The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1897-03-11

About 2 o'clock in the morning we We're
permitted to lie down, and did so by
threes-two gum blankets and one wool
Ell below us, two woolens and one gum
above. A sleet storm came on, and |
awoke from sound sleep, with my hair
matted in frozen humps. 1t was scarcely
light before the cannonading was re-
sumed. The reveille and shouting of
officers rose from every camp, and the
smell Of powder came family on the
morning air. Raw pork and cold crack
ers We're soon dispatched, and we We're
in line for orders. And now the woods
in front and the road to our right were
lively with mounted orderlies, small de-
tachments of soldiers and batteries hur-
rying to their places in the line. 1t was
plain that general battle had begun.
AmbuIanCcs passed back filed with
wounded, and now and then an artillery
horse limped by, shot in the hip or shoul-
der, but sometimes with ghastly seam
along the side.
Then came the order, 'To the right
and take position with Porter's bat
terry" We started on the run and kept it
up for about two miles; but, as General
Shackleford afterward told me, his guide
directed him TOO far to the left, so we
missed PQrter's battery entirely and
halted on ridge toward which the
main force Of the rebels was advancing,
and think our brigade was the end of
the Union line to the east. The Seven
teenth and Twenty fifth Kentucky
moved at once to the summit of the
ridge and opened fire vigorously, while
our half of the brigade, the Thirty-fir
and Forty y-fourth Indiana, lay fat in the
snow behind them and little down the
slope. We had passed behind the Thir-
ty-first Illinois, and | saw three men ly-
ing right by our road my first look at
men killed i'll battle. They lay on their
backs, each with bullet hole in his
forehead, was struck with the singu-
larly peaceful expression on each face.
Wounded Kentuckians soon passed
our line III considerable numbers, some
not making a sound, others groaning
and one shrieking dreadfully, and took
notice that the one making the most
noise was mere boy with a shattered
arm. Our Captain Waterman had just
passed behind us, saying that in a min
ute or two we should move to the right
of the kentuckians, and l was still
looking i'll the direction pointed by his
sword when suddenly there was grand
crash and roar through the deep woods
as if heaven and earth were coming to-
gether. A big body of rebels had come
close into our right and partially in our
rear. | saw the Kentuckian ON the ex-
treme right throw his gun high in the
air and fall back dead. The next man
gave one glance and turned to flee. The
line broke, and both regiments came
rushing back right over u.s. In less time
than it takes to tell it we were up and
after them, all rank and order lost, Off
GERS and men, Kentuckians and Indi-
anianS all in mass, and thus we ran to
the bottom Of the slope.
The line officers rushed with drawn
swords among the men, who soon fell
into ranks from mere habit, and, with a
spontaneous feeling of shame, began to
check their retreat. Colonel Bristow
came down on us shouting phrases
which he assuredly never learned in
Sunday school. Aid-de-camp Terry gal
lOped in with a message from General
Cruft of the Thirty first and shouted:
Come on, Indiana! I'm only boy,
but I'll go at the headp' We raised the
yell, reformed and fell back slowly and
were soon all i'll line at the top of the
next ridge. All? Well, not quite Our
lieutenant colonel ard about 200 others
had turned back by the road we came
in, ana we saw them no more that day,
Wnlic ABOUT so from various commands,
with one lieutenant at their head, never
stopped till they reached the landing we
had left the day before. 1t was long told
about the campfire that this officer
found a boat just starting down the
river, got aboard and actually reached
his home III southern Indiana before he
heard that Donelson had surrendered.
We had got well in line and We're
listening TO some rather emphatic re-.
marks from Colonel Bristow when the
shout was raised, "Here they comet"
On the ridges there was tall timber
without underbrush, but down the slope
the latter grew thickly, so l could see
nothing. A few scattering shots We're
fired as the volleys of the advancing
rebels began to strike the trees, but
stern orders were given to wait for the
word. 1t came soon. "Ready!' l gazed
down into the thicket and saw no man,
but the bushes moving and an occasional
puff Of smoke. "Aimp / drew down
my gun about where l thought the mid
die of a man would be in those bushes.
"Firew There was terrific crash as
1900 rifles went off, and after 1T a wild
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