The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-26
CREST he WOULD BE nv sArETY,

over the crest to the side of McCook and
Garfield. McCook gave him another horse
and the two set out again for the head
quarters of Thomas.
Gartieid's horse had been struck, but the
danger had given him the spirit of lion,
and he plunged forward at a breakneck
pace, through plowed fields and tangled
forests, and over broken and rocky hills,
for another four miles, until they climbed
wooded crest, and were within view of
Thomas. In a slight depression of the
ground, with a small group of officers about
him, he stood in the open field, while over
him was sweeping storm of shotted fire
that fell in thick drops on the high foothill
that Garfield was crossing. Shot and shell
and canister plowed up the ground all
about Garfield, but as he caught sight of
Thomas he halted in the midst of the
storm, and with uplifted arm, shouted:
There he is! God bless the old herol He
has saved the army!' For moment only
he halted; then he plunged down the hill
through the fiery storm, and in few mo-
ments more was by the side of Thomas
As the two men embraced each other
the noble horse that had so bravely borne
Garfield through that hurricane, struck by
another bullet, staggered step or two and
fell dead at the feet of Thomas.
In hurried broken sentences Garfield tells
Thomas that he is out1anked and that the
whole Confederate army of 70. 900 is closing
down upon his right wing to crush into
fragments his weary force of $4,000. He
must withdraw his right wing and form
line again upon the crested horseshoe
which is before them at the base of the
mountain. Quick the order is given and
quick the movement is made, yet not a
moment too soon, for yonder from behind
clump of woods energies the head of
Longstreets bristling columns. He has
f,1rr, ad hoal ka, Is ~
and now is coming to annihilate Thomas,
and Thomas men are too few, for his line
falls short by 800 feet of the spur of the
mountain. Longstreet perceives this gap,
heads his columns for it and in ten min
utes more will have struck Thomas on
flank and rear fatally.
Now nothing short of miracle can save
Thomas, and "the days of miracles are
past" say the theologians. Still, there
must be an invisible power that controls
events in the heavens and on earth, for
just at this critical moment a heavy
column is seen on the hill down which
Garfield has just ridden, and in another
moment horseman covered with foam is
by the side of Garfield and Thomas. He is
slightly formed man, little slabsided,
with dark hair, projecting brows, and deep
black cavernous eyes from which now a
black flame is flashing. 1t is Gordon
Granger. Hehas heard the firing four miles
away, and without orders has come to the
rescue of Thomas. He points with his
sword to the men on the hill, and cries,
Where will you place us?" Thomas
stretches his hand toward the 300 feet gap
against which Longstreet is coming, and
simply says "There."
The owner of this land told me per-
sonally in 1880 that from this single hill he
mad dug and sold 400 pounds of lead in
bullets.
Back up the bullet-swept hill Granger
gallops, and instantly his 300 men, led on
by the heroic Steedman, are rushing down
to the defenseless gap like bristling ava
ianche. They are not moment too soon,
Tor Longstreets heavy columns are at the
breach. and now comes the collision.
Garfield told me that it was like the COM
ing together of two immense railway trains
in full career-the forward columns SILVER
ing to atoms and going down in common
destruction. Steedman's horse is shot on
the full gallop and his rider is hurled
| fifteen feet forward by the momentum;
but turning complete somersault he
ahghts on his feet and urges on hi.
men as If nothing had happened
For forty minutes the onset lasted. and
then CHASTITY breastwork of 5000 dead and
dying, blue coats and gray, fills the narrow
gap. But the Army of the Cum berland is
saved from destruction. Now, beaten and
banned, Longstreet withdraws his seethinp
columns, and not another blow is struck
by the magnificent army that Bragg has
gatheredi Tor that night Thomas holds
Rossville Gap, and meanwhile Rosecrans
| has rallied the fugitives at Chattanooga.
and in twenty-four hours built Gordon
about 1t behind which he can DEFY the en-
tire armies of the Confederacy.
JAMES R. GILMORE.
This paper Is constructed from facts communi-
Gated orally to the writer by Major Frank s. Bond
\ - pnee
o. hosecrans stah' by General Garfield also, and
from written statement of Captain wiIIiano n
Cav OF Thomas STAFF furnished the writer by Cen
eral Garfield
Copyright, 1895.
There are ten fruit schools" in France