THE SECOND DAY AT CHICKAMAUGA
"Deck!"
"Artie!"
And the two brothers rushed into each other's arms, while Colonel Lyon
stood by, his face full of joy over the return of his son. Artie had
told the story of Deck's capture, and both he and the colonel had felt
almost positive that they would not see the major again for a long while
to come, and perhaps never again.
"Yes, I've had a very fortunate escape," said Deck, as he shook his
father's hand. "I wouldn't be here at all were it not for Tom
Derwiddie."
"Tom Derwiddie?" queried Artie.
"Yes. Don't you remember him--the Confederate soldier I assisted at the
burning cotton mill?"
"And you met him?" put in Colonel Lyon.
"I did. I was placed in his charge for a few minutes, and he very
accommodatingly gave me his pistol, freed my hands, and let me knock
him down," continued the major, with a laugh, and then told his tale in
detail.
"Well, you are more than lucky," said Artie, when he had finished.
"Finding Ceph was worth a good deal, eh?"
"It was worth as much as escaping," answered Deck, and he stroked the
noble steed affectionately. "I wish you could tell your story, too, old
boy!" And Ceph gave him a poke with that nose of his. It seemed as if
the steed did most of his talking with that nose.
Others had gathered around, Captain Life Knox, Sandy Lyon, and Uncle
Titus, and Deck's story had to be retold to them. In the meantime he was
served with a hot supper, and later on, given the means to change his
wet clothing for dry.
"You ought to have something to tell the general," said Titus Lyon to
him. "Of course you kept your eyes and ears open while you were over
there."
"No, Uncle Titus, I didn't. I promised the fellow who assisted me to say
nothing, and I intend to keep my promise. But I wish I could have
collared that Captain Brentford, and brought him along."
The Riverlawns were encamped at the foot of a hill not far from Crawfish
Springs. It was a fine place for a camp, and many of the privates were
already sleeping soundly. Soon Deck and his relatives and friends
retired, only the pickets being kept awake. In spite of his adventures,
the major slumbered soundly, and did not arise until the Sabbath dawn
was well advanced.
It was felt by both sides that the morrow would tell the tale of defeat
or victory, and all night long Generals Rosecrans and Bragg were busy
arranging their plans. The former could get no reenforcements worth
mentioning; but to the Army of Tennessee were now added reenforcements
under General Longstreet, who arrived shortly before midnight, to assume
personal charge of the corps temporarily commanded by Hood. A rough
estimate of the troops on both sides at this time places the number of
Unionists at fifty-five thousand, as against nearly seventy thousand
Confederates. But what they lacked in numbers, the Army of the
Cumberland made up in position, for they occupied higher ground than
their opponents--something of great strategic importance, as we will
soon see.
It must be confessed that General Rosecrans's troops were all but
exhausted. Every soldier, excepting two divisions, had been thrown into
the fight on Saturday, and every division had marched and countermarched
until some of the infantry hardly knew whether they had feet or not. On
the other hand, Bragg had three divisions and three brigades who had not
participated in the battle, and who were thus fresh in every sense of
the word.
The battle was again to be for the Lafayette road and the mountain gaps
near it--the gateway to Chattanooga and the East. The centre of the
field was the farm owned by a man named Kelley. The battle front of the
Unionists ran around the northeast corner of the farm, across the
Lafayette road and to the southwestward. The firing line was more
compact than on Saturday, two brigades of each division being placed in
front, with the third brigade behind, in reserve. At the left of the
line was Baird, with Johnson, Palmer, and Reynolds following, in
something of a semicircle. South of this semicircle lay Brennan and
Negley, with Davis and Sheridan guarding the vicinity of the Widow
Glenn's--still Rosecrans's headquarters. As before, the cavalry was
stationed at both ends of the line, although the larger portion remained
between the Chickamauga and Crawfish Springs, to do regular duty and
also help guard the field hospital previously mentioned.
Bragg's forces overlapped those of Rosecrans's both on the right and the
left. Opposite to Baird was Breckinridge, who had just come up, with
Armstrong, Pegram, and Forrest overlapping the Unionists' left wing.
