Kennesaw's bombardment, or, How the sharpshooters woke up the batteries

Preface

It is customary for an author to introduce his book with a preface, and, since

''Man yields to custom as he bows to fate," this book will have to begin with a preface, although it has become necessary to drop out a few shells in order to get it in, the only regret of the "men who were on the mountain top," being that the omission was net made over twenty-five years earlier.

As the reader will readily gather by wading through it, and looking at the pictures, it is intended as a historical novel, — as a view of the panorama which war spread out upon and around Kennesaw Mountain on that "day of thrilling events,"— the historical part of it being as nearly ■correct as it is possible to make it by laboriously and carefully fishing out the facts with a drag-net with pin-hook attachment,— and the fictitious part being as fascinating as the writer's riotous love of sentiment Avill allow. If it be urged by the northern reader that the "sentiment" is all southern, it is a fair reply to say that that was the kind which prevailed on Kennesaw at the date shown in the book ; and the author's intention and determination have been to make the picture a true and characteristic on*^.

In the preparation of this work, there has been the most extensive research, at odd times within the past three years, through official reports, files of daily newspapers published during June, 1864, and correspondence or personal conversations with those who took part in the scenes attempted to be described. All the characters in the book are real ones, except some four or five, and those the reader, whether he has got his "Counterfeit Detector"' with him or not, will doubtless readily pick out.

There are several anachronisms as to dates, none, however, being actually more than three or four days before or after June 23, and the incidents in question are all brought into that day for the purpose of making it illustrate what was practically the everyday experience during the almost two weeks that the Confederate batteries were on the mountain-top.

Of course there had to be a pretty girl in it, or else the novel would not have been a stunning success, no matter whether the bombardment was or not.

Atlanta, Ga., .January 15, 1890.

KEMESAW'S BOMBARDMEA^T,

— OR —

How the Sharpshooters Woke up the Batteries.

Chapter I

It was on the forenoon of Thursday, June 23d, 1864.

A cold, drenching rain had been falling manyhours. The two weeks of wet weather had culminated in a furious thunderstorm; and the past night and this morning had seemed to gather unto themselves almost the terrific grandeur of a tropical tempest. Rain! rain! rain! the forests were dropping it like spray, the hillsides were shedding it in sheets, the creeks were becoming rivers.

But the center of all the elements' fury was Kennesaw Mountain. About its twin peaks the clouds had clustered as though they were a storm magnet. The lightning, which occasionally flashed its dazzling splendors through the blinding darkness of the night, seemed to blaze around the towering crests like a fiery diadem ; the thunder, which rolled forth and reverberated with deafening echoes for leagues around, one could almost imagine was the wrathful shout of the mountain god. How the winds howled! how the rain poured!

Thus through the night the aerial battle had raged ; and with scarcely less fury had it continued until well into^^the forenoon.

At length, as if from the mere exhaustion of the ■elements, a calm hour came on. The rain ceased falling, except now and then a light mist, which, observed fromfthe valley, appeared like a veil to adorn the mountain. Then through a rift in the storm-cloud a golden shaft seemed to dart; and the next instant the mountain top was glorified by a halo of dazzling sun-light. Then the drifting fog enveloped it again, and obscurity was lord for a minute.

But the fresh breeze, which had just sprung up, soon swept away again these ''cobwebs from the sky," and majestic Kennesaw's crown once more towered above the vision for miles around.

Thus alternately the flashing sunlight and the thickly- banked clouds struggled for the possession of the mountain and the surrounding hills and fields. And how similar was this war for mastery of the elements above to that which at the same time was being waged by man below, in which the grandest genius of America was giving direction to the marshalling of the bravest and most intelligent soldiery of the age.

>M

WAKING UP THE B VTTERIES. 7

But now as the storm is breaking, and the first sunshine of a fortnight^ is lighting the sky, let us look immediately upon Kennesaw, for there the initial steps are just being taken which will shortly bring about one of the most thrillingly magnificent yet terrific scenes which America ever witnessed.

