The National tribune., 1891-11-19
FIGHTING THEM OVER
What Our Veterans Have 10 Say About
Their Old Campaigns
BUzzARD's ROOsT Gap.
Two Gallant Attempts 10 Cat the Dam by an Illi-
n0is C0mTade.

battle ul Missionary Ridge auu the raising OF
the siege Of Knoxville, Gen. sherman began
making preparations for the advance on At
lauia he had spies and scouts All over the
country from Chattanooga 10 Atlanta, aud az
the time al which j write lie had maps show ing
evoTy Iaad aud crossIoad, every river, creek,
brook and Tiyulet, and every farm and farm
house.
The bridges across the streams were accu-
TatO.y measured and their duplicates made m
Northern factories aud stored, ready o. 1e Tor
warluG when needed, In fact, Gen. sherman
knew more about the 80 miles cd country along
the iIue at the Western q Atlantic hailruad
than amy man living, so accurately had hls
secret service men traced ID on paper Tor Their
Chief u-c leo the death struggle that WAS soon
b begin GO Rocky Face Ridge aud end IN the
CaptuI, ol ATLANTA -four months later
Ca hacycuing Of May :, ls6i, my regiment
ltho 3lth Ia. was csmpcd about three lourths
of 81 uIn north OF Buzllrd's toGsi Cap pass
throHlA Rocky Face Ridge, spur ui the
Cumberland Mountains extending 10 tine south
west across the northwest corner OF Georgia
On uu. irii not more than 30 rods away, was
old Rocky Face 600 or 500 feet high, here point
ing 90 90 the south nearly mile, where %
sudu.ny makes a break 10 lot Mil Creek pass
thTuu .l. aud as suddenly taking mp us cham
ID passes OF TO the southwest
70 The right of our camp was a beautiful
valley 81 mCadoW-aud and curuhcIds with
here tud there log house surrounded by raj
fence with lovely roses growing 40 the doors
and a over the yards and climbing up tho
sides Of the homcly ola huts-roses OF all hucs,
from suoW-whto to almost black. j believe
that northern Georgia has more roses % the
Square loot than any other land Old Sol shines
on have thought that perhaps when the
Creator made that country and saw what
ROUGE job Il was, be just scattered roses all over
ii e. H4 tract the attention of the traveller from
m. IFf u he Ia HlfF
lovely eyes that we sometimes see shining nom
very h0mcly features.
MHI reek with it's crystal waters flows
through the valley. la los sCfpeutne wander
iugs one is inclined 10 think that il is looking
for lace 20 hide before il reaches those great
piles o, stone through which there seems 10 be
no way Tor il 10 pass.
The railroad hugs close up 10 the foot Of the
mountain on our lett until Il reaches the break
wbefv strikes out boldly for the other end of
tle bIu.ztn chain, a bali mile Oh 10 the
southwest la doing 30 10 closes the gap with
broken stone to q depth Of from 30 10 ~ feet
About midway between two points Of the
mountains IS a culyeui through which Mill
Creek posses.
.ew DAYS before VIC reached tho gap Gen.
J0hu-iuH thinking that SIC were coming, know
ing iH.t we wished 10 20 10 Atlanta, had this
Culvyll closed, causing aH accumulation Of water
Oh our side of the pass Already there were
Eeyerai acres Of land submerged aud every hour
added % the over supply Of that necessary
commodity.
Iul- Idesprcad reservoir Of water was maxi
ing better defense for Joe Johnston army
than could 10000 Of Bis best troops.
The only place where VIC could possibly at
tack hI- army, except with artillery, was along
the Ta r1ad track.
ID was part Of Gen. shermans plan that
Gen. John NJ. Palmer, peace 10 has political
II. .4H 81.
should move through this Pass aud attack the
encm, ght al Resaca
Ia ur+.uI % do This, tie dam would have 10 he
cut BY company A bad been skirmIsBing
during tIc afternoon upon the side Of the
mona lIu among the rocks aud fallen trees.
