The National tribune., 1883-09-13
FIGHTING THEM OVER
What Our Veterans Have 10 Say About
Their Old Campaigns.
The sixteenth Corps at Atlanta.

In penning my article on the hattle of July !
22d, before Atlanta, 1 used the term right
OF the army instead of Left" / can't tell /
how ] came to make the error, as know as
well as Comrade Walker, Of the Twelfth Wis |
sconsin, that il was the left" i hope this |
admission Of my error VIII relieve all pressure 4
from his mind. do not claim to be acquainted /
with any of the special movements Of the 1
Seventeenth Corps lalthough had the honor /
Of serving In that splendid corps as member l
of the First brigade. First division, under the 1
gallant Joe Mower, after Atlanta fell till the 1
close of the war and l know not how much /
dirt the splendid old Third division threw /
during the night Of the 2lst of july. All /
claim TO know anything about are the move |
menis Of nay own brigade, but by far the better 1
the movements OF my own regiment.
This do know. that the two divisions Sec |
ond, Sweeney's, and Fourth, Fuller's) caFhped |
the night Of the Goth ia and around Decatur,
Ga The 2lst we marched early, and reached 4
the rear Of the Seventeenth Corps about ) 7. IN. /
and went into camp. think II was IN rear OF /
the Chapiain's Third division. On the evening /
of that same day the Seventeenth Corps as
sauted and gallantly carried Bald Hill 1t
was handsome movement and handsomely
was it executed. All praise to the heroic Third
division.
We lay where we stacked arms all night, and
early next morning moved 10 the extreme lett,
forming a refused flank line Of battle nearly at
ion, II take ConTade Walkers word Seven
teenth Corps / still maintain, and think 9TH
ers viii sustain me in the statement, that after
the assault and capture Of Bald Hill the enemy
evacuated their advance lines and withdrew
into the main defenses Of the city. have
distinct recollection Of passing from our line
with two or three comrades over amongst the /
Seventeenth Corps boys. and looking from
their line across an open field and watching
the enemy at work or their Qualifications The
withdrawal from their advance line and the
occupancy Of that line by our troops only aided
Hood IL his great flank movement that prom
ised So much and fulfilled so little.
Cemrade Walker SAYS that everything on the
left was swept away till his Third division was
struck, and checked by the gallant men OF the
Seventeenth Corps" What revelation What
news to the Fourth division Of the Sixteenth
Corps ] am glad he shows that ne too may
fall into error. This statement does not agree
with his statement Of Mcpherson falling in
the gap between the two corps If any one
was swept away, il was the Third division of
the Seventeenth Corps. l do net believe II
was for il fought too long and well for that.
j know il was not we, Tor we had moved 70
the rear and formed liGe Of battle with our
backs 10 the Seventeenth. No oman indeed, was
swept away, except the brave fellows who were
swept from time TO eternity. The old SIX
teenth never yielded foot. 1t certainly was
not the gallant Nangeiia and his brigade of
forty rounds " that filed the gap where the
beloved Mcpherson fell, for they were not Of
the sweeping kind, and they never yielded an
inch after they went in there, although some one
sedid. with weeping and Wailing and gnashing
OF teeth. do know this, that the veterans OF the
grand old Army Of the Tennessee, the heroes
of a hundred battles and whose comrades Of
the past lie sleeping the sleep Of death on
almost every hin, in every valley, beside
mountain and river, in forest and glade, had
al they could stand against on that bloody
day. If you doubt this ask the old Fifteenth
Corps, Whe left their dead in heaps at the rail-
road cut! Ask the men of old Morgan L.
Smiths command Ask the only unhUrt mem
Der OF the color guard of the Thirty ninth
Ohio, Ask the heroic Morreu, of the Sixty
fourth Illinois, with the blood streaming from
three wounds! Ask the gallant sheldon,
Of the Eighteenth Missouri. and Spaulding, of
the Twenty seventh Ohio. Ask Sweeny. OF the
Second division. ask the Sixty-sixth Illinois,
and the Fourteenth Ohio battery! Ask the
brave boys Of year own corps, whose heroic
dead lined both sides of your intrenchments
Are you satisfied? If not, / must leave you 70
the tender mercies OF yogr own conscience.
All comrade, many home was desolated that
cay, and many poor fellow that fell there
sent his last words 10 loved ones through you,
their chaplain.
Comrade Rumnel of the old Eighteenth
Missouri, shake!" The Thirty-ninth has not
forgotten you, nor our many long, weary
marches, elbow 10 elbow nor the many dan
gers we have shared side by side. / agree
with voc as TO General McPherson's death.
Let Us hear from the old Twenty Ohio,
Eighteenth Missouri and Sixty-fourth Illinois
boys. Who're are youg Wake upl
II. q. HAMRICK,
Co II. Beth o. V. " L
STERLING, KAN, Aug. %, 1888.
From MEMBER OF TIE SAME COMPANY.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
have read the statement Of Conrade Ham
rich, and also the correction Of Cenrade Bos-
worth, OF the Fifteenth Iowa / belonged TO
the same company as Comrade Hamrick,-
company ii, Ihirtv-niEth O. Y. l.-and the
only mistake c0nr:lde HamTick made in his
article was il saying that we were 10 the right
instead o. TO the left and rear Of the Seven
teenth Corps. When the firing Of the enemy
began We took arms and right faced forward
by file right through the woods in the rear Of
the left Of the Seventeenth Corps to save the
provision tran, and We got there just II time,
4or the enemy was after il. We charged them,
and then the rest Of our brigade formed on our
right Wenty-seveuth Ohio, Thirtv-fourth
Illinois arc Eighteenth Miss0uri,-whieh left a
gap OF one thousand yards, and that was where
the enemy captured our battery,-cOmpany T.
Second L. S..-but did not get the guns or Of
the field, and also where General Mcpherson
&c. II, 39ah o. vi
COLUMBUs, o.
COLONEL BLoozFIEDs RECoLLEcTIoSs.
To the Edilor NAgIoSAL TR1BUSE:
The letter Of John 5. B0sw0rth, company K
Fifteenth Iowa, in TIE TRIBUNE Of August
30 has revived my rec0llecti0ns OF the cir
cumstances surrounding tho death Of General
Mcpherson, aud / an tempted 10 state the
situation As ] knew Il. ] was great admirer
OF That aiant officer but / cannot help be-
heVlne that he, with Iaanv other brave men.
went u their death that day because Of The
carelessness or neglect Of himself or some ol
his stad officers. The Army OF the Tennes.
sec, consisting Of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Corps, commanded respectively by
Generals John A. Logan. Frank p Blair and
q. N. Dodge, had crossed the ChattahoocheG
River, and had, during tie 10th and 2fst o.
July, 1864. pressed the enemy back from Deca
tnr towards Atlanta, so that on the morning O.
the 22d, the Fifteenth Corps lay across the line
OF the Chariestown Railroad, facing towards
Atlanta and abont nile from the enemyi
main works, with q skirmiEh line well ad
@anced, 50 that from houses and trees they
could see intOthe city. The Seventeenth Corn
lay Immediately to tha left Of the Fifteenth
Corps, with its extreme left flank refused bu
otherwise entirely unprotected, and the Six
teenth Corps was some distance TO the rear
Early III --le morning Of the 22d, Lieutenant
Colonel George II. Read Twentv-sixfh Illinai