For nearly a month Johnston's and Sherman's armies had been fighting with desperate valor in sight of Kennesaw Mountain. New Hope Church, Pickett's Mill, Lost Mountain, Pine Mountain, Gilgal Church, Mud Creek, Noonday Creek, Brush Mountain, once names of mere local note, had now become throughout the land household synonyms for scenes of blood.

The battle front had been successively changed until to-day the Confederate army faced its enemy's almost double numbers with entrenchments which began east of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, thence crossed it, and ran up the long ridge of Kennesaw Mountain, just below the north front of both crests, and, descending its western slant, turned abruptly south, and extended through the valley and over the hills, parallel to the railroad, for some four miles.

Loring's corps (till late that of the Bishop-General

-"The weather is villainously bad.'"— Gen. Sherman to Gen. Thomas, June 18, 1864.

"This is the nineteenth day of rain, and the prospect of clear weather as far off as ever. The roads are impassable, and fields and woods become quagmires after a few wagons have crossed. =:= :•.: ::■- The enemy holds Kennesaw, a conical mountain, with Marietta behind it, and has retired his flanks to cover that town and his railroad. I am all ready to attack the moment the weather and roarls will permit troops and arti'lery to move with anythmg like life."— Gen. Sherman to Gen. Haileck, .June 21. 1864.

Polk, whose tragic death on Pine Mountain had crowned it in the Southland's memory with the immortelles of melancholy,) covered the mountain.

Walthall's division (Quarles' brigade on the right, Cantey's in the center and Reynolds' on the left,) extended from the base up the ridge of Great Kennesaw to the crest, and there met the right brigade (Ector's) of French's division, which descended ta the gap between the two peaks and over the little knob which rises like a hump from the ravine between Great and Little Kennesaw. Ector's brigade also occupied the works from this ravine to the top of Little Kennesaw, thence Sears' was prolonged behind those on the north side of and a little below the summit and partly down the slope on the west, at which point it aligned with Cockrell's Missouri brigade, whose front extended down the ex- , posed slant, across the ravine and over the high hill on the west, to the plain.

It was now well into the morning, and General French, who had come from his headquarters up to the mountain top early after breakfast, had just gotten through with a short consultation with his brigade commanders and some others, who had been afterwards called in, to join an informal discussion over the military situation that day.

Standing by a huge crag near the eastern end of the summit of Little Kennesaw was General French himself, — short in stature, but the ideal of a commander. On his right, on a rock, sat Colonel W. S. Barry, who was in command of the l)rigade of General Sears, who was absent this day because of sickness, and by his side, writing in his note-book, was Major D. W. Sanders, General French's Adjutant-General ; leaning against an artillery caisson in front, examining a map, was the tall form of General Francis M. Cockrell, every inch a soldier; with him stood Lieutenant-Colonel D. Todd Samuels, of the Third Missouri cavalry, and on the other side. Colonel James McCown, of the Fifth Missouri, was reading a memorandum order which had just been handed him by Colonel Elijah Gates, the gallant and popular commander of the First Missouri cavalry, and Cockrell's chief lieutenant.

Standing on the rocky parapet in front of one of the cannon of Hoskins' battery, — whose muzzle faced Pine Mountain, where was now a Federal sisrnal station, — Colonel W. H. Young, of the Ninth Texas cavalry, with a field-glass was surveying the movements of a body of Federal infantry from the vicinity of the Cheatham house on the north toward the mountain.

By his side was Major Geo. S. Storrs, General French's chief of artillery, who had been called by some, "one of the bravest men in the Confederate army," under whose direction the Confederates had planted several batteries on the crest of the mountain. This achievement was one almost wonderful in the boldness of its conception, and the ingenuity and triumj)h over the apparently insurmountable obstacles which nature had placed in the way. The fire from the Federal batteries commanding the slanting end of the mountain, he had found a way to drag the cannon by men with long ropes, — there being two hundred men allotted to each cannon, in performing this task, — up the steep side on the south; and here now, froai behind the monstrous bowlders, or piles of loose stones, they frowned upon the Federal camps and works in the plain and on the hills far below.

