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into the interior around the Rebels. We proceeded slowly up the river, and finally the fleet was hailed by the Twenty-seventh several miles up and they were taken aboard their boat. Our trip up the river was a solemn one. Many wounded men were lying on the cabin floor and on the guards; those who were known to be dead on the field were tenderly spoken of, and those whom no one could account for were hoped for. Finally, supper was served. General Grant sat at the end of the table next to the ladies' cabin. I occupied a seat the fourth from his on the left. All the officers were discoursing on the events of the day very glibly, but the general said not a word further than to speak to the waiter. thought he was hard-hearted, cold, and indifferent, but it was only the difference between a real soldier and amateur soldiers. Thus ended the battle of Belmont. We knew not then what we went there for, but the general knew, and he saved Oglesby's comniand and tested the mettle of the untried soldiers. Besides, the Rebels never held a camp there afterwards or anywhere on that side of the river north of New Madrid.

We

I will here quote from the "Memoirs" of U. S. Grant: "Our loss at Belmont was 485 in killed, wounded, and missing. About 125 of our wounded fell into the hands of the enemy. We returned with 175 prisoners and two guns, and spiked four others." Pardon me for digressing here, but I wish to say to you, companions, I brought off one of these two guns. It was the one I had used in firing at the steamboat.

Again quoting the "Memoirs" of Grant: "The enemy had labout 7,000; but this includes the troops over from Columbus who were not engaged in the first defence of Belmont. The two objects for which the battle of Belmont was fought were fully accomplished. The enemy gave up all idea of detaching troops from Columbus. His losses were very heavy for that period of the war. Columbus was beset by people looking for their wounded or dead kin. I learned later, when I had moved farther south, that Belmont had caused more mourning than almost any other battle up to that time. The national troops

acquired a confidence in themselves at Belmont that did not desert them through the war."

Before closing, I think it proper for the purpose of this paper to quote from Jefferson Davis' "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," as follows: "On the 6th of November, General Grant left his headquarters at Cairo with a land and naval force and encamped on the Kentucky shore. This act and a demonstration made by detachments from the force at Paducah were probably intended to induce the belief that he contemplated an attack on Columbus, thus concealing his real purpose to surprise the small garrison at Belmont. General Polk, on the morning of the 7th, discovered the landing of the Federal forces on the Missouri shore, some seven miles above Columbus, and, divining the real purpose of the enemy, detached General Pillow with four regiments of his division, say 2,000 men, to reinforce the garrison at Belmont. Very soon after his arrival the enemy commenced an assault, which was sternly resisted, and with varying fortune, for several hours. The enemy's front so far exceeded the length of our line as to enable him to attack on both flanks, and our troops were finally driven back to the bank of the river with the loss of their battery. The enemy advanced to the bank of the river below the point to which our men had retreated, and opened an artillery fire upon the town of Columbus, to which our guns from the commanding height responded, with such effect as to drive him from the river-bank. In the meantime General Polk had at intervals sent three regiments to reinforce General Pillow. Upon the arrival of the first of these, General Pillow led it to a favorable position, where it for some time steadily resisted and checked the advance of the enemy. General Pillow, with great energy and gallantry, rallied his repulsed troops and brought them again into action. General Polk now proceeded in person with two other regiments. Whether from this or some other cause, the enemy commenced a retreat. General Pillow, whose activity and daring on the occasion were worthy of all praise,

led the first and second detachments by which he had been reinforced to attack the enemy in the rear, and General Polk, landing further up the river, moved to cut off the enemy's retreat; but some embarrassment and consequent delay which occurred in landing his troops caused him to be too late for the purpose for which he crossed, and to become only a part of the pursuing force. One would naturally suppose that the question about which there would be the greatest certainty would be the number of troops engaged in a battle, yet there is nothing in regard to which we have such conflicting accounts. It is fairly concluded, from the current reports, that the enemy attacked us on both flanks, and that in the beginning of the action we were outnumbered; but the obstinacy with which the conflict was maintained and the successive advances and retreats which occurred in the action indicate that the disparity could not have been very great, and therefore that, after the arrival of our reinforcements,.our troops must have become numerically superior. The dead and wounded left upon the field, the arms, ammunition, and military stores abandoned in his flight, so incontestably prove his defeat, that his claim to have achieved a victory is too preposterous for discussion. Though the forces engaged were comparatively small to those in subsequent battles of the war, six hours of incessant combat, with repeated bayonet charges, must place this in the rank of the most stubborn engagements, and the victors must accord to the vanquished the meed of having fought like Americans. Our loss in killed, wounded, and missing was 641; that of the enemy was probably not less than 1,200."

Before closing, I will say we did not come back to the same tree, so did not recover our coats we discarded in the morning. My own was a new one that I had bought in Cairo a few days before. Our guns were of those known as the Harper's Ferry flint-lock musket, altered to percussion caps, and the ammunition being cartridges that must be torn open with one's teeth, inserted in the muzzle of the musket and

rammed home. The cartridge contained with the powder one lead ball and four buckshot. With cartridge-biting, the faces of the men soon looked as though they might be coal-miners.

The impressions of the battle of Belmont are still clear and vivid within my mind after the lapse of many years devoted to peaceful pursuits. Whatever its place in history, a young man's first battle must be to him the greatest event of his life, and as such have I remembered the battle I have attempted to describe -the battle of Belmont.

I have framed and hung on the walls of my residence at Atchison, "Special Orders" from General Grant, of date December 21, 1861, read on dress parade, complimenting me for "the valuable services rendered at the battle of Belmont" by me. I intended to bring the same here to show you to-night, but forgot it.

Personal Reminiscences of Gettysburg.

By Captain John D. S. Cook, 20th N. Y. S. M., 80th New York Infantry Volunteers.

December 12, 1903.

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