Next to Breckinridge came Cleburn, Steward, Johnson, and Hindman's
battery. Behind Johnson lay Law and Kershaw, with Cheatham and Walker
still further back, on the right; while Gracie, Kelly, and Preston were
to the rear on the left.
During the night the Army of the Cumberland was not idle, even though a
majority of the soldiers slept soundly. The pioneers were out in force,
with the Engineering Corps, and many barricades of trees, logs, and
brush were piled up, along with sods and loose rocks. The Confederates
heard the ringing of axes and the crashing of timber as it came down,
but could do nothing toward stopping the construction of these defences.
Sunday morning dawned with a heavy fog filling the valleys--a fog so
dense that the mountains were shut out, giving the battle-ground, from
every point of view, the appearance of a ghostly plain. This fog did not
begin to lift until nine or ten o'clock. Bragg had given Polk orders to
begin the battle, but minute after minute passed and the Confederate
leader sat impatiently astride of his horse, waiting in vain for the
sounds of the conflict.
"What is the matter with Polk,--why in common sense doesn't he do
something?" General Bragg is reported to have said, and started off for
the right wing personally. He found Polk absent from the field and no
preparations being made to attack Baird. As the fog lifted, he saw how
his right overlapped the Union left, and how the Rossville road was thus
left open, and Breckinridge and Cleburn were given orders to advance
without delay.
In the meantime Thomas had ordered Negley to reenforce Baird. But only
one division could be spared, which was rushed to the scene with all
possible speed, and that was all the support the left flank received.
At half past nine the battle was on, Breckinridge and Cleburn coming
swiftly onward with a ringing yell, to meet a sturdy resistance from
Baird and Beatty's division of Negley's brigade. The contest was fierce
from the very opening, and for a while it looked as if the left flank
would be completely annihilated and Baird's command made prisoners. But
regiments and divisions under Johnson, Stanley, and Vandever were
hurried to the scene, and, suffering heavily, Breckinridge was thrown
back, with two generals killed and his chief of artillery mortally
wounded.
By this time the battle had extended down the line, and now Cleburn,
Walker, Cheatham, and others became involved. The artillery on both
sides were pouring forth shot, shell, and canister at a fearful rate,
and whole lines of brave infantry were mowed down like blades of grass.
With the repulse of the Confederates' right the hopes of the Unionists
ran high, but when victory seemed almost assured, a grave blunder at
the Union centre brought fearful disaster to the Army of the Cumberland.
Receiving an order to close up to Reynolds, Wood took it to mean that he
was to fall back in support, and he left the Union centre to do this.
The gap was quickly filled by Longstreet, and thus the right and left
wings of the Army of the Cumberland became separated, and henceforth two
battles ensued instead of one, on ground from a half a mile to one mile
apart. To the east of Kelley's Farm and the Lafayette road were Baird,
Johnson, Palmer, and Reynolds, still in their old semicircle, while to
the westward of the road was a jagged, but unbroken, line composed of
nearly all the other troops. The Confederate forces lay scattered in
several directions, but principally in front of both of the positions
mentioned.
The disaster to the centre, followed by a determined attack on the
right, was more than the Union troops could bear, and they were forced
to give up ground, until another stand was taken, as described above. In
the meantime, Thomas was in ignorance of the state of affairs on the
right, yet he soon discovered that he was fighting more than his share
of the enemy on the left. He had massed his artillery on the slopes of
Missionary Ridge, and now he withdrew from his breastworks of trees and
dirt, and took up a position here. To get to the ridge was no easy work,
and the slaughter counted up into the thousands upon both sides.
A pause in the tide of battle followed. Like two giants the armies faced
each other, getting their "second wind," and speculating on how to
proceed next. Thomas held the ridge and the Confederates were bound to
drive him from it and shatter his forces. It was two o'clock and assault
after assault was made, lasting until sundown. At times the Confederates
would gain a slope or a minor ridge, but a Union division or a brigade
would rush upon them and dislodge them, or a battery would literally cut
them to pieces. The charges were truly magnificent, but Thomas and his
forces stood like so many rocks, and could not be dislodged. At sundown
the attacks ceased, and it was well that this was so, for many of the
Union troops were short of ammunition. In some cases the latter attacks
were repulsed solely with bayonets and clubbed muskets.
