The National tribune., 1885-06-25
FIGHTING THEM OVER.
What Our Veterans Have to Say About
Their Old Campaigns.
FORT DONELSON AGAIN.
Comrade Lennon Returns to the Charge.


To THE EDITOR: am glad that Comrade
Cannon, SD ILL.,. and myself have stirred an
other comrade to give us bis recollections of
the Feb 3, 1863, fight at Fort Donelson; and
while / am glad, l am also astonished at the
wild shooting OF Comrade Sansom, SD ILL.,, IN
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE OF May 2o, and Will
say TO the comrade, if his shots in that memo
rable Sd OF February battle, i'll which his reg-
ment received its first lesson in fighting john
mics, were as wide of the mark as are those
aimed at myself in the letter referred to, his
work in that bloody fray was OF little avail.
Far be it from ME TO detFact one iota from the
well-earned gallgntry of Col. A. Z. Harding and
the brave boys of the SD in that fight. No,
no. comrade. Your courage displayed on that
bloody day. in common with the Union SOL
diers of the rebellion, i am proud of. How
grandly YOU upheld the cause for which We
were all contending! As to Co. q, 9Th Iowa
Cav, being in that fight as an organization, it
was not. Comrade Cannon says that about
80 men of Go. q had been doing scouting duty
for Col Harding for some days prior TO the
battle; that the day before (perhaps longer)
that event they were taken prisoners while en-
gagged on that duty" and he is correct. 20. u,
5th Iowa Cav, was German company from
Minnesota; all its officers were Germans, and 1
know of but one American in the company.
The detachment on duty at Donelson was in
charge of the Second Lieutenant, whose name
j cannot now recall, and when captured were
engaged III the pleasant paStime OF hlllng their
cantcens with extract OF Indian corn, at an
establishment where that article was made.
Some of the boys escaped capture mot to ex-
ceed I0), the others being paroled and allowed
TO return to camp. Now, do not claim that
our regiment tnor did / in my letter referred
to BY Comrade Sansom) was entitled to the
credit for that victory, only IN SO far that L
said, and l reiterate it, if our regiment had not
been on the enemys rear, and could not have
I.x--
been compelled to surrender, and 1t would have
been no disgrace, either. The comrade flies off
on a tangent, when he says latter telling us
how many men were on duty that morning,
which number j assume to be correct although
he, like myself, seems to be writing from mem-
ory and may be mistaken in that, and also
in designating the several commands to which
they belouged) that "if there was another
soldier at the post that morning later, going to
any other command than the above mentioned,
he was either in the hospital or guard-house."
/ care not who was there in the morning, and
said nothing about that. ! think l stated
plainly that our regiment came from Fort
Henry, Ia miles away. Will the comrade prove
that the 18th Wis. was not, on the Sd, below
the Fort? You say, the 18th Wis. and list
Ohio (or part of it, arrived on the night of the
4th. Mistaken again. Now, comrade, your
regiment, when it took post at Donelson, re-
Geved four companies of the list, under Maj.
when you reflect moment The comrade
thinks the enemy was 5000 strong. At the
time we called it $780, and thought that the
Fort was assailed by about 1900, and were
commanded by Gen. Forrest.
want the comrade 10 know that we found
Johnnies in force very close to Fort Henry, aud
that from the time we struck them we fought
them and pushed our way Oh towards Donelson,
except our battalion, under Maj. Baird, which
pushed off towards Waverly. Any one can see
at glance the rebels outnumbered the Union
troops according to the comrades statement,
more than 10 to one. This is fearful odds, and it
seldom occurs that position, courage and skill
overcome it in pitched battle. The cOmrade
certainly cannot have informed himself as to
the roads in that country while stationed at
Donelson, if he wishes to have US believe that
there was but one road by which Donelson
could be reached from Fort Henry. He tells
us that after the fighting was over, They the
rebels collected their forces in the big hollow
On the west, about the Fort Henry road and we
saw no more of them" Mistaken again as to
the hollow. 1t was the one through which ran
the road to Waverly, and a part of our regi
ment, under LieEt.-COl. Patrick, routed them
out of there. The Fort Henry road proper
came into Dover, the place where the battle was
fought, from down the river, and ran down hill
into town. Now, will wager the comrade a
years subscription to The NATIONAL TRIBUNE,
10 be given to a needy cOmrade of the SD if /
lose, and to 60 TO a needy veteran of the 5th
Iowa Cav. if my statement is correct, viz, that
Col. W. w. Lowe, 5th Iowa Cav, with an escort
from his regiment, was at the headquarters of
Col. A. c. Harding, in Dover, the night of Feb.
3, 1863, about 8 o'clock; that the advance
guard of the regiment preceded him there, and
that while he was talking to Col Harding our
battalion was skirmshing with the enemy less
than three miles from there, on that same Wav-
erly road. And / would be willing to leave it to
Col. Harding, if living. If that officer be not
living, then to Gen. Love- who is resident of
Omaha, Neb., and can be reached. He calls the
second battle skirmish. Now, then of this
he is not capable of judging, because he was
not q participant. I'll venture the assertion
shat the rebel loss in the second fight was
greater, according to the number engaged on
our side, than in the third battle. Our loss was
light, because, to my mind, Maj. Hart managed
the fight with consummate skill, and did not
recklessly expose his men or waste his ammu-
milton. ! think the third battle exhibited
greater daring on the part of commander and
men on our side and less skill, than was brought
out in the second.-J. S. LENNON, Co. u, 5th
Iowa Cav, Oakland, Neb