The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1909-05-20
My First Battle.

this eternal camp life. cleaning up,
guard mounting. and dress parade.
This will never put down the rebellion
What farce. this going on picket duty
when there is not a reb within a hun
dred miles. It's enough To drive one
distracted. No wonder our hospitals
are filling up with sick men. All that
ails them is homesickness, caused by
having nothing else to think about. Ny
God. want to up and at EN-
Second Speaker-Here. too; so do
l. I'll bet we could whip HI out of
twice our number and make them hunt
their holes
Third Speaker oh, yes; you fell
lows can talk big now. while we are at
safe distance: but by the time we are
at close quarters with them. their bay
onets clashing with ours. and the balls
flying about your head so thick you
would think a whole swarm of bees
were going to light on you, as it was
when our old Seventh was cut up so
bad at Winchester. I'll bet you'll sing
anywhere but there. You would be the
ones to hunt for hole. and it would
not be very big one that would hold
You. either. I've heard big talk before
and the ones who did the loudest talk
ing were the ones to be the last ut the
front. if they ever got there, and the
first to the rear. For my part, | am
perfectly satisfied to stay here and do
camp duty as long as it is necessary
I've had enough fighting to do me the
balance of my days.
Such was the common talk while we
were lying in camp at Tullahoma. in
1864. Our regiment zone Hundred and
Seventy-seventh Ohio and the One
Hundred and Eighty-eighth Ohio. with
a battery of regulars. were guarding
the railroad between Murrreesboro and
Chattanooga. But the grumblers as
well as all others. were soon To have
chance to ''up and at EN-" or. rath-
er. up and away from them. and we
Ii. either.
Our old scout came into camp one
morning and reported General Hoods
whole army two days march south of
u.s. moving toward Nashville. and that
he was picking up all orr small de
tachments along the railroad as he
came north. There was plenty of life
and activity in our camp that day for
all able-bOdied men. bitches were
dug. breastworks thrown up, and every
thing done to make our position as
strong as possible. even to digging n
trench through the burying ground.
where the dead had been buried at the
previous battle fought when General
Bragg made stand on his retreat
from Tennessee. The dead and the liv-
ing were in the trench together. per-
haps to participate in another fight.
After all these preparations. our COM
mander General Milroy). deeming it
not prudent to risk a battle. ordered n
retreat TO Murfreesboro. where he
could join forces with General Rous-
seau and lively race we had for two
days. We mad important business
there. and had no use for Forests
Confederate Cavalry. who tried i'm vain
to get on speaking terms with us. |
never saw a more ambitious set of men
in my life. In fact we had To get
there. Eli And we did not lat our
ambition cool until we were safe I'M
der the guns of Fort Rosecrars. II
was then that our oil Seventh comrade
remarked: We'll. bows. we gave them
HI. didn't We? never saw old sol
diers more anxious to move or show
more zeal. than you. Oh yes. but then
If Old Milroy hadn't got scared we'd
have smashed them
| am satisfied that our BOYS who
were so anxious for n fight had their
ardor somewhat cooled off during the
retreat. and would have been perfectly
satisfied to never have seen Johnny:
but such was not to be, as the sequel
will prove
Our two Ohio regiments went into
camp little northeast of the fort. and
the One Hundred and Eighty-eighth
was ordered out as skirmishers imme-
diately in our front, on open ground.
The Confederates had a line of rifle
pits which they were occupying. A
casual firing was kept up for the most
of one day, with only one man killed
on our side. He, not satisfied with
lying down and firing. after making
several shots at one of the enemy who
was firing at him. stood up and adj
vanced several steps and fired. His
adversary also did the same. and they
became the objects for all behoIders.
The firing from all other sources near
II ceased, both skirmish lines watching
these two. They fired several shots
each without effect when our man was
heard to exclaim. There, | hit him ="
We looked, and saw a puff of smoke
curling from the Confederate's gun.
while ut the same instant he was seen
to throw up his hands and fall back
into the pit. At the same time. our
man, who had only just spoken. as
above noted. fell back shot through
the head. Both men fell at the same
instant
Immediately after this saw a body
Of cavalry moving up hill on our left
that we raw recruits supposed were
our own men, as they carried the stars
and stripes, but who proved TO be reb-
els. and part of FORESTS Cavalry. \
cluster of officers rode out in advance
and stopped. and were evidently taking
q view of us, when a shell from Fort
RoSecrans came screeching over our
heads. 1t must have disturbed the
group Of officers for they hastily disap-
peared in the woods.
We We're then ordered into the fort.
from which we could see we were com
pletely surrounded by the enemy. We