The National tribune., 1902-09-04

next Lieut.. Sherry, then myself, the flag.
men and Orderlies bringing up the rear
An orderly riding more rapidly than the
rest had just passed us and was almost
abreast the General when halted. The
ring of the final halt was instantly fol.
the voley which followed, and very neal
the General. Capt. Richard Beard was
| i'll command of the Cenfederates here, and
undoubtedly did the halting.
| 1t could not have been more than three
seconds, though it seemed an age, from
the first halt until we were plunging
wildly through the trees, brush and briars
| to the right, race for life, each one for
himself, and lost to sight from his fellows
until reaching our narrow field once more
at a point where was located small bat
terry, two guns, ] think, IN full view of
and i'll muSketry range o. portion of our
front line and also of Fuller's batteries.
This is the point where by the converging
fires so many of the enemy were killed and
captured a few minutes later.
Capt Howard and l reached the open
field at the same time and within a few
PAGES of each other. His first words were:
do you think the General was killed?'
/ said l thought he was reeling from his
saddle when his horse plunged into the
brush. Just then his horse came out near
us, bloody and riderless. Serg't Thomp-
son coming out ut the same time. was
directed by Capt. Howard to ride with all
possible dispatch to Gen. Logan and i'll
form him that Gen. Mcpherson was either
killed or captured Then calling to the
commander of the battery he said: Turn
your pieces this way; the rebs are coming
through the timber, and will be upon you
in no time The guns, | think, We're
placed to sweep the open field down the
creek. \ supporting regiment or brigade
lying back of the battery and mostly in
the creek bottoms. hearing these words,
began hastily to shape themselves for the
onslaught. Howard then directed me TO
ride to Gen. Logan also, fearing that
Thompson might fail to reach him. ]
found the General in Il few minutes in
the open field east of and not far from
our signal tree; but Thompson was there,
and an officer had already been dispatched
with the sad intelligence to Gen. Sher-
man.
In a volume entitled military Essays
and Recollections," Capt. Beard, after de-
scribing the capturing of our skirmish line,
says: And suddenly we came to the edge
of 4 little wagon road running parallel
with our line of march, and down which
Gen. Mcpherson came laundering at the
head of his staff, and, according to my
best recollections, his body-guard y
Gen. Sherman is certainly mistaken in his
Memoirs when he says he was almost. if
not entirely, alone, for / estimated his
rank entirely by his retinue. and in that
estimate l fixed his rank at nothing less
than corps commander" A few min
utes later and the Captain was within
our lines 4 prisoner.
OF the Signal men with us that day
can only recall the names of five-James
w. Mckenzie, r. o. McGinity. r. II.
Wade, - Rely and Serg't VIM. Thomp-
son, all of whom have answered the last
rOll-call, but most of them have left rec
ord evidence cOrroborative of this article
James w. Mckenzie. late Judge of the
11th Judicial District. Iowa, wrote in the
Iowa State Register of Dec. 16. 1878: Il
was at that time-July %. 1S64-a men,
ber of the Z. S. Signal Corps. We had
a station of observation in pine tree
about three miles east of Atlanta, near
the Augusta Railroad. About / o'clock
came to our station and made some in
curry as to the movement of Confederate |
troops. He then sent most of his staff |
officers away on duty, and took with him
Gen. William Strong. Lieut.. w. w. Allen. |
Lieut.. VIM. II. Sherry this is mistake
Sherry Joined us later and, l think, one or
two other officers. He took also with him |
his private orderly and several Signal flag
men, including myself" Capt Howard |
says in his report of Aug ). 1864: "We |
then accompanied the General through the |
broken lines and into an ambush. where
the General was killed, and we had very |
narrow escape, Lieut.. Sherry being badly |
injured by being thrown from his horse |
and Lieut.. Allen badly bruised by coming
in contact with a tree"