The National tribune., 1900-10-25

| ioIul SuSStStsu IHut we utDloN. anu IUdI
| McCook replied witE7a percmptory order
to charge as we werel Sheridan was not
present Mt the moment, but was starting
the march of his other two brigadeS, under
an order from Rosecrans, toward our left,
| to fill q gap to the right of Gen. Thomas
We charged down the hill, across the open
| fIeld IN front of our battery. and under n
CALLING fire passing the ravine and to n
piece of timber whichliwas swarming with
| COnfederates. Theredin that hot-bed we
remained fightingi until they fanked our
| lines at both endsi 1t seemed to me that
, we stayed a long time. while in fact it was
but n few minutes Nevertheless, the time
was so long and the place was SO hot that
was twice shot down, each time by bal
in the leg, and received three other gun
shot wounds. The Major and Adjutant
were killed and the Colonel, unhorsed., 1t
seemed that twO-thirds of the men in my
vicinity were either dead or Frustrated
with disabling wounds before we began
to pull for the rear. In the mean
time Sheridan, learning of our critical sit
aution, marched his other. bIigades to our
relief, and to that fact alone most of us
who escaped death or Imprisonment are
indebted. So that while Sheridan was not
there to put US i'll, he was there to help us
out, and he was reported to have eX-
pressed himself on the following day in
language more forcible than polite regard
ing the manner of our going in"
The position from which this gallant
but costly advance was made was almost
precisely that occupied by the heGdquar-
tiers tents of Maj.-Gen. John K. Brooke
when in command of the great military
camp at Chickamauga Park during the
Summer of 1898 The sloping field in
front was the ground over which the bri
gade sped in their onset, and the monu
ment farthest to the front on that slippery
slope, fixing the high-water mark of this
81.
old Preacher Regiment" the I'D Ill.
As Laiboldt's Brigade was hurled back,
bleeding and decimated, to its original po-
sition, Sheridan'S two additional brigades.
commanded by Lyle and Bradley. aided
in the rescue. But the same horde of
COnfedcrates that had overwhelmed Da-
Wis and Laiboldt poured in n deadly fire
that soon effected their disintegration also.
They were rallied. however, by Sheridan,
and recaptured the ridge, but could not
hold it long. The troops were driven back
with heavy loss, including Gen. Lytle
killed. and were again rallied by the in
domitahle Sheridan, in attenuated ranks,
on n range of low hills behind the Dry
Valley road. scarcely a musket-shot dis
tant from the scene of their late exploits.
The enemy did not again attack in
front, but endeayored to wedge in on the
left so as to cut off the sorely-beSet divi-
sion from the remainder of the army. This
necesSitated another retrograde movement
which brought it to the road leading
through McFarland's Gap to Rossyille and
Chattanooga.
A new and serious responsibility now
confronted the young commander. His
two immediate superior officers, McCoOk
and Rosecrans, thinking the day wholly
lost had abandoned the field and gone to
Chattanooga. Thomas was holding Snod-
grass Hill, only mile away, on the left,
but the rebel army WIS fast encircling that
position, shutting off direct access. Sher-
idan found himself leader not only of the
survivors of his own command, but of
broken detachments from Davis's and
Negley's Divisions; of innumerable strag
glers; of many pieces of artillery; of long
wagon trains, and of ambulances loaded |
with hundreds of the wounded.