The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1901-06-27
THE BATTLE FIELDS.
OLD SOLDIERS TALK OVER
ARMY EXPERIENCES.

The Blue and the Gray Review Incl
dents OF the Late War, and in q
Graphic and Interesting Manner
Tell of Camp. March aud Battle.
Il do not wonder" said the Captain
that historians fail To give satisfac,
tory descriptions of battles. The ten
dency is 10 sacrifice details to pictur-
eSque generaliZations. and TO eliminate
whatever detracis from dramatic mar
rative, and the unmilitary writer is not
conscious of creating false impressions
when he does all this. In addition TO
this, materials for history. In the shape
of official reports. letters of cOrrespon-
dents and carefully prepared papers by
general officers. are not easily master
cd 10y men and women unfamiliar with
military maneuverS or incapable OF
considering judicially army prejudices
and controversies. Then. again. battles
seen from the standpoint of the COM
manding general do not closely resem-
/
standpoint of the brigade commander
or the man in the ranks, and little Won
der is il that the lay reader is often
confused as 10 facts.
.'Erccklnridge's charge a. Stone Riv-
cr on the I'd of January, 1868, has been
described by hundreds of officers and
military historians. and yet not Cne
gives a picture Of the battle on that
day as l saw it. Nothing that appears
in the official reports of Rosecrans,
Crittenden OF Palmer. or Bragg. or
Breckenridge, shakes the impression or
blurs the picture that holds possession
Of my mind. l read acquiescently the
reports as To the situation on the morn
ing Of the I'd Of January as to the po-
sition of the troops. as to what Rose
Grams saw and surmised as to what
new dispositions We're made to meet
the expected onslaught. as to what
Maj. Mendenhall did In concentrating
artillery. rs to what happened before
the rebels reached the river. and what
followed. But another picture comes
up in my mind.
"We We're in Pnlmer's division and
our brigade Occupied a point of high
ground that seemed to extend out tan
talizingly toward the enemy. We had
spent the greater part Of the New
Years day and night in throwing up
brcastworks. and shortly after noon.
on the I'd. We We're lOunging in line.
arms stacked behind the works, gossip
Ing over harltack without coffee
There had been n good deal Of noise,
of course. but artillery firing didn't
count with the boys. and Just at that
time there was lull. 1t was SO Quiet
that we distinctly heard the tramp Of
marching men. and. looking to our
right. we saw a full division Of our own
troops massed in close battle order
moving toward us. They came within
few hundred yards. and settled down
like great flock Of blackbiris. Then
another division settled down in the
same way. little to our left and rear.
I'VE noticed that there was no talk
ing among the men, that orders were
given in low tones. and that the brig
ades were unaccompanied by batteries.
We noticed also that there was q gath
ering of general officers in our rear,
and that there was no firing along the
line. There was so little noise and
confusion that we heard Col. Granville
Moody. sitting on his horse some little ,
distance from us. say. May God have
mercy on those poor men, Looking
then to the front we saw In the dis
tance great orderly masses Of gray
pressing forward. On they came. line
after line until there were five lines
visible. and then, while we stood gawk.
Ing in amaZement. there came down
upon us a hail OF bullets. knocking
splin'ers of stone from our breast
works and splinters of wood from our
guns. still stacked.
I'VE dropped to the ground, crept to |
the gun stacks, took our rifles, and fell |
into line along the breastworks. On
the instant it seemed to me the heavy
masses Of men in blue on our left AMI |
right spread out like great fans and
came into line Of battle. Away in the |
distance to the left We saw our advance |
brigades crumble to pieces and the |
men come trailing back. At n signal
sixty pieces Of artillery massed near
US opened on the advancing COnfeder-
ate column. We We're in the midst of |
terrific battle before we realized 1t.
I'VE could see then that there had |
been careful preparation for this at
tack. We knew that that long line of
belching cannon was not there by ac-
cident. We knew that the divisions
that had come over SO quietly to lis
had been sent by some one who anticl- /
pated the attack. but to us the storm
came like the sudden bursting of a
hurricane. Minute after minute pass
ell and still The sixty cannon roared
and the ground in front was half hid
den by smoke. Then suddenly all was
still again. and looking forward we
saw charging columns meet with n
crash. We saw thin lines Of our own
men in blue plunge down into the
smoky indistinctness of the conflict. |.
Still We crouched with tense nerves,
until the major general commanding
the division said hOarsely. Co Then
1t seemed to me that the whole army
swept forward.
when l read the accounts of the
battle know that this Is not true. but
the vision comes UP Of all the army
In sight sweeping forward at full
run; of fleeing men in gray. OF captur-
Ell flags and artillery. until in the dusk
we came squarely upon the intrenched
lines Of the rebel army and were re-
called. Then l remember the elation
with which brigadier and major gen
cral spoke TO us and with what n quick,
elastic step we returned TO our old i'll
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