Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 224, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1912 — WAR REMINISCENCES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAR REMINISCENCES

STONY OF DECATUR BATTLE Interesting Account Is Related of Hoti Time at That Important Stronghold In Alabama. In the National Tribune of May li. Sergeant Ashley V. Newton, Co. D, Sd Mich., In “Colored Troops at Decatur,” says that at Nashville his regiment got a rush order to’proceed to Decatur to reinforce General Milroy, who was being closely pressed by Foprest. General Milroy was not at Decatur; neither was Forrest, writes Will A. McTeer, adjutant, 3d Tenn. Cav., and asting aslstant adjutant general, First Brigade, Fourth Division, Cavalry Corps, Maryville, Tenn., In the National Tribune. Gen. Robert S. Granger was in command of the military district of north Alabama, with headquarters at Decatur and Huntsville. Col. C. C. Doolittle, of the 18th Mich., was In command of 'the post at Decatur. Comrade Newton says: "We found the bridge burned, but General Milroy had provided for our coming bjr erecting a pontoon bridge.” “Our Cavalry Brigade reported to General Granger for duty, arriving at Decatur July 10, 1864, and the bridge was destroyed before that time, and the pontoon was erected then, and appeared as If ft had been there for months before. It appears that It was placed there by General Sherman when on ills way from Memphis to Chattanooga.” Further, Comrade Newton says: “The Confederates seeing us, emphasised their objection by rushing asixpiece battery down to the bank of the river within easy range of the bridle and they would have mixed things up very seriously for the 3d Mich, but for the timely Intervention of two companies of colored troops that were sent by General Milroy to distract their attention In another direction.” I was acting assistant adjutant general of the Cavalry Brigade and on the line of battle. Hood (not Forrest) attacked us, October 26,1864. In General Granger’s report to General Thomas he fixes his whole foroe at Decatur at 1,750, and with the 29th Mich, added, which had Just arrived, and 860 absent on patrol duty, there were only 2,000 men to defend Decatur. Every available man was placed out on the llne, and then we could not reach around more than half way In front of our works. The . only reason that the first day’s fighting was not one of the greatest battles of the war was because there were not men enough to make It so. There were no colored troops there that day, but lit the night we were reinforced by the 14th U. S. Colored Inf., commanded by Col. (afterwards General) J. T. Morgan. The 8d and 29th Mich, reinforced us while engaged In the hottest part on the first afternoon. I remember distinctly their coming, and as they went out on the line the appearance of the bright, new uniforms w£s in decided contrast to our own worn and dingy clothing. The Confederates were using a battery at a lively rate with deadly effect, but It was nearly a mile from the river and not In range of the bridge at all. On the 271 h the enemy threw up some pits on the bank of the' river, about a mile above Decatur and nearly a half mile from where the bat- ’ tery was flint used by them on the first day. On the morning of the 28th a detachment from the 18th Mich, and 102 d Ohio (according to my Journal 47 men) made their way down the river, succeeded in flanking the Confederate rifle pits, made a gallant charge from their rear, in which a number of men were killed and wounded r -and brought-in 120 prisoners. I stood on the upper porch of the Decatur* hotel when Colonel Morgan came In front with the 14th regiment of colored troops (not two companies), and they piled their knapsacks, leaving one man to the company as guards, I noticed Colonel Morgan holding in his hand a small hatchet, and also that a number of the officers had hatchets. They started out in the open field, marching, in excellent order, to within rifle range of the Confederates, when they fired a volley, then raised a yell and charged. The affair did not last much more than 20 minutes, but the work was bloody. They drove the Confederates from their support with the bayonet. The guns were spiked, and the cot' ored boys bad to fall down along the water's edge under the bank of the river, while the enemy ran along above them'and shot down on them. In his report of this charge. General Granger says: “We lost 40 killed and wounded,” and up to that time our loss amounted to 80. In the forenoon of October 29 the enemy began to withdraw, and I was at the place where this battery had stood, and it was a place of blood without a doubt. Prior to this charge Capt. Albert F. Beach, Battery A, Ist Tenn., had takes two sections of his guns up bn the north side of the river, opposite the Confederate battery, and they fought an artillery duel across the rivet*, and Beach succeeded in blowing op two of their caissons, which killed quite a number of