The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1891-01-08
THE BEST REGIMENT.
The Oaly Successful charge Daring shermAn's Car
Iaign.

The Only Successful Charge Daring sherman's Cam.
Taign.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBuSE: In your issue
OF Dec. Is i notice Comrade J. J. VALLEY was
az loss IN locating Comrade J. +. Carter on the
baitle-lino at the Wilderness. IL seems to be a
kind of second nature for all the boys to claim
10 belong 10 the best regiment, brigade or d.
vision. / have never written anything about
my brigade, and have not bad the pleasure OF
hearing from any of the old 18th Ohio for 10
years; but i will say that | belonged TO tho
best regiment and best brigade in the army.
and If any Of the comrades that stood in front
OF LongStrcets veterans at the Wilderness
doubt this, ask them, for they well remem-
Der they fronted Pap Thomas at Chickamauga.
ours was old Jim Stcedman's old regiment.
You've all heard of " Old Chckamanea JIM"
who run his division Of 1000 fresh men into
the rebels flank on the second day at Chicka-
manga IN way that made Longstreet wish he'd
been on the RappahannOck, and never tried 10
get up little sociable with the Western boys.
IL do say it myself / believe we had as good
brigade as ever chewed bareback or SOW
belly. We got all the gruuters famed out the
Irst year. They bad a good hospital record,
aud all got good pension soon after they got
home. But how is it with the boys who stood
in front from the beginning? We were
mighty good brigade; most Of the regiments
were with us from the time Pap Thomas
hrst commanded brigade. and we walked with
him through the mud Of Kentucky from Wild
Cat to Mill Springs, where we gave ZollicOfcr
llttle the worst thrashing that General ever
got.
Our brigade was composed Of the following
regiments: lith Ohio, 33th Ohio, 10th KY, and
1lth Ind. This was the Third Brigade, Third
Division, Fourteenth Corps. OF course think
our regiment was the best by long odds. In
the army every fellow thinks that Of his rcgi-
ment, but next to it comes the other regiments
or his brigade. But to show that our brigade
was the best. / will have to tell what we did at
JonesbOrO. One Of Gen. Bard's staff came
10 Este, our Colonel, who was commanding our
brigade, and said: Colonel, do you think your
boys can take that line Of works over there in
the woods?' Col. Este made this reply: " Yes,
III there Is brigade in Shcrmans army that
can, il is mine" and ordered us to sling KNAPP
sacks. load our guns and fix bayOncts.
Then Col. Este sang out clear and steady as a
buglc signal: Brigade. forward; guide center
march" andiwo started. Heavens how they
ala let into US as we came into range. They
had 10 pieces OF artillery, and more men be
hind the breastwOrks than we had in line. and
the ire they poured on us was simply wither-
ing. We walked across hundreds OF dead and
dying of the Regular Brigade, who had just
been repulscd and driven back but few
minutes before we started. Gen. Baird's horse
was shot down and the General thrown far
over his head, but he jumped up and ran
along side of us. Maj Wilson. our regimentIl
commander, fell mOrtally wounded. Lieut..
Kirk was killed, and also Capt. Stafford, Adju-
tantGeneral of our brigade. Lieuts. Mitchell
and Cobb fell with wounds that proved fatal.
Capt. Ogan lost an arm. One-third Of the men
ieil, but on We went while the grape and
muskctTy came thicker and faster at every
step, until we gained the edge of the hill, where
we were checked for a minute by the brush
l.e-H.s l. a l. 81
the tops in front and the limbs cut at the ends
and sharPeued
Just then a terrible fro from a new direction
on our left swept down our line The Colonel of
18th n. Y, brave man. saw the trouble, led
bis men in on the run aud relieved Us Of this;
but he was mortally wounded, aud We got out
OF tho ENHANCEMENT Of the brush. We raised
fearful yel.and ran at the works, which we
climbed, fired down on the defenders. and then
began with bayonets aud swords. For a few
minutes u was simply awful. On both sides
men acted like infatuated devils They dashed
each others brains out with muskets ibayOneis
were driven into mems bodies up To the
muzzles; officers ran their swords through
their opponents; and TevOlyers, after be-
ing emptied into the faces Of the rebels, were
thrown with desperate force into the ranks.
In our regiment was stout German by the
name of Frank Flick. He became so excited
that he rushed into the rebels and began
knocking them right and left with his bare
fists. He yelled 10 the FIRST rebel be met; "Py
Colt, I've no patience NIT you" and knocked
him sprawling He caught the commander of
the rebel brigade aud snatched him back over
the works. Strange 10 say, he escaped uuhurt;
but the boys never let him hear the last Of I" Ply
Colt. I've no patience NIT you"
The 10th Ky, by shear luck, was matched
against the 9th Ky. The commanders Of the
two regiments were brotheTs-in-law, and the
men relatives aud neighbOrs; they hated each
other accordingly, aud the fight between them
was more bitter IL possible than any place else
on the line. The 35th Ohio aud 7ith Ind. put
i'm some work that was simply magnificent.
We had not time to look at it then, but the
dead and wounded piled up after the fight told
the story. We forced our way over the works,
but the rebels were game 10 the last, and we
had % make them surrender almost one at
time. We had taken more prisoners from be-
hind breastworks than we had in our brigade.
This was the only successful bayonet charge of
the campaign; every other time the party
standing on tho defense had been successful.
Here we took strong double lines with 10 guns,
seven battle-tlsgS aud over 1000 prisoners. We
thought Chickamauga awful, but JOnesboro
discounted it.-NATHAS l.. ECKLEs, st. Joseph,
Mo.