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12 ' . | 'i -.ztL ■ & L.,.- • /MW' '•& fl IN ALLATOONA PASS. General W. H. Young, command ing the Texas brigade was wounded, as were Colonel W. S. Barry, of the Thirty-fifth Mississippi, Colonel J. L. Camp, Fourteenth Texas, Majors C. P. Partin, Thirty-sixth Mississippi, J. H. Mcßeynolds, Ninth Texas, Lem. Purdy, Fourteenth Texas, and R. J. Williams, of the Missouri brigade (regiment not specified). Besides these, eight captains and eleven lieutenants were killed, and eleven captains and twenty-one lieutenants were wounded. On the Federal side Lieutenant- Colonel James Redfield, commanding the Thirty-ninth lowa regiment, was killed and General Jno. M; Corse, commanding the Federal forces in the battle, was severely wounded, Colonels J. E. Tourtellotte, Fourth Minnesota, commandant of the post, and Richard Rowett, Seventh Illinois, commanding the third brigade of Corse’s division, Major Fisher, com manding the Ninety-third Illinois, and Lieutenant-Colonel William Hanna, commanding the Fiftieth Illinois regi ment, were wounded. Besides these the Federals lost five commissioned of ficers killed and nineteen wounded. It is interesting here to note the spir it of the two commanding generals in their official reports, after referring to their losses. General French writes as follows: History will record the battle of Allatoo na one of the most sanguinary conflicts of the war, and when it is remembered that the enemy fought from within their strong redoubts; the desperate deeds of daring per formed by our troops in ove coming so many of the foe, a meed of praise is due to their heroic valor. * * 1 cannot do justice to the gallantry of the troops. No one faltered in his duty, and all withdrew from the place with the regret that General Sherman’s movements—closing up behind us—forbade our remaining longer to force a surrender of the last work. * * ® It is due to the dead, it is just to the liv ing, that they who have no hopes of being heralded by fame, and who have but little incentive except the love of country and the consciousness of a just cause to impel them to deeds of daring, and who have shed their blood for a just cause, should have this little tribute paid them by me. For the noble dead the army mourns, a nation mourns. For the living, honor and re spect will await them wherever they shall be known as faithful soldiers who have for their dearest rights so often gone through the fires of battle and the baptism of blood. General Corse makes the following comment: The gallant dead, whose loss conveys grief to so many households, have left an "imper ishable memory, and the names of Redfield, Blodgett and Ayres must prove as immort al as the holy cause for which they sacri ficed their lives. I saw so many individual instances of heroism that I regret I cannot do them justice, and render the tribute due each particular one. I can only express in general terms the brightest satisfaction and pride I entertain in having been with and amongst them on that occasion. ' Thus a “just cause” animated the soldiers on the one side to go through the “fires of battle and the baptism of blood,” and the names of the fallen on the other side “must prove as immor tal as the holy cause for which they sacrificed their lives.” How thesefigures of speech photograph the consciencious belief of their writers I Yet, which was right? I answer that both were right as God gave them to see the right. And who shall sit on the judgment seat in the forum of conscience but He who is Lord of the conscience? "Will the North, which worships God and “the old flag,” ever concede that it was not the stern est necessity which impelled it to en force its will with the bullet and the torch of incendiarism? No one ex pects that it will. Will the South, through her people, ever concede that it staked life, liberty, property and hon or for a cause which was not right on its merits? If it did its sons would de serve to forfeit the respect and love of their own mothers. *** The writer will digress here for a moment to remark that immediately by the west side of the Western & At lantic railroad track at the upper end of the pass there is the grave j>t a Con federate soldier. - For the THE KENNESAW GAZETTE. track hands have kept it clear of bushes and briars. A neat marble headstone has been placed over it, on which is the inscription : ; AN UNKNOWN HERO. : I He Died for the Cause I I He thought was Right. I It has not been known what was his name; but holy to the writer of this article (who likewise caused the head stone to be put over this grave) is the respect for the cause and the flag for which this hero gave his life, and for his devotion to them which was strong er than love of life, and, animated by this veneration, he has ever taken an interest in seeing that this grave • was cared for. Since he began the preparation of this article, however, on