The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1900-03-15
THE BATTLE-FIEI.DS.
OLD SOLDIERS TALK OVER
ARMY EXPERIENCES
rhe Blue and the Gray Review Incl.
dents of the Late War, and in .
Graphic and Interesting Manner
Tell of Camp, March and Battle.

Il think our boys succeeded in the old
times" said Capt Ludwig, because
they didn't know the military difficult
ties in their way and didn't care to
anow. AS individual soldiers they Were
always ready to take the initiative, and
II officers We're shot or disabled. or even
lf regiment was scattered by a
charge. the men rallied on their own
responsibility and took up the tight
where they left il. In this particular
| think the soldiers of the old Union
army We're different from those of any
Of the modern European armies.
Not loEg ago | introduced Maj
Evans. of the Twentieth Illinois TO
Charles Cannon, of the Chicago bat
terry. Cannon at once asked if Evans
had been with the Twentieth at the bat
tie in front of Atlanta. He then ex-
planned that the battery was on the
right of the Twentieth and that the
skirmish line of the latter regiment
held the strong rebel force back for
two hours. 1t was Il remarkable fight,
and the men of the battery watched the
progress with the greatest interest and
anxiety.
In the midst of the fight the men of
line was driven back that the battery
must go back, saw one Of the Twentieth
men bleeding from a wound in the head
coming unsteadily to the rear. He
walked rs though weak from loss Of
blood or blinded by blood running in his
eyes, and they wondered If he had
rstrength enough to reach a place of
safety. He cape to the dead body of
comrade, turned the body over, took
the cartridges from the box, and re-
turned to his place in the skirmish line.
He wasn't thinking of the tremendous
odds in front nor of his wound. He
had come back for ammunition, and
when he had secured the cartridges he
took up the fight again.
When we were at Lake Providence,
above Vicksburg, in April, 1863. Gen.
Logan. commanding the division, called
for volunteers to run the blockade at
VickSburg. The men We're expected to
have some knowledge of boats and
| We're to man the transports. The order
calling for volunteers was read before
every regiment of Logan's division at
dress parade. Each colonel asked that
the men of his regiment who cared to
volunteer for such service to step four
PAGES TO the front. Instantly every
man in line stepped to the front.
| e.
the character of the service; that 1t was
necessary that the men have confidence
in their ability to do the work required
of them: that in addition to the danger
of the enterprise, success depended on
the efficiency Of the volunteers. After
this explanation, those men who felt
that they were qualified to do the work
demanded were told to step four PAGES
to the front. Again every man in line
stepped to the front. That is to say, Of
that division of 5000 men every man
volunteered TO run the blockade. When
the case was reported TO Gen. Logan
| he burst out with characteristic re-
mark: The darned fools don't know
I any better Detail six river men from
each regiment
In the march TO the sea the self
reliance of cOmanding generals and Of
privates and the general responsiveness
and trust were strikingly illustrated.
Not every one knows that in that
march Sherman's army was in line of
battle every night. Each corps marched
during the day to the point designated.
If it didn't reach that point at sundown
it marched until it did. Every private
knew the place at which his regiment or
| division would camp that night. and II,
| for any reason, he fell out, he made it 4
point to reach the camp some time dur
| ing the night.
He was rarely at fault, because the
| pioneers Of each corps blaZed the trees
along their line Of march, and biazed
the trees at the points chosen for
camps. so that IL detachment or a
regiment lost its way It was guided to
the right or left by the blazes ON the
trees. and it knew just where to find it's
camp. For example. the Fifteenth
Corps marked its path by blaze cut in
tnt NTtt, tut ssiAtcCutA SOt pS 10y DAdLc
and n notch at the bottom: the Seven
teenth Corps by blaze and notch at
the top: the Twentieth Corps by blaze
and a notch at the top and bottom
Gen. Sherman never boosted of this
plan. l never have seen 1t mentioned
in any report or in any book, but it
illustrated not only the capacity of
Sherman, but his wonderful attention
to details Of practical character, and
also his trust and confidence in the pri-
vate soldiers of his army. Under this
plan he was always sure that his army
would be ready for any attack made by
the enemy and he was always conf
dent that every private soldier has as
much pride in meeting the enemy as
himself"
No one contends" said the Doctor.
that every soldier in the Union army
had the soldierly spirit, but most of
even the most eccentric had infinite
trust in Uncle Billy. as they called
Sherman, and in addition to that each
fellow held firmly to the belief that
Uncle Billy had confidence in him. But
odd characters, as a rule. had a hard
row to hoe. I remember one Dutchman
in our company who, while enlisted as
a private, believed that 1t was his mis-
sion to be surgeon of the regiment
He posed before the boys of the COM
pany as student Of medicine, and
talked Il great deal about his ambition
to he doctor. He had no books. and
his method of acquiring medical knOwl-
edge was TO pretend that he had ali the
diseases in the catalogue and let the
surgeon prescribe for him. One day he
would have the rheumatism. The next
day lie would be threatened with lung
trouble. In week he would have
severe ease of camp cholera. Then he
would pretend to go into decline with
slow fever. When he received the
medicines for these different complains
he did lot swallow the doses. but put
them aside, labeled, This is for rheu-
matiSm." or This is for fever" or