The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1902-09-18
Reunion of the Fourth Army Corps.

| OHe vi Guc nOSO ldHOuS OrSdHlZd-
tionS which will meet in Washington
on the occasion of the Grand Army re-
union is the Fourth Army Corps.
Local members are bestirring them
selves enthusiastically with a view 10
getting as large an attendance of their
comrades as possible, and to make
their stay In Washington as pleasant
and profitable as can be.
The Fourth Army Corps was dis
tinctly grand fighting machine. 1t
was born of great battle. 1t obtain
ed it's name and birthright from the
consolidation of the Twentieth and
Twentieth-frst Army Corps, which
had been reduced in numbers on &C.
count of disease and battle losses,
after Chickamauga. No body of de-
more of the brunt of the great Strug-
gle than this organization, 1t con-
sisted of Seventy-SiX regiments Of in
fantry, and nine batteries of artillery.
They carried their colorS to the front
on many hotly-conteSted field.
When the command was entrusted to
Major General Gordon Granger, it was
the opinion of General George II;
Thomas, commander of the army of
the Cumberland, that as fighting
corps it mad no superior in the SER
vice.
The states represented in the corps
were as follows:
Indiana-Nineteen regiments: con-
siSting Of the sixth, ninth. twenty
second, twenty-ninth, thirtieth,
thirty-first, thirty second. thirty-tifth
thirty-sixth, fortieth, fifty-irst, fifty
seventh, ffty-eighth, sixty eighth,
seyenty-ninth, eighty-frSt, eighty
fourth and elghty-sixth, and the fifth
and tenth batteries of light artillery.
Illinois, twenty-one regiments; Ken
lucky, ten regiments: Ohio, twenty
one regiments; Pennsylvania, one reg
iment; Missouri, the second and tif-
tenth infantry. Kansas, eighth infan-
try: Wisconsin. the fifteenth and
twenty-fourth artillery.
After the evacuation of Atlanta, the
enemy, who were supposed to be nurS-
ing their wounds in the country south
of the city, suddenly appeared be-
tween Sherman army and his base
of supplies at Chattanooga. The en-
tire army moved northward, causing
the haSty evacuation of Middle Ten
neSsee by the confederate troops I'M
der General Hood. General Sherman
soon marched back TO Atlanta, and
thence direct to the sea, leaving the
fourth and twenty-third army corps to
fight the same force that had ohStruct-
ed his advance upon Atlrnta all sum-
mer
The Fourth and Twenty Corps
were sent to resist the invasion, which
they did by stand at Franklin, where
occurred one of the fierceSt and blood
lest struggles of any war.
The veterans are old enough now
for many of them to be passing away;
but in many bosom thrilling men,
cries of the tragical and exciting days
of 1S6l-65 will cause the heart to
throb again as when in the ardor of
the fight and the joy of the last
triumph which reunited the country.
Then they were young men, youths,
averaging scarcely twenty-three years
of age From the ranks of the old
corps have come some of the foremost
men in civil life-men prominent as
statesmen, scholars, scientists and
great merchants: men who bore the
musket have become railway magnateS,
millionares, and captains of industry,
wieldidg incalculable influence upon
the fortunes of the great republic
they risked their lives four years to
save.
The earnest desire of the members
of the Fourth Army Corps who live in
Washington is to bring together at
the coming encampment the best and
largest reunion ever had. "There
will be no rank there, +" said one of the
veterans; "title and riches will be
leveled to a common bond OF cordial
comradeSnip, such as only those know
who have continuously faced death
together"
James E. Houghton, Of this city,
commanded company of the 10Th
and Amasa Johnson commanded a
company of the 9th regiment in this
corps, and there are hundreds of
veterans in this and adjoining coun-
ties who are proud of the record of
the gallant Fourth Army Corps.
Many of them will attend the reunion
at Washington.