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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32247-h.zip b/32247-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e69dc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/32247-h.zip diff --git a/32247-h/32247-h.htm b/32247-h/32247-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bda653 --- /dev/null +++ b/32247-h/32247-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1776 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Battle of Allatoona, by William Ludlow. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; font-style: normal;} + + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .smcaplc {text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + ins.correction {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin solid gray;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Battle of Allatoona, October 5th, 1864, by +William Ludlow + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Battle of Allatoona, October 5th, 1864 + +Author: William Ludlow + +Release Date: May 4, 2010 [EBook #32247] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OF ALLATOONA, OCT 5, 1864 *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p><b>WAR PAPER No. 17.</b></p> +<p><b>MICHIGAN COMMANDERY,</b></p> +<p><b>LOYAL LEGION.</b></p> + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h1>THE BATTLE of ALLATOONA.</h1> +<h2>OCTOBER 5th, 1864.</h2> +<p> </p> +<h4>A PAPER<br /> +READ BEFORE THE<br /> +MICHIGAN COMMANDERY<br /> +OF THE<br /> +MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE U. S.</h4> +<p> </p> +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>WILLIAM LUDLOW,</h3> +<h4><i>Major Corps of Engineers; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. A.</i></h4> +<p> </p> +<h4>AT</h4> +<h3><span class="smcap">Detroit, April, 2d, 1891.</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Detroit, Mich.:</span></h3> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<h4>WINN & HAMMOND, PRINTERS AND BINDERS.<br />1891.</h4> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2>ALLATOONA.</h2> + +<p><i>Companions and Gentlemen:</i></p> + +<p>It appears strange to me that an action which all who mention it—and they +are many—agree in characterizing as one of the most brilliant exploits of +a war as thickset with deeds of gallantry as a rose bush with its +blossoms, should not long since have had its adequate historian and +monographer.</p> + +<p>The contest was so famous, the issue so glorious, the recollection of the +day still must be so vivid in the minds of the survivors, that I could not +anticipate any lack of material wherefrom to procure data to formulate a +reasonably satisfactory narrative of such a gallant feat of arms, and in +such detail as to give it life and color. But of all the war papers that +have been written on affairs great and small, none that I know has had +Allatoona for its special subject, and from the sources of information at +my command, I have found it quite impracticable to construct an account +that is not in some respect at variance with others made by authority. The +official reports, while giving the general features, of necessity exclude +most of the minor but equally interesting details, and the omissions, +inaccuracies and discrepancies, not important in some particulars and +material in others, for the purposes, at least, of a fully detailed and +authenticated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> narrative, cannot at this time be corrected. And even the +numbers engaged on each side, and of those who fell as victims, are not +known with certainty.</p> + +<p>This paper, therefore, can pretend to be no more than an outline sketch, +which an abler hand must put itself to filling out and completing. When +the war records shall have been made fully public, as they will be +presently, and at least all the official material be available, the +historian of Allatoona, by extended research and correspondence with +survivors, should address himself to the task of preparing an +authoritative narration in order to preserve to posterity the record of a +memorable and typically American event.</p> + +<p>For an event it was; a vital one, as it would appear, to the full success +of Sherman’s campaign, and with the “March to the Sea” hung in the balance +and awaiting the issue.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The importance of a given moment in the world’s history is not of +necessity to be estimated by the numbers occupying the stage at the time, +nor even with the degree of activity or turmoil with which their parts are +playing.</p> + +<p>Much labor is wasted in the lives of men, and mountains of effort result +often in mere noise or discomfiture, making no real history. The center of +gravity of two worlds may be an immaterial point, and the earth itself +revolves upon a slender axis. So a turning point of history may be +concentrated upon a comparatively narrow field, while the reverberation of +its potency shall resound forever, as the silent nod of Jove lets loose +the thunders of Olympus to shake the earth and change the fate of nations.</p> + +<p>Some preliminary remarks are in order, explanatory of the general +situation and its relation to the Battle of Allatoona.</p> + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h3>THE GENERAL SITUATION.</h3> + +<p>It was the fall of ’64. The fiery comet of secession that, blazing out in +’61, for three long years had scorched the firmament, spreading death and +pestilence over all the land, was waning in its course; doomed presently +to disappear forever in Chaos, but emitting malignant emanations to its +latest spark. The structure of the Confederate Government, practically a +military despotism, founded on the enforced servitude and sale of human +beings, reared and upheld by the lives, the fortunes, and the constrained +or misguided energies of a deluded and chivalrous people, to feed the vain +ambition of an oligarchy, was toppling to the ruin that six months later +overwhelmed it. Great was to be the fall thereof, and not even to-day is +the atmosphere fully cleared of the dust of its destruction.</p> + +<p>Two famous, and as the outcome proved, morally conclusive campaigns had +been fought and closed.</p> + +<p>In the East, Grant, moving against Richmond through the wilderness and +swamps of Virginia, all the long summer had been dealing trip-hammer +blows, as deadly and sickening to his foe as the stroke of the axe in the +shambles, and at length resting from the slaughter, lay before Petersburg +and astride the James; feeling out with his left to cut Lee’s lines of +communication to the South and West, and pressing him close that he should +not detach any of his force to act against Sherman.</p> + +<p>In the West, Sherman, starting from Chattanooga, with an antagonist the +wariest, wisest and most skillful captain of the rebel host to oppose him, +had overreached his foe at every point, and stretching out his sinewy arm, +had seized in a relentless grasp the “Gate City” of the South; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>electrified the country with the exultant shout, “Atlanta is ours and +fairly won;” opening wide the door into the hollow trunk of the +Confederacy and exposing its emptiness.</p> + +<p>Of this campaign Halleck wrote: “I do not hesitate to say that it has been +the most brilliant of the war,” and Grant himself, with that mutual +magnanimity that characterized the two great friends and competitors for +fame, declared to Sherman, “You have accomplished the most gigantic +undertaking given to any general in this war, and with a skill and ability +that will be acknowledged in history as unsurpassed, if not unequalled.”</p> + +<p>But much remained.</p> + +<p>The dragon of rebellion, though sorely smitten, still lay writhing and +would not die until his time was fully come.</p> + +<p>Lee, sullen and desperate, lay within the still invincible intrenchments +of Richmond, nursing his wounds, but with power able yet to strike a heavy +blow, and gathering his remaining strength for the final effort.</p> + +<p>Sherman’s antagonists, though demoralized and bewildered, were still +unconquered; and forced out from Atlanta, filled the open country with an +angry buzzing, as of an overturned hive. To add to their discomfiture, the +astute Johnston, the most intellectual soldier of the Confederacy, whose +stubborn dispute of every inch of territory, perfect skill in defending +his successive positions, and marvelous success in withdrawing without +loss at the latest moment, displayed a capacity second only to that of his +opponent, and whose patient policy of drawing Sherman after him, to a +constantly increasing distance from his base, without himself risking the +disaster of a defeat, was, as history has proved, the last crutch of the +Rebellion,—had been plucked from his command by the narrow-minded +Confederate President and replaced by Hood, whose fighting qualities had +been proved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> on many a field of battle, but who otherwise lacked every +requisite for leadership in such a contest.</p> + +<p>But a thousand long miles still separated Atlanta from Richmond; and these +must be traversed before that proximate conjunction of forces could take +place that was needed to give rebellion its <i>coup de grace</i>, and to tear +forever from the free sky of America the fluttering and ragged emblem of a +maleficent and arrogant domination.</p> + +<p>Sherman, in Atlanta, was resting, granting well-earned furloughs to his +veterans, recruiting his ranks, guarding from the cavalry, who swarmed in +his rear and sought to break it, the extended line—over 250 miles—of +railroad from Nashville to Chattanooga, and thence to Atlanta, upon which +he depended for his supplies, and incessantly planning his next move, +which he had already determined would be to the Sea, with Savannah as an +intermediate base for the farther march to the rear of Lee’s Army, and a +conjunction with Grant;—upon whom, in his correspondence, he repeatedly +urged assent to his proposal, and suggested the capture of Savannah by the +Eastern forces in advance of his own arrival there.</p> + +<p>The Washington authorities, always timorous and vacillating, were not yet +brought to assent to this superb strategic project, based upon the +military theorem, “An Army operating offensively must maintain the +offensive,” and constructed with Sherman’s solid judgment that he must go +onward, since to withdraw would be to lose all the <i>morale</i> of his success +up to that point.</p> + +<p>Even Grant, with all his confidence in and reliance upon Sherman, +expressed unwillingness that he should embark upon it while Hood’s Army +was still undestroyed.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Sherman, in full conviction that the necessity would presently +be demonstrated, was watching Hood, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> lay some thirty miles to the +Southeast of Atlanta, and whose intentions he could not even guess +at,—and with tremendous energy was endeavoring to accumulate supplies in +excess of daily needs, in order that when the time was ripe he should be +ready to start.</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>GRAND TACTICS.</h3> + +<p>On his zigzag way South, early in June, with Atlanta as his then objective +point, Sherman, with that wonderful mental vision of the whole horizon +that characterized him, seeking for a depot where supplies could safely be +accumulated, near enough at hand to be of ready access, but sufficiently +removed from the scene of actual conflict to be secure from casual attack, +had selected the famous Allatoona Pass, and directed that it be “prepared +for defense as a secondary base.”</p> + +<p>The place was well chosen.</p> + +<p>The diminishing extension of the Great Smoky Mountains stretches across +the Northern end of Georgia, from Northeast to Southwest.</p> + +<p>The Range is traversed at Allatoona Pass by the Etowah River, flowing West +and North to unite at Rome, thirty miles distant, with the Oostenaula and +form the Coosa. The railway, coming down from Kingston,—whence a branch +ran Westward to Rome,—and crossing the Etowah, winds Southeasterly among +the hills, and at Allatoona station, about four miles from the river, +penetrates a minor ridge and emerges from a cut some sixty-five feet in +depth. It was at this point—referred to by Sherman as a “Natural +Fortress”—that the “secondary base” was established, and the surplus +supplies were accumulated.</p> + +<p>The advantages for defence were admirable. The entire region is hilly and +heavily timbered, rolling off to the Southward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> to a less rugged country, +and from the Heights of Allatoona looking Southeasterly, down the line of +railway towards Atlanta, are visible ten to fifteen miles away, the noble, +isolated masses of Kenesaw, Lost Mountain and Pine Mountain, which, +raising their wooded crests high above the neighboring forest, command a +wide prospect towards every quarter. The narrow ridge cut by the railway +is abruptly terminated to the Northeast by the valley of Allatoona Creek, +crooking among the hills to join the Etowah, and its slopes facing +Northwest and Southeast are steep and difficult. Towards the West and +Southwest the descent is more gradual, and a country road follows the +rolling crest of the ridge along which from the Westward the main attack +was ultimately to be made.</p> + +<p>The storehouses for the supplies stood near the railway station and were +fully commanded from the dominant elevations rising immediately behind +them. Upon these elevations the defensive works were located by Colonel +Poe, the Chief Engineer of Sherman’s army. Their plan was in conformity +with the requirements of the ground and of the service to be expected of +them, and while the actual construction by the troops left somewhat to be +desired, and could have been bettered had Poe been able to supervise the +completion of his work, when it came to the test, well did they serve +their purpose. The main features were two Redoubts, about 1000 feet apart +at easy supporting distance, one on each side of the railway cut, with +ditches and outlying intrenchments near at hand covering the approaches, +and overlooking the storehouses for the defence of which they were built.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Near the close of September, Sherman, in Atlanta, was roused by +indications of activity on the part of Hood, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> had sent his cavalry +North across the <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Chatahooche'">Chattahooche</ins> and into Tennessee, and had moved his +infantry to a more Westerly camp; thus leaving the Savannah road open to +Sherman, had he seen fit to take it.</p> + +<p>Habitually sensitive as to his railway base, Sherman surmised that Hood’s +intention was to move round him to threaten his rear. September 24th he +telegraphed Howard, “I have no doubt Hood has resolved to throw himself on +our flanks to prevent our accumulating stores, etc.,” and September 25th +to Halleck, “Hood seems to be moving as it were to the Alabama line, +leaving open to me the road to Macon as also to Augusta, but his cavalry +is busy on our roads.”</p> + +<p>He therefore reinforced the detachments guarding the numerous railway +stations and bridges, sent a division of the 4th corps and one of the 14th +Northward to strengthen Chattanooga, and put Thomas in command there, and +thence back to Nashville to guard against Forrest, the noted rebel cavalry +leader, who was ravaging Tennessee and capturing gunboats with horsemen.</p> + +<p>Corse’s division of the 15th corps was sent to occupy Rome on the extreme +Western flank, with instructions to complete the defensive works and hold +it against all comers; meanwhile observing closely any movement of the +enemy in his vicinity.</p> + +<p>A glance at the map is desirable for the better understanding of the +immediately ensuing events.</p> + +<p>From Atlanta to Allatoona, near the railway crossing of the Etowah, is, as +the crow flies, 32 miles Northwest by West. From Allatoona to Rome is 30 +miles W. N. W. Thirteen miles from Allatoona towards Atlanta is Kenesaw, +the railway sweeping round its North and East flanks. Fifteen miles West +by South from Kenesaw, and the same <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>distance Southwest from Allatoona, +is Dallas, in the vicinity of New Hope Church, where had been three days +of heavy fighting late in May. Rome again is equi-distant from Dallas and +from Allatoona 30 miles. The central position of Allatoona is evident; and +it will also be seen that a force at Dallas occupied, in a sense, a +strategic point, whence a rapid movement could be made either upon +Allatoona or Rome, with the West and Southwest to fall back upon in case +of need.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="caption">ALLATOONA AND <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'VINCINITY'">VICINITY</ins>.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i013.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p> </p> + +<p>By October 1st, the ambiguity as to Hood’s plans was in part relieved. It +was at least certain that he had crossed from the South to the North bank +of the Chattahooche, although it was impossible to surmise whether he +intended to make a direct attack on the railroad or to undertake an +invasion of Tennessee from the Westward. In any case it behooved Sherman +to bestir himself, and promptly, too. It was absolutely necessary to keep +Hood’s army off the railroad, so long as the question of cutting loose for +Savannah remained undecided, and at Allatoona was stored an accumulation +of nearly three millions of rations of bread, the loss of which, with the +railway endangered, would be a serious blow, and one possibly fatal to +Sherman’s cherished project. Leaving, therefore, the 20th corps in +Atlanta, to hold it and to guard the bridges across the Chattahooche above +and below the railway bridge, Sherman put the rest of his forces in rapid +motion Northward towards Kenesaw, 20 miles distant, and October 1st +telegraphed Corse at Rome that Hood was across the river and might attack +the road at Allatoona or near Cassville, on the North side of the Etowah, +about midway between Rome and Allatoona. If Hood went to Cassville, Corse +was to remain at Rome and hold it fast; if to Allatoona, Corse was to move +down at once and occupy Allatoona, joining forces with troops in the +vicinity for its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> defence, while Sherman co-operated from the South. +Repeated dispatches were sent to Allatoona, directing the commanding +officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Tourtellotte, to hold the place at all +hazards, and that relief would be speedy. These have been paraphrased into +“Hold the Fort, for I am coming,” which, set to an inspiring air, caught +the ear of the country, and is still in active service.