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6 J_~ ——- is ~ - cT 3.-77= - •*-- ■ ! ; 7- g l A. - • - --7 ’ J _ i £u'Jt3U- _ ..JUiiJt ■7 ♦ 7-W -- - 7J|-Jr yjpMfe -wjjlfebiß § ’ aft Ist 1 ' > vt< WMk 7 r ifv z > , Or®. 7 z> ■ BhJ AWB3flMfor ■■■ ;■ ■ - - "JSMWM ; '" ' ‘ ■- yjwJß ■< 3 z IBWBrvk ~ '" ■*' • •-7 BATTLE OF ALLATOONA. Aa Seen from the Confederate Batteries on the South. east by the Federate. A little later Tourtellotte was reinforced by four companies (about 90 men) of the Eighteenth Wisconsin. But previous to this time, however, further over to the east Sears’ left wing found it very difficult to form for the attack on the hill side along the edge of the mill-pond, below the guns of the fort and the line of works extend ing along the crest of the ridge west of it, and, after a gallant charge, which extended along the entire front east of the cut, and which was repeat ed twice, as above shown, they were compelled to give over the attempt. The ridge was too steep and irregular, the entanglement too intricate, and the works on the crest too strong and heavily-manned to admit the possibil ity of success. To have insured success for their attack on the east of the railroad they should have had at least three times as many as the Federate, whereas, on the contrary, the Federate absolutely out numbered them there. Still they held their position near the foot of the hill, and by constantly and energetically menacing Tourtel lotte’s front, forced him after the two Illinois regiments left him, to call to his aid a portion of the Eighteenth Wisconsin regiment, even while Corse was so sorely pressed on the other side of the pass. In the meantime on the west side of the cut, at the star fort, as already no ted, the Federal fire had virtually ceased, as is shown by the following incident: One of General Cockrell’s couriers, named JamesH. Johnson, on his horse, leisurely rode up almost to the works on the northerly side, and sat there unmolested by any one in the fort. This act of the courier was noticed by General French. He could not imag ine what a man on horseback was do ing there under the walls of the fort, sitting on his horse without apparent- ly any object in view, and called the attention of those with him to John son’s position ; and the incident is men tioned here to show that the fire from the garrison at times was entirely silenced, or else they were out of am munition, which is not referred to in any official report.* A Federal officer who was there, in fact, informed the writer that “General Corse brought all the ammunition for his entire division on the train on which he arrived with the 1,054 men, and that the train was then sent back to Rome for the balance of the divi sion, but did not return until the bat tle was over.” On this point, Major Sanders writes: It is true that mounted officers rode around and under the guns of the Federate with perfect impunity, and no shot was fired upon them; in fact, firing from tlie fort at this time was completely silenced. A leading officer in Cockrell’s brig ade, in a letter to the writer of this ar ticle, bears precisely the same tes timony as Major Sanders. He says that General Cockrell himself kept in his saddle and rode around west and northwest of the fort, watching the movements, etc. At a distance of about seventy-five yards from the fort the Gen eral sat on his horse for some time, watching the fort through his field glasses, yet the Federal fire was of such random and scattering character 4- that he was not interfered with, although he could easily have been picked off of his horse, or the horse killed During this time the depots of stores were in possession of the Confederates, and could without doubt have been des troyed, but General French was not aware that it was an army depot of Since the foregoing was put in print the writer of this article has received a letter from Mr Johnson, himself (who now resides in Sikeston, M 0.,) in wh'ch he says, regarding this incident: *‘l remember riding up very close to the fort, though I am not able to say just how many yards it was ; but the distance was short, as I was close enough to tell what the Federals were doing in there.” THE KENNESAW GAZETTE. supplies. As it was some Confederates obtained new outfits of boots, shoes and other articles. Had General French been made aware of the great number of rations in store there he would sure ly have had them burnt at the time when in his possession. He only learned the truth from prisoners after he had withdrawn his forces from the south front. A The ammunition wagons were of necessity left in the road behind the artillery; for the rugged nature of the country prevented the sending of them with the division. About noon the supply of ammuni tion carried into action by the Con federates on their persons, was greatly depleted and, in many instances, entire ly exhausted, and had to be brought in sacks by men detailed for that pur pose, about a mile, over the rough, rocky hills, to be distributed. Just about this period the following ludicrous incident occurred, which, as it points its own moral, is here introduced without further comment: A Confederate having a prisoner with him in the ditch said to him, “Here, Mr. Yank, hand me that gun.” Receiving it, he examined its make. It was a Henry rifle, which, with the improvements, is now known as the W inchester. Raising it to his shoulder he tried it on the first “Yank” he saw; but it would not go off; so he called out, “Here, old fellow, show me how to make this darned thing shoot, and be quick about it, too. The prisoner showed him how the “darned thing” worked, and he soon expended all the cartridges in the cham ber on the enemy. But now, having learned how to “run the machine,” he demanded more cartridges, and, in language more for cible perhaps than polite, insisted that some be obtained from the bodies of the dead that were lying around them. A supply was thus procured; but the “Confed” was now no better off than before ; he could not load the rifle, so, handing it to the “Yank,” he got the chamber filled, and commenced pop ping away at any head th at was shown above the parapet. *** At an early stage in the conflict Gen eral French received by carrier from General Armstrong information that the enemy’s cavalry was moving up tow ards Allatoona; but he did not believe that cavalry could interfere seriously with his plans or render much assist ance to the forces penned up in the forts on the mountain ridge. However, at 12 :15 p. m., a second courier from General Armstrong arriv ed, and handed to General French the following dispatch, written at 9 a. m. : My scouts report enemy’s infantry ad vancing up the railroad They are now entering Big Shanty. They have a cavalry force east of the railroad. The second-dispatch from General Armstrong gave the important inform ation that a second new factor (Gen eral Corse’s command being the first) was about to enter into the fight, and complicate the solution of the problem yet more from the original one. The courier said the column of infantry entered Big Shanty at 8 a. m. To realize the gravity of French’s position at this eventful hour, one should examine the map, and he will see that while French was at Allatoo na, Hood at New Hope and Sherman at Kennesaw, the latter was as near French, with fairly good roads to march his troops over, as Hood was; and in addition that Raum’s cavalry was between Allatoona and the Eto wah River, and that there were gar risons at Cartersville, Kingston, and Rome. Also, that Sherman during that identical morning was in com munication, through his signal corps, with al] these detachments north of