The National tribune., 1909-05-20


of the Twentieth Corps, bat at that
time Ward had not come up into posi-
ton and had not been able to get his
artillery across. Newton'S line had as
sumed a singular shape, that OF the
capital letter T. Bradley's Brigade was
along the main Atlanta road, forming
the upright of the letter and facing to
the left. Wagner's Brigade, command
ed by Col. Blake, 40th Ind, was the
left half of the horizontal top line.
while KimbalPs Brigade was the right
half
While Kimball's and BIake's Bri-
gades were building a rail barricade the
skirmishing In front OF them began,
rising with that sharpness OF sound
which at once arrested attention. Then
came the wild, piercing, Ominous rebel
yell from the throats of thousands rush
ing out from the cover of the woods.
1t was portentous wave of men, which
did not seem to marchtout of the woods,
but simply burst out, as wave dashes
upon the seashore. The skirmishers.
skilful soldiers as they were, saw the
futility of attempting to stem this tide,
and ran back to their regiments. The
enemy was Walkers splendid division,
charging straight for Newton's front,
while Bates Division passed to the
flank to strike at the rear and gain the
bridge.
BY lucky chance Capt. Goodspeed,
Newton's Chief of Artillery, had been
iaboring to get 10 guns across the
bridge from the north to the south side
of the creek, and was succeeding. 1t
was at once seen how urgently the guns
were needed, and Goodspeed rushed
them forward to the point to where
they could open at 20 yards with canis-
ter. Never was artillery more welcome
to infantrymen, and the rhythmic thun-
der of those guns was sweetest music
to the ears of the startled men of New
toms command. 1t was a joy to look
up, while loading their muskets, and
see, as the powder smoke drifted away,
the great ragged holes torn in the enc
my's line by the hurtling, staying canis-
ter. Four guns of Smiths 1st Mich.
Battery secured fine position on the
right, where they could rake the ad-
vance, and presently thru the drifting
smoke the formidable wave was seen
to be a chaos of riderless horses, disor-
ganized regiments and shattered bri-
gades. What 20 minutes before had
seemed a miracle of human power was
| BOW largely mass of dead and wound
| ed men. The men, infantry and artil-
| lery, whom Sheridan had drilled and
commanded had shown splendidly the
excellence of their schooling.
During this critical time Thomas was
present, as he had a habit of being, at
the nerve center of battle, and gave
personal direction to the artillery, COM
plimenting Capt Goodspeed upon his
work, and when the repulse was as
sured said a few words of praise to the
infantry which they priced above rubies.
Wards Advance.
While all this was occurring
Wards Division was lying in the hollow
below and further to the right and
rear: For moment it seemed to him
/ as If Newton's Division was yielding to
the heavy attack, and without waiting
for orders the brigade commanders
rushed forward to attack the assailants
in flank and relieve Newton. The skir-
mishers in front of the division were
commanded by Lieut.-Col. Bloodgood,
22d Wis, but the solid ranks were soon
on the heels of the advance. There was
sharp, bitter fight for Is minutes, but
the enemy had to yield, and when they
| did so Wards Division had seven battle
| flags wrested from their stubborn foes
Coburn's and Woods Brigades had car
ried the left of the line, while Harri-
sons did the same on the right, and all
| three saw the backs Of the last of their