</p> + +<p>Sherman crossed the Chattahooche October 3rd and 4th, and finding his +wires cut North of Marietta, signaled to the station on Kenesaw and thence +to Allatoona, over the heads of the enemy, a dispatch to be telegraphed to +Corse at Rome to move at once with all speed and with his entire command +to the relief of Allatoona. Sherman himself reached Kenesaw early on the +morning of the 5th, and from the summit, to use his own language, “had a +superb view of the vast panorama to the North and West. To the Southwest, +about Dallas and Lost Mountain, could be seen the smoke of camp fires +indicating the presence of a large force of the enemy, and the whole line +of railroad from Big Shanty up to Allatoona (full fifteen miles), was +plainly marked by the fires of the burning railroad. We could plainly see +the smoke of battle about Allatoona and hear the faint reverberation of +the cannon.”</p> + +<p>The fact was disclosed that Hood lay in force near Dallas, 15 miles to the +West and South of Kenesaw, and had detached a heavy column Eastward to +destroy the railroad and capture the scattered garrisons including the +all-important post of Allatoona.</p> + +<p>About 8:30 a. m. Allatoona signalled Kenesaw, “Corse is here with one +brigade; where is Sherman?” As received at Kenesaw this message read, +“Corse is here with ——.” My recollection is that while the signal officer +was working his flag it was cut from his hands by a fragment of shell, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>interrupting the message, the latter part of which was not received, or +at least not recognized. I find, however, no official confirmation of +this. The mutilated report gave Sherman immense relief, but left him to +suppose that Corse had arrived with his entire division. Had he known that +the reinforcement was only a portion of one brigade, his satisfaction +would have been less. As he says himself, “I watched with painful suspense +the indications of the battle raging there, * * * but about 2 p. m. I +noticed with satisfaction that the smoke of battle about Allatoona grew +less and less, and ceased altogether about 4 p. m. * * * Later in the +afternoon the signal flag announced the welcome tidings that the attack +had been fairly repulsed.”</p> + +<p>The signal officer at Kenesaw reports that Sherman at the time, pronounced +these signal messages “Worth a million dollars.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>CORSE.</h3> + +<p>Leaving now this bird’s eye view of what was happening, let us go back a +little and follow Corse’s movements. He had arrived at Rome from Atlanta +September 27th, with two of his brigades, the third being already +there,—and thereafter had been busy, in accordance with his general +instructions and frequent communications from Sherman, in organizing and +equipping his command for the special work entrusted to him, which was in +effect to reconstruct and perfect the earthworks and defences, so as to +make Rome impregnable to assault, and at the same time to act as a corps +of observation, constantly feeling out for and spying after the enemy, and +ready, should occasion offer, to strike a heavy blow in any direction +where he should be discovered.</p> + +<p>It was isolated, difficult and responsible service, and a dangerous one, +since the first contact might be with Hood’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> whole strength, but of the +very first importance to Sherman, whose ignorance of Hood’s schemes and +inability to anticipate his movements, perplexed and harassed him, and +upon Corse he mainly relied to discover, by any or all means, the +movements and presence of the enemy.</p> + +<p>Corse was well equipped for such service. He had acted as inspector on +Sherman’s staff, and stood high with his chief, both in personal regard +and professional estimation. Of medium height, erect, active and alert, +ambitious, combative, decided, of sound judgment and indomitable courage, +the task of holding Allatoona could have fallen into no better hands. As +Grant, giving over a page of his memoirs to mention of the battle, says of +him, “Corse was a man who would never surrender.”</p> + +<p>On the third of October Sherman sent him a warning to be wary, that Hood +was meditating some plan on a large scale, and at noon of the 4th Corse +received the message already mentioned, by signal from Vining’s to +Kenesaw, thence to Allatoona, and thence by wire to Rome, summoning him +instantly to the rescue of the threatened garrison. Corse had fortunately +already telegraphed to Kingston that cars be sent him. The train in moving +to Rome was partly derailed, but the single engine and about twenty cars +were ready by dark.</p> + +<p>On these was loaded a portion of one of his brigades under command of +Colonel Rowett, viz; Eight companies, 39th Iowa, 280 men, Lieut.-Colonel +Redfield, commanding; 9 companies, 7th Illinois, 291 men, Lieut.-Colonel +Perrin, commanding; 8 companies, 50th Illinois, 267 men. Lieut.-Colonel +Hanna commanding; 2 companies, 57th Illinois, 61 men, Captain Van +Stienberg, commanding; detachment of the 12th Illinois, 155 men, Captain +Koehler, commanding, making a total of 1,054 men, which, with the +ammunition for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>division, was all that the available transportation +could accommodate. The train left Rome at 8:30 p. m., and reached +Allatoona a little after midnight. The troops were debarked, the +ammunition unloaded with all speed, and the train immediately started back +to Rome for another cargo of troops. As it happened, in returning, +possibly with undue haste, considering the rough and insecure condition of +the track and roadbed, the train was again derailed, and in consequence no +further reinforcements reached Allatoona until about 8 p. m. of the +5th,—four hours after the battle was over.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="caption">SKETCH OF THE BATTLEFIELD.</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i020.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p> </p> + +<p>Corse immediately took command, and after a rapid survey of the field with +Tourtellotte, in the quiet of the starlit night, proceeded to make his +dispositions for defence.</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>THE DEFENCES OF ALLATOONA.</h3> + +<p>Allatoona was garrisoned as follows: Ten companies, 4th Minnesota, 450 men +(of whom 185 were recent recruits), Major Edson, commanding; 10 companies, +93rd Illinois, 290 men, Major Fisher, commanding; 7 companies, 18th +Wisconsin, 150 men, Lieut.-Colonel Jackson, commanding, a total of 890 +men, organized as a brigade, with six guns of the 12th Wisconsin Battery, +under Lieutenant Amsden (number of men not given), and all under the +command of Lieut.-Colonel Tourtellotte of the 4th Minnesota, as earnest, +brave and steadfast a man in the discharge of duty as ever drew a sword.</p> + +<p>Prior to Corse’s arrival, the little garrison, with a full consciousness +of its responsibility for the defence of the Post and of the safety of the +huge accumulation of rations stored in the neighboring warehouses, warned +of danger, and later stimulated to the utmost endeavor by messages from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>Sherman, and inspired by the calm and fearless determination of its +commander, had been busily preparing for the attack.</p> + +<p>The two small redoubts, one on each side of the railway cut, have been +mentioned. The Eastern one, perhaps 75 feet in diameter, stood at the +extreme Eastern end of the ridge, looking into the valley of Allatoona +Creek, and distant about 280 yards from the railroad and 340 yards from +the Western redoubt, towards which it had an open view. Guarding the +crooked crest between the railroad and redoubt were three detached lines +of entrenchments, one looking Southward towards the storehouse 200 yards +distant, and two guarding the Northern aspect, with flanks refused on each +side of a ravine that lay between them and down which went a road to the +Northward.</p> + +<p>On the West side of the railway cut, and almost on its verge, stood the +other redoubt, about 90 feet in diameter, occupying an elevation from +which the ground fell in all directions. Westwardly, after a moderate dip, +the ground rose again to a second elevation or spur, on which stood a +house, distant from the redoubt about 170 yards. Beyond this the ground +again fell, and the road ran West and Southwest, undulating with the roll +of the ground. The exterior defences of the West side, in addition to the +ditches surrounding the redoubt, were a short line of entrenchments near +the crest Southwest of the redoubt, and a longer line of rifle-pits lying +completely across the ridge, beyond the house and about 260 yards distant +from the redoubt. These rifle-pits, held by the 39th Iowa and the 7th +Illinois, were later the scene of one of the most savage encounters in the +history of war.</p> + +<p>About three-quarters of a mile out on the road, occupying an open +elevation, were still other small works and rifle-pits, not, however, any +portion of the regular defences. They had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> low parapets and were supposed +to have been constructed by Johnston’s army when it occupied the locality +in June previous. It was from these outer works, which there was, of +course, no serious attempt to hold, that our outposts were driven in by +the arrival of French’s troops on the morning of the 5th.</p> + +<p>Tourtellotte was made aware on the 3rd that the enemy was operating on the +railroad South of him, and on the 4th was signalled by Sherman through +Kenesaw that the enemy was moving upon him, and that he must hold out, but +not till the evening of the 4th was any direct demonstration made on +Allatoona.</p> + +<p>Feeling the paucity of his isolated force, he had worked night and day to +construct and strengthen his defences and mature his plans.</p> + +<p>The two redoubts were well located for mutual support, each being able to +take in flank an enemy assaulting the other from the North or South. The +relative disadvantage of the West redoubt, irrespective of its exposure to +the probable brunt of an attack, was the fact that higher elevations to +the West and Southwest partly commanded it. Tourtellotte therefore built +the rifle-pits across the crest of the ridge to the Westward with the +object of holding off the enemy as long as possible, and if the crest were +taken, of retiring to the redoubt, to reach which the enemy must cover a +distance of some 220 yards without shelter. In addition, he partly +enclosed the West redoubt with a stockade, at the junction of the outer +slope and the surrounding ditch, to prevent escalade if the enemy should +reach it, slashed such timber as remained for abattis, and collected some +cotton bales with which to close the entrance.</p> + +<p>His gunners in the East redoubt, and the infantry as well on the East side +of the cut, were charged to watch the flanks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> of the West redoubt, and +direct their fire so as to cover the slopes to the North and South of it.</p> + +<p>His garrison was depleted by his orders to maintain a force to guard the +block house at the bridge across Allatoona Creek, about two miles South of +the post, where three companies of the 18th Wisconsin were stationed.</p> + +<p>They were summoned by French on his way to Allatoona to surrender, but +refused, and held the block house, but as French was sullenly withdrawing +after the battle, the post was heavily shelled and set on fire, and when +the roof was blazing and the men suffocating with the heat and smoke, they +surrendered; 4 officers and 80 men being taken prisoners. These men, +though included in the return of casualties of the 18th Wisconsin, were +not concerned in the Battle of Allatoona.</p> + +<p>Tourtellotte, on the evening of the 4th, apprehending a night attack, +which would impair the advantages of his position, strengthened his grand +guard, barricaded as well as he might the roads to the South and West, and +made arrangements to fire a house or two so as to illuminate the site of +the little village and the storehouses; but about midnight was immensely +relieved by the arrival of Corse, which more than doubled the strength of +the garrison and made it possible to man the defences with some measure of +effectiveness.</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>THE MORNING OF THE BATTLE.</h3> + +<p>There was but little delay in getting down to work. By 2 in the morning a +rapid fire was opened on the skirmish lines South of the post, as though +the enemy were pushing up the railroad straight at the stores. +Tourtellotte immediately dispatched the 18th Wisconsin to reinforce the +outposts in that direction, and an hour later Corse threw out a battalion +of the 7th Illinois in further support. Five <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>companies of the 93rd +Illinois were also sent out to the Westward near the outlying works +already referred to.</p> + +<p>At daybreak, under cover of a strong skirmish line, Corse withdrew the +troops from the open ground in the vicinity of the village to the summit +of the ridge, placing the 4th Minnesota and the 12th and 50th Illinois in +the redoubt, and intrenchments on the East side of the railway cut, under +the immediate command of Tourtellotte, and himself occupying with the rest +of his force, under the immediate command of Rowett, the Western side, +upon which it was evident the weight of the attack must fall. The 7th +Illinois and the 39th Iowa, on the left and right respectively, facing +West, were ordered to occupy the line of rifle-pits crossing the ridge +about 250 yards in advance of the redoubt. As no defences intervened +between this line and the ditch encompassing the redoubt itself, it was of +vital importance to hold it and keep the enemy in check to the last +moment, and the two regiments were instructed to maintain their position +at all hazards. The event proved with what fidelity and devotion the trust +was discharged.</p> + +<p>Three companies of the 93rd Illinois were stationed in the rifle-pits +adjacent to the West redoubt, and the remainder of the troops were +distributed forward on skirmish and outpost duty. The six guns of the +battery were equally divided, two being stationed in each redoubt, with +the third outside behind a low parapet.</p> + +<p>The day broke calm and clear, with the crisp air and bright warm sun of +that superb mountain region. Sherman, on Kenesaw, takes occasion to record +it as a “beautiful day” with some vague consciousness in his mind, +perhaps, of the <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'ocntrast'">contrast</ins> between the shining peace that reigned above and +the devil’s work that in smoke and fury waged below. At half-past six a +rebel battery of 12 pieces opened from an elevation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> three-quarters of a +mile South and East of Allatoona, and for two hours maintained a furious +cannonade, that, concentrated upon the two redoubts, filled the air with +smoke and fragments of shell, and deafened the ear with almost incessant +detonations. Meanwhile French’s skirmish lines were vigorously pushed +round to the West and North until, with the exception of the steep and +timbered valley of Allatoona Creek on the extreme East, the garrison was +completely invested.</p> + +<p>At 8:30, amid a temporary lull of the uproar that had prevailed, a flag of + +truce was sent in bearing the following message: It was dated</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right">Around Allatoona, Oct. 5, 1864, 7 <span class="smcaplc">A. M.</span></p> + +<p>Commanding Officer, U. S. Forces, Allatoona.</p> + +<p>Sir:</p> + +<p>I have placed the forces under my command in such position that you +are surrounded, and to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I call on +you to surrender your forces at once and unconditionally. Five +minutes will be allowed you to decide. Should you accede to this, you +will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisoners of war. I +have the honor to be</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Very respectfully yours,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">S. G. FRENCH, Maj.-Gen’l C. S. A.</span></p></div> + +<p>In making his report subsequently, French endorses on a copy of this +summons, the following:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Maj. Sanders, the bearer of this communication, was attacked while +bearing the flag of truce. He delivered the communication to an +officer and told him he would wait outside the works fifteen minutes +for an answer. None came; none was sent, and so the attack was made.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">S. G. F., Maj.-Gen’l, Commanding.</span></p></div> + +<p>Whatever may have been the external conditions that led to this view of +the matter on the part of General French, there is no question that Corse +did reply, and promptly and to the point. He wrote his answer on the top +of a neighboring stump, and a splinter or two may have gotten in it:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>Maj.-General French, C. S. A., etc.:</p> + +<p>Your communication demanding surrender of my command, I acknowledge +receipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for the +‘needless effusion of blood’ whenever it is agreeable to you.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">I am very respectfully your obedient servant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 14em;">JOHN M. CORSE,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">Brigadier-General, Commanding U. S. Forces.</span></p></div> + +<p>When this reply had been dispatched, Corse remarked, “They will now be +upon us,” and nothing remained but to notify the several commands of the +purport of the correspondence, and to prepare for the bloody work that lay +before them.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>French commanded a division in the corps of Lieutenant-General Stewart, +which had been dispatched by Hood Eastward from Dallas to destroy the +railroad, as witnessed by Sherman from the summit of Kenesaw, and his +report, dated Nov. 5, from which the following particulars of his +movements are derived, is of great interest.</p> + +<p>Stewart had struck the railroad at Big Shanty, four miles North of Kenesaw +on the evening of October 3rd, and his three divisions labored all night +at their task, completing it as far as Acworth. This work accomplished, +French’s division was sent Northward under direct orders from Hood, which +are given in French’s report, and have some peculiar features. Both orders +are dated October 4th, and were handed to French at Big Shanty by Stewart +at noon. The earlier one said that French “Shall move up the railroad and +fill up the deep cut at Allatoona with logs, brush, dirt etc.” Also that +when at Allatoona, French was, if possible, to move to the Etowah Bridge, +the destruction of which would “be of great advantage to the army and the +country.” <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'The The'">The</ins> second order again urged the importance of destroying the +Etowah Bridge, if such were possible, and that as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> enemy (Sherman), +could not disturb him before the next day, he was to “get his artillery in +position and then call for volunteers with ‘lightwood’ to go to the bridge +and burn it.”