The National tribune., 1900-01-18
WILLICH'S BRIGADE AT THE RIDGE.
One of the Brave Boys of That Organization
Tells Something Of the Upward Rush.

| EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: Com.
| rade Robert Hammond'S article in an issue
of several weeks ago, under the heading
| "Willich g Brigade Claims the Honor of Cap.
turing Lady Breckinridge and Lady Buck.
ner, came to my notice, and can not re-
frain from taking the matter up with him.
Those guns have been captured by nearly
every regiment in the right wing of the
Fourth Corps, but Hammond was the first
one to my knowledge to claim them for
boy, Willich's Brigade never went up
in front Of Braggs Headquarters, but
away to the north of ito our left. We
OF Willich's Brigade were the center OF
Woods Division, with Sam Beatty's Bri-
gade on our left and W. 3. Hazen's on our
right. There is scarce a reasonable doubt
that Sheridan's Division, which was on our
| immediate right, had Bragg's Headquar-
tiers in their front. Furthermore, Hazens
entire Brigade intervened between his regi-
ment (15th Ohio-Willich's right flank
| and Sheridan's left. Some of Hazen's boys
claim those guns, too.
The comrade says the brigade (Willich's)
consisted of five regiments. There were
nine. He omits the 35th and 25th ILL.,, 6Sth
Ind. and 18th Wis. We formed for the
fray and went up thus: Left of front line.
35th ILL.,, 25th ILL.,, 49th Ohio, 5th Ohio; left
of second line, 6Sth Ind, Sth Kan, S9th H.,
32d Ind, with the 18th Wis. in reserve.
SOiih IlhiuuiOllu llltl tiit 1lllt-
pits at the base were taken, Sheridan, Wood
and other division and brigade command
erS had a conference in front of the fir
ing line" want to remind him that the
little space in front of the firing line, be-
tween it and the Johnnies, was untenable
with the 9th KY, the extreme left of Beat
ty's Brigade and the left of Woods Division.
There was no parleying, or any ordering;
when we struck the rifle-pits and forked
the Jonnies out we halted for breath, and
then up and at the Ridge, for we could not
stay there. He says the first three men on
the Ridge were of Co. A, 18th Ohio. will
not dispute the assertion, but agree with
you in your closing remark, that 1T was
an honor to be even in the rear ranks in
such a charge"
The 35th ILL.,, of which was a member,
spent 10 days or so in Chattanooga in Sep
tember, ga, en- route from Atlanta to our
since regretted that we did not go to Or
chard Knob and run a line by the compass
to the point on Mission Ridge that we
scaled Nov. 25, 1863. 1t could have been
located to a nicely and the observations re-
corded and served to locate positions that
now, after much controversy, have been, to
my mind, enormously marked with monu-
mentS.
In 1895 went to the Ridge for the first
time since the battle. I found the point on
the Ridge where we made the charge.
verified it by the formation of the Ridge
and by the location of three large trees,
placed in triangular position, and form
ing nearly an equilateral triangle. Having
been shot in the head when Is PAGES from
the crest of the Ridge, dropped and found
temporary shelter behind one of these trees;
hence my recollections of the surroundings.
The commission has not properly located
us; but who can wonder at that, with all the
conflicting claims after 2D-pI1 IN
the proper location turns the many dis
cussions we have in Fighting Them Over;
but, comrade, we all have monument
there in common. Where is it, do You ask?
Read b. F. Taylor's words in Little Class
les: "Rust may have eaten the guns; the
graves of the heroes may have subsided
like waves weary of their troubling; the
soldier and his leader may have lain down to-
gether; but there, embossed upon the globe,
Mission Ridge will stand their fitting mon
ument forever: SAM W. BIRD, Adjutant,
35th ILL.,, Horizon, Wis.