The National tribune., 1905-12-28

headboards over North and South Caro-
lima graves were very thickly planted
Whereabouts. and that where men of our
own had fallen, such as were not gath
cred up by ourselves, were suf-
fered to lie like the dead of beasts. un-
til the field was again possessed by us
Bragg in his black inhumanity refusing
the right of sepulture to the defenders
of the Flag that he once had sworn to
uphold with his life. The bones of
up and buried before my visit there,
but there upon the ground where each
man had lain were the mute evidences
that were of themselves enough to con-
vict that sour-visaged old arch rebel of
the most contemplate crime that man
ever practiced upon his fellow, revenge
upon the dead.
Reckon Chickamauga as you will
Union defeat or rebel victory, dear to
them as to us, when weigh the des-
perate work done there against that of
all other fields Of the war, I am COM
PEELED to say of it that of all the names
rendered glorious by the matchless
valor Of our army, both in the East and
West, there is no other that any regi-
ment entitled to it may be any prouder
to embfazon on it's banners than that
of "Chickamauga."
| To say, as Chas. A. Dana did, that the
Army of the Cumberland was democrat
4
at the time, as now, great injustice to
that army, though it probably looked
So to him, who doubtless judged the
spirit of the men by the conditions that
surrounded them.
The Lines at CHATTANOOGA.
| When our lines were formed at Chat
| tanooga and intrenching had begun our
old commander rode from the river
upon our left to the extreme right of
the line, addressing few words to each
| command in turn. This is the SUBJ
stance of what he said to us: Boys,
we have had a battle, and while we
have lost the field upon which it was
fought, we have Chattanooga, the OBJ
jective point of the campaign, and we
are going to hold it," And he was more
heartily cheered then than at any other
time ne ever came before US, from river
| to river again.
| That the enemy would assault our
| lines at that time was the one wish that
heard oftener expressed than that the
bread wagon would come up. If there
was decentralization in that, or lack of
confidence in our General or ourselves,
| then L am not in any way competent to
Judge of the meaning of the word or
the spirit of the men. Nor can l spell
| generalization out of the spirit OF the
| men of that army that led it a few
weeks later to make that splendid,
though unordered, charge up Mission
Ridge, where it possessed itself of 60
(Eot 30 rebel guns. Our General was
taken from us, the man who had fash
Toned the weapon used to honor in his
hands, as we'll as later, an army that /
am more proud to have been one of
than of any other that upheld our flag
| IN those times; one, too, that had more
| men in 1t that bore what Mark Twain
has aptly termed the American patent
of nobility" than any other; /. e., ia
miliar nicknames, in which the boys
seldom erred and never were too free
In bestowing. We had with us Little
Phil" "Old Pap Thomas Cor "Old
Slow TrotO, and "Old Rosy" Differ
| ing with him in religion and politics,
as did the great majority of men under
him, l doubt If any of us ever saw in
Rosecrans other than the honest patriot
and Christian. We knew that he was
soldier and General and that he
ever thought of relinquishing Chatta-
nooga / do not believe
Now, as to conditions at Chattanooga
in October and November, 1863. They
were undeniably bad for us, critical it
| may be. but never desperate, as MANY
believed at that time, and as many be-
lleve to-day, owing largely to the care
less talk OF some who were sent to our
reiier' who, judging by their words,
seem TO think that they were doing us
or the Cumberland gratuitous service
| In coming to us, not fully realizing as
| 1t appears. that we Of that army ha
never taken the contract to whip out
or stand off for all time all that the
Irantlc Confederacy could send against
| US. That spirit of liberation for us and
&C ndescension to us, which was doubt
less handed down to the ranks of the
relieving force by some one pretty high
up, l have often met both i'm print and
private life. is well shown in the words
OF a certain Maj. c. 1 once had the
pleasure of meeting. His manner I
cannot give on paper. He began by
saying, You fellers was in a mighty
tight box there in Chattanooga. and If
II had not been for us you would have
been all gobbled up" | replied that I
thought it was not quite SO bad as that:
that while we knew that we had to
have help, We also knew that the conn
try was behind us, and that relief could
come, as come 1T did, from other quar-
tiers. But" he said, "Rosecrans had
n" business to be there at ALL" well,
that is real news" / replied, land II Is
| likely that Rosecrans even at this late
Gay, would like to be Informed of that:
Tor without doubt he supposed that
the movement with Chattanooga az its
objective was made with the full knowl-
edge and concurrence, IL not by direct
order Of the War Department" And
then the sapfent Major seemed to lose
| interest in the subject
| Starvation Rations.
1t is true that there were times when
the unpleasant feelings that and 9TH
ers feit In the region of the diaphragm
were not caused by anything we had
eaten-we were sure of that; but SO
long as the way was open for the little
ration we did have to filter in, SO long
as there were cartridges for our guns.
or butts on them, just so long was
Chattanooga ours.
confess, too, that I In some part
subsisted on hominy made from the
corn that was filched from our Door.
starving horses, who at that time were
eating up the burr-oak branches that
we threw to them, until nothing smaller
than our wrists remained Of them. nv
reason OF having been sent seven miles
up the river to guard Penney's Ford or
Ferry, Daviss Division had more than
haif its artillery horses left, and in con-
1i;io:i 20 move guns, for we found for
age In the cane that was on the banks
or the stream. That the direct road
from Chattanooga to Bridgeport was so
thickly strewn with dead mules, as is
SO graphically described in WARS
Mighty Cost" 1 am i'm position to deny:
for l made the trip early in December
and the possible 25 dead mules to the
mile that l saw In and out the road
never could have emitted tho torr;bIo