The Great Kennesaw route gazette. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1886-1886, July 01, 1886, Page 4, Image 4

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4 cers I learned that rebel infantry had been seen moving out of Atlanta and towards the left Hank of the Seven teenth corps, and they feared the ene my was trying to get in the rear of the armv, or was feeling for the break in the line, with the hope to cut off the Sixteenth corps. I at once returned to Gen. McPnerson with this inf<_ rota tion, finding him just where I had left hirv. “ Immediately the General started, accompanied by myself, to look over the gap between the two corps, and with the intention of asking Gen. Lo gan for a brigade of his corps (which was in reserve), to till the position. The only road which it was possible to travel, in order to reach Gen. Giles Smith’s command without making a lengthy detour to the rear and cross ing a number of ravines and streams, ran nearly in prolongation of the line of battle of the Sixteenth corps. The General and staff had passed over this road in the early morning, again short ly before 12 o’clock, it had been passed over constantly by the troops of our army with safety since the early dawn of the 224, and ten minutes prior to the General’s death I hail ridden rap idly over the same road, to and from Gen. Blair- command without being tired at. I accompanied Gen. McPher son on this road 350 or 400 yards from the open fields and until we had gained about the center of the gap between the flanks of the two army corps. The General suddenly checked his horse and left the road, looking the road over carefully to the south of it, and follow ing some distance a ridge which ran parallel to the road, and which he said was an excellent position for our troops. Upon returning to the road again the General stopped, and sent me back to Gen. John A. Logan with the last order he ever gave, and probably it was the last time he ever spoke to any one, unless to his Orderly. The sub stance of this order was, to ask Gen. to send Wangelin’s brigade of AVood’s di vision, which had been held in reserve near the Augusta Railroad, to throw it across the gap and connect the same with the Hank of the Six teenth and Seventeenth corps, thus making the line continuous I was to guide the brigade to the point indi cated, show it where to form, and then return and join the General at Giles Smith’s command. W hen McPherson had given me this order he dashed up the road towards the left of the Seven teenth corps as rapidly as his horse could earn him, and by the time he could have ridden 150 yards he was killed by the bullets of the enemy’s ad vance lines.” When returning, after executing Gen. McPherson’s order, Gen. Strong says: “When within two hundred yards of the timber, 1 saw McPnerson’s horse staggering about and evidently wound ed. The saddle and equipments bore the marks of three bullets, while the horse himself was struck in three places. About the time 1 reached the horse a wounded soldier came out of the woods near by accompanied by another sol dier, unhurt, who seeing me, asked if I was an officer of McPherson’s staff. I returned an affirmative reply, when he informed me that the General wa« dead, and that they had a few r minutes previous left his body in the woods. To corroborate their statement, they gave into my hands an empty pocket book, a knife, bunch of keys, and a number of other articles, which J at •once recognized as belonging to Mc- Pherson. The wounded soldier was George Reynolds, Company D, 15th lowa Infantry, and the other was Joseph Sharland, 64th Illinois In fantry. THE GREAT KENNESAW ROUTE GAZETTE. “They volunteered to guide me to the spot where the General’s body was then lying, but said it wouid be impossible io get to it from that direction, that we would have to go back and go by the road. I immediately retraced my steps, accompanied by these two sol diers, and soon reached the open field where Gen. Wangelin’s brigade was still in position awaiting orders. Here I met a member of McPherson’s staff, Capt. I). C Buel, Chief Ordnance officer, who volunteered to make the attempt with me to recover our Gen eral’s remains. We secured a four mule ambulance for that purpose, and proceeded without delay to the road through the woods, up which the Gen eral was riding when killed. The fir ing on this road had ceased at this time, and we resolved to make a dash in with the ambulance and bring off the body, if possible. Our party con sisted of Captain Buel and his Order ly, myself and Orderly (George Tay lor, Co. I)., 12th Wisconsin), George Reynolds, Joseph Sharland and the driver of the ambulance (name giot known to me). Reynolds and Shar land rode in the ambulance. We dashed in on this road as fast as our horses would carry us, and were soon near the point where Reynolds thought the body lay. The ambulance was turned quickly about, and the mules j. - . KIJ i I ' it , Twl J 8 M C FFERSON \ A ( _ - - .... _ 1. J i ' : fAtAA’ McPherson’s Monument. Erected At Clyde, Ohio. headed out. Buel and 1 dismounted, our Orderlies holdi g our horses. Buel and Sharland, revolvers in hand, walked down from the ambulance some yards, and promised to watch the road, and protect the ambulance with their lives. George Reynolds, weak and faint though he was from loss of blood, guided me through the dense thicket and underbrush straight to the spot where McPherson fell. “Thirty-five or forty yards from the main road we came upon the General’s prostrate form, cold in death. He was lying on his back, his head resting on a blanket which Reynolds had previous ly placed there, his hat, watch, sword belt and field-glass were missing, and the book which he carried in the side pocket of his blouse, and which con tained memoranda, papers and tele grams, was also gone. His buckskin gauntlets had not been removed and a diamond ring of great value still re mained on the little finger of his left band. Raising the body quickly from the ground and grasping it firmly un der the arms, I dragged it, with such assistance as Reynolds could offer, through the brush to the ambulance, and w ith the aid of the other members of our party, deposited it therein, after which we went out as we had come in, ‘on the keen run.’ But when we had gained the open field, the ambulance was stopped, and the General’s remains were placed in a proper position, his limbs being straightened, his arms folded over his breast, and his head tightly bandaged, and supported by a folded blanket. Thus we carried to Gen. Sherman’s headquarters at the Hurt House all that remained to earth of the gallant soldier and beloved com mander of The Army of the Tennes see.” In describing the evacuation of At lanta by his troops, which occurred early on the morning of November 16th, Gen. Sherman says of himself and staff: “We rode out of Atlanta by the Decatur road, filled by the marching troops and wagons of the Fourteenth corps; and reaching the bill, just outside of the old rebel works, we .naturally paused to look back upon the scenes of our past battles. We stood on the very ground whereon was fought the bloody battle qf July 22d, and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind us lay At lanta, smouldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in air, and hanging like a pall over the ruined city.” Some nine years ago, when head quarters department of the South was in Atlanta, and Gen. Roger in com mand, the officers determined to place a suitable memorial on the spot where McPherson was killed. The spot was accurately located and sufficient ground obtained from the owner upon which to erect the memorial. From an ac count of a visit to the memorial, writ ten by Major Sidney Herbert, eight years ago, we extract the following: “Recently, I paid a visit to this once battle-scarred locality. Along the main road, as we neared the place, could still be seen the earthworks used by the Confederate forces, in defense of Atlanta, in July, 1864. The nu merous wood-crowned ridges in that vicinity, suggested to a military man, that contending armies meeting there, would be likely to do bloody work for each other. When we reached the spot, the morning sun was shining with genial warmth, and it was near the hour at which Gen. McPherson fell. Nature has made it a lovely place, and now that art has placed there its me morial to chivalry, its attractions will draw many visitors in that direction. Mingled with an undergrowth of oak I and maple, many waving pine trees throw their shade over the open space within which the memorial stands. The enclosed lot is about ten feet square, and is surrounded by a neatly ornamented iron fence, the pickets be ing single gun-barrels with spear-head tops, and the corner-posts composed of a cluster of gun-barrels surmounted with a conical-shaped ornament. This fence is placed upon a solid stone foun dation, and is painted black, as is also the cannon and presents a very hand some appearance. In the center of the lot is a granite base, some five feet : square and eighteen inches high, from the center of which rises the grim ■ ‘twenty-four-pounder,’ in the mouth of which is a cannon ball. The hill-side i road, along which Gen. McPherson was riding when killed, passes within two or three feet of the enclosure, while the more traveled road, which crosses it at this point, is some twenty -or thirty feet distant. On the side of- the granite base, fronting this latter road are the raised letters —‘McPher- son’ —no other inscription being deem ed necessary.” Beside this appropriate memorial th we has been erected in Washington, I). C., in McPherson Square, a grand equestrian statute of the General, and at Clyde, Ohio, near the grave in which he lies buried, has been erected a handsome monument, an illustration of which, as well as of the memorial near Atlanta, we give, in connection with this tribute to his memory. Tlie Great Horseshoe Bend. Between Allatoona and Cartersville, and very near the latter point, is the great horse shoe bend of the Wes tern and Atlantic Railroad. The Western and Atlantic, running north ward, emerges from the Allatoona Mountains and makes a bend in al most the exact shape of a horseshoe which is nearly one mile long from one end to the other, the mountain pass being at the southern end and the Western and Atlantic’s iron bridge over the Etowah River at the other end. Passengers crossing the bridge, or emerging from the mountains respect ively, frequently look across the nar row neck of land which separates the two ends of the horseshoe bend and ask the train men, or others, what other railroad that is that runs parallel to theirs, and express some surprise when informed that it is the same railroad and that this is merely a big bend of it. It is interesting to know that one of the principal engineering reasons as signed for making this great bend, through what appears to be almost a level plain, was to secure an easy grade. It is said that had a short cut been taken from the bridge across the Eto wah to where the road penetrates the mountains on the south the grade would have been double the thirty-five feet per mile which it now is. It can readily be seen, therefore, that there was wisdom displayed in making the great horseshoe bend. The Western and Atlantic Railroad runs through the wild and picturesque scenery among the Allatoona Moun tains after going northward through Allatoona Pass. There are few more charming spots in the south, if you take the rugged and striking landscape into considera tion. A wild country this is to travel through in a palace car in times of peace. How impressive, therefore, it must have appeared to the tens of thousands of soldiers who fought and flanked each other through this coun try in the days of ’64! Marietta has superb hotels and board ing houses, a fine livery stable, splen did drives, beautiful scenery, pure water, glorious atmosphere; and is on ly twenty miles from Atlanta, with about half a dozen trains per day each way. I he Kennesaw Route is the shortest.