The National tribune., 1900-05-31

his brigade, together with the gallant
18th Ohio. led by Col Dan Mccoy, rush
ing like an irresistible tornado to their
assistance and TO the aid of Strickland
or the opposite side of the pike. The
arrival of these reserves and their furi-
GUS onslaught completely repulsed the
enemy at the pike, and left the Union
forces in the undisputed possession of all
the works on the left of the pike.
This headlong charge, while absolutely
necessary and pre-eminentfy successful,
proved, like the one led by Col. White,
men; but the results attained fully justified
the heavy sacrifice made by these two
aSsaulting columns, because instead of the
defeat and capture of Schofield's army,
a transcendent victory for it. with its far
reaching consequences, was now beyond
all doubt assured.
HOLDING THEM DOWN.
The Confederates were on the outside
of the works with their guns pointed
through beneath the headlogs, thus hay-
ing splendid range to Reilly's rear, but
they dare not come over the works to cap
ture the thin line inside whom they could
neither see nor bring their guns to bear
upon and almost half Of whom were already
wounded, either seriously or slightly.
After the failure of the first attack,
Hood opened with all his artillery upon the
works at the center, and shot and shell and
canister came Kissing and screaming
down the pike through the works like a
tornado, but the works afforded ample
protection to the men and little damage
was done.
While this furious cannonading was
going on, Hood was hurriedly organizing
his columns for another and more desperate
assault. Cox, ever ready in any emer-
gency, happily anticipated the enemy's
intention by strongly reinforcing his lines
wherever necessary, and having the men
who had been driven from the front lines
reformed and taken back until the line
between the pike and cotton-gin was a
wall OF hardened veterans from 10 to Is
deep; and when Hoods second tremendous
assault came it received far more de-
structlve fire from the whole line than the
former had. and was driven back with
sickening slaughter.
The parapet from one end to the other
was continuous blaze of fire. Wag-
ner's men were not in front to obstruct the
fire of the center, and the men next to the
works after discharging their guns passed
them to the rear and received freshly
loaded ones. while those in the rear simply
did the loading; by this means they were
enabled TO maintain an incesSant fire that
meant annihilation to everything in front.
wounded gunner of the 1st KY. Battery
instructed the infantry how to load and
fire the idle guns that were on the left of
the pike, and soon they were throwing
double charges Of canister into the serried
ranks OF the enemy with a vigor and skill
that would have done credit to well-trained
cannoneerS.
Often during the succeeding assaults the
men would withhold their fire until the
enemy was within flew PAGES Of the works,
and when the order fire" would riun ont
and deafening volley fairly moved down
everything in front, the uninjured would
fall to the ground with the dead and wound
ed, and there remain until the smoke would
clear away, when they would promptly
obey the summons TO surrender and gladly
come over the works.
The assaults, always meeting with the
same result were made in rapid succession
and with equal desperation from the time
the battle opened until it closed, about 10
O'Clock at night. While there were many
OF the Union dead and wounded lying
inside the Federal lines, at the close Of the
battle, it was trifiing when compared to
the outside, where the Confederate dead
and wounded literally covered the ground
in all directions, and in places were piled
across each other two and three deep.
Stanley was wounded early in the en-
gagement. White also received an ugly
wound in the face while leading the first
charge, but continued in the thickest of
the fray until victory became d certainty,
| when the painfulness Of his wound com
PEELED him to abandon the field and seek
Il
rous Mac'D of the 175th Ohio was wounded
in the shoulder while leading an assault,
but remained with his men until he was
compelled TO retire, when Maj. Ed. T..
Mullenix took command of the regiment
and kept 1t until Col. McCoy's return in the
following Spring.
A CONFEDERATE'S STORY.
A Confederate who was in the assaulting
columns to the left Of the cotton gin, in a
letter thus describes the first assault:
"All was ready. We arose and dashed
forward. As we advanced the Yankee
troops rose up behind their works and
their rifles fell into horizontal line. The
Federal artillerists sprang TO their guns.
We instinctively pulled CIR hat brims
down as though to protect our faces and
dashed into the open. Fnstantly we were
met by storm of lets and canister
that caused us to stagger as our dead and
wounded comrades fell against US. We