The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-30

1t was not blunder9 is unknown to us. Had our corps been thrown across the pike. the battle of Franklin would have been fought at Spring Hill instead and doubtless with different result. As it was. schofeld. late in the night, retreated up the pike through the gap >in our lines which looked like 1t had been left express 1y for his accommodation. Early next morning fine army moved rapidly up the pike in pursuit of schofield. The pike iVoynded horses: quartermaster. commits 'saryi ordnance stores, etc., made evident the enemy's precipitate flight
 Battle of Franklin.
 -e When about four .miles from Franklin. sieuf Corps was deployed to the right, formed in lihAs advanced .owaris Frank lin. and soon struck the heavy sxirmish tinA ,pQ the enemy. These were quickly tdt6Si throush a large cornfiold and s%' Tt of woods to their defepses at Franklin
 Hardly an hour before sunset Hoods army was drawn ID in full view of the enemy ,entrenched behind two parallel lines of breastworks about 150 yards apart. The outer line was an ordinary ditch two or two and half feet deep: thes inner line, a ditch three and a half feet deep and four feet wide. with thick and strong embapfment along which were pbrtholes for muskets and embras
 
 line in front of an old gin house there was a strong redoubt about fifty feet long, whose ditch was i've feet wide and four feet deep and rampant four feet high. making eight feet from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the parapet. The space between the two armies was about 600 yards from which all under growth had been removed leaving a park of few large trees. The surface in our front towards the enemy was, ravine. gradual ascent through park to the outer line; level old pasture to the inner line.
 The army itself. of about 1S.00O ragged and half-starved men with tattered ban ners having accomplished long and ar duous march of 800 miles across the mountains of Georgia and Tennessee, and facing double its numbers recalls vividly the shattered army of Hannibal when, after its terrible passage of the Alps, 1t was drawn up in line of battle before the well appointed legions of Scipio on the bank of the Ticinus.
 While in this position. momentarily ex- pecting the order to advance, General Forrest, mounted on his black charger, hat in hand down by his side, his face radiant and dark eyes flashing rode down our front The .niens already eager for the fray, caught his enthusiasm, chaered him fo. the echo, and began ad- vancing .tefareS the order was given. Across the ravine, on through the park, officers in front, and men still cheering him, moved the army in unbroken pha- lanx When about 100 yards from. the outer line we received the first Holley from the enemy The command double quick was given, cheers were changed to rebel yells. officers still in front we charged the outer line. The rattle of musketry now drowned all commands of officers. and here Capt. Dick Williams, acting Lieutenant Colonel of the Regi- ment walking backwards to face the regiment as officers frequently do on drill, would wave his sword, right and left, and then thrust 1t forward towards the enemy, indicating thus by acts in stead of words. what he would have us do. The outer line was quickly carried. from which very few of the enemy es- capped to their inner line. Here, perhaps, there was a pause of half minute until the outer line could be swept of the en- emy. and a realignment made. By this time, owing t) the stiffness and rarity of the atmosphere, the smoke of musketry had eettled in such a dense bank over the field in front, that friend could not be distinguished from foe at distance of a few steps. The. en smy, four lines deep behind strong intrenchments. were sweep ing the old; field between us with minnie balls, and a battery of siege guns to our right and beyond Big Harpeth River was tearing up the ground and knocking trees into fragments around 1t. Through a dense smoke and tempest of iron. our officers still leading, and the rebel yell still ringing. the army in perfect order charged the inner line Of the nature of the works of the enemy. we could have no conception until within a few feet Dead and wounded had fallen at every step of our advance, and our ranks were badly thinned. When the number and position of the enemy stood revealed, ev- cry old Confederate saw that it was to be a fight of. one to two with an enemy | strongly entrenched; but despising num- bers or advantage of position leaped down into the ditch, climbed up the em- | bankment enveloped in a sheet of fire, | and from the ramparts discharged their | pieces in the face of the enemy, and | with butts of guns closed in hand to | hand grapple with the foe. Here the in- trepld Cleburne. leading his division at the head of his old brigade (Govans) fell across the breastworks with the reputed dying words: T am killed. but my old | Arkansas brigade Is hglory enough for one man."-dying words worthy of his heroic life. Major Samuel l.. Knox, the | brave comnander of the 1st Alabama, | was lying few steps away, having been | rpprtally wounded at the head of his reg | ifnent But of the field thickly strewn | with dead ana wounded, and Of the al- l most total annihilation of officers, our | men engaged in life and death struggle | had neither knowledge nor thought. The | enemy was brave, and had every advant- | age, but men have never been made so | brave as to be wholly unmoved by such l audacity as the Confederates exhibited l Their line reeled and staggered under | our heavy blows and were saved from | utter rout only by the most strenuous | efforts of their officers. One hundred | yards to our left their lines and batteries | were captured. If at this crisis John | sons division. held in reserve, had come to our assistance. the field would have | been instantly won. As it vas. the un- equal contest on the breastworks was | maintained hardly more than a minute, | when our men took the ditch on the op- | poste side, and fought the enemy across | the ramparts, muzzle to muzzle, The en- eny soon began enfilading our lines. and | after half an hours fighting in this posi- ton and hoping in vain for Johnsons | reserve, 1t was plain that we must es- cape by flight back to our lines, or be l captured or killed. Especially destruct- 1 i've was their crossfre in the outer ditch | of the redoubt. where the embankmsnt | was too high for the men to climb A | few surrendered. but most took chances of escape protected somewhat by the smoke and darkness. The position of the Ist Alabama was in front of the redoubt and to the left. Hood had used only two |