The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-02
Rosecrans Always IN the Thickest of
the Fight

! Usually victories are gained by large
masses of men, probably posted and
! skIlfUlly handled by some general out of
! the range of fire, and looking on at the
conflict in absolute safety. But often
great battles are won by Some fearless
commander, VINO plungeS into the thick
est of the fight, and, while seeing the
whole, IS ever at the endangered point,
inspiring his men by his heroic example
1t was so with General RCSecranS himself,
all whose victories were won by his per-
SOnal heroiSm, ard Cnickamauga, his So
called defeat occurred because he could
not be everywhere at once over q billy
and wooded field of battle, more than five
miles IN extent. 1t was so at JIIka, and
agar. at Corinth, where, with less than
10000 men, he met Price and Van Dorm
with $1,000. There. when Davis division
WAS broken. and the confederateS had
Well niSn ciutched success, he rushed into
the thlckeSt of the fight and solely by his
personal bravery, turned defeat into vic
tory. During the terrible two days fight
at Stone River, he was everywhere at the
critical mo1aent ana time and again he
saved the day. He rode up 10 Sheridan
when he was holding back Cleburne from
an attempt TO turn his flank and 900 of
his men lay dead or dying around him
and said You are doing bravely gem
eral," pointing to his decimated division.
Sheridan answered: Here are all that
are left"
WELL" replied Kosecrans, 1.-THE point
must be held-hold it to the last man.
Riding on again he came to a brigade
commander, who, with two-thirds of his
IIleH lying Uletl Oh the ground, was
holding another important position. He
was mounting a horse when Rosecrans
accosted him with How goes it, colonel?'
The answer was: You see general
Only one-third of my men can stand
upright, and this is the third horse that
am mounting.
We'll" said Rosecrans, Eve must all
die. and we might as well die today as
tomorrow. You must hold your ground,
colonel"
And so it was during the whole of those
terrible do
present at all the important contested
positions of the great fight.
How ROsecrans Sat Exposed to a
Deadly Fire at Stone River.
To fully realize the awful nature of a
battle wherein 10000 or 100000 men are
engaged, one needs to go over the field
while the ground still bears the traces
of the desperate struggle 1t was thus
that, piloted by one of Rosecrans aides
who was constantly with him during the
light, went oyer the battlefield of Stone
River. The different positions were point
ed out to me, and got some idea of the
herculean character of Rosecran's achiev-
ment. Among others 1 was shown point
where two Kentucky regiments, each
about Thousand strong, and recruited
from the same region, met in one of the
most fearful conflicts of the entire two
days. 1t was a small patch of wooded
ground, and the desperate struggle there
had given it the significant name of
'Hells Half Acre" The trees, mostly
branching out high above the ground and
standing from five to ten feet apart.
There was no underground, so I could
ride freely over the spot. [ did So and,
inspecting these trees, did not discover.
upon any one of them, in front or rear
twelve inches of square space that was
not marked by q mimic ball or a rifle
bullet. Standing on the two sides of that
small grove of trees, in one short half
hour, more than a thousand men were
either killed or wounded, and for fully
half that time Rosecrans, accompanied
by his senior aide, Major Frank s. Bond,
sat his horse within short bullet range
of the shower of fire from those deSper-
fierceness engendered by both political
and personal animosity. Time and again
Major Bond demonstrated with him for
thus exposing himself to imminent dan
ger, but he merely said: 81 can't go till
this is decided. If we are beaten here
/ shall have to make other dispositions"
How he escaped is one of those unac-
countable things that we are accustomed
to term miraculous.
When I returned to headquarters, said
to Rosecraps: 81 have just been over the
battlefield with Charley Thompson.
What were your sensations when so con-
His answer was, 81 had no sensations.
I was absorbed in planning how to beat
them"
A Ride with Rosecrans and Garfield.
On the following day I rode out with
Rosecrans, General Garfield (then his
chief of staff, several other officers, and
a squad of about a. hundred men, to
Grantlands, the birthplace a4d home Of