The National tribune., 1883-06-28
"reminiscences Of the First Battle of the War.


To-day-Jeue g. Isis the tgenty-second ami
verssry of the first land engagement of the
On Sunday mor,sing, June q lSii, brigade Of The
Union srrny. Under command of Colonel Kelley, of
t. First Virginia. together with the Sixth Seventh
ard Ninth Indiana and Fourteenth and Sixteenth
Chic left camp ut Fe.ternlan and Grafton, Va.
forced march for--sio one knew where, but the
troops pushed rapidly forward the entire day
and night, following the Tygart Valley River
after dark and fording and re-fording that noun
tain stream numerous times. The night was very
dark. the bed OF the stream quite rocky, and the
water at times waist deep, while the rain sies
cended IN torrents. Finally, the command left the
valley and followed a trail or bride path across
the mountain. 1t was now so dark the men could
hardly distinguish their file-leaders, and while
stumbling along over stones and into holes, the
men were brought suddenly to sense of their
situation by rapid firing in front. The command,
: Fix bayohetsi was given, and in this way they
marched mile or two over this rough, dark path
endangerng each other with their bayonets.
Morning came, and the tagged and wornogt col
uiiln of men were greeted with the flash and deep
roar of cannon directly III their front, and the
sereeeliins of shells overhead. Fifteen or twenty
cannon shots We're fired, when (the colors having
been unturied IL the IneGntlnel the battery made
the discovery that they had been firing their
own men. 1t the Cleveland (0hiol Battery,
Colonel Barnett who had taken position 20 open
an attack the eEeaiy's front. while the troops
they took TO he Confederate re-cnforeements had
their guide not missed his way would have taken
their position three miles to the the Bever
ley pike, to cut of the retreat The Ninth Indiana
BInior-GenefaI p. ii. BiiIroyis regiment double
euicked up She side of the mountain, and gaining
the top. looked down upon the town of Phiiippi.
which seemingly lay al heir feet along the Tygart
Valley ihe battery turned upon the Town,
where citizens and soldiers fleeing in great
confusion. Just around spur of the mountain,
upon which the Ninth Indiana had halted they
spied detachment of Confederate soldiers crossing
q meadow, evidently for the purpose of getting
under and escaping III the mountains; but
before parting, the Ninth By way of introduction,
gave them voliey from their mimic rifles. The
ConfedeTates were company +, of the Twenty-iiith
Virginia; and in that company was VIM IL Ham
resident of this place the past sixteen
years bnl mt that time 81 the vicinity OF Ssaunton,
Va. In company +, Ninth indiana infantry,
the writer, also citizen of this place for the past
seventeen years. but at the time mentioned citi-
zen Ia Porte. Ind. This strange meeting OF
1851 has resulted IN many pleasant reunions since,
and the Gnniversafy-.iune sis seldom forgotten.
Mr.. Hammer says he thought there were several
thousand shots fred in that voiiey, but he could
not account for the continuous swapping of tue
The Ninth Indiana YVES armed with the Springfield
mimic rife, the fuse self printing locks had be-
. come danpenea i'll the rain which we had been
exposed to during the night, thus causing the snap
ping of several fuses before enc would ignite the
cartridge.
The first amputation of the war was performed
by Surgeon New, OF the Seventh Indiana. at this
tine and place. upon the leg of Confederate
citizen. who. with a number of soldiers, had
been observed to go into a barn to get out their
horses and fly for their lives. A six-pound solid
round cannon shot struck the ground about thirty
feet OFF, and CHANGING, struck the barn. and after
wounding this man, who was getting out his horse
and passing through several stalls dropped on the
floor. The shot was nom the Cleveland Battery.
The gunner who ranlled the shot down the gun
picked it up and said he would Keep it in memory
of the first battle.
The writer was present In the barn at the time
the shot picked up, and both and had 1t in
his hands The wounded man was found up in the
haymow alone, where he had climbed, unaided,
with his wounded leg hanging by small part OF the
skin. and there, in the NOW, the amputation was
performed. Thewriter distinctly remembers being
present in the NOW while some heartless soldiers
were viewing the limb by turning it over and over
with q pitchiork. VIII not some who pre-
sent or knows of this shot or ampntation, please
speak through the columns of The TRIBUNE?
MIR. Hammer passed through some forty battles
unframed, and was prisoner of war three months
at Point Lookout and eleven months at Eln1ira
prisons. He is a valuable eitizen-contraetor and
builder and the subscriber is Disciple of Faust "
III the art preservative of all arts. And while our
memory wanders back 70 the warriors of 1851 and
this strange introduction and the four years of
waged warfare, we forget that crossed swords,
for both now members of Garfield COM
| mandery, No. %, K. T., of this place.
j. L. MmLKAN.
WASHINGTON G. r., ONO.