The National tribune., 1906-03-08
AN INCIDENT OF CHICkAMAUGA

The Army of the Cumberland was
conspicuously harmonious in it's organ
ization, and it's history was disturbed
by singularly few disputes. One of the
bitterest of these is recalled to mind
| by the death, last week, of Maj
Thomas J. Wood at his home in Day
ton, o. Gen. Wood was an accom-
plished soldier, and admitted by every
one to be one of the very ablest of the
division commanders of the Army of
the Cumberland. He had been identi-
fed with that army from the very first,
and on every field of battle had won
commendation by his conspicuously-
able management of his command,
whether it was brigade or a division.
In the Chickamauga campaign he COM
manded the First Division of Critten-
den's Twenty-first Corps. On the first
and for large part of the second day
his division was on the right of the
line, with Brannan's Division on its
left and Davis's and Sherman.s Divi-
sions on it's right. The forenoon of
the 10th the Confederates were making
.hSil HSht oil ihoIiIIS Oit tHt lClt
to gain possession of the road to Chat
tanooga, and the right was for some
hours little engaged. Capt. Kellogg. of
Gen. Rosecrans's staff, in coming back
from the right of the line reported to
Rosecrans. that there was a gap to the
right of Gen. Reynolds which was dan
gerous. Apparently he did not note
the position of Brannan or miscon-
ceived it. Gen. Garfield Rosecrans's
Chief-of-Staff who had the arrange
ment of the line well in his mind, hap
pened~ to be absent at the time. and
Gen. Rosecrans sent the following Or
der to Gen. Wood:
Headquarters Department of the
Cumberland, Sept. 20; 10:45 a. m.
"Brfg.-Gen. Wood, Commanding Divi-
sion. etc.
The General Commanding directs
that you close up on Reynolds as fast
as possible, and support him.
Respectfully, etc,
Frank s! Bond, Major and Abide
Orders were also sent to Gen. jeff c.
Davis to CLOSE up on Wood and to
CrittendenI and McCook to generally
move to the left to keep the line in
tact. What Gen. Wood did upon the
receipt of this, order became a matter
of the fiercest dispute. The partisans
of Gen. Rosecrans claimed that he
knew that the order was a mistake
and should not, therefore, have obeyed
it until he had called the attention of
the commanding officer to tfie error
Gen. Wood and his friends claimed that
Gen. Rosecrans knew, or thought he
knew, precisely what he was doing
when he issued the order, and that he
intended it to be obeyed as it was, not
knowing that Longstreet was massing
a heavy force on the right to sweep
away that portion of our line. Cen
Wood was not engaged at the time he
received this order, and says that he
supposed that the position that he was
then occupying would be taken care of
by the troops to his right. Therefore
he put his men in motion, left the line, |
marched around Brannan and took po-
sition to support Reynolds's right A
little later Gen. Longstreet, who had
been massing 10000 men in front of that
part of the line, poured through the gap,
struck jeff c. Davis In flank and rear
as well as front, shattered Woods right |
brigade as it was moving off the field
and threw back Brannan's right in
confusion. Sheridan and Davis made |
the most desperate attempts to with
stand the shock. but were swept off |
the field by the torrent of men that
Longstreet rushed against them. Rose
Grams and his staff officers hurried to |
the spot and tried to bring order out |
of the confusion, but were carried back |
off the field by the routed brigades |
Gen. Wood, in his official report, says
in regard to this order:
81 received the order about Ii |
o'clock. AT the moment of its receipt |
was a short distance in rear of the |
center of my command. Gen. McCook |
was with me when I received it. l in
formed him that I would Immediately |
carry it into execution. and suggested |
that he should close up his command |
rapidly on my right to prevent the oc-
currence of a gap in our lines. He
said he would do so, and Immediately
rode away. / Immediately dispatched |
manders with the necessary orders, and
the movement was at once begun
Reynolds's Division was posteI on the
left of Brannan'S Division, which, in
turn, was on the left of the position
was just quitting. l had consequently
to pass my command in rear of Bran
mans Division to close up on and go in
to the support of Reynolds
When Gen. Wood arrived on Gen.
Reynolds's right he met Gen. Thomas,
who said that Reynolds did not need
support, and changed Woods orders so
as to send him to the extreme left,
where Gem Baird was in urgent need
of assistance. In that position he made
a magnificent battle, as he always did
he was engaged. and sue
ceeded in repulsing several times a su-
perior force of the enemy which was
to. turn our left and inter-
pose between the army and Chatta-
While the Speaker Of the House is
being attacked for his autocracy
Speaker Cann0n himself is trying to
start a counter-revolution to prevent
the Capitalization of power In WASH
ington. He is strongly opposed to the
States surrendering their power and
to the General Govern
|