These parapets were erected by General Gibson's Louisiana Brigade, which was temporarily attached to French's division, being on this date, with Holtzclaw's Alabama Brigade, in reserve behind the mountain. Of General Gibson and his command Major Storrs said : "The artillerymen thought him a very clever gentleman and his brigade fine soldiers, because all they asked of us was to set the stakes, and then they went energetically at it with picks and shovels, and not only built splendid works, but carried by hand a large amount of ammunition up the mountain and stored it in our extempore magazines, while the artillerymen, except a few to give directions, slept so as to be fresh for the next day."

Of Major Storrs himself the most characteristic description probably was given by one of the artillerymen of Captain Hoskins' detachment on the mountain top, when asked who was in command of that section of Hoskins' battery — the captain himself being in personal charge of that section which was on the hill to the west of Kennesaw. Said he : ''I cannot sav who was in command, unless it was

PLANTING THE GUNS ON KENNESAW.

Major Storrs, who, in person, gave us every order we received on the mountain. He was about as near one of us as could be, and often sighted and directed the movement of the guns. In fact, he was everywhere where things were the warmest. He was over the mountain constantly every day, and I never saw a time anything was being shot away, but what Major Storrs was in sight or near by. Yes, he was a good one, and you could bet everything you had or could borrow on his personal skill and courage. It would take a great deal of space to write up the good soldierly qualities of Major Storrs."

Right behind Major Sforrs and Colonel Young, sitting on a rock and drawing a profile, were Major Gus(J. A.)Shiugleur, the division Inspector General, and Captain Porter, of the engineers, who had both assisted Major Storrs in making an examination of Little Kennesaw before the guns were taken up.

Only a few steps to the left of these, two officers, subordinate in rank, but greatly beloved by officers and men alike, were engaged in earnest conversation. These were Lieutenant Archibald D. Manning, a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher, and Lieutenant F. M. Baker, of the Fifth Missouri infantry, a model officer and Christian.

In front of the parapet, about twenty steps down the mountain side, in the shadow of a tree, was a group of officers and men surveying the prospect below them extending far away on the north and west.

WAKING QP THE BATTERIES. 13

Among these were Colonel W. H. Clark, of the Forty-sixth Mississippi regiment, (Sears' brigade), Colonel J. L. Camp, of the Fourteenth Texas, Colonel T>. Coleman, of the Thirty-ninth North Carolina, Major H. D. E. Redwine, — the latter three belonging to Ector's brigade, and Captain A. J. Booty, of the Fourteenth Texas.

Sitting on a crag, just to the left, were Captain Pat Canniff, brave and shrewd, and Lieutenant J. R. Mothershead, a most gallant officer and exemplary Christian gentleman. These belonged to Cockrell's brigade.

Farther up to the left was a group of artillery officers, among whom was Captain Jno. J. Ward, whose gallantry and wisdom as an officer were matched by his genial disposition and estimable social qualities ; although the crowning trait of his character was his pure Christian love. As was said of him, "he was every inch a soldier, every inch a gentleman." By his side Captain James A. Hoskins was engaged in a jocular dispute with Captain R. H. Bellamy over the relative superiority of the ten-pounder Parrott guns which were in their respective batteries.

"That's very good for bragging," exclaimed Captain C. L. Lumsden, who with Captain Bellamy had left their respective batteries down the west slope of the hill at the end of the mountain, commanding the Burnt Hickory road from Marietta, and come up here in obedience to orders, to join in a consultation with General French and Major

Storrs; "but ray Alabama battery of Napoleons would make both of you jump for cover if I opened upon you."

"Hal ha! wait till you hear from the proprietor of Guibor's Missouri battery," interjected Lieutenant A. W. Harris, of that battery, "and you'll think there's thunder among the mountains."

"Well, the Lord knows we don't want any more thunder among the mountains," exclaimed a private, who was burnishing his gun, "especially if it fetches as much rain as it did last night. Gracious I it seemed like Niagaray Falls, as the Vermont Yankee called 'em, was a pouring down on me, as I stood on picket duty near the foot of the mountain. I think enough water soaked into me to dilute all the whisky I'll drink for a month. I didn't want to stay down there in it five minutes, but the trouble was I had an engagement to stay there all night; and it was like an engagement to be hung, — one which couldn't be dispensed with without danger of serious detriment to the public interest."

