Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-04-18
THE FIELD OF BATTLE
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF
THE WAR.
The Veterans of the Rebellion Tell of
WhistIing Bullets, Bright BayouetS,
Bursting Bombs, Bloody BATTLES,
Camp Fire, Festive Bugs, ETC., Etc.

..Few men" said the Colonel were
entirely satisfied with their own con
Duct in battle This was rot because
they failed in courage or in their duty,
hut because the greatness of the occa-
sion made even the most heroic effort
seem inadequate. There was SO much
TO do under stress of circumstances.
and SO much left undoue through mis-
chance or misunderstanding. that the
man who was in the thick Of the fight
generally came out of it with very
poor opinion of himself
Il was reading the other day letters
written by soldiers on the battlefields
Of Shiloh Stone River and Missionary
Ridge, and | was astopishCd at their
simplicity and humblenpSS Of tone.
Writing of the second day at shiloh.
one man said: We started forward
al sun up. our line as straight as a
rule. aud during the day | think we
must have covered several miles We
didn't do much. however. except drive
the rebels back, and when night came
six of our company We're among the
wounded That mans regiment was
in the movement described by General
Grant as one of the most impressive
and effective of the second days bat
tie.
Another man. writing of the third
day at Stone River, said: We didn't
do much yesterday except get ready
for the rebS. 1t was like working in
the old gravel bank at home About
; o'clock two more divisions came over
from the right and settled down near
us. and we heard artillery and wag-
ons moving quite near us in the rear.
Everything was quiet In front, I'M
usually quiet. and we thought things
were moving all right, when there was
roar of muSketry and the air was
full of flying bullets. Before we could
lower our rifles to the ground. chips
and splinters We're flying from them.
We hlazed away as hard as we could.
Our own cannon fired over us. We
Rugged the ground close and kept peg
ging away. 1t didn't seen. to me we
were doing much good, but we fired
as rapidly as we could load
suddenly our own artillery ceased
firing. and | thought the game was up.
Then we We're ordered forward, and
we went at a full run down into the
smoke In front We crashed into
rebel line and went over. Some of the
boys who found themselves in the
rear of the first rebel line dubbed
their muskets and ran back. Others
dropped their muskets and grabbed
the men nearest them. There was a
rough and tumble fight and 1t seemed
TO me we We're wasting our time when
the rebels surrendered. After resting
minute we started forward again.
and it seemed to me the whole army
was going forward with us. Just AT
dusk the General rode up, said we had
done very well indeed, and ordered us
10 return TO our intrenchments.
This is description of the repulse
of breckenridge corps ON the left, one
of the most decisive and picturesque
battles of the civil war. The man who
wrote the letter was i'm one of the regi.
ments that led the charge that drove
back the flower of General Bragg's
army. The artillery firing TO which
he refers was from sixty cannon mass
ed in the rear and OH the flank of
his division. The defeat or repulse of
Breckenridge gave the Union army the
splendid victory of Stone river. and
yet this man in the front line of the
battle wrote OF it simply as if he had
been describing a county fair at home
Among the old letters was one from
man who carried Il rifle in the first
days battle at Stone River. II was
written in the early morning of the
next day. and in it the soldier saws.
we had hard time of il all yester-
day. We were in the fight all day.
We did the best we could but the
rebels broke our lines ana ran over rs
Eight Of the boys were shot. but We
did pretty well until the third charge
made by the rebs in front of us. when
it seemed to me everything went to
pieces. was struck on the head. and
had no more sense than pig hut
when / opened my eyes / looked for
the flag. About twenty other boys did
the same. and we all went creeping
toward where the color-bearer had
been shot.
We got the flag and while there
was fighting all around us. we made
rush and got out We had terrible
time in getting back to the main line.
but when we got there we settled
down to business and for the rest Of
the day kept mp our end Of the fight
pretty we'll This is the story of the
fight on the center and the right nj
stone River, ut which there was dis
played the greatest heroism on the
part Of the regiments overwhelmed
and the greatest devotion 10 the flag
by men cut off from their commands
who fought their way out. yet there
Is not q note of exultation in the
whole letter"
tssF-1