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Vol. IV.
The Story of a Song.
The Western [& Atlantic Railroad
presents the traveling public and its
brother railroad officials throughout
the country, as has been its custom for
some years, a Valentine, uniquely
gotten up on eight pages of bristol
board between antique covers. It is
beautifully illustrated with original
designs and scenes appropriate to the
subject, which is the world-wide song —
“Hold the fort; for I am coming!”
with the story of its origin, written by
Joseph M. Brown, Traffic Manager of
the Western & Atlantic Railroad, and
with whose compliments the Valentine
is presented. We herewith reprint the
Valentine with two of the illustrations:
Ho! my comrades, see the signal
Waving in the sky!
Re-enforcements now appearing,
Victory is nigh!
“Hold the fort; for lam coming!”
Jesus signals still;
Wave the answer back to heaven,
“By Thy grace, we will!”
See the glorious banner waving,
Hear the bugle blow,
In our Leader’s name we’ll triumph
Over every foe.
“Hold the fort,” etc.
Fierce and long the battle rages,
But our help is near;
Onward comes our Great Commander —
Cheer, my comrades, cheer !
“Hold the fort,” etc.
THE STORY OF A SONG.
How true it is that fame does not
flash forth for an instant as the light
ning from the misty sky of unsubstan
tial achievements, but, like the bright
fire kindled and fed by adventurous or
patient hands on the mountain-top,
shoots its ruddy glow, victorious,
through the clouds of arduous toil or
bloody terrors, and like a beacon light
sends its rays down the ages to guide
men to power or thrill them by the
example of glorious deeds performed.
Such a story Allatoona tells to the
world ; and, as she heralds from amid
the clouds of furious battle the valor
of brave men, curiously enough she
links with it the inspiration of a gos
pel song which throughout Christen
dom is the rallying cry of the soldiers
of the army of the Prince of Peace.
The battle of Allatoona, which oc
curred at that station on the Western
& Atlantic Railroad, forty miles north
west of Atlanta, Ga., October 5, 1864,
A. humorous dare-devil—the very man. to suit m.y purpose. Bulweb.
OTJR. “W. and A.. R. R.. VALENTINE ” NUMBER.
has been so often and so fully written
about that we will merely refer to it
briefly.
As is well known, about a month
after the fall of Atlanta, which occur
red September 4, 1864, General Hood
with the Confederate army moved
northward in the direction of Tennes
see, for the purpose of breaking Sher
man’s communications and fore
ing him to abandon Georgia in
order to protect the states of
Kentucky and Tennessee in his
rear. With his main array at
New Hope Church, General Hood, in
the early days of October, sent a por
tion of General Stewart’s corps to de
stroy the Western & Atlantic Railroad
at Big Shanty, Acworth, and points
between. He subsequently ordered
General French’s division of that
corps to move to the railroad bridge
over the Etowah river, near Carters
ville, and destroy it, incidentally di
recting in the order that he “fill up the
deep railroad cut at Allatoona with
logs, dirt, rails, etc.” Hood was alto
gether ignorant of the fact that Alla
toona was strongly fortified, that Sher
man had stored up there about a
month’s supply of provisions for 100,-
000 men, or that there was even a sin
gle soldier there.
When General French, with a por-
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ALLATOONA PASS, W. AND A. R. R.
ATLANTA, CA., FEBRUARY 15, 1889.
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tion of his di
vision, num
bering less
than three
tho u sand
men, arrived
at Acworth on
the evening of
Oct. 4, 1864,
he received ap
proximate! y
correct infor
mation as to
the reaPstatus
of Allatoona
and its defen
ses. Marching
forward, how
ever, through
the intense
darkness o f
the night, he
reached that
point in the
early morning.
About mid
night, howev
er, Gen. John
M. Corse had,
unawares to
Gen. French,
arrived at Al- signal tree, on
latoona from allatoona mountain.
Rome, Ga., with nearly eleven hun'
dred men as re-enforcements for the
garrison, thus swelling its numbers
until there was comparatively little
difference between his own and
French’s. Corse’s coming was in obe
dience to a signal message sent by
General Sherman from the summit of
Kennesaw Mountain “ through the
sky ” over the heads of the Confeder
ate forces to the signal station on a tall
pine-tree on the summit of Allatoona
Mountain just north of the station and
pass of the same name —this being the
only means of communication, since
the Confederates had destroyed the
railroad and telegraph wires between
the two points on the previous day.
Within a couple ot hours after sun
rise, General French, who, with his
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k ~ a
command, had never been there be
fore, having placed his troops in posi
tion around the redoubts on both
sides of the pass and railroad, and
being still ignorant of General Corse’s
arrival, and supposing, therefore, that
he was facing less than one thousand
men, sent Major D. W. Sanders
with a summons for the surrender
of the post and garrison. The Federal
officer to whom the summons was
handed did not find General Corse for
a number of minutes, as he had gone
to the east side of the pass to arrange
for the defense of the fortifications
over there. The General, however,
on receiving it, sat down on a log and
wrote the defiant refusal which has
gone into history. The officer took it
back with him to deliver to Major San
ders, but the latter, after waiting for a
half hour, had concluded that no reply
would be given, and that the Federate
were consuming the time strengthening
their position for the fight, and had
consequently returned to the Confed
erate lines, making this report. The
firing almost immediately commenced.
Thus the Confederates never saw
Corse’s famous reply until they read it
in history.
The result of the battle is well
known. After a most heroic struggle,
which continued for several hours,
during which the Federal outer line of
works was taken by storm, the ammu
nition of the Confederates became ex
hausted. Men were sent back to the
wagon train, which had not arrived,
for a fresh supply. During the lull
which succeeded, they received infor
mation that a large force of Federate,
sent by General Sherman, was ap
proaching in their rear, and that they
would soon be cut off from the main
body of Hood’s array if they remained
at Allatoona.
Compelled, therefore, by the danger
of being caught between two strong
Federal commands, and not beaten in
the combat, the Confederates re
treated by the road leading toward
Acworth, up which the Federal relief
column was also approaching, and suc
ceeded in reaching the road which led
westward to’’ Lost Mountain before
their foes did. Before retiring, how
ever, several hundred of them threw
away the old army muskets with which
they had been armed, and took instead
the fine Springfield rifles captured from
the prisoners or dead in the Federal
advanced line. The muskets which
they threw away, however,were picked
up by the Federate after the battle,
and numbered among their trophies.
The official reports show that the Fed-
NO. 4.