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ARMY OPERATIONS I ’■- Zy Mableton A z’X b< DWOtl July 2Q,
ATLANTA CAMPAIGN ■>XX<<XXXX
KINGSTON and ATLANTA XXUZXIL VM ’
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the two regiments and their supports
were terribly cut to pieces or captured,
and commanding officers killed or
badly wounded.*
The struggle over the flag of the
Thirty-ninth lowa regiment was a
thrilling one, the Confederates seizing
the colors and the Federals clutching
the staff. The colors were torn from
the staff in the melee, and afterwards
carried off by the Confederates.
* The following extracts are illustrative of this
struggle :
“It can with perfect propriety be said that in
the assault made by Ector’s and Cockrell’s brig
ades, officers and men, behaved with great intre
pidity, and charged the works in the most heroic
and dashing style; and particularly distinguished
at this time were two young officers, Lieutenants
E. T Freeman and T. H. Cahal, the latter a
member of the personal staff of Lieutenant Gen
eral Stewart. Their conduct was the admiration
of these veteran troops. Both rode up the
mountain side, with Cockrell’s brigade and
Young’s Texans, into the very lines of t e l eder
als, and ttfe bastion fort on the west side of the
railroad cut. Freeman sabered an infantry officer
who was captured and brought out by him, and
his wounds were properly dressed st Freeman’s
instance.”—From letter by Major D. W. Sanders.
“Lieutenant M. W. Armstrong, Tenth Texas,
seized the United States standard from the Fed
erals, and, after a struggle, brought it and the
bearer of it off in triumph.”—General French’s
Report.
General French does "not state whether this
was the flag carried by the 39th lowa or the 93rd
Illinois. Both were taken by the Confederates.
Captain Charles A. Cameron, the surviving
ranking officer of the 39th lowa says in his report
that the Confederates “Chargingus on the double
quick, passed the works and, turning upon our
men in the rifle-pits, killed, wounde 1 or made
prisoner every man remaining but nine. It was
in this charge that the colors of the regiment
were captured, but not until the entire guard
were killed or Wounded ”
In cl osing his report he commends for conspic
uous daring, “the entire color guard, and especi
al y the color sergeant, Charles Armstrong, who
so gallantly defended his flag,”
The Confederates then pushed for- J
ward in the pursuit, and established
themselves close up to the main works, i
—the “star fort,” —especially on the
south side. It is stated that in the
rush upon this fort two of the Confed
erates leaped across the ditch and
scaled the parapet, where they were
captured by the garrison.
In the meantime Sears had made j
his assault on the north of the ridge. I
The formation of his line threw
the 35th and 39th Mississippi regi- '
ments east ot the railroad, and the
36th and 46th Mississippi regiments
and the 7th Mississippi battalion on
the west side of it. All of these,
of course, faced south. He was
successful on his right, but that
portion of his line which advanced up
the slope immediately west of the rail
road, in addition to the fire from a
portion of the Ninety-third Illinois, in
the ditch in front, was subjected io a
deadly enfilading fire from a part of
the Twelfth Illinois in the works on
the opposite side of the railr< ad cut and
repulsed, Col. W. H. Clark of the !
Forty-sixth Mississippi regiment being 1
among the killed..
The works west of them having been
stormed, however, the Federals hastily
retreated from this line next to the rail
road and took refuge in the “star fort.”
Gradually the fire slackened, as no '
one in the works could expose himself
so as to fire without almost certain
death or wounds. The Federals lay
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE.
closely below the inner side of the
western and northern parapets, or in
the ditch immediately surrounding the
fort, and the Confederates could only
wait for an exposed head as a target.
The artillery in the redoubt was almost
entirely silenced by the Confederate
musketry fire, even before its supply of
ammunition was found to be running
low.
The horses for the artillery were kept
in some stables about a hundred yards
down the ridge, north of the fort, and
were captured by the Confederates
and taken off.
One of the Confederate generals in
command says, in a letter to the
writer :
Our men got near to the foot of the fort,
and, by a close fire, made them close their
port-holes and stop using artillery. In this
position we remained for sometime, resting
and waiting to get ammunition f r a final
hand-to-hand struggle in the fort.
Sears’ assault on the east side of the
railroad, however, was not so success
ful. His men had to scale the ridge,
which is everywhere very steep, and
cut by a deep ravine. Under the
murderous fire from the Fourth Min
nesota (450 men),aided by a part of the
Twelfth Illinois (say 60 men) and the
Fiftieth Illinois (267 men), they found
it impossible to climb the abrupt slant
with the entanglement of brush and
briars. A portion of them dashed into
the ravine east of the railroad on the
north side of the ridge and found their
course stopped by the steep bluff, and
that they were furthermore caught by
a cross fire from the Federal works on
the two sides of the ravine. They
here suffered about their only loss in
unwounded prisoners.
Major Edson, commanding the
Fourth Minnesota, thus describes this
incident:
The two regiments of the enemy charged
with much desperation; but were forced
back, excepting small detachments of each
that pushed forward and took shelter in a
narrow ravine near our works, where we
captured eighty prisoners, including one
field and several line officers, with the col
ors of the 35th and 39th regiments Missis
sippi Infantry, and one hundred and twen
ty-three stand of arms.
Lieutenant Colonel William Hanna,
commanding the Fiftieth Illinois and
temporarily here the Twelfth Illinois,
also says of this portion of the fight:
The enemy charged our line three times,
but by the gallan' conduct of the officers
and the cool and c urageous bravery of the
men. thev repulsed them with heavy loss,
our loss being very heavy also, and now
the battle raged.
Colonel W. S. Barry, commanding
the 35th Mississippi, was wounded in
the attempt against the Federal posi
tion on this side of the railroad.
After these repulses of the Confed
erates the Twelfth Illinois and the
Fiftieth Illinois were ordered to double
quick across the railroad cut and rein
force General Corse. This movement
was mistakeu by the Confederates for
an evacuation of that position on the
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