The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-05-08
Battery D AZ anlIetnm.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: ] see in your
issue Of the 10th that Comrade j. f. Otis, of
Denmark, y. Y, Co. l., 3jth \. Y, says
the Story Of q C,nnoneer" is not correct
In giving The position Of Stewards battery
The called IL Gibbon's) at the battle of An.
tieiam. Now, ! did not read "Cannoneer's"
description Of the battle OF Antieiafn, but was
there myself aud IN the tbicEest OF the fight,
with Battery i. The position Of the battery,
which C0mTado Otis attempts 10 describe, was
70 the hight Of the road as We faced the enemy
One piece was in the road 1.-THE Sharpsburg
pike IL was right on tie brow Of a little
ridge, close 10 some buildings. ] was No.
cannOneer Oh the gun in the road. There was
a straight rail fence IN front. The buildings
were 30 cur right and rear. ! think the corn
field came up 10 the road to our left. II was
here that StOncwall JacksOu's troops mad c
three desperate charges 10 capture the battery,
and the last time came within about four rods
Of our guns before We could stop them, and
when Gen. GIbbon saw that we had checked
them he ordered his brigade Iron Brgadc) to
charge them, aud ] claim that il was the Iron
Brigade (Which was right there with ns all Of
the time and the courage and desperate work
Of the battery boys that saved the guns, not the
10Th y J., as Is claimed by COmrade Otis. The
two guns on the right were silcHeed for few
iEiuu e. but not until nearly all of the men
were shot down, aud two Of the boys had
crawied Oh their hands aud knees several times
from the Timber to the piece aud loaded aud
/ hrcd those guns in that way until they had
recOiled 80 far that they could not use them
/ any more. Not unit! then were they entirely
Ebcnccd. u must have been this that COmradc
/ OTIS meant when he said the guns were feebly
/ manned, Tor know the rest Of the guns were
/ well handled. At my gun there were only -four
+ u Us left, but VIC were helped by the infantry
! boys OF the 9Th aud 9TH Wis. Outing the
I thichest Of the fight Gen. Gibbon came up 10
/ my gan and straddied the trail aud sighted the
/ the gun aud said Give them -, boys! " 4
So lar as ] eau remember only one New York
! regiment came in line with our battery at the
/ cOFniieId. This was the 10Th y. Y, which came
! IN on the right Of the road, while the 9Th and
/ 1th Wis. aud 18Th Ind. came in on the left. II
/ the Both \. Y. had any share in the fight in
1 front Of the cDrnlcld, il must have been after
tue battery llmbercd up and went back TO III
/ second position on the hill, behind the build
/ ngs above referred 20. That is probably tht
fact IL was SAID at the time that Gen Gibbon
/ sent TO Gen. Patrick for help, as the Who'll,
| battle on that part Of the line was ccnterinl
| right On his Gibbons battery, aud Gen. Pat
rick sent the Goth ~ Y. This was the onl,
| New York regiment that we saw The 35tl
was ~ Patrick g Brigade, and also the 2Ist anC
25i--ail good men--aDd we had men in the bat
terry from AL 0i those egmcnls particularly tht
2jd. But am sure that the Both did not pc
IN while the maiA fight in front of the corn
field was going on. / think the official record
will show that the Dist, I'D aud Both n. Y
were back Of the Miller House. and covered
the Withdrawal Of the battery from the corn
field position. Stewart made a very complet,
report Of the whole affair, which / presume
appears ~ the War Records as published II
q. kLGSEtELTER Co. u, 9Th Wis, and Batter,
Il, 4th u. $. Art, Nora, Wis.