My Days and Nights on the Battle-FieldCoffin, Charles Carleton
History
My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field
Coffin, Charles Carleton
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Campaigns
The Rebels in front are elated. They move nearer, working their way
along a ravine, sheltered by a ridge of land. They load their muskets,
rush up to the crest of the hill, deliver their fire, and step back to
reload; but as often as they appear, McAllister and Dresser and Taylor
give them grape and canister.
The Eleventh and Twentieth Illinois, on the right of Wallace's brigade,
join in the conflict, supporting the brave Logan. Colonel Wallace swings
the Forty-eighth, Forty-fifth, and half of the Forty-ninth round towards
Pillow's brigades, leaving the other half of the Forty-ninth and the
Seventeenth to hold the line towards the Fort Henry road. If you study
the diagram carefully, you will see that this manoeuvre was a change
of front. At the beginning the line of battle faced northeast, but now
it faces south.
There is a ridge between Wallace's brigade and the Rebels. As often as
the Rebels advance to the ridge, Taylor and McAllister with the infantry
drive them back. It is an obstinate and bloody contest. The snow becomes
crimson. There are pools of clotted blood where the brave men lie down
upon the ground. There are bayonet-charges, fierce hand-to-hand
contests. The Rebels rush upon McAllister's guns, but are turned back.
The lines surge to and fro like the waves of the sea. The dying and the
dead are trampled beneath the feet of the contending hosts.
Wallace hears a sharp fire in his rear. The Rebels have pushed out once
more towards the west and are coming in again upon the right flank of
the new battle line. McClernand sees that he is contending against
overwhelming numbers, and he sends a messenger in haste to General Lewis
Wallace, who sends Cruft's brigade to his assistance. The brigade goes
down the road upon the run. The soldiers shout and hurrah. They pass in
rear of Taylor's battery, and push on to the right to help Oglesby and
McArthur.
The Rebels have driven those brigades. The men are hastening to the rear
with doleful stories. Some of them rush through Cruft's brigade. Cruft
meets the advancing Rebels face to face. The din of battle has lulled
for a moment, but now it rolls again louder than before. The Rebels dash
on, but it is like the dashing of the waves against a rock. Cruft's men
are unmoved, though the Rebels advance till they are within twenty feet
of the line. There are deafening volleys. The smoke from the opposing
lines becomes a single cloud. The Rebels are held in check on the right
by their firmness and endurance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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