Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-08-26
GENERAL GARFIELD
His PePilOuS Ride to
Join Gen. Thomas.
From Edmund Kecne's Life of Garfield.

| iOOSH OilG u lie DldNtSb men anu
| ablest soldiers that ever lived, ROSecranS
has heart as tender and gentle as a wo-
mans. He thinks Garfield is going to
almost certain death, and he loved him
as David loved Jonathan. Again he
wrings MS hand, and they part-Rose-
Grams 10 the rear TO rally his broken
troops, Garfield to perilous ride in pur-
suit OF Thomas.
Capt. Cav goes with Garfield to guide
the way, and two of the orderlies. They
make wide detour to avoid the Confed-
crates, and, by the route they take, ii is
eight miles of tangled forest and open
open road before they get to Thomas,
and at any turn they may come upon
the enemy. They set out in a straight
line for Rossville. Striking in the dark,
painless wood, a tangled undergrowth-of
intertwisted bush and briar, for two
miles they skirt the low bottom-lands of
the Chattanooga Valley.
Near the middle of the valley, on the
banks of Chattanooga Creek, at an open
ing among the trees, they came sudden
ly upon smallpox hospital-an aban-
dOned relic of the enemy. 1t contains
large number of loathsOme, halt-starved
wretcheS, blacks and whites in about
equal numbers. Needless of its nOXiOus
vaporS. Garfield leads the way through
the midst of this peStilential field, and
halts a moment to express sympathy
with its wretched tenants; but time is
precious, and on they go again, through
the cedar brakes, over rough and stony
| fields, and up the nOrtherly slopes of
| Mission Ridge, to the Dry Valley Road.
! Thence their way is clear to ROSsville.
At Rossville they take the Lafayette
Road. guiding their way 10y the sound of
| the firing, and moving cautiously, for
| they are now nearing the battle field.
| The road here is scarcely more than 4
lane thanked Oh one side by thick wood,
and on the other by an open cotton field.
| No troops are i'll sight, and On they gal
| lOp at u rapid pace; and they have left
| ROssville a Thousand yards behind when
suddenly, from along the left of the
road, a vOllCy Of d thousand Mimic balls
! fl Is among them, thick us hail, wound
| ing one horse, killing another, and
! stretching two OrderlieS on the ground
lifeless. They have ridden into an am
buscade of large body Of L0ngstreets
skirmishers and sharp shooters, who,
entering the fatal gap in the right CEN
ter, have pressed thus far upon the
| flank Of Thomas.
Garfield is mounted on magnificent
horse, that knows his bridle-hand as
well as he knows the route to his fOd-
der Putting spurs to his side, he eleaps
| the fence into the cottOn-feld. The OPP
posite fence is lined with gray blouses,
and single glance tells him that they
are loading for another volley. He has
been in tight placrs before, but this is
the tightest. Putting his lips firmly to-
gether, he says to himself, Now is your
time; be man, jim Garfield" He
speaks to his horse, and lays his left
hand gently on the rein of the animal.
| The trained beast yields kindly to his
touch, and pntting the rOAels into his
side, Garfield takes a zigzag course across
the cOtIon-iield. 1t is his only chaHce;
| he must tack from side to side, for he Is
dead man if they get steady aim
upon him.
| He is riding up al inclined plane OF
about 400 yards, and if lie can pass the
crest, he is in safety. But the gray fel-
lows c;,n load and fire twice before he
reaches the summit, and his death is a
thing certain, unless Providence has
more work for him to do on this foot
stool. Up the hill he goes, tacking,
when another vOlley bellows from out
the timber. His horse is struck-a flesh
wOund-but the noble animal only leaps
| forward the faster. Scattering bullets
whiz by his head, but he is within few
| feet of the summit. Another volley ech-
Oes along the hill when he is half over
the crest, but in moment more he is IN
safety As he tears down the slope, Il
small body of mounted blue coats gal
lOpS forward to meet him. AT their
head is Gen. Dan McCook, his face anx-
ious and pallid. "My God, Garlieldf'
he cries, 81 thought you were killed, GER
tain. How you have escaped is mira
cle.' 1t was not long before this bravo
man was himself stretched upon such
another shOt-swept field at Knoxville.
Capt. Cav has had his horse shot under
him at the first fire, and is considerably
hurt by the fall; but somehow he has
managed to dodge the bullets, and crawl
over the crest to the side of McCOOk and
Garfield. NIcCook gives him another
horse, and they start again for the head
quarters of Thomas.
Garfield's horse has been struck twice,
but he is good yet for score of miles;
and at breakneck pace they go forward,
through ploughed fields and tangled for
ests, and over broken and reeky hills, for
four weary miles, till they climb wood
ed crest, and are within sight of Thom-
as. In a slight depression of the ground,
with group of officers about him, he
stands in the open field, while over him
sweeps the storm of shotted fire that
falls in thick rain on the high foot hill
which Garfield is crossing. Shot and
shell and canister plough up the ground
all about Garfield, but in the midst of it
he halts, and with uplifted arm, and
eyes full of tears, he shouts, as he catch
es sight of Thomas, There he is. God
bless the old hero. he has saved the
army"
For moment only he halts, then he
plunges down the hill through the fiery
stolm, and in five minutes is by the side
of Thomas. He has come out unscath
ed from the hurricane of death, for Gods
good angels have warded off the bullets
but his noble horse staggers step or
two, and then falls dead at the feet of
Thomas.
The meeting of the two men l shall
not attempt to describe, for it was too
pdGllcllC 1ol uSoCllpllOll. LII HuAIICuy
broken sentences Garfield tells Thomas
that he is outtlanked, and that at least
seventy thousand men are closing down
upon his right wing, to crush his twon-
ty-five thousand into fragments. He
must withdraw his right wing and form
line again upon the crested horseshoe
which is before them at the base of the
mountain. Quick the orders are given,
and quick the movement is executed, yet
not a moment too soon for yonder from
behind a clump of woods emerges the
head of Longstreet's bristling columns.
But Thomas's men are few, and his line
falls short by three hundred feet of the
spur of the mountain. Longstreet sees
this gap, heads his column for it, and in
a moment more will have struck Thom-
as on flank and rear fatally.
At this critical moment heavy col