Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1907-11-09


morning of September 10, 1863, which
was the morning on which the big bat
tie opened. We had just emerged
from dense piece of woodland and
had come suddenly upon bunch of
rebels behind a lot of underbrush not
more than so yards away. JEFF Goar,
a. member of my company, who was
marching a little in advance of me,
saw them first, and came running back
to me.
g There they are, captain he shout
ed
g Well, why in the don't you
shoot?' 1 called.
The words were hardly out of my
mouth when Goar fired into the bunch
of rebels 1t was like throwing stick
into hornets nest. There was yell,
and then the whole line blazed away.
The rebels that we had run on to were
what was known as the Black Horse
cavalry. The fight ragged fiercely for
a time and we were forced to retreat
to the main column While the fight
was on both of my lieutenants, Thomas
Thompson and D. F. Allen, were
wounded.
Our colonel was also killed that day.
When the column advanced on the
enemy the Fourteenth Ohio was i'm
mediately on our right This regiment
had 20 men killed in an instant The
fire was terrific. After some very hard
fighting we forced the cavalry to re-
treat to line of infantry that was
coming up in the rear Then the line
rallied and advanced. A rebel brigade
advanced upon US at an obtuse angle
to the battalion in which my company
belonged. The firing became fast and
furious In some way, / don't know
just how 1 came to do it, became sep
arated from my command and found
myself between both lines of fire. 1t
was a most dangerous position. 1 got
behind a tree, and when our battalion
fired I jumped to the side of the tree
next the rebels.
when the rebels fired their volleys
l jumped around to the side of the
tree next to my own company. 1 stood
this for some time, and finally got
chance to get back to my company. A
number of bullets struck the tree
while l was there, but 1 escaped I'M
hurt.
During the day we lost battery
of artillery close to our line. Gen.
Thomas came riding up and ordered
us to retake it, which we did. The
capture of this battery ended the first
days fight as far as our regiment was
concerned.
Next morning 1 went into the fight
with Sc men. 1 had one man instant
ly killed early in the fight, and before
night there wasn't a man in my COM
pany but that had been struck by a
bullet except John Sutton, Cyrus
sc only II were able to fight.
I'VE maintained our organization,
however, and finally I took what men
1 had left and went with the rest OF
the regiment to the point where Gen
Thomas was fighting, three-quarters of
mile to the southwest. While the
regiment was going to his assistance
we came to an open field and met a
rebel brigade coming across. 1t was
marching in as fine order as 1 ever
saw. L ordered my men to fire. They
did, and our entire line joined in. The
rebels returned one volley and then
fed. 1 firmly believe that if that rebel
brigade had not been repulsed the
chances are Gen. Thomas and his
staff would have been cut off from the
| line and the battle might have ended
then and there
The battle of Chickamauga was one
of the most bitter engagements in
which 1 participated. During the fight
the noise was so great that all animal
nature seemed to lose it's natural In
stinct. Quail would drop to log or
hide in a bush. They would stay
there, budding close to the wood, I'M
til one could go up and touch them
with ones hands. Rabbits would run
to the men and hide between their
| legs or crawl under the knapsacks or
| blankets. 1t was pitiful
Hit Between Eyes.
During the fight James A. Price,
who went with me to recover my pipe,
was struck squarely between the eyes,
| at the top of the nose, by a fiattened
1 bullet that became imbedded in his
skull. He came to me and asked me
to pull it out. But could not get it
out of his skull 1t required all of the
surgeons strength, with a pair of for
ceps, to extract that bullet Andrew
Leverton, friend of mine and mem
Der of my company, who was killed
| that day, asked me early in the
/ morning to be left behind with the
guard about the supplies and baggage.
| / told him that we would need every
/ man and he promptly fell into line. /
/ have always thought that he had pre-
monition that he was going to be
killed that day
Capt. Boyle participated in some of
| the hottest engagements of the civil
war. He participated in the battle OF
! Rich Mountain, Mill Springs, Shiloh,