Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-02-21
ABOUT THE CAMPFIRE
"REMINISCENCES OF MARcH
AND BATTLE.
Fen Pictures OF Service in the South in
1S64-Before Atlanta Wounded Forty
Eight Times in One Battle .The
Bugle Sang Truce
Unwritten History.

dents of tragic or laughable nature,
not recorded in books of history or
personal memoir. And it is just such
scenes, faithfully recorded, which
give the general reader of later years
an insight into the life and spirit that
prevailed during such trying times.
Atlanta, as the writer in the Ma
tional Tribune remem bers it, was truly
a city with hills surrounded" which
bristled with cannon of various cali
Der, from the small bore rified Par
rott gun to the CA FOUNDER siege. And
what din they could produce on the
least provocation! The Confederates
had much the advantage in point of
knowing the territory occupied by us,
hence their often unwelcome accur-
ate Workmanship made many poor
fellow bite the dust even when not
in line of battle.
One such incident occurs to me here
General Sherman, to conceal some
movement about to be made, ordered
some regiments to march in a circle
around hill, to give the impression
that he was massing troops on our
left. This continued for several
hours. The rebels soon practiced
their craftsmanship on these helpless
and hapless troops, and, ere long, we
heard the zip of the bullet and next
the horrible sound as when man is
struck whom we soon see fall over,
either dead or wounded. But this did
not check the column.
1t was standing order to be in
line at o'clock in the morning, to be
counted and assigned to picket or
other duty. My regiment, the Sixth
Kentucky, lay at the edge of hill,
behind stone fence, before which
sharp-pointed stakes had been set at
a certain angle, and these tied to-
gether in long rows by green withes.
Behind us at some distance rose an
other much higher hill, on which
were situated General o. o. Towards
headquarters and the signal corps
station. There were no woods right
in our front, hence we had an unob-
structed view of the rebel intrench-
ments, and we could get a view for
miles to our right, and often discover
the smoke puff from a heavy siege
gun that was in the habit of paying
it's unwelcome respects to US early
and late, because we were on high
ground. But for good shooting and
foolish recl>lessness this instance will
be in point.
About 8 o'clock in the morning, one
day, Will e we were lying behind our
breastworks, to avoid both stray and
aimed bullets, which flew pretty thick
at this time, we saw, on the hill of
the generals headquarters, man
coming part the way down, stop in
plain sight Of all, and black the gem
erals, Or some officers, boots. We
waited with great interest what
would come next, when to our as
constituent we heard the swish of
cannon-ball, and following its direc-
ton we saw it bury itself directly
under the seat of the man who sat
with his feet down hill.
We held our breath, expecting to
see the man and boots fly in pieces
from an exploding shell. But it did
not explode, and soon we saw the
man emerge from the dust, running
at topspeed for the hill top, amid the
cheers of all who saw the shot and its
lucky termination.
Not all the men killed on our side
were laid low by the enemy's bullets,
as the following will show: Toward the
close of the siege, a few days before
the battle of Jonesboro, there came
orders to certain battery of Parrott
rifles to fire a number of rounds into
the city. Now this battery was posted
ABOUT so yards in the rear of regi-
rnent of men, and on our left who
also had breastworks, consisting of
logs piled one on top of the other,
man high, in front of which was
bank of dirt, and in front of this a
deep ditch. h.# ssN#.|
About this time, while the shells
were flying over the heads of the men
lying behind this shelter, there was
one man who was polishing up his
gun; for this was his last day of SER
vice, and tomorrow he would be ON
his way home. He had been a faith
full, clean, and brave soldier, and all
regretted to part with him.
Hank! What was that? The report
of cannon, and Immediately after,
the sound of an exploded shell in our
own lines, right among the men!
We hurried over, and saw sad and
horrible thing. There sat our man
with gun still in hand but the she'll
had struck his head, and left only the
headless trunk sitting upright.
Poor fellow, he went to his long
home, and never saw his earthly home
again. This crea ted a profound inn
preston, and many were the express
sions of sorrow at the seemingly-un-
deserved cruel fate of our comrade.
Someone had Numbered, and some
one had died for it.
One morning early the writer, tired
and exhausted from the heat of the
previous day and night, slept later
than usual, not hearing the morning
call. His was a small shelter, con-
sisting OF. a narrow foundation for a
log house just wide enough for one