This Terrible Sound by Peter Cozzens

Author:Peter Cozzens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Illinois Press

CHAPTER NINETEEN

TO FIRE AT THOSE BREASTWORKS SEEMED FOOLISH

THE FEAR that had driven Baird and his commanders on the extreme left to keep their men up all night building breastworks stood in sharp contrast to the almost serene indifference that prevailed among the Federal generals along the rest of the Kelly field line. Dawn came, and not a tree had been felled nor a stone gathered by the men of Johnson's or Palmer's divisions. At sunrise, Colonel Isaac Suman of the Ninth Indiana strolled over to General Hazen and suggested the brigade raise a line of breastworks. It was a notion “which no one before seemed to have thought of,” admitted Hazen, who at first objected to the idea. He feared that Rebel artillery shells striking the works would splinter logs into lethal missiles. Suman persisted. He would put the heaviest logs and rails in front to absorb the impact of incoming shells. Hazen consented and urged Cruft to have his brigade likewise throw up breastworks.1

General Johnson called on Hazen a few minutes later to urge him to desist—the clatter would attract the attention of the enemy, he complained. Thoroughly persuaded by Suman's arguments himself, Hazen soon prevailed on Johnson to start his division to work as well. By then, the sun had risen above the treetops, but Johnson was unconcerned. As he helped his comrades put the finishing touches on their breastworks, Private Albert Kern of the First Ohio listened to Johnson converse with his major. “I don't think there will be much fighting today,” remarked Johnson. “I hope the Lord will be on the side of the defensive,” replied Major Joab Stafford, in the spirit of the Sabbath.

Suddenly the forest trembled. Five Federal batteries opened fire into the woods. The Rebel yell split the air and Union infantrymen scrambled for their rifles. Johnson was amazed. “I have not heard heavier musketry during the war than we had for one hour,” he confessed.2

Cleburne's attack had been a long time coming. It was 10:00 A.M. before a courier handed him the order from Hill to advance, the Irishman claimed. Cleburne immediately sent staff officers hurrying to his brigade commanders with instructions for them to dress on the right, preserve their distances, and move forward. Wood got his orders quickly; not so Polk. “Owing to some mistake, I did not receive the order to advance until a few moments after General Breckinridge's division had been put in motion,” he reported.

Now the real trouble began. Without bothering to notify anyone, Polk moved his brigade obliquely to the right in a futile attempt to restore his connection with Helm's left before the Kentuckian ran into the enemy. Wood, for his part, insisted that Polk first veered to the left, crowding out his own brigade and forcing him to move obliquely to the left to make room. No sooner had he done this, said Wood, then Polk obliqued sharply to the right, opening a huge gap between the two brigades. Both Polk and Wood came under heavy artillery fire before they could rectify their alignment.

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