Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-10-27
BY CAPT. w. H. ANDREWS.

I
killed me before 1 could have entered
the works. Every one was on his face In
the bottom of the ditch, and when they
saw me wanted TO know If the Yankees
were coming. Yes. told them, and II
they did not use their guns for all they
were worth, would kill the last one OF
them. got the most of them to shooting
by polxing their guns over the works Dut
not one Of them ever got on his feet or
saw the enemy beyond the works.
Jumped over the ditch and stood about ten
feet from Il and continued to fire at the
enemy until they were forced to fall back.
An officer who was lying at fun length
near the ditch ordered me to get down,
but begged TO be excused, telling him
knew the duty of a soldier in front of the
enemy never found out whose command
IL was. but I can truthfully say I never
saw any troops of that kind before or
, since. OF course nothing better could
have been expected Of those 16-year-old
boys, with no one In command, or If they
had officers they were in the bottom or
the ditch with the rest of the boys. The
enemy happened to strike some old sol
diers who drove them back or our line
would have been taken. Some 40 yards up
the line TO my right / saw some familiar
faces and went to them. 1 found Captain
F. T. Cullens, at first with the regulars,
but resigned. Lieutenant Turnipseed, at
enc time colonel of the eth Georgia regi-
naent, who had also resigned, and several
OF the McArthurs and Andy Coleman
from southwest Georgia. While talking to
I them I saw the difference in regulars and
volunteers. It was getting dark and a
new slxirmish line had been ordered out
from the troops then in the bitches The
nrst man detailed by the orderly sergeant
claimed to be sick, the second one had
been on duty last, and so on until some
of the men volunteered to go out. Now
IN the regulars there would have been no
excuse, as every man had his share of
duty to perform, and no one but the sur
geon could excuse him.
During the time the enemy's line of
battle had halted about lao yards In
our front, stacked arms, built up fires
and were busy cooking supper. The I'M
pudent Johnnies, we would not have
| thought OF treating them that way, and
II a light had been seen in our line 1t
would have been shot out. could see
them around the fire as thick as bees.
During the day Taliaferro's division to
our right had been desperately engaged
with the enemy. Captain DuBose got I'M
easy about me and sent man back after
me. the brigade having in our absence
moved about three-fourths of mile fur
Their to our left. About o'clock p. m.
! Hardee withdrew his lines and pulled out
| from Averysboro about six miles and
| halted until morning. The army at that
| time reminds me of man / saw In Eu-
! faula, Ala, the year after the war. He
| had been farming and made two bales
| OF cotton, brought IL to town, sold 1t and
started in to have a good time. He Sc
| cured a horse and buggy at a livery sta
/ bic and proceeded to ride over the town,
with his legs crossed, buff gauntlets up
/ to his elbows and his hat cooked over
one ear. 1 saw men running to the store
doors and look out, and one fellow re-
| marked, "Yonder he goes, half drunk,
id fool and just gwine." So that was
, the way with Hardee's command, juEt
| a gwine but nobody seemed to know
| where The retreat was continued on the
| 18th and 18th and while marching through
| water at some place, General Hardee and
| his STAFF passed US, throwing water all
over the boys from their horses feet.
| That was the first time / ever saw Gem
eral Hardee. He was riding poor horse
! with his uniform badly soiled, and a care
\ worn look about him that made the boys
think him and his horse both looked hun
cry and IT might have been that he had
/ drawn more corn meal than he could
carry with him and had to leave it behind.
General w. ]. Hardee was considered
/ one of the best corps commanders in the
western army and had the offer Of Gen.
eral Johnston's place before it was given
to General ]. B. Hood. but declined it.
! He was also the first colonel Of the regu-
lars appointed by Governor Brown, but
never assumed command. On the 18th
! Hardee's forces crossed the Black Water
river at Bentonvfle and Joined forces
with GeneARls Bragg and Hoke from
/ Wilmington, and the western army by the
way Of Columbia, S. c., with General
| Joseph E. Johnston again in the saddle.
/ General Sherman was then marching his
army to Goldsboro where he could get
H. he nj n
ston formed a line Of battle across the
road he was marching on and ordered
! Billie Sherman to battle, which brought
on more talk General Hardee turned
over his command to General Bragg and
| took command of his old western troops,
led the skirmish line in to the fight, then
| returned and led the line of battle. saw
General Braxton Bragg mounted on his
! horse about 10 feet in rear of our line.
! He was clean shaven except closely trim
| med side whiskers, a tall man, weighing
1GO or 175 pounds. General McLaw's di-
vision was on the extreme right of the
! line and Fiser's brigade was held in re-
serve. I can't say whether the whole di-
| vision was or not. We were in about $50
| yards Of a Federal battery which made
| the boys stick mighty close to mother
! earth. The shells came with a double
| twisted vengeance, screaming over our
heads, while the musketry was terrible
to listen to. Johnston's troops carried two
lines of the enemys works and attacked
the third but found them too strong and
| had TO fall back to our line. Benton
vile was one of the most stubborn and
| holly contested battles of the war and
for desperate courage and unfiinching
| bravery was second to none. On the 10th
l McLaw's division was ordered to the LETT
| Of the line, where we threw up line
of breastworks and capped them Off with
| logs, believing that the pine timber
was too heavy for the Federals to use
| their cannon. Heavy skirmishing con-
tinued throughout the day witta Sherman
| feeling of Johnston's left. on the 2lst
| sharpshooting was continued and on our
extreme left a desperate attempt was
| made by Sherman to cut Johnston or
| from the bridge at Black Water. There
was lively slxirmishing in front of Nc
| Laws division. We had cut down the
bushes for 20 yardsN in front of our
works. while our skirnish line was 200
| yards in front in rifle pits. The enemy
| flanked Fiser's picket line, driving them
in front of Harrison's brigade, while some
| of the Federal skirmishers charged up in
! the clearing in front of our works. 1
saw some of the Fifth Georgia regiment
| jump over their works, collar the boys in
blue and pull them in while the rest re-
| treated.
Our sl1irmishers were ordered to retake
tho rifle pits and moved forward in front.
I saw a member OF company c who be-
! longed to the skirmishers behind a tree,
] -. -. q