Grenville Dodge

We fixed bayonets, and as I gave the order the boys cheered and cheered, swinging their hats in every direction.

CHARGE! and such a yell as they crossed that field with, you never heard--it was unearthly and scared the rebels so bad they never stopped to fire at us or to let us reach them.

The charge without ammunition took them all, and as we passed down the line the whole Army cheered us.

We opened with thirty-two guns; they answered with as many, and such a roar you never heard.

Historians and others who have written of the Battle of Atlanta have been misled by being governed in their data by the first dispatches of General Sherman, who was evidently misinformed, as he afterwards corrected his dispatches.

General Sherman was at the Howard House, which was miles away from the scene of Hardee's attack in the rear, and evidently did not at first comprehend the terrific fighting that was in progress, and the serious results that would have been…

Suppose the Sixteenth Corps, with less than 5,000 men, seeing at least three times their number in their front, should have retreated, instead of standing and fighting as it did: What would have been the result?

I say that in all my experience in life, until the two forces struck and the Sixteenth Corps stood firm, I never passed more anxious moments.

Eloquent words have been written and spoken all over the land in behalf of the honor and the bravery of the soldier; but where is the word spoken or written that can say more for the soldier than the action of these men on that field?

They crawled in on their hands and knees, and swept the enemy from that front.

That Army held or commanded the entire battle-field, demonstrating the fact that the Army of the Tennessee alone was able and competent to meet and defeat Hood's entire Army.

Every man was at his post; every man doing a hero's duty.

They proved they might be wiped out but never made to run.

We had lost our best friend,--that superb soldier, our commander, General McPherson; his death counted so much more to us than victory that we spoke of our battle, our great success, with our loss uppermost in our minds.

I saw Fuller get down off his horse, grab the colors of the Twenty-seventh, rush to the front with them in his hands, and call upon his regiment to come to the colors; and they rallied and saved his front.

If I had had plenty of time to select a position I could not have found a stronger one.

They used canister against those columns with terrible effect.

That charge, no doubt, saved my line, because I had a very thin line, and with the most of Hardee's Corps coming at me in double column, as it was, I have no doubt that if it had reached me it would have given me trouble; but they never…

I also found that the plains were covered with Indian traders who had permits, under the guise of which they were stealing from the Indians, both friendly and hostile, and were selling them arms and ammunition.

I immediately revoked all these permits, and ordered the arrest of all traders who had in their possession Indian or Government stock.

The stopping of these trains, mail, and supplies, and the destruction of the telegraph wires, caused great consternation in that country and on the Pacific Coast, and the demands upon the Government to open and maintain these lines were…

They did not seem to appreciate the Indian character; that the only way to strengthen and protect the lines of communication was to go for the Indians.

I answered to place under arrest all officers of the companies and Regiments that refused to obey the order, and have them report to Fort Leavenworth, intending to replace them with veteran officers of the department whom I knew would…

If they did not, the Indians would catch and scalp them, and even if they had to retreat, they must do so with their faces to the enemy.

In this battle Van Dorn had put twice as many men into the fight as Curtis did, and still was defeated.