668 Series I Volume XXX-I Serial 50 - Chickamauga Part I
Page 668 | KY.,SW.VA.,TENN.,MISS.,N.ALA.,AND N.GA. Chapter XLII. |
tween the Union and rebel forces on and near Chickamauga Creek, Ga.
During the 16th and 17th instant, while Colonel Buell's brigade was occupying the left bank of the Chickamauga at Gordon's Mills, Ga., and holding the tongue of land between the creek and the La Fayette road, my regiment was posted near the sharp bend of said creek, convex to our position one-half mile from the mill.
On the 15th, being somewhat annoyed by the enemy's cavalry scouts approaching by the road and firing into my camp from the high ground beyond the creek, I stationed, by Colonel Buell's direction, a line of sharpshooters along the left bank of the creek to hold them off. But on the 16th, as they became bolder, I threw a footway over creek, extending them across the neck of land formed by the bend in the stream. This last position was within musket range of the main road to La Fayette, on which the enemy's cavalry was continually showing itself with increasing boldness. On the same evening a detachment from my regiment was thrown still farther to the front, holding a point on the La Fayette road about 1 mile from the mills. On the evening of the 17th,a dash was made by a few rebel cavalrymen on this post, but was promptly repulsed, with the loss of 1 wounded on the part of the enemy.
This detachment was now immediately increased to 30 men, another post established one-quarter of a mile farther out on the road, and my whole line on the right bank of the creek considerably strengthened; about 100 men of my regiment now guarding this, the enemy's point of approach. During the night of the 17th, there was considerable movement on the road in front of this advanced line, and a systematic effort to draw the fire of the sentinels as if to ascertain their position.
On the morning of the 18th, the enemy made an unsuccessful attempt to surround and surprise my advanced post, 34 men, and at the same time my lookouts reported him advancing in heavy force, Shortly after, my sharpshooters were driven back by a heavy line of skirmishers covering the movements of the enemy now advancing in two lines of battle. In obedience to orders, my force beyond the creek was withdrawn to the left bank, the crossing cut away, and my regiment covered by a double line of sharpshooters and skirmishers posted on the creek and facing the enemy's lines. During the remainder of this day, the night, and the 19th up to 3 p.m., I held the last-described position, skirmishing occasionally with the enemy at long range, and without casualty on my side. The enemy in the meantime passing heavy columns of troops along our front from right to left in the rear and under cover of his troops who had taken position in my immediate front.
At about 2.30 or 3 p.m. of the 19th, when the brigade was ordered to the left on the Chattanooga road, my regiment took the road in the rear of the One hundredth Illinois, and moved with the rest of the brigade at a double-quick some 2 miles to where the battle seemed to be raging with the utmost fury. Arriving at this point, where the conflict seemed fiercest, and the enemy was apparently pushing back our lines, my regiment was immediately thrown into line at double-quick on the right of, parallel to, and about 40 yards off the road, the Eighth Indiana Battery being on my right, my left resting in the woods.
In my immediate front, and for 75 yards in front of the prolongation
Page 668 | KY.,SW.VA.,TENN.,MISS.,N.ALA.,AND N.GA. Chapter XLII. |