Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-08-17

" "a az, ,e mem mem of different regiments
Ohio Indiana and Illinois-croucne
BEHIND Inc ear,sworks contain
ing the guns, and ps Tho seni :,
lshlng with the enemy. Inc SEMI
oalcer--one of the line--assunied com
mand, and there were two iieuteh' AM ~
and several non.commiseioned once
who gave him good support. A hnrIlet
counsel OF war was held, and that naholu
Of men resolved to stay there ana holu
those guns. A regimentai flag which nae
been left in the retreat was planted OIL
the earthworks, and hankers were thrown
out. The men were cautioned TO AVOID
needless exposure of themselves, but to
shoot every time they saw rebel. And
there, every man on the alert, that little
force held the front llne-the middle
ground, as 1t were-between the two
great armies.
At nightfall the rebels could be seen
forming outside of their breastworks,
and as the federals watched them, 1t be-
came apparent that their object was to
retake the guns they had lost Ia the after
noon. The officer In command of the lit
tie federal force cautioned his men to re-
serve their fire until the word Of command
and then TO fire with yell. When the
Confederate line had advanced to within
twenty yards of the guns, the federal off,
Ger jumped to his feet and shouted the
command "tlre!" The men obeyed with a
cheer that echoed through the hills. The
volleY was an effective, a deadly one,
the cheer was taken up by the
thousands of federal soldiers in
the rear, The rebels halted
and wavered-aDd then, evidently think
ing the whole of Sherman's army was
coming, they broke and ran.
The little advance guard retained its
position until about nine O'Clock, when
brigade came and relieved IT, The bullet
riddled flag was taken from the earth
works, and the men marched off the field
with colors flying. When they reported
to their different regiments they were
welcomed almost as from the dead, for
they had been counted as among the
killed or captured. Indeed, in
dispatches sent to the North that
evening the officers and men of
that force were accounted for as "lost in
battle" Imagine the surprise of the off.
GERS and men of the division which made
the gallant charge up the hill and cap
tured the battery, to see few weeks
later In Frank Leslie's illustrated News
paper picture presenting the men of
another division, which had not taken
part In the charge, digging a trench, I'M
der heavy fire, by which TO take away
the guns they had captured from the
rebels that afternoon. And thus, in his.
tory, the credit of notable capture was
given to the wrong troops. The sortie
mad by the rebels to retake their guns,
which was repulsed as described above,
was really the end of the battle of
Resaoa, Sunday, May 10, 1864. In the
morning there was no enemy In our i'm
mediate front.
The day after the battle letter written
ty the captain OF the captured battery
was intercepted, II read as follows:
REsACA, May 10, lS64.--MY DEAR
WIFE; John Thompson is going home
to Cassyille, wounded. The Yankees
upon my battery this p. M, and
captured two sections of 1t. Many
OF the men in attendance were
wounded. 1t was as daring an exploit as
when my brothers. battery was captured
at Antietam, Va, by New York regi-
ment. They threw themselves into the
tort as unconscious Of danger as ducks
into pond. Tell Joe and Will to stow
away everything of value, fearInr we
shall have to fall back from here; we
do the Yankees will get everything W lin
their reach. Hooker's command we iad
to fight here, or else the battery n, yer
would have been taken.
"w. W. CASTER,
After twenty-five years, with the ami
versary of the day near by, the scenes
and incidents Of that memorable after
noon rise wildly before the minds eve
of the writer. He sees lying beside MIN
the dead body Of a beloved comrade, his
forehead pierced by bullet, received
while cauttoning his officer against ex-
posing himself; he sees gallant young
lieutenant borne to the rear with a fatal
wound received in that cruel volley from
our own second line; he sees again the
desperate hand-to-hand fight with
the brave Confederate artillerymen
who fought so hard to save their guns a
gift from the state, and one of them in
scribed "The Belle of Alabama" He
sees the solemn funeral cortege the next
morning, when so many who gave up
their lives that Sunday afternoon were
buried in one long grave. And, as these
scenes pass in review before him, he drops
a tear to the memory of his comrades who
sleep In the trench on the hill at Resaca.
w. M. MEREDITH.