Isaac C. Doan

“ I very soon ceased to grudge them the position; for a shell burst close beside them, a piece struck a gun, drove the breech pin through the knee of one of them, and sent the naked barrel humming over our heads. A large fragment struck the other man, tearing his arm off at the shoulder, causing his death in about twenty minutes.
I was again reminded that there is no safe place in a battle. Presence of mind is not so good as absence of body.
This movement brought us full rations whereat we greatly rejoiced. ”

“ At the same time the whole mountain side resounded with huzzahs of joy and triumph. The one hundred thousand veterans in the Chattanooga Valley sent back the answer like a mighty echo, and there went up, tossed from crest to crest, and mountain top to mountain top, a tremendous Yankee shout of victory, proclaiming in thunder tones the triumph of “the battle above the clouds!” ”

“ When our right flank reached the base of perpendicular rock which forms the crown of this monarch of East Tennessee, we faced to the front and swept the slope to the northeast, descending into ravines that furrow the slope, climbing the opposite bank with infinite labor.
We make up for lack of speed, with yells, while the opposite mountain sends back the echoing battle cry, until the rebels afterwards captured said they thought there was a million of us. ”

“ We dare not move for fear of following some lateral passage and getting out of the usual line of travel or of stumbling into some pitfall in which the cave abounded. How long we stood there I know not. Long enough to indulge in some very unpleasant conjectures that the rest of party might run out of light and not be able to return to us, or returning take some other route and “pass by on the other side.” Long enough to feel convinced that the Scripture which says, “Men love darkness rather than light” had no application to us. ”

“ Many of the dead were torn and blackened and burned by bursting shell until the ghastly fragments were indescribably shocking, and not at all calculated to encourage soldiers who knew they were just going into battle, and were candidates for a similar fate, with reasonable prospects of being elected. The hardest part of a battle [6] is going into it. Much worse than going out. I think any thoughtful man upon going into battle, must go with a deadly sadness at his heart. ”

“ Monday night, about midnight, we silently moved down off the ridge and took position in hastily constructed earthworks immediately around Chattanooga, leaving our picket line at the foot of the ridge on the outside, to throw dust—or something—in the eyes of the rebels as they felt for our position in the night. Next morning, seeing the crest of the ridge clear, they moved suddenly upon our pickets and easily gobbled them; as they had no chance for speedy retreat up the steep side of the ridge. ”

“ The next day we moved out in two lines of battle and encountered the enemy at the same point. Our regiment, forming the left wing of the front line, took position behind the fence I have before mentioned, and began a musketry duel with the rebels, who were behind the fence on the opposite side of the field. We fought there for an hour or two: the bullets rattling against the fence, knocking the dust into our eyes and making themselves generally disagreeable. I always like a bullet better when it is lying still, or going the other way. ”

“ Accustomed to appropriate it as a matter of course, we fail to appreciate our priceless heritage. This warm-hearted mother earth which not only nurtures us, but bears upon and within her bosom the countless millions of extinct forms, which have been used as stepping-stones along the route through [13] all the ages leading up to us—and of all the innumerable multitude, both living and dead, she crowns us King. ”

“ After I had been hungry for about two weeks, I struck a teamster, who had some corn for his mules; and begged him for an ear. He [9] declined as the mules were over-worked, hauling our rations over sixty miles of mountain road. They were daily dying by scores, and there must be no lack of rations for those that were still able to pull.
It was easier for a hungry soldier to pull a trigger, than for hungry mules to pull a wagon load. ”

“ If we overshot the front line our bullets had some chance of taking effect later on. And thus the massing of the enemy which would have told with fearful effect upon us, had they succeeded in breaking through our lines, became a source of heavy loss to them under the circumstances. ”

“ The rebels driven from the slope, here rallied, and stubbornly contested our advance. From the top they dropped their bullets among us. The artillery upon the summit sent their iron missiles screaming over us and growled above our heads in impotent fury at their inability to depress their muzzles so as to get our range. ”

“ The road may be rough, and the way may be long, but we shall reap if we faint not. We cannot fail of our reward, but shall gather of the treasures of knowledge, which science is ever ready to bestow upon her devotees. ”

“ Near its mouth was an old saltpetre manufactory, dismantled by the rebels when compelled to abandon it. The nitre was obtained from a brown earth brought from the cave—said to be very rich. This cave is provided with the inevitable stream of water running through it, and the obvious inference is that this is the active agent in producing the cave,—the stream providing itself a channel through the heart of the mountain by finding and dissolving out the softer portions. ”

“ Company B being informed that to it had been awarded the post of honor of leading the forlorn hope up the Summertown road, a narrow road cut through the rock leading to the top of the mountain, which would admit about four men abreast, and we figured that as we marched up, in the face of a desperate enemy, it would probably use up the last man of our company before a landing could be effected. ”

“ Well, we were going into one of the most terrible battles of modern times, and many of us began to realize it by this time. Off to the south we could see the dense smoke of the battle, as well as hear the crashing of musketry and the booming of artillery, and the shot and shell began to pay their respects to us in a “way we despised.”
We were hurried along the rear of the battle line toward the right of Gen. ”