Escape from East Tennessee to the federal lines

by Robert A. Ragan

On the sixth day of August we were about the center of the army, and were ordered to advance on the rebel works. There was an old field between our forces and the rebels. They had fortified on a ridge as usual, in the woods about three hundred yards from this old field, and they had cut down all the small timber in front of their works, the tops falling in our direction. They had sharpened the ends of the timber, forming an abbatis, of which we were not aware until we had reached within about twenty yards of their works. Some of our men succeeded in getting through these sharp limbs and up to their works, although they were killing our men by the dozen. Our color-bearer, a boy by the name of John Fancher, placed the flag on the rebel works, and they got hold of it and pulled him in. He was never heard of again until after the war, when the rebel records showed that he died in prison.

We had to fall back, leaving our dead and wounded on the ground. We lost ninety-three men wounded and killed out of our regiment. The officers who were killed were Capt. Bowers, Lieut. Johnson and Lieut. Fitzgerald. Lieut. Bible and Lieut. Walker were wounded.

There were five killed and wounded in my company. One of them, George Ricker, was killed in the fight and laid close to the edge of the old field. His mess-mate, William Smith, saw him lying dead as we fell back. After the battle was over, though the sharpshooters were still firing, Smith asked me to let him go back and get the body, and help bring it off the field. I said to him it was dangerous for him to go, but he insisted and I finally consented. He went to where Ricker was, and just as he stooped down to raise him up a ball struck him in the side, and he fell dead on the body of his comrade. They were warm friends in life, and in death were not separated. Afterward the dead were buried, and the wounded cared for.

On the night of September 1, 1864, the rebels set fire to the arsenal and all the military implements in Atlanta, and it seemed the whole earth trembled with the explosions. The rebels evacuated the city, moving out southeast, and on the morning of September 2d our forces took possession, thus gaining the victory after a siege lasting over a month.

Next morning we followed the rebels to Jonesboro and had a hard battle, defeating them. After the battle was over we remained there for a few days, and then returned to Atlanta.

The rebel regiment that I was urged to make up in my county, heretofore mentioned, was captured in the Jonesboro fight, losing quite heavily in killed and wounded. Some of the men learned that my regiment was in the battle, and heard that I was there, and they sent for me. I found that fifteen or twenty of the boys with whom I had gone to school were prisoners, and several had been killed. Some of these were boys I had played with when we were children. I make this statement to show that fathers and brothers and neighbors and friends had fought against each other. This regiment that I speak of was paroled and went back to East Tennessee, and never returned to the rebel army.

After the war we were all good friends and good citizens. These boys went into the rebel army at the beginning of the war in 1861, and did not stay around home to rob and kill Union men, and hang them for their money.

CHAPTER VIII.

In this closing chapter I desire to give some incidents, etc., pathetic, humorous and otherwise, associated with but not included in this somewhat disconnected and rambling account of my varied experiences.

The noble and patriotic women in East Tennessee, whose untold sufferings would fill a volume, most of whom have now passed beyond that bourne from whence no traveler ever returns, should have their names and deeds so far as possible recorded so that generations yet to come may honor them and reverence their memory.