</p> + +<p>The curious points about these instructions are, in the first place, the +absurdity of a wearied body of troops undertaking such a task as that of +filling up a railway cut 65 feet deep and some 300 or 400 yards long, in +the way described, with “logs and dirt” and the futility of doing it, if +it were possible. It would have taken French several days to fill up that +cut, even assuming him to be uninterfered with, and one day’s labor would +open it again.</p> + +<p>The second point is the absence of any reference to a garrison at +Allatoona, or to the accumulation of stores there. French was a good +soldier, and after stating in his report that as both he and Stewart knew +the facts in the case and were aware of the large amount of stores, they +considered it important that the place be captured, contents himself with +saying, dryly, “It would appear, however, from these orders, that the +General-in-Chief was not aware that the Pass I was sent to have filled up +was fortified and garrisoned.” The fact is that it requires something more +than mere courage to command an army, and it seems likely that a few such +specimens of leadership cost Hood the confidence of his subordinates, and +thoroughly justified Sherman in a disparaging remark he made respecting +him a day or two later.</p> + +<p>Stewart gave French 12 pieces of artillery under Major Myrick and at 3:30 +P. M. of the 4th he marched away to Acworth, but was detained there until +11 at night by lack of rations. The night was dark, the roads bad, and he +didn’t know the country. From Acworth he reports seeing night signalling +between Kenesaw and Allatoona, and fearing that reinforcements might be +sent from the Northward, he dispatched a small cavalry force to reach the +railroad as close<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> to the Etowah as possible and take up the rails. It was +a wise precaution, but undertaken too late, as Corse was at Allatoona by +midnight. French arrived there about 3 in the morning, and, as he writes, +“Nothing could be seen but one or two twinkling lights on the opposite +heights and nothing was heard except the occasional interchange of shots +between our advance guards and the pickets of the garrison in the valley +below.” He placed his artillery in position at Moore’s, 1300 yards south +and east of the Post, an admirable location for the purpose intended, +having an open view of the defences across the intervening hollow, left +with it the 39th North Carolina and the 32nd Texas, of Young’s brigade, as +supports, and sought to gain the ridge west of the fortifications, +intending to attack at daybreak, but after floundering in the Egyptian +darkness of the forest, with no roads and over a rugged country, and +unavailingly seeking, notwithstanding the aid of a guide, to get upon the +ridge westward of the works, was compelled to wait for daylight. Finally +at 7:30 the head of the column arrived about 600 yards distant from the +West Redoubt, and here French got his first view of the works, which +impressed him at once as much more formidable than he had anticipated. +Instead of one small redoubt on each side of the railroad cut, as he had +been led to believe, he declares he saw no less than three on the west +side and a “Star Fort” on the east, with outworks and approaches, defended +to a great distance by abattis, and nearer the forts by stockades and +other obstructions. It may have been the weariness of a long night march, +or perhaps the too early morning air, that conjured these formidable +defences to French’s eyes, or possibly, it is the exterior aspect of these +works that to a covetous and hostile apprehension enlarges their numbers +and proportions.</p> + +<p>It must be admitted that from the interior standpoint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> they shrunk +mightily from French’s description, and the defenders at least would have +been hugely gratified could they have had the privilege of occupying what +French thought he saw.</p> + +<p>He rapidly made his dispositions for assault, sending Sear’s Mississippi +Brigade round by the left to gain the north flank of the works, while +Cockerell’s Missouri Brigade formed line across the ridge, with Young’s +Texas Brigade behind it to support and follow up the attack. Myrick had +been ordered to open up with his guns and continue his fire until the +attacking troops were so close up to the works as to prevent it. Sears, +having the longer distance to traverse, was to begin the assault when +Cockerell would immediately move forward. Sears was delayed by the +ruggedness of his route to the north side of the works, and in fact for a +time lost his bearings among the wooded hills, and was not in position +until 9 a. m. by French’s time. French says that when he sent his summons +to surrender, the Federal officer entrusted with the missive was allowed +17 minutes within which to bring the answer, and this time expiring, Maj. +Sanders returned without any. Nothing is said in the report as to the +firing upon him, noted in the endorsement on the copy of the summons +already mentioned.</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>THE ASSAULT.</h3> + +<p>Cockerell was at length ordered forward and the attack began. According to +French’s account, everything went as <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'succeesfully'">successfully</ins> as possible. He +represents the triple lines of intrenchments and Redoubts on the west side +as being captured one, after another, his troops resting but briefly at +each to gather strength and survey the work before them, and again rushing +forward in murderous hand-to-hand conflict<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> that left the ditches filled +with dead, until they were masters of the “Second Redoubt,” and the “Third +or Main Redoubt” was filled with those driven from the captured works and +further crowded by the refugees from the eastern fort and its defences, +who had been driven out by the attack of Sears. He represents the Federal +forces, their fire almost silenced, as being herded into the one Redoubt +on the west, of which French’s troops occupied the ditch and were +preparing for the final attack.</p> + +<p>At this critical moment, with the garrison and the precious stores, as it +were, in the hollow of his hand, French received word that General +Sherman, who had been “repeatedly signalled during the battle,” was close +behind him with his whole army, and within two miles of the road he would +have to take to rejoin his corps.</p> + +<p>On this point of Sherman’s proximity to French as his reason for leaving, +we have not only full knowledge of the exact position and movement of our +troops to show that such was really not the case, but a brief piece of +testimony from the other side in the shape of a dispatch from Major Mason, +Hood’s adjudant-general, from which it is evident that French, becoming +hopeless of success, had sought in advance to justify at headquarters the +failure of his enterprise. The date and hour of this dispatch, which reads +as follows, are of interest:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Carley’s House</span>, Oct. 5, 1864. 8:15 p. m.</p> + +<p><i>Lt. Gen’l Stewart,</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Com’d’g Corps.</i></span></p> + +<p>General French’s dispatch, forwarded by yourself, is just received. +Gen. Hood directs me to say that he does not know where a division +could march at this time to give any assistance to Gen. French, but +that you will endeavor to send some scouts to him, and direct him to +leave the railroad and march to the West, to New Hope Church.</p> + +<p>Gen. Hood does not understand how Gen. French could be <i>cut off</i> at +the point he designates in his dispatch, as he should have moved +directly away from the railroad to the West, if he deemed his +position precarious.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">A. P. M.”</span></p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>It is of course obvious from the map that if French found Sherman +approaching from the South, he had only to follow westward the road up +which he had been charging at Allatoona all day and free himself from +danger in an hour. It would be of interest to see this dispatch of +French’s and observe the hour when sent, but it is not forthcoming. The +hour of the reply is significant. It need not have taken a mounted man +three hours to get word to Stewart, then near a junction with Hood and to +Hood himself, less than 15 miles away. The reply, made at once, is written +at 8:15 p. m., and French’s message must certainly have been sent later +than 4 p. m. French had probably been gone from Allatoona an hour or more +when he bethought him to send the request for a division to extricate him.</p> + +<p>The facts are, that it was not until the night of Oct. 5th that the +nearest troops of Sherman’s went into camp at Brushy Mountain, 11 miles +distant in an air line, and none reached Allatoona until the 7th.</p> + +<p>But to return to French. It was really an immense pity that he should feel +obliged to leave just when he had but to put forth his hand to snatch the +prize; but then it would not do to have his division cut off from the +army, and on the whole it might be well to start, and if so, why not at +once?</p> + +<p>So about 1:30 he says an order was sent to Sears and Cockerell to +withdraw. The ground was too rough to carry badly wounded men over it, so +that those who could not get away on their own feet had to be left.</p> + +<p>The artillery, unable to operate effectively with the assaulting column +close up on the works, had already been in part ordered to take the road, +and after the assaulting troops had left, French went to the two regiments +who had supported it, and sent a battery to the block house at the railway +crossing of Allatoona Creek, fired fifty shots at it, knocked it about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +the ears of the garrison, and setting fire to it, smoked them out and +marched them off as prisoners.</p> + +<p>French’s report of this affair, written a month later, from which the +above is condensed, is very interesting and dramatic, and regarded as a +literary composition, of no mean merit. He has certainly made the best of +a bad business, and if his facts do not quite tally with those of his +opponents, at least the discrepancies were not officially noticed at +headquarters, nor probably would a gloomier account of the affair have +been considered more inspiriting. Those rations would have been extremely +convenient, could they, or even a part of them, have been hauled away for +distribution among the hungry Confederates, and if that were +impracticable, it would have been at least a noble stroke to have +destroyed them. On this head French’s report is silent; nor does he +endeavor to explain how it happened that so vital a part of his own +program was omitted. In effect, the play had been badly broken up by the +attentions of the gallery, and Hamlet had slipped out of it.</p> + +<p>French is without excuse for his fear of Sherman’s approach, baseless as +we know it to have been. Armstrong is responsible for despatches to him +suggesting it. All the same, the evidence is conclusive that French was +beaten, that he knew it, and that he had to withdraw quite independently +of Sherman’s movements.</p> + +<p>A Confederate historian, K. S. Bevier, writes as follows on this point: +“The men of French’s Division had now become so much scattered that it was +impossible to gather a sufficient number to give any hope of successful +assault on the Fort.”</p> + +<p>What can wholly be pardoned to French is the unstinted commendation he +bestows on the gallantry of his men.</p> + +<p>These poor fellows, ragged and hungry, with but a handful or two of +parched corn in their haversacks, had marched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> all day on the 3rd; had +worked all that night destroying the railroad; had worked and marched all +day on the 4th; had marched to Allatoona during that night, and had fought +nearly all day on the 5th. Nor is it forbidden to those who felt the vigor +of their dashing onset and the undaunted determination with which they +rallied again and again to the assault of the intrenchments, or who +witnessed the hand-to-hand encounters with sword and bayonet, with butts +of guns, and even with loose pieces of rock, to appreciate the intrepidity +and resolution with which they hung to their bloody and fruitless task.</p> + +<p>Brave men may honor bravery the world over. We can in all sympathy and +common brotherhood say: “They were of our blood and race. Peace to their +ashes. Give us the like to stand side by side with us, and we could fear +no quarrel, were it with the whole round world.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>THE DEFENCE.</h3> + +<p>Having glanced at the situation from French’s standpoint, let us step over +to the other side, as we may safely do at this lapse of time, and see how +it actually fared with the beleaguered garrison which we left in momentary +expectation of attack; and since General French has been heard, it is no +more than fair to quote from the graphic reports of the federal commander.</p> + +<p>After narrating his preliminary movements, and the stations of the troops, +he proceeds:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I directed Col. Rowett to hold the spur on which the 39th Iowa and +7th Illinois were formed, * * * and taking two companies of the 93rd +Illinois down a spur parallel with the railroad and along the bank of +the cut, so disposed them as to hold the north side as long as +possible. Three companies of the 93rd, which had been driven from the +west end of the ridge, were distributed in the ditch South of the +Redoubt, with instructions to keep the town well covered by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> their +fire, and to watch the depot where the rations were stored. The +remaining battalion of the 93rd, under Major Fisher, lay between the +Redoubt and Rowett’s line, ready to reinforce wherever most needed.</p> + +<p>“I had barely issued the orders when the storm broke in all its fury +on the 39th Iowa and 7th Illinois. Young’s Brigade of Texans had +gained the west end of the ridge and moved with great impetuosity +along its crest till they struck Rowett’s command, when they received +a severe check, but undaunted came again and again. Rowett, +reinforced by the gallant Redfield, encouraged me to hope we were +safe here, when I observed General Sears’ brigade moving from the +North, its left extending across the railroad (opposite +Tourtellotte). I rushed to the two companies of the 93rd Illinois, +which were on the brink of the cut running north from the Redoubt, +they having been reinforced by the retreating pickets, and urged them +to hold on to the spur; but it was of no avail; the enemy’s line of +battle swept us back like so much chaff, and struck the 39th Iowa in +flank, threatening to engulf our little band without further ado. +Fortunately for us, Col. Tourtellotte’s fire caught Sears in flank, +and broke him so badly as to enable me to get a staff officer over +the cut with orders to bring the 50th Illinois over to reinforce +Rowett, who had lost very heavily. However, before the regiment sent +for could arrive, Sears and Young both rallied, and made their +assaults in front and on the flank with so much vigor and in such +force as to break Rowett’s line, and had not the 39th Iowa fought +with the desperation it did, I never would have been able to get a +man back inside the Redoubt; as it was, their hand-to-hand conflict +and stubborn stand broke the enemy to that extent that he must stop +and reform before undertaking the assault on the fort. Under cover of +the blows they gave the enemy, the 7th and 93rd Illinois, and what +remained of the 39th Iowa, fell back into the fort.</p> + +<p>“The fighting up to this time—about 11 a. m.—was of the most +extraordinary character. Attacked from the north, from the west and +from the south, these three regiments—39th Iowa and 7th and 93rd +Illinois—held Young’s and a portion of Sears’ and Cockerell’s +brigades at bay for nearly two hours and a half. The gallant Col. +Redfield, of the 39th Iowa, fell, shot in four places, and the +extraordinary valor of the men and officers of this regiment, and of +the 7th Illinois, saved to us Allatoona.</p> + +<p>“So completely disorganized were the enemy, that no regular assault +could be made on the fort till I had the trenches all filled and the +parapets lined with men. The 12th and 50th Illinois arriving from the +east hill, enabled us to occupy every foot of trench, and keep up a +line of fire that, as long as our ammunition lasted, would render our +little fort impregnable. The broken pieces of the enemy enabled them +to fill every hollow and take every advantage of the rough ground +surrounding the fort, filling every hole and trench, seeking shelter +behind every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> stump and log that lay within musket range of the fort. +We received their fire from the north, south and west of the Redoubt, +completely enfilading our ditches, and rendering it almost +impracticable for a man to expose his person above the parapet. An +effort was made to carry our works by assault, but the battery (12th +Wisconsin) was so ably manned and so gallantly fought as to render it +impossible for a column to live within one hundred yards of the work. +Officers labored constantly to stimulate the men to exertions, and +almost all that were killed or wounded in the fort met their fate +while trying to get the men to expose themselves above the parapet +and nobly setting them the example.</p> + +<p>“The enemy kept up a constant and intense fire, gradually closing +around us and rapidly filling our little fort with the dead or dying. +About 1 p. m. I was wounded by a rifle ball that rendered me +insensible for some thirty or forty minutes, but managed to rally on +hearing some persons cry, ‘Cease firing,’ which conveyed to me the +impression that they were trying to surrender the fort.</p> + +<p>“Again I urged my staff, the few officers left unhurt, and the men +around me, to renewed exertions, assuring them that Sherman would +soon be there with reinforcements. The gallant fellows struggled to +keep their heads above the ditch and parapet in face of the murderous +fire of the enemy, now concentrated upon us. The artillery was +silent, and a brave fellow, whose name I regret having forgotten, +volunteered to cross the railway cut which was under fire of the +enemy and go to the fort on the east hill to procure ammunition. +Having executed his mission successfully, he returned in a short time +with an arm load of canister and case shot. About 2:30 p. m. the +enemy were observed massing a force behind a small house and the +ridge on which the house was located distant northwest from the fort +about 150 yards. The dead and wounded were moved aside so as to +enable us to move a piece of artillery to an embrasure commanding the +house and ridge. A few shots from the gun threw the enemy’s column +into great confusion, which being observed by our men, caused them to +rush to the parapet and open such a heavy and continuous musketry +fire that it was impossible for the enemy to rally. From this time +until near 4 p. m. we had the advantage of the enemy, and maintained +it with such success that they were driven from every position and +finally fled in confusion, leaving their dead and wounded, and our +little garrison in possession of the field.