The National tribune., 1901-09-26
THOMAS AT CHICKAMAUGA.
His Firm Stand Saved the Union Army from
knnihilatiou

| Annihilation.
| EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: In the
issue of Aug. 20 Geo. W. Holmes, OF
Shapes, Fla, in an article on the battle
of Chickamauga, makes the statement
| that ITO Thomas's over-caution and KEEL
logg's blunder in reporting an interval I'M
occupied in the line, were due the regret
able results of the 18th and 10th of Sep
tember," and asks that the history of the
war be rewritten.
think Comrade Holmes will have to
present more proof than the statements of
''well-posted guide" before he can make
the men who fought with Thomas on the
left that fearful Sunday, Sept. 20, 1868,
believe that Thomas made any mistake
i'll holding his troops on the left and CEN
ter, or that he had troops that were not
needed to hold his position.
My regiment belonged to Palmer's Di-
vision, Twenty-first Corps, and we were
in the very center of the left wing, hold
ing our position until late Sunday even
ing, and were the last troops to leave the
main line and fall back on Sneugrass
Hill.
Before we left the front line to fall
back on SnOdgrass Hill the left flank as
well as the right had been driven, and
when we abandoned the line in the center
of the left to fall back the rebels were
closing. Before we were 100 yards from
our works we could see the rebels coming
in on our left, and at the same time they
were closing in on the right. Just to our
rear and left there were acres of our
dead and wounded, who had been carried
back during the day, and when we fell
back they were abandoned to the enemy.
These men had not come from our right
wing, but had been killed and wounded In
front and close to where they lay.
To say that only a thin line confronted
us on the left and center is merest bosh.
Thomas knew that the salvation of his
army depended on holding his position on
the left and center as well as Gen. Bragg
knew that if he could turn Gen. Thomas's
left and swing across Rossville Gap he
could annihilate the Union army. When
Gen. Bragg had been repulsed time after
time on our left and center, and failed to
turn Thomas's left and break his center,
then LOngstreet, with his troops, made
a desperate effort to break through farther
to the right and force Thomas from the
field, which probably would have been
done had it not been for the timely ar
rival of Gen. Granger with his Reserve
Corps.
If a second line of troops was where
we were it was so far in the rear that we
in the front line did not see it, and we
were at no time during the day relieved
by said second line. The detachment to
which | belonged was in heavy timber.
About o'clock p. m. Col. King, of Day
ton, Ohio, rode up in rear of our line,
and had scarcely halted when he was
shot from his horse and fell dead only a
few rods in our rear. l do not now re-
member what regiment he belonged to;
perhaps some of the comrades will re-
member the circumstance.
If Gen. Thomas, as Comrade Holmes
asserts, had more troops than were neces-
sary to hold his lire intact on the left
and center, and could have spared enough
to have reinforced the right, will Com
rade Holmes tell us from what divisions
and brigades they could have been taken
and left troops enough to have held the
left wing of the army and saved it from
destruction?
We who were with Gen. Thomas at
are not willing to have the
history rewritten by some one who seems
not only willing but anxious to say some
thing to the discredit of that grand old
man, Pap Thomas, the Rock Of Chicka-
manga"
The Union troops on the left as well
as those on the right had plenty Of hard
fighting that day, and it was only by the
combined efforts of all the soldiers en-
i'll good order and march to Rossville Gap,
which we did, arriving there late in the
night of the 10Th.
COmrade Holmes further says, in speak
ing of the lines on the left under Thomas:
THE first line lay behind barbados
that were thrown up principally during
the night following the first days battle"
do not believe that a single barricade or
breastwOrk was made during the night.
One reason, perhaps, was that most of
tho lines were somewhat readjuSted on
Sunday morning, regiments and brigades
moved more or less and positions changed.
No fires or lights were allowed, and the
troops lay suffering with cold until day
light, when the lines were formed to
await the coming of the enemy.
l well remember that my regiment, the
S4th ILL.,, after daylight was formed in
line of battle, and Col. Waters gave the
order to make some barbados, which
was hastily done, using old logs and rails
and such other material as could be Sc
cured. No earthworks or intrenchments
such as were made later in the war were
built on the field of Chickamauga. If
Gen. Thomas made any mistake, | think
it was in not building earthworks and
making stronger defenses on thesnight of
the 18th and morning of the Goth, and not
in holding troops on the left that were
not needed there.
To show what Gen. Longstreet has to
say of Thomas at Chickamauga. | quote
from his book, From Manassas to ZIP
pomattox":
AT 2.3O o'clock Longstreet had swept
all organized opposition from his front,
and after lull in his battle looked about
him for fresh object of attack. OF the
entire Union army four divisions only re-
manned in position: johnson, of McC0ok's
Corps; Palmer, OF Crittenden's, and Baird
and John +. Reynolds, of Thomas's. Rose
Grams knew of the disaster to his right
and center, had been swept away by it,
but Thomas, manfully making the fight
IF his own against Forrest and BrecEin-
ridge, was in ignorance of the terrible
blow that had been struck and of the fact
that victorious Longstreet was marching |
against him with his command flushed |
with success and strengthened by fresh |
THE great Virginian, who has passed |
into history as the Rock of Chickamau- |
ga, an old associate of Bragg and Long |
street S in the days of the Mexican War, |
had invincible pluck, as none knew better |
han those one-time friends, now his an
.agonists. But with all his sublime cour- |
lge he could not have stayed the fatal |
,out and ruin of the Union army save for
he combining of several independent cir
eumstances, perhaps a providentiul com
Dination.
james a. Garfield, Chief of Staff of |
zen. RosecranS, when the disaster to the |
Union right occurred, was sent at his own
'equest to Thomas, on whose firm stand
Ill hope now hung, and by as brave a ride
IS ever soldier made ON battlefield, run
hing a literal gauntlet of death, conveyed |
n fIhnn,nC an nd