The National tribune., 1901-04-25
MISSIONARY RIDGE.
Credit for Capture of Lady Buckner" ant
Lady Breckinrtdge" Claimed 41st Ohio.

1
| EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: My at.
tention has been called to a communica.
| tion in reference to the battle of Mission.
airy Ridge, published in your issue of Feb
n, signed by one John K. Shellenberger
of Fayetteville, Ark.
| Errors in relating details and even i'm
portant facts connected with the great
| battles of the civil war have become so
common in these days that 1 would not
| notice the inaccuracies contained in this
communication but for the fact that it ap-
pears to be a covert attempt to rob the
41st Ohio of the honor SO dearly earned
by the conspicuous part that regiment took
| in the assault and capture of Mission
| Ridge, and seems especially designed and
written to deprive Co. l, dist Ohio (Which
went out from this, Ottawa, County, of
| the credit achieved by its men, and hon.
| estly earned in this battle.
Your correspondent, describing the two
| captured guns, Lady BreckinTidge' and
| Lady Buckner," says that "the names
of the trail" As a matter of fact, the
gun named Lady Breckenridge was brass
gun, and the name was beautifully en-
grayed mot painted on the top OF the
barrel, while the Lady Buckner was an
iron gun.
If any of your readers care to go to
the trouble of referring to the maps and
official reports In the War Department,
and will with the aid of these locate the
place on the summit of the Ridge where
these two guns were stationed and cap
tured, by undisputed authority, both Union
and Confederate, they can arrive at no
other conclusion than that the point in
Harkers Brigade Of Sheridan's division
where your correspondent, Shellenberger,
locates himself was at least half-mile to
the right of where these guns were cap
tured.
At least four members Of Co. I, dist
| Ohio, Hazen's Brigade, which formed the
lively participated in the capture Of these
guns, are still living, and will if called on
support every statement herein contained.
They are Capt. John Mitchell and Corp1
II. j. Englebeck, of this place; Serg't
Amos Fetterly, of Oak Harbor, and Corp'l
G. A. Kraemer, formerly of Oak Harbor,
now of Fort Worth, Tex.
In his official report of this battle, dated
Dec. 10, 1868, special mention is made of
| two of these men by Gen. w. 3. HaZen
| as follows: Il have also TO mention Corp'l
G. A. Kraemer, Co. l, 41st Ohio, for his
| gallantry in turning upon the enemy the
| first gun reached on the Ridge, which he
| discharged by firing his musket over the
| vent"
The gun here referred to was the Lady
| Breckenridge. After this gun was turned
| upon the rebels Serg't Fetterly attempted
| to fire it by placing bunch of burning
| cotton over the vent, but failing in this
Corpl Kraemer bit off the end of cart
ridge, poured the powder from it into the
vent-hole, and fired the gun In the man
| ner described by Gen. Hazen.
Gen. Hazen then adds in his report:
"Corp1 Englebeck, of Co. l, 41st Ohio,
seeing a caisson filed with ammunition,
already on fire, with two wounded horses
attached to it, cut them loose and ran the
burning carriage down the hill"
In his Narrative of Military Service"
Gen. w. B. Hazen gives a full and COM
plete description of this battle, with maps
copied from those In the War Depart
ment ard statements by officers and men,
both Union and Confederate, who were
actual participants, and no man can read
the testimony there collected and fail to
be convinced that the old 41st Ohio, and
Co. in particular, played q conspicuous
part in the assault and capture Of Mis-
sion Ridge, and especially in the capture
of these two guns. This portion Of Ha-
zen's Brigade was the first to reach the
summit of the Ridge; they went into camp
around these guns, and remained there I'M
til the next morning, so that II Gen. Har-
ker had Jumped astride of the gun," as
claimed By your correspondent, these men
would certainly have seen it, if it was be-
fore the gun got cold, as claimed.-WM.
GORDON, Port Clinton, o.