The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1895-10-24
Battery I. cd III. L. A.

| recent issue OF your paper mention OF Bat
| terry /, I'd Ill. l.. A. Your scribe was mem
Der of that organization, enlisting at the age
| of Is years nine months and 81 days. The
battery was in the war western Depart
ment) from the beginning To the Grand Re
view at Washington in '65. Battery fired
| the last gun at BentOnville, n. C., in the
| Spring of 1865. Battery / has grand his
| tory, were it properly written up. The Off
Ger killed, as mentioned in your paper, was
Capt. Cole. Your scribe was by the side Of
him when he was killed. Our battery was
strung out in marching order on a road in
lower Georgia. We came TO a swamp, which
the road ran through. A small rebel bat
| terry was on the other side of the swamp.
| and they fred two shots into our moving
column, which halted us. A pike intended
| through the swamp, and large lIve-oass, COW
cred with moss, hung over the pike from both
sides. Capt Cole dismounted, dropped on
right knee, with his fieldglass to his eye,
when a cannon ball from the rebel battery
a 0-pounder-passed through hrs body. go
| ing in at the left hip and coming out at the
| right, carrying a revolver through him with
it. The ball struck the ground after pass
ing through him and entered one of the gun
horses in the breast, coming out at bis hi ps
struck the ground again, and went on into
the woods. Capt Cole fell on his face.
His last and only words were: Il am
killed" 1t was nearly shutdown when this
happened. We went into camp, aud buried
the poor Captain few feet from where he
fell. Grin Manchester, think, native Of
Nebraska, was strsddle of the horse which
the eannon-ball passed through. Lieut
Rich, afterwards Captain, ordered the bat
| tery-we had four guns at that time-into
! position. The guns were unlim bered and
the woods on the other side Of the swamp
shelled for about half an hour, and if there
are any rebels left to tell how business was
running on the other side of that swamp for
a time we would like to hear from them
Battery had lots of hard fights, and wore
out two sets of guns. Her first set, six guns,
were 10-pound rihed Rodmans, which were
| considered the best held-guns in use in those
days. At the siege of Atlanta, and during
| an artillery duel, rebel shell burst over one
of these guns II. q. A. King, of Kansas City,
Mo-, was the gunner), knocked a wheel off
the gun, killed and wounded seven or eight
men in the gun-squad, and welded a piece
of shell about the size of an ordinary ink
bottle in the breech of the gun about eight
inches forward of the vent. When the gun
was turned over to the Government, after
being condemned, the shell Was still
there Who knows anything about that
gun? Where is it? Lieut.. Rich, who
was in command of that section, was
knocked down and covered up with dirt.
| was within few feet of the gun when
the she'll burst, and saw Rich when he
crawled out of the dirt, and heard him tell
King to give them -. The next shot
from Kings gun, after putting on the fifth
wheel, must have knocked a rebel gun into
splinters as you could see with the naked
eye wheels, frying pans, chunks of wood and
dead men go into the air 20 feet and shout
rang out the whole length of the Union lines.
Our battery was attacked about noon at Ben
tOnyille, N. c., and the fight continued until
dark. The rebels charged us seven consecu-
tive times. We drove them back with
grape and canister. When the rebs would
come within rod or so of our guns, we
would double and treble charge, throw our
guns right and left-oblique, and let them
have it. By doing this we got more men
than we could by shooting straight at them.
Once that afternoon the rebels came right
up to our guns. which we drew back perhaps
five rods, fighting them off with our side
arms. We stuck to our guns, however, aud
turned them over to the Government at
Washington. That night, after the fight
was put on guard over Headquarters. Head
quarters was by the side of an old stump
just back of the battery, and was occupied
by Capt. Judson Rich and Lieut.. Geo. Ward
one blanket over them and one under
them that night. i, the guard, fell asleep.
A coal of fire popped out and set the blank
cts on fire. Lieut.. Ward jumped up, kicked
the fire and blankets out of camp, and
swore he would kill me just as soon as il got
daylight; but he never did. There were funny
things as well as serious things happened
during the war. Battery / camped a few
miles south of Richmond on it's road to
Washington, where we received orders to
dig a big hole in the midst of a bunch of
trees, and bury our ammunition, which we
did. This was done TO tighten up our loads,
the war being over. In crossing the James
River Bridge into Richmond the teams
would go slow, and then go on the dead run
to close up. Our battery did this, and in
making the turn to the left, around Libby
Prison, one of the big battety-wagon wheels
ran off, going straight up the street, instead
of turning to the left with the balance of
the battery. The street straight ahead was
lined with people, all kinds and colors. They
were out there to see the Yanks 90 by. The
wheel ran 10 rods up the street, knocking
down perhaps nunureu people. we |
stopped the battery, got the wheel, put it |
on, and came home; never heard how many
people were killed.-H. SKINNER, Battery |
/, I'd Ill. Art, Springview, Neb.
The Goth Battery, Ind. L. A..
This battery was organized at Indanapo-
lis, Ind, Sept. %, 1862, to serve three years,
and was mustered out June 10, 1865. Frank |
A. Rose was commissioned Captain. He re-
signed Feb. 10, 1868. Capt Milton A. o.
born next commanded the battery. He re-
signed Feb. 10, 1865. He was succeeded by /
Capt. John /. Morris, who was in command
when the battery was mustered out. Capt
Morris was retained in service until October,
1865. The battery was known as Mobiles
and served in the Reserve Artillery,
Corps. Its total loss was one man
killed and "a died.
The 21st Battery, Ind. L. A.
The battery was organized at Indianapolis,
Ind, to serve three years, and mustered into
the service Sept. 8, 1862, with William w.
Andrews as Captain. Capt. Andrews was
discharged Sept. II, 1864, on &C
count of disability. Abram P. Andrew was
then commissioned, and remained with the
battery until it was mustered out. The or
ganization was known as "Andrews's Bat
terry" and served in Reynolds Division,