The National tribune., 1881-09-03

it was the sOunding-b board of Chicamauga; it
was behind us then; it trowns and flashes in our
faces to-day. The old Army of the Cumberland
was there; it breasted the storm till the storm
was spent, and left the ground it held. The old
Army of the Cumberland is here: it shall roll
up the Ridge like surge to its summit and
sweep triumphant down the other side. That
memory and hope may have made the heart of
many a blue-coat beat like drum. Beat" did
| say? The teverish heart of the battle beats
on; tittyeght guns minute, by the watch is
the rate of its terrible thrObbng That hill, if
you climb it, will appall you FurrOwed like
summer fallOw,-bullets as if an oak had shed
them,-trees clipped and shorn, leaf and limb, as
with the knife Of some heroic gardner pruning
back for richer fruit. How you attain the sum
nit, weary and breathlcss, wait to hear: how
THEY WENT Up IN THE TEETH OF THE STORM
no man can tell!
And all this while prisoners have been stream
ing 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 comrades was like spurs in horses
f1anks, and amid the tempest Of their own brew
ing they ran for dear life until they dropped like
quails into the Federal rfe-pts ana were safe
But gallant legOns are out in the storm:
they have carried the works at the base of the
Ridge; they have fallen like leaves in winter
weather. Blow, dumb bugles,
Sound the recall "Take the rifle pitt WAS
the order and it is as empty of enemies as the
tombs OF the prophets. Shall they turn their
backs to the blast? Shall they sit down under
the caves that drip iron? Or shall they climb
to the cloud of death above them, and pluck out
its lightnings as they would straws from sheaf
Of wheat? And now the arc of fire on the crest
grows tiercer and longer. The reconnaissance of
Monday had failed to develop the heavy metal of
the enemy. The duh fringe Of the hill kindles
with the flash OF great guns. | count the tieeces
of white smoke that dot the Ridge as battery
after battery opens upon our line until from the
ends OF the growing arc they sweep down upon
it in mighty y Of fire | count till that devils
girde numbers thirteen batteries. and my heart
cries out. Great God, when shall the end be-"
There is poem | learned in childhood, and so
did you; it is Campbells "Hohenlinden." One
line | never knew the meaning of until | read it
written along that Hill. 1t has lighted up the
whole poem for me with glow of battle forever:
And louder than the bolts of heaven.
Far flashed the red artillery"
At this moment the commanding generals
aids are dashing out with an order: they radiate
the field to LETT, right, and front: Take the
Ridge if YOU cam" and so it went along the
line. But the advance had already set forth
without it. Stout-hearted Wood the iron-gray
veteran, is rallyng on his men: stormy Turchn
is delivering brave words in bad English: Sheri-
dan-Iittle phil YOU may easily look down
upon him without climbing a tree. and see one
OF the most gallant leaders OF the a@e-is riding
to and fro along the first line of rfe-pts as
calmly as = chess-payer. An aid rides up with
the order. Avery, that flask said the general.
Quietly filling the pewter cup, Sheridan looks up
at the battery that frOwns above him. by Bragg's
headquarters, shakes his cap amid that storm of
everything that kills, when YOU could hardly
hold your hand without catching bullet in it,
and with
HOW ARE YOU?"
tosscs off the cup. The blue battle-hag of the
enemy futtered Il response to the cool salute and
the next instant the battery let fly its six guns
sh0wering Sheridan with earth Abiding to that
compliment with anything but blank cartridge
the General said in his quiet way. / thought it
id ungenerous," The recording angel will
drop tear upon the word for the part he played
tn At day. Wheeling toward the men, he cheered
them TO the charge, and made at the hill like a
bold-rdng hunter They We're out of the rifle
pits and into the tempest and struggling up the
steep before you could get breath to tell it: and
they Were throughout the inspired line
And now You have before YOU one of the most
startling episodes of the war | cannot render
it in words: dictionaries are beg.ary things
But may tell you they did not storm that
mountain as you would think They dash out
a little way, and then sacken: they creep up, +
hand over hand, loading and firing and wavering .
and hating, from the first line of works toward .
the sec0nd they burst into charge with a
cheer and go over it. Sheets of flame baptiZe
them; plunging shot tear away comrades on left
and right; 1t is no longer shoulder to shoulder:
it is God for us all Under tree-trunks among
rocks, stumbling over the dead. struggling with
the living, facing the steady fire of eight thou
sand infantry poured down upon their heads as
if it were the old historic curse from heaven,
they wrestle with the Ridge. Ten, fifteen twenty
minutes 90 by like a reluctant century The
batteries roll like a drum: between the second
md the last line of works is the t0rrid zone of
he battle; the hill sways up like wall before
item at an angle of tOrty-ve degrees, but our
bAve mOuntaineerS are cambering steadily on
uI-upWard still. You may think it strange,
bu | would not have recalled those men if |
Nav h.,,-n IL