The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-11-11

ToStfQ. Anal il lntn elAnIN sNuhE y IlEHl
back 10 the railroad and fought on, IT of the
time to the front, and then facing b fthe rear
rank and swinging the new left or from the
railroad 10 repulse an attack frOmN hat direc-
tion, and then faced TO the from. yagain; that
that kind Of fighting continued jail day, and
when the battle closed at mig, a the 9th Ind.
was still there, clinging to th6 ground upon
which il went into the fight a the morning
the only regiment in the ArD1 of the Cumber-
land that could say as much.
The General IN his Narrative" sees fit 10
mention us while speaking OF the Chickamauga
campaign ON page l2S he says, The 9th Nv.
lost 80 fearfully, aud with the 9th Ind, both
ighting most calamity, 'ame so much bro
ken as 70 be not al once available for further
use" The General adds. gushngly, " The part
taken by the dlst Ohio at this juncture was
most praiseworthy. This regiment, although
intact, had moved far % the right as 10 be, for
momentary use beyond reach" What part
did il take at that iunctureS The General
neglected to tell us. Let 9th Ind. man tell
that story
IL was about noon that we received orders TO
move north TO the assistance Of Gen. Thomas,
who was heavily engaged.
WE WERE DoUBLE-QUIcKED
for long distance, ] should say some miles,
/ part Of the time on the highway, part OF the
time in cottonfelds and part OF the time
! through growing corn. As we came into line,
/ and while the line was being dressed, the rebel
musk balls began 10 reach Us, and we moved
forward at once into the fight After being
| heavily engaged for some time we were re-
! lieved by Turchin's Brigade, the 29th Ind.
taking our place. We returned, replenished
our ammunition and were at once sent 10 the
/ right; marched upon an elevation of ground,
where there was a house, barn, garden aud the
surroundings of a farmhouse. Before us the
! ground was heavily wooded. There we relieved
n l. l. Il Il ~ ~
! Soon the woods in front Of us became swarmlng
with the enemy, not 100 yards away. We
opened fire and our fire seemed 10 check them.
! We could see plainly the effect. Mounted OIL
GERS went down under special aim. We lost
1 heavily.
After a time the regiment was ordered back.
as ] was informed j did not see it go. Ny
company K and Healy's company o. did not
go with the regiment. As we fell back we met
the regiment returning, and taking our place
we came back with them. I'm short time we
were ordered back again TO the foot OF the hlll.
Here we were ranged along fence. We were
in hollow, the ground rising abruptly before
us and In gradual slope behind us. The bril-
gade was formed behind us about 90 yards
away, on much better ground 10 see than we
were. We might as well
HAVE BEEN IN A BOTTLE.
Almost as soon as we had taken our place, MAJ
ia between us aud the other regiments oi
our brigade, and asked, "What regiment is
ths?" and upon being Informed he said,
THAT is all right" aud made us a little speech
and then rode of. lie had just gone when the
enemy in solid column came at US on both fanks.
At sight of US they began yelling. j remember
one man Of enormous size, who seemed IN ad-
vance. He held his gun in the middle and
flourishng il over his head came yelling on.
] heard one of my men say, Let me plug that
fellow" j watched him and the next moment
he pitched forward heavily upon his face.
At this moment Healy graspod me by the
shoulder and shouted:
"Cap, what is the use OF staying here? The
brigade is gone"
turned and where the brigade had stood in
line when / last looked at them was vacancy,
and the troops were nowhere TO be seen. The
next moment my own men scurried past me
like flock of frightened partridges and fol-
lowed. The ground was rising, aud although
the rebels opened on us they shot over my head
and j could see the poor fellows drop before
me ] could see from time to time the blood
start from a wound in the thigh, body or arm
, and stain the old uniform il ran down, but
the gallant fellows would keep up. One OF my
own men was shot through the arm. lie stop
, ped, looked around, saw me coming on behind
and came back TO me with the question, "Wha
shall i do with nay gung" That same fellow
came TO us the next morning, his wound ye
undressed except some rough dressing OF hi
own. while we were binding a little breast
e work, Of which the General spoke in his " Mar
{ rative" ] said 10 him:
p "Wash, what are you doing herep Did no
, tell you TO look for hospital and have you
wound taken care Off"
lie replied, q" Well, but / had the boys col
fee."
D OF course, that was unanswerable. The boy
must have their coffee.
. But 10 get back TO the 9th Ind. The regi
ment had not gone 200 yards until saw dis
position upon the part of the men TO halt an
reform. i ran up as the men were coming int
0 their places, aud in twO-minutcs' time it wa
: completely reformed, ready for what was {
come Meanwhile, Gen Hazen had accom-
plished that feat which marked him as
b SPLENDID OFFICER
= for an emergency, which all those who ha
n seen him at Shiloh aud at Stone River kne
e him 10 be- lie had collected all the artiller
s In his reach, and as those solid columns of tn
e enemy emerged into the hollow. he LITERAL
:, swept them from the earth. i think histoT
!, has preserved this achievement Of the Gel
" erals, aud he should have been content wit
= his justy-won laurcls at that time, and II
y Trained from saying Of the 9Th that it becau
~ so broken as to be of no use. The fact is,
W think that the General was al that time, iii
j
- - dogs, il need be, while he seized the meal
ie within his reach to defeat the enemy aud sal
is the battle. We were not broken 10 minute
~ ~ and as we were moved forward again, Ge
a. Hazen rode in our front and halted u.s. j vii
~ some other officers went near him, anxious
70 apologize for the regiment falling back.
Dh were ashamed of IL. We thought Just at ia
* moment that we ought TO have stood befo
Nv Nv that entire rebel army. j was much reliev
az 20 hear the General say, as he did then al
:" there:
SG 'e, "why, you could not stay there. You had
"a fall back"
ca The next day we fought in our place in Ill
on line, which was some distance in front Of {
ga famous Mission Hill. where Thomas Wo
70 and Brannaa made the last desperate stand.
'n' held our post on the line until long after
: 20 the right of the 9Th Ind. were gone a
az there was lighting directly in our rear. AT
nc nc midday we were taken back 10 assist Thorn
po We reached him just as Longstreet was ma
ht ing his last desperate attack. We were order
~ 20 relieve the l25lh Ohio. Col. Opdycke
on REFUSED TO ALLOW IT,
no but suggested that we support him. This
led did by lying down behind his regiment, a
M after il had risen and delivered its fire
would rise, march over il, aud deliver our
aud fall back aud load while the l25th load
arose and fired, and SO alternating with
ole we fired by vollcy until the enemy was
pulsed.
ok, We were then loaned by Gen. Hazen TO G
en- Branuan, and were moved over TO what seen
oar to be the extreme right, where we relieve
of regiment which had not more than ia
our rounds of ammunition remaining. i thinl