Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-09-07
THE FIELD OF BATTLE
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF
THE WAR.
The Veterans of the Rebellion Tell of
Whistling Bullets, Bright Bayonets,
Bursting Bombs, Bloody Battles,

A Memorial Day reference to the ORR
gin of the gospel hymn, Hold the Fort,
for l Am Coming" in the New York
Mail and Express, brought from the pen
Of participant thrilling recollections
Of a famous battle of the Civil War,
and one of the many heroic episodes of
Sherman's march to the sea. Il helped
to hold the FORT said the veteran, then
captain in the Union army. Il sup
pose there are not many of us left, for
we were not many when the fight be-
gan, and we We're weeded off faster
while it was ON that in any battle of the
Civil War.
''When Sherman made the campaign
from Chattanooga to Atlanta | went
with him as staff officer under one Of
his corps commanders. After Atlanta
was taken / went back in a train with
squad of four men to pick up the staff
baggage which we had left in Tennes-
see. Other officers from other COM
mands were on like errands and by the
time we had got what we went after
and the returning train was nearing
Atlanta, we had over 100 men aboard,
including a border State major, who
was the ranking officer, my own rank
at the time being captain. Meanwhile,
and this we did not know, Hood had
swung around Atlanta and placed the
entire Confederate army between us
and Sherman. My story begins when
we ran into the advance guard Of his
army beyond Allatoona.
1--WE were riding along with no
thought of a rebel when the train
stopped with jolt and word came that
hostile force was holding the track
distance in front. The boys swarmed
out of the freight cars with fixed bay
onets and that major shouted charge"
I looked ahead and | could catch the
CLEAN Of rifles here and there. | could
hear the rumble of moving cannon and
L could see clouds of dust rising far and
wide Evidently what we were ap-
preaching was not guerrilla band, but
an army in motion. | was scared and
mad at the Kentuckian at the same
time
"'Charge nothing, / said. That's
Hoods army coming and he will eat us
up. Get back into the coaches, boys
'The dust clouds were thickening as
I spoke and the boys promptly scram
bled into the train and we started back
the way we had come. The major had
to follow and after that he did a think
ing part, for the soldiers would not obey
him. Our destination was Allat0ona
Fort, where Brigadier General Corse
and a regiment of Iowans were guard
ing the pass and a million and half of
cracker rations.
''That night we halted alongside a
block house where lieutenant and
some fifty men were stationed. AT dark
he and l climbed a nearby hill, whence
we could see the campires blazing be-
hind us for miles. The bray of mules
came to us on the clear night air, the
distant shouts and songs of the soldiers
and the vast murmur that tells of the
near presence of a host. We looked and
| listened and then I urged the lieutenant
| to abandon his fort and come on to Ala
tOona, where we would have a chance
to make real fight. But he had said
he would stay there until Sherman or
dered him to get out
"The next morning we steamed away,
more in sorrow than in anger, leaving
the blockhead and his blockhouse to
their fate. We were scarcely clear of
the village when the rebel guns began
70 tbn ioly 511ct Av
from the blockhouse and then I saw a
white flag fly over it. It was all over
with the lieutenant and his forlorn
hope. We kept moving and at last we
came to Allatoona. There we awaited
the rebels.
"When they came they came with
rush, 1000 strong. Soon Corse was
| winged and the next in command was
killed and there was no one above the
rank of captain left. That was why
we held the fort Any general would
have surrendered rather than have ex-
posed his men to such a butchery. But
it was a soldiers battle and the soldier
never knows when he is whipped
I'm their first rush the Johnnies got
into the sheds, almost within stones
throw of the fort. We found them ly-
ing dead there when the battle was
over They were behind trees and back
of mounds, and they were blazing away
at us from the plain. There was not
room for every man in the fort and my
few men and myself had one portfolio
among us. Four would load the big
Enfields while the fifth fired them and
handed them back. When his shoulder
began to ache with the heavy recoil he
would exchange places with one of the
leaders.
''It was deadly work and,a it seemed
to us, hopeless work. The men dropped
at the portfolios. In the trenches they
were falling everywhere. All our flags
went down. Over yonder on Kenesaw
Mountain, Sherman was signaling:
Hold the fort; l am coming and we
signaled back a CHEEKY answer, but soon