Buchanan County bulletin and guardian., 1869-02-19
rmE CAPrUgE OF MISSION RIDGE.

TINE CAPTURE OF MISSION RIDGE.
The following description Of the assault
and capture Of Mission Ridge is from the
pen Of =. f. Taylor, who wa. an eye witness
of the engagement. In view Of the fact that
Mr.. Taylor is to lecture in this city on the
Oh Of March, we have no doub. our readers
will be greatly iatersstsd il this grand word
painting Of ore Of the most remarkable en-
gagements Of the var. It is probably the
most graphic battle description ever written.
1t was our fortune to b present and to be
wounded in this contest, and we can vouch
for the corrsc,ness Of M. Taylor's wonder-
full description.-ED. BuLLEris.l
At twenty minutes Of four, Granger stood
upon the parapet; the bugle swung idle at
bugler's side, the warbling fife and the grum-
blinng drum unbeard-there WAS to be loud
er talk--six guns, at intervals Of two seconds,
the signal to advance. Strong and steadily
his voice rang out: "Number one, fire
Number two, fire (! Number three, fire, it
seemed 10 me the tolling Of the clock OF jes-
tiny-and when at "Number six, fre!' the
roar throbbed ont with the flash, you should
have seen the dead line that had been lying
behind the works all day, all night, all day
again, come TO resurrection in the twinking
OF an eye--leap like blade from its scab-
bard, aud sweep with q two-mile stroke to-
ward the ridge. From divisions to brigades,
from brgades to regiments, the order ran.
A minute, and the skirmishers depoy a
minute, ard the 6rst great drops begin to
patter along The line q minute, and the mus
kerry is in full play, like the cracking whips
Of hemlock FIRE; men 60 down, here and
there, before your eyes the wind lifts the
smoke and drifts it away over the top Of the
ridge; overy thing is too distinct it is fairly
palpable: you can touch it with your hand.
The divisions Of Wood aud Sheridan are wa
ding breast deep in the valley of death.
] never can tell you what it was like. They
pushed out, leaving nothing behind them.
There was no reservation in that battle. On
moves the line Of skirmishers, like heavy
frown, and after il, at quick time, the splen>
did columns. At right Of us, and lea Of US,
and front Of ~, you can zee the bayonets
glitter in the sun. You cannot persuade
yourself that Bragg was wrong, day or two
ago, when, seeing Hooker noving in, he
said, "Now ~ shall have q Potomsc re-
view !" hat this is not the parade be proph.
esied atAot 4 issof . truth the harvest Of
desth 70 vhieh they 20 down. And 20 thro
hSftings Of woods went the line. Now, ou,
Il ~ epea 4eesnd thsy burst q sbe dou ble-
quick. SHAH ! nli is . Sabbath days jour.
ney, or long one and half mile To me,
that watched, il seemed endless as eternity,
and yet they made it in thirty minutes. The
tempest that now broke upon their heads
was terrible. The enemy's fire burst out Of
the ri6e~pits from base TO summit Of Mission
Ridge; Eve rebel batteries of PARROTS and
Napoleons opened along the crest. Grape
and canister and shot and shell sowed the
ground with rugged iron, and garuished it
With the wounded and the dead. But steady y
and strong our columns move on.
By heavens! Il was splendid sight to see,
For one whs he'd no friend, no brother there !"
but to all loyal hearts, alas and thank God,
those men were friend and brother, both in
one.
And over their leads, as they went, Forts
Wood ard Negley struck straight out like
mighty pugilisas right and left, raining their
iron blows upon the Ridge from base to
crest Forts Palmer and King took up the
quarrel, and Noccssin Point cracked its iery
whips and lashed the rebel left till the wolf
covered in IL corner with growl. Bridges
Battery, from Orchard Knob below, thrust
it ponderous 6sts in the face of the enemy,
and planted blows at will. Our artillery was
doing splendid service. Il laid its shot and
shen wherever it pleased. Had giants car
risa them BY hand they could hardly have
been more accurate. All along the nouns
tain's side, in the rebel rifle pits, on the
crest, they fairly dotted the Ridge. Gener>
al Granger leaped down. sighted a gun, and
in moment, right in front, great volume
Of smoke, like "sAe cloud BY day." lifted of
the summit from among the rebel batteries,
and hung notiOnless, kindling in the sun.
The shot had struck eaisson, and that was
it, dying breath. In FIVE minutes away foat.
ed another. A she'll went crashing through
, building in the cluster that marked Bragg's
headquarters . second killed the skeleton
horses Of . battery at his elbow, third scat.
lered gray mass as if it had been . wasp's
nest.
And oil the while our lines we're moving
On they had burned through the woods and
swept over the rough and rolling ground like
prairie 6re. Never halting, never faltering,
hey charged up the first ri6e-pits with a
cheer, forked out the rebels with their bayo>
nets, and lay there painting for breath. If
he thunder Of guns had been terrible, it was
nov growing sublime it was like the foot.
all Of God on the lodges Of cloud. Our forts
md batteries still thrust out their mighty
arms across the valley; the rebel guns that
ined the arch Of the crest full in our front,
opened like the fan of fLucifer, and converg>
ID their Ere down upon Baird, and Wood,
Ind Sheridan. 1t was rifles and musketry
{ was grape and canister; it was stell and
'ohrapnsl. Mission Ridge was volcanic; q
housand torrents Of red poured over its
brink and rushed together TO its base. And
,ur men we're there, hal:ing for breath
And still the sublime diapason rolled on.
Echoes that never walked before, roared out
rom height to height, and called from the
ar ranges Of Waldron's Ridge TO Lookout.
A. for Mission Ridge, il had Jared to such
music before It was the sounding board"
IT Chickamauga it was behind US then; it
rows and flashes in our faces to-day; the
I'D Army Of the Cumberland was there; it
breasted the storm till the storm was spent.
md left the ground it held the old Army Of
he Cumberland is here! Il shall roll up
he Ridge like o surge to its summit, and
weep triumphant down the other side. Be.
ieve me, that memory aud hope may have
made the heart of many blue coat beat like
! drum. "Beat," did say? The ieverish
,eat Of the battle beats on fifty-eight guns
! minute, BY the watch, is the rate Of its ter>
'ibls throbbing. That hill, ifyou climb it,
will appal you. Furrowed like a summer
allow, bullets as if an oak had shed them
rees clipped and shorn, leaf and limb, as
With The knife Of some heroic gardener pru-
ming back the richer fruit. How you attain
he summit. weary ard breathless, wait to
hear how they went up in the teeth of the
ltorm NO man can tell!
And al the while rebel prisoners have
been streaming out from the rear Of our lines
like the tails Of cloud Of kites. Captured
and disarmed, they needed nobody TO set
them going. The FIRE of their own comrades
was like spurs in a horses flank, and amid
the tempest Of their own brewing they ran
for dear lifs, until they dropped like quails
into The Federal rihe.pits, and were safe.
But our gallant lerions are out in the storm;