With the coming of night, it was deemed advisable to have Thomas's
forces withdraw in the direction of Chattanooga, and this plan was
carried out, although not without additional fighting, in which a few
men were lost and a large number of infantry were made prisoners. By
this movement the Army of the Cumberland was again reunited, and stood
once more as a wall between General Bragg and Chattanooga.
When Major Deck Lyon awoke in the morning he found the encampment of the
Riverlawns submerged in mist so thick it almost appeared as if it was
raining. Major Tom Belthorpe and Captain Artie Lyon were already astir,
and the three gathered together, to talk over the situation.
They were not, however, left alone long. Colonel Lyon had already been
moving around, surveying the "lay of the land," and had made the
discovery that a large portion of the enemy had crossed the Chickamauga.
While an early breakfast was being eaten, orders came to march the
regiment up to a position midway between the creek and the hospital on
the field.
The road ran for some distance parallel with the creek, with short
brush on one side and a sparse growth of trees on the other. It was
uneven and the cavalry had torn it up considerably.
The first battalion was well in advance, when, without warning, a
regiment of the enemy poured down on them from the woods. The first
intimation of the proximity of the Confederates was a round from four
companies, which tore through the ranks of Captain Artie Lyon's command,
killing three and wounding twice as many more.
Without waiting for orders from the colonel, who was riding in the rear,
watching Major Truman's battalion, Major Deck Lyon called a halt, and
swung the first and second companies into position. "Take aim--fire!"
was the command, and the bullets clipped hither and thither through the
trees. One Confederate was thus taken unawares and the whole regiment
brought to a halt.
But though repulsed, the enemy did not halt long. In less than a minute
the Confederate colonel gave the command for nearly his whole regiment
to advance, and the leading companies came out of the timber on the
double-quick. A portion of them fired again at the first battalion of
the Riverlawns while the remainder reserved their ammunition for Tom
Belthorpe's four companies.
Colonel Lyon now galloped up and looked inquiringly at his son. "Deck,
what does this mean?"
"We are caught, father, that is what it means," answered the major. "If
you will allow me to say so, I think we had best re-form behind yonder
brush."
"I will take your advice, for you have felt the enemy," said Colonel
Lyon, and lost not an instant in giving the necessary orders. By the
time the shelter of the brush was gained, the firing line of the
Confederates was fairly well defined, and the colonel placed his own
men, four companies abreast, and two companies deep, with the second
half of the second battalion and the second half of the third battalion
in reserve. Ten sharpshooters from Captain Life Knox's command and an
equal number from Captain Ripley's company were detached, to make a
detour and learn the true fighting force of the body thus suddenly
encountered.
The Confederates had advanced as far as the edge of the woods. Between
this and the road lay a small patch of grass, so that the cleared space
between the brush and the first row of timber was a little over a
hundred feet. The brush was heavy along the road, and the first row of
the Riverlawns, dismounted, were as close up to this natural defence as
possible.
The open space disturbed the Confederate colonel and he hardly knew
whether to trust a rush across it or not. But, finally, he gave the
order, and four of his companies came on, spread out in a skirmish line.
They fired as they came, and received a sharp fire in return. At the
brush they hesitated, and while doing this, received a volley from the
Riverlawns behind.
"This is going to be warm work!" observed Major Belthorpe to Deck, as he
galloped up on his black charger. "That fellow must have a good reserve
force somewhere back there."
"Ripley and Knox have found them, that's certain," answered Deck, as a
rattle of guns came from the sides of the enemy. "We'll soon get their
report."
At that instant Colonel Lyon dashed up.
"There are but eleven companies of them," he said. "I think by a rapid
dash to the north we can turn their flank and either make them retreat
or surrender."
"Let us make the move then," said Belthorpe, and Colonel Lyon gave the
orders. Soon the Riverlawns were in rapid motion, to the Confederates'
surprise, and likewise their bewilderment.