"Boys," said Lieutenant Mothershead, who had heard this last remark, "I have been told about being enfolded in the arms of Morpheus; but last night all of us were enfolded in the arms of the thunderstorm. Why, our tent was worth no more than a veil. The clouds rolled against it so thick that you could feel them with the hand; the rain beat in like it was coming through a sieve, and, to cap it all, a gust of wind came howling along and tore it entirely from the pins on one side. Just then the lightning seemed to set the whole moun" tain on fire, and the peal of thunder that followed is almost roaring in my ears yet."

"Well, there's some consolation about it all," exclaimed Captain Canniff, "if another flood comes it will drown the Yankees first; or it will make them come up here and surrender to us. Just imagine old Sherman's hundred thousand men climbing up the mountain to surrender to our division ! "

"How did you say General Sears was?" asked General French of Colonel Barry, as they and several others walked by the group of artillery officers toward the west.

"I received a note from his headquarters only an hour ago," was the reply, "and he is reported a little better this morning."

"Well, I am glad to learn that," said General French, "but did I understand you to say that he has established his headquarters down yonder in the valley at the base of the mountain which he will have to climb?"

"Yes, sir," answered Colonel Barry, "he is down there. You know General Sears comes from Mississippi where there is not much mountain climbing."

"But," said General French, "location and accessibility to his brigade are a necessity. Send word to him that as soon as he recovers he had better move his headquarters nearer the line, the mountain is so inaccessible."

"All right. General," responded Col. Barry,

KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT.

"and as I am just sendiDg my morniDg report down to him, I will add that such is your wish in the matter."

Turning to a sergeant who was with him he wrote a note and handed to him with orders to take the papers to General Sears.

Chapter II

"Say, Colonel," exclaimed a North Georgia mountaineer, named Partridge, to Col. Young, "what do you make out of that body of Yankees down there in the field, near the railroad? Don't you think we could creep down ihe mountain, and get the range of 'em, and make 'em behave 'emselves?"

"Yes," answered the colonel, "they seem to be making observations ; and it might be well to run them behind cover. Suppose you sharpshooters get down among those crags yonder, and try them."

"Well, we're the chaps to do it," sang out a Texan.

''Love is love and beauty's beauty; But killing Yanks, ah! that is duty."

sang out a couple of others ; and then the word was passed along the line that the sharpshooters would have the privilege of entertaining themselves for the next hour or two without restraint.

There were nearly tw^euty of these who were picked men, — selected for fine marksmanship, and furnished with good Whitworth^ and Enfield rifles,

"•■'We had a corps of sharpshooters, howeyer, perhaps the most expert in the army. They were armed with the Whitworth rifle— an English gun with a tele'scope on the side. This gun was deemed the best in use. Each brigade had four of tkem. We fould not procure more. They were expensive and rare."— Benham's "Life of Gen. P. R. Cleburoe."

"I heard that the Whitworth rifles cost fifteen hundred dollars a piece in gold in England, and the Yankees never had anj' of them. I know Porter, one of the picked men, was shot in the eye on Kennesaw or around it, and died in a few days. I shot his gun the best which could be imported from Europe or captured from the enemy. Partridge was a volunteer member of this body, having joined the army after some of Garrard's cavalry had burned his cabin and turned his family out in the woods. He captured his own rifle, a Whitworth, from a Federal sharpshooter whom he waylaid and killed near Cassville, This identical gun had been taken from a Confederate sharpshooter (of Cheatham's division) who was mortally wounded the day before, near Adairsville. Partridge having rescued it was allowed to retain it.

They disappeared among the bushes down the mountain side, in the neighborhood of a steep, craggy formation of outcropping rocks, where there was perfect shelter from danger from shells.

''Say, Captain Ward," yelled Partridge, ''if they get to shootin' b'ilin' pots at us you must show 'em that your Parrotts can say 'Pretty Poll,' too."

"Ha! ha!" laughed the captain good-humoredly, "we'll drop some shells among them if they open upon you ; make that group of oflScers get back out of sight. They are taking too leisurely a look at us."