a visit to Allatoona, he was informed by one of its present residents that he had been told shortly after the war by country people, living in the immediate vicin ity, who were there at the time of the battle, that this was the grave of a Mississippi Colonel. He said that two of the people on separate occasions had so informed him. They stated that the Federals had buried the body near where it was found, and that some Confederate prisoners at the time had told them whose it was ; but that after the lapse of some years they had forgotten the name. As Col. W. H. Clark, was the only Mississippi Colonel killed in this battle, these statements would seem to indicate that this grave is the one in which that gallant and accomplished gentle man’s remains have so long reposed. If so it is a neat tribute to his manly worth and loyalty to the cause of his state and section that this grave has been protected almost as holy ground by those who honored his motives and loved him for his heroic death, al though ignorant of his name. “And the blood that flowed from his hero heart, On the spot where he nobly perished, Was drunk by the earth as a sacrament, In the holy cause be cherished. But a handful of dust in the land of his choice, A name in song and story, And Fame to shout with her clarion voice ‘Dead on the Field of Glory ! ’ ” *** As to the Federal garrison’s claims to achievements in this battle we may mention that their reports show that they captured General W. H. Young, who commanded Ector’s brigade. In , ’FS.u A THE SOLDIER’S GRAVE, By the Western & Atlantic Railroad, in Allatoona Pass, fact, General Young was wounded in the battle, went with his command to New Hope Church, obtained leave of absence, and while en-route to New nan, Ga., was captured by a raiding party of Federals, and not at Allatoo na. The truth of this statement is established by the testimony of Gener als French and Young, Major San ders, and other officers of French’s division who are still living.* One of the most striking errors, however, which the Federal writers have perpetrated about this battle is their claim of the great disparity of the numbers under French and Corse respectively. They agree that Corse’s number was 1,944 at Allatoona. But when we con solidate their regimental reports, we find that they understate their own num bers, while vastly over-estimating those of the Confederates. General Corse in reporting his force by regiments and smaller detachments, in every in stance, enumerates only the men, and does not count the officers. Some of his regimental commanders make the same omission. The reports of the regimental commanders of the 7th Illinois, 12th Illinois, 93rd Illinois and 39th lowa regiments show a greater total of officers and men than General Corse’s reports of “men” in each, and he omits altogether to give the number (16 men) of a small detachment of the sth Ohio cavalry, and that manning the six guns of the 12th Wisconsin * General Young, in conversation with a friend of the writer some months ago, confirmed the truth of tiiis assertion, Genera) French made the same declaration to the writer himself, and a let ter from Major Sanders gives the following de tails : “General Young, who commanded the Texas brigade at this time,—General Ector having lost his leg in a previous engagement in that cam paign,—was wounded while leading the Texas brigade in the assault made on the Federal lines west of the railroad cut. He was not captured at Allatoona ; this I recollect distinctly for this rea son : French’s division marched directly for New Hope Church where Hood’s aimy was en camped, and I was left behind with the rear guard to bring up the wounded and stragglers. I remember distinctly that our wounded men in the ambulances were apprehensive that they would be abandoned and left to capture the next day by the Federals. I ordered the ambulances to be kept in front of the rear guard, and all night long we marched, and over the difficult portions of the road the rear guard assisted these ambu lances, and especially across some water courses, and brought off e.very wounded man who was placed in the ambulances, safely to New Hope Church. “The next morning about eleven o’clock I met General Young, wounded in the leg or foot, I have forgotten which, in his headquarters ambulance with his courier. I asked him where he proposed to go, and he said he was going back to Newnan. I observed to him that he would certainly, in the course of a couple of hours, ride into the Federal cavalry, and would necessarily be captured, and I advised him to change his direction and go across the country to Blue Mountain. “Young was a very self-willed man and scouted the idea of his being captured, and continued his journey, notwithstanding this warning, in the direction of Newnan. “He was captured by Garrard’s cavalry, I think, in Tess than three hours from the time I had the conversation with him.