</p> + +<p>“The hill east of the cut was gallantly and successfully defended by +Col. Tourtellotte, with the 4th Minnesota and a portion of the 18th +Wisconsin (which was drawn from outpost duty towards the south about +10:30). * * * Col. Tourtellotte, though wounded in the early part of +the action, remained with his men until the close, and rendered +valuable aid in protecting my north front from the repeated attacks +by Sears’ brigade.”</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>A notable struggle truly and stirringly told, even though the limitations +of an official report forbid that amplification of incident that would +make as thrilling a tale as tongue could utter. From start to finish, +seven solid hours of as desperate fighting as ever was done under the sky +of heaven, and with multiplied acts of individual heroism that would tax +the pen of Homer to narrate.</p> + +<p>With the exception of about 250 rounds, the supply of ammunition brought +from Rome for the entire Division, had been expended by a portion of a +single brigade.</p> + +<p>Every one of the subordinate commanders’ reports on both sides bears +testimony to the unparalleled fierceness and concentration of the +struggle, and the closeness and duration of the action, and the terrific +slaughter; and these reports, it may be noted, are made by the ruggedest +of Sherman’s and French’s veterans—men inured to war in every aspect, and +as familiar with bloody battle-fields as we of to-day with the street we +daily tread. In reading these scant records, one scarce knows whether to +admire the more the daring vigor and persistence of the attack, or the +spirit, valor and heroic determination of the defence. With both it was +“To do or die,” and each can feel that none, save his rival, can challenge +supremacy in war-like exploit.</p> + +<p>Corse’s signal dispatch to Sherman after the fight can therefore well be +excused, “I am short a cheek-bone and an ear, but able to whip all h—l +yet.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE.</h3> + +<p>It is a thousand pities that the many notable incidents of this fight are +not on record; but, so far as I am aware, no one has sought to gather them +in any complete and authentic form.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>Corse caught his wound about 1 o’clock while scanning the movements and +position of the enemy from the Redoubt. It was a close call for his life, +the ball ploughing his cheek and splitting his ear, and, as might be +imagined, dazing him. A surgeon took him in charge and ministered as well +as the circumstances permitted. At intervals Corse was unconscious, but +rallied from time to time, as though the spirit within him crowded itself +up through the physical deadening of his senses. At one of these occasions +he caught the words “Cease firing,” and as mentioned in his report, feared +some attempt to surrender. On this point, in a private letter, he speaks +as follows: “Do you remember our losing a large number of Springfield +rifled muskets that exploded near the muzzle after becoming foul from +over-shooting? I saw some that had exploded, say about the shank of the +bayonet. It was so phenomenal as to make a decided impression on my mind +at the time. I think a large number of these must have been lost, and when +the order was given to cease firing, it was under the impression that if +the men were not given a chance to clean their guns, we would lose them +all and be overwhelmed. My impression, you remember, at the time was that +the order to cease firing meant surrender, but Rowett removed that +impression in subsequent interviews, during and after the war.”</p> + +<p>Rowett’s order to “Cease firing” had, of course, nothing to do with the +cry of “Surrender.” It is true that there were men in that Redoubt ready +to surrender or to do anything else in order to get out of it alive. +Happily these were few, and most of them lay prone, close under the +parapet, “playing dead,” with the combatants and wounded standing and +sitting upon them. If I mistake not, Corse himself, at least for a time, +was holding down of these “living corpses” who preferred to endure all the +pain and discomfort of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> position rather than get up and face the +deadly music that filled the air with leaden notes. It came about this +way: The Redoubt was crowded, and as bloody as a slaughter pen. In its +actual construction the parapet encircled a higher elevation in the +center, which had not been sufficiently excavated, so that a man standing, +or in fact, lying, in the middle of the work was exposed to bullets coming +in close over the parapet. It was absolutely necessary to keep room for +the fighting force along the parapet, so the wounded were drawn back, and +in some cases were shot over and over again. The dead were disposed of in +the same way, except that as the ground became covered with them they were +let lie as they fell, and were stood or sat upon by the fighters. Several +of the “skulkers” lay among these, but a few were in the ranks. The +slaughter had been frightful. One of our guns was disabled from the +jamming of a shot, and we were out of ammunition for the other two, +thereby losing both the deterrent effect upon the enemy, and the moral +encouragement that the friendly roar of cannon always gives to infantry in +action. I recall distinctly the fact that a regimental flagstaff on the +parapet, which had been several times shot away, fell again at a critical +moment towards the end of the action. There was a mad yell from our +friends outside and a few cries of “Surrender” among our own people, but a +brave fellow leaped to the summit of the parapet, where it did not seem +possible to live for a single second, grasped the flagstaff, waved it, +drove the stump into the parapet, and dropped back again unhurt. Of course +nobody knows the name of that man, but his action restored confidence, and +a great Yankee cheer drowned the tumult, and no cry of “Surrender” was +afterwards heard.</p> + +<p>What saved us that day—among forty other things—was the fact that we had +a number of Henry rifles (16-shooters),<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> since improved and known as +“Winchesters.” These were new guns in those days, and Rowett, as I +remember, had held in reserve a company of an Illinois Regiment that was +armed with them until a final assault should be made. When the artillery +reopened, after the incident related by Corse of the man crossing the cut +and coming back with an armful of case shot, this company of 16-shooters +sprang to the parapet and poured out such a multiplied, rapid, and deadly +fire that no men could stay in front of it, and no serious effort was +thereafter made to take the fort by assault.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It is not possible, within any reasonable limits, for a paper already too +long for your patience, to undertake the recital of the numerous thrilling +incidents. One may be mentioned:</p> + +<p>An artillery sergeant, whose gun was at first stationed outside the fort +behind an exterior parapet, was driven in by the rush of the enemy, and +his men being all killed, he had to abandon it. Wounded himself in several +places, he came into the Redoubt, frothing with rage at the loss of his +piece, and demanded a crew of volunteers to go out with him and get it. +Notwithstanding the deadly fire, he got them, and in three minutes was +back with his recovered prize with more wounds to his account. A bloodier +man was never seen, but he kept at his work, loading and firing, until a +musket ball passed through his neck, and he dropped dead. The same ball +traversed the body of an Iowa officer, with whom I was standing further +back, and then struck me with force enough to take my breath. That ball +had killed two men, and I preserved it with the name and date of the +battle scratched on its but slightly distorted surface.</p> + +<p>On Tourtellotte’s side a grim war comedy was enacted. The remains of two +Mississippi Regiments—the 35th and 39th of Sears’ brigade, that had +charged with desperation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> found themselves as the surge of battle that +broke upon the hill went back, lodged in a sheltered depression of the +north front, whence they could move neither up nor down without +concentrating upon themselves the fire of Tourtellotte’s whole front. +Unable to determine what course to take, they remained where they were to +think it over, and Tourtellotte, observing their embarrassment, +thoughtfully sent a portion of the 4th Minnesota to their rescue and +invited them to come in. One field and several line officers and 80 men +with the colors of the two regiments were the reward of the Yankee +courtesy.</p> + +<p>After the fight was over we thankfully emerged from the shambles and went +out to survey the field. The dead, the dying and the wounded lay +everywhere. The ditches immediately outside the Redoubt were crammed with +corpses. There were dead rebels within 100 feet of the work, and they were +piled in stacks near the house where they had massed for the final assault +which was never made, against the reopened artillery, and the rattle of +the Henry rifles. But the appalling center of the tragedy was the pit in +which lay the heroes of the 39th Iowa and the 7th Illinois. Such a sight +probably was never before presented to the eye of heaven. There is no +language to describe it. With all the glad reaction of feeling after the +prolonged strain of that mortal day, and the exultant surge of victory +that swelled our hearts, it was difficult to stand on the verge of that +open grave without a rush of tears to the eye and a spasm of pity +clutching at the throat. The trench was crowded with the dead, blue and +homespun, Yank and Johnny, inextricably mingled in their last ditch. Our +heroes, ordered to hold the place to the last, with supreme fidelity, had +died at their posts. As the rebel line run over them, they struck up with +their bayonets as the foe struck down, and rolling together in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +embrace of death, we found them in some cases mutually transfixed. The +theme cannot be dwelt upon.</p> + +<p>For relief, take another one, so unique in the circumstances that I doubt +at times my own recollection of it. It was in the morning when French +first gained the west end of the ridge. The 93rd Illinois was in the +vicinity of the outworks, a quarter of a mile or so from the Redoubt. I +had been reconnoitering the ground, and the rebel column charged us +sharply and without warning. We ran, of course, but in passing through or +rather over an old work of low relief, one of our men stooped, grabbed a +brick and turned. Curiosity overcame discretion, and I had to look. He +threw the brick straight as a bullet at a rebel running toward us, and if +I may be believed, the brick caught the man full in the face, and he went +down like a log.</p> + +<p>One more incident, and I am done. After the battle the wounded of both +sides were collected, housed and cared for. One of the surgeons invited me +to come to the hospital with him, and on the way said he had a wounded +woman there. I expressed surprise, and he said: “See if you can pick her +out.” We went through the hospital, and I saw no woman, but passing +through again on the way back, the doctor stopped at a bed where a tanned +and freckled young rebel, hands and face grimy with dirt and powder, lay +resting on an elbow, smoking a corn-cob pipe. The doctor inquired, “How do +you feel?” and the answer was, “Pretty well, but my leg hurts like the +devil.” As we turned, the doctor said, “That is the woman,” and told me +that she belonged to the Missouri Brigade, had had a husband and one or +two brothers in one of the regiments, and followed them to the war. When +they were all killed, having no home but the regiment, she took a musket +and served in the ranks. Like an actor of the old Greek dramas, war has +its two masks of tragedy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> and comedy, although it is difficult at times to +determine to which the antiphonal scene belongs—so of this case. It is +perhaps not proper in such a paper as this to expose or call attention to +the shifts to which the Confederates were forced to fill their ranks, but +the incident may be told nevertheless.</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>THE STORES SAVED.</h3> + +<p>The stores which had cost such heroic endeavor and expenditure of life, +were saved; the stores, which, as Corse says in a private letter, “would +have been such a prize as Hood in all his long and bloody career as a +soldier had never secured.” This fact is due, independently of the main +action, largely to the coolness and vigilance of Tourtellotte, who in +addition to fighting Sears on his north front and flanking the attacks on +the west Redoubt, kept his mind charged with the protection of the +warehouses, even while his wound forced him to physical inaction. As has +been stated, he pushed out the 18th Wisconsin to the southward to hold +back the two regiments which were in front of the rebel batteries, and +only withdrew them at 10:30 when the assaulting column had reached a point +in front of the west Redoubt, whence it had a fire upon the rear of the +outlying command. Thereafter <ins class="correction" title="original reads 'Tourtellottee'">Tourtellotte</ins> kept a wary eye out towards the +stores, with men in his southern rifle pit and its vicinity constantly on +guard, and cautioned to unceasing vigilance, and although several attempts +were made by individuals and small parties to reach the warehouses and +fire them, they died on the way and none of them ever attained their +destination. We found several bodies scattered about in the vicinity, and +one of them within 20 feet of the buildings, with the implements in his +hand for firing them.</p> + +<p>As to the amount of these stores, General Sherman, in his Memoirs, says +there were “over a million rations of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> bread,” probably with Corse’s +report at hand, in which the number is incorrectly stated at that amount. +Cox, in his “Atlanta,” gives it more accurately at “nearly three +millions.” The actual figures (2,700,000) are given in a letter from +Sherman to Corse in acknowledging, on October 7th, Corse’s preliminary +report of the same day.</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>THE LOSSES.</h3> + +<p>Corse’s losses in this battle, from the full official records, were 142 +killed, 352 wounded, and omitting those captured at the block house two +miles away, 128 prisoners; a total loss of 622—nearly one-third his +entire command.</p> + +<p>French in his report estimates that he had killed and wounded 750, and +captured 205—which, with the block house prisoners, would make a total +loss inflicted on Corse of over 1000, which is over 50 per cent. too much.</p> + +<p>French’s losses are not known. With his report he gives a tabulated list +of casualties by brigades, which shows footings of 122 killed, 443 wounded +and 243 missing—a total of 799. Sears, however, whose report of +casualties is the only one accessible to me, reports in his brigade alone +a total loss of 425—as against 351 attributed to him in French’s +schedule, which is an increase of 21 per cent. Young and Cockerell must +have lost at least as heavily as Sears, and having charged our line +repeatedly and had several encounters at close quarters, probably more so. +Allowing for these facts, it is perhaps nearer correct to increase +French’s statement of loss by 25 per cent., which would make it almost +exactly 1000 men. As Corse actually buried 231 rebel dead, captured 411 +prisoners, well and wounded, and picked up 800 stand of arms, and as +French left behind him, according to his own account, only those of his +wounded who needed litters to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> move them, we must add to the 644 rebels +accounted for by Corse at least 400 or 500 wounded who got away when +French left, or previously. French’s total loss could not have been much +less than 1100 or 1200.</p> + +<p>The number of troops with him cannot be determined. He gives it as “but +little over 2000 men,” in which case he lost more than half his entire +number, but he omits three regiments as forming no part of the assaulting +column. He refers to those supporting the artillery, but these men were in +the engagement, kept the 18th Wisconsin in their front, and French thanks +their leader, Col. Andrews, “who commanded on the south side,” and Major +Myrick, who commanded the artillery. French’s field report for Sept. 24th +showed “Present for Duty” 331 officers and 2945 men; an “Effective +Present” of 3626, and an “Aggregate Present” of 4347. He probably had not +less than 3000 with him at Allatoona engaged in action, in which case his +total loss was proportionally the same as ours, viz., about one-third.</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>REPORTING TO SHERMAN.</h3> + +<p>On the morning of the 7th Corse sent me down to Kenesaw to take his report +to Sherman, and supplement the gaps in the information which his wound +forbade elaborating. As I reached the summit of the mountain, conscious of +bearing welcome and important tidings of great joy, and considering what +special form Sherman’s delight might take, I found him surrounded by a +group of generals and staff scanning with binoculars the long clouds of +dust that, rising above the forest to the westward, betokened a great +movement of troops. It was Hood en route northward. As Sherman turned and +saw me, his greeting was, “Hello! How’s Corse?” I answered that he was +doing very well, and Sherman glanced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> over the report which I handed him, +and inquired, “Pretty hot, wasn’t it?” and without waiting for an answer, +said, “I knew it was all right when Corse got there; I’ll write him +presently.” As I stood, anxiously waiting an invitation to unbosom myself +of the accumulated information that it wearied me to carry, he turned back +to take another look at Hood, and some one asked, “General, what do you +think Hood is going to do?” Sherman replied, with an outburst of +irritation, “How the devil can I tell? If it were Joe Johnston +now—Johnston was a sensible man and did sensible things. Hood is a d—d +fool and is liable to do anything.” This view of his antagonist is, it +will be observed, paraphrased in his letter to Corse, written immediately +after, into “Hood is eccentric,” but his off-hand response was +substantially as I have given it.</p> + +<p>My interview was over. Nor since that time, until this evening, have I had +a chance to “unload.”</p> + +<p> </p> +<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> + +<p>This practically closes the sketch of Allatoona. I can only hope that it +will avail to furnish some material for a proper history of that memorable +affair.