Chapter 9
chapter nine of company h by sam r watkins this librivox recording is in the public domain chickamauga battle of chickamauga sunday morning of that september day the sun rose over the eastern hills clear and beautiful the day itself seemed to have a sabbath day look about it the battlefield was in a rough and broken country with trees and undergrowth that ever since the creation had never been disturbed by the acts of civilized man it looked wild weird uncivilized our corps pokes being in the engagement the day before were held in reserve reader were you ever held in reserve of an attacking army to see couriers dashing backward and forward to hear the orders given to the brigades regiments and companies to see them forward in line of battle the battle flags waving to hear their charge and then to hear the shock of battle the shot and shell all the while sizzling and zipping and thudding and screaming and roaring and bursting and passing right over your heads to see the litter corps bringing back the wounded continually and hear them tell how their command was being cut to pieces and that every man on a certain regiment was killed and to see a cowardly colonel as we saw on this occasion he belonged to longstreet's corps
come dashing back looking the very picture of terror and fear exclaiming oh man man for god's sake go forward and help my men they are being cut all to pieces we can't hold our position oh for god's sake please go and help my command to hear some of our boys ask what regiment is that what regiment is that he replies such and such regiment and then to hear some fellow ask why ain't you with him then you cowardly puppy take off that coat and those chicken guts coo sheep bah bah black sheep flicker flicker ain't you ashamed of yourself flicker flicker i've got a notion to take my gun and kill him etc every word of this is true it actually happened but all that could demoralize and i may say intimidate a soldier was being enacted and he not allowed to participate how we were moved from one position to another but always under fire our nerves strung to their utmost tension listening to the roar of battle in our immediate front to hear it rage and then get dimmer until it seems to die out entirely
then all at once it breaks out again and you think now in a very few minutes you will be ordered into action and then all at once we go double quicking to another portion of the field the battle raging back from the position we had left general leonidas polk rides up and happening to stop on our front some of the boys halloo out say general what command is that which is engaged now the general kindly answered that is longstreet's corps he is driving them this way and we will drive them that way and crush them between the upper and nethered millstone turning to general cheetham he said general move your division and attack at once everything is at once set in motion and general cheetham to give the boys a good send-off says forward boys and give em hell general polk also says a good word and that word was do as general cheetham says boys you know he was a preacher and couldn't curse after marching in solid lines see-sawing right obliqueing left obliqueing guide center and close up commence firing fire at will charge and take the breastworks our pent-up nervousness and demoralization of all day is suddenly gone we raise one long loud cheering shout and charge right upon their breastworks they are pouring their deadly missiles into our advancing ranks from under their head logs we do not stop to look around to see who is killed and wounded but press right up their breastworks and plant our battle flag upon it
they waver and break and run in every direction when general john c breckinridge's division which had been supporting us march up and pass us in full pursuit of the routed and flying federal army after the battle we remained upon the battlefield of chickamauga all night everything had fallen into our hands we had captured a great many prisoners and small arms and many pieces of artillery and wagons and provisions the confederate and federal dead wounded and dying were everywhere scattered over the battlefield men were lying where they fell shot in every conceivable part of the body some with their entrails torn out and still hanging to them and piled up on the ground beside them and they still alive some with their under jaw torn off and hanging by a fragment of skin to their cheeks with their tongues lolling from their mouth and they trying to talk some with both eyes shot out with one eye hanging down on their cheek in fact you might walk over the battlefield and find men shot from the crown of the head to the tip end of their toe
and then to see all those dead wounded and dying horses their heads and tails drooping and they seeming to be so intelligent as if they comprehended everything i felt like shedding a tear for those innocent dumb brutes reader reader a battlefield after the battle is a sad and sorrowful sight to look at the glory of war is but the glory of battle the shouts and cheers and victory a soldier's life is not a pleasant one it is always at best one of privations and hardships the emotions of patriotism and pleasure hardly counterbalance the toil and suffering that he has to undergo in order to enjoy his patriotism and pleasure dying on the field of battle and glory is about the easiest duty a soldier has to undergo it is the living marching fighting shooting soldier that has the hardships of war to carry when a brave soldier is killed he is at rest the living soldier knows not at what moment he too may be called on to lay down his life on the altar of his country the dead are heroes the living are but men compelled to do the drudgery and suffer the privations incident to the thing called glorious war a knight among the dead
we rested on our arms where the battle ceased all around us everywhere were the dead and wounded lying scattered over the ground and in many places piled in heaps many a sad and heart-rending scene did i witness upon this battle-field of chickamauga our men died the death of heroes i sometimes think that surely our brave men have not died in vain it is true our cause is lost but a people who love those brave and noble heroes should ever cherish their memory as men who died for them i shed a tear over their memory they gave their all to their country abler pens than mine must write their epitaphs and tell of their glories and heroism i am but a poor writer at best and only try to tell of the events that i saw one scene i now remember that i can imperfectly relate while a detail of us were passing over the field of death and blood with a dim lantern looking for our wounded soldiers to carry to the hospital we came across a group of ladies looking upon the killed and wounded for their relatives when i heard one of the ladies say there they come with their lanterns i approached the ladies and asked them for whom they were looking they told me the name but i have forgotten it
we passed on and coming to a pile of our slain we had turned over several of our dead when one of the ladies screamed out oh there he is poor fellow dead dead dead she ran to the pile of slain and raised the dead man's head and placed it on her lap and began kissing him and saying oh oh they have killed my darling my darling my darling my darling oh mother mother what must i do my poor poor darling oh they have killed him they have killed him i could witness the scene no longer i turned and walked away and william a hughes was crying and remarked oh lamy this war is a terrible thing we left them and began again hunting for our wounded all through that long september night we continued to carry off our wounded and when the morning sun arose over the eastern hills the order came to march to missionary ridge chapter nine
