or twelve guns on a side and they fire by volleys. A man may dodge one shot, but when they come by the dozen it confuses him. The weather is warm and clear. At dusk we are under orders to move. 26. Sunday. At 1:30 A.M. we retired to the rear quitely, marched first in the direction of Big Shanty, then filing left, we moved toward the right of our line about four miles. Halted and spent the day. I visited the 66th O. V. I. and took dinner with Coffee, Hendrix, Parker and Doak. I am needing sleep; have been rising too early and too often of late. 27. The day dawned bright and pleasant. There is an air of sober business on the faces of our officers; coming events are casting their shadows before. Early in the morning we piled our knapsacks and surplus baggage, and made other necessary plans for an attack. Knots of staff, field and company officers can be seen in earnest consultation, and I can overhear the officers and men telling each other what they wish to have done in case the worst happens. The enemy is strongly intrenched in our front, and it gradually dawns upon us in the ranks, that we are to carry his works by assault. The troops of Thomas and McPherson are to charge at two different points-McPherson at Little Kenesaw, and Thomas a mile further south. We learn, also, that the charge is to be led by the two brigades of McCook and Mitchell. KENESAW. The brigade formed in line of battle on an elevation, with a ravine. in our front at a distance of two hundred yards. After a halt of twenty minutes, during which time the 34th Illinois V. V. Infantry were deployed as skirmishers, we fixed bayonets and moved briskly down the slope, passed over our reserve lines, which lay in trenches near the ravine, clambered through the little rivulet at the bottom of the ravine, and began the ascent of a gentle slope, at the top of which the enemy lay waiting our approach. As we left the ravine, our line, which thus far had been moving in splendid order, began to falter by reason of the obstructions which impeded our advance. Saplings and underbrush had been cut and cross-lapped in a manner that made it impossible to keep in line, or to advance singly, with any rapidity. Those who managed to struggle through and move on, received a welcome of death from the foe, for they had now opened upon our ragged line a murderous fire. Parts of our line reached within a few feet of their works; many of our men crowded up to the works only to be shot down; a few climbed upon their works and were made prisoners. But the greater number, sheltered behind trees and rocks, began firing at the enemy. This continued some minutes—minutes that seemed ages. It now seemed plain that the plan of attack had failed, and that further effort to take the works would be madness. An order was given to fall back, and one by one, each man caring for himself, the men retreated to the rear, leaving the dead and wounded where they fell. I fell back from one tree to another, at each of which I tried to find safety. Reaching a ditch, which had been used as a picket station, I crouched into it, and rested for a time, the bullets and shells of the enemy flying thick and noisy over my head. At length, John E. Davis, Company K, came along, wounded, and I took him toward the rear. Then coming across Cyrus Parmer, Company E, who was wounded in the leg, I gave Davis in charge of H. L. Hobart, Company D, and with Parmer on my back, I carried him some distance, then with the help of three of the others, we placed him on a blanket, and carried him to a place in the rear, where our wounded were being collected. Then returning toward the line, I assisted others to carry off William Jenkins. Later in the day a fragment of the several companies rallied into line and began the erection of works fronting the enemy, and fifty yards from the ravine I have mentioned. Night came on, and we began to plan to bring off our wounded. Many had remained on the field till nightfall, and now returned unharmed. These had taken shelter behind logs and rocks, from which they could not escape except at the risk of being killed or wounded. Others lay uncared for and exposed to a continual fire all the afternoon. Late in the night, when we thought it possible to go onto the field with any degree of safety, a party of four, Wm. Cisco, George Carroll, Leonard Keitzleman and myself, took a blanket and proceeded cautiously forward in the direction of a point where several of our men had fallen. We halted and listened. The groans of a wounded man were heard in a left oblique direction. We spoke cautiously, and an answer came promptly. We groped our way to the sufferer, and found him to be Sergeant Henry C. Scott, of my own company. Placing him on our blanket with great difficulty, we carried him back to our works in safety. He was mortally wounded, and expressed his thankfulness for our effort to bring him off. Still later, I went again on the field with Isaac Green, Jonathan Merica, Andrew Heller and John Wilson. We found and brought off Corporal Peter Baker. hoped they would not prove fatal. His wounds were serious, but we men in other companies, and in this manner nearly all our wounded were rescued. The following list of the killed or mortally wounded is very nearly accurate : A-Everett W. Jackson, Louis H. Kennedy. F-Lieutenant E. Crouse, Sergeant Lyman Lincoln. H.-John W. Carter, Freeman Dulen, Michael O'Connell, Andrew J. Rhoades, Eugene H. Palin, Elisha Stetler. E. Captain John Bowersock, Sergeant H. C. Scott, Jacob Hees. K.-Corporal Ezra Allen, Stephen V. Barr, William Coppin, Hiram Hancock, Levi Romine, Joseph Wilkinson, Lemuel P. Jones, Booker R. Durnell. G.-Sergeant Joseph Parker, Levi Griffin. B.