Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1895-11-09
A HISTORICAL INCIDENT.
Recapture Of Battery Fl, Fifth
United States Artillery,
by tho ninth OHIO Volunteer Infantry, on
the First Day of the Battle or
Chickamnuga.

| 1868, your correspondent was an actor
in the events which for all time to come
saved Chattanooga to our union; and in
pennlug these lines he will make no at
tempt to add page to history, but
simply narrate what have been matters
of personal observation.
The battle OF Chickamauga was
fought across and along the road lead
ing from lafayette, Ga, to Chattanoo-
ga, Tenn, and its immediate object
was the re-occupation of the last named
city. BY successful feint the confed-
crate general, Bragg, commanding the
army of Tennessee, was on the 9th day
OF September, 1863, induced te evacuate
his stronghold at Chattanooga, while
the union general, Rosecrans, at the
same time became enabled, with his
Army of the Cumberland, almost un-
observed and certainly unmoiested, not
only at various places below that city,
by means OF hastily constructed RATS
and pontoons to cross the wide Tennes-
see river, but also TO safely climb and
descend the abrupt Raccoon range, as
we'll as Sand and Lookout mountain on
north side of the river. To-day it is
clear to every soldier, that the Army
of the Cumberland never, since its ex-
istence, had been in such perllous and
hazardous condition as when, from the
9th to the 10Th of September, 1868. its
three corps were absolutely isolated on
a line forty miles apart between its two
wings, each separated from the other
by rugged mountain ranges, and in its
center confronted by we'll organized
and concentrated force of superior mum.
bers, which was even then being daily
increased by the arrival of fresh troops.
And totally inconceivabe, then as we'll
as now, is the failure of Gen. Bragg to
take advantage of the divided condition
of Rosecrans' army, by attacking and
crushing the same in detail. The stu
alton of the contending armies was
thoroughly understood even by the pri-
vate soldiers, and this is not, therefore,
'wisdom after the fact" Instead of
this, however, the confederate general
on the 18th of September, resolved to
await the arrival at Lafayette of the
expected forces from Virginia under
the command of Ger. Longstreet, and
for the present moment felt contented
in trying to overlay the lett wing of
the union army and thereby cut 1t off
from Chattanooga. This state of
affairs, OF course, necessitated, on the
other side, an Immediate extension and
reinforcement of Rosecrans' left wing,
for which communication with Chat
auooga was OF paramount and vital i'm
portance. For this reason Gen. Thorn
as, commanding the center of the army
OF the Cumberland fourteenth corps),
received, late in the afternoon of 18th
of September, orders to move with his
four divisions from the Chem camping
place near Pond Spring, in ii norGherly
direction along the Crawlish road, to a
point near Lee & Gordon's mill, which
Gen. Crittenden had already occupied.
And now took place the ever memoir
able night march of the Fourteenth
corps. Silent but firm, following close
upon each Others heels. but continual
ly blinded by the smoke OF burning
fences, those thousands OF experienced
veterans, four divisions strong,
marched along the dusty country road,
and many, it really seemed, shifted
from afar in the cold, frosty night air,
the slaughter that was to come in the
early morning; certain it is that in
many places the lines of the two con-
tending armies were so close that the
chopping OF the axes, the dull rumbling
of the artillery wheels and all the
notes of preparation for the struggle
which was to begin the next day could
be distinctly heard. Finally, at dawn
of the morning the objective point was
fortunately reached, and now brigade
after brigade, one closing up In the
rear OF the other commenced marching
by left flank past Crittenden into the
designated new line until the last one
| Wan Derveer's), took it's position near
the old Mcdonald house on the Lafay.
ette and Chattanooga road. And so the
extension of our left wing was safely
accomplished.
1t was about o'clock a. m. on the
morning OF the 10Ch of September
when this last (the Third) brigade o.
Gen. Branan's (the Third) division was
ordered into the opposite woods toward
Reed bridge and the Chickamsugt
river where desperate fighting had al
ready commenced. That the ThirC
brigade of the Third division, Four
teenth corps. under command of Col
Ferd. Van Derveer and composed o
the Ninth and Thirty-fIth Ohio. Sec
oud Minnesota and Eighty-seventh In
diana regiment, volunteer infantry
stands second to none in the records
both official and historical, of the effec
tive lighting accomplished upon the
bloody field of Chickamauga, is not ant
cannot be questioned. Only the
eighty-seventh Indiana, Second Min