THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
Hooker personally to push through to Geary, that I had just been informed of my other two brigades having been stopped by General Hooker's direction, and that if I occupied the hill on my left with the only brigade I had on hand, I would have no troops at all to push on to Geary. Lieutenant Oliver answered that General Hooker wanted the hill on my left taken, and he repeated the order. This was puzzling. However, it naturally occurred to me that circumstances might have changed. The firing at Wauhatchie had for a while slackened and then died out altogether. It was evident that Geary, after a fierce fight, had succeeded in repulsing the rebel attack. But there was still more firing going on in my rear near the hill from which the volley had been thrown upon us. The enemy might perhaps have made a new movement, making it most important that the gaps in the row of hills be in our possession. Finally, although General Hooker had personally ordered me to push through to Geary, his last order, brought by his aide-de-camp, was that I should take and occupy with one brigade the hill immediately on my left, and according to all military rules, it was the last order that counted. I asked, therefore, General Tyndale to arrest the march to Geary, and to take and occupy the hill with his brigade.
This was done. Our skirmishers ascended the dark woods, silently. There was a moment of remarkable stillness. Then we heard about half way up a ringing voice calling out: “What regiment do you belong to?” Another voice, a little further away, responded, naming a Georgia regiment. Thereupon promptly followed a shot and then a rattle of musketry. Then three of our regiments rushed up after our skirmishers, the firing became more lively, and soon our men were on the crest and descended the opposite slope, the enemy yielding as our men steadily advanced. The affair occupied not much
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