The National tribune., 1909-09-09
THE RESACA GUNS.
They Were Captured by Wards Bri-
Sade, Twentieth Corps.

Editor National Tribune: From time
to time for number of years accounts
have been appearing in The National
Tribune of the capture of the four-gun
battery at Resaca, and the honor claim
ed by various bodies Of troops, all of
which were erroneous, until Comrade
e. E. Russell, Co. E, 1920 III, comes
forward in your issue of July 8, 1909,
and l want to say to him: Shake, old
man. You and 1 were there without
doubt"
Comrade Russell tells the truth about
that little scrap" and in confederation
of his story l wish to add page from
my diary, written on the field the day
after the battle, just after l had fin
Ished carving names on the headboards
of the slain.
May Is, 1864, our brigade was or
dered to the left for the purpose Of
charging a battery which was stationed
on a hill densely covered with small
pine shrubs and brush, the battery be-
ing supported by a heavy line of works.
The charge was made at II M, across
an open field half mile wide and in
full range of the enemy's guns. Our
brigade was formed in five lines, our
regiment, the 129th ILL.,, being in the
third line. The charge was gallant, ex-
ceeding anything the Generals had ever
seen. The colors of the 129th were the
first to be planted on the rebel fort, but
our color-bearer lost his life almost in
the act by ball passing thru his head.
The rebels fell back to their works, and
poured in a deadly fire upon us, while
our own men in the rear, becoming ex-
cited. gave us voliey after vOlley. Our
boys fell all around me like grass be-
fore scythe. and the consequence was
4. .vrN~ f.tr rfr.tn.
but, happily, the fire from the rear soon
ceased, and we were enabled to rally,
and again we charged, but failed to
dislodge the enemy. Again the fire was
poured into us from the rear, and again
we fell back in confusion, but rallied
and charged again, with no better sue
cess than before, except that we were
not fired into from the rear, and this
time we held the fort and guns. We
left small detachment of our men at
the fort supported by fresh line of
troops, while the balance of the brigade
fell back to reorganize. Our boys held
the fort until 10 o'clock at night, when
they were relieved and came to their
commands.
Gen. W. T. Ward. commanding our
brigade. was wounded in the arm slight
ly. The loss in our regiment was AZ
killed. wounded and missing Our COM
pany (F) had two killed and three
wounded.
May 16. 1864.-This morning the reb-
els are all gone and our army Is in hot
pursuit. except our brigade, which was
left behind to bury our dead. We buried
234 men of our brigade in two graves,
putting the name, company and regi-
Inent on board at the head of each,
after which we proceeded to bury the
dead rebels, which was a hard job. as
they were scattered all over the woods.
do not know how snany we buried,
| but their loss is more than five times
that of ours.
This, comrades. is the history Of that
battle as I saw it and wrote it in my
diary (now yellow with age) at that
time. I always understood that the
| battery was called the Belle of Georgia:
| but. perhaps, it was Alabama, as Com
rade Russell says. I did not see the
guns, as they were gone when we got
to the fort the next day. The fort was
a half circle open to the rear.
/ could relate number of incidents
of this battle. but space forbids. 1t was
the first battle in which our regiment
was engaged, as the first year and a
half of our service was spent in guard
ing the cracker line from Louisville to
Nashville. We had seen lots of scout
ing and skirmishing, but no real battle.
Comrades, belonged 20 Co. f, 129th
ILL.,, First Brigade, Third Division
Twentieth Corps. and our brigade cap
| tured that battery at Resaca, in spite
of all the Pennsylvania Majors or any
one else that ever drew a sword OF
cooked a musket, and don't you forget
1T. r. Harmon, Wagon Mound, n. M