The National tribune., 1884-10-30
"LET UP"
Comrade Morris Thinks He Has Been Pounded
Enough.

To THE EDITOR: A little squib sent to THE
NATIONAL TRIBUNE, headed Bruinsburg,"
has stirred the boys up and | am happy. l
Will submit to any corrections that correct like
a little angel. For instance, it.seems that |
am off as to the date of crossing the river and
the battle of Port Gibson. / stand corrected,
and henceforth 1.-THE battle-shail be the 1st
of May. So you fellows need not pound me any
more about that. As to the SD Ill. and the
First Brigade (BentOn'sl being the first organ
ization, as a regiment or brigade, to cross the
river on that famous campaign, / still hold
out, and need more pounding to convince me
l am in error. If there were a couple of COM
panies of the 10th Ind. there when we landed,
as Comrade Swigart of the 46tb says, had
forgotten it, and if the whole of that regiment
was there, then that regiment deserves the
honor. / have always believed that our
brigade (Benton's) was the first brigade across
the river; and we did not stop to pack up
five days ratons either, but struck right out
through the .jimpson weeds for taller timber.
Carr's or HOveys Divisions have no need to
steal honors, for they won their full share, and
worked shoulder to shoulder on the Vicksburg
campaign.
Comrades Martin and Swigart, of the 46th
Ind, are both little mixed. Martin says
Benton took the battery and the credit also,
and as the SD III. was one of the four regiments
of Benton's Brigade, it shares in the honor. A
neither the 33d or any of Benton's Brigade
had anything to with the capture of the bat
terry" and again, a little further on, he says,
ave came to another ravine between us and
where Benton's Brigade was contending against
overwhelming odds" Yes, We were there,
right in front of you when you came up, and
had been there in short rifle range all the
morning, and it was your welcome help that
gave us the nerve to go on over, and you were
with us, and regimental organizations were
considerably broken up for the moment, and
we had little halalujah time there by our
selves while the Johnnies were humping
themselves to get out of the way, and Oster-
haus was whoopin' it up to them on the left.
Comrade A. c. Sherman, of the 18th Ind, was
mentioned at the time as being the first man
to touch the captured guns, and Thomas Nagle,
of the same regiment, downed rebel color
bearer and took his flag, which is now hanging
in the State House at indianapolis; yet Com
rade Martin winds up by saying that to the
Bath Ind. belongs the honor of its capture"
The mixture of Comrade Swigert is bad as to
the fight. BentOn's Brigade was not relieved;
we were there at 2 o'clock in the morning and
had the honor of opening that terrible fight,
and we were humping ourselves around on that
battlefield until dark, and lay down in q
plOwed field that night, and were up helping
the birds sing in the morning and found the
Johnnes gone.
Neither were we "driven off" by anything
that day, Comrade Swigert; that wasn't what
we were there for. We did not have 20
minutes to make coffee in; we just sucked
the juice out of hard tack RS we did for sup
per, and walked up to the rack.-C. ID. MORRIS,
Co. E, 33d ILL.,, Columbus, Kan.