The National tribune., 1909-01-28

fo hecoYre an immense NAV into which |
must flow constantly and without In
terruption great MISSISSIPPI River OF
bread. meat, oats, corn and nay. All
this had to be brought Irom Loulssuue' Nn
nearly 400 miles away. Between NASH
VILE, Isl miles away, and Chattanooga
ran a single-track railroad, never OF
the best and which had suffered I'm
measuraply from destruction by fhe
contending armies and the guerrillas.
It ran a large portion OF the way thru
a very hiiiy country, with deep cuts.
large fills and long, high bridges. all Of
which invited trouble to the working
of the line and offered tempting oppor-
tunities to enemies. Tne first Work
was to put n great force Of men al
work under the able superintendence Of
Col Wright to put the roadbed between
Nashville and Chattanooga in as good
condition as possible to facilitate the
rapid and uninterrupted movement of
trains. This was followed by the erec-
ton Of block houses at every bridge.
caiyert and tgnnel. This protected
them fIo,a daShes of the guerriflas
These block houses were something
unique In the history OF war, and were
eyolved, like many other valuable fea-
lures of the science of warfare which
were developed by the keeniy active
American soldiers, from the very ne
cessity of the situation. TIC Army OF
-
history that operated continuously
along a line of railroad. and had to de-
pend wholly upon the road for its sup
plies. The construction sf these pro-
tections for the bridges had been COM
rnenced by Gen Buelps Engineers, who
had constructed stockades in the shape
of a Greek Cross, with each bastion the
size OF a Sibiey tent. Each bastion
was therefore made home for squad
with the Sibley tent for the roof. These
did very well to resist infantry attacks
but a single piece Of artillery would
convert them into a slaughter pen BY
dropping in a she'll Col w. z. Mer-
rfu, Chief Engineer of the Army Of the
Cumberland improved upoa these by
designing q rectangular block mouse
strong enough &c resist light artillery
and the Michigan Engineers, under Col
Innee, did excellent work in erecting
them. They were built up with heavy
logs from below the surface OF tht
ground, and rooted with a layer Of logs
laid side By side and covered with
earth On top of this was roof ol
shingles or boards when they could lb'
procured Above this roof rose TIT
tower. which afforded an excellent look
out. but was not strong enough to re
sfst artillery, and was vacated IL th'
attacking force had guns. Inside o
the block house were the hunks an.
IiyinF rooms of the garrisons. witt
water tanks and cellars 1or suppnes
These fortihcations did magnificent ser
vice, and repeatedly beat on deter
mined attacks of heavy forces. The
were, In fact, the anchors Of the army
safety, since they secured the main
tenance of Its cracker line. Many bril-
liant defenses by these little garrison
are on record, and one particularly. b
80 men Of the 115th Ohio. commando
by Lieut.. II. II. CLOSER, held for thrs
weeks the block house protecting Over
airs Creek, FIVE miles north OF Mnl
freesboro. 1t was repeatedly attacke
by Bates Division Of infantry, wit
some cavalry and three i2-poun
guns. These latter fred ~ shots At i
but the garrison maintained itself 70
the two critical weeks during Hood
siege OF Nashville, and saved not onl
their block mouse, but the raiiros
bridge. Gen. Hood ruefnlly admits th
strength of these defsnses In his Mem
oirs-" After he had captured Dalton. i
the Fall of 1854, he attempted to mare
thru MIL Creek Gap, but was stopps
by the men In one OF these block house
placed there to defend the bridge owe
NH Creek Hoods artillery cannon
s6ed IL savagely, but the p!ucky garri
son held out. one Of Hoods stan oficsF
was severely wounded while trying (