The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-06-13

through the head, and were cool. Inc
"Johnnies" yelled vociferously, Bull
Run" Bull Rum" and our men shout
ed back in defiance "Why don't you
come on?' Indeed, the whitening fire
they received at first made them
chary Of pressing US, and we could
hear and see the efforts of their OIL
GERS urging them on. These were
among the first casualties on the field.
and doubtless the wounded and many
of the killed were carried off, but the
number of dead found here after the
battle was appalling.
Remember Lexington"
Thus we resisted the advance of
the enemy until our color-line was
reached. With all that was at stake
before, now we had our camp to de-
fend. Here we had had our daily
dress parades and pomp of war, now
had come the circumstance. Colonel
Peabody, always electrifying was
doubly SO now. We were not whip
ped, but simply outnumbered. With
! a look Of mortified pride but great de-
termination in his handsome face he
! conjured the men to hold their ground
Pointing to the words in golden let
ters On our flag he cried out: Lex
ington, men, Lexington. Remember
Lexington"
How long we neId the enemy at
bay at this line l cannot say; it is
beyond the range of human skill tc
estimate accurately the flight of time
n battle. Behind trees in the COM
pany streets and simply tents, that
screened us from sight, we kept up
a constant fire. The enemy could not
dislodge us; but we held him at mus
ket range, and momentarily expected
support We thought We had him
permanently checked, and would soon
drive him back Since the battle was
on, the entire army could have as
/
the simple maxim of war: "In the
absence of orders, march to the sound
of battle" And we longed for field
guns to start him back, and lamented
they did not come. There was a per-
ceptible lull in the roar of musketry
at the left and my attention was di-
verted from the front by rifle ball
striking a tree and filled the side of
my neck with small pieces of oak
bark. Stung by the sharp pain, and
enthused by seeing a dun-horse bat
terry coming from the left at full run,
hell now, a battery is coming.
Horror of the Battery Fire.
Brother William had hardly finished
Gliding me for using such language
when in whirled the battery about
200 yards away and opened fire upon
US with grape and canister Horror
of horrors! Even ahead of the deaf
ening reports of the guns came storms
of missiles screaming and shrieking
through the air. ripping through tents,
msashing tent poles, knocking from
the tree limbs that rained upon us,
binding dust. Crash, crash, came in
!rapid succession the showers of iron
hail. A solid shot plunged through a
tree, and a shell burst in mud bake
oven, and covered us with a cloud of
dust and beat US with clods and
splinters. We couldn't help it, we
nad to let go.
Could these be the guns whose re-
ports carried the first tidings Of the
battle to Grant, at the breakfast table
at Savannah, II miles away?
A Martyr Unsung.
Just in the rear of the line of field
officers tents, a knot of US made an
other stand. Here Colonel Peabody's
horse passed us, riderless, and STIR
rups Tapping in the air. We knew
our brave and noble colonel had fall
len. His body was found nearby af-
ter the (attIe, land subsequently it
was sent to Springfield, Mass. In the
cemetery there, monument, draped
with his country's flag, bearing the
words, Lexington, Shiloh, 25th Mo.
VOL Infy," all cut in marble, marks
his grave-the grave of the hero Of
Shiloh-the man whose devotion cost
him his life, whose vigilance, energy
, and bravery saved the army from ut
ter surprise and defeat, and the union
cause from all the far-reaching con-
sequences. Probably no man of our
armies in our entire history rendered
his country at one time more valuable
services and yet, outside the few sur
vivors Of the regiment, his name is
hardly known, and is unhonored and
unsung.
Here this paper should properly
end, for its main object is to give
some of the circumstances attending
the attack and showing back of the
Sixth division. But as I desire to