The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-25
PEPPERED AT
CHICKAMAUGA


and 10th of September have been bright
sunshiny days-such as were the 18th
and goth of September. 1869. at which
time the battle of Chickamauga was
fought"
A white-haired. young-faced. blue
eyed man, Major Henry G. Rogers,
made the remark. Then he closed his
blue eyes, hooked his left thumb in his
vest and was lost. seemingly IN
thought for some minutes. AT the end
of that time he began in way pecu-
liarly his own 10 tell a story or per
sonal experience in that, one of the
great battles of the war. which | am
sure viii be read with absorbing M
terest by every Times Herald patron,
and the million or two who will see 1t
in papers sure to copy the story. Ism
that excuse enough for reproducing IL?
He began in this manner:
% 9 g
81 can recall the scenes and incl
dents of Chickamauga as readily ana
distinctly as l recalled them week
after the battle, if not more so. For
a week after the battle, yes for several
months, 1 was giving a good deal OF
attention TO the work of being patched
up for future service by the surgeon
and nurses.
General W. H. Lyle of Cincinnati,
was our brigade commander. Before
the battle began he made d speech,
telling us what he wanted the brigade
TO Go. and how he wanted 1t done. Gail
ing his bugler to his side he said:
When you hear the call the bugler VIII
give now l want every man to fix bay
Onets and start in on a charge. The
bugler sounded the charge twice as
means of emphasizing the generals de
sire and instructions. Just before we
moved out he ordered the bugler to re-
peat the call for a third time.
Lifting his hat, he said: Remember,
my men, what 1 have told you-when
you hear the bugle sound the charge,
fix bayonets and give them the cold
steel
Poor Lyle never gave the order TO
charge, though it is said that he was
about to do so when he was mortally
wounded. He was a brave man and
much loved by his soldiers, and also
had the confidence of his superlOrs. You
remember that it was Lyle who wrote
the beautiful and expressive poem, l
am dying, Egypt, dying.
g g q
''The forenoon of the goth, when our
regiment moved into line of battle,
was acting as first lieutenant and was
in command of the second platoon, my
brother Charles commanding the COM
pany.
Il had a premonition that I would be
shot that day Look in whatever di-
rection 1 might there seemed to be a
dark spot before my eyes. Did II Dotner
me- OF course it did. Did ever a man
in the war have a premonlJlon tnat
did not bother him? We had not moved
far when the enemy opened flre on US
and we returned the compliment. There
was a man in our company who had
managed to fly from the ranks to the
rear every time we went into battle
I made up my mind that he should help
fight that day. AS soon as the shoot
ing commenced he stepped back as IL
TO run. l raised my sword to force
him back into the ranks, and at that
instant a bullet went through my arm
and dropped it by my side. The fellow
got away, as he always did when II
came TO the pinch of Whistling bullets.
He died a good many years ago and
this truthful remark about him can do
him no harm. The bullet graZed the
bone and cut the muscles OF my arm,
giving me great pain, but l would not
quit the field Every now and then l
looked at my brother and he at me.
1t is not necessary to tell why Soon
after 1 was shot he came to my side
are you getting along?'
"'Oh, first rate; am doing Well At
that moment he caught sight OF the
limp arm from which the blood was
flowing profusely.
Henry, you are shot; you had bet
ter go to the rear
"'Oh. no. not for this little stab.
have paid TO see the whole show and
shall keep my seat until the curtain
drops
THE enemy crowded down against US
three or four lines deeper and were get
ting on our flank before we had orders
to fall back Just before orders came L
saw a large cluster of Confederates In
a fence corner a little to our left a
dozen men caught sight of the crowd
about the same time. 1 picked up a
gun that had just fallen from the hands
of a dying man and gave the command
to fire into that cluster. Just as we fired
1 felt some more burning sensations,
including a shot that tore this hand
and made it necessary to carve off a
couple of fingers: a buckshOt struck
my wrist another bullet slashed into
my well arm, and still another gave
my shoulder a scratch. By this time
we had received orders to fall back. 1
could have stayed, if the rest had, q
little longer. but l was growing weak
rapidly, and felt faint. At that point
Captain Greene of our company, who,
because of an ugly hole in his foot, had
been serving on the staff of General
Lyle. came along, and my brother, the
acting captain, asked him to assist me
in escaping, which he did. While
trudging along as best we could. both
covered with dust and painted by bat
tie smoke, and 1 soaked in blood from
five wounds, we presented a queer pic
ture. 1 looked up at Greene and said: