Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-07-04
BATTLE FIELDS.
SOLDIERS TALK OVER
ARMY EXPERIENCES.
cine and the Gray Review Incl
:. NJ the Late War, and in a
,bif and Interesting Manner
f. Of Camp, March and Battle.

fla NOT WONDER" said the Captain
historians fail to give satisfac
Inscriptions of battles. The ten
~ is to sacrifice details to pictur
it0n -, combinations, and to eliminate
,,rpr detracts from dramatic mar
7 fa 70 and the unmilitary writer is not
,asi- ,.iols of creating false impressions
To- he does all this. In addition to
materials for history, in the shape
ack- H,al reports, letters of correspon-
lLSe xand carefully prepared papers by
oral officsrS, are not easily MASTER
ny men and women unfamiliar with
enc gqry maneuYers or incapable of
81. ,dering iudicially army prejudices
controversies. Then, again, battles
ST, from the standpoint of the com
air. adng general do not closely resem-
a. tbe same battles seen from the
nipoint of the brigade commander
led hp man in the ranks, and little Won
lop- is it that the lay reader is often
red fused as to facts.
Brecknridge'S charge at Stone Riv-
and Oh the ID of January, 1868, has been
1 ,rbed by hundreds of officers and
.nry historians, and yet not che
hes picture of the battle on that
raS saw it. Nothing that appears
r.ar the official reports of Rosecrans,
tendcn or Palmer, or Bragg, or
fha rknridge shakes the impression or
ion S the picture that holds possession
ler- NY mind. | read acquiescently the
OrtS as to the situation on the morn
gan of the I'd of January as to the po-
] it ion OF the troops, as to what Rose
let ms saw and surmised as to what
T dispositions were made to meet
the expected onslaught as to what
III j. Mendenhall did in concentrating
81, jIery, as to what happened before
rebels reached the river, and what
~ lowed. But another picture comes
nmy mind.
AIT We were in Planners division and
brigade Occupied a point OF high
.er. nmd that seemed to extend out tan
nv .Mngly toward the enemy. We had
lfs- nt the greater part of the New
I'M GS day and night in throwing up
aStWOrkS, and shortly after noon,
me the ID, we were lounging in line,
~ & stacked behind the works, gossip
saN over bareback without coffee.
here had been a good deal of noise,
course, but artillery firing didn't
d. mt with the boys, and just at that
~ be there was q lull. 1t was so quiet
as BIT we distinctly heard the tramp of
ar- lt we saw Il full division of our own
ina pops massed in close battle order
rAr yTng toward us. They came within
nd few hundred yards, and settled down
~ bother division settled down in the
als me way Il little to our left and rear.
~ We noticed that there was no talk
among the men, that orders were
prem in low tones, and that the brig
les were Unaccompanied by batteries.
81 noticed also that there was a gath
~ lS of general officers In our rear,
iii. that there was no firing along the
ais De, There was so little noise and
lc- Infusion that we heard Col Granville
lle O0dy, sitting on his horse some little
te stance trcm us, say, May God have
Tcy on those poor men, Looking
len to the front we saw in the dis
~ 'Ace great orderly masses of gray
81 @SnS forward On they came,s line
OeT line, until there were five lines
sa NOIe and then, while we stood gaWk-
II amazement, there came down
s. P'n lis hail of bullets, knocking
81 ValerS Of stone from our breast
Ae forks and splinters of wood from our
al guns, still stacked.
~ edTopped to the ground, crept to
sUlStackS, took our rifles, and fell
u rO me along the breastwOrks. On
T instant it seemed to me the heavy
III ~''Ses Of men in blue on our left and
III s"' spread out like great fans and
II IP INTO line of battle. Away in the
'Sance To the left we saw our advance
H 'S''eS crumhle to pieces and the
81 " come trailing back. At a signal,
g ~AN pieces of artillery massed near
opened on the advancing Confeder-
Io'unn. We We're in the midst of
',,,ue battle before we realized it.
we could see then that there had
wen careful preparation for this at
d N We knew that that long line OF
aI ''"7 cannon was not there by ac-
"S"l' We knew that the divisions
,la I mad come over so quietly to us
r,., ''G" sent by some one who anticl
','" the attack, but to us the storm
nn ,~r Ike the sudden bursting of a
oI N|"e' Minute after minute pass
ON, "n0 still the sixty cannon reared
s the ground in front was half hid
stm " smoke" Then suddenly all was
SON, 1s"'h, and looking forward VIZ
f cr,s, '"aSsmg columns meet with :
n, ,,S'. We saw thin lines of our owl
xp,I.. IL" oiue plunge down into the
y y- +.nN| MdiStiuctness of the conflict
mil Z 'Fouched with tense nerves
Hz@ '>'ltk The ma -,