</p> + +<p>Sherman published his congratulatory Special Field Orders, No. 86, dated +Oct. 7th, proclaiming the vital military principle that fortified points +must always be defended to the last, regardless of numbers, declaring the +“effusion of blood” at Allatoona not “useless,” as the position “was and +is very important to present and future operations,” and thanking Corse +and Tourtellotte and their men for their determined and gallant defence.</p> + +<p>Just how important to his future operations was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> successful defence of +Allatoona may be judged from what followed.</p> + +<p>October 9th Sherman telegraphed to Grant with renewed urgency that the +march to Savannah must be made, and stated, to show his preparation, “We +have on hand over 8000 head of cattle and three million rations of bread.”</p> + +<p>In other words, the Allatoona stores, 2,700,000 rations, were practically +all he had.</p> + +<p>Sherman impatiently chased Hood northward, seeking to corner and devour +him. But Hood, living off the country and traveling light, could go two +miles to Sherman’s one, and there was no catching him. Weary of the +harassing and fruitless hunt, Sherman insisted that his March to Savannah +be not delayed, and on Oct. 19th to be in readiness for it, telegraphed +his chief commissary at Atlanta, “Have on hand 30 days’ food.” Say, +1,800,000 rations, two-thirds of the Allatoona stores, which were supplies +for 60,000 men for 45 days.</p> + +<p>November 2nd Grant for the first time authorized the March.</p> + +<p>Sherman abandoned Hood to his own devices, and the unhappy rebel leader, +pressing northward, was heavily thrown in his encounter with Schofield at +Franklin, and finally dashed himself to pieces against the “Rock of +Chicamauga,” the noble George H. Thomas, lying vigilant within the +defences of Nashville, and like an old lion, silently licking his chops as +he watched his prey draw nigh.</p> + +<p>November 12th Sherman, having stripped his railroad, cut the telegraph +wires that no message of delay might reach him, loaded his teams, marched +his 60,000 men for Savannah, and, although he “lived off the country,” got +there with empty wagons.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>With Hood and Forrest in his rear and on his railroad, how was he to +accumulate a fresh store of provision, and what would have become of the +“March to the Sea” if Allatoona had been lost?</p> + +<p class="right">WILLIAM LUDLOW.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i050.jpg" alt="" /></div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Battle of Allatoona, October 5th, +1864, by William Ludlow + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OF ALLATOONA, OCT 5, 1864 *** + +***** This file should be named 32247-h.htm or 32247-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/4/32247/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Battle of Allatoona, October 5th, 1864 + +Author: William Ludlow + +Release Date: May 4, 2010 [EBook #32247] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OF ALLATOONA, OCT 5, 1864 *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +WAR PAPER No. 17. + +MICHIGAN COMMANDERY, + +LOYAL LEGION. + + + + + THE BATTLE of ALLATOONA. + + OCTOBER 5th, 1864. + + + A PAPER READ BEFORE THE + MICHIGAN COMMANDERY + OF THE MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE U. S. + + + BY + WILLIAM LUDLOW, + _Major Corps of Engineers; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. A._ + + + AT + DETROIT, APRIL, 2D, 1891. + DETROIT, MICH.: + + + WINN & HAMMOND, PRINTERS AND BINDERS. + 1891. + + + + +ALLATOONA. + + +_Companions and Gentlemen:_ + +It appears strange to me that an action which all who mention it--and they +are many--agree in characterizing as one of the most brilliant exploits of +a war as thickset with deeds of gallantry as a rose bush with its +blossoms, should not long since have had its adequate historian and +monographer. + +The contest was so famous, the issue so glorious, the recollection of the +day still must be so vivid in the minds of the survivors, that I could not +anticipate any lack of material wherefrom to procure data to formulate a +reasonably satisfactory narrative of such a gallant feat of arms, and in +such detail as to give it life and color. But of all the war papers that +have been written on affairs great and small, none that I know has had +Allatoona for its special subject, and from the sources of information at +my command, I have found it quite impracticable to construct an account +that is not in some respect at variance with others made by authority. The +official reports, while giving the general features, of necessity exclude +most of the minor but equally interesting details, and the omissions, +inaccuracies and discrepancies, not important in some particulars and +material in others, for the purposes, at least, of a fully detailed and +authenticated narrative, cannot at this time be corrected. And even the +numbers engaged on each side, and of those who fell as victims, are not +known with certainty. + +This paper, therefore, can pretend to be no more than an outline sketch, +which an abler hand must put itself to filling out and completing. When +the war records shall have been made fully public, as they will be +presently, and at least all the official material be available, the +historian of Allatoona, by extended research and correspondence with +survivors, should address himself to the task of preparing an +authoritative narration in order to preserve to posterity the record of a +memorable and typically American event. + +For an event it was; a vital one, as it would appear, to the full success +of Sherman's campaign, and with the "March to the Sea" hung in the balance +and awaiting the issue. + + * * * * * + +The importance of a given moment in the world's history is not of +necessity to be estimated by the numbers occupying the stage at the time, +nor even with the degree of activity or turmoil with which their parts are +playing. + +Much labor is wasted in the lives of men, and mountains of effort result +often in mere noise or discomfiture, making no real history. The center of +gravity of two worlds may be an immaterial point, and the earth itself +revolves upon a slender axis. So a turning point of history may be +concentrated upon a comparatively narrow field, while the reverberation of +its potency shall resound forever, as the silent nod of Jove lets loose +the thunders of Olympus to shake the earth and change the fate of nations. + +Some preliminary remarks are in order, explanatory of the general +situation and its relation to the Battle of Allatoona. + + +THE GENERAL SITUATION. + +It was the fall of '64. The fiery comet of secession that, blazing out in +'61, for three long years had scorched the firmament, spreading death and +pestilence over all the land, was waning in its course; doomed presently +to disappear forever in Chaos, but emitting malignant emanations to its +latest spark. The structure of the Confederate Government, practically a +military despotism, founded on the enforced servitude and sale of human +beings, reared and upheld by the lives, the fortunes, and the constrained +or misguided energies of a deluded and chivalrous people, to feed the vain +ambition of an oligarchy, was toppling to the ruin that six months later +overwhelmed it. Great was to be the fall thereof, and not even to-day is +the atmosphere fully cleared of the dust of its destruction. + +Two famous, and as the outcome proved, morally conclusive campaigns had +been fought and closed. + +In the East, Grant, moving against Richmond through the wilderness and +swamps of Virginia, all the long summer had been dealing trip-hammer +blows, as deadly and sickening to his foe as the stroke of the axe in the +shambles, and at length resting from the slaughter, lay before Petersburg +and astride the James; feeling out with his left to cut Lee's lines of +communication to the South and West, and pressing him close that he should +not detach any of his force to act against Sherman. + +In the West, Sherman, starting from Chattanooga, with an antagonist the +wariest, wisest and most skillful captain of the rebel host to oppose him, +had overreached his foe at every point, and stretching out his sinewy arm, +had seized in a relentless grasp the "Gate City" of the South; and +electrified the country with the exultant shout, "Atlanta is ours and +fairly won;" opening wide the door into the hollow trunk of the +Confederacy and exposing its emptiness. + +Of this campaign Halleck wrote: "I do not hesitate to say that it has been +the most brilliant of the war," and Grant himself, with that mutual +magnanimity that characterized the two great friends and competitors for +fame, declared to Sherman, "You have accomplished the most gigantic +undertaking given to any general in this war, and with a skill and ability +that will be acknowledged in history as unsurpassed, if not unequalled." + +But much remained. + +The dragon of rebellion, though sorely smitten, still lay writhing and +would not die until his time was fully come. + +Lee, sullen and desperate, lay within the still invincible intrenchments +of Richmond, nursing his wounds, but with power able yet to strike a heavy +blow, and gathering his remaining strength for the final effort. + +Sherman's antagonists, though demoralized and bewildered, were still +unconquered; and forced out from Atlanta, filled the open country with an +angry buzzing, as of an overturned hive. To add to their discomfiture, the +astute Johnston, the most intellectual soldier of the Confederacy, whose +stubborn dispute of every inch of territory, perfect skill in defending +his successive positions, and marvelous success in withdrawing without +loss at the latest moment, displayed a capacity second only to that of his +opponent, and whose patient policy of drawing Sherman after him, to a +constantly increasing distance from his base, without himself risking the +disaster of a defeat, was, as history has proved, the last crutch of the +Rebellion,--had been plucked from his command by the narrow-minded +Confederate President and replaced by Hood, whose fighting qualities had +been proved on many a field of battle, but who otherwise lacked every +requisite for leadership in such a contest. + +But a thousand long miles still separated Atlanta from Richmond; and these +must be traversed before that proximate conjunction of forces could take +place that was needed to give rebellion its _coup de grace_, and to tear +forever from the free sky of America the fluttering and ragged emblem of a +maleficent and arrogant domination. + +Sherman, in Atlanta, was resting, granting well-earned furloughs to his +veterans, recruiting his ranks, guarding from the cavalry, who swarmed in +his rear and sought to break it, the extended line--over 250 miles--of +railroad from Nashville to Chattanooga, and thence to Atlanta, upon which +he depended for his supplies, and incessantly planning his next move, +which he had already determined would be to the Sea, with Savannah as an +intermediate base for the farther march to the rear of Lee's Army, and a +conjunction with Grant;--upon whom, in his correspondence, he repeatedly +urged assent to his proposal, and suggested the capture of Savannah by the +Eastern forces in advance of his own arrival there. + +The Washington authorities, always timorous and vacillating, were not yet +brought to assent to this superb strategic project, based upon the +military theorem, "An Army operating offensively must maintain the +offensive," and constructed with Sherman's solid judgment that he must go +onward, since to withdraw would be to lose all the _morale_ of his success +up to that point. + +Even Grant, with all his confidence in and reliance upon Sherman, +expressed unwillingness that he should embark upon it while Hood's Army +was still undestroyed. + +Meanwhile, Sherman, in full conviction that the necessity would presently +be demonstrated, was watching Hood, who lay some thirty miles to the +Southeast of Atlanta, and whose intentions he could not even guess +at,--and with tremendous energy was endeavoring to accumulate supplies in +excess of daily needs, in order that when the time was ripe he should be +ready to start. + + +GRAND TACTICS. + +On his zigzag way South, early in June, with Atlanta as his then objective +point, Sherman, with that wonderful mental vision of the whole horizon +that characterized him, seeking for a depot where supplies could safely be +accumulated, near enough at hand to be of ready access, but sufficiently +removed from the scene of actual conflict to be secure from casual attack, +had selected the famous Allatoona Pass, and directed that it be "prepared +for defense as a secondary base." + +The place was well chosen. + +The diminishing extension of the Great Smoky Mountains stretches across +the Northern end of Georgia, from Northeast to Southwest. + +The Range is traversed at Allatoona Pass by the Etowah River, flowing West +and North to unite at Rome, thirty miles distant, with the Oostenaula and +form the Coosa. The railway, coming down from Kingston,--whence a branch +ran Westward to Rome,--and crossing the Etowah, winds Southeasterly among +the hills, and at Allatoona station, about four miles from the river, +penetrates a minor ridge and emerges from a cut some sixty-five feet in +depth. It was at this point--referred to by Sherman as a "Natural +Fortress"--that the "secondary base" was established, and the surplus +supplies were accumulated. + +The advantages for defence were admirable. The entire region is hilly and +heavily timbered, rolling off to the Southward to a less rugged country, +and from the Heights of Allatoona looking Southeasterly, down the line of +railway towards Atlanta, are visible ten to fifteen miles away, the noble, +isolated masses of Kenesaw, Lost Mountain and Pine Mountain, which, +raising their wooded crests high above the neighboring forest, command a +wide prospect towards every quarter. The narrow ridge cut by the railway +is abruptly terminated to the Northeast by the valley of Allatoona Creek, +crooking among the hills to join the Etowah, and its slopes facing +Northwest and Southeast are steep and difficult. Towards the West and +Southwest the descent is more gradual, and a country road follows the +rolling crest of the ridge along which from the Westward the main attack +was ultimately to be made. + +The storehouses for the supplies stood near the railway station and were +fully commanded from the dominant elevations rising immediately behind +them. Upon these elevations the defensive works were located by Colonel +Poe, the Chief Engineer of Sherman's army. Their plan was in conformity +with the requirements of the ground and of the service to be expected of +them, and while the actual construction by the troops left somewhat to be +desired, and could have been bettered had Poe been able to supervise the +completion of his work, when it came to the test, well did they serve +their purpose. The main features were two Redoubts, about 1000 feet apart +at easy supporting distance, one on each side of the railway cut, with +ditches and outlying intrenchments near at hand covering the approaches, +and overlooking the storehouses for the defence of which they were built. + + * * * * * + +Near the close of September, Sherman, in Atlanta, was roused by +indications of activity on the part of Hood, who had sent his cavalry +North across the Chattahooche and into Tennessee, and had moved his +infantry to a more Westerly camp; thus leaving the Savannah road open to +Sherman, had he seen fit to take it. + +Habitually sensitive as to his railway base, Sherman surmised that Hood's +intention was to move round him to threaten his rear. September 24th he +telegraphed Howard, "I have no doubt Hood has resolved to throw himself on +our flanks to prevent our accumulating stores, etc.," and September 25th +to Halleck, "Hood seems to be moving as it were to the Alabama line, +leaving open to me the road to Macon as also to Augusta, but his cavalry +is busy on our roads." + +He therefore reinforced the detachments guarding the numerous railway +stations and bridges, sent a division of the 4th corps and one of the 14th +Northward to strengthen Chattanooga, and put Thomas in command there, and +thence back to Nashville to guard against Forrest, the noted rebel cavalry +leader, who was ravaging Tennessee and capturing gunboats with horsemen. + +Corse's division of the 15th corps was sent to occupy Rome on the extreme +Western flank, with instructions to complete the defensive works and hold +it against all comers; meanwhile observing closely any movement of the +enemy in his vicinity. + +A glance at the map is desirable for the better understanding of the +immediately ensuing events. + +From Atlanta to Allatoona, near the railway crossing of the Etowah, is, as +the crow flies, 32 miles Northwest by West. From Allatoona to Rome is 30 +miles W. N. W. Thirteen miles from Allatoona towards Atlanta is Kenesaw, +the railway sweeping round its North and East flanks. Fifteen miles West +by South from Kenesaw, and the same distance Southwest from Allatoona, +is Dallas, in the vicinity of New Hope Church, where had been three days +of heavy fighting late in May. Rome again is equi-distant from Dallas and +from Allatoona 30 miles. The central position of Allatoona is evident; and +it will also be seen that a force at Dallas occupied, in a sense, a +strategic point, whence a rapid movement could be made either upon +Allatoona or Rome, with the West and Southwest to fall back upon in case +of need. + + +[Illustration: ALLATOONA AND VICINITY.] + + +By October 1st, the ambiguity as to Hood's plans was in part relieved. It +was at least certain that he had crossed from the South to the North bank +of the Chattahooche, although it was impossible to surmise whether he +intended to make a direct attack on the railroad or to undertake an +invasion of Tennessee from the Westward. In any case it behooved Sherman +to bestir himself, and promptly, too. It was absolutely necessary to keep +Hood's army off the railroad, so long as the question of cutting loose for +Savannah remained undecided, and at Allatoona was stored an accumulation +of nearly three millions of rations of bread, the loss of which, with the +railway endangered, would be a serious blow, and one possibly fatal to +Sherman's cherished project. Leaving, therefore, the 20th corps in +Atlanta, to hold it and to guard the bridges across the Chattahooche above +and below the railway bridge, Sherman put the rest of his forces in rapid +motion Northward towards Kenesaw, 20 miles distant, and October 1st +telegraphed Corse at Rome that Hood was across the river and might attack +the road at Allatoona or near Cassville, on the North side of the Etowah, +about midway between Rome and Allatoona. If Hood went to Cassville, Corse +was to remain at Rome and hold it fast; if to Allatoona, Corse was to move +down at once and occupy Allatoona, joining forces with troops in the +vicinity for its defence, while Sherman co-operated from the South. +Repeated dispatches were sent to Allatoona, directing the commanding +officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Tourtellotte, to hold the place at all +hazards, and that relief would be speedy. These have been paraphrased into +"Hold the Fort, for I am coming," which, set to an inspiring air, caught +the ear of the country, and is still in active service. + +Sherman crossed the Chattahooche October 3rd and 4th, and finding his +wires cut North of Marietta, signaled to the station on Kenesaw and thence +to Allatoona, over the heads of the enemy, a dispatch to be telegraphed to +Corse at Rome to move at once with all speed and with his entire command +to the relief of Allatoona. Sherman himself reached Kenesaw early on the +morning of the 5th, and from the summit, to use his own language, "had a +superb view of the vast panorama to the North and West. To the Southwest, +about Dallas and Lost Mountain, could be seen the smoke of camp fires +indicating the presence of a large force of the enemy, and the whole line +of railroad from Big Shanty up to Allatoona (full fifteen miles), was +plainly marked by the fires of the burning railroad. We could plainly see +the smoke of battle about Allatoona and hear the faint reverberation of +the cannon." + +The fact was disclosed that Hood lay in force near Dallas, 15 miles to the +West and South of Kenesaw, and had detached a heavy column Eastward to +destroy the railroad and capture the scattered garrisons including the +all-important post of Allatoona. + +About 8:30 a. m. Allatoona signalled Kenesaw, "Corse is here with one +brigade; where is Sherman?" As received at Kenesaw this message read, +"Corse is here with ----." My recollection is that while the signal +officer was working his flag it was cut from his hands by a fragment of +shell, interrupting the message, the latter part of which was not +received, or at least not recognized. I find, however, no official +confirmation of this. The mutilated report gave Sherman immense relief, +but left him to suppose that Corse had arrived with his entire division. +Had he known that the reinforcement was only a portion of one brigade, his +satisfaction would have been less. As he says himself, "I watched with +painful suspense the indications of the battle raging there, * * * but +about 2 p. m. I noticed with satisfaction that the smoke of battle about +Allatoona grew less and less, and ceased altogether about 4 p. m. * * * +Later in the afternoon the signal flag announced the welcome tidings that +the attack had been fairly repulsed." + +The signal officer at Kenesaw reports that Sherman at the time, pronounced +these signal messages "Worth a million dollars." + + +CORSE. + +Leaving now this bird's eye view of what was happening, let us go back a +little and follow Corse's movements. He had arrived at Rome from Atlanta +September 27th, with two of his brigades, the third being already +there,--and thereafter had been busy, in accordance with his general +instructions and frequent communications from Sherman, in organizing and +equipping his command for the special work entrusted to him, which was in +effect to reconstruct and perfect the earthworks and defences, so as to +make Rome impregnable to assault, and at the same time to act as a corps +of observation, constantly feeling out for and spying after the enemy, and +ready, should occasion offer, to strike a heavy blow in any direction +where he should be discovered. + +It was isolated, difficult and responsible service, and a dangerous one, +since the first contact might be with Hood's whole strength, but of the +very first importance to Sherman, whose ignorance of Hood's schemes and +inability to anticipate his movements, perplexed and harassed him, and +upon Corse he mainly relied to discover, by any or all means, the +movements and presence of the enemy. + +Corse was well equipped for such service. He had acted as inspector on +Sherman's staff, and stood high with his chief, both in personal regard +and professional estimation. Of medium height, erect, active and alert, +ambitious, combative, decided, of sound judgment and indomitable courage, +the task of holding Allatoona could have fallen into no better hands. As +Grant, giving over a page of his memoirs to mention of the battle, says of +him, "Corse was a man who would never surrender." + +On the third of October Sherman sent him a warning to be wary, that Hood +was meditating some plan on a large scale, and at noon of the 4th Corse +received the message already mentioned, by signal from Vining's to +Kenesaw, thence to Allatoona, and thence by wire to Rome, summoning him +instantly to the rescue of the threatened garrison. Corse had fortunately +already telegraphed to Kingston that cars be sent him. The train in moving +to Rome was partly derailed, but the single engine and about twenty cars +were ready by dark. + +On these was loaded a portion of one of his brigades under command of +Colonel Rowett, viz; Eight companies, 39th Iowa, 280 men, Lieut.-Colonel +Redfield, commanding; 9 companies, 7th Illinois, 291 men, Lieut.-Colonel +Perrin, commanding; 8 companies, 50th Illinois, 267 men. Lieut.-Colonel +Hanna commanding; 2 companies, 57th Illinois, 61 men, Captain Van +Stienberg, commanding; detachment of the 12th Illinois, 155 men, Captain +Koehler, commanding, making a total of 1,054 men, which, with the +ammunition for the division, was all that the available transportation +could accommodate. The train left Rome at 8:30 p. m., and reached +Allatoona a little after midnight. The troops were debarked, the +ammunition unloaded with all speed, and the train immediately started back +to Rome for another cargo of troops. As it happened, in returning, +possibly with undue haste, considering the rough and insecure condition of +the track and roadbed, the train was again derailed, and in consequence no +further reinforcements reached Allatoona until about 8 p. m. of the +5th,--four hours after the battle was over. + + +[Illustration: SKETCH OF THE BATTLEFIELD.] + + +Corse immediately took command, and after a rapid survey of the field with +Tourtellotte, in the quiet of the starlit night, proceeded to make his +dispositions for defence. + + +THE DEFENCES OF ALLATOONA. + +Allatoona was garrisoned as follows: Ten companies, 4th Minnesota, 450 men +(of whom 185 were recent recruits), Major Edson, commanding; 10 companies, +93rd Illinois, 290 men, Major Fisher, commanding; 7 companies, 18th +Wisconsin, 150 men, Lieut.-Colonel Jackson, commanding, a total of 890 +men, organized as a brigade, with six guns of the 12th Wisconsin Battery, +under Lieutenant Amsden (number of men not given), and all under the +command of Lieut.-Colonel Tourtellotte of the 4th Minnesota, as earnest, +brave and steadfast a man in the discharge of duty as ever drew a sword. + +Prior to Corse's arrival, the little garrison, with a full consciousness +of its responsibility for the defence of the Post and of the safety of the +huge accumulation of rations stored in the neighboring warehouses, warned +of danger, and later stimulated to the utmost endeavor by messages from +Sherman, and inspired by the calm and fearless determination of its +commander, had been busily preparing for the attack. + +The two small redoubts, one on each side of the railway cut, have been +mentioned. The Eastern one, perhaps 75 feet in diameter, stood at the +extreme Eastern end of the ridge, looking into the valley of Allatoona +Creek, and distant about 280 yards from the railroad and 340 yards from +the Western redoubt, towards which it had an open view. Guarding the +crooked crest between the railroad and redoubt were three detached lines +of entrenchments, one looking Southward towards the storehouse 200 yards +distant, and two guarding the Northern aspect, with flanks refused on each +side of a ravine that lay between them and down which went a road to the +Northward. + +On the West side of the railway cut, and almost on its verge, stood the +other redoubt, about 90 feet in diameter, occupying an elevation from +which the ground fell in all directions. Westwardly, after a moderate dip, +the ground rose again to a second elevation or spur, on which stood a +house, distant from the redoubt about 170 yards. Beyond this the ground +again fell, and the road ran West and Southwest, undulating with the roll +of the ground. The exterior defences of the West side, in addition to the +ditches surrounding the redoubt, were a short line of entrenchments near +the crest Southwest of the redoubt, and a longer line of rifle-pits lying +completely across the ridge, beyond the house and about 260 yards distant +from the redoubt. These rifle-pits, held by the 39th Iowa and the 7th +Illinois, were later the scene of one of the most savage encounters in the +history of war. + +About three-quarters of a mile out on the road, occupying an open +elevation, were still other small works and rifle-pits, not, however, any +portion of the regular defences. They had low parapets and were supposed +to have been constructed by Johnston's army when it occupied the locality +in June previous. It was from these outer works, which there was, of +course, no serious attempt to hold, that our outposts were driven in by +the arrival of French's troops on the morning of the 5th. + +Tourtellotte was made aware on the 3rd that the enemy was operating on the +railroad South of him, and on the 4th was signalled by Sherman through +Kenesaw that the enemy was moving upon him, and that he must hold out, but +not till the evening of the 4th was any direct demonstration made on +Allatoona. + +Feeling the paucity of his isolated force, he had worked night and day to +construct and strengthen his defences and mature his plans. + +The two redoubts were well located for mutual support, each being able to +take in flank an enemy assaulting the other from the North or South. The +relative disadvantage of the West redoubt, irrespective of its exposure to +the probable brunt of an attack, was the fact that higher elevations to +the West and Southwest partly commanded it. Tourtellotte therefore built +the rifle-pits across the crest of the ridge to the Westward with the +object of holding off the enemy as long as possible, and if the crest were +taken, of retiring to the redoubt, to reach which the enemy must cover a +distance of some 220 yards without shelter. In addition, he partly +enclosed the West redoubt with a stockade, at the junction of the outer +slope and the surrounding ditch, to prevent escalade if the enemy should +reach it, slashed such timber as remained for abattis, and collected some +cotton bales with which to close the entrance. + +His gunners in the East redoubt, and the infantry as well on the East side +of the cut, were charged to watch the flanks of the West redoubt, and +direct their fire so as to cover the slopes to the North and South of it. + +His garrison was depleted by his orders to maintain a force to guard the +block house at the bridge across Allatoona Creek, about two miles South of +the post, where three companies of the 18th Wisconsin were stationed. + +They were summoned by French on his way to Allatoona to surrender, but +refused, and held the block house, but as French was sullenly withdrawing +after the battle, the post was heavily shelled and set on fire, and when +the roof was blazing and the men suffocating with the heat and smoke, they +surrendered; 4 officers and 80 men being taken prisoners. These men, +though included in the return of casualties of the 18th Wisconsin, were +not concerned in the Battle of Allatoona. + +Tourtellotte, on the evening of the 4th, apprehending a night attack, +which would impair the advantages of his position, strengthened his grand +guard, barricaded as well as he might the roads to the South and West, and +made arrangements to fire a house or two so as to illuminate the site of +the little village and the storehouses; but about midnight was immensely +relieved by the arrival of Corse, which more than doubled the strength of +the garrison and made it possible to man the defences with some measure of +effectiveness. + + +THE MORNING OF THE BATTLE. + +There was but little delay in getting down to work. By 2 in the morning a +rapid fire was opened on the skirmish lines South of the post, as though +the enemy were pushing up the railroad straight at the stores. +Tourtellotte immediately dispatched the 18th Wisconsin to reinforce the +outposts in that direction, and an hour later Corse threw out a battalion +of the 7th Illinois in further support. Five companies of the 93rd +Illinois were also sent out to the Westward near the outlying works +already referred to. + +At daybreak, under cover of a strong skirmish line, Corse withdrew the +troops from the open ground in the vicinity of the village to the summit +of the ridge, placing the 4th Minnesota and the 12th and 50th Illinois in +the redoubt, and intrenchments on the East side of the railway cut, under +the immediate command of Tourtellotte, and himself occupying with the rest +of his force, under the immediate command of Rowett, the Western side, +upon which it was evident the weight of the attack must fall. The 7th +Illinois and the 39th Iowa, on the left and right respectively, facing +West, were ordered to occupy the line of rifle-pits crossing the ridge +about 250 yards in advance of the redoubt. As no defences intervened +between this line and the ditch encompassing the redoubt itself, it was of +vital importance to hold it and keep the enemy in check to the last +moment, and the two regiments were instructed to maintain their position +at all hazards. The event proved with what fidelity and devotion the trust +was discharged. + +Three companies of the 93rd Illinois were stationed in the rifle-pits +adjacent to the West redoubt, and the remainder of the troops were +distributed forward on skirmish and outpost duty. The six guns of the +battery were equally divided, two being stationed in each redoubt, with +the third outside behind a low parapet. + +The day broke calm and clear, with the crisp air and bright warm sun of +that superb mountain region. Sherman, on Kenesaw, takes occasion to record +it as a "beautiful day" with some vague consciousness in his mind, +perhaps, of the contrast between the shining peace that reigned above and +the devil's work that in smoke and fury waged below. At half-past six a +rebel battery of 12 pieces opened from an elevation three-quarters of a +mile South and East of Allatoona, and for two hours maintained a furious +cannonade, that, concentrated upon the two redoubts, filled the air with +smoke and fragments of shell, and deafened the ear with almost incessant +detonations. Meanwhile French's skirmish lines were vigorously pushed +round to the West and North until, with the exception of the steep and +timbered valley of Allatoona Creek on the extreme East, the garrison was +completely invested. + +At 8:30, amid a temporary lull of the uproar that had prevailed, a flag of +truce was sent in bearing the following message: It was dated + + Around Allatoona, Oct. 5, 1864, 7 A. M. + + Commanding Officer, U. S. Forces, Allatoona. + + Sir: + + I have placed the forces under my command in such position that you + are surrounded, and to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I call on + you to surrender your forces at once and unconditionally. Five + minutes will be allowed you to decide. Should you accede to this, you + will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisoners of war. I + have the honor to be + + Very respectfully yours, + + S. G. FRENCH, Maj.-Gen'l C. S. A. + +In making his report subsequently, French endorses on a copy of this +summons, the following: + + Maj. Sanders, the bearer of this communication, was attacked while + bearing the flag of truce. He delivered the communication to an + officer and told him he would wait outside the works fifteen minutes + for an answer. None came; none was sent, and so the attack was made. + + S. G. F., Maj.-Gen'l, Commanding. + +Whatever may have been the external conditions that led to this view of +the matter on the part of General French, there is no question that Corse +did reply, and promptly and to the point. He wrote his answer on the top +of a neighboring stump, and a splinter or two may have gotten in it: + + Maj.-General French, C. S. A., etc.: + + Your communication demanding surrender of my command, I acknowledge + receipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for the + 'needless effusion of blood' whenever it is agreeable to you. + + I am very respectfully your obedient servant, + JOHN M. CORSE, + Brigadier-General, Commanding U. S. Forces. + +When this reply had been dispatched, Corse remarked, "They will now be +upon us," and nothing remained but to notify the several commands of the +purport of the correspondence, and to prepare for the bloody work that lay +before them. + + * * * * * + +French commanded a division in the corps of Lieutenant-General Stewart, +which had been dispatched by Hood Eastward from Dallas to destroy the +railroad, as witnessed by Sherman from the summit of Kenesaw, and his +report, dated Nov. 5, from which the following particulars of his +movements are derived, is of great interest. + +Stewart had struck the railroad at Big Shanty, four miles North of Kenesaw +on the evening of October 3rd, and his three divisions labored all night +at their task, completing it as far as Acworth. This work accomplished, +French's division was sent Northward under direct orders from Hood, which +are given in French's report, and have some peculiar features. Both orders +are dated October 4th, and were handed to French at Big Shanty by Stewart +at noon. The earlier one said that French "Shall move up the railroad and +fill up the deep cut at Allatoona with logs, brush, dirt etc." Also that +when at Allatoona, French was, if possible, to move to the Etowah Bridge, +the destruction of which would "be of great advantage to the army and the +country." The second order again urged the importance of destroying the +Etowah Bridge, if such were possible, and that as the enemy (Sherman), +could not disturb him before the next day, he was to "get his artillery in +position and then call for volunteers with 'lightwood' to go to the bridge +and burn it." + +The curious points about these instructions are, in the first place, the +absurdity of a wearied body of troops undertaking such a task as that of +filling up a railway cut 65 feet deep and some 300 or 400 yards long, in +the way described, with "logs and dirt" and the futility of doing it, if +it were possible. It would have taken French several days to fill up that +cut, even assuming him to be uninterfered with, and one day's labor would +open it again. + +The second point is the absence of any reference to a garrison at +Allatoona, or to the accumulation of stores there. French was a good +soldier, and after stating in his report that as both he and Stewart knew +the facts in the case and were aware of the large amount of stores, they +considered it important that the place be captured, contents himself with +saying, dryly, "It would appear, however, from these orders, that the +General-in-Chief was not aware that the Pass I was sent to have filled up +was fortified and garrisoned." The fact is that it requires something more +than mere courage to command an army, and it seems likely that a few such +specimens of leadership cost Hood the confidence of his subordinates, and +thoroughly justified Sherman in a disparaging remark he made respecting +him a day or two later. + +Stewart gave French 12 pieces of artillery under Major Myrick and at 3:30 +P. M. of the 4th he marched away to Acworth, but was detained there until +11 at night by lack of rations. The night was dark, the roads bad, and he +didn't know the country. From Acworth he reports seeing night signalling +between Kenesaw and Allatoona, and fearing that reinforcements might be +sent from the Northward, he dispatched a small cavalry force to reach the +railroad as close to the Etowah as possible and take up the rails. It was +a wise precaution, but undertaken too late, as Corse was at Allatoona by +midnight. French arrived there about 3 in the morning, and, as he writes, +"Nothing could be seen but one or two twinkling lights on the opposite +heights and nothing was heard except the occasional interchange of shots +between our advance guards and the pickets of the garrison in the valley +below." He placed his artillery in position at Moore's, 1300 yards south +and east of the Post, an admirable location for the purpose intended, +having an open view of the defences across the intervening hollow, left +with it the 39th North Carolina and the 32nd Texas, of Young's brigade, as +supports, and sought to gain the ridge west of the fortifications, +intending to attack at daybreak, but after floundering in the Egyptian +darkness of the forest, with no roads and over a rugged country, and +unavailingly seeking, notwithstanding the aid of a guide, to get upon the +ridge westward of the works, was compelled to wait for daylight. Finally +at 7:30 the head of the column arrived about 600 yards distant from the +West Redoubt, and here French got his first view of the works, which +impressed him at once as much more formidable than he had anticipated. +Instead of one small redoubt on each side of the railroad cut, as he had +been led to believe, he declares he saw no less than three on the west +side and a "Star Fort" on the east, with outworks and approaches, defended +to a great distance by abattis, and nearer the forts by stockades and +other obstructions. It may have been the weariness of a long night march, +or perhaps the too early morning air, that conjured these formidable +defences to French's eyes, or possibly, it is the exterior aspect of these +works that to a covetous and hostile apprehension enlarges their numbers +and proportions. + +It must be admitted that from the interior standpoint they shrunk +mightily from French's description, and the defenders at least would have +been hugely gratified could they have had the privilege of occupying what +French thought he saw. + +He rapidly made his dispositions for assault, sending Sear's Mississippi +Brigade round by the left to gain the north flank of the works, while +Cockerell's Missouri Brigade formed line across the ridge, with Young's +Texas Brigade behind it to support and follow up the attack. Myrick had +been ordered to open up with his guns and continue his fire until the +attacking troops were so close up to the works as to prevent it. Sears, +having the longer distance to traverse, was to begin the assault when +Cockerell would immediately move forward. Sears was delayed by the +ruggedness of his route to the north side of the works, and in fact for a +time lost his bearings among the wooded hills, and was not in position +until 9 a. m. by French's time. French says that when he sent his summons +to surrender, the Federal officer entrusted with the missive was allowed +17 minutes within which to bring the answer, and this time expiring, Maj. +Sanders returned without any. Nothing is said in the report as to the +firing upon him, noted in the endorsement on the copy of the summons +already mentioned. + + +THE ASSAULT. + +Cockerell was at length ordered forward and the attack began. According to +French's account, everything went as successfully as possible. He +represents the triple lines of intrenchments and Redoubts on the west side +as being captured one, after another, his troops resting but briefly at +each to gather strength and survey the work before them, and again rushing +forward in murderous hand-to-hand conflict that left the ditches filled +with dead, until they were masters of the "Second Redoubt," and the "Third +or Main Redoubt" was filled with those driven from the captured works and +further crowded by the refugees from the eastern fort and its defences, +who had been driven out by the attack of Sears. He represents the Federal +forces, their fire almost silenced, as being herded into the one Redoubt +on the west, of which French's troops occupied the ditch and were +preparing for the final attack. + +At this critical moment, with the garrison and the precious stores, as it +were, in the hollow of his hand, French received word that General +Sherman, who had been "repeatedly signalled during the battle," was close +behind him with his whole army, and within two miles of the road he would +have to take to rejoin his corps. + +On this point of Sherman's proximity to French as his reason for leaving, +we have not only full knowledge of the exact position and movement of our +troops to show that such was really not the case, but a brief piece of +testimony from the other side in the shape of a dispatch from Major Mason, +Hood's adjudant-general, from which it is evident that French, becoming +hopeless of success, had sought in advance to justify at headquarters the +failure of his enterprise. The date and hour of this dispatch, which reads +as follows, are of interest: + + "CARLEY'S HOUSE, Oct. 5, 1864. 8:15 p. m. + + _Lt. Gen'l Stewart, + Com'd'g Corps._ + + General French's dispatch, forwarded by yourself, is just received. + Gen. Hood directs me to say that he does not know where a division + could march at this time to give any assistance to Gen. French, but + that you will endeavor to send some scouts to him, and direct him to + leave the railroad and march to the West, to New Hope Church. + + Gen. Hood does not understand how Gen. French could be _cut off_ at + the point he designates in his dispatch, as he should have moved + directly away from the railroad to the West, if he deemed his + position precarious. + + A. P. M." + +It is of course obvious from the map that if French found Sherman +approaching from the South, he had only to follow westward the road up +which he had been charging at Allatoona all day and free himself from +danger in an hour. It would be of interest to see this dispatch of +French's and observe the hour when sent, but it is not forthcoming. The +hour of the reply is significant. It need not have taken a mounted man +three hours to get word to Stewart, then near a junction with Hood and to +Hood himself, less than 15 miles away. The reply, made at once, is written +at 8:15 p. m., and French's message must certainly have been sent later +than 4 p. m. French had probably been gone from Allatoona an hour or more +when he bethought him to send the request for a division to extricate him. + +The facts are, that it was not until the night of Oct. 5th that the +nearest troops of Sherman's went into camp at Brushy Mountain, 11 miles +distant in an air line, and none reached Allatoona until the 7th. + +But to return to French. It was really an immense pity that he should feel +obliged to leave just when he had but to put forth his hand to snatch the +prize; but then it would not do to have his division cut off from the +army, and on the whole it might be well to start, and if so, why not at +once? + +So about 1:30 he says an order was sent to Sears and Cockerell to +withdraw. The ground was too rough to carry badly wounded men over it, so +that those who could not get away on their own feet had to be left. + +The artillery, unable to operate effectively with the assaulting column +close up on the works, had already been in part ordered to take the road, +and after the assaulting troops had left, French went to the two regiments +who had supported it, and sent a battery to the block house at the railway +crossing of Allatoona Creek, fired fifty shots at it, knocked it about +the ears of the garrison, and setting fire to it, smoked them out and +marched them off as prisoners. + +French's report of this affair, written a month later, from which the +above is condensed, is very interesting and dramatic, and regarded as a +literary composition, of no mean merit. He has certainly made the best of +a bad business, and if his facts do not quite tally with those of his +opponents, at least the discrepancies were not officially noticed at +headquarters, nor probably would a gloomier account of the affair have +been considered more inspiriting. Those rations would have been extremely +convenient, could they, or even a part of them, have been hauled away for +distribution among the hungry Confederates, and if that were +impracticable, it would have been at least a noble stroke to have +destroyed them. On this head French's report is silent; nor does he +endeavor to explain how it happened that so vital a part of his own +program was omitted. In effect, the play had been badly broken up by the +attentions of the gallery, and Hamlet had slipped out of it. + +French is without excuse for his fear of Sherman's approach, baseless as +we know it to have been. Armstrong is responsible for despatches to him +suggesting it. All the same, the evidence is conclusive that French was +beaten, that he knew it, and that he had to withdraw quite independently +of Sherman's movements. + +A Confederate historian, K. S. Bevier, writes as follows on this point: +"The men of French's Division had now become so much scattered that it was +impossible to gather a sufficient number to give any hope of successful +assault on the Fort." + +What can wholly be pardoned to French is the unstinted commendation he +bestows on the gallantry of his men. + +These poor fellows, ragged and hungry, with but a handful or two of +parched corn in their haversacks, had marched all day on the 3rd; had +worked all that night destroying the railroad; had worked and marched all +day on the 4th; had marched to Allatoona during that night, and had fought +nearly all day on the 5th. Nor is it forbidden to those who felt the vigor +of their dashing onset and the undaunted determination with which they +rallied again and again to the assault of the intrenchments, or who +witnessed the hand-to-hand encounters with sword and bayonet, with butts +of guns, and even with loose pieces of rock, to appreciate the intrepidity +and resolution with which they hung to their bloody and fruitless task. + +Brave men may honor bravery the world over. We can in all sympathy and +common brotherhood say: "They were of our blood and race. Peace to their +ashes. Give us the like to stand side by side with us, and we could fear +no quarrel, were it with the whole round world." + + +THE DEFENCE. + +Having glanced at the situation from French's standpoint, let us step over +to the other side, as we may safely do at this lapse of time, and see how +it actually fared with the beleaguered garrison which we left in momentary +expectation of attack; and since General French has been heard, it is no +more than fair to quote from the graphic reports of the federal commander. + +After narrating his preliminary movements, and the stations of the troops, +he proceeds: + + "I directed Col. Rowett to hold the spur on which the 39th Iowa and + 7th Illinois were formed, * * * and taking two companies of the 93rd + Illinois down a spur parallel with the railroad and along the bank of + the cut, so disposed them as to hold the north side as long as + possible. Three companies of the 93rd, which had been driven from the + west end of the ridge, were distributed in the ditch South of the + Redoubt, with instructions to keep the town well covered by their + fire, and to watch the depot where the rations were stored. The + remaining battalion of the 93rd, under Major Fisher, lay between the + Redoubt and Rowett's line, ready to reinforce wherever most needed. + + "I had barely issued the orders when the storm broke in all its fury + on the 39th Iowa and 7th Illinois. Young's Brigade of Texans had + gained the west end of the ridge and moved with great impetuosity + along its crest till they struck Rowett's command, when they received + a severe check, but undaunted came again and again. Rowett, + reinforced by the gallant Redfield, encouraged me to hope we were + safe here, when I observed General Sears' brigade moving from the + North, its left extending across the railroad (opposite + Tourtellotte). I rushed to the two companies of the 93rd Illinois, + which were on the brink of the cut running north from the Redoubt, + they having been reinforced by the retreating pickets, and urged them + to hold on to the spur; but it was of no avail; the enemy's line of + battle swept us back like so much chaff, and struck the 39th Iowa in + flank, threatening to engulf our little band without further ado. + Fortunately for us, Col. Tourtellotte's fire caught Sears in flank, + and broke him so badly as to enable me to get a staff officer over + the cut with orders to bring the 50th Illinois over to reinforce + Rowett, who had lost very heavily. However, before the regiment sent + for could arrive, Sears and Young both rallied, and made their + assaults in front and on the flank with so much vigor and in such + force as to break Rowett's line, and had not the 39th Iowa fought + with the desperation it did, I never would have been able to get a + man back inside the Redoubt; as it was, their hand-to-hand conflict + and stubborn stand broke the enemy to that extent that he must stop + and reform before undertaking the assault on the fort. Under cover of + the blows they gave the enemy, the 7th and 93rd Illinois, and what + remained of the 39th Iowa, fell back into the fort. + + "The fighting up to this time--about 11 a. m.--was of the most + extraordinary character. Attacked from the north, from the west and + from the south, these three regiments--39th Iowa and 7th and 93rd + Illinois--held Young's and a portion of Sears' and Cockerell's + brigades at bay for nearly two hours and a half. The gallant Col. + Redfield, of the 39th Iowa, fell, shot in four places, and the + extraordinary valor of the men and officers of this regiment, and of + the 7th Illinois, saved to us Allatoona. + + "So completely disorganized were the enemy, that no regular assault + could be made on the fort till I had the trenches all filled and the + parapets lined with men. The 12th and 50th Illinois arriving from the + east hill, enabled us to occupy every foot of trench, and keep up a + line of fire that, as long as our ammunition lasted, would render our + little fort impregnable. The broken pieces of the enemy enabled them + to fill every hollow and take every advantage of the rough ground + surrounding the fort, filling every hole and trench, seeking shelter + behind every stump and log that lay within musket range of the fort. + We received their fire from the north, south and west of the Redoubt, + completely enfilading our ditches, and rendering it almost + impracticable for a man to expose his person above the parapet. An + effort was made to carry our works by assault, but the battery (12th + Wisconsin) was so ably manned and so gallantly fought as to render it + impossible for a column to live within one hundred yards of the work. + Officers labored constantly to stimulate the men to exertions, and + almost all that were killed or wounded in the fort met their fate + while trying to get the men to expose themselves above the parapet + and nobly setting them the example. + + "The enemy kept up a constant and intense fire, gradually closing + around us and rapidly filling our little fort with the dead or dying. + About 1 p. m. I was wounded by a rifle ball that rendered me + insensible for some thirty or forty minutes, but managed to rally on + hearing some persons cry, 'Cease firing,' which conveyed to me the + impression that they were trying to surrender the fort. + + "Again I urged my staff, the few officers left unhurt, and the men + around me, to renewed exertions, assuring them that Sherman would + soon be there with reinforcements. The gallant fellows struggled to + keep their heads above the ditch and parapet in face of the murderous + fire of the enemy, now concentrated upon us. The artillery was + silent, and a brave fellow, whose name I regret having forgotten, + volunteered to cross the railway cut which was under fire of the + enemy and go to the fort on the east hill to procure ammunition. + Having executed his mission successfully, he returned in a short time + with an arm load of canister and case shot. About 2:30 p. m. the + enemy were observed massing a force behind a small house and the + ridge on which the house was located distant northwest from the fort + about 150 yards. The dead and wounded were moved aside so as to + enable us to move a piece of artillery to an embrasure commanding the + house and ridge. A few shots from the gun threw the enemy's column + into great confusion, which being observed by our men, caused them to + rush to the parapet and open such a heavy and continuous musketry + fire that it was impossible for the enemy to rally. From this time + until near 4 p. m. we had the advantage of the enemy, and maintained + it with such success that they were driven from every position and + finally fled in confusion, leaving their dead and wounded, and our + little garrison in possession of the field. + + "The hill east of the cut was gallantly and successfully defended by + Col. Tourtellotte, with the 4th Minnesota and a portion of the 18th + Wisconsin (which was drawn from outpost duty towards the south about + 10:30). * * * Col. Tourtellotte, though wounded in the early part of + the action, remained with his men until the close, and rendered + valuable aid in protecting my north front from the repeated attacks + by Sears' brigade." + +A notable struggle truly and stirringly told, even though the limitations +of an official report forbid that amplification of incident that would +make as thrilling a tale as tongue could utter. From start to finish, +seven solid hours of as desperate fighting as ever was done under the sky +of heaven, and with multiplied acts of individual heroism that would tax +the pen of Homer to narrate. + +With the exception of about 250 rounds, the supply of ammunition brought +from Rome for the entire Division, had been expended by a portion of a +single brigade. + +Every one of the subordinate commanders' reports on both sides bears +testimony to the unparalleled fierceness and concentration of the +struggle, and the closeness and duration of the action, and the terrific +slaughter; and these reports, it may be noted, are made by the ruggedest +of Sherman's and French's veterans--men inured to war in every aspect, and +as familiar with bloody battle-fields as we of to-day with the street we +daily tread. In reading these scant records, one scarce knows whether to +admire the more the daring vigor and persistence of the attack, or the +spirit, valor and heroic determination of the defence. With both it was +"To do or die," and each can feel that none, save his rival, can challenge +supremacy in war-like exploit. + +Corse's signal dispatch to Sherman after the fight can therefore well be +excused, "I am short a cheek-bone and an ear, but able to