The Falls City tribune., 1909-12-17

time on the skirmish line in the adj
vance of the army.
On the night of May 10, he was
taken off the skirmish line, and al
lowed to rest until the next morning.
which was Sunday. At about 10
/ o'clock his regiment was pushed to
the front and formed in line. Here
they unslung their knapsaeks, piled
them up in company piles, and placed
a guard over them. This was the
last he ever saw of his k%napsack.
A valley was between them and the
rebel works at Resaeca, which was
ON the crest of a hill just beyond
them. Pine trees covered the hill
side and masked them from the rebel
Position while they were fixing bay
onets and getting ready to advance.
He heard General Hooker tell Gener-
el Butterfield, who was their com
mander, that he wanted them to cap
ture those rebel guns in the redoubt
on the hill, and go as much further
as possible.
This battery of four guns in the
redoubt was about six hundred yards
away. As soon as they emerged from
the shelter of the pine trees, the re-
doubt opened on them. They went
down into the valley of a little gully
or ditch, then across the open space,
and then up the steep hillside, run
ming, yelling and firing until they
were under the guns. He vas prob
ably thirty feet in front of the guns
when they were fired the last time.
The powder blast knocked him down,
and rolled him over and over clear
down the hill. He thought he IA
done for, but when he got up he
found he was not much hurt. He
ran up the hill again and into the
redoubt, which his regiment had
captured and taken possession of.
This position was covered by guns in
other rebel lines Of works about
seventy-five yards off, whose fire was
so fierce they could not stay in the
redoubt, or use the captured guns,
but had to lay low in the ditch, in the
meantime keeping up a steady fire
from their Spencers, while scarce
ly daring to show their heads until
nightfall. About midnight, being re-
~inforced, they dug down the works
- .-..I 49,, ,s,11oI out fhn fntr
underground guns and took them
down the hill and into the Union lines
These were the only rebel cannon
captured by Sherman's Army during
the Atlantic campaign, and their cap
ture made their regiment famous.
During the charge the regimental
flag was riffled with bullets, and the
~flag-bearer had his teeth shot out,
his regiment losing eighteen killed
and seventy-six wounded. Next morn
ing they buried the dead ones in
one grave. He helped pick up the
dead for that purpose. About two
o'clock the next day they started in
pursuit of the rebel army, which had
evacuated their strong position dur
ing the night.
At Burnt Hickory Greek his regi-
ment was moved to the front battle
line. 1t turned out all right, but to
him it seemed one of the o dan
gerous and scary places he got into
during the whole war. The battle
was raging fierce in the deep woods;
balls and bullets We're coming fast
and thick. carrying away three tops
and cutting off limbs and leaves, and
dropping men right and left. They
marched into the woods, and during
the afternoon, passed over six lines
of troops. all laying down in line Of
Battle. VINO opened up their ranks to
let them pass to the front. \ little
in advance of the sixth line of troops,
they formed in line of battle and lay
down, it being then about dark. That
night it rained and he lay there all
night.
During the night the rebels evacu-
ated their position.
At Kenesaw Mountain his regiment
was in the reserve and he just look
ed on. They swung around the
east side of Kenesaw and was in the
sharp fight at Marietta. They threw
up entertainments wherever they
went, often laying in them for days
and nights. When out on the Skin
mish line they dug rifle pits in the
night, which were small holes IN the
ground, with the dirt thrown out in
front, large enough to hold two or
three soldiers, and deep enough to
protect them from the bullets. They