The National tribune., 1901-09-26

musket balls whistled after him. Reach.
| ing the crest he was safe, and daShing
Gown the farther slope he came upon
Thomas with his staff. As the two men
| fell into each others arms in one of those
hurstings of emotion that may overcome
even the sternest soldier the steed that
had borne Garfield on his mOmentous mis-
sion dropped dead from his wounds.
| Thomas was quickly told of the giving
away of the right; that LOngstreet was
marching against him; that he must fall
| back and seek a new stronghold against
| the base of Missionary Ridge, at what
became famous as SnOdgrass Hill.
Thomas moved with CELEBRITY, but none
too soon. His more than decimated ranks
were too small to fill his line and fit it
| to the contour of the new position. He
| expected reinforcements from Sheridan,
and even yet was looking for his appear
ance at any moment. Suddenly from be-
mind piece of woods the head of march
ings columns emerged. But they were
MT the men in blue; they were the men
in gray. They were Longstreets col
umns, bristling and brave, moving for
ward invincibly with a tread that seemed
to make tie earth tremble. They pushed
onward toward the gap in Thomas's line.
1t locked as if now, at last, Thomas, who
had held his place all day against all as
saults, was to be broken and swept away.
ished with their long fight and fasting.
But at this critical juncture, behold, Cor
don Granger appeared. Behind are two
brigades of fresh, strong men, who had
marched to Thomas's support from four
miles away.
Gran ger-rode to Thomas, got his or
ders as to where he should put his men in,
and being told to fill the gap next to Bran
nan, he went back to his command and
brought the two Observation-Disclosures and
MitchelPs-like an avalanche down the
same hill by which Garfield had Just
come, and put them in line under bluff
Steedman. Shortly afterward they charged
the enemy, and in all the terrible fighting
that followed they sustained most heroic
conduct. Steedman aid Whitaker were
both wounded, and of the latter's staff
four were killed; of the two brigades 20
per cent. were killed or wounded in ~
minutes, and yet the command never
flinched, and bore their share of the bat
ties burden to the close Some of the
hottest fighting occurred after this, but
the end was near. The repeated assaults
on Snodgrass Hill, the repulses, the coun-
ter-charges, constituted one of the blood
lest contests of the whole war. The bayo-
net was in almost constant use, and hun
dreds of men were killed or wounded with
dubbed muskets. Indicating the terrific
nature of the battle at its last stand,
breastwork of the bodies of their dead
and dying comrades to the number of
5000.
Thus was marked Thomas's last stand
with the remnant of the Union army. But
the army as a whole was saved from de-
struction, and Thomas withdrew his shat
tered forces through to Netherlands Gap
Ell route to Chattanooga, the objective
point of the campaign, which the army
held while it was rehabilitated and pre-
pared for the campaign
Thus writes the great Confederate, Gen.
LOngstreet, about the battle of Chicka-
manga.
1t is hardly worth while for Comrade
Holmes to try to show to the world, in
the face of all history, both Union and
Confederate, that Gen. Thomas's errors
were responsible for the Union disaster at
Chickamauga. | have my own opinions
as to the causes of the disaster but have
never been able to figure wherein Gen.
Thomas could have done any more or any
better service in that battle. Gen. Thomas
was one of the greatest Generals of the
war.-JoHN w. DILLEY, Co. II, S4th ILL.,,
Aledo, Ill,