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- % - VIEW OF KENNESAW MOUNTAIN FROM THE REDOUBT ABOVE ALLATOONA PASS. On the High Hill above the Righthand end of the Western & Atlantic Railroad Embankment, as shown in the Picture, was Stationed the Confederate Battery which Annoyed the Federals so Greatly during the Battle, October 5, 1864. replenish supplies to troops passing there. And as a prominent Confeder ate officer said in a letter to the writer had even the private soldiers known the truth they would have burnt these stores without orders. They would have made it a special object to destroy them, and whether from matches or from their guns they would have obtained the necessary fire. During the battle many of the Con federates threw away their Belgian muskets in exchange for the fine Springfield rifles captured on the field and taken from the prisoners. Some of the United States troops were armed with repeating rifles of Henry pattern, as a number of them were captured and brought away. The old Belgian muskets were gathered up and reported as the trophies of their victory by the Federal commanders; but they carefully omit to enumerate the number of their Springfield and Henry rifles which the Confederates carried away instead'of those gathered up as “trophies.” Arriving at the wagon train, Gen eral Cockrell was ordered on with the division to the Allatoona bridge to capture the block house there and hold the position until General French should arrive, for the latter had re turned to the position where the artil lery was during the battle. There he remained with one battery of artillery and a few men as a rear guard until 4: 30 p. m. During all this interval between the withdrawal of the Confederate forces and 4:30 p. m. not a human being was seen to venture outside the fort, and General French there, in full view of the works, remarked to the officers with him as he turned away from the scene, “Silence like the pall of death rests over Allatoona. It is as lifeless as a grave-yard at mid night.” Os course it may be fairly assumed that the assault being over, the Feder ate were busy ministering to their wounded, and therefore were not run ning around outside their breastworks. But if General Corse’s famous dispatch to Sherman that he “could whip all hell yet” were true in the sense that the average reader would take it, why did his command, while he was in great pain from his wound, permit the Confederates to rest quietly on the ridge in sight of their works from 1 p. m. until nearly 3 p. m., and a single battery to remain in position in their front until 4:30 p. m. with a s mall support, after the division had ]eft for Allatoona bridge/? Why did they not sally out after the confeder ates when (as he reports) “they were driven from every position and finally fled in confusion bearing their dead and wounded ; ” and when he further says, “With a brigade of fresh troops I would have captured French’s entire division.” It is very strange that with such defiance there was at the same time such indifference on the part of his soldiers to pursuing, and, in fact, such indifference to exposing one’s head above the breastworks. One of the leading officers in Cock rell’s brigade in a letter to the writer of this article, says : It was difficult to withdraw, but my men withdrew singly and in squads, under the cover of our fire from the fort on the high ground west of the main fort, and this fire kept the enemy from seeing the soldiers withdrawing. The troops were not demor alized but very mad, —not whipped or cow ed, but mad because withdrawn before they were allowed to make the hist charge and the hand-to-hand combat, in which they all felt they would have been victors, as the enemy could only have fired once as our men leaped on the fort and into the out er trench, while the enemy would have been in a mass on the inside, thick as they could stand. But additional testimony on this point is found in the statement of a countryman by the name of W. M. Denton, who was in the fort with the Federate. He says that during the latter portion of the morning the Fed erate were very much out of heart; they had no water, and could not get it without going down under a heavy fire, and their ammunition was nearly exhausted (this statement is identical with that made to the writer by a prominent Federal officer who was in the battle), that they were on the eve of surrendering when to their surprise the Confederate fire sensibly slackened and gradually ceased. They could scarcely believe the truth when, with their own eyes, they saw the Confed erates give up the assault and with- p"" ........ ... - - life z -* wr ' MKM . a-..-- -a - THE HORSE SHOE BEND AND WESTERN & ATLANTIC RAILROAD BRIDGE OVER THE ETOWAH RIVER. THE KENNESAW GAZETTE. draw from their shelter around the forts, and afterwards march away. It was a mystery to them why, when they themselves had been so complete ly exhausted and disabled, the enemy should retire from the field. The Confederates hastened to gain the Dallas road. Colonel Adaire with his Mississippi regiment and one piece of artillery had destroyed the railroad bridge over the Allatoona creek, and burnt the timbers ready for a new one ; but had failed as yet to capture the blockhouse. General Cockrell order ed the artillery to open on it. After sustaining the fire of the guns for sometime it surrendered. The unin jured men, eighty-five in number, were made prisoners. Their Springfield rifles were appropriated by the Con federates and a corresponding number of old muskets thrown away by the road side. These, of course, increased the number of “trophies” for the Fed erate. General Sherman’s lieutenants were tardy in their movements. The in fantry column moving up from Big .Shanty should have been in Acworth (six miles distant,) by 12 m. and by 2 p. m. in sight of the Allatoona creek block house (3 miles further,) on the Dallas rogd over which the Confed erates passed to New Hope Church. But they moved cautiously, not know ing the movements General Hood was making. In fact, General Sherman, as quoted later, says : “J was dread fully impatient at the slow progress of the relieving column.” The Confederates captured in the battle 205 prisoners, one U. S. flag and the colors of the Ninety-third Illi nois regiment, a number of horses, a good supply of arms, etc. The losses suffered by the two sides are, after all the best evidences of the desperate nature of the struggle They are, as reported, as follows : By the Confederates. Killed. Wounded. Missing, Cockrell’s brigade, 42 182 22 Sears'brigade,*... 37 114 200 Ector’s brigade,.. .. 43 147 11 Staff, 1 122 443 234 Making a grand total of 799. By the Federals. Killed. Wounded. Missing. 142 353 212 Making a grand total of 707. These figures show that each side lost over thirty percent of its number engaged. The Federate claim to have captured 411 prisoners, and that 231 Confeder ates were found dead on the battle field and in the adjoining woods. This claim is not inconsistent with the Confederate reports, inasmuch as a number of those reported wounded by the Confederates during the battle may have died, and some of those re ported as “missing” doubtless were dead, and all of those too badly woun ded to march back to the ambulances, nearly a mile distant, were left in charge of surgeons, as shown elsewhere in this paper, and. of course, fell into the hands of the Federate. The casualties among officers on both sides were remarkable, and are the highest testimony of their dashing and daring leadership. On the Confederate side, Colonel W. H. Clark, of the Forty-sixth Mis sissippi regiment, Scars’ brigade, was killed. He fell, leading his troops near the Federal works, with the bat tie-flag in his hand. He was a gal lant, meritorious and distinguished of ficer. Majors W. F. Carter and O. A. Waddell, of the Missouri brigade, were mortally wounded and soon died. * Sears’ casualty report, made right after the battle, shows 42 lulled, 127 wounded and 256 mis sing. As the figures given above are in General French’s report,* dated a month later, it is pos sible that some of those included in Sears’ list afterward came in and rejoined their commands. 11