The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-07-22

here and there. wherever he found weak
spot or q place for them 10 stand
The three divisions Of Longstreet Tapped
around the spur to the west. They meant
20 take the hill, front, flank and rear. 1 hen
TWAS That without waiting, Steedman, Gag
IN nand: sprang out and down the hill
against Hindman. His two brigades fol-
lowed him. One Of the brigades was led By
WHITAKER. who fell wounded Twice Hind
man railed his lines, and came ~ within
hail pistol shot. but in twenty minutes It
was over. Hindman was down in the
Dyer field again with frightfully Trimmed
ranks
And what Steedman and Granger were
doing to Hindman over on the southwest
ern slope OF Snodgrass. that Brannan and
wood were dong to Johnson over on the
southeastern slope. They received his
charge. beat him back and then 10 lowed
him southwark until bis retreat became all
most rout. If the 10000 troops under
Sheridan, Negley and other waiting gen.
erals at MeFarland's Gap and Rossvilie
had come up then, as Steedman, Granger
and Van Derveer had done an hour before,
what might have happenedf But they
didn't Brannan and Wood having driven
Johnson back were without support. and
could only reform on the ridge and wait.
4 have never known Federal troops to
fight so well, J" said Hindman in his report
on that assault. 1T is just to cay that
never saw Confederate soldiers fight bet
ter"
And Kershaw reporting on the repulse
at the same time by Brannan said: This
was one OF the heaviest attacks of the war
on single point"
1t was at this juncture that General Gar
field came upon Snodgrass hill and put in
the hands OF General Thomas the follow
ing
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT or THE CuMBER-
LAND, CHATTANOOGA, ENN., september 10,
AL the forces. ana with Critten len and McCook
take stron 81 ion and assume q threatening
attitude at RDssvilleL Send all of the unorkan-
win examine the ground here and max. such
dispositions for defense as the case moy require
and join you. Have sent ont ammunition and
rations w. 8. RosECRASs,
Major General
From that time Thomas was planning
the withdrawal. The ability to hold Snod-
grass Hill had bee demonstrated. Now
the problem was how to get away from it.
Longstreet continued his assaults, but
after the second repulse, between 3 and
O'Clock. he no longer sent whole divisions
up the steep slopes. He called on Bragg
for reinforcements. Bragg replied that
not man could be spared, and so Long
street had to be content with assaults by
brigades. Gracie's brigade was ordered up
TIC cOutIchSbtEl eAopc. IL WAS IIe-u.
There we're 1000 men in line. 1t swept
forward up the steep side. gradu-
ally siackenirg pace until. half way
to the summit of Snoograss, il
came to q standstiii, and there it stayed and
fought for an hour and q half, while q
Union battery from the top of the hill
made gaps in its ranks. and Union volleys
thinner It's 'front.' In thar awful hour and
half 200 out of Gracie's 1000 Confederates
fell. Further to the west Keliy's brigade
came up the hill in charge equally as de-
termined. On the edge of the summit
there was lighting band to hand with
dubbed muskets: Virginia flags were
planted side by side with Ohio flags, and
opposing regiments fought for the stakes.
Kelly was beaten back, but he tried 1t
again later.
Meantime, at $50 o'clock, which in the
September afternoon left none too much
time for the purpose. Thomas began to
withdraw. Here he pulled out brigade
and there division, as he thought the
formation would permit, and started them
northward toward Rossville. Steedman,
who had come so OPPORTUNITY to Snod-
grass Hill, who had held the southwestern
slope and spur SO calamity since o'clock.
was one of the first to start on the retiring
order. Unfortunately, the staff officer en-
trusted with the duty of notifying the
troops next on the left that Steedman was
going, failed to perform that duty. The
shadows were growing long. It was Begin
ming to be dusk in the midst Of the tall
pines. Steedman was gone before the
troops on the top OF Snodgrass knew it.
The realization OF the fact came in few
minutes, however, and but for the plucky
act Of q regiment there might have been on
the top of Snodgrass disaster only second
to what had occurred on the Dyer fields
earlier in the day. Keiiy's brigade came
up the slope just after Steedman had gone
g. - L. l.
paratively fresh, crept around through the
woods where Steedman had been. and
where he was still supposed to be by
the rest of the Union forces. on the sum-
NIT of the hill. Two Ohio regiments and
one Michigan regiment were caught fairly
between Kelly in front and Trigg behind.
They were forced to surrender after all
that gallant fighting. Another Ohio regi-
ment pulled its right out of the trap,
swung back until it faced squarely west
from the top Of the hill. This was Boyn-
tons Thirty-ffth Ohio. As Kelly and
Trigg stopped to dispose of the prisoners,
the Thirty-ffth swept the sides and top
of the spur. and then it stood like q wall
against any more surprises from the rear.
pouring in CALLING fire as often as Kelly
or Trigg attempted to move up the western
slope OF the hill. It was the quick eye and
the military sagacity of Boynton which
saved the summit at Snodgrass at that
CItt1Cdi IOmeut. 1uo uliltdTy euucdUOn
he had received in his youth stood him
well in that emergency. Thomas saved
the center and left of the Union army SUM-
day afternoon. Boynton held the hill on
the only side where the Confederates
could have effected anything, and made
the withdrawal the complete success it
was. Yet in all the columns which Boyn-
ton has written of Chickamauga, this act,
one of the shrewdest and pluckiest of the
whole battle, is modestly yelled.
Brannan had gone. Van Derveer was
marching of, the bill was deserted when
Boynton and the Thirty-fifth Ohio poured
their final volley down the slopes. formed
in column and, the very last TO leave the
field, marched out to the northward, the
only side of Snodgrass which was not
closely surrounded by the Confederate
lines. This was the end of the withdrawal,
and the end of Chickamauga. In the dark
the whole Confederate lines moved for
ward 8 few hundred yards and occupied
Snodgrsss bill. the Kelly farm. the fields
and the road between, the ground for
which they had fought all day and there
they bivouacked. There was no pursuit
that night