MARCHING AND FIGHTING.
Reminder to the reader—Sherman, Howard, and Thomas in council—The attack and repulse—The Sixth Kentucky in front again—In the trenches—Guarding train—Forward march.
Reminder to the reader—Sherman, Howard, and Thomas in council—The attack and repulse—The Sixth Kentucky in front again—In the trenches—Guarding train—Forward march.
I must remind the reader that I did not set out with the intention of giving a history of the grand campaign in which I took a humble part—a task of such magnitude and responsibility must be reserved for the future historian of one of the greatest and most complicated struggles that the world has witnessed. Indeed, the thoughtful reader, a thousand miles from the scene of strife, may have a better conception of a great battle than many of those engaged in it. The former, by the aid of maps, and the accounts given by various writers whobeheld the different parts of the great struggle, may get a good general idea of it as a whole; while he who takes part in it, of necessity, sees only that portion of the battle in which he is engaged—and that generally is but a small part. Moreover, he is prone to judge of the result by the success, or suffering, of the regiment or brigade with which he is connected; while all are aware that a portion of an army may meet with great disaster, and yet the general result may be most glorious; but glorious it certainly does not seem to that portion of the army which has suffered most severely, although its suffering may have been the salvation of the rest. For instance, the celebrated charge made by Marshal Macdonald against the Austrian center at Wagram; although it turned the day in favor of the French army, yet it was most disastrous to the charging column, which is said to have lost in the proportion of ten out of every eleven men who composed it, not having as many hundredsin its ranks when the task was achieved as it had thousands when the word to charge was given. Thus, in some of the battles of this campaign, a brigade, and even a division, at times suffers terribly, and yet the battle was not lost, and the enterprise, as a whole, was a splendid success.
This view of affairs is absolutely necessary with regard to some matters in the present chapter which it is necessary to mention, as I am not attempting a general view of the campaign, but the part played in it by the brigade to which I was attached, and more particularly by my own regiment; and while not writing a history, I am preparing materials to be used by others in framing a full and perfect account of this truly-wonderful march. I write chiefly from what came under my own notice—those who were in other scenes than those in which I took part will do the same; and the truth must be gathered, not from any one account, taken separately, butfrom all the accounts in the aggregate. If, then, I speak of a success, do not think it was one achieved by the whole army; if I mention a disaster, let no one think that I regard the whole army as involved in it; for seldom has an expedition of like proportions met fewer reverses, or more glorious success.
About seven o'clock, on the morning of the 27th of May, a group of officers were assembled in front of the Sixth Kentucky, engaged in deep and earnest conversation. Although we could not hear their words, their looks and manners indicated that matters of grave import were occupying their attention. One of the group, though his garb indicated no great rank, had the look of one born to command; his face lighted up with unmistakable tokens of genius as he spoke, and his words seemed most convincing. Another had a calm, quiet face, with a look that showed great goodness of heart; yet he was evidently a good soldier, as his empty sleeve showed that he had lostan arm in defense of his country's flag. A third was a plain, unpretending-looking personage; yet the lines of determination upon his rugged face showed there was, under that quiet exterior, an invincible will. They were in the order I have described them—Sherman, one of the greatest military geniuses of the age; Howard, the man without fear and without reproach; and Thomas, who stood up so stoutly at Chickamauga, and many other well-fought fields. These, with other general officers, were planning the operations of the day; and having decided upon the course to be pursued, the interview ended, and each one returned to his respective command.
