The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-04-30

Union army in the meantime used pom
toon bridges, but could put no locomo-
tives or cars across the river.
NO serious attempt was made to re-
pair the Bridgeport bridge until some
weeks after the battle of Chickamauga.
or when the armies were concentrated
at Chattanooga for the march south
ward on Atlanta. / remember well
when the first train steamed across and
whirled away with triumphant WINS
tie toward Chattanooga. That first
train was followed by six others, all
carrying provisions to the army, and
| We who were stationed at Bridgeport
cheered each 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,, and placed under
command of Sergeant William Nelson,
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 ]. Anjier, Alexander
H. Francisco, and myself. We were
provided with three days rations, and
forty rounds of ammunition. The riv-
er was 150 feet wide, and the bridge
was 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 shsnty Of red cedar logs.
Sergeant Nelson and most of the
men took up quarters at the little
shanty. My post was at the east end
of the bridge, and for a week there
was no excitement On Sunday, April
81, General O. NJ Mitchell went by
on train, when only two men were on
lookout duty, and was indignant be-
cause the guard was so light. He
scolded 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, Gen
eral, may be you could, but l don't
think it would be very healthy for you
to try That night we captured bush
whacker, who was providing about the
bridge, and freight train loaded with
supplies for General Mitchell at Bridge
port was held in the belief that the
| ho1 rod 10 inf n
train or throw it from the track. Mon
day evening every man was at the
bridge when a negro, who had black
smith shop seven miles UP the river
gave notice that the rebel cavalry was
moving to attack us.
1--WE sent to Lieutenant Ford n
WOodyille for re-enforcements, and oul
party was increased by one sergeani
and six men. We built platforms a
each end of the covered bridge, and
with two comrades was stationed un
der the bridge structure on the stone
work of the middle pier. About 1t
O'Clock we were attacked on both sides
by rebel cavalry, and an incessaat fire
was kept up for half an hour. Then
the colonel commanding the enemy or
dered his men to cease firing and ark
ed us to surrender the bridge. He gave
his name as Colonel Steams of the
First Tennessee Confederate Cavalry
He said he had over 100 men, and rs
there were only twenty-six OF us. II
| xx-o @ ,,co1acc for nc 70 I-aap ,,,> Tho Got,+
II we did not surrender Immediately
he would charge and take the bridge
"0ur 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 reb-
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, but
found in the morning that they had
retreated for good.
Zone ludicrous incident probably
contributed not little to the discon-
future of the rebels. At the west END
of the bridge there was about rod of
space between the shore pier and the
river. AT the beginning of the fight
We could hear some Of the CoDfeder-
ates walking below. We expected ev-
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 our haste one Of the
boys stepped on small iron mush
kettle which we had left there, and ii
went rafting down among the Con-
federates below. They probably
thought it was hand grenade. At
all events they ran out from under the
bridge in double-quick time.
when daylight came we went down
and found under the bridge one rebel
dead, number Of guns and revolyers.
some well-filled haversacks, showing
| that the point had been evacuated in
hurry. Later in the day we found
one of their sergeants severely wound
ed, who told us that the attacking par
! ty consisted of four companies of the
First Tennessee and q company OF
bushwhackers. something over 400 men
in all. We found twenty-eight of their
men wounded, and were told that thir-
teen had been killed. We lost one man.
''The next day General Mitchell who
had heard Of the fight, came down to
visit us. He looked over the ground,
examined the bridge and approaches,
and complimented us for our gallant
defense, saying that we had saved his
line Of communications. Then he add
ed: We'll, boys, suppose, if you had
had q commissioned officer with you,
you would have surrendered; but as
It was, you didn't know enough to sur
render Then, turning to Francisco,
the General continued: Il said to you
that / could take this bridge myself
ha1t pOxv I want IN taLo all fhaf no olr