Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-01-20

of the hill are not more than half what
l had in mind. | wanted to stand once
more on the ground occupied by our
company on the 22nd and imagine the
enemy coming up the slope again, but
the grounds surrounding the house pre-
vented, without encrouching. To Lang,
the spot had personal interest, for on
| the 21st, after passing through the
storm of lead which beat in our faces
during the charge, having seen the hill
in our possession and joined in the
cheering which followed, he was struck
in the right shoulder while lying down.
the bullet passing through his right lung
and speeding in the direction of his
feet, imbedding itselfin commissary de-
partment, and there it is yet He re-
fuses to show it to any but his most in
innate friends. He was taken to the
hospital to die, but next day when
Harder's men came up through our
rear Lang sprang from his cot, wrapped
himself in a sheet and fled until be fell
in faint and when he recovered con-
seriousness he was In the general hos
pital recovering from long run of brain
fever which left beautiful polish on
top of his head "vice" hair removed"
as Mr. Cleveland used to say when re-
forming the civil service. Lang now
points with pride to bis bald pate and
says "Look at me I'm older than you
III days. and not a gray hair in my
head"
That 2lst of July was a sad day for
our regiment, losing 159 men. I point
ed to the south and told our guide that
was the place to look for lead 'Too
much trouble to find them there; best
place is in the cultivated fields after a
rain" A colored boy offered to sell me
a cigar box full for Is cents, which
shows there is no need to manufacture
them yet. | picked up some and Sc
cured few case shot. some bullets OF
special make, some pieces of she'll and
IL ID. shot, all | could we'll carry.
Having scanned the field from every
point of view we could, our guide led
us to the McDonough road, thence
along lines of intrenchment towards the
railroad to the north, pointing out tie
Howard house (Sherman's headquar-
ters during battle) thence east toward
Decatur, took us to his comfortable
house, refreshed us from his splendid
well, showed us a letter from oul
colonel, Geo. E. Bryant, showed US blue
print map of battle field, treated us as
guests, took us to his persimmon trees
and shook them for us, took us back tc
our old route where we stopped at the
colored mans house, when we wrote
up our stock of postal cards and sent
them to absent comrades and friends
Parting with our guide and entertainer
: we took car at county seat and called
on Folsom to fill the vacancy caused by
long fasting, after which we took 9
train for Chattanooga 1873 miles away
viewing with interest the country, every
foot of which had been watered with
the sweat or sprinkled with the blood
of nearly 200, 900 Americans third of g
century ago. At Kennesaw we again
enter the mountains where the agricul.
, turist turned over the country to the
: mountaineer. who. flashing his habita
ton to the hillside defes the torrent to
drown or the sterile soil to starve him
from the place where his kinfolk have
cultivated a small patch of 'cawn,'
made his razor backed hogs into the
sweetest of bacon, hunted, fshed
fought his feuds, maintained his indie.
pendence and shown his contempt fol-
revenue laws and officers, for genera
TONS A brave, warm hearted, hardy
class of people.
Just as We were pulling into Chatta-
nooga very gentlemanly Georgian said
Excuse me. gentlemen, may l ask
were you men in the ranks during the
war;" Having assured him that we
both carried musket he asked permits
sion to shake hands with the only pri-
Yates he had seen down there from the
north. Was he stuffing us or do our
people all put on Kentucky airs when
they get south of the Ohio? A good
supper, good sleep at the Read house
and an attempt to get an early break
fast takes us into perfect jam of Penn
sylvania veterans all on the same lay
rushing for Lookout cars which We
finally board and 60 up steep incline
by cable car, landing at the Point Inn
from whence we had magnificent view
Of Moccasin Point, Browns Ferry, Ten
nessee river and Waldron's Ridge.
Passing around the point on wide
veranda, we are soon looking into Wau-
hatchie Valley, which lies at the foot OF
Lookout on the west. We are at the
foot of the palisades and within a few
rods of where our men scaled up lad
der to plant their flag. There are
groups of Pennsylvania veterans dedi-
eating their monuments and we can
easily hear the chaplain's prayer of one,
the Grafton of another, while further off
three lusty cheers are being given.
Taking the narrow guage from here, we
skirt the base of the palisades towards
the south and overlook the Wauhatchie
Valley and battlefield. After going
about mile and half we leave the
train and climb up short distance to
TON of paliSaSoc which iS boro holt q