The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1889-09-07
MAGNIFICENT FiGHTtNG.

4 As one advances inHthe study OF the
battle of Chicka1nauga he; must, at
every step, become more and more i'm
pressed with the magnifcence of the
Confederate fighting. Since the first
assertion that Chickamauga was for both
sides the bloodiest battle of the war, in
proportion to numbers and the time of
the. engagement, and that it far OUT
ranked in the percentage of killed and
wounded any Of the battles of modern
Europe, there has been an Industrious
searching of records, both of our own
war and of recent famous foreign cam
paigns, to test the accuracy of the
claims made for Chickamauga. But the
further the investigation has proceeded,
and is now sufficiently completed to al
low general. results to be stated with
certainty, the more clearly the truth of
the first assertion has been made to ap-
pear. It's not strange, Therefore, that
the discussions of the pass year, which
has served to dispel so many of the mis-.
approximations which clouded the public
mind in regard to this battle, and
dWarfed it in the history of the country,
should have created such widespread in.
terest in its real history, and raised it al
once to the very front rank of the most
notable engagements of our war.
The marvel of German fighting in the
great battles of Mars la Tour was per
formed by the Third Westphalian regi.
ment 1t suffered the heaviest loss in
the German army during the Franco
Prussian war. 1t went into the battle
5000 strong, and it's loss was 49.4 per
cent. There was nothing in the cam.
paigns of which this formed part which
exceeded these figures, and they became
famous throughout the German army.
And yet in our war there were over six
ty regiments whose losses exceeded this.
Seventeen of them lost above 60 pei
cent, and quite number ranged from
~ TO 80. There were over score OF
regiments on each side at Chickamauga
whose loss exceeded that of the West
phalian regiment.
But the object of this letter is more
particularly to set forth the character
Of the splendid fighting performed by
every portion of Bragg's army on this
noted field in Georgia.
The battle of SATURDAY. opened in front
OF General Brannan, on the extreme
Confederate right, and here brigade 81
Forest cavalry, dismounted, assisted
almost immediately by Confederate in.
fantry, assaulted the Union lines. AS
they we're driven back by an overwhelm.
ing fire they were continuously rein.
forced for nearly four hours. The bat.
tie was continuous and constantly a,
short range. In fact it was a distin.
guished feature of the whole two DAYS
battle that most of the fighting was al
close range. much of it hand to hand,
with the bayonet and dubbed muskets.
FORESTS men in front of Brannan as.
saulted time and again, marching up
into the very faces of the Union in
fantry, and in their final effort came on
four lines deep, with their hats drawn
down over their faces, and bending for
ward against the storm of lead as men
face the elements. The rapid fire OF
long and well-trained infantry seemed
to have no effect upon these vetex.
ans, and it was not until they had
marched up into the line of fire of bat
teries, which, with double-shotted can
lister, enflladed their ranks at a murder
Gus range, that their advance was check
ca. Even here they stood and fought
with desperation. Ector and Wilson, OF
Walkers division, and Walthall and
Govan, of LiddelPs, all marching to the
assistance OF those contending in this
hell OF battle, became, in turn, as hotly
engaged themselves in front of Baird,
and for hours on this portion of the field
the scene just described on the extreme
confederate right was repeated for all OF
these brigades. At the first onset
Walthall and Govan drove their lines
over the flank of the regular brigade
and captured its battery, only to be
themselves pushed back again almost al
the point of the bayonet, and so shat
tered from their own courageous ex.
posture at short range as to be practi.
cally put out of the fight for several
hours. Nothing could exceed the valor
OF these troops. There was nothing in
the way of desperate fighting either OF
infantry or artillery which thew were
not called upon to face. And they did
face it with a courage seldom equaled,
and which it was impossible to sur.
pass.
Thus the lines of the two armies,
marching toward the sound of this furi.
Gus battle, closed in toward the positions
OF Brannan and Forrest, each striking
the other, as they came into position
and within reach, with as ponderous and
murderous blows as are ever delivered in
war. Cheatham, moving to the support
OF Walker, turned on johnson with IRE.
slstible force and drove him we'll back.
ward toward the Lafayette road, when
Palmer arriving on Johnson's right
these two divisions, acting in concert
drove Cheatham back mile, and badly
shattered his entire command. Mex
came Hood with Law and Bushrod
Johnson's divisions and one brigade O
Preston's, and these grappled with Davis
and Wood and Sheridan along lines Of
battle that at times were scarcely two
musket lengths apart, and thus till sun.
down this contest ragged in the thick
Woods between the Lafayette road and
the Chickamauga, each line bending
backward as the other delivered its
heaviest blows, and as if gathering
strength by the recoil, in almost every
instance, rushing forward again to SWAY
the opposite side backward in turn.
There was no general stampede on
either side at any point of the first days
battle, but weight of lines and weight Of
metal and the momentum of blows Wig
orously delivered controlled the result
at every point. *~.'.'
Late in the evening of Saturday, whe1
the fighting on, the TANKS had we'll nigh
ceased, came Stewards division of Bate
~AAu O1dy NA anu DFOW0sS Dr1gaQeS
pounding its way past the TANKS Of tw,
Union divisions, and, doubling back the
flank of third, they penetrated be
yond the Lafayette road. Before it!
brave career was checked it had wei
nigh divided the Union line. It is easy
to see that over all this extended are:
OF bitter and continuous fighting thu
loss must have been terrific. The fig
ures to be presented below will make
the character of this fighting, to which
reference has thus been made in mos
inadequate terms, more clearly under
stood. But stubborn and terrific anc
deadly as was the Confederate fighting
of Saturday, it became but ordinary per
formance when compared with the mar
velous exhibition of courage and endur
ance which were exhibited in that army
on Sunday before the Union breast