Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/224

 216 Southern Historical Society Papers.

batteries were pitted against each other at several other places in the course of the battle and the Chicagoans were the victors. Between the two batteries, whenever they got within range of each other, it was a duel pure and simple, the result of a challenge properly sent and accepted.

" The Chicago Light Artillery was in many notable battles during the war. It was organized under the militia laws of Illinois soon after Chicago was incorporated as a city, and was called in service by Gov- ernor Richard Yates in response to the first call for troops by Presi- dent Lincoln. Inside of twenty-four hours all vacancies in the battery were filled by volunteers, and it was at once sent to Cairo under the command of Captain James Smith. It was stationed on the Missis- sippi river near Cairo for five months, and put in all the spare time it had, perfecting its drill.

" September 6, 1861, the battery went to Paducah, Ky., with Gen- eral Grant's forces, and took part in his operations around Columbus and Belmont. Later it played a part in the attack on Fort Donel- son, one man being wounded there. March 26, 1862, the battery moved to Pittsburg Landing, and was in the thick of the fight at Shiloh. Here it had its duel with the New Orleans battery, and suffered its first losses. Before it was really in the fight it had lost one man and two horses. By afternoon several more had gone to join their comrade, and when the battery, then almost surrounded, was ordered to the rear, there were neither enough men nor horses for two of the guns, and assistance had to be secured from the other gun squads to get them off the field. One of them had only one horse left and he refused to move until a ball struck him in the tail. Lieutenant P. P. Wood was in command of the battery at this time, Captain Smith having been sent homesick.

" The bartery was again in the thick of the fight the next day, although the first day it had lost four men killed outright, twenty- six wounded, many of them mortally, and forty-eight horses killed. General W. T. Sherman, in his 'Memoirs,' refers to the excellent service rendered by the battery in the second day's fighting, when it covered an advance made by his troops that resulted in victory.

" The battery then went to Bolivar, Tennessee, and from there to Memphis, where it remained until November 26, 1862. In Decem- ber of that year it took part in the Chickasaw bayou fight, and then went with General McClernand to Arkansas Post, where it was in a