The record-union., 1897-06-11
sACRANENTO DAILY RECORD UNION. FRIDAY, II,


left of our army; that was temporarily
attached to Company B Of the regiment,
which practically placed me on the left
flank of that heroic army. I know all
this because there was no firing in our
front, and no sound of battle to our left,
but steady. steady, steady from the
right of us rolled the voleys which told
us that the enemy was working around
to our vicinity. l saw General Near
thur, our commander, at this point, and
as l remember, his hand was wrapped
with handkerchief as though he had
been wounded. By his orders we pushed
across deep ravine which ran parallel
with our front, and in five minutes we
had taken up a position on the bank OF
this ravine, facing the enemy. Every
body felt that the critical moment had
come. The terrible nervous strain of
that day was nothing compared with the
feeling that now the time had come for
us to show our mettle The faces of
that regiment We're worth studying at
that moment. Not one that was not
pale; not lip that was not shut; not an
eye that was not wild; not hand that
did not tremble in this awful, anxious
came-pattering shots from out the
dense growth in our front, telling of
the advance of the skirmish line. On
our part, no repsonse. No enemy could
be seen, but the purple weaths of
smoke here and there told of the men
who were feeling their way toward our
lines. nervous man, unable to stand
the strain, let off his musket in our
lines. This revealed our presence.
With a suddenness that was almost ap
palling, there came from all along our
front a crash of musketry and the bull
lets shrieked over our heads and
through our ranks. Then we delivered
our fire. In an instant the engage
ment was general at this point. There
were no breech-loaders in that COM
mand, and the process of loading and
firing was tedious. AS | delivered my
second shot a musket ball struck
small bush in my front threw the
splinters in my face, and whistled over
my shoulder. 1 may say that was
startled, but | kept loading and firing
without any idea whatever as to what
1 was firing at. Soon the dry leaves,
which covered the ground about us,
were on fire, and the smoke from them
added to the general obscurity. Two
or three men had fallen in my vicinity.
at this moment the young Lieutenant
who had my descriptive list in his coat
bosom, and who was gallantly waving
his sword in the front, was struck by
a bullet and fell instantly dead, almost
at my feet. Then it was that | realized
my utter isolation, and shuddered at
the thought of the fate impended-
Dead and unknown"
By this time the fire from the enemy
in our front-it was the division of
General Hardee turning the flank of
the Federal position-became So ter
rible that we We're driven back into
the ravfne. Here we were compare
lively safe. We could load our pieces,
crawl up the banks of the ravine, and
fire and fall back, as it were. But
many poor fellows who crawled up this
friendly embankment fell back, dead
or wounded; and in one instance, as l
was crouched down loading my piece,
a man who had been struck above
me, fell on top of me and died by my
side. 1t was here in this terrible mo-
ment that l, boy-like, thought of the
peaceful Ohio home, where a loving,
anxious mother was doubtless thinking
of me, and with the thought that per-
haps my father had been killed, came
a natural desire to be we'll out of the
scrape Notwithstanding l kept firing
as long as my cartridges lasted. These
gone, fierce Sergeant, with revolver
in his hand, placed it's muZZle close to
my ear and fiercely demanded why l
was not fighting. l told him that /
had no cartridges.
Take cartridges from the box of the
man there" he said, pointing to the
dead man who had just fallen upon
me. Mine was an Enfield rife, and
my deceased neighbors cartridges were
for a Springfield rifle. / had clung to
this beautiful Enfield, with its maple
stock, which my father had selected as
his own, and | was determined that it
should not leave my hands. While this
scene was passing, the enemy came
upon us in full charge, and, looking up
through the smoke of the burning
leaves and beyond a washout which
connected our ravine, / saw the gray,
dirty uniforms of the enemy. 1 heard
their fierce yells, 1 saw their flag flap
ping sullenly in the grimy atmosphere.
forgotten; l can see the tiger ferocity
of those faces yet; l can see them in
my dreams. For what might they not
have appeared to me- terrified as l
was!
1t was at this point that our blue line
first wavered. Out of this ravine, over