BEFORE ATLANTA.
Intrenching all night--Gallant exploit of the First and Third
Brigades--Atlanta in view--In the trenches before the city--The
Sixth Kentucky ordered to Tennessee--Turning over my command--A
parting word.
Early on the morning of the 18th marching orders were received,
and at eight o'clock, A. M., our brigade moved forward over a
rough road, our advance constantly engaged with the pickets of
the enemy, who retired before them. On reaching the Cross Roads
we effected a junction with Hooker's Corps, and formed in line of
battle, the rebels being in force in our front. We went to work
and threw up intrenchments; but the position assigned to the Sixth
Kentucky did not suit the commanding officer, and we were obliged
to advance and erect another line of works, which occupied us most
of the night. This is a kind of work under which soldiers often
become restive; and, indeed, it is far from agreeable, after a hard
day's marching and fighting, to find, after some hours of toil in
throwing up works, that the line has been improperly located, that
a new one must be chosen, and the balance of the night spent in
work that might have been avoided by a little care in the selection
of the position. When the second line also fails to please, as
is sometimes the case, the remarks of the soldiers are not very
complimentary to the skill and military sagacity of the officer
whose blunder has cost them so much labor and loss of necessary
sleep; and the wish is often expressed that Gen. ---- had the
selection of the position, as his eye never fails to see the proper
place at the first glance.
On the morning of the 19th our brigade moved to Peach Tree
Creek, in support of the First and Third Brigades, while they
attempted to cross the stream. This they did handsomely in the
face of a heavy fire, forcing the enemy to abandon a strong
line of works--possessing them so hastily as to capture a
lieutenant-colonel, several line officers, and nearly an entire
regiment in the trenches. This, in high military circles, is
regarded as one of the most brilliant achievements of the campaign,
and reflects the highest credit on the noble men by whom it was
accomplished.
While the First and Third Brigades were engaged in converting the
rebel works just gained by their valor into Federal defenses, our
brigade, under Gen. Hazen, was employed in constructing two bridges
for the artillery and wagons to cross upon. After dark we passed
over and relieved the troops in the front line, after a hard and
exciting day's work, which was attended, however, with but little
loss. On the next day our division was relieved from this portion
of the line by Newton's Division, of the Fourth Army Corps, and
moved some ten miles to the left, on the north side of Peach Tree
Creek, and, for the first time in a long while, enjoyed the luxury
of a quiet night's rest--there being troops in our front, which
relieved us of any fears of a night attack.
On the 21st we advanced to Peach Tree Creek, built a bridge and
crossed, soon after which we came up with the enemy strongly
intrenched. Our column halted, formed line of battle, and began
throwing up defenses in front. This, however, was done under a
sharp fire, and before our works were completed several men of
my now greatly-reduced regiment fell. We occupied this position
till the next day, when we found the enemy had decamped, Sherman
having rendered such a movement on their part a necessity. Gen.
Wood ordered us to advance at once, adding that we must throw out
a strong line of skirmishers, move on, and stop for nothing till
we had reached Atlanta; and had we been able to carry his order
out, we should have been ere nightfall possessors of the Gate
City. There was one difficulty in the way, however--the enemy was
unwilling that we should do so, and had only left one line of
works to occupy another stronger one, behind which they thought
themselves more secure from the encroaching Yankees. I was ordered
to move the Sixth forward as skirmishers, and did so till we came
upon the enemy strongly intrenched, and established our picket line
in close rifle range of the enemy. This position I held till our
battle line advanced, during which time the rebels gave my line a
most terrific shelling; but this was no novelty to the brave boys
of the Sixth; they swerved not for a moment, and before the sun
went down the line of our brigade was strongly intrenched, our
batteries in position, and hurling their deadly volleys upon the
lines of the foe, and upon Atlanta itself.
Now, for the first time since the campaign began, the Sixth
Kentucky was permitted to rest for a season. Our boys dug pits in
the ground to protect themselves from the shells and minie balls
which the enemy distributed profusely, waiting anxiously for the
fall of the city which had been the object of so much labor and
suffering, but which seemed to be in our grasp at last. Here we
remained, with but little change in our position, and that an
advanced one, for over three weeks; and yet, as the fox-hunters
say, we were not in at the death; for, on the 21st of August, I
received orders to report the regiment to Gen. Rosseau, at Decherd,
Tenn., having been transferred from the Fourth Army Corps to the
Twentieth.
During the time we were in front of Atlanta, we were almost
constantly under the enemy's fire, both musketry and artillery.
