Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-09-30
THE FIELD OF BATTLE
INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF
THE WAR.
The Veterans of the Rebellion Tell of
Whistling Bullets, Bright Bayonete,
Bursting Bombs, Bloody Battles,
Camp Fire, Festive Bugs, Etc, Etc.

~ cttiu N2hIlaAu IVNiSAs W.
frequently fired at an enemy when we
couldn't see a man or gun. AT Az
erysboro, \. c.. General Fitzpatrick or
dered my section of the battery for
ward TO dislodge the enemy. When l
reported 10 the general the lines were
quiet and l could see neither our own
troops nor the rebels, | asked kilpat-
rick where the enemy was and he
waved his hand dramatically toward
about half Of North Carolina and said.
Right over there
Il turned to look for a position for
my rIded ten-pounders when Z shell
from the enemy whizzed over the gen
eral and staff. Fitzpatrick flattened
himself on his horse, saying moment
later; 4 always dodge these things.
/ don't suppose 1t does any good, but
1t Is human nature TO dodge, and
dodge But, | say, captain, can you
dismount that gun without seeing it?'
| told him we could, and going into
position we opened FIRE at 1900 yards
and the enemy soon concentrated the
fire of six smooth bore twelve pound
err on my two rified ten Founders,
"The range was too great for the
smooth bores. and lost not a single
man. But we located the enemy's
guns. one by one. and the gunners.
with three years practice, put every
shot in the right place to make trouble.
Soon an orderly rode up to say: The
generals comprehension have dis
mounted a gun In ten minutes he
came again: The generals comph-
ments, and you have exploded a Gals
SON In five minutes another cavalry
man disturbed us with: You have
disabled another gun Then for five
minutes the rebel battery was silent.
when it opened again the boys let
drive with the two guns and literally
demolished one of the rebel guns,
breaking the carriage and turning the
gun end for end. We saw il later
when the rebs had retreated, and when
we discovered we had been firing over
our own men. who were near enough
for their lookout to see our shots
strike When the lines came together
the affair was over in fifteen minutes,
and Colonel Rhett, a South Carolinlan
in command, was a prisoner.
1.-TWO or three hundred of Rhett's
men were captured with him. Just
before their capture Captain Duncan
of our own army. who had been cap
tured at Fayetteville, reported to Gen
eral Sherman minus hat. shoes and
boat He stated that Wade Hampton's
Eaen made him get out of nearly every
thing he wore at the time of his cap
ture, and appropriated all the articles,
Pnd that when he appealed to Hamp-
ton for protection he was answered
with a curse Hearing the story, XII
patrick ordered that Rhett he permit
ted TO march on foot to GoldsborO.
by the way. when the Union troops
concentrated for the battle of Mission
airy Ridge, our battery was left at
Dallas without support to guard the
river crossing THE Teus on the other
side of the river knew a battle was in
progress, and the first day shouted at
intervals: How is the fight gOingT
Every time our boys shouted back I:
FYon'uns is getting licked. As the
rcbs accepted this without comment
we suspected they had more informa-
ton than we had, and knew the battle
was going against them. However, we
tr,u1 r1 60 41INn 10 H.
Hooker went over Lookout mountain.
and exchanged views on the situation.
THE rebels had quite large force
on their side of the river. and that
night one Of the plckets shouted: We
win be relieved soon. Good-by. Yanks
The next morning flatboat loaded
with men in gray came over to our
side under a flag of truce and said as
their whole army was retreating they
would like a chance to get into Ken
lucky. Another boat load came later,
giving us news of Missionary Ridge
and expressing a willingness to sur
render. When they saw that our bat
terry was unsupported they allowed
wet If they had known the infantry
had been withdrawn.
Eat Stone River we had smooth
bore guns but we did good Job
After the rebs retreated we followed
beyond Murfreesboro on the Manches-
ter pike. The rear guard made a
stand while a heavy column crossed
the pike just out Of our range The
boys noticed, however, that when the
solid shot struck the hard surface of
the pike they ricochetted forward to
the point where the heavy column was
crossing. SO they fred glancing shots.
using the pike as a bouncing board.
and did effective work A general off
Ger who rode a white horse and who
was very busy was struck and killed
by one of these ricochettiag cannon
balls"