Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-08-08

Campaign IN utofgth.
EDlroRs LEDGER: The citizen that hal
not served in the army, or the soldier
who has only witnessed open Geld fight
ing, may imagine that great battle il
the severest test Of soldiers courage
and the most terrible part Of his duty
but the soldier who served throughout
the Georgia campaign knows that such II
not the case, The system Of fighting
adopted throughout that campaign was
far more trying to the moral and phys
ical courage Of the soldier, l believe
than any campaign on record, excepting
perhaps Napoleon's Russian campaign,
| will mention an incident as an exam
pie.
On the Kenesaw line Cheathams Di'
vision of Tennesseeans occupied an
angle, or to use a military term, salient,
on our line-being on the defensive, ours
was the interior angle, the enemys the
exterior. When our works had to be
constructed in this manner it always
gave the enemy great advantage, for he
could SO plant his batteries that they
would intersect at our angle and en-
flade the works in both directions.
AS usual, he was not slow to discover
his advantage, and so soon as he could
place his batteries in position, he rained
such a shower of shell upon Cheatham's
men as to quickly compel those who
we're off duty to burrow in the ground in
every imaginable direction for protec-
ton. The enemy not only derived pos
session of the outer angle, but here the
nature of the ground protected them.
Thus protected, they succeeded by dig.
ging to approach very close to the works,
so close that they could have thrown a
few biscuits over had they chosen to dis.
play a little generosity-for about this
time they would have keen more &C;
ceptable than their bullets, which they
distributed with a liberality that could
not be surpassed and we should be
lacking in gratitude did we forget it.
This compelled Cheatham's men to re-
main under arms day and night, in mo-
mentary expectation of an attack. For
near week they stood in the bitches, the
front rank at a charge bayonets, and the
rear at ready, with, l suppose, not more
than two reliefs-all this time enduring,
with stoical fortitude, the enemy she'll
ing and annoying oblique sharp-shooting,
which took off hundreds Of our poor
fellows, not only in the ranks, but as
they thoughtlessly arose, during CONVEX
sation, around the campfres, or in the
bitches. Many poor fellows, likewise,
fell, going for water, or in the discharge
of other necessary duties. 1t is terrible
to see comrade suddenly struck down
in the full vigor of manhood, whilst
calmly conversing around the campfire;
probably at the very moment the fatal
bullet strikes him expressing his hopes
of speedy termination of the war, and
his Joyous return to his wife and little
ones. Such death casts far greater
sadness over the hearts of the bronzed
men who sit around him than would his
death amidst the roar and excited rush
of great battle.
If the hardships of war were great on
our side, the enemy likewise had to en-
dure some. They assaulted this part of
our line gallantly, but were unable to
penetrate the close, deadly fire that met
them from the works. They were re-
pulsed, leaving many dead and wounded
on the narrow space between the works.
After this attack they continued for
some days gradually digging nearer the
works, with the humane intention of
blowing up the salient some time. have
no doubt that during the time this work
was progressing they disintered hundreds
of their half putrid dead, as they slowly
advanced, under cover of darkness.
Whenever the two skirmish lines were
near enough to each other (Which was
the case almost every day during the
campaign }, a rapid fire was kept up night
and day, darkness causing no cessation,
for then the firing was directed at the
flash of each Others rifles. Had ammu-
milton been more plentiful on our side
there would have been more " lodging
on the other Half the time we were not
allowed to shoot from our rifle pits, I'M :
less charged upon, but had patiently to
endure the enemys annoying fire. Our
artillery was scarcely ever used unless
to repel an assault ..-
Work little less trying to soldier than
the above was taking place almost daily
on some part of the line, from May until
the battle of Jonesboro terminated this
terrible campaign. ]. c.
BfS~ A young man named Harvey
Bradford was struck by lightning and
killed in Knox county, Illinois,