Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-04-24

-. !. : O. . .-- "
SIN the Civil War" said the colonel,
'the railway bridge across The T2nntS-
see at Bridgeport was partially de-
stroved. April -. 1852. It was not full
~ repaired until November. 1863. Tie
Union army in the meantime used pom
toon bridges, but could put no locomo-
tives CT cars across the river.
\ serious attempt was made to re-
pair the Bridgeport bridge until some
weeks after the battle Of CEi"&alnau%l.
or when the armies were concentrated
at CiiattaiiuU5u for tile ittarcti south
ward on Atlanta. / remember well
when the first train steamed across aud
whirlcd away with Il triumphant wins
tie toward Chattanooga. That first
train was followed by six others, all
carrying provisions to the army, and
we who were stationed ut Bridgeport
cheercd Zach train like wild indians.'
Mine days after the railway bridge
at Bridgeport was destroyed" said
CharleS Franz. "a detail of twenty
men was made from our regiment, the
Tenth Wisconsin, n placed under
| tpiliIillllu u sci S-Sdui "iiIiaih ->|i'Sh'
with orders to proceed eastward from
Huntsville, Ala. to the Paint Rock
River bridge on the Memphis and
| Charleston Railroad. remember that
the men detailed from our company,
G., were Andrew J. Anjier. Alexander
II. Francisco, and myself. We We're
provided with three days r%ations, and
forty rounds of ammunition. The riv-
or was $50 feet wide, and the bridge
was a wooden structure, two spans in
length, with a center pier built of stone
work on bottom with the upper part
of cobble work. North from the bridge
was a small shanty of red cedar logs.
Sergeant Nelson and most of tho
men took up quarters at the little
Shanty. My post was at the east end
of the bridge, n for a week there
was no excitement. On Sunday, April
p, General o. NJ. Mitchell went by
on a train, when only two mon were on
lockout duty, and was indignant be-
cause the guard was 30 light. lie
scolded a good deal and said it would
be an easy matter for the rebels TO
take the bridge. In fact, he thought
he could take it himself. To this Fran
cisco, who was on guard, said, Cen
eral, may be 0 could, but | don't
think it would be very healthy for you
to try That night we captured a bush
whacker, who was proving about the
bridge, and a freight train loaded With
supplies for General Mitchell at Bridge
port was held in the belief that the
rebels had prepared to capture the
train or throw it from the track. Mon
day evening every man was at the
bridge when a negro, who had a black
smith shop seven miles UP the river,
gave notice that the ~rebel<cavalry was
moving to attack us.
"We sent to Lieutenant Ford at
Woodville for re-enfOrcements, and our
party was increased by one sergeant
and six men. We built platforms at
each end Of the covered bridge, and l
with two comrades was stationed I'm
der the bridge structure on the stone
work of the middle pier. About 10
o'clock we were attacked on both sides
by rebel cavalry, and an incessant fire
was kept up for half an hour. Then
the colonel commanding the enemy or
dered his men to cease firing and ask
ed us to surrender the bridge. He gave
his name as Colonel Steams of the
First Tennessee Confederate Cavalry.
He said he had over 700 men, and as
there Were only twenty-SiX Of MS, it
was useless for us to keep UP the fight.
II we did not surrender Immediately
he would charge and take the bridge.
"Our men yelled in defiance at him,
and the fight was resumed. The rebels
made bundles of corn fodder. which
they saturated with oil, set on fire, and
tried to throw on top of the bridge.
Our men let the torch bearers come up
close, then fired, dropping all who car
ried them. The burning torches gave a
bright light. and we could see the rel,-
els fall back into the woods. Soon their
fire became weaker and weaker, and
finally ceased altogether. We kept a
sharp lookout during the night. bnt
found in the morning that they had
retreated for good.
.One ludicrous Incident probably
contributed not a little to the discom-
future of the rebels. At the west end
of the bridge there was about a rod OF
space between the shore pier and the
river. at the beginning of the fight
-we could hear some of the Confeder-
ates walking below. We expected ey-
cry moment that they would shoot up
through the bridge. We scrambled for
the top of the sill, on which we were
perched, and in u haste one Of tile
boys stepped on q small iron mush
Kettle which we had left there. and it
went rafting down among the Con-
federates below: They probably
thought it was a hand grenade. 1T
all events they ran cut from under the
bridge in double-anick time.
when daylight came we went down
and found under the bridge one rebel
dead. a number Of gun and revolvers.
some well-filled hayersacks, showing
that the point had been evacuated in
n hurry. Later IN the day we found
one of their s~ergeants severely wound
ed, who told us that the attacking par
ty consisted of foul companies of the
First Tennessee and a company of
bushwhackers. something over 100 men
in all. We found twenty-eight of their
men wounaed, and were told that thir-