Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-21
MRZl|
1912
81

and at trail arms advanced under a
moderate fire toward the line to be
taken. On emerging from the ravine.
enemy Ss opened anew s upon u US, whereupon
I gave the order Charged and In APP
parently less than half a minute the line
was ours. We captured some Of the
guns, and about nifty men in the works,
who fired until they were captured.
Among these was the only colored man
l saw during the war shooting the wrong
way. He was game; he fired till he was
Il detailed men at once to man the
recovered guns, but found them
partly disabled. I am not sure. but it
eeedsd IN n'o one Of the
pieces. At any rate, they were endeav-
oring to use them when Capt. De Gress
and some of his men came and took
charge Of the recovered guns.
that Of Gen. Charles Woods, who
charged the enemy on our right. 1t
would not be fair to say that we could
have succeeded without Woods CO.
operation; nor is it fair for them to say
that they could have succeeded with
out ours. Certain 1t is, we charged
that line with the enemy In it, and
that we recaptured the lost guns and
had them in our possession some time
before the men Of any other command
saw them. or before Capt. De Gress
himself came and took charge of
Shortly aftsr the line ..so was rs sts,as
Mersy's brigade, and it marched back
to its own division.
*
It should be remembered. in placing
an estimate upon what was accom-
plished by these troops. that they had
borne q part in an open field, at mid
day, under a scorching sun, In one of
the fiercest fights of the war. and had
afterward performed their share OF
the heavy work Of throwing up in
trenchments. They were still en-
gagged at this when ordered to follow
Gen. Logan. The movement under his
leadership was made at ''double-quick
over the greater portion Of the dis
lance, which was more than a mile.
But have not yet told the whole
story of the service of Gen. Dodge's
When night fell the Confederate line
was intrenched almost within a stones
throw Of what was then called Bald
HiH. That was a position which had
Fl. 1t was the key to the situation
and was the point where an attack by
Hoods forces was most likely to fall
Gen.. Leggett on the night. Of the
his command relieved from duty al
Bald Hill. His men, he said, were
physically exhausted. They had been
under almost constant fire for two days
in such circumscribed limits that they
were practically imprisoned in the
trenches.
Gen. Logan 'ans-7ered that the entire
army was worn-the 18th Corps hat
been weakened, and had no reserves from
which relief could be drawn: the Itl
Corps had been crushed. and wa
needed where 1t was. But Gen. Leg
gett insisted that his men must be re
ieved; that 1t would be unwise to trus
such an important point in the hands o.
men in such a condition as his command
was: and Gen. Dodge was ordered t.
send a brigade to Bald Hill
It was long after nightfal when h,
designated Col. Mersy's brigade, and fol
the third time that day these men wer.
called to 60 into action. They wen
promptly, and though the assignment
meant fighting and working on intrench
ments during the remainder Of the night
, they did both so well that no seriou,
night attack was made, and when morn
ing came an attack would have beer
well-nigh hopeless, for Bald Hill was al
most q Gibraltar. Its fertilization wa.
unique, and though engineered by tn,
men who welded the shovel it was com
plete and invulnerable. Gen. Hoods shat
tered forces. however, had spent thei