Bearing the Colors at Missionary Ridge

James Walker’s account of charging Missionary Ridge with the 31st Ohio speaks volumes to the intensity of the hand-to-hand combat that took place as Turchin’s brigade crested over the Confederate works on November 25, 1863.

“We climbed to the top of the works and looked down upon the Confederates formed in two lines, one kneeling in the trench with fixed bayonets and the other lying down behind them,” Walker stated. “With a yell, we jumped down into the trench on top of them and a hand-to-hand fight followed, with muskets, bayonets, and even fists. We had broken the Confederate line and as our men came up to support us, we faced right and left and kept widening the gap. One of the Confederates who had thrown down his musket and held up his hands in token of surrender fired at us after we had passed and hit one of our boys on the knee. I turned on him with the butt of my gun but before I could strike, Sam Wright pushed me to one side and said, “Let me fix him.” Placing his musket against the man’s breast, he fired, literally tearing him to pieces."

          Walker’s actions that day in which he bore the regimental colors, recounted in this passage from Deeds of Valor, would be awarded with a Medal of Honor in 1895.

       

James Walker lifted the regimental colors from the hands of the color sergeant as he fainted from the loss of blood, and carried them through the rest of the engagement. He's depicted here reaching across the scorching hot gun tube to pull the fuse out before the Confederate gunners could pull the lanyard.
(Deeds of Valor)

Turchin’s brigade was drawn up in two lines to attack the Confederate position, but as the second line overlapped the first, our regiment was taken out to form a third line. On arriving at the Confederate breastworks at the foot of the ridge, we found them filled with men of the first and second lines which left us without protection from the enemy’s musket fire. It was less dangerous to advance than to retreat, and Colonel Lister rode over the breastworks shouting, “Forward, Thirty-First!”

          We swarmed over and the whole brigade followed. We made no attempt to keep in line as it was everyone for himself, each striving to be the first to gain the top of the ridge. The 31st Ohio started up the ravine to the left of the spur known as DeLong’s Point, but we found that this would lead us into an angle of the Rebel line, so we turned to the right and came out on top of the spur.

          George Wilson of Co. G and I were among the first to get to this point. We laid down at the foot of the Confederate breastworks and Sam Wright of Co. K came up and asked us, “What in the hell are you going to do next?” We told him to wait and see. As the other boys came up, they dropped alongside of us until we numbered 20 all told.

Then I called out, “Boys are you ready?” They replied yes so we climbed to the top of the works and looked down upon the Confederates formed in two lines, one kneeling in the trench with fixed bayonets and the other lying down behind them. With a yell, we jumped down into the trench on top of them and a hand-to-hand fight followed, with muskets, bayonets, and even fists. We had broken the Confederate line and as our men came up to support us, we faced right and left and kept widening the gap.

One of the Confederates who had thrown down his musket and held up his hands in token of surrender fired at us after we had passed and hit one of our boys on the knee. I turned on him with the butt of my gun but before I could strike, Sam Wright pushed me to one side and said, “Let me fix him.” Placing his musket against the man’s breast, he fired, literally tearing him to pieces. Looking at the mangled body, he said, “Now damn you, you have surrendered.”

As I turned to push on, I was struck in the right breast with a Minie ball which knocked the breath out of me and stunned me, making ten holes through my blanket, blouse, and shirt. Our color bearer, Corporal George W. Franklin of Co. K, had been struck in the arm by a piece of shell as he came over the works and was on the point of falling from the loss of blood when I came to my senses. I jumped up and caught the colors just in time to save them from going down.

A Rebel battery a short distance to the left opened a terrible fire of grape and canister upon us. I rushed forward to the first gun of the battery, got in between the piece and the wheel, and with my left hand pulled the fuse out of the gun just as the cannoneer jerked the lanyard. Sam Wright got in on the other side, rested his musket on the wheel, and shot the officer in command of the battery. As the officer fell, his sword flew out of his hand and came end of over to the feet of Captain A.S. Scott of the 31st Ohio.

We drove off the Rebel gunners, slewed the guns around and poured their contents into their late owners. After capturing the battery, we swept on until the Confederates, being reinforced, made a desperate charge and drove us over the breastworks. The ridge at this point was so steep that we would fall back no further and we were compelled to hold our ground. Here we fought for about 20 minutes with the breastworks between us and the only thing that saved us was that we were on lower ground and the Rebels overshot us.

Our troops attacked the flank and rear of the enemy’s line while we leaped over the breastworks and charged them from the front. I noticed the color bearer of the 41st Alabama about 20 paces in front of me endeavoring to rally his regiment. I rushed at him and caught hold of the flag, but in the struggle, we fell and the staff was broken. The Rebel surrendered and I rolled up his flag and carried it under my left arm till I met Sam Wright and gave it to him. Our own colors I continued to carry throughout the fight and brought them out with 89 bullets holes in them and ten in the staff.

 

James Walker would receive a Medal of Honor for his actions at Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1895.

 

Source:

“Now You Have Surrendered,” Private James C. Walker, Co. K, 31st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, from Walter F. Beyer and Oscar F. Keydel, editors. Deeds of Valor: How America’s Heroes Won the Medal of Honor. Detroit: The Perrien-Keydel Co., 1901, pgs. 290-292

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