"All right, we'll make 'em do it, even if we have

a few days; but thev kick so, and you hold a long telescojie to your eye' that runs along the barrel /and if you are not careful to keep it tight against the shoulder, so that when you fire your head must come back with the recoil, or else you receive tHe kick in your eye which would put it out. There were onlv five of thes^ in our division, and they were the surest to kill of anything. The Whitworth balls are very long, and nearly all the Yankee prisoners ha<l picked up one as a reliC: saying they had killed a man or a horse a mile in the rear of their army."— Letter from a member of Hoskins' battery to the author.

to wake up the batteries," halloed Partridge, as he passed out of sight.

"My Parrotts, eh!" laughed Captain Ward, turning to Major Storrs, "well, Parroits or Napoleons, they are the same to him if we will only drop a shell or so down yonder should the Yankee artillery open upon him."

"Yes," answered the major, "Partridge does not care anything about names so he gets the thing he wants. A wonderfully fine marksman he is ; and we will soon hear from him."

"Why, great heavens! Minon, what does this mean?" exclaimed Captain Ward, as he walked back on the crest of the ridge, and suddenly met one of his sergeants, who was only a few steps in front of a beautiful lady and a little boy.

"Ah! Captain Ward, let me introduce you to Miss Harper, and to Master Jack Harper," said the gallant young artilleryman.

Captain Ward's polite bow was met by a most graceful one from the young lady, while little Jack came forward and extended his hand, saying, "And is this your Captain Ward, Mr. Minon? Why he's a mighty good-looking man to be a cannon man."

The captain grasped Jack's hand cordially, and answered, "Thank you. Master Jack, I am Captain Ward, the cannon man."

"Well, then, Captain Ward, I want to join your cannon company, and be one of your soldiers. I want to learn to shoot one of your biggest cannon. They make a heap of noise."

20 KENNESAW S BOMBARDMEXT.

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the captain, "do you think you are large enough, Jack, to shoot a cannon? Then you must know that all of my soldiers have to obey orders; and I am afraid that you would want to get away if I ordered you to stay when the Yankees got to throwing big bombshells all around you."

"Oh! I'd stay if you ordered me to," answered Jack in a tone of very positive earnestness, "please. Captain, can't I be one of your soldiers?"

"Yes," said Miss Harper to the captain, "it is Jack's highest ambition to be a soldier, and shoot the cannon. He has been begging for several days to be allowed to come up on the mountain, and see the soldiers and the cannon; so last night Mr. Minon promised that if to-day was fair, he would bring Jack up. He had no idea he would be called upon to do so; but this morning after the clouds scattered, Jack summoned him to make good his promise, and, after some argument, carried his point. Mother, however, would not agree to let him come till Mr. Minon said he would take special care of him; and then I was persuaded to come along, as there was no danger today, and help keep him within bounds."

"And, Captain, it would have made you proud of our Georgia young ladies if you had seen how bravely Miss Harper stood the trip up the mountain side till we arrived here about a half hour ago. She did not seem to be as tired as I was."

"Oh, no, it is not a feeling of weariness, but of apprehension of danger which disturbs me," said his fair comrade. "Do you think we are going to have any fighting today, Captain Ward?"

"Well, I hope not up here to any great extent," answered the latter, "at least for a little while yet. Come forward with nue, and look over at the Yankee camps on the north and west."

"Yes, let's shoot the cannon at 'em. Captain Ward," sang out Jack.

"Come here, Miss Harper," said Captain Ward, "and let us survey the panorama which war spreads out before us. Look south now to that prominent hill which rises so conspicuously out of the plain, about two or three miles from here. That is the centre of General Cheatham's position, and is just east of the house and farm of a countryman named Chanuell. His division occupies a strong line of entrenchments on its crest, extends beyond it also to the south, and comes up this way for a few hundred yards until it reaches the portion of our line which is held by the gallant Pat Cleburne and his famous division.