Our lines were in an open field, while those of the rebels were in
the timber on the opposite side, the pickets from each side being
advanced into the open field, and at close range, especially after
we had driven them from their first line of forts and occupied them
ourselves.
Though enjoying comparative rest when contrasted with our toils
on the march, we were by no means idle; we were engaged in picket
duty, in building and strengthening our defenses, skirmishing, and
making demonstrations against the enemy; and toward the close of
our stay, when our works were completed, we drilled twice a day in
an open field, within range of rebel sharp-shooters.
In obedience to General Orders of the War Department, I made
application for Companies A, B, and C to return to the rear
preparatory to being mustered out of service, as the regiment will
have served three years on the 1st of October--and that, too,
in the front, from Shiloh to the Gate City of the sunny South;
but, for want of being mustered at the proper time, they will
have to serve till the 23d of December, 1864. I requested that
the remaining seven companies should be sent to Eminence, Ky.,
where they were partly organized, to watch after the notorious
rebel Jessee, and his gang. This, however, was not granted; but,
as already stated, we were transferred to the Twentieth Army
Corps, to report at Decherd, Tenn. On the 23d of August we reached
Chattanooga, and I turned over the command to an officer who
certainly did not owe his place in the regiment to his faithful
discharge of duty; for he knew little, practically, of the dangers
through which it had passed, not being with it in the campaign
in which it had played so distinguished a part. The regiment was
drawn up in line, and I returned thanks to officers and men for the
faithful discharge of their duty in the campaign against Atlanta,
and referred to the imperishable record they had made. Cheers arose
all along the line; scarcely a man in the regiment was silent; and
never shall I forget this warm expression of their confidence and
regard. To my own company, in particular, I feel deeply indebted;
to them I owe the position I occupied through the most remarkable
campaign of the war; and with them I shall remain, if life be
spared, till we reach home again. The day for our return is not
far distant; but O, how few of those who started with me, nearly
three years ago, will return! Many parents will weep over sons,
and wives over husbands, who will return no more; but they died
in a holy cause, and have left a name which those who mourn their
loss may cherish with pride. During the campaign against Atlanta
alone the regiment lost, in killed and wounded, fifty-eight out of
one hundred and forty who were engaged; and when mustered out the
ranks will be thin, the numbers few. Not many regiments have seen
harder service than ours--none have borne themselves more nobly;
and I cherish the thought that my little book may be useful to the
historian of the war in Georgia and Tennessee, as the record of the
doings of the noble Sixth Kentucky.
I regret my inability to give a full list of the losses sustained
by the regiment; a few names, however, which now occur I will
mention. Lieut.-Col. Cotton was killed at the battle of Stone
River, on the 30th of December, 1862. Adjutant Middleton died in
the hospital--an accomplished Christian gentleman, and soldier
brave and true. Orderly-Sergeant W. H. Harper was badly wounded at
Chickamauga; and among the killed of my company were Sergeant G. W.
Lindsey, James Downs, and John H. Hall. On the 24th of December my
time, and that of my company, will expire; and I trust, ere that
day dawns, that bright-winged, dove-eyed peace, with the olive
twig just plucked off, will return. But if this may not be, I
shall not feel that I am discharged from further duty. The feeble
efforts I have made in my country's cause have been made freely; I
regret not the wounds I have received, or the cruel imprisonment I
have endured; and if peace, an honorable peace, be not obtained,
I am willing to pass through yet greater perils that my country
may triumph. That triumph will come at last, I can not doubt; the
justice of our cause and the spirit of our soldiers assures me of
this. We have met with defeat and disaster on some occasions, it
is true; yet our cause has ever been advancing. We have had many
cases of individual suffering, and yet those who have suffered
most have never despaired. Amid the privation and starvation of
Libby Prison I never found any who regretted the part they had
taken in this struggle, or who for a moment doubted the glorious
result. As Paul and Silas sang praises at midnight in the recesses
of the Philippian jail, so did they nobly bear all they suffered,
sustained by the firm conviction that the cause in which they had
periled all was a just one, and would prevail at last.
And now, reader, we must part; and if I have awakened in your
breast a stronger sympathy for the soldier in the field, and the
captive in prison, we have not met in vain. Should peace speedily
come, you may conclude that I have turned the sword into the
plowshare; but if the war must go on, you may safely conclude that
I am a soldier for the Union still.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example,
worn out, worn-out; inclosed; reënforced; intrenched; hights; tyros.
Pg 7, 'Across the Chattahooche' replaced by 'Across the Chattahoochee'.
Pg 88, 'all the route' replaced by 'all along the route'.