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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 marvelous 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 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.
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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 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.
Added December, 2006 |
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