Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/362

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

��Chattanooga. At the latter place, the regiment received 200 recruits from Ohio, and was paid up to the 31st of August, 1864. On the 22d of October, the Sixty-fourth, with the Fourth Army Corps, started in pursuit of the enemy's forces to Alpine, Ga., fifty miles south, lie- turning to Chattanooga, the regiment went by rail to Athens, Ala. ; from there it marched to Pulaski, Tenn. Here, on the 8th of November, 1864 (being the day for Presidential election), the regiment balloted, the vote standing 232 votes for Lincoln and 64 for McClellan.

From this, it marched through Linville to Col- umbia ; here fortified against the enemy. On the morning of the 29th inst., it was discovered that one corps of the enemy's forces had crossed Duck River and were moving toward Spring Hill. The Sixty-fourth, with its division, making a forced march, met the enemy's cavalry at Spring Hill. Wagner's division (the only one having arrived from Columbia) being formed, the Sixty-fourth was ordered forward as skir- mishers. It met and drove back the cavah-y more than a mile, when the enemy was met ad- vancing in force. Here, in baffling the foe. meet- ing their cavalr}', charges and flank movements, the brave boys of the Sixty-fourth displayed an amount of courage and skill seldom equaled. Space forbids a detailed account of the strug- gle of the regiment in this engagement. Suf- fice it to say, -the Sixty-fourth never did better service. Driven back, inch by inch, into the works hastily thrown up by the division and such forces as had arrived, the enemy charged and carried the whole line ; but here night, that wished-for boon of Wellington at Water- loo, interposed, and the enemy settled down on his arms, while our artillery and army trains were moved l)v under cover of darkness, that, too, within a few hundred yards of the ene- my's lines. In this engagement, the Sixty- fourth sustained a loss in killed, wounded and missing, of forty-seven. Before daylight on the morning of the 30th, the regiment, with

��the army, was on the road to Franklin, Tenn., distance twelve miles. Here the Harpeth River had to be crossed on a single pontoon bridge, and, at the same time, the pursuing enemy must be held in check, to allow the trains time to pass over. This resulted in a bloody struggle. Here again the Sixt3^-fourth was in requisition. With the foe in front and the Harpeth in rear, it was blood to the sword- hilt or surrender. At first the Sixty-fourth, with one other regiment, occupied an advanced position, covering the center, but retired before a superior force to the main line, crossing the pike, and in front of the historic gin-house. It here engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict, the men even using their bayonets and butts of their guns.* The regiment met with consider- able loss. Gen. Cleburn, of the rebel army, fell on the works in front of this regiment, and his Adjutant General, with his leg broken, was pulled oflT the works b}' a member of the regiment. The enemy, repulsed in their repeated efforts to carry the line, withdrew, when the Army of the Cumberland moved quietly back to Nashville. Here the Sixty- fourth was engaged in the sorties, and. finally, the battles, on the 15th and 16th da^s of December, 1864, sustaining less loss than at the preceding engagements. Following this, the regiment pursued Hood's scattered forces across the Tennessee River, then turned to Huntsville, Ala.; from this was ordered to Decatur, and then to Athens, Avhere it did post duty for more than two months. While here, in February, 1865, Col. R. C. Brown and Maj. S. L. Coulter resigned, and S. ^I. Wolff" was promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment. From this it was ordered to Huntsville, thence to East Tennessee, and in a week was ordered

��* While in this '• hand-to-hand " conflict, an incident occurred worth preserving. The Colonel of a Mississippi regiment, Austin by name, crossed the works, and, encountering Capt. S. M. V/oIff, demanded his surrender. The Captain did not comply, hut made the same demand. The Colonel accepting the situation, grace- fully complied. Capt. Wolff bore home a fine sword as a trophy of the event, which he now owns. It is inscribed, "Presented to Col. Austin by his friend A. J. Smith."

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