I was informed by a member of Gen. Howard's staff that we might look for hot work, as a general advance would soon be made upon the rebel works. Our brigade was immediately moved about a mile to the left, and formed in two lines of battle—the Sixth Kentucky forming the extreme left of the rear line. At teno'clock the advance was sounded. With the belief that we should engage the enemy at once, my orders were to support the regiment before me in the front line of battle. Our lines advanced slowly, and we had not gone far before skirmishing began. But instead of a general engagement, as was expected, it seemed more like a brigade drill; for, as we passed over the broken country which was the scene of operations, every movement was preceded and indicated by Willich's brigade bugles, which must have intimated to the enemy what we were about. It was soon whispered that we were searching for the enemy's right flank. About three o'clock we reached what was thought to be the desired point; here the column halted till Johnson's Division moved up and formed in our rear, making four lines of battle. When we first came up we found a picket-post of the enemy established at that point, which was fired upon by our advance and driven back, and no enemy was now inview. The "attention" was sounded, all were ready in line of battle, and in a moment more the order "double-quick" rang out. All moved forward; the front line changed direction to the right, while the second line moved forward, which soon brought it into the front line of battle—the Sixth Kentucky being on the extreme left, and in the second line of battle, with orders to support the front line—which orders had not been countermanded. I had not been informed that the front line had been changed; nor could I see, on account of the dense thickets through which we were moving, that the change had been made; and the first thing that apprised me of the change was passing over the skirmish line amid a perfect storm of rebel bullets, and finding myself and command in the front line of battle. On we pressed till we came to an open field, on the opposite side of which the rebels were strongly posted. The right of our brigade was to cross this field, while part of the Twenty-Third Kentucky, and the right wing of the Sixth Kentucky was formed diagonally across it, and the left wing of the Sixth was formed front to rear to meet a flanking column of the enemy that was moving to our rear. This movement on the part of the enemy would have been successful had I not at that moment formed my left wing so as to return the flanking fire he was already pouring into us. The battle now raged furiously along our line, and, under a murderous fire, the rebels were pressed back to their works, our troops following, in some instances, to within fifteen or twenty paces of the intrenchments; but exposed as they were in an open field to the deadly volleys of a protected foe, and a fierce fire upon the flanks—shattered, torn, and bleeding, yet in spirit unconquered, they fell back to the shelter of the woods. Taking a position there, the battle was renewed, and an attempt was made on the part of the enemy to dislodge them, but the failure was most signal. Some idea of the dreadfulcarnage may be formed from the fact, that in a space of time nearly as brief as it has taken to pen these few lines, our division lost nearly fifteen hundred men. Our division went into the fight alone, and was not supported by the division formed in its rear. After reaching the point of attack the fight was put off two hours; and when it began the enemy had time to mass three divisions against one of ours. I am of the opinion that had the attack been made at once the day would have been ours.
Great as was our loss, it proved but a barren victory to the enemy. We were repulsed, it is true, and many of our brave men sealed their devotion to their country with their blood. The enemy also lost heavily, and their success was due to their greatly-superior numbers; and whatever advantage they gained that day, it was not sufficient to check the advance of our army; for they were soon again on the retreat, and our army on the march to victory.
But I must return to my own command. After our repulse I was at the extreme left with a few men who were still firing, when Lieut. Clark, Acting Adjutant, came up and told me that the brigade had been relieved, and was now assembling at the place where the charge began. I knew nothing of its withdrawal, and replied that he must certainly be mistaken. He said there was no mistake about it, that all the brigade colors were at the place he had mentioned—that we were relieved beyond a doubt. Still uncertain, I asked, "Where are the troops to relieve us? I don't see them; but if relieved I will go down to the left, where I have some men placed; and after relieving them will go back." Lieut. Clark, who is a brave young officer, went with me, and told them to go back, as our brigade had gone to the rear; and on our way we passed the relief, which was lying down, and had not come to our relief at all—a mere handful of us had remained on the field, and the wonder is that we were not captured to a man.
When we reached the brigade we found it formed and ready to march to the rear, with Gen. Hazen at its head; but O, how changed! In a few hours it was so cut down as to be not larger than a regiment. We were moved down to Pumpkin Vine Creek; but were not suffered to remain there long, being ordered to the front, and to the right of where the battle had taken place; and though we had been engaged in skirmish duty nearly two days before the battle, we took our place in the front, and began building works within rifle range of the enemy's lines.
At this point we remained till the 6th of June, during which time nothing took place of interest, save the usual picket duty, of which our regiment did its full share. Our position, however, was very unpleasant on account of the heavy rains which fell, and being compelled tolay close in our trenches to shelter ourselves from the rebel sharp-shooters, who were always on the alert.
On the night of the 5th of June the rebels evacuated their works in front of us, Gen. Sherman having executed another flank movement which rendered it necessary for them to retreat. By sunrise the next morning we advanced again over roads rendered very bad by the recent rains, and on the next day were detailed, with the Twenty-Third Kentucky, to Carterville, to guard a train down to the army. We were absent till the morning of the 10th, having marched all the previous night in order to get the supplies through as soon as possible. When we reached camp we found the army ready to march; but it was delayed till two, P. M. We then moved forward about three miles, and halted for the night.