University of Virginia Library

87. Chickamauga
By COLONEL ROBERT L. KIMBERLY (1863)

IT was after midnight when the regiment, having passed Gordon's Mills, went into bivouac in a thicket near the road. The men felt that they were on a battlefield, and were glad enough of the scanty rest

that was to be bad before daylight should call them to action again. Nothing could be seen of the position, but it was certain that the troops were massed rather than strung out in line, and the road was jammed with artillery and trains. In the morning the regiment with the rest was moved further along toward Rossville on the Chattanooga road, until it was near the Widow Glenn house, where Rosecrans' headquarters had been established. Further down the road and apparently to the right of it, there broke out, about the middle of the forenoon, the sound of a severe engagement. This was renewed again and again, and the report went about that a force sent to dispute the enemy's passage of the Chickamauga, needed more than one reinforcement. Finally, soon after noon, Palmer's division was deployed in echelon and moved straight across the Rossville road to the attack. No enemy was in sight when the movement began. The formation in echelon was with the object of striking and crushing the enemy's left flank. The movement started in an open wood; beyond this was a large open field, and about half way across it a strip of woodland. The Forty-first was in the first echelon, and advanced to the woodland. But beyond this the fighting was terrific. From the edge of the woods in front there came a storm of rifle balls, and back of this were batteries in rapid action. Away to the right the battle swept, and it was plain that the enemy's flank was not found.

The Forty-first fired its last cartridges and was recalled to replenish the boxes. This was done hurriedly, back in the open wood, and it was hardly finished when the enemy fell furiously on

Van Cleave's division, which was on the right of Palmer's. Colonel Hazen was near the Forty-first when this happened. Some idle batteries were at hand, and Hazen quickly posted these to check the onslaught, for Van Cleave's men were beginning to come back. Then the brigade was moved into the path of the storm which was bearing back the division of Van Cleave. Colonel Wiley broke his line to the rear by companies, to let the retreating crowds pass through, and then wheeled back into line. The Forty-first was still in the open wood, and in front was a large cornfield. Through this the Confederates were swarming, but their first line had spent its force and lost its formation. Close behind came a second line in perfect order. Van Cleave's retreating regiments had broken up Hazen's line as they swept through, but the Forty-first had kept in form by breaking to the rear to let the fugitives pass, as has been told. Wiley opened on the Confederate second line, with volleys by front and rear ranks, and the advance was instantly checked. But it was soon apparent that the regiment was out-flanked. Shots began to come from the right rear. Then Wiley made a change of front to face to the right, and sent a volley into the gathering enemy there. Then a change back, to face the front and check the main advance. Never had the marvellous effect of volley firing been more clearly demonstrated; the fiery Confederates could not stand against it. The closed ranks of the Forty-first were in sharp contrast with the loose line in front and the wandering foes on the right. A hundred yards at a time the regiment fell back while loading, and easily held the enemy at bay. Then a commanding crest was reached, where a battery tery had taken post. Here it was proposed to stand, but the enemy did not come on. He was reforming his lines, as could be plainly seen from the crest. But night drew near, and the battle was over for the day.

Much of the night time was taken up with getting into a new position— slow and tiresome marching in the darkness. Next morning, before the enemy moved, the Forty-first was lying behind a barricade of rails and logs, an open field behind it. There were troops to right and left, showing that a general line of battle was posted. Rations were not abundant, and of water there was none at all. A detail was sent to fill canteens; the men did not return, but fell into the hands of the enemy, who held the water supply that was ours the day before. The intense suffering occasioned by this lack of water can hardly be imagined; pangs of hunger seemed mild in comparison. Before night, men's tongues were swollen and their lips blackened and cracked until the power of speech was gone. It was far on into the next night when that time of awful thirst was ended.

The morning was well along when it became apparent that the enemy was advancing upon the Union lines. Nothing was to be seen in the woods to the front but soon the well-known Confederate yell was heard, and the skirmishers became engaged, falling back before the enemy's line of battle. Then the line itself was in view, coming on with true Southern impetuosity. From behind its barricade of rails, the Forty-first opened fire, and to right and left the fight was on. The Confederates returned the fire with spirit, but their advance was checked, and they did little or no damage to the men behind the barricades.

