The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-06-07
FIGHTING THEM OVER
What0ur Veterans Have to Say About
Their Old Campaigns
CAIRO TO DONELSON.
Comrade Boring UphOlds His Recent State
ments.

feelings OF mingled forgiveness anu dhuse
ment that l read the articles under the head
OF Doesn't Agree in the May II and p
issues, by Comrade Bradford.
After firing several rounds of blank car
tridges into my From Cairo TO Donelson
article Serg't Bradford assumes the role o
"the boy who stood on the burning deck
at Dcnelson, dishonors the entire list of fed
and line officers of his regiment, reduces his
own Captain to the ranks, makes Corporal
of his Colonel, and then in another column
under the caption of Champions Hill" as
sails even the great General himself
In the perusal of Comrade Bradford's
articles two things strike me very fOrcibly.
In the great conflict where the multiplicity
of scenes events and experiences was sc
great how very few there were who saw
were equally impressed by, and remember
exactly the same things. Again, while
many of those denounced line and field Off
GERS of his regiment arose 10 higher rank
after the battle of Donelson-Capt. Shedd
of Co. A. having his epaulets adorned with
the silver eagles; Col. Dennis the star of the
Brigadier, and Grant made Lieutenant-Gen-
eral of the Armies of the United States
Bradford was discharged after service OF
four years with only the rank of Duty
Sergeant. Truly, Justice must have dropped
her scales.
The first point that the Sergeant attempts
TO make against my article is a blank, be-
cause it is a misquotation, to say the least.
defy any reader to find passage in said
article where say that Commodore Foote,
with one regiment, apprC ached Fort Henry
close enough 10 draw its fire. as my critic
says / say.
What do say there, and here reiterate, is
that as we rounded the bend and came in sig mt
of the embark mentS, Commodore FoOte was
standing with some other officers, near the
front of The hurricane deck of the boat we
were on, looking through fieldglass at the
rebel works, when the enemy discharged a
small cannon from the fort they were looking
at. / remember hearing Foote remark to an
officer near him: They cannot draw me on
with that gun" The ball struck the water
far in front of us, danced or skipped over
its surface for some distance, and disap-
peared.
I DID not mean that. Commodore Foote
was running our boat, or that he had any
control of il, or was even passenger aboard
of her. We had just passed his feet of
gunbcats, and / suppose ne ad come aboard,
as there were tugs, dispatch boats, small
propelers, etc, attending his fleet, ready at
any and all times to convey him or any
other officer on business from one boat to
another, and he was simply our guest for
the time being l merely happened to be
on that part of the boat at that particular
time, and witnessed what relate. Possibly
] may have been the only one ofHny whole
regiment who thus took it in, or member
it 81 years.
Just how far we were from the fort at that
time ! am now unable to say, but that we
landed and camped nine miles below it that
night, as my critic says we did, or even half
that distance, is simply absurd and if the
comrade camped that far away that night,
he evidently was not with his regiment.
] know that we now look back upon the
scenes and experiences of Henry and DJnel-
sou through the misty past of a thiId of a
century, and are apt to get dales and places
somewhat mixed up, and must expect TO be
criticised and Strengthened cut. But to have
the description of an incident or experience
that one saw and remember rs fatty contra
dicted, b, cause another did not happen TO
be ia a shape to take ii in, or does not re-
member if, is quite anO; her thing.
The reckless, hazards us performance de-
scribed by me in connection with my bomb
shell and iron !" expt Tieuce was enjoyed by
but few eye-witnesses. inasmuch as it was
as brief as it was brilliant at the time and
know OF but one survivor at this late date
and he is the writer. Admitting that we
did camp half mile from the river as my
critic AYERS we did, which may make it so,
the reader will understand that the Ten
Dessee and Cumberland Rivers were running
~ very high stage just then, and their
surplus waters, like the victorious army that
then navigated them, knew no barriers OF
bounds, and were everywhere filling the
low bottom lands, and flowing fir. ely through
every channel, schultz and bayou, and al
though the water We dumped the shell in
may have been some backwa' or or bayou,
yet II was the waters of the Tennessee all
the same.
Ii there was no stampede in the Both Ill.
that night, as | relate and Serg't Bradford
conirad cts, then / confess that had a ter
rible dream OF nightmare George Fuliz,
however, Of my company, was wounded in
the stampede that night and received his
wound among his comrades in his own COM
pany.
Capt Isaac Mann, of Robinson, H., who
WIS then a Sergeant in my company, and
who afterward commanded it, writes me:
/ well remember the stampede in the Both
regiment the first night at Donelson."
As the Commodore FOOte sending huge
F.. shell into the air as signal, etc. / did
not mean that the naval feet had never
cast anchor nor slackened speed since leaving
Fort Henry. / meant that then ii was that
the Linkum gunboats KUN around the
bend" and commenced business. They
may have been lying below the bend, in the
vicinity, for some days. But then is when
first saw de smoke way up de ribber."
/ wonder if Sefg't Bradford is considered
better authority on that point than | am I?
Had be better opportunities for knowing
than had? You see it is fat contradic-
ton. What say you, comrades? Am / the
only survivor who heard or remembers that
shell?
The Sergeant speaks of the blue flag of
the 18Th III. at Donelson, and says blue flags
were not carried by our troops in the early
part OF The war, or words TO that effect
know that the Both Ill. carried as pretty a
blue banner as ever Haunted the breeze in
the center of any regiment. And my recol-
lection is that ii was presented TO the regi-
ment at Camp Butler CT Cairo, by the ladies
of Springfield, ILL.,, at the organization of
our regiment, and that the enemy captured
it when Hood charged our rear and his men
overran our bitches before Atlanta on the
memorable 22d of July, 1864
Also, the Sergeant includes Lieut. Kirk
patrick among the dead of Co. A; while
understand that he was the Adiutant of
the regiment, and never did belong TO Co. a,
but was from some of the companies of the
left of the regiment, H or G. / know that
Co. a did furnish an Adjutant further on,
and good one. in the person Of Lieut. Poak
But my recollection is that Lieut.. Kirk