Buchanan County bulletin and guardian., 1869-02-19

under the caves OF that dripping ironr Or
shall they climb 10 the cloud Of death above
them, and pluck out its lghtnngs as they
would straws from sheaf Of wheat? But
the order was not given. And now the arc
Of fire on the crest grows fercer and longer.
The reconnaissance Of Monday had failed to
develop the heavy metal Of the enemy. The
dell fringe Of The hill kindles with the fash
Of great guns count the heeces Of white
smoke that dot the Ridge, - battery after
battery opens upon our line, until from the
ends 0: ths growing arc they sweep downup.
on it in mighty Xs offre. count till that
devils girdle numbers thirteen batteries, and
my heart cries out, "Great God, when shall
the end be!' There is poem learned in
childhood, and 40 did you: il is Campbell's
Hohenlinden." One line never knewthe
meaning Of until read it written along that
bill! Il has lighted up the whole poem for
me with the glow Of battle forever:
"And louder than the bolts of heaven,
Far flashed the red artillery"
Al this moment, General Granger's aides
are dashng out with an order; they ratia,e
over the field, TO left, right, and front; "Take
the Ridge if you cam" Take the Ridge II
you csn"-and 80 it went along the line.
out it. Stout.heared Wood, the iron gray
veteran, is rallYing on bis men stormy Tar-
chin is delivering brave words in bad Eng>
lish Sheridan" little Phif'-you may ea>
silly look down upon him without climbing q
tree, and see one Of the most gallant leaders
of the age if you do--is riding to and fro
along the first line Of rife-pi,s as calmly a.
a chess-player. An aide rides Up with the
order. avery, that flask" said the Gener-
al. Quietly filing the pewter cup, Sheridan
looks up at the battery that frowns above
him, by Bragg's headquarters, shakes his cap
amid that storm of every thing that kills.
when you could hardly hold out your hand
without catching bullet in it, and with a
" how are your" tosses off the cup. The
blue battle flag ofthe rebels fu,tered = re-
sponse 10 the cool salute, and the next in
slant the battery let fly its six guns, shower
ing Sheridan with earth. Abiding to that
compliment with any thing but blank cart.
ridge, the General said to me in his quiet
way, thought it - ungenerous u The
recording angel will drop tear upon The
word for the part he played thatday. Wheel.
ing toward the men, be cheered them to the
charge, and made at the hill like . bold RI
ding hunter they were out of the ri6e>p pits,
and into the tempest, and struggling up the
steep, before you could get breath TO tell it,
and so they were throughout the inspired
line.
And now you have before you one Of the
most startling episodes of the war cannot
remember it in words dictionaries are beg.
carly things. But / may tell you they did
not storm that mountain a. you would think.
They dash out little way, and then slack
en- they creep up, hand over hand, loading
and firing, and wavering and hal.ing, from
the FIRST line Of works to the second; they
burst into charge with cheer, and 70 over
it. Sheets of fame baptize them plpn2ing
shot tear away comrades on left and right !;
it is no longer shoulder to shoulder; j. is
Con for US all Under tree trunks, among
rocks, stumbling over the dead, struggling
with the living, facing the steady fire Of eight
thousand infantry poured down upon their
heads as if it we're the old historic curse from
heaven, they wrestle with the Ridge. Ten,
fifteen, twenty minutes 60 BY like reluctant
century. The batteries roll like drum !;
between the second and last lines of rebel
works is the torrid one Of the battle; the hill
sways up like wall before them at an angle
Of forty>fve degrees, but our brave noun
taineers are elambering steadily on up
upward still You may think it tstrsnge, but
would not have recalled them if l could.
They would have lifted you, as they did me,
in full view Of the heroic grandeur: they
seemed to be spurning the dull earth under
their feet, and going up to do Homeric bat
tie with the greater gods.
And what do those men follow? II you
look you shall zee that the thirteen thousand
are not . rushing herd OF human creatures
that along the Gothic roof Of the Ridge .
row Of inverted vs. is slowly moving up in
lire, mighty lettering on the hills broad
side. At the angles Of those VS. is some
thing that giitters like wing. Your heart
gives great bound when you think what il
is-the reginaental fag-and glsncisg along
the front count fifteen Of those colors that
we're borne at Pea Ridge, waved at Shiloh,
glori6ed at Stone River, riddled at Chicka>
maugs. Nobier than C@ssr's rent mantle
are they all! And up move the banners,
now Auttering like wounded bird, now fal.
tering, now sinking out of sight. Three
times the flag OF one regiment goes down.
Aud you know why. Three dead color-ser>
geants lie just there, but the flag is immor>
tal-thank Godl-and up it comes again,
and the We move on. At the left of Wood,
three regiments Of Baird-Turchin, the Rus
sian thunderbolt, is ,here-hurl themselves
against bold point strong with rebel works;
for . long quarter Of an hour three flags are
perched aud motionless on . plateau under
the frown of the hill. Will they linger for
ever? glue look at the sun behind me
it Is not more than hands Lreadthfrom the
edge of the mountain its level rays bridge
the valley from Chattanooga to the Ridge
with beams Of gold it shines in the rebel
faces; it brings out the Federal blue it
touches up the dags. Oh, for the voice that
could bid the sun stand still / turn to the
battle again: those three hags have taken
fight! They are upward bound.
The race Of the flags is growing every mo
ment more terrible. There at the right, a
strange thing catches the eye; one of the In
vertsd vs. is turning right side up. The men
struggling along the conyerging lines to |
overtake the flag have distanced it. and there |
the colors are, sinking down in the centre |
between the rising Aanks. The liue wasers
like great billow aud up comes the banner
again, ss if heaved ON . surge's shoulder.
TIE iron sledges beat on. Hearts, loyaland
brave, are on the anvil, all the way from base |
to summit Of Mission Ridge, but those dread. |
ful hammers never intermit. Swarms Of |
bullets sweep the hill; you can count twenty |
eight balls in one little tree. Things are
growing desperate up slofi the rebels tum.
BILE rocks upon the rising line; they light the |
fuses and roll shells down the steep; they
load the guns with handtnls Of cartridges in |
their haste and as if there were powder in |
the word, they shout Chickamauga! !" down |
upon the mountainsers. But it would not |
all do, and just as the sun, weary of the
scene, was sinking out Of sight, with mag
ni6cent bursts oil along the line, exactly AZ
you have seen the crested seas leap up at |
the breakwater, the advance surgsd over the
crest, and in q minute those flags auttered
along the fringe where fifty rebel guns were
GoD bless the Gag GoD save
the Union!
What colors were frst upon the mountain
battlement l dare not try to say bright hon.
Or itself may be proud to bear-usy, proud
10 follow the hindmost. Foot by foot they
had fought up the steep, slippery with much
blood ; let them 60 to glory together. A
minute and they we're all there, futtering
along the ridge from left to right. The reb>
81 hordes rolled off to the north, rolled off to
the east, like the clouds of q worn out storm.
Bragg, ten minutes before, was putting men
back in the rifie-pits. His gallant gray Was
straining nerve for him now, and the man
rode on horseback into Dixie's bosom, who
arrayed in some prophets discarded mantle,
foretold on Monday that the Yankees would |