Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 197, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1912 — STORIES CAMP AND WAR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

S T ORIES CAMP AND WAR

BATTLE IN ARKANSAS

Charge and Countercharge at Prairie 'Grove la Graphically Related by Veteran of Chicago. Western fighting was not so dramatically set forth at the time of the* way as were the campaigns of the east, but its picturesqueness 1* unquestionable. It has a special claim on Chicago’s interest because many of the men who fought in the array of the frontier are now living in Chicago. One of these, George ifcettig, who lives at 2106 Leland. avenue, tells of his experiences at Prairie Grove in the Arkansas-Missouri campaign of 1862. The story la &8 follows: “After the battle of fcbea’s Mills we eame down to the place known as Prairie Grove. Here our position waa on high ground on the concave side of a bend made by tbe valley of a little stream. Beyond the creek and tbe level land that bordered it was another rise of ground, on which the Confederates had their battery hiddenin the woods. “The Third Wisconsin cavalry, my regiment, was at the right, and the Twentieth Wisconsin infantry was at; the center. This regiment started out, first; Down the hill they <Went, with, the fire of the rebel battery converged; on them, and across the level ground! and up tbe -other hill they made their way, climbing a fence to reach the* wooded ground. They reached the) guns and a captain had planted a flag l on the battery when the whole line of Confederate infantry, which had been’ reserved for this purpose, rose up Bindthrew the Wisconsin men back downthe hill. More than 100 of our men were left hanging on the fence or dying in the woods. j "Then the secesh came out in turn.! They aimed for a point half way between my regiment and the Twentieth! Wisconsin. Here Rapp's Indiana bat--tery was set up. The Confederates: tried to charge the battery, and every time they were driven back by a rain;

It Was Like Shooting Into a Flock of Chickens. of grape and canister. It was likeshooting into a flock of chickens. The< Confederates spread for a moment and then came back again to the charge. They were piled five and six high in front of the guns before theywere ordered back to their lines. “Evening came, and there was no more fighting, and in the morningwhen we expected to be attacked we found that the enemy had left So we went down and took Van Bureai and Fort Smith. There was not much! trouble 8 there. We came down from) the high ground into the city after; an engagement with some Texas rangers, and we fdund the place deserted by the men. The secesh were on the - other side of the river with a battery l and they shot canister and grape across the water and up the streets. We put a Union flag on the courthouse, and they shelled it, but their aim was not good, and the flag stayed. With all their firing they did not hit one man of us, but they did kill several hogs and one woman.” ‘ j