The attacking line rapidly thinned out under the steady fire; then it became unsteady, and finally it turned and fled. This was the regiment's first experience behind a defended line. Slight as was that defense of rails, it changed the whole character of the fighting. The enemy was severely punished, as was plainly to be seen, and had been able to make no return in kind. The men began to wonder if an attacking force could cover three hundred yards or so, before a well directed fire should destroy it.

But the battle was not over with this one successful defense. The Confederate line overlapped the Union left and had forced it back until it was stretched across the open field in the rear, and at a right angle with the general line. Then there was a b rave fight on both sides in the open ground. It was plainly seen from the position held by the Forty-first, and it was most eagerly watched. If those men on the flank failed to maintain their ground, the whole line would be taken in rear while it was assaulted in front. There were some moments of intense anxiety, and then it was seen that the Confederate assault bad spent its force. It was as stubborn a fight as one could wish to see, but the staying quality of the Union troops won. Baird's and Johnson's divisions were on the left of Palmer's.

This doubling up of a flank occurred again that day—the second time, the right flank. This came from a break in the Union line, made not by the enemy, but by order from the commanding general. A division (Wood's) was withdrawn from its place in line, and at once the enemy entered the gap. The army was cut in two, and most of the right was driven from the field. The general of the army

went as far as Chattanooga. The Confederates pushed their advantage toward the Union left, until the division next on the right of Palmer's was bent back to the rear. This, like the flank attack on the left, was in view, from the position of the Forty-first, and was watched as anxiously. Also like the other flanking operation, this one failed, thanks to nothing but the steadiness of the Union troops.

But, while these things were taking place in front and oil both flanks another peril began to grow in the consciousness of the men who could not be driven from front or flank. The cartridge boxes were being rapidly emptied, and no ammunition train was near. Everything seemed to have been swept away with the right wing. Then from the woods across the open field in rear, bullets began to whistle toward the backs of the men in the line. These shots were supposed to come from sharpshooters in the trees. A company of the Forty-first was faced about and delivered a volley into the treetops across the open. This had a good effect, there was one danger the less. But the question of ammunition pressed. Nobody knew where to find it. The four divisions of the left wing were holding their ground, but they were out of communication with the rest of the army, wherever that might be, and they had no supplies of any kind. The division generals came together, and the question of a commander came up. The three corps of the army were represented in those four divisions, but there was no corps commander present. None of the division generals coveted the responsibility of command, but it was plain that something must be done. There was heavy firing off to the right, and it was guessed that somewhere in that direction Thomas

was holding out against the enemy that had swept away the right wing. Finally, Hazen volunteered to take his brigade across the interval, and make communication with whatever Union force might be still in the field. The brigade was withdrawn from the line, marched somewhat to the rear, and then started

"OLD ABE."

[Description: Illustration of the American Bald Eagle]

off through the unexplored woods toward the sound of battle. The movement was made cautiously but rapidly, the brigade constantly in readiness for any fortune that might befall. There were some scat tered Confederates in the woods, and a Confederate skirmish line was struck obliquely, but no other force was encountered. The way seemed miles longer than it was, and the relief was great when the leading regiment came upon the left of the position where Thomas had stopped the victorious enemy and held him steadfastly. Thomas himself, beloved of all thee army, rode up to take Hazen by the hand. The arrival was just in time. A desperate assault was about to come on the left of Thomas's line. Hazen's men marched through a cornfield to the crest of a low bill, and were there massed in column of regiments. Scarcely was this done when the Confederate storm burst. The slope in front of the brigade was open ground, and in a moment this was covered with heavy masses of the enemy making for the top. Hazen's regiments were lying flat. The foremost sprang to its feet, delivered its volley and went down again to load, and the next regiment just behind rose to fire and fall flat while the third put in its work; and so on. The slope was strewn with Confederate dead and wounded, but not a man could reach the crest. Along the rest of the line also the defense was successful. Night was falling fast, and the battle of Chickamauga was over.