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Feature Article on Atlanta Battle.
Topic: CIVIL WAR
Written by Rich Wallace in July,
1996
ATLANTA OLYMPICS RECALL GREAT SACRIFICE OF SHELBY COUNTY
SOLDIERS...Pg 3 |
| As sometimes happens during
the heat of battle, men get separated from their comrades. Nutt and other members of
Company A of the twentieth were swept away by a surge from the Confederate line, and found
themselves behind the makeshift fortifications of a fort near an area of the battlefield
known as Bald Hill. Along with remnants of other units, the men defended the outpost from
wave after wave of Rebel attackers until after 11 o'clock that night. At that point, Capt.
Nutt recalled, "men went to sleep while loading their guns, and snoring was as
common as shooting." As the Rebels withdrew, the dead from both the Union and
Confederate armies littered the field. In front of the Union line, the twentieth buried,
by actual count, in excess of 600 dead enemy fighters.
At the time of the Civil War, it was
common practice for men from the same geographic area to enlist in the same regiment. That
practice took a fearsome toll on Shelby County that day. As the smoke cleared from the
battlefield, each company of the twentieth grimly reported in. Thirty-one men from this
county were killed or were listed as missing and presumed captured or dead. Captured
soldiers were sent to the infamous Andersonville
prison, a hell-hole that few men ever survived. Many years later, it would take the
combined toll of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts together to equal that number of lost
men from Shelby County.
For many years afterward, the
survivors of the Twentieth met at yearly reunions to remember their comrades in arms. The
men always met on the anniversary of the Battle of Atlanta. Many reunions were held in
Sidney. General M. F. Force of the Twentieth summed up the collective memories of the
veterans with his remarks to the group in 1890: The Twentieth never gave back under fire,
never was thrown into confusion, never failed to carry a position it was ordered to take,
never failed to hold a position it was ordered to hold, and never lost a wagon by capture.
Bless the survivors of that gallant band. It is worth more than pensions or money to be
able to say: 'and I too belonged to the Twentieth Ohio.'
Each year at the reunion, the names of those who died in the past year were read aloud.
One by one, the comrades of the Twentieth passed on. The memory of their gallant deeds in
large part passed with them. On July 22, 1996, we celebrate the deeds of heroes of another
era. The pageantry and drama of athletic competition mesmerizes us in almost a
surrealistic way. It is ironic that this struggle for medals and personal glory is being
played out on the same ground on which so many boys from Shelby County struggled just to
survive 132 years ago this week. We should all take a moment to remember, and say a silent
prayer of thanks.
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