The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-12-04

grasp; 1Or QeSpefdle llSu1luB anu
courageous combat, no battle eXcels
and nearly all fall far short of being the
equal of Chickamauga."
Ave more is true. In Importance
to the cause, in far-reaching result, in
the bringing of the end desired, no
battle EQUALS those fought for the
possession and retention Of Chattanooga.
Capturing the stronghold of the South,
this strategic key to open the very vi
tails of the confederacy, guaranteed the
holding of loyal East Tennessee; kept
Kentucky within our bounds; threat,
ened the flank and rear of the Army o1
Northern Virginia; permitted the At
lanta campaign, with the capture o1
the capital city of Georgia; made
possible the march to the sea; was the
chief instrumentality in the fall ol
Richmond; was prime factor in the
surrender at Appomatox, and die
much to prevent that recognition o
southern nationality by the great
powers that would probably have
made of secession fact accomplished
MUST NOT DIM THE GLORY OF
CHICKAMAUGA.
We know this and history must re-
cord it. Too long have the lights ol
Antietam and Gettysburg been allow.
ed to dim the glory of Stone river and
Chickamauga. Great battles indeed
were those of the east, but in extended
effects they bear no comparison with
these sanguinary conflicts of the mid
die west.
You brave men who wore the gray
know it. Let some of ''our friends
the enemy" give testimony.
WHAT GEN. LoRING SAYS.
Confederate General Loring says o.
the campaign for Chattanooga:
1--WE would have gladly exchanged
dozen of our previous victories for that
one failure. y No man is the south
felt that you had accomplished any
thing until Chattanooga fell. 1t was
the closed doorway to the interior o.
our country. The loss of Vicks
burg weakened our prestige, contracted
our territory and practically expelled
us from the Mississippi river, but i
left the body of our power unharmed
AS to Gettysburg. that was an expert
ment. x X Our loss of it, except tha
we could less easily spare the slaughter
of veteran soldiers than you could, lef
us where we were. n The fall O
Chattanooga, in consequence or the
Chickamauga campaign, and the hubse
Quent total defeat of Gen. Bragg't
efforts to recover it, caused us to ex
perience for the first time a diminutior
of confidence as to the final result"
Lieut.-Gen. Hill, most distinguish
ed confederate, came from experience
on the Peninsula and the seven days
battle about Richmond, and was ripen
ed by service at South Mountain
Antietam and Fredericksburg t.
command that great corps Of the Army
of Tennessee in which commanding
divisions were such men as Gems. T
r. Ceburne, J. G. Breckinridge. II
T. Walker, and st. John R. Liddell
and in command of brigades were Col
quit, Walthall and Mills. III hi
contribution to war history he writes
"There was no more splendid fight
ing in '61, when the flower Of the south
ern youth was in the field, than wa
displayed in those bloody days of Sep
tember, 63. But it seemed to me tina
the elan of the southern soldier wa
never seen after Chickamauga-th'
brilliant dash which had distinguished
him was gone forever. He was too In
telligent not to know that the cutting
in tWoof Georgia meant death tn all hi
hopes. He fought stoutly to the last
but after G Chickamauga with the sullen
ness of despair and without the en-
thusiasm of hope. That, barren vic
tory sealed the fate of the southerl
confederacy."
CHICKAMAUGA THE ONLY DEFEA.
OF THE ARMY OF THE CUN1BER"
And yet, in spite of abundant avail
able testimony, Chickamauga is de
clared by those either ignorant or jeal
Gus to have been defeat of the fedora
arms and the non-fghting croakers a
Washington INDUCED in much pape
bomba. .dment of those who planned
the campaign for the capture of Chatta
nooga. A victim was demanded ant
Rosecrans was cruelty sacrificed. Eli
service from the beginning of the Wa
was ignored. No recollection o
Stone river moved to respect for tha
ability we who. had served under hin
knew he possessed. The villificati0l
of Rosecrans by these carping critic
was abuse of the grand army he LEI
from Nashville to Murfreesboro; t,
victory plucked from the jaws of de
feat" and victory most pronounced, a
Stone river; through the Tullahom'
campaign to the final occupation o
the objective point of all militar.
endeavor from the days in 1861 whel
the troops of the union crossed tn
Ohio river. On that eventful Goth da,
of September, 1868, the Array of th
Cumberland, for the first and onl,
time, lost possession of the battlefield
but it gained to hold until the end, th
goal of military aspiration, thi
Gibraltar of the South. 1t was not t
be won without hard fighting, and tn
conflict for it ragged with indescribabl
fury from Lee Il Gordon's mill +
Snodgrass hill, the Horse Shoe ridge
made immortal by the immovable fig
ure that stood there--serehe, sedate
our own Gen. George H. Thomas, th
) Rock of Chickamauga.
PATHETIC STORY.
A feeling of amity, almost Of fratel
t nization, had existed between the pick
t ct lines in front of Woods division fo
many days. In the early morning c
5 that day, being charge of the left {
} our picket line, I received q turnou
+ and salute from the confederat
; reserve as I rode the line. But tn
+. friendly relation was soon to be rudel
Z L LII Il Il