Although the enemy came within fifty or sixty yards
of the guns, every officer and man stood bravely to his post."
The following letter describing a Christmas dinner in 1864 presents
so true a picture of the situation, and at the same time so well
illustrates the soldierly spirit of the battery, that I publish it in
full:
"RIENZA, MISSISSIPPI, January 4, 1865.
"MY DEAR MOTHER,--An opportunity of writing now offers,--the first
since our leaving Florence, before going on our Tennessee campaign,
which has finally terminated so disastrously for us. Had orders
been obeyed and carried out at Spring Hill, there never would have
been a fight at Nashville. By some misunderstanding, the Yankee
army was allowed to cross at the above-named place without being
attacked. We followed on their tracks to Franklin, picking up
stragglers and prisoners all along the way, to the amount of
several hundred.
"We left Columbia at daylight, marched twenty-three miles, and
fought the battle of Franklin before dark. Our battery did not take
part in the battle: we were in position, but, owing to the close
proximity of the two armies, could not fire,--we were under fire,
but no one was hurt.
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