Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-09-25
ARMY SKETCHES
A Eee0llectiOn Of Fort DoneIson-supDorf-
ing the Second Iowa.

I'd sooner be with an ASSEMBLING party
any time, said Adjt. Books, ''than lay
! supporting battery with no chance to
! help yourself"
Young man" said the major of the
! sixth Ohio, "yOU have evidently been
! supporting battery where the enemy
] got the dead on you. In that case I'll
admit that it's very unhealthy: but,
while I've not the slightest ambition to
/ participate IN either exercise, I prefer
/ the supporting business"
] The two eX-Oficers were living on the
/ breezy summit Of Pen Mar, the other
day, taking a bird's-eye view of a large
/ slice Of the old battle fields of Maryland
and Virginia.
"MsjOr, tell US about that little squirt
/ you had at Fort DOnelson," asked an
/ illustrious Sunday soldier from the
! Gettysburg picnic.
Boys, with the exception of the fact
/ that 1 have distinct and vivid recollec-
/ ton Of being scared like the devil, I don't
! believe l can tell much about it.
/ You must know that we had been lying
/ in front of DOnelsOn until a good many
/ people began to think We had gone
down there to settle and grow up with
/ the country. For days we had been
waiting IN feVerish expectancy Of we
knew not what, for almost anything
seemed likely to happen. So matters
went on until the morning of the event
| full Saturday, which rose bright and clear,
seemingly the harbinger Of anything
rather than Of death and destruction,
/ The morning passed in quietness; but
about noon word came that far down on
/ our right the rebels had attempted to cut
their way out. They were driven back,
/ but the fight was bloody, and was said to
! have cost US 500 men.
I Il il. IL
/ out to commanders to be Vigilant, as it
was thought the enemy would attempt
/ to break through near US. The warning
was generally conveyed:
/ Keep your eye skinned, colonel; the
/ JOhnnies are going to make a break
| somewhere along here"
We lay in frOntOf large glen or ravine,
and our right was a continuous chain Of
! regiments extending to the river. On
our left was the Second Iowa. This was
/ all had seen OF our position, and con-
sequently it is all I can tell you about it,
! just as it appeared to me.
! We had not long to wait before an or
derby rode by and said large body Of
rebels was moving up in front Of US.
"Fall in" was softly called along the
! line, and the men arose from their luXu-
rious Iolling in the sand and dust and
stood beside their stacked arms. Then
but said nothing. All this time the sharp
shooters along the line were unusually
busy, and repeatedly dropped men who
| showed themselves on the other side.
/ We believed they saw the enemy muster
ing in force, behind his breastWOrks.
i Everything seemed to indicate sOrtie
! from the rebels, and that we were to
drive them back as they had been driven
/ back in the morning. The men took
. Ahafvs Ann Fnncannd their
pistols holsters. hooked up my cavalry
sabre, unbOttOned my OvercOat, so that L
could throw it off easily, and took my
place beside the Lieutenant-C Colonel,
with whom I was to act that day.
Then came a painful, unpleasant pause;
we heard nothing, saw nothing, yet we
knew that something was coming, with
out having an idea what it was. 1t came
directly-nOt what we expected. 1t was
only an order from thesGeneral that we
were to move to the left and support the
Second Iowa.
Second Iowa gets as much wages as
we do" grow led Lieut.. Davis: why the
devil can't she support herself?"
left face, forward, march !" command
ed the Colonel, and we passed along
through the thick trees in a column two
abreast. But the Second was not where
it had been in the morning. We moved
on and in a few moments passed its
camp-fires-a few more and we were out
on an open field.
At q glance the real object of the move
ment was apparent. 1t came upon us in
an instant ike the lifting Of a curtain.
The Fourteenth Iowa was hurrying
down through the field. The Second, in
a long line, was struggling up the OppO-
site hill, where two glens met and form
ed a ridge. 1t was high and steep,
slippery with mud and sloppy with melt
ed snow. At the top the rebel ] east
works flashed and smoked, whilst to the
right and left, up either glen, cannon
were laundering.
The attempt looked desperate. Down
through the field we went and began to
climb the hill. At the very foot found
we were in the line Of fire. Rife balls
Kissed and sung over US, and wounded,
, bleeding men lay all around, or we're
painfully dragging themselves down the
hill. From the foot to the breastWorks
the Second Iowa left long line of dead
and wounded upon the ground, The
sight Of these was the most appalling
feature of the scene and for a moment
/ completely diverted my attention from
the firing.
A third of the way up the slope we
came under the fire Of the batteries.
The shot, and more especially the shell,
came with the rushing, crashing of a
locomotive on a railroad. You heard the
boom of the cannon up the ravine-then
the sound of the shetland then felt the
rushing at you. At the top Of the hill
the rattle Of nusketry sounded like the
explosion Of countless packs of FIRE
crackers, while the bullets whizzed,
Whistled sung and came with that per
suasive Zip" which makes a man want
to get behind something, If It is only a
rye straw. The explosion Of the shells
produced a much less demOralizing effect
They exploded like a large powder
cracker thrown In the air. There was q
huge bang-fragments few about, and