The National tribune., 1891-06-25
FIGHTING THEM OVER
What0ur Veterans Have 10 Say About
Their Old Campaigns

Echocs from Comrades About the Fight Above the
llnndA.


EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: My article
IN voHr paper of May has called oUt some in
terostup letters containing vRlnahic inorma-
ton The pth of which j give 10 your readers
Two letters are from Comrade Lewis Biunaln,
Co c. 2-th Pa, First Brigade Second DIVISION
Twelfth and Twentieth Corps. They chieny
relate 10 the question, Who first carried the
Stars and Stripes mp on Lookout Mountain? but
ms Cart. Wilson, OF the sth kyp Is TO state the
case of his regiment this month lit Is said, and
presumably C0mrade Buudin will follow with
his statement ud / have no personal testl-
mony 10 give except that there were two ilaes
there, I think, and that they were raised IN
clear daylight, but quite before sunrise, i wiil
iOt 90 into that matter. other Information
that be gives ] present,
Comlade Blundiu asks: Is the Carlin House
Che one that stood ou the plateau below the
palisades and which 1 have always spoken OF
as thc raven lIouspg" As j WIS not az II, or
near IT, D cannot tell. Nil some one who can,
do sof lie also says that while The Second ana
Third Brlgadcs Of the White stars were cross
ing on the old mill-dam, the First Brigade
"crosscd the creek about opposite the above
mentioned Craven House.
Tie further Saws: Saw nothing OF Whita-
ker's Brigade OF the Fourth Corps who now
claim they went iH ahead Of the Waite Stars
and captured the guns FIRST Did you see them
anywhere in the fight that day
ssh as 20 claim that they were before the White
Star Division that day until long past noon, and
TWO hours after we reached the hogs back
OF nose of the mountain, ms j called A. or
any Que for them for every one of that dlFls-
ION who was there knows that such claim
could have no shadow Of foundation. From
the irs; move % the last j saw everything
distinctly as anything can be seen in broad day
light, and I saw only what everybody saw,
that the White Stars were the front line and
far away ahead from the palisades down. tlll
sometime after the nose of the mountain was
passed. Somewhere about o'clock p. n. Oster-
hnuss Division went by as 20 the front. accord
ing to orders when we went back 70 the nose
or hogs back. aud stad there tll we went
over into the Chattanooga Valley next day in
the afternoon. NhitakeI's men may have
lain in front of our division that night, but
the Gag went up right from the extreme right
flank OF our division, which was just where
the nose OF the mountain roots into the pail
SADIE wall.
Concerning my description Of the tree-trunk
footbridge across the Chickamauga Greek Com
rade Blundin says that is correct" OF the
other bridge he says: 1.-The other creek was
called Pea Vine Greek The bridge was con-
strlcted by tearing down an old building near
by and using the material. il was strong
enough 10 admit the passage of knapps Penn
sylyania battery. attached TO the First Brigade
first creek and was up in time for the brigade
g. assist iu getting il over the second creek ;
and itWas present during the fight at Ringg0d,
your assertion 10 the contrary notwithstanding
that we had no artillery during the fight. Gen.
Geary ordered il into position just above the
town, and above the depot along the railroad
north Of the town. Those 2O-pOuud PARROTS
y0n speak OF were not PARROTS, but Rodman
guns and IL ] mistake not were an Indiana
battery"
Where Comrade Blundin speaks IN the above
OF his personal knowledge his testimony has
great weight. But speak also Of my own per-
sonal knowledge. ] was one Of the men who
double-quicled across the plain and up behind
the old barn, aud lay down on the ground with
the line Of the brigade as ordered. Hence, i
speak positively. There We're none Of our can
non on the field for more than three hours after
the battle began, and not till afternoon. We
bad lain two hours on more on the ground he
fore the first cannon was fired as j described.
made notes Immediately after and the scene
is even now vividly before my Imagination.
As 10 what the cannon were vat thattime
what j heard said was that il was knapp's bat
terry and ID consisted OF four ~ pound smooth
bore brass Napoleon guns and two 20-pound
Parrot guns rs ] heard them called. Their
peculiaIiiy was that they had band inch
and a half on two inches thick and some 20
inches or two feet long, on the breech; while
breech were turned OF smooth, growing small
down 10 the muzsle. What j heard al the time
was that il was Knapps battery Gen. Geary's
fayOriie because he raised il, which got there
FIRST and that ID was one Of those 2O-pound
PARROTS which hurled those shell over us into
she rebel position, which made them git"
forthwith. And this agrees with what Com
rade b says about that battery getting over the
two creeks first. So maintain my statement
~ to when the battery got there, aud as 10 what
the guns were which did the firing.
Again be says: "The Second Brigade made
the charge IN the railroad gap 10 save Oster-
hauss men and right well they did Do too
The First Brigade did charge up the side Of
the ridge. and lost many stars Of the first mag
nitude but they did reach the top and planted
the brigade c0lOrs aud were not rcpulscd. but
were recalled by Gen. Geary." ] wrote as the
story was current among Us; but the above Is
doubtless correct ] heard last Summer that
Che two officers COL Creighton and Lieut. Col
Crane were shot By woman who lived in
little house part way up the ridge, aud that
she boz turn was shot 10y our men. One Of my
company told me be saw her lying shot dead
in The yard Does anybody know about this ?
Comrade James NJ Carr, Sergeant Co. T.,
G9th OHIO, writes from New Madison, o.. a.
follows:
The rebel battery you refer 10 was called
tho Lady BrrrkuTldge. 81 Charleston, =. C.
and was captured by the 18Th d. and Ggth Ohio.
These two regiments. together with the 18th
Mich aud battaiOns OF the 18th, 10Th, 18th
aud l9tH Regulars, constituted the Second
Brigade. First Division. Fourteenth Corps.
commanded by a Regular. Gen. John III. King.
who died recently IN Washington, D. G. Your
article is the lfst published knowledge Of the
affair that have any know edge o. Even in
Che account of the 69th Ohio, IN Whitelaw
Reid's history OF Ohio iu the War. no mem
tiGn BE- made 81 ID. But we were in il an the
Same and b was d very fortunate thing for
o. tiIat tlr battery had no infantry support 10
stay with H.
y remember very vivid,y that evening Of
Nov 20 l-03 rs our brigade emerged from tie
Rap1r gorge into tIe open fields. Ne could see
She light Of The rebel fires on the ed &c Of the tim
Der about tlfrrr-quarters Of n milo away. The
troops mHde hait fora littl. while Then orders
came 10 forward. d0ub.e.quicl. We went, keep
ing IL iIc loit 0i the road and ycrgug from N
slightly tiii we reached the timber then by the
Tght laHk toward the battery There was be.
tween us and the rebels 81 grade or Il. D. abguf 10
feet high probably hlgArr of what appeared ia
DE- HH odd railroad bed. The 1854 IIl. and Gg,l
OHIO took position behind this with the llth
Mich. and the Regulars Doc the second line
Then SIC were ordered TO charge over the om-
baukmeut and fac vO.leV, which was done
and We rushed into their cump. taking the guns
and what prisoners had not ssedaddlcd They
haa ,haiI horses hilrhcd 40 the guns aud caissgne
and were moving when we came ON them. /
thinks they bad discovered us before we got here
do uoi know how many gums or how many
prisoners were captured, as Do WAS very dark
aud Col. NfuH sIlun. nI the IIrI Mich g,.rpf a.