The grand armies are now moving, headed towards Atlanta. To-night we go
into camp upon the Allatoona battle field. The brave General John M. Corse,
though his wound is scarcely well, is with us commanding the Fourth Division.
As we see him late to-night riding up to his headquarters (having refused to
dismount until his division was all in camp), we thought to ourselves,
"Brave Johnny, thou art a noble type of an American soldier.” As we said,
this is Allatoona's great battle field; here brave men sleep; here noble
warriors fought their last fight; here sleep those who stood with us when
Allatoona's hills were rocking amid the awful din and clash of steel; stood
with us until they fell.
We are now standing by their uncoffined graves. Boon companions lie here.
How vividly the hour comes to us when they passed away under the shadow of the
flag, the pride of their hearts. We cannot help but cast silent tears to their
memory, and turning our faces towards the north star, we are wont to say: Oh!
weep, heart of the North, for thy fallen dead who sleep here. The night is
growing cold; we will now wend our way to where the weary Seventh lie sleeping.
SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 274-5
No comments:
Post a Comment