke the enemy imme- |
diately attacked the line in our rear and |
routed it. We were all driven across a field |
on the other side of whicl, we again formed |
and the enemy did not deem it prudent to |
follow. Our regiment was now So a.uci, scat |
tered that found it impossible to get togeth- |
er more than small squad, and with these |
few | joined Col Wilder's brigade with which |
stayed the rest of the day. We advanced |
once more over the field, but after some sharp
lighting were compelled to fall back lit
lie before shutdown heard that Col. Heg was
wounded, but / had then no idea that the
wound was mortal. About the same time | |
received notice that our division was collect
ng together about half a mile in the rear
when / proceeded thither with my squad and
once more got what little there was left Of
the regiment together. After the regiment
got scattered each man had to join some other
command and | could find no one who had
;hirked, although there were good opportuni-
les for so doing. All STAYED in the front m
ii ordered TO the rear. Mai. Wilson was |
wounded after we had rctreated across the
ield, and went to the hospital Capt. Gas
nan, commanding Co. d. was wounded dur
ng the afternoon but succeeded in Getting
% the rear. Capt. Hauff, A. a Gen on Col
Hegs staff, was missing and has not been