The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-05-21
CIVIL WAR CHARGES.
THE ASSAULTS AT GETTYSBURG AND
KENESAW MOUNTAIN.

liant and Daring Dashes-A Lieu
tenants Report ON Tired Mules
With Ravenous Appetites.
Shortly after the battle of Chicka-
mauga,"' said Captain Fitch, 81 was APP
pointed chief quartermaster of the sig
nal corps of the department of the
Cumberland, stationed at Chattanooga.
On taking account of the quartermas-
ter's stores l found that l was in need
of some light wagons to be used in the
mountainous country, and the only
way to get them was to go to Nash
vile and have them made, so went to
Nashville and had five light wagons
made by the quartermaster's depart
ment. When l got back to Chattanoo-
ga with the wagons, l put a citizen
teamster in charge of tie wagons and
mules.
1.-THE teamster, being a green hand,
did not know that mules would eat
anything within their reach and inno-
Gently tied them to the wheels of the
wagons. Not long after that | got an
order to be ready to march, and on go
ing out to inspect my outfit l found
that the mules had eaten the spokes of
the wheels nearly off. so that the wag-
ons We're ready to fall down of their
own accord AS could not use them
l had no recourse but to drop them
from my returns, and, being obliged to
assign reason for so dropping them.
gave the true one-viz, Eaten by
mules
Shorty afterward got a letter
from the quartermaster general sarcas-
tically inquiring if Lieutenant Fitch
had observed whether the mules had
eaten the tires OF not. l replied that
presumed they had. as they seemed to
be thoroughly tired the next day. The
quartermaster general wrote back,
ANY further trifling with this depart
ment on the part of Lieutenant Fitch
will probably result in his being retired
to private life.' Thereupon l dropped
the subject. but my first report was
correct"
"At Chickamauga," said the major,
"Longstreet's men ran over our head
quarters teams. Every mule in one of
the teams went down, and the wagon
stood an obstruction in the road Five
minutes later every mule was on it's
feet, and wounded teamster yelled at
them to pull out. They started without
more ado. swept along the road after
our broken regiments and, turning at
just the right point, came into our new
lines and stopped where the headquar-
tiers flag had been stuck in the ground.
The driver reported later and drove in
to Chattanooga.
zone Of these mules the night before
had pulled the blanket off our division
commander, had run over the lines of
soldiers sleeping in close battle ORDER
had raided the Confederate pickets and
had returned to our bivouac under
furious fire. The men of the brigade
took solemn VOW to shoot the mis-
chievous mule at daylight, but when
daylight came they had other things to
shoot at, and the mule was forgotten
until he came in at the head of the
team attached to the headquarters
wagon. Then the boys who had wit
messed the charge and the escape of the
driverless team counted the mules dew
iltry as nothing"
THAT charge of Longstreet, by the
way" said the colonel. was one of the
great charges of the war, and it was as
successful as any as a breaker of lines.
OF course we think of Pickett's charge
at Gettysburg in class to itself, but l
have often wondered whether the
Union assault on the Confederate posi-
ton at Kenesaw mountain June 81,
1864, should not be put in the list with
the Confederate charge at Gettysburg.
Pickett's charge was of course the
more spectacular and the assaulting
force was more compact, but while it
broke the Union line at one point it
was driven back in disastrous retreat.
1.-THE direct assault on the fortified
line on Kenesaw was made by three
brigades no better troops than Pick
etts Virginians, but it must be remem-
bered that while they failed to pierce
the Confederate line they held their DO
sition and did not retreat. Their loss
was correspondingly as heavy as Pick
etts at Gettsburg. Sherman's idea was
to show his own army as we'll as the
Confederate army that he could make
frontal attack. If the assault had
been made and the assaulting column
had retired. as did Pickett's column at
Gettysburg. the effect on the army
would not have been as it was when
the regiments that led the assault chung
to their position not more. than 30 PAGES
from the Confederate parapets.
The attack failed except in that it
was an Illustration of the spirit of the
! Union troops in assault. Lees purpose
at Gettysburg was undoubtedly to
drive Pickett's 10000 men like wedge
through the Union lines. The fail Ire
of the attempt led to the retreat of the
whole Confederate army. Sherman's
purpose at Kenesaw was to capture
the Confederate Notifications. The at
tack let to the retreat not of Sherman's
army, but of the Confederate army
and have always held that the ground
| over which the Union rapiments nj