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— ,< ? F ■ If- 3 , ■, * WaQZEB -J m i -J 7 ''i.• ! | s ~^- s> view Os KWMesAv V V v« J J J 'xJJ'2-^— —, (q*-ALLBTi Njj) 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- • ■■ i L. . ■ I t ■ -.jA! K ’ll- <zwraSE£BM ALLATOONA PASS, W. AND A. R. R. ATLANTA, CA., FEBRUARY 15, 1889. - >h - <*Z7 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 .* - C 1 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.