Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-11-28


owe us debt of gratitude hard to repay.
But the end was not yet. Our comrade
Army of the Cumberland, far away In
the mountains Of East Tennessee, called
for help, and we had to go. Through
forests, over rivers, through the mud,
and over the rocks, we paused not till
Lookout Mountain, with its Rebel bat
teries, frowned down upon us, and upon
our beleaguered comrades in Chattanoo-
ga. You remember l was summoned
ahead of you TO meet Gen. Grant in Chat
tanooga, and / recall my feelings as,
standing with him on the parapet of Fort
Wood, he pointed out to me the circling
Rebel camps, with their pickets walking
their posts, in clear daylight, close up to
our lines. ! then realized that our troops
were closely besieged, and that our Cen
eral, unaccustomed to such close quar-
ters, only awaited your arrival TO cut the
Gordon knot and let his army free. So
impatient vae lac that, after receiving
his orders, / hastened back to meet you
at Bridgeport, pulling an oar myself, one
bright moonlight night, down those 30
miles of river, and without allowing you
moments rest, 1 hurried you forward
You know the sequel-how we massed
behind those hills, and laid that pontoon
bridge below Chickamauga at night, and
IldStlly lldECltu w tllt tDD vi hlSolOh
Ridge. The prolongation of Bragg's
line of investment-clearly there was
not room there for us both, and one of
US had to quit-we had not the remotest
intention of going, and Bragg fell into
the very trap which our General had set
for him. He drew from his center as
against us to such an extent that Thom-
as, with the Army of the Cumberland,
burst out his intrenchments, and swept
the Rebel hosts off that Mission Ridge,
and paused not till the broken fragments
had escaped beyond Ringgold Gap, leav-
ing us masters in the Tennessee Valley.
We, too, took part in the pursuit, and
finding ourselves in the open country at
Greysville. and knowing the poverty of
the storehouses at Chattanooga, I got
leave to conduct you up to the Hiawas-
see, the very garden of the old Chero-
KEGS, where hoped to find meal for you,
and at least corn-stocks for our horses
But we had hardly reached the river
when Wilson, the eever-messenger of hard
work, came bearing letters to me from
Gen. Grant, saying that he hated to call
on us for more marching, but there was
no alternative. We were already fifty
miles i'm the direction of Knoxville,
where Burnside was closely besieged by
the Rebel Longstreet, and needed help.
AU UI1e IlII1e our uleu WeTc Ill ucClutulN
light marching order. Our haversacks,
with the old "three days rations to last
five," had already been drawn out to
seven; but this was no time for hesita-
tion, and we went on to Knoxville and
relieved Burnside from his pressing dan
ger. If, on that occasion, we were lit
tie hard on our Union friends of East
Tennessee, hope they appreciated the
fact that they had as much interest in
the result as we; and as to our Rebel
friends, they know that we, who were
engaged in a national work, ought not to
surfer for food as long as they had any.
1t will not do for me now to dwell on
those interesting times, but there is one
point of history so often misstated that
will venture a correction. You all re-
member that in the Winter of 1884
| left the Fifteenth Corps, and part Of the
| Sixteenth encamped along the railroad
| from Huntsville to Stevenson, while l,
almost alone, returned by river to Mem
phis and Vieksburg, whence, with Nc
Pherson and Hurlbut, we made that
Meridian excursion. The sole and ex-
elusive object of that Winter march was
to prepare the coming grand campaign
of 1854, to drive back the Rebel army OF
Gen. Polk out of Mississippi, and to
break up all railroads there, more especi-
/
the Rebels could not again threaten the
safety of the Mississippi River, which
was deemed vital to our cause, by any
thing but mere cavalry dashes, such as
Forrest was accustomed to make, tenn
pOrary in their nature. OF course l gave
out extensively that we were destined
for Mobile or Montgomery, but had no
Intention of going further than Meridian,
and when we had accomplished that we
returned to the river at our leisure. That
enabled me to spare to Gen. Banks the
| two divisions of Gems. A. j. Smith and
Mower, and also to draw from the river
Gen. Mcpherson with the three divisions
of Veatch, Leggett and Giles A. Smith,
all of which afterward shared with us in
the glOries of the succeeding battles of
the war. have reason to know, also,
that the breaches we made in the rail
roads about Meridian We're not fully re-
paired by the Rebels during the war, and
that they were one of the causes which
in the next Winter compelled Hood to
delay about Florence a whole month
waiting for his clothing and Ammunition,
going to Gen. Thomas the very time he
needed to collect the forces necessary to
whip him on his arrival before Nashville,
including the two divisions of our army
of the Tennessee, which, under A. j.
!
the reputation of this army, to which
they rightfully belonged. "
would like thus to 60 on and trace
the career of this our glorious army
through those eventful times of 1854 and
1865, from the first dash through SEake
Creek Gap, to Resaca, to Kingston, ia
New Hope, Dallas, and Kenesaw, to the
Chattahoochee, around by Roswell to
Decatur, to Atlanta, where our beloved
Mcpherson fell to Savannah, to Sache-
hatchee and Columbia, to Fayetteville
and Goldsborough, to Raleigh and Dur
ham Station, and, last to the capital OF
our country, near 1000 miles of continu-
Gus marching. The time will not per-
NIT me to do justice to so interesting a
subject. But will here again, on this
public occasion, renew my full and will
ing testimony to the noble spirit that al
ways animated this army. It's career was
ever onward-never checked-always
victorious so rapid in motion-so eager
to strike; 1t deserved its name of the
"Whip-lash," !" swung from one flank to
the other, as danger called, night or day,
sunshine or storm.
sometimes feared you thought your
old Commander was hard and unfeeling
but now that it Is all over, now that the
fatigue is forgotten, have no fear that
one of you would willingly spare single