Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-05-26
TWO WAR STORIES
LonGstreet's Irresistible Charge and
an Experience at Stone
River.


81 know something about that my
SELF said the corporal. ''On the sec
ond day at Chickamauga, as there had
been so much marching and counter
marching, two or three of us on adj
vance picket duty felt that there wasn't
going to be much of a shower, and we
were scouting with instructions to
keep our eyes open in the woods in the
direction in which we would have bet
money there were no confederates. We
struck several detachments from other
commands, and it seemed to be very
general opinion that we wouldn't have
much work that day on our part of
the line. We found very nice place
and sat down to rest. and were engaged
in a little discussion as to where Rose
Grams had made mistakes, particularly
as to our own regiment, when there was
a sudden roar and rumble off toward
the river.
1T sounded at first as though great
body of water had broken loose and was
coming down upon US. 1t grew louder
and came nearer, and as we sat strick-
en- dumb by the appalling noise we
saw coming straight toward us a
rapidly moving mass or cloud of gray.
1t seemed at first like a heavy thun-
dercloud rolling along the surface of
the ground and enyeloping trees and
brush as it came. We soon saw that it
was great charging column, line upon
line, of confederates. The mystery was
there was no firing. They came whirl-
ing through the woods like resistless
tornado. They were on and over us
and speeding away before our wits
came back, and we understood that
this charging column in gray meant
death and destruction to the right wing
of the union army. 1t was Longstreet's
magnificent charge, and in its sweep
forward the tremendous column paid
no more attention to the picketS or
scouts or detachmentS in front than
If they had been so many dead leaves.
Literally we were knocked down and
trampled on, and, bruised and bleed
ing, we crept away to join, later in
the day, our own regiment, which had
made the best fight it could against
this tornado of war. When an army
got ready to GO it joined issue with
| the other army without any ceremony"
do you remember that experience
at Stone river?'' said the doctor.
Early on the morning of the 1st of
+ January our brigade, which had been
| roughly handled the day before, was
sent to the extreme front as a sort
of grand picket or observation corps.
/ remember that it was very dark.
Aroused from the troubled sleep in
| bivouac on their arms, the men, stiff
and sore, shivering with cold, moved
sullenly along in the dark. They came
at last to where they were to form in
| line of battle. This was in front of the
| command that was to be relieved. AS
| the men struggled to form a respecta-
| bic line on the uneven ground they came
| in contact with logs which seemed
| clustered in confusion all over the
ground. The men kicked at these in
| the dark and grumbled as they tried
| to find place for their feet.
only few hundred yards to the
| front was a heavy mass, darker than
the darkness, which we knew was the
| confederate line As the purpose was
not to make an attack, but to guard
| against attack, the men were required
| to be very quiet. So they stood with
their arms at a ready when daylight