Battle of Peach Tree Creek--Some of the “boys” go to Andersonville.
On the morning of July 20th, just as old Sol was tinting the east with
his rosy hue, our army began a general forward movement, the Twentieth
corps in this advance being on the right centre, the Fourth corps left,
resting on our right, and Newton’s division (Fourth corps) connecting
with our left. Slight skirmishing ensued early in the morning, but
towards noon the enemy retired. The unbroken stillness which followed
caused us to advance cautiously lest the rebels draw us into an ambush.
On reaching Peach Tree creek, a narrow, sluggish stream, whose abrupt
banks, covered with briars and a dense, almost impassable undergrowth,
would be a fatal barrier to a routed army, especially as the stream
was without bridges, the entire command came to a halt until crossings
could be constructed. Previous to the crossing of the main line General
Geary ordered forward a force in reconnoissance, consisting of the
Twenty-ninth Ohio, Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania, a detachment of the
Thirty-third New Jersey, and four pieces of Bundy’s New York battery,
Geary himself following and directing the movement. When once across
we advanced over several rough sparsely wooded ravines until reaching
an eminence overlooking a narrow, open valley on our front and left.
Immediately on our right front was a piece of heavy timber, extending
also on our rear. The ridge directly in our front was covered with
a thick undergrowth, affording a fine position for an ambuscade.
Our force was now brought to a halt. Bundy’s battery was hastily put
into position on the ridge to cover the valley. The Twenty-ninth Ohio
assumed position on the right, and the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania on
the left of the battery. D. E. Hurlburt, captain of company K, had
charge of a detail from the Twenty-ninth and Sixty-sixth Ohio regiments
in the skirmish of the timber, so he states.
The detachment of the Thirty-third New Jersey deployed as skirmishers
across the valley in our front, General Geary and staff following
closely in its rear. While they were advancing, we hastily constructed
a light barricade of fence rails, and Bundy prepared his battery for
business. We anxiously watched General Geary and the skirmishers as
they cautiously moved up the ridge.
When within a few yards of the underbrush a large force of rebels
came from cover, and with wild yells rushed forward. Captain Bundy at
once opened fire upon them, which threw them into disorder, but did
not check their advance. As Geary and staff passed over our line his
chief, Captain Elliott, fell from his horse, shot dead. Geary shouted
to us, “A general engagement! a general engagement! My brave men hold
to your position. I will send support to you.” He was answered with
rousing cheers. When the little remnant of the skirmishing force had
come in we commenced a rapid fire in connection with Captain Bundy’s
double-shotted guns, which speedily thinned the advancing columns of
rebels, but without avail, as the breaks were at once filled with
fresh troops. As the rebels attempted to close with us our men seemed
to be endowed with the valor born of desperation, and clubbed them
back. Forward they came, a dense mass of living fire, and bravely we
sustained the shock of twenty times our number. The sharp rattle of
musketry, the loud roar of Bundy’s guns, and the defiant shouts of the
combatants, in close hand to hand conflict, can never be erased from
the tablets of memory while life shall last. It was grandly, awfully
terrible.
A dense smoke settled around the battery and enclosing the extreme left
of the regiment, hid the position of our right. Suddenly firing begins
on us from our rear. The cannoniers are disabled and the infantry are
called upon to work the guns, which were instantly turned to the rear
upon heavy masses of rebels advancing from the woods on our flank.
The greater part of our regiment had discovered this movement in
time to change front to rear, but were instantly forced back by the
overwhelming numbers of the rebels, and those in charge of the battery
were instantly surrounded by a powerful mob of yelling fiends. Still
the double-shotted guns continue to belch forth fire and death, cutting
great gaps in the ranks of the enemy at each discharge.
At the guns’ front, with muskets clubbed, a hand to hand conflict was
had, to allow the reloading of the guns. The situation was now most
desperate. A cordon of the enemy hemmed in the brave band, now reduced
to but seventy men, whose ammunition was exhausted, and at last they
were forced to surrender the battery. Henry Rood, of company A, and
Henry E. Clark, company B, are the only names the writer has been able
to secure of those captured at this time.
General Geary came up soon after, charged the enemy and recovered the
battery, which was instantly turned upon the rebels, causing great
destruction. The prisoners were, however, too far in the rear for
recapture, and they were conveyed to that loathsome earthly hell,
Andersonville. What they endured, the cruelties of the studied
starvation by express order of chivalric Jeff Davis, and the horrible
atrocities accorded to defenseless prisoners by the Southern opponents
in this unholy, ungodly conflict, the writer will not attempt to
describe; language fails in the recital. Loss: Killed, two; wounded,
seven; captured, five; total fourteen.