Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1911 — AROUND THE CAMP FIRE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AROUND THE CAMP FIRE

PEACH'TREE CREEK BATTLE Bergeant Newberry Telia. Interesting.; Btory of Fight He Witnessed From Ravine. ~ ? On July 19 the - Fourth corps and Fourteenth corps and the First andSecond divisions of the Twentieth corps crossed Peach Tree creek to the eastern side and formed lines, while the Third division of the Tw%ntieth corps remained fn camp some six miles or mere from the battlefield. On the morning of the 20th I was ordered to take 15 men and a corporal and follow the line of march of the division and the batteries and ammunition wagons, ...and gather up and bring forward all who might fall out of ranks. It was a very hot day, and as the line of march was through woods the shade was some proteettom-We had advanced several miles, and the batteries and ammunition teams could follow the division’s line of march no farther because of obstructions and had to move off to the left, and did not join the division until the battle was over and the victory won. I concluded my orders required me to follow the line of marchoof the division, and I did so. We had gathered about 60 who had fallen out on account of the heat, and came to the creek about 11 a. m. We crossed, and the valley heyond was. from 200 to 400 yards wide and was covered with growing corn. We found a spring and a shady place, and halted for dinner, writes Joseph B. Newburg, sergeant Company 1., Seventy-ninth Ohio, how residing in Montana, in the National Tribune. After eating I went up on a hill hear the right flank of the Fourth corps, and, looking down the valley, caught sight of our headquarters flag. I gathered my men, and we got there as quickly as we could. It was now about 3 p. m., and there was a rapid skirmish on the ridge on the east side and our division in line of battle at its base. I sent the men that I had gathered to their commands, and then, as bullets were flying around us, I was ordered to take a few prisoners that had been cagtured back across th« creek and out of range. I got my men, and with the prisoners started toward a big cottonwood log that lay across the channel of the creek. As I neared tie log a soldier passed me with his gun and all of his equipments. He had but a few steps to go

to reach the log, when he pitched forward on his face dead. After getting up on the ridge on the western side., I sent my men with the corporal and prisoners a little way up the creek Into a wooded ravine, where they would bd entirely out of danger from the bullets. I then took my position where I could see the whole line of our division as it charged up the ridge, and the battle roar began at about 4 o’clock p. m. A short lime afterward a fine young soldier of Company C, for whose father I had built a water sawmill in Clinton county, Ohio, In came near to me without / either gun or equipments, and turned to look at tip. - fight. Before he had stood there a minute a bullet struck him on the right thigh, and he died six days afterwards. At about 7 p. m. the rattle of the rifle fire slacked, and the shouts of victory came loud across the valley. Early In the morning to where the dead were gathered for burial, and counted 214 dead of our division and 468 of the Confederates ' that our men had gathered. The cause _ of such a difference in loss was that Gen. Hood sent his lines three or four lines deep In the charge, and six companies of the One Hundred and Fifth Illinois were armed -with the Heijry rifles. Company JC used the Spenser rifle. One of the captains I had'as prisoner told me that they learned of the gap in our lines on the morning of Die 20th, and thought they would come out through It and swing and gather a few Acorns (the badge of the Fourteenth corps), but when "they came to the gap they saw Instead the Stars (badge) c i the Twentieth corps.

Pitched Forward on His Face, Dead.