The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-04-19
MONTGOMERY 1908

General Cleburne came up to Captain | Semp1e and told him to move to tho
 left short distance. and put the bat tery on a small knoll. General Cle- | burne dismounted from h.s horse and | went to each of our gunners and di- | rected them to fire on the retreating
 enemy in column. across an opening | about half mile from us, in the d.
 rection of Chattanooga. Cleburne's division routed the enemy from their works in our immediate front. and
 took possession of them. In few minutes all firing ceased. and for about two minutes there was complete si- lence. Then came the grandest rebel | yell I heard during the war, lasting | ten minutes, or more. The day had | ended in complete victory for the Southern armies.
 The army was then camped for the I night: Monday and Tuesday was spent | caring for the wounded and burying 1 the dead. Wednesday General Bragg l moved on Chattanooga and found the l place strongly fortified, and did not
 make any attack. but drew his army up 1 Missionary Ridge and stayed there until December. The latter part Of | December or first of January, General | Grant made an assault on the ridge l and drove General Bragg's army off | Semple's Battery was placed at the bridge across Chickamauga Creek. with | orders to hold it against all odds un- | til night. which we did. only leaving after the last of our forces had passed | over on the retreat. Before leaving | the bridge we burned both ends and | the main structure fell into the creek; we retreated about a mile and camped | for the night. At daybreak Cleburnes | division formed hollow squaN, with
 the battery in the center at Chicka- | mausa station and stayed there until I night to cover the retreat of our wagon
 trains, the last of which passed over | the ridge in the direction of Ringgold Gap to which place General Cleburne | now moved his division.
 Next morning after the wagons had 1 passed through the gap, General Cle- burne placed two guns. the left sec- | tion of Semple's Battery, in the mar. | row defie of the gap. He had men to | cut bushes and mask the guns and l place the horses behind che sheltering 1 rock in the pass. and had the men to lie on the ground at the guns. while The and Captain Goldthwaite kept watch. l In a short time the enemy appeared in about two hundred and fifty yards or i the gap and General Cleburne ordered us to give them double charges of cam | ister, which we did for about ten mln- l utes. when he ordered us to cease hr' l ing. As the smoke cleared away. we discovered that the enemy had fallen | flat on the ground. General Cleburne then went to each of our gunners ana directed them to aim at the ground about twenty yards this side of them. l so as to sweep them up. ana Tn a teW minute we had them seeking cover in | small squads They fired on us at l random from their hiding places TOT
 about four horse. we replying when"
 eyer we could locate them by the d. | rection or charter from which tneir | bullets came. About 2 o'clock we re- ceived orders to carry the guns oy hano l back to the horses.
 We then passed through the gap on the retreat and came up with Cle- burne's Division. He had overtaken the rear of our wagon train and the larger | part of the teauls were removed ana l the wagons hunched ready to be set on are to keep them from falling into the I-hande of the enemy General cle- hurne. upon seeing what was going on, sent an order to General William !. Hardee requesting him to send the
 teams back to the wagons. and 10 tell the General that General Cleourne was bringing up the rear. He again formea his division in tn ehollow square with | our battery in the center as before, and staid there holding the enemy in 1 check until all the wagons had passed | over Tunnell Ridge to Dalton. Ga-. 1 where we remained until April. 1S6A. we then fell back and fought the Bat tla of Resaca. At this place We com | menced to build earth works. but be- fore we got them completed the enemy l came upon us. They charged us SIX | times with double line of infantry. but we held the position, repulsing every | aasa,ift until night came oT1 Our loss l was Lieutenant McClelland and Priv ] ates Scott and Kettles killed. and nine | men wounded and eight horses killed
 and three gun wheels shot down sum | day. On Monday morning we ieH pacH to Big Shantee.
 ssmpIe's Battery was engaged fin all
 the battles with General Joseph F. | Iohnson's army from Dalton. Ga-' tc | Atlanta. The writer was severely l wounded near where Fort McPherson
 now stands, on the 22nd or July lSo4'
 and was sent to a hospital at Forsytne'
 Ga ' returned to the battery in time
 n narticipate in the battle of Jones' horo Ga. (where Privaes Frank Moin-
 shan. James PaAker and Ed Penick
 u,era lxilIed), thereby not missing sin
 gla fight during the entire war Tn
 which the battery was engaged. when
 General John B. Hood went North into into
 Tennessee the battery went along wi'n | Cleburnes Division.
 aAa In soma war sketches that IL IS
 stated that the artillery had orders not ssA nsrt in the battle of Franklin.
 Tenn | do not know what the oroers s
 ware. but I do know, as matter ot fkct that Semples Battery went in." tn,
 +hs hpht with General Cleburne's p-
 s,,s,on for tho writer was lead driver
 to gun carriage No. A. and when w
 arriyed in three hundred and htty or | Sa,,r hundred yards of tho enemys
 1,,orLs we were halted and fired sev-
 sral rounds over the heads or the ln-
 fantry as 1t advanced untA tne%
 reached the works. where we ceaSeo
 aring and waited for orders whlIe that
 death struggle (which has never OSen
 aouaIled in modern warfare') was p~-
 tne anacted. Our infantry fought them
 tror1 about half an hour alter sun rlSS
 ,,ntiI 1I o'clock at night. fighting over
 head logs on the works until the TOUT
 Soot ditch was heaped with our oeao'
 Then the enemy gave way ana our men
 drove them out ,- ..,o-.
 Samnle's Battery. with other batter ,ns was then ordered inside the works
 - ere on the retreating enemy as they
 .o.rasted on road to Nashville, The
 .sSt morning We followed them and at-
 too,ad them at Nashville. where we .|.arn m inc firing line. Just before the
 orar,y gave way. we were ordered from
 The right of the line to the FrankhD
 Pike.
 HISTORICAL
 Mrs. Harvey E. Jones, GA South Law xVomen of 1881 -65--The Wife Of soi- l dteF.