The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1905-02-16
At kenesaw.

AN old diary" said a One Hundred
and Twenty-Fifth Illinois man, 're.
minded me of that mysterious man on
horseback at Kenesaw This Is what
! recorded in my diary June 10, 1864:
Again ordered forward but the John.
nies have gone to higher ground. We
follow them up, and at night we are
at the foot of a mountain, up the
sides of which are skirmish pits, and
near the top seems to be brcastworks,
with here and there embraSures for
batteries. We soon know that the bat
teries are in place all right, and nine.
teen of our cannon open to reply to
the rebs on the top of the mountain.
At the same time furious thunder
cloud comes up and joins in the hurry
burly, and such a roaring. shaking,
and quaking as ensued is seldom wit
messed That reads like it was writ
ten at the front. under the conditions
stated by soldier present and par
ticipant. He was at the foot of Kene-
saw, in Georgia, and belonged to Col.
Dan McCook's brigade, all right, but
when he made his record he did not
know the name of the location.
History later made the name mem.
orable; incidents of a few days later
fixed themselves on my memory es-
pecially the charge of June 81, 1864,
on the dead angle of Kenesaw by
Col. McCook's brigade. belonged to
company X, One Hundred and Twen-
ty-Fifth Illinois. Our colonel, Oscar
+. Harmon of Danyille. H., was killed
after Col McCook fell while command.
ing and leading the brigade in the sec
ond effort to rush the works. He was
within the twenty-foot line of the
cuemy's works. My place was on the
extreme left, and after we had made
the rush and during the confusion
which ensued, some calling on us to
go forward, others to fall back, | lay
down, uncertain just what to do. In
the interim | looked just in time to
see Gen. Charles G.. Harker fall from
his horse. He was the only mounted
officer or person saw. | cannot re-
| call the color of the horse, nor could
say as to his leading a charge. He
was to my rear and left; that is, be.
yond the extreme left of McCook' S
brigade, which was not so close to the
| rebel works as was the right wing,
which was lodged on the outside of
the works at a point about twenty feet
! from the angle to the north. | could
see the colors of one of the regiments
| planted in the loose earth at the foot
of the works and our men were lying
fiat on the face of the breastworks in
| support Of the colors.
"Just as that scene was before me |
| had one side of my hat torn out by a
rebel bullet This volley gave us a
chance to get the drop on the rebs and
| the firing Stacked. Ii seemed to me
like pot hunting on the river below
| Danville when | was a boy. The fir.
| ing got so slack that | got up and
| looked around. Everybody was gone
| except the dead and wounded The
| brush and underground screened me,
and | Strengthened myself up and de,
| liberately walked back to the rear uM-
til / came TO the rifle pits evacuated
! by the rebels some ways down the
| hill. As | recall it now it seems to
| me that the Joannies must have
| thought that they had killed enough
Of us for one killing, for when We had
| pulled ourselves together the soldier
| instinct resumed the ascendant and of.
/ ficers and men reformed and pushed
up to the brow of the hill, where We
! fortified within twenty-seven steps o.
! the rebels and made it about the hot
test place for the space of the frCnt OF
any time from Chattanooga to Atlanta
and we kept it hot until the rebels
evacuated their position July and 3
1864, when we followed them TO the
/ Cnattahoochee riyer."-Chicago Inter
/ Ocean.