The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-08-08

engaged during the battle. No other part
of my command was engaged at all, except
rs described before"
Again, Mr.. Hall says: From to II
a. m. the battle ragged fearfully and the
dead and wounded from both sides lay so
thick that it would have been possible to
have leaped from one corpse to another for
distance of three miles, but in some
places they were absolutely piled three
and four high. On the Federal side, most
soldiers killed were Dutch, whose appear
ance indicated that they had been i'm
ported especially to get killed in trying TO
kill the Southern cause for the money they
got"
Pretty tough on the Dutch, isn't it? All
our regiments contained more or less of
the men Mr.. Hall styles Dutch, but even
he cannot say they did not stand up TO
the rack like good soldiers and true, and
take their medicine with the rest of us.
The one thing that puzzles me is, how did
MIR. Hall obtain his information? | won
der if he is sure he did not make a mis-
take and count a dead Irishman for dead
Dutchman now and then. BE this as it
may, you can put me down as vocing the
sentiments of every man in the 10Th Ind.
when L say we had very warm feeling
in our hearts for the Dutch, and the fact
that Mr.. Hall discovered so many of them
dead on the battlefield goes to show that
our confidence was not misplaced, and
that they would DO to tie to. There was
one incident of the fight around the little
log cabin on the hill that l do not think
had parallel during the war, or any other
war for that matter. Gen. Hoyey had or
dered Capt. James Mitchell, 10th Ohio
| Battery, to send two of his guns to our
assistance. but he asked as special IA
yor that he be permitted to take his guns
into action personally. This request was
| granted, and it caused the division the
] lncS of of 10 hra,- nd otTino
as the Captain was shot from his horse,
! just after giving the order: Timber to the
rcar," and died few hours later. While
hotly engaged at this point, q rebel battery
! of two guns came on to the field on a gal
| lOp, on the hill in our front and about a
mile away, and coming under the fire of
! Capt. Mitchells guns was then and there
swept out of existence before they could
unlimber or fire q single shot A span of
| large roam horses belonging to this bat
! terry, with corn-husk collars and rawliide
| tugs, broke away, dashed through their
line of battle, up the hill through our line,
and came to a halt alongside of Capt.
Mitchell's guns, just as he gave his order,
Timber to the rear" They were hitched
to a 12-pounder brass Napoleon gun be-
longing to one of the batteries we had cap
tured, and hauled it off the field. | think
this was the only gun saved out of the IL
captured by our division that day. This
gun was retained by the 10th Ohio Bat
terry, taking part at the 'siege of Vicks-
burg" and causing more disturbance than
a Government mule, whether from a spirit
of mate devilishness or a determination
not to fight against its friends, L never
learned. Whether from the rugged ma
ture of the ground that prevented them
from getting up the hill, or from some
other cause, our batteries, with the eX-
ception Of these two guns, did not get
into action until some time later, when,
getting a good position on a hill, where
they had an enfilading fire on the enemy,
they contributed more than q little to the
final result of the battle.
Now, just few words with Capt.
Henry Milburn, 4Sth Ind. He says: odd
Boy, GSth Ohio, is off his base when he
Division, Seventeenth Corps" Now, |
think the Captain is just the least bit off
himself when he says: Division Com
mander, Gen. Croker, of Third Division,
Seventeenth Corps, until he did it as a
Corps Commander" If the Captain will
polish up his buttons and get at the solid
facts in the case, he will find that Gen.
Quinby was in command of the Third
Division, Seventeenth Corps, during that
campaign. And will the Captain please
tell us where and when was Gen. Croker
lii command Of corps, and give us its
number. | may be mistaken in the book,
but | think Gen. Grant in his Memoirs
speaks of Gen. Croker as having resigned
on account of i'll health and returning
home, died shortly after from disease of
the lungs. 1t may have been in the Rebel
lion Records that / saw it, but no doubt
some of the comrades have both books,
and can tell US who is right-R H.
MARTIN, Go. |, 10th Ind, Delphos, Ohio.