The National tribune., 1885-07-09
DE GRASSES BATTERY.
An Account OF Its Capture and Recapture by On
Who Was There.

Who Was There.
To THE EDITOR: As the battle near Atlanta,
Ca, July %, 1864, and the recapture of De
Grasses battery is again brought up in THE
NATIONAL TRIBUNE, will tell from memory
what saw on that day.
On the 21st of july 1864 was in charge of
Co. d, 55th ILL.,, on the picket or skirmish-line
in front Of Second Division, Fifteenth Corps,
to the left Of the railroad running from De-
catur to Atlanta. In the afternoon / was Or
dered by some Major Il forget who) to advance
in the open field in front of US, the ground
being slightly elevated and occupied by the
rebel pickets who offered but little resistance
and fell back. We fortified our position for
the night and held it; of course, there being
other pickets on my right and left. During
the night we heard considerable racket in our
'front.' and some of the boys would have it that
the rebels were evacuating Atlanta.
On the morning of July %, between and
o'clock, Co. F of our regiment come to us, as
supposed, to relieve Co. ID, but in that l was
mistaken. They were deployed as skirmish
ers and / was ordered to follow up as reserve
to them. On we went and soon came to line
of works near the Howard House, which the
rebels had evacuated during the previous night.
"Now," some of the boys said, Eve are going
into Atlanta" After crossing these works we
found the Johnnies A Sergeant Of Co. was
here severely wounded and taken to the rear
think the whole Fifteenth Corps soon moved
up to these works. We went on as far as the
rebels would let us. There were several large
piles of lumber and some framed timber near
the railroad, which we passed and got into a
garden, which surrounded a small house. We
had rail fence for protection. After awhile
the 111th ILL., formed in our rear as reserve
where they soon built a line of works out of
the framed timbers behind us. To our right
close to the railroad, there was a section of a
battery of two guns Il never knew what bat
terry they belonged to- in line with the 111th ILL.,
We could hear the heavy fighting on our left
by the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, which
was kept up till the afternoon. do not know
what time it was when Lieutenant of the 9th
Mo-, who was also the skirmish-line with
some of his men, called my attention to the
fact that the rebels were forming outside their
main line in two lines of battle. We soon
knew what that meant-a charge, of course.
We gave notice along the line, and they were
soon on to u.s. Our skirmish-line was not long
getting back to where tho 111th Ill. was sta
toned. l told the Major of that regiment
what was coming. He replied that his men
could hold them but what was one regiment
and a few skirmishers against the bulk of
Hoods army? They came with a rush.
stayed with the 111th ILL.,, which did good
work. but they were soon outfanked on both
sides, right and left. got out of there and
got behind the piles of lumber spoken of before,
and with some of the men got back to the main
line near the Howard House. What became Of
the 111th and the section of artillery probably
some of them can tell better than / can. Four
of my company were captured and sent to An
Jacksonville. Ijoined my reg giment, which was
stationed to the left of the railroad, the 57th
Ohio nearest, and my own, the second regiment,
short distance from the railroad, with De
Grasses battery on the other side of the rail-
road cut.
+ Our line at this point and to our left was not
IL
ments from the Second Division taken out and
sent to the assistance of the Seventeenth Corps,
and they had not yet returned. In less time
than / can tell this Hoods army came OH a
charge. We kept them out nicely in our i'm
mediate front, but they went for the railroad
cut and got through, and also to the right of
De Grasses battery, where there was no close
connection with other troops. Now the 57th
Ohio gave way and then the 55th Ill. was
overpowered. Capt. Shaw, commanding the
regiment tried his best to change front, but
the rebel forces were too much for us, and CON-
PEELED US to leave the works, Lieut. Eichel.
barger being killed and many good boy sent
to his long home Sixteen were captured. The
color-bearer, J. w. Gay, brave boy with the
colors, was captured. But the rebels were not
long in possession of the works. Our men of
the Second Division, Fifteenth Corps, were raj
lied in a short time under the personal leader
ship of Gen. John A. Logan, who brought them
up. brigade of the Sixteenth Corps came
up on our right, and also the First Divis-
ion, Fifteenth Corps on the right of the rail-
road, came up at the same time, and De
Grasses battery was taken back. Now, who
took the battery? The brigade of the Six
teenth Corps must have been nearest to it in
the charge, but l think all the above troops
had hand in taking it. We were soon i'll
possession of our works. A lot of prisoners
were also taken. Pickets were sent out again
to the same place, and so ended the battle of
July %, 1864. with us.-JACoB FINK, First
Lieutenant, Co. d. 55th Ill, Canton. Ill.