] bHo gone 10 bed too tired 10 sleep. About il
OClu,k Gen. John q. Mitchell commander Of
the ~e Dad Brigade, Second Division, -Four.
teeuth Corps and Col. Oscar Van Tassel Of the
38th li. accompanied by Lieut. r. J. Heath
three r- brave men aE ever served their cOun-
try-iHHu 10 my tent.
The General wanted me 10 take a few men
and 80 through the encmys lines aud open the
dam. lecteG George GarWiCk j ohm CriCh-
ton gud Henry COryeli. Mitchell aud Van
gas,e accompanied us 10 tho skmmish-line,
whore le 18TH Ohio was stationed and gave
order H open IRE OBJ he enemy a. soon as we
had time ta reach the dam. This was 10 attract
abe curIat attention while wc were at work
We were given picks aud -hoyCls. wrapped IN
tent CLOTH % deadcn sound. We were "a carry
no HiH. at amy kind, but as ] objected to this,
Gen Mitchell gave Mu hIs revolver double.
Hctiu anr. lie then gave Us our instructions
a. be followed ID case d capture. After eay-
ing tIg rkIrmIsh-line we talked over our plnn
oil NulA. On our Ten was a steep side IT the
aim, from which tic road bed had been
biHsta. Ou tie right was a steep incline
down ard vi broken stone There was no way
60 81 Except along The railroad track We lay
down nG moved forward j took the lead
with lauaick, CricAiou and COrytll following
We were close enough 90 reach each other with
Cuf H.'as OF feet We were not 10 sneak a
wore $3.50 communication tad 10 be carried on
By sl..s..s. One stroke 90 the hand Or foot
mgaul meye forward, two 10 lie still aud
three % retreat
n. bad cautiously crrpt forward 200 yards
OT I..H when we beard someone snoring
Ate sag till ieW minutes We decided tie
Elecpa uas not on t3e track, but few rods
20 tHe front aud lcii. and algcr going a little
farther ae heard the breathing 10 the loft and
Tcar .H1 t.len wc knew iho Ru8icDu was passed
BIG Nu were inside the rebel lines. Just at
this .loiHi Garwics gave me two sudden Jerks
] IU-ea my head, HAgu. Oh. Heaven! the
encm| bad alt building ou lTC jus, across the
littc valley, aud Il would soon be ag iisht as
Cay. ] 1#HalCd IetI.at
A. IS. ueared tha picket post that we bad
3usi .r Saw .,at.ut. leaning on Lis gun
lOoi H luc hIc. lcsr him were a half
DOE. Hufe Of Dds s. eTug comrades.
= $3.50 -ed thr sentinel hc was not more
than - 0et from u., and iu looking at the
burn binding. which was q little way M
The nla. IIasH SIDE De looked directly over MS.
j Nae HHei temples 10 aL01t The follow for
bis ns j Thought 70 DE- would only
look Ha direction lew minutes longer he
was g-fty 10 act as He pleased The rest OF
bis nt iit as far Frs j was concerned. But
AZ D.. -cuyCIed us TO case would have
beer eHt j had tHc Generals revolver
reaay 4aa aud wn would have sold our lives
ueaI .." lt..aWmasf have been q Gre Wor-
tbll Ha laai ! sass Of him b. was slll
gszu .Ity az the burning building.
We reached ouI lucs and rcu8rted 40
Gen ..e.l, who euup.imcutod us ON opr
Cb0I #l dismissed us. saving that ID was Inn.
pos Joe us 10 do anything more. with The
pas aa Do then Nas.
Ala clock tl.n General sent Tor INC. and
pot ID faaIee OF sbaui I0J men of tbe lIsIb
Ohio 90 orders 10 force our way through tho
onom lgs sl al .az.Ia5 and open tae dam.
We Cd .aa4 tHcIr p5al.eis, capturing three Of
their "a, aua bad almost reached tie cuIyeri
when . cUrmy eu both sides OF the mass
Oper' .e Oh us; but they being iu such an
eley position. most 0f thoir shots PASSED
over aIEos, 20 tIu same time the men AL
Tie 0t my detachment began shouting.
SeIE they're cutting pos OF; they're cut
ting j Immediately ordered a retreat
bni lf unnecessary, as already most of my
lUDH E.lFr H.HI IUu t5F eUF limos inst F.-f -.