Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1899-09-14
LULLs IN BATTLE
During the Hottest engagements of
the Civil War There Came Mo-
ments of Quiet.

''When we enlisted in April. 1861. ,.
said the captain, s'our company be-
heved in some way not understood and
not to be explained we would march
Immediately with the rest of our di-
vision to some selected spot and fight
a battle with the confederates. and that
when this had been settled to our sat
isfaction we should fight another and
another until the end of three months,
when, with a score of victories to our
credit, we would march home IN tri.
umph.
AS a matter of fact the three months
expired before we fired a gun, and our
first real battle came upon Us after
IL months seasoning in marches and
skirmishes. After a leisureIy march
across Kentucky and Tennessee, with
some experiences that made US believe
ourselves invincible, we plunged, with
slight warning, into the battle of Shi-
lob. It was like being caught in a
cyclone, bewildering and terrifying
but in blind obedience we did what
was expected of Us, and at the end
waited for the next battle, which we
believed would follow quick on the
heels OF the first. But there came
lull in which officers and men relaxed
and in which the army took what the
boys called picnic excursions after an
enemy that evaded US. Then in the
course of six months we engaged in
a foot race with Bragg's army back
across Tennessee and Kentucky, and
were caught in the thunderstorm at
Perryville with no umbrellas up.
''There came another IuI and more
marching and, at thee Of two months
of waiting, Stone River. That was a
terrible struggle between two we'll
disciplined armies, each O,00O strong.
and men lived three years in three days.
But after the storm came another calm.
When our regiment moved through and
beyond Murfreesboro two days after
the battle we felt sure we would strike
the enemy at the crossing of every
stream. After we had marched three
or four miles what seemed 10 be a
squadron of cavalry bore down upon
us from the front But instead of de-
ploying into line Of battle we came to
the front face on the side of the ROAD
and presented arm to Gen. Rcsecrans.
odd Rosy was in excellent spirits,
and as he rode along the line said: 4
remember you, boys, in West Virginia.
and made remarks complinenting the
regiment to his chief of staff. After
this meeting we knew that fighting for
the possession of Murfreesboro was
over, but we supposed we were to pur-
sue the enemy. We marched rapidly
for ten or twelve miles and that night
with the other regiments OF our brigade
formed in line of battle along a high
ridge facing the Cripple Creek valley.
The next day we lounged in the thick
growth of small cedars awaiting or
ders, so we supposed, to attack. But
the next day our wagons came up,
tents were pitched, ard we remained
there six months, gradually whipping
the ridge into a formidable fortified
camp.
early in July we swung forward and
drove the enemy TO the line of the Ten
nessee and marched and counter
marched in the mountainous country
to the south of Chattanooga with as
little anxiety as though we were on a
picnic excursion. Even when we crossed
the Tennessee river and 1ianked the
enemy out of Chattanooga the men
were unconcerned and frolicsome, and
they continued in this mood until they
were caught in the storm Of battle
at Chickamauga. This came eight
months and eighteen days after Stone
River. Then came a lull of nearly two