The Columbus weekly dispatch., 1907-06-06

borne 1t that day, and he was wound
ed in the arm.
The Federal line fell back over the
hill, and we had a moments time
to load all of the guns of fallen COM
rades and of the Federals, and to
throw the dead and wounded out Of
the ditch.
In another desperate charge many
of the Federals rushed over the
breastworks. down into the ditch
among us, and there was a hand-to-
hand fight.
Major Council ordered the men to
fall back on the right and left and
let the enemy have the travis. We
fell back and they poured into the
vacant space only TO receive certain
death Then Major Council ordered
the men to take their places; from
the right and from the left we came
back into the travis.
BY this time the blood had become
so profuse that, tramping back and
forth in it, We were smeared with
human blood from our faces to our
feet. The flag Of our regiment had
been shot completely off its staff, and
one Of the men picked up a limb
been cut off by bullets, fastended the
flag to it, and held it up again in its
original position in the salient.
Then somebody asked, Where is
Col. Baker?" He was near by, lying
under an oak tree, a little in the rear
of the breastworks, shot through the
heart.
Where is Lieut.. Col. Feltus?' He
was by the side of Baker, also shot
through the heart.
Major Council, who had been third
in command when the fight opened
was now colonel Of the regiment. He
was wounded.
The enemy now adopted different
tactics. A line of battle moved up
over the brow of the hill and lay
down upon the ground in front, not
more than fifty yards off, and opened
up a terrific fire.
Just behind the ranks of the Six
teenth Mississippi regiment was a
white oak tree, about two feet in
diameter, solid within and vigorous.
The bullets of the enemy passed over
the embankment, struck the tree, and
we saw that it was only question
of time when the tree would be cut
down by bullets.
0f 10
as to the way We might control the
fall of the tree. We had no rope, nor
could a man have lived in that volley
! of lead long enough to have tied a
rope to the limb. We soon saw that
| the limbs were being cut off in the
front, and that the weight of the
branches in the rear would draw the
/ tree from the breastworks. 1t slowly
! swayed and finally came down.
We had by this time lost lost near
/ ly half of our men. Each soldier was
shooting from seven to ten guns, and
ammunition was passed up from
hand to hand from the left. There
was no lack of ammunition among
! the Confederates.
| Then there came a singular 1ull
ed to cheer; the loud, defiant huzzah
of the Federals and the weird yell
of the Confederates rang through the
smoke of battle.
! Many of us climbed to the top of
the embankment to look out over the
scene. o, what sight! In some
places the dead were in heaps. But
| the sight was nothing in comparison
to the sound. The groans and means
of wounded men under dead men, the
prayers of the wounded and dying,
and at times the curses, made pam
demonium of horror
An officer, evidently captain from
the Federal side, ran forward near
the breastworks, waved his cap in the
air, and said, "Confederates, you
made a gallant defense, but it is use
less; surrender" The boys began
to holler, Come in, come in The
officer said, Are you going to sur
render?" Many voices cried, .'No!
Never," 'If yon will not surrender,
neither will I.'' He waved his cap in
the air and turned to go, but shot
from the Confederate side crashed
| through his brain, and he was so
close we could see the hair fly"
The Confederates scrambled into
the ditch just in time to save them
selves from a yolley, and the Federal
line charged again. There was a ter
rife struggle. A second line came
up to the assistance Of the first, and