-Amos D. Leady. Several who are reported missing are doubtless among the killed. Our total loss in killed, wounded and missing is one hundred and fifty-three. We are not humiliated in our failure to carry the works of the enemy; all was done that brave men could do. But for the obstructions which impeded our advance we must have succeeded. Hundreds, yea thousands of incidents occurred that could add interest to this account. Otho W. Loof borrow of Company G, fell into the hands of the enemy, but after dark he gave them the slip and came bounding into our lines. Lieutenant Colonel Warner was shot in the right arm; it will require amputation. Lieutenant McCrea was overcome with heat, and for a while was in a dangerous condition. George Nichols got cornered on the field, and did not get away till night came on. W. P. Souder, Company C, was wounded in the left leg and remained on the field till late in the afternoon, when he was carried off by his comrades. M. Quad in the Cincinnati Enquirer speaks of this from a rebel standpoint, and says: HOWARD'S ATTACK. "From where Howard's men formed in columns of assault to the first Confederate works is not more than six hundred yards. The Federal troops could not be seen on account of the thickets, but they could be plainy heard, and the men behind the breast works were ready and waiting. There was a sharp artillery fire along this front for twenty minutes before the Confederate pickets were driven in, but it did not result in the loss of a single life. I talked with several Confederates who were at the front, and each one told the same story. Tons upon tons of solid shot and shell were hurled at the mountain side, but struck the trees and rocks, and resulted in nothing further than demoralizing some of the men who had not been under fire before. One who traverses the sides of Kenesaw to-day will find where the pines were split and the rocks shattered by this artillery fire, but the men down behind the works were as safe as the women of Marietta in their homes. STRIKING THE ABATIS. All along the front against which Howard was to advance the Confederate works were protected by abatis. An abatis is a death-trap to add to the horrors of war. In some cases it is a slashing. Trees are fallen criss-cross, the smaller branches trimmed out, and he who approaches must have the activity of a panther to wriggle through and climb over. An abatis of this sort can not be passed by a hunter left free to make his way, without a detention of from ten to fifteen minutes. What, then, must such an obstruction be to a column of assault, the men loaded down with accoutrements, and a murderous fire being poured into their faces at a range of a hundred feet? In other cases the abatis is formed of sharpened sticks and rails and limbs, one end made fast in the earth just in front of the works, the other sharpened and pointed to such an angle as would strike a man's breast. To reach the works behind, the assaulters must pass this obstruction or tear it away, and they must work under the deadly aim of the men defending the works. It was only in rare instances during the war that an abatis was carried. Howard's column advanced with great enthusiasm, driving in the Confederate skirmishers and picket all along the front, but when they dashed at the real Confederate line they found an abatis in their front. Then, for ten minutes, war became slaughter. The bluecoats would not retreat-they could not advance. We knew they were coming and we were ready. I had sixty rounds of cartridges, and I had them in a heap on the ground beside me. On my part of the line we had a log on the crest of the breastworks. This was raised about four inches, and our guns were thrust between the log and the earth. This not only protected our heads, but gave us a dead rest and a sure aim. One of the heads of an assaulting column struck the abatis just opposite me. Some of the men threw down their guns and began to tear at the limbs, while others opened fire. You can judge what sort of a place it was when I tell you that I fired seventeen shots as cooly as a hunter would fire at a squirrel, and I hit a man every time. There was a boy fifteen years old alongside of me with a shot gun, and I believe he killed and wounded twenty men. I was glad to see the column retreat. It looked too much like cold blooded murder to kneel there and take dead aim on a man so near that you could see the color of his eyes and hair. BEATEN BACK. Howard's troops were beaten back, but they only retreated to break into groups and keep up the fight from behind trees. It would have been better to have fallen back to the lines. Their fire inflicted no damage, and the Confederates were given a chance to pick off many gallant officers. The bravest man would not have lost prestige by a speedy retreat, but the Federals stayed there. Along the Confederate breastwork is a fringe of trees. It was there that day. The Federals did not get between this fringe and the works except in a few instances. Their fire, therefore, must have been shooting at random in the direction of the Confederates. In nine cases out of ten the Confederates could not see their target, but fired into the woods. On a front of eighty rods, by about the same depth, I saw tens of thousands of scars of that conflict. Trees were so riddled by musket balls that, where still living, they present the strangest and most grotesque appearance. One tree, about the size of a man's body, was girdled excepting a space three inches in width. Others, struck by shot or shell at a point six feet above the ground, were split open to the first limb, perhaps twenty feet above the ground. There is one standing there and growing thriftily, through which a solid shot passed and left a hole in which a man may thrust his arm until his hand appears on the other side of the tree. Logan might have deemed it bravery to hold men in position when they were losing ten to one, but it was not. No man is so reckless that he does not demand a fair show for his life. The Federals loaded and fired and held their lines, but to advance further was impossible. When seven out of every ten officers in the various commands had fallen, and some of the regiments had lost a third of their number, the order was given to fall back out of range of the musketry, and to take advantage of the lay of the ground to hold much of the ground gained. PALMER'S ATTACK. Palmer was further down the line opposite Hardee's Corps. Under cover of the woods he quietly massed for the assault, and when the signal came his men made a gallant rush. Hardee, too, had a strong skirmish line in his front, and before this was driven in, the men behind the breast works were prepared for the storm. The abatis was not so strong in front of Hardee, but it was strong enough to stop the advance. A winrow of small trees not larger than a man's leg, cut so that the tops fall outward, will check and hold a column of assault until it is decimated. The trees on this front were smaller, and in some places the Federals crept through them and were killed within fifty feet of the Confederate muskets. In front of two Companies of Wright's Brigade, of Chetham's Division, and not over two hundred feet away, was a knoll perhaps a hundred feet wide on the crest. This knoll was mostly clear of trees, and the Federals, in surging from right to left and back, were in plain |