Walden Kelly

“ Company E was made the detail from the 26th and we were exempt from picket or skirmish duty. We were required to each carry either a pick, shovel or ax in addition to that required of each soldier. Our place was with our regiment, but subject to call to any point, to build fortification rifle pits or to open or repair roads. We might justly compare our industry to that of the honey bee. During that campaign we stopped work only long enough to take part in the fighting and some of the time were using tools when the shell and minnie were adding impetus to our mental and muscular skill. ”

“ The army of the Tennessee, in the effort to close to our left, fought the battle of Atlanta, their commander, General McPherson, being among the slain. We skirmished very heavily and were under the direct fire of their artillery from the main line of fortifications in front of the city. This continued more or less until August 26th. The army of the Tennessee, now under the [Pg 30] command of General Howard, moved to the extreme right. The army of the Ohio, under General Schofield, a few days later did the same. This left our division the extreme left of Sherman’s army. ”

“ As soon as the battery extricated itself from its difficulties, Colonel Young, our regimental commander, ordered us to fall back. It was useless sacrifice to do otherwise. We were halted several times at favorable localities to check the enemy, and that gallant band of heroes, if you please, held its organization under as trying circumstances as war produces, its last stand being made upon the side of a spur of Missionary Ridge, where a tablet now stands to mark its heroism. Here we held position for nearly an hour, aided by the 8th Indiana and 6th Ohio Batteries. ”

“ To be left on the plains without works and both flanks exposed was a gross error. The 26th Ohio was the extreme right of this exposed line upon the plain. We saw the solid lines of Hood’s army as it advanced. We held this position but a short time. Those to the left of us being more advanced, owing to the lay of the ground, than we, were struck and broken, we fell back to the main line. Company E was less than 200 yards to the right of the Carter House and the main line was not broken at this point. We fought with other troops that occupied the works when we reached them. ”

“ On the 20th we crossed Peach Tree Creek and gained a ridge about half a mile south, when our division of the 4th and the 20th corps were to establish a line. The Confederate army, now commanded by General Hood, had concentrated in front of this position, intending to crush us while we were in the confusion of crossing the stream, and did make a most furious attack when but part of the line had gained position. Those not in line, being close, countercharged, driving the enemy and establishing a connected line. ”

“ October 27th, by a brilliant movement, Thomas at Chattanooga and Hooker at Bridgeport Co-operating, we gained possession of the river from Brows Ferry west, giving us water transportation to within nine or ten miles, and in a few days the soldiers were on full rations. The horses and mules did not fare so well. Bragg’s army largely outnumbered that of General Thomas, for, be it understood, his (Bragg’s) army of the Tennessee had, before the battle of Chickamauga, been reinforced by Buckner’s army of East Tennessee. ”

“ About the close of the Atlanta campaign Captain Clark became the [Pg 32] commander of the regiment and was soon afterward promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and continued in command until mustered out with the regiment.
About September 25th Hood’s flank movement around Atlanta had advanced so that Sherman divined his intentions and ordered our division north by rail to Chattanooga. The 26th Ohio was thrown in the lead (advance guard) on two passenger coaches, each man with loaded gun ready for immediate action. The division followed by freight trains in sections. ”

“ Laboring daily, it is between days and with the limited records at his command, largely from memory, that it is produced. Having been present with the company in all its campaigns, battles and marches until its last battle was over, no one, living or dead, had better opportunities of knowing than he. ”

“ He examined the wound and remained with the company, the blood spurting from the top of his shoes at each step until he was ordered to the hospital by Colonel Young after the battle was over. No organization in the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga [Pg 25] carried their banner higher on the roll of fame than did the 26th Ohio.
The following day, November 26, the two divisions, Sheridan’s and Wood’s, of the 4th corps, were ordered to march to relieve General Burnside, besieged at Knoxville. We were expected to live largely from the products of the country (now largely exhausted) . ”

