FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY 1ST LIEUTENANT ELI BICHNELL TO HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW
"We moved forward with fixed bayonets, when within 150 yards of the enemie's breastworks, there opened on us a deadly volley of grape and cannister and musketry which thinned our ranks so that by the time we were in 60 yards of the works, we saw it was useless to go farther and the whole line fell into a creek branch completely exhausted after running across a field 300 yards. We soon saw we were obliged to lie close to their works, they would shoot a man at that distance every time. I found it very unpleasant lying between two armies engaged at a short distance. Co C went in with 33 men and came out with 11 untouched, or I should say, unhurt, for almost all were shot through their clothes or shocked by the explosion of a shell. My clothes were shot in two places. In CO C, Pvt. James T. Goodwin, Pvt. William Journey, and Pvt. Isaac Herrel were killed and Pvt. Thomas Gatlett was mortally wounded. The balance will get well."
The battle lasted until the night of the 15th when the Confederate Army withdrew. On the 16th the Union soldiers reentered the battle site and recovered the dead and wounded. William Journey's fellow soldiers would have recognized or identified him and tagged him. The dead were put aboard a train and taken to Chattanooga, TN where a Union cemetery was being established. The only soldiers sent home for burial were the ones who had a relative serving with them.
Research by Helen Cobb Rehm
FROM A LETTER WRITTEN BY 1ST LIEUTENANT ELI BICHNELL TO HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW
"We moved forward with fixed bayonets, when within 150 yards of the enemie's breastworks, there opened on us a deadly volley of grape and cannister and musketry which thinned our ranks so that by the time we were in 60 yards of the works, we saw it was useless to go farther and the whole line fell into a creek branch completely exhausted after running across a field 300 yards. We soon saw we were obliged to lie close to their works, they would shoot a man at that distance every time. I found it very unpleasant lying between two armies engaged at a short distance. Co C went in with 33 men and came out with 11 untouched, or I should say, unhurt, for almost all were shot through their clothes or shocked by the explosion of a shell. My clothes were shot in two places. In CO C, Pvt. James T. Goodwin, Pvt. William Journey, and Pvt. Isaac Herrel were killed and Pvt. Thomas Gatlett was mortally wounded. The balance will get well."
The battle lasted until the night of the 15th when the Confederate Army withdrew. On the 16th the Union soldiers reentered the battle site and recovered the dead and wounded. William Journey's fellow soldiers would have recognized or identified him and tagged him. The dead were put aboard a train and taken to Chattanooga, TN where a Union cemetery was being established. The only soldiers sent home for burial were the ones who had a relative serving with them.
Research by Helen Cobb Rehm
Gravesite Details
Section L Site 8994
Family Members
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Records on Ancestry
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