Читать книгу The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield - E. E. Brown - Страница 19

"Bravely they fight and well,

Stormed at with shot and shell,"

the unequal contest is quickly noted by the Union commander.

"This will never do," he exclaims. "Who will volunteer to carry the crest of the mountain?"

"Let us go forward," cries Colonel Monroe, of the Twenty-second Kentucky, "we know every inch of the ground."

"Go in, then," says Garfield, "and give them 'Hail Columbia!'"

Crossing the stream a little lower down, they mount the ridge to the left, and in ten minutes are face to face with the rebel army.

"Don't shoot till you see the eyes of your enemy," shouts the colonel, and although the men have never been in battle before, they are as cool and calm as their commander.

Five hundred against five thousand! It was a fearful contest, equalled only by the famous charge of the "Light Brigade."

"Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them,

Volleyed and thundered!"

And Garfield, standing upon a rock scarred with bullets, watched and waited for Sheldon's reinforcements, until, fearing the little band would be forced to retreat, he turned to the company held back as reserves, threw his military cloak into a tree, and exclaimed—

"Come on, boys! It is our turn now to give them 'Hail Columbia'!" And then, as the ballad tells the story—

"He led, they followed, spreading wide

Among the rebels routed;

From rank to rank, in liberal gift,

The self-same thing he shouted."

The short winter's day was almost over. Hotter and hotter raged the battle, but the Union forces, in spite of their inferior number, were constantly gaining ground. They seemed infused with the indomitable spirit of their commander. Their coolness and intrepidity gave added power to every shot, while the enemy, not understanding the difficulty of firing "down hill," frequently missed aim and let their bullets fall harmlessly upon the tree-tops, or far beyond the mark.

At this juncture, Dr. Pomerene, the surgeon of the Ohio Forty-second, saw a gleam of muskets in the distance. Hatless and excited, he mounted a fleet horse, crossed the stream, and hurried on to ascertain, what colors were borne by the coming troops. The glorious star-spangled banner met his eyes, and, drawing nearer, he saluted Colonel Sheldon with the longed-for reinforcements.

"For God's sake, hurry!" he cried, "or the boys on the other side will be captured!"

From his elevated position on the opposite hill, Marshall had already descried the starry banner, and Sheldon's fresh troops hurrying to the rescue.

"Retreat!" he shouted to his men, and then, pierced by six bullets, he fell to the ground. Night closed about the contending armies, the rebels were seized with a sudden panic and fled wildly in all directions.

"God bless you, boys! You have saved Kentucky!" exclaimed Garfield, as he led the victorious troops back to camp. It was, indeed, a wonderful contest. The entire loss on the federal side was but one killed and eleven wounded.

"In all the battles of the late war," writes Edmund Kirke, in the New York Tribune, "there was not another like it. Measured by the forces engaged, the valor displayed, and the results that followed, it throws into shade the achievements of even that mighty host that saved the nation."

It was the first decided victory upon the Union side, but, years after, Garfield himself said of the skirmish,

"I see now, that favorably as it terminated, the engagement was a very rash and imprudent affair on my part. A West Point officer would probably have had more caution, and would not have attempted so unequal a contest. I didn't know any better, then."