“ In the slow approach of our army on Corinth, Miss., we were several times quite heavily engaged, skirmishing with the enemy, losing a few men from the regiment, but company E suffered no losses. On the evacuation by the Confederate forces we were moved eastward along the line of the Memphis & Charleston railroad, crossing to the north side of the Tennessee River at Decatur, Alabama, about July 6th, 1862, thence through Huntsville northeast into Tennessee via Fayetteville, Winchester, Deckard and Hillsboro to McMinnville, on August 30th, 1862, by a very rapid march of eight miles. ”

“ We moved up the hills slowly, loading and firing, taking advantage of such protection as was available. The enemy was at this time largely overshooting us and the 15th Indiana, in our rear, was suffering heavily. When half or two-thirds the way up the ridge they came forward to our assistance where they could take part in the shooting. Lieutenant Wm. B. Johnson of company E went down with a shattered leg and ordered his First Sergeant to go on with the company, but to see that he was cared for that night. ”

“ We built a temporary line of works within 200 yards of theirs, holding this position until they again retreated. The night of May 15, bridges were floated and the Oostanaula River crossed, the 4th corps taking the advance, driving Johnston’s rear guard. On the 17th, our division (Newton now commanding, Sheridan having been ordered to the Eastern department) was in the advance. One brigade deployed. In the evening two brigades were deployed and the enemy’s lines driven until a line of works was developed. Artillery was freely used, the 26th Ohio losing over twenty men. ”

“ While holding our position and building rifle pits for our pickets, Daniel Densel of company E was mortally wounded. Our division formed the assaulting column of the 4th corps June 27th. Company E had one wounded.
I dislike to leave this heroic assault without a short description. The ground in our front was heavily timbered, [Pg 28] descending for 200 yards to a ravine, thence a thirty per cent rising grade for 300 yards to their line of works, consisting of heavy embankment with head logs, so mounted as to give space for firing underneath. ”

“ The 26th Ohio soon after was ordered to extend the skirmish line east of the pike farther south and take possession of and hold a dirt road coming into the pike over a mile south. At this place we were located near a cotton gin, on which an outlook was posted, who soon reported Confederate troops in sight. We built a rail barricade, each man got out of cartridge box and bit off ten cartridges and made all the arrangements we could for rapid firing. ”

“ These new troops reached us while on the retreat from Pulaski but a few days before. They had never been drilled and it is probable that a large share of them may have continued their flight beyond the main line. Opdyke’s, Lane’s and Conrad’s brigades (2nd division, 4th army corps) lost more men than the entire other four divisions of infantry and the cavalry corps that was present, and as a rule, if you follow the trail of blood, you are keeping close to the fighting line. ”

“ About the 1st of June it became the talk of the camp that our corps would probably be sent to the Mexican frontier on account of the Maximilian government which foreign powers were trying to establish there. Strong protests were made by both officers and men, feeling that we had fulfilled the terms of our enlistment, “three years or during the war,” but to no avail. ”

“ One hundred wagon loads of artillery and infantry ammunition were used from the 4th corps train alone.” Company E had one man wounded. In view of the fact that General J. D. Cox, in his writing on the battle, has left the impression that the two brigades doing outpost duty continued their retreat past the main line to the river, I feel that in justice to those brigades (and more especially to company E, 26th and company D, 65th Ohio, both Morrow County companies) , I should say a few words more. ”

“ When we had marched nearly half a division length, the battery, in its difficulties, having no road in the timber, much of it heavy underbrush with bad ravines to cross, delayed the two regiments in the rear, while the head of the column was hastening to the support of Reynolds. This had left us far in the rear. In this condition we received the enemy’s charge. Naturally and rightly, all that could followed the head of column as per orders. ”

“ That night was spent hilariously cheering and singing that old familiar piece, “Go Tell Aunt Rhoda the Old Gray Goose Is Dead.” The following morning I doubt if there was enough ammunition in the cartridge boxes of the men in our division to have made a respectable skirmish. Soon afterward Johnston surrendered to Sherman and the 4th corps was ordered by rail to Nashville, where we expected to be mustered out. May 9th the corps passed in review before General Thomas and received his [Pg 40] congratulatory order on the 10th. ”