Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-11-15

ping frequently to untangle q mule,
or to get q wagon back into the road
which has been steered wrong To. the
mules and nearly upset, and occasion
ally going around bad place in the
road. A random musketry fire starts
to our right, but as it does no dam
age to US we continued on our way.
About eight o'clock we stopped for
an hour by the roadside, and found
two abandoned wagons-one loaded
with. portable steam sawmill and
the tools for setting it up. One
wagon had the machinery for the en-
CINE, while the other held mess
chest, tools, etc. We helped oursel-
YES to some rations which we found,
and with an axe broke open the mess
and tool chest. / got four knives,
forks and spoons, two big washdishes,
three deep tins, three dippers, one
cup, some shortcake and sugar; also
some blacksmith's tools, bolts, nails,
axes, a steam whistle and many other
small articles. The rest of the boys
grabbed whatever they could lay their
hands on. l thought it was wasting
government or private property q
didn't konw which), but we might as
well have destroyed it as to have it
fall into the hands of the "rebs."
About eleven o'clock that night we
reached Spring Hill and went into
camp without unhitching our teams.
Their had been quite a battle about
sunset, and both sides lost quite a
number of killed, wounded and miss
ing. l layed down to sleep in a wa
gon about midnight.
Wednesday, November 80, 1864.
Today was another of retreating
on our part, and it was hard and
serious one too. About four O'Clock
our train got ready to start. The
road,as usual, was full of wagons and
troops. We went along rather slow
ly, but with some degree of safety,
until daylight, when the rebel cav
airy attacked the train just ahead of
us. They did not get very close to
the wagons for our men opened such
brisk fire thatthey put spurs to
their horses and retreated in disorder.
Our infantry and artillery fired at
them as long as they were in sight.
The noise scared the mules so that
many of them ran away and tipped
over the wagons, which were set on
fire and left behind. l saw several
mules which had been shot with their
harnesses still on. There were about
a dozen wagons left in front of us,
but as to the number in our rear, !
don't know. Just after the firing
began the team that had our rations
and tools started on the run and col
lided with another wagon, breaking
the wagon tongue. We stopped the
animals, secured another tongue
and replaced the broken one. In a
little while another tongue broke, and
we had to stop to repair that one, and
were obliged to run half a mile to
catch up with the rest of the train.
1t was rather ticklish business to stop
and put in tongues while the fight
was going on, but we could not see
the point of leaving our traps and
rations. We frequently had to stop
to untangle mule, and then run to
catch up. This was the last time we
were attacked that day. We arrived
at Franklin, Tenn, little before
noon, where we went into camp and
fed both the ourselves and mules;
then we crossed the river on a. bridge
which was only eight feet wide, and
went into camp again. The infantry
was busy throwing up breastworks
south of town when we entered. and
as fast as new troops arrived they
took position on the right or left and
went to work as quickly as possible.
About four o'clock p. m, our troops
were all in the trenches, followed
: closely by the rebels, who marched in
solid column. They hardly stopped
to look at our works, but pressed on,
confident of victory, until they
came within 200 yards of our breast
works, when our men opened on them
with rifle and cannon with such a
scathing fire that they were soon
ready to retire. The rebel ranks
formed again and were again driven
back, leaving the ground covered
with their dead. | was told that
they charged our line in different
places as many as fifteen times with
out success. We could see nothing
but smoke and the flash of the artil-
lery fire from where we stood, but
by the continuous roar we knew there
was a great battle raging. Four wa
gon loads of ammunition were soon
called for and were sent over; the
teamsters driving up close to the
breastworks with it; then throwing it
off they came back on the run. Soon
after dark all the rest of our ammu-
milton, making in all $4,000 rounds,
was taken over and distributed, and
dispatches were sent after more, but
our ordinance Office was unable the
secure any more for them. We could
hear our boys cheer as they drove the
rebels back, and by the number of
wounded that were carried by us on
their way to the hispital, we learned
much about the progress of the bat
tie. Our train got under way be-
tween nine and ten o'clock, and we
moved slowly towards Nashville. The
whole train was probably ten miles
long. Our ammunition train was
near the rear end of the train, but
the hospital train behind us. At
times after starting we could hear
heavy firing, indicating that the con-
test was not yet ended. We got
along well tonight. l crawled into a
wagon and slept some. There was
but one rebel ball reached us during
the, fight at Franklin, and that pass
ed over our heads. 1t is reported
that the Twentv-third Corns did most