"Ah! what heroes Cleburne and Cheatham are. They are the two lions of the Confederate army,— Cheatham combining the resistless impetuosity of a Frenchman in a charge, with the bull-dog grip of an Englishman or Russian, when told to hold a position despite whatever odds are hurled against him ; and Cleburne, with the fiery gallantry of an Irishman,* as he is, in assault sweeping everything before him

KENNESAW'S BOMBARDMENT.

like a torrado; and shooting out, if I may use the comparisoD, the fervid heat of an iron furnace against all who attempt to penetrate whatever stronghold he is directed to occupy.

Kem

<^.t\ "^^'^.J/Grisal Church ^ ^ --LJ^tlimer

*»\Cannon iKirk'a

%V T)arbj jy

ILyle

McCmSy

:map of

J.Channello GrecQo

Camp

AiS^D VICINITY.

'/i 0 1 2 MILES.

^'Camp^^/w.PhillipaKNr^^/^'^-^ ^WVIclJ

C Barnes '

/-Harding

^Dan-elUMiulp

"Then beginning this side of the Marietta and Dallas wagon road, within less than a mile from here and following the line up this way, is the division of General Bate, of Tennessee; while right adjoining him, and coming up to the very foot of the mountain beneath us, is your Georgia general,

Wm. H. T. Walker, a comparatively small man in stature, but one who could give Julius C?esar some lessons in courage if the great Roman were alive to-day. These four divisions compose General Hardee's corps.

"Then General French's division starts near the foot of the mountain and comes up to where we are, and runs along before us around the side of the mountain, and thence crosses the ravine to our right and up almost to the very summit of Great Kennesaw over yonder, where he joins General Walthall, whose courage is the admiration of the army ; thence, as we go down the mountain to its base we could spe, if we were on Big Kennesaw, where Featherston's division ends beyond the Western & Atlantic Railroad, and Wheeler's dismounted cavalry occupies the trenches which up to yesterday General Hood's corps have held, and which extend for nearly a mile east of here ; but General Hood'scommand has been transferred* from

-"As the extension of the Federal army toward the Chattahoochee made a corresponding one necessary on our part, Hood's corps was transferred from the right to the Marietta and Powder Spring road, his right near the south of Cheatham's left. General Hood was instructed to endeavor to prevent any progress of the Federal right toward the railroad, the course of which was nearly parallel to our left and centre. Our position, consequently, was a very hazardous one." — Johnston's Narrative, page 339.

"Johnston had begun to be concerned for the Marietta and Powder Spring road, for Hookers right was close to it, aud Schofield's movements were threatening to put him astride of it. Hardee had stretched his lines quite as lar as was aaie, and the Confederate commander determined to move the whole of Hood's corps from the right to the left flank. Ordering Wheeler to show a bold front and make as strong a fight with his dismounted cavalry as he could, Johnston lelc these, with such help as could be got by stretching Loring's corps to the right, to fill the trenches out of which Hood was drawn. This movement was made in the night of the 21st. - - - It is uncertain to what degree Loring's corps had been extended to Johnston's right to supply the place from which Hood had been taivcn ; but it is hardly credible that tliat j)osition to our extreme left, and occupies a iine of works which ruu probably a mile or two southward. He had a .pretty tough fight down yonder yesterday near Kolb's farm, and I am sorry to say we got the worst of it. The Yankees, you see, are swinging to their right and to cur left whicii is south of us. They are attempting to get possession of the railroad in our rear, and all of General Johnston's anxiety now, I think, is to maintain his communications. We must protect the railroad or we cannot hold Marietta and Kennesaw Mountain."

*'God grant that they may never secure a further lodgement on our State road!" said Miss Harper, "for Kennesaw, the citadel of Georgia, must be held, or the waves of war's tempest will dash around Atlanta itself."

"Yes; that is true," said Captain Ward, "if Kennesaw is given up Atlanta will have the enemy at her doors. And, speaking of Atlanta, now look to the southeast, and you can plainly see the church spires and the smoke from the foundries in Atlanta, twenty miles distant. There is the goal of Sherman's ambition. There is the heart of the Confederacy; and if the Yankees can pierce it, the

Wlieelei's eavah-y alone liad been able to imi)ose upon McPherson, mIio certainly befieved and reported that the intrenchment-) in his front were held by infantrv."— Cox's ' Atlanta,'' pp. ins, 11."..