The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-01-20
HIS List Battle.
1t Was Cedar Creek. and Bullet Stopped
His Fighting.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The 18th
Ind. was in the Second Brigade of the Sec
ond Division, and as Comrade r. L. Blanch-
ard has stated, we were in line ready for a
reconnaissance some time before the first
picket-shot was fred hence were not sur
| prised, but moved out near the pike.
| Here we stood for some time without firing,
as we could see through the fog and smoke
| what appeared to be our own men retreating
rapidly to the north, and whom we supposed
Were part of the Eighth Corps. But presently,
after many of our men had been killed or
wounded, we found the enemy approaching
rapidly.
So we went to work. in earnest. Here our
gallant Lieut.. Col. Charles and brave Maj.
Williams gave up their lives, with many COM
| pany officers and large number of men. In
the dense cloud of smoke and fog that hung
like pail over the field of death the regi-
ment became broken and disintegrated
In loading and firing as rapidly as l could
at the enemy, who were evidently somewhat
demoralized by the booty found in the camp
of the left wing of the Eighth Corps, l foun6
myself with three comrades near large pile
of forage in one of the several ravines opening
into Cedar Creek.
As we peered from under the canopy of
smoke we saw dimly on the brow of the hill
!
and perhaps 200 feet in front of us. Before
any of us could fire an officer rode to the side
of one of the color bearers. Turning his head
to the left he shouted:
Rally on your colors, men, Don't turn
victory into defeat.'
We all fired at him almost simultaneously
aimed just between the points of his horses
ears and fired Both man and horse plunged
forward down the slope toward us. l i'm
mediately bit off another cartridge and began
ramming it down, thinking to next try one
of the color-bearcrsl but the smoke from our
guns with the cloud over me, entirely OBJ
| scured them from view.
/ looked ab0uts me, and to my surprise
| found that my oDfnrades had disappeared
| leaving me entirely alone. l noticed then
| that the battle was raging away down the
| pike.
| This, ] suppose, was when the advancing
enemy first struck thelSixth Corps. 1 began
retreat in good order to the northwest up
! Cedar Creek, and7 = Iike Sam Hill +" under
4 Jackson at New Orleans, went to fighting on
my own hook"
As l reached thStap Of low swell of land
were advancing in akirreguiar line. firing as
| they came i stopped and exchanged two or
three shots, and then fell back over the ridge
where were the 14th n. II. they opened
| fire on the enemy, and joined them, loading
and firing so rapidly that my gun soon got
very hot and so dirty that l could scarcely
ram ball down.
| This command soon began to fall back. and
L again took my own course and soon found
myself in the camp of my own regiment, and
right at my own ''puptent.' again stopped
and fired a few shots, but bullets were COM
ing thick and fast
Presently ball tore through my left arm
My arm became perfectly numb from the
elbow down. / felt of it. and, to my Joy,
| found the bone was not broken / tried to
grasp my gun with it while 1 loaded, but
the power OF yolition stopped at the elbow.
The ball had cut away the tendons without
breaking the bone or severing the main
artery.
| / realized that my fighting was over for
that day, and the question as TO whether |
should go to Andersonville or Winchester
depended now on my legs. Hastily taking a
! pair OF drawers from my knapsack, showed
the drawers into my haversack to use for
/ bandages. / struck out on lively double
! quick, keeping my gun.
| l came up with a squad of about 20 of my
regiment in command of Lieutenant, and
was told that nearly all the officers of the
regiment were either killed or wounded and
that this squad represented the organization.
| The boys advised me to move on to the rear
rs we were still in range of bullets: so. help
ing our cOlor-bearer, Serg't Campbell, who
was shot thr ugh the leg, / started again,
now slowly, as Campbell was suffering from
q painful iiesh-wound.
We passed line of infantry and then q
Gordon of cavalry gathering up stragglers
| AS we were now past our rear-line, crossing
the open country, we noticed, a few hundred
yards to our right, two horsemen. j instantly
recognized the foremost as Little Phil, " and
the other appeared to bs an Orderly in cay
airy uniform.
We watched them as they rode away to the
left to a line of infantry, and saw the cloud of
hats 90 up as the news Of his arrival went
down the line. ! turned to Campbell and
made the prediction that Sheridan would
retrieve the day
After getting Campbell into an ambulance
| l walked on, soon finding several more of the
wounded of my regiment. We arrived at
Winchester about O'Clock. On the way nv
wound began to bleed; took the drawers
from my hayersack to tear up for bandages,
but they were rddled with bullet-hOles
This was my last battle, and 1 never saw
the grand old regiment again, but was told
by cOmrade that, out OF 100 who were in
| liuc III tuc UoIHlug, ouiy on were lett. NV
company was so decimated that it lost its
identity, and the regiment became only
battalion of five companies.
l have seen several go down before my
gun, but / do not know nor want to know
that / ever killed mim. The brave officer
who was trying to rally his men in the MORN
ing was the last man ever saw fall in battle
and have often wished | knew who he was,
and hope he was only wounded or perhaps
had his horse shot under him.
| would say here, incidentally, rs to the
character of the Nineteenth Corps, judged
from its recOrd-at least, that OF the men
who formerly belonged to the old Thirteenth
Corps-they were not the 'pell-mell y kind.
My regiment was not one of the fighting
regiments" but we went in early and
stayed late. We began with Fremont away
in the West, then with Curtis at Pea Ridge,
where we fought both Texas Rangers and
Indians. Both Gen. Ben Mccullough, of the
Rangers and Gen. Mcintosh fell in front of
our brigade
With Grant we had the honor of opening
the first battle Of the Vicksburg campaign
Magnolia Hill, or Port Gibson, in which our
loss was very heavy. After the siege of
Vicksburg we went again to Jackson with
fisherman, then with Banks in Louisiana,