whip all h--l +yet." + + +INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE. + +It is a thousand pities that the many notable incidents of this fight are +not on record; but, so far as I am aware, no one has sought to gather them +in any complete and authentic form. + +Corse caught his wound about 1 o'clock while scanning the movements and +position of the enemy from the Redoubt. It was a close call for his life, +the ball ploughing his cheek and splitting his ear, and, as might be +imagined, dazing him. A surgeon took him in charge and ministered as well +as the circumstances permitted. At intervals Corse was unconscious, but +rallied from time to time, as though the spirit within him crowded itself +up through the physical deadening of his senses. At one of these occasions +he caught the words "Cease firing," and as mentioned in his report, feared +some attempt to surrender. On this point, in a private letter, he speaks +as follows: "Do you remember our losing a large number of Springfield +rifled muskets that exploded near the muzzle after becoming foul from +over-shooting? I saw some that had exploded, say about the shank of the +bayonet. It was so phenomenal as to make a decided impression on my mind +at the time. I think a large number of these must have been lost, and when +the order was given to cease firing, it was under the impression that if +the men were not given a chance to clean their guns, we would lose them +all and be overwhelmed. My impression, you remember, at the time was that +the order to cease firing meant surrender, but Rowett removed that +impression in subsequent interviews, during and after the war." + +Rowett's order to "Cease firing" had, of course, nothing to do with the +cry of "Surrender." It is true that there were men in that Redoubt ready +to surrender or to do anything else in order to get out of it alive. +Happily these were few, and most of them lay prone, close under the +parapet, "playing dead," with the combatants and wounded standing and +sitting upon them. If I mistake not, Corse himself, at least for a time, +was holding down of these "living corpses" who preferred to endure all the +pain and discomfort of his position rather than get up and face the +deadly music that filled the air with leaden notes. It came about this +way: The Redoubt was crowded, and as bloody as a slaughter pen. In its +actual construction the parapet encircled a higher elevation in the +center, which had not been sufficiently excavated, so that a man standing, +or in fact, lying, in the middle of the work was exposed to bullets coming +in close over the parapet. It was absolutely necessary to keep room for +the fighting force along the parapet, so the wounded were drawn back, and +in some cases were shot over and over again. The dead were disposed of in +the same way, except that as the ground became covered with them they were +let lie as they fell, and were stood or sat upon by the fighters. Several +of the "skulkers" lay among these, but a few were in the ranks. The +slaughter had been frightful. One of our guns was disabled from the +jamming of a shot, and we were out of ammunition for the other two, +thereby losing both the deterrent effect upon the enemy, and the moral +encouragement that the friendly roar of cannon always gives to infantry in +action. I recall distinctly the fact that a regimental flagstaff on the +parapet, which had been several times shot away, fell again at a critical +moment towards the end of the action. There was a mad yell from our +friends outside and a few cries of "Surrender" among our own people, but a +brave fellow leaped to the summit of the parapet, where it did not seem +possible to live for a single second, grasped the flagstaff, waved it, +drove the stump into the parapet, and dropped back again unhurt. Of course +nobody knows the name of that man, but his action restored confidence, and +a great Yankee cheer drowned the tumult, and no cry of "Surrender" was +afterwards heard. + +What saved us that day--among forty other things--was the fact that we had +a number of Henry rifles (16-shooters), since improved and known as +"Winchesters." These were new guns in those days, and Rowett, as I +remember, had held in reserve a company of an Illinois Regiment that was +armed with them until a final assault should be made. When the artillery +reopened, after the incident related by Corse of the man crossing the cut +and coming back with an armful of case shot, this company of 16-shooters +sprang to the parapet and poured out such a multiplied, rapid, and deadly +fire that no men could stay in front of it, and no serious effort was +thereafter made to take the fort by assault. + + * * * * * + +It is not possible, within any reasonable limits, for a paper already too +long for your patience, to undertake the recital of the numerous thrilling +incidents. One may be mentioned: + +An artillery sergeant, whose gun was at first stationed outside the fort +behind an exterior parapet, was driven in by the rush of the enemy, and +his men being all killed, he had to abandon it. Wounded himself in several +places, he came into the Redoubt, frothing with rage at the loss of his +piece, and demanded a crew of volunteers to go out with him and get it. +Notwithstanding the deadly fire, he got them, and in three minutes was +back with his recovered prize with more wounds to his account. A bloodier +man was never seen, but he kept at his work, loading and firing, until a +musket ball passed through his neck, and he dropped dead. The same ball +traversed the body of an Iowa officer, with whom I was standing further +back, and then struck me with force enough to take my breath. That ball +had killed two men, and I preserved it with the name and date of the +battle scratched on its but slightly distorted surface. + +On Tourtellotte's side a grim war comedy was enacted. The remains of two +Mississippi Regiments--the 35th and 39th of Sears' brigade, that had +charged with desperation, found themselves as the surge of battle that +broke upon the hill went back, lodged in a sheltered depression of the +north front, whence they could move neither up nor down without +concentrating upon themselves the fire of Tourtellotte's whole front. +Unable to determine what course to take, they remained where they were to +think it over, and Tourtellotte, observing their embarrassment, +thoughtfully sent a portion of the 4th Minnesota to their rescue and +invited them to come in. One field and several line officers and 80 men +with the colors of the two regiments were the reward of the Yankee +courtesy. + +After the fight was over we thankfully emerged from the shambles and went +out to survey the field. The dead, the dying and the wounded lay +everywhere. The ditches immediately outside the Redoubt were crammed with +corpses. There were dead rebels within 100 feet of the work, and they were +piled in stacks near the house where they had massed for the final assault +which was never made, against the reopened artillery, and the rattle of +the Henry rifles. But the appalling center of the tragedy was the pit in +which lay the heroes of the 39th Iowa and the 7th Illinois. Such a sight +probably was never before presented to the eye of heaven. There is no +language to describe it. With all the glad reaction of feeling after the +prolonged strain of that mortal day, and the exultant surge of victory +that swelled our hearts, it was difficult to stand on the verge of that +open grave without a rush of tears to the eye and a spasm of pity +clutching at the throat. The trench was crowded with the dead, blue and +homespun, Yank and Johnny, inextricably mingled in their last ditch. Our +heroes, ordered to hold the place to the last, with supreme fidelity, had +died at their posts. As the rebel line run over them, they struck up with +their bayonets as the foe struck down, and rolling together in the +embrace of death, we found them in some cases mutually transfixed. The +theme cannot be dwelt upon. + +For relief, take another one, so unique in the circumstances that I doubt +at times my own recollection of it. It was in the morning when French +first gained the west end of the ridge. The 93rd Illinois was in the +vicinity of the outworks, a quarter of a mile or so from the Redoubt. I +had been reconnoitering the ground, and the rebel column charged us +sharply and without warning. We ran, of course, but in passing through or +rather over an old work of low relief, one of our men stooped, grabbed a +brick and turned. Curiosity overcame discretion, and I had to look. He +threw the brick straight as a bullet at a rebel running toward us, and if +I may be believed, the brick caught the man full in the face, and he went +down like a log. + +One more incident, and I am done. After the battle the wounded of both +sides were collected, housed and cared for. One of the surgeons invited me +to come to the hospital with him, and on the way said he had a wounded +woman there. I expressed surprise, and he said: "See if you can pick her +out." We went through the hospital, and I saw no woman, but passing +through again on the way back, the doctor stopped at a bed where a tanned +and freckled young rebel, hands and face grimy with dirt and powder, lay +resting on an elbow, smoking a corn-cob pipe. The doctor inquired, "How do +you feel?" and the answer was, "Pretty well, but my leg hurts like the +devil." As we turned, the doctor said, "That is the woman," and told me +that she belonged to the Missouri Brigade, had had a husband and one or +two brothers in one of the regiments, and followed them to the war. When +they were all killed, having no home but the regiment, she took a musket +and served in the ranks. Like an actor of the old Greek dramas, war has +its two masks of tragedy and comedy, although it is difficult at times to +determine to which the antiphonal scene belongs--so of this case. It is +perhaps not proper in such a paper as this to expose or call attention to +the shifts to which the Confederates were forced to fill their ranks, but +the incident may be told nevertheless. + + +THE STORES SAVED. + +The stores which had cost such heroic endeavor and expenditure of life, +were saved; the stores, which, as Corse says in a private letter, "would +have been such a prize as Hood in all his long and bloody career as a +soldier had never secured." This fact is due, independently of the main +action, largely to the coolness and vigilance of Tourtellotte, who in +addition to fighting Sears on his north front and flanking the attacks on +the west Redoubt, kept his mind charged with the protection of the +warehouses, even while his wound forced him to physical inaction. As has +been stated, he pushed out the 18th Wisconsin to the southward to hold +back the two regiments which were in front of the rebel batteries, and +only withdrew them at 10:30 when the assaulting column had reached a point +in front of the west Redoubt, whence it had a fire upon the rear of the +outlying command. Thereafter Tourtellotte kept a wary eye out towards the +stores, with men in his southern rifle pit and its vicinity constantly on +guard, and cautioned to unceasing vigilance, and although several attempts +were made by individuals and small parties to reach the warehouses and +fire them, they died on the way and none of them ever attained their +destination. We found several bodies scattered about in the vicinity, and +one of them within 20 feet of the buildings, with the implements in his +hand for firing them. + +As to the amount of these stores, General Sherman, in his Memoirs, says +there were "over a million rations of bread," probably with Corse's +report at hand, in which the number is incorrectly stated at that amount. +Cox, in his "Atlanta," gives it more accurately at "nearly three +millions." The actual figures (2,700,000) are given in a letter from +Sherman to Corse in acknowledging, on October 7th, Corse's preliminary +report of the same day. + + +THE LOSSES. + +Corse's losses in this battle, from the full official records, were 142 +killed, 352 wounded, and omitting those captured at the block house two +miles away, 128 prisoners; a total loss of 622--nearly one-third his +entire command. + +French in his report estimates that he had killed and wounded 750, and +captured 205--which, with the block house prisoners, would make a total +loss inflicted on Corse of over 1000, which is over 50 per cent. too much. + +French's losses are not known. With his report he gives a tabulated list +of casualties by brigades, which shows footings of 122 killed, 443 wounded +and 243 missing--a total of 799. Sears, however, whose report of +casualties is the only one accessible to me, reports in his brigade alone +a total loss of 425--as against 351 attributed to him in French's +schedule, which is an increase of 21 per cent. Young and Cockerell must +have lost at least as heavily as Sears, and having charged our line +repeatedly and had several encounters at close quarters, probably more so. +Allowing for these facts, it is perhaps nearer correct to increase +French's statement of loss by 25 per cent., which would make it almost +exactly 1000 men. As Corse actually buried 231 rebel dead, captured 411 +prisoners, well and wounded, and picked up 800 stand of arms, and as +French left behind him, according to his own account, only those of his +wounded who needed litters to move them, we must add to the 644 rebels +accounted for by Corse at least 400 or 500 wounded who got away when +French left, or previously. French's total loss could not have been much +less than 1100 or 1200. + +The number of troops with him cannot be determined. He gives it as "but +little over 2000 men," in which case he lost more than half his entire +number, but he omits three regiments as forming no part of the assaulting +column. He refers to those supporting the artillery, but these men were in +the engagement, kept the 18th Wisconsin in their front, and French thanks +their leader, Col. Andrews, "who commanded on the south side," and Major +Myrick, who commanded the artillery. French's field report for Sept. 24th +showed "Present for Duty" 331 officers and 2945 men; an "Effective +Present" of 3626, and an "Aggregate Present" of 4347. He probably had not +less than 3000 with him at Allatoona engaged in action, in which case his +total loss was proportionally the same as ours, viz., about one-third. + + +REPORTING TO SHERMAN. + +On the morning of the 7th Corse sent me down to Kenesaw to take his report +to Sherman, and supplement the gaps in the information which his wound +forbade elaborating. As I reached the summit of the mountain, conscious of +bearing welcome and important tidings of great joy, and considering what +special form Sherman's delight might take, I found him surrounded by a +group of generals and staff scanning with binoculars the long clouds of +dust that, rising above the forest to the westward, betokened a great +movement of troops. It was Hood en route northward. As Sherman turned and +saw me, his greeting was, "Hello! How's Corse?" I answered that he was +doing very well, and Sherman glanced over the report which I handed him, +and inquired, "Pretty hot, wasn't it?" and without waiting for an answer, +said, "I knew it was all right when Corse got there; I'll write him +presently." As I stood, anxiously waiting an invitation to unbosom myself +of the accumulated information that it wearied me to carry, he turned back +to take another look at Hood, and some one asked, "General, what do you +think Hood is going to do?" Sherman replied, with an outburst of +irritation, "How the devil can I tell? If it were Joe Johnston +now--Johnston was a sensible man and did sensible things. Hood is a d--d +fool and is liable to do anything." This view of his antagonist is, it +will be observed, paraphrased in his letter to Corse, written immediately +after, into "Hood is eccentric," but his off-hand response was +substantially as I have given it. + +My interview was over. Nor since that time, until this evening, have I had +a chance to "unload." + + +CONCLUSION. + +This practically closes the sketch of Allatoona. I can only hope that it +will avail to furnish some material for a proper history of that memorable +affair. + +Sherman published his congratulatory Special Field Orders, No. 86, dated +Oct. 7th, proclaiming the vital military principle that fortified points +must always be defended to the last, regardless of numbers, declaring the +"effusion of blood" at Allatoona not "useless," as the position "was and +is very important to present and future operations," and thanking Corse +and Tourtellotte and their men for their determined and gallant defence. + +Just how important to his future operations was the successful defence of +Allatoona may be judged from what followed. + +October 9th Sherman telegraphed to Grant with renewed urgency that the +march to Savannah must be made, and stated, to show his preparation, "We +have on hand over 8000 head of cattle and three million rations of bread." + +In other words, the Allatoona stores, 2,700,000 rations, were practically +all he had. + +Sherman impatiently chased Hood northward, seeking to corner and devour +him. But Hood, living off the country and traveling light, could go two +miles to Sherman's one, and there was no catching him. Weary of the +harassing and fruitless hunt, Sherman insisted that his March to Savannah +be not delayed, and on Oct. 19th to be in readiness for it, telegraphed +his chief commissary at Atlanta, "Have on hand 30 days' food." Say, +1,800,000 rations, two-thirds of the Allatoona stores, which were supplies +for 60,000 men for 45 days. + +November 2nd Grant for the first time authorized the March. + +Sherman abandoned Hood to his own devices, and the unhappy rebel leader, +pressing northward, was heavily thrown in his encounter with Schofield at +Franklin, and finally dashed himself to pieces against the "Rock of +Chicamauga," the noble George H. Thomas, lying vigilant within the +defences of Nashville, and like an old lion, silently licking his chops as +he watched his prey draw nigh. + +November 12th Sherman, having stripped his railroad, cut the telegraph +wires that no message of delay might reach him, loaded his teams, marched +his 60,000 men for Savannah, and, although he "lived off the country," got +there with empty wagons. + +With Hood and Forrest in his rear and on his railroad, how was he to +accumulate a fresh store of provision, and what would have become of the +"March to the Sea" if Allatoona had been lost? + +WILLIAM LUDLOW. + + +[Illustration] + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "Chatahooche" corrected to "Chattahooche" (page 10) + "VINCINITY" corrected to "VICINITY" (illustration "Allatoona and Vicinity") + "ocntrast" corrected to "contrast" (page 19) + "The The" corrected to "The" (page 21) + "succeesfully" corrected to "successfully" (page 24) + "Tourtellottee" corrected to "Tourtellotte" (page 37) + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Battle of Allatoona, October 5th, +1864, by William Ludlow + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OF ALLATOONA, OCT 5, 1864 *** + +***** This file should be named 32247.txt or 32247.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/4/32247/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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