enemy was found to be retreating and the army eagerly pursued at dawn. Gettysburg added another to the list of decisive battles of the world, the losses alone constituting an army of nearly 55,000 men, of which the Union Army lost 23,186, and the Confederate Army lost 31,621 men.

Costly monuments are reared upon the field of battle, but the costliest sacrifice is the precious blood of the heroes who fought for liberty and the life of the nation on that field.

Hazen's Brigade at Missionary Ridge.

By Companion Wm. A. Morgan, First Lieutenant Company E, 23d Kentucky Volunteer Infantry.

September 2, 1897.

In this paper I will attempt to tell the part taken by Hazen's brigade, Wood's division, 4th Corps, in the assault on Missionary Ridge, November 25, 1863, as witnessed by a line officer who had little else to do, during the progress thereof, but to keep up with the line of battle in its rapid advance, stopping only when from cheer exhaustion it appeared almost impossible to take another step without a "blowing spell."

The topography of the field, from the first movement on the afternoon of November 23d to the close on November 25th, enabled the writer to see all of his own command and frequently the troops on the right and left.

The greatest portion of this story is taken from letters written soon after the battle, when the incidents related, as well as the enthusiasm then prevailing, were much more vivid than to-day, and in culling those old letters, written thirty-four years ago, I can see again the many incidents here related. Almost the same hopes and fears are born anew, and "I hear the cry of victory o'er and o'er.”

The brigade consisted of nine regiments, each of which had participated in a long and arduous campaign, including the two-days battle of Chickamauga, and consequently was much reduced.

General William B. Hazen, our brigade commander, was a thorough disciplinarian. He exacted from superiors as well as subordinates all the courtesies and considerations to which his rank entitled him (which frequently embroiled him in unpleasant controversies), but he also cheerfully gave to others all to which they were entitled. To those who met him upon that plane he was all that could be desired in a commander. He was intensely methodical, consequently his command was always ready, no matter what the surroundings.

When the work of opening the battle was assigned to Wood's division, General Hazen consolidated his nine regiments into five battalions of ten companies each, as follows:

First Battalion-41st Ohio and 93d Ohio, Colonel Wiley, of the 41st, commanding.

Second Battalion-5th Kentucky and 6th Kentucky, Colonel Berry, of the 5th, commanding.

Third Battalion-1st Ohio and 23d Kentucky, LieutenantColonel Langdon, of the 1st, commanding.

Fourth Battalion-124th Ohio and 6th Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel Pickands, of the 124th, commanding.

Fifth Battalion-6th Ohio, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher commanding.

Thus organized, the brigade took its position in rear of the 11th Corps, formed on the hillside between Fort Wood and Lunette Palmer in the following order: First and Third Battalions in the front line, the Fourth and Fifth Battalions in the second line, and the Second Battalion deployed as skirmishers on the picket-line. The entire brigade numbered something less than 2,300, officers and men.

Never before, nor since, has it been my pleasure to witness troops move to an attack with the esprit de corps displayed by Hazen's brigade when beginning the battles around Chattanooga, and that spirit prevailed until it planted its colors upon the summit of Missionary Ridge two days later. General Howard, with a portion of the 11th Corps fresh from the Army of the Potomac, had joined the Army of the Cumberland, and was formed on the slope of the hill, facing Missionary Ridge, each regiment in divisions doubled on the center closed en masse. Hazen's brigade formed in the rear of the 11th Corps, its battalions also in divisions, doubled on the center, opposite the intervals in the 11th Corps through which it would march when ordered to advance, and every officer and soldier realized that the attack would be in full view of our comrades from the East as well as under the eyes of Grant and Thomas, in Fort Wood. The distance from our formation to the top of Missionary Ridge is about three miles. About one-half of the way there is a line of low hills and knobs (the most prominent of

which is Orchard Knob) upon which the enemy had a line of formidable works.

All the preliminaries having been completed, about two o'clock p. m. of November 23d General Wood's bugler sounded "Forward," and as we marched through the 11th Corps we were greeted on every side with exclamations of commendation, and I heard one enthusiastic 11th Corps soldier say: "Why, those fellows seem to enjoy going into a fight!" He didn't know that "Old Pap Thomas" had his eye on us.

The enemy, we afterward learned, supposed we were forming for review or some similar demonstration, and we could see them standing upon their works, apparently enjoying the grand pageant.

As soon as the 11th Corps was cleared, the First and Third Battalions, forming our first line, deployed; the Fourth and Fifth Battalions preserved their original formation of divisions closed

en masse.

Before the echo of the bugle had died away, Colonel Berry, with his 5th and 6th Kentucky battalion, engaged the enemy's pickets and had them on the run for their reserve, and the line of battle scarcely stopped its march before it was over the enemy's works, capturing among other trophies an entire regiment of "our friends, the enemy"-the 28th Alabama, with its colors. It was entirely the work of the bayonet, scarcely a gun being fired except by the skirmishers, a fitting prelude to the grand climax two days later. Our loss in that affair was somewhere near 125 killed and wounded.

I should add that Willich's brigade, on Hazen's left, with Beatty's brigade in reserve, carried Orchard Knob almost at the same instant. Sheridan's division, which was to protect Hazen's right, for some reason failed to keep up, which accounts for Hazen's heavy loss, partly the result of a severe fire from the right.

That virtually ended the work of Hazen's brigade until the final attack on the 25th, and, besides constant skirmishing and an occasional "demonstration," we spent the greater part