Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-08-24

~ lplaced at least brigade on every road
 leading from the numerous lords of the Chickamauga to Rossville and in a
 manner to be quickly concentrated up
 on a threatened point. Rosecrans.
 brought back two divisions of Mo | Cooks column to aid Thomas and also
 called up three divisions of reserves
 under General Crittenden. This mass
 ing of troops around Thomas made his line the pivot of the great battle to come. As the lines were, he had the left wing and stood as a bulwark be- l tween the enemy and the roads to l Chattanooga.
 | War writers use the phrase bringing
 on a battle" to illustrate how some tri- l fling affair precipitates fight where
 none was intended in the plans of the l leaders. So Thomas brought on the
 battle of Chickamauga by going out to l smash the Confederates who had cross l ed the dead line and might get trouble l some if let. alone. Bragg hadn't intend l ed to fight at that time and place any thing more serious than skirmishes to
 clear the Chattanooga roads. Rose
 crans hadn't intended to fight then and there either, for the battle ground was l too far from the Rossville road.
 Half score of little fights, starting with a brigade and drawing in divi- l sion, took place Sept. 19, and that night
 Bragg,s army was lined up west of l the Chickamauga. Leonidas Polk con- l manded the right wing and Longstreet,
 Lees old warhorse from the Army of l. N~Ysfl, info Ahn 1nf4 na+ had brought two divisions of his old
 corps with him to help save Chattanoo- ga. General D. H. Hill, another of Lees marshals, commanded corps of western troops. Buckner of Donelson fame led corps. Hood and McLaws, who had led the. fierce fight in front of Round Top at Gettysburg, were there Pat Cleburne, the 'sStonewall of the West;'' Breckinridge, the fighting Ken tuckian; Joe Wheeler, the cavalryman, and Forrest, the all round fighter, were there with their hardened veterans from Shiloh and Murfreesboro.
 With Rosecrans were Thomas, Me Cook and Thomas l.. Crittenden- as
 leaders of army corps. With Thomas
 were Baird and Negley and Grammar
 and J. J. Reynolds, with McCook Jeff c. Davis, R. w Johnson and Phil. Sher- -Crittenden T. J. Wood, Palmer and
 Van Cleve. Gordon Granger commando
 ed reserve of three brigades stationed
 we'll back on the Rossvflle road, and
 two divisions of cavalry under Edward
 McCook and General Crook watched
 over the wagon trains.
 When morning dawned on the 20th a heavy fog hung over the valley. The
 Confederate chiefs had been given their orders for attack, and at 8 o'clock
 the battle opened near where the fight ing ended the night before, the center of Thomas line. During the night
 Thomas troops had built rude breast
 works of rails and logs in front of q
 state road running through the battle
 field parallel to the creek and connect ing with the Ressville road three miles
 away. A road from the creek led into
 this at the point in the line held by Baird's division.
 With prelude of skirrnish fire, the divisions of Clebs1rne and Breckinridge
 dashed forward upon Bairfs line. The famous Kentucky phalanx known as the Orphan brigade was in the lead,
 and in their eagerness the Kentuckians
 rushed upon Bairus breastworks, only to be beaten back. Baird's line was
 joined on the left by Beatty's brigade, which had moved up in the night and lay in the woods without breastworks. Seeing the Kentuckians recoil from Baird, Beatty brought out two guns of
 Bridges Illinois battery and opened
 fire. The Fifteenth Kentucky regi-
 ment of Federals lay behind the bat tery. Bridges guns must be swept out of the way or the Confederate charge upon Baird would end in useless
 slaughter. The leader of the Orphans, Ben Hardin Helm, lined up the Sixth
 Kentucky and rode along the ranks to infuse courage into the men for des-
 perate deeds. The scene was battle
 picture not to be put on canvas. Helm was a noble soldier, friend of Lin
 coin and a man he sought to win over
 to the northern cause in 1861.
 With a few words, Helm led his Ken tuckians forward into the battery, kill
 ing it's commander and all the horses and cannoneers. Some of the Kentuck fans turned the guns upon Beatty's
 men, and while Helm was directing
 their fire the marksmen of the Eff.
 teenth Kentucky shot him dead in the
 saddle.
 Pushing through the gap in Beatty's
 broken line, the Confederates charged
 past the flank of. Baird and penetrated
 to the state road. For an hour Thom as line was in danger. Baird's men
 were invincibIe behind their defenses, but the destruction of Beatty left his flank unprotected. Thomas sent in
 two fresh brigades, and with this time ly help Baird drove Cleburne and Breckinridge back to their old lines. The fight around Baird was Bragg's first venture for the destruction of Thomas. It failed, and the Confeder-
 ate chieftain took up the mightier plan of hurling one mass between Thomas
 and McCook to cut the Federal army in two and another to overwhelmg Thomas on the left flank and cut him off from RossviIle. This blow 1t was