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army were driven back in confusion. We moved from here to the rear through the gap we see from here, and soon after were formed in open order on the side of one of the adjacent hills, and tried to stem the tide of retiring soldiers without success. Again, still further to the rear, renewed efforts were unavailing, and our command was moved over to the Chattanooga Valley, and remained there in line of battle until after dark, to protect the right flank and the wagon trains of our army, and on being relieved, marched to Chattanooga.

It is not my intention or desire to go into any of the details of this great battle of the war, and the part we took in it will be alluded to, no doubt, by those who will be called upon later. Suffice it for me to say that we were here to do any duty for which we might be called upon by our superior officers. Being attached to the headquarters of the commander of the Army of the Cumberland, General William S. Rosecrans, we had been extremely active on the campaign from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to this point, as the means of communication between the different corps commanders and the general commanding, often widely separated by high mountains and rough roads, and on this particular occasion many of our men were on active duty with the other generals commanding corps and divisions of this army.

Our government having converted this battlefield into a National Park, and our great State of Pennsylvania having erected monuments to designate the positions of her regiments and batteries in the conflict, we are assembled here to testify our appreciation of this legislation, and to thank the Great Ruler of the Universe that we are permitted to enjoy the blessings of peace and reunited country.

I will now call on Sergeant Joseph R. Lonabaugh to offer prayer. Sergeant Lonabaugh's prayer was eloquent and entirely extempore. He began with an acknowledgement of God, as God, in all the works of His hand; thanked Him for mercies bestowed upon us as individuals and as a nation; for the plenteous harvests of the past year; for the peace that reigns over us as a nation, and for the comforts and blessings of a united people; for the continuance of these blessings and for Divine wisdom to rest upon the President of the United States, his Cabinet and Congress; the Governor of our own loved Commonwealth, his advisers and Legislature, and upon those in authority everywhere in this broad land; and upon us that we may lay hold on eternal life, as revealed to us through the mercies of His Son. And then he said: "Grant, oh Lord, that when our shelters are pitched in the last bivouac on the field of the battle of life, and our bodies are lain down in the long rest, may north and south, east and west alike hear the sound of taps melt away into the reveille of that glorious land of peace beyond all strife and turmoil. These acknowledgments we make, these thanks we offer, these mercies we crave in the name of Thy dear Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." A hearty and grand "Amen" came from every one present at the close of this most impressive prayer.

The monument had been draped with the American flag, and Colonel Betts here called upon Miss Mary S. Anderson, Miss Laura E. Hanson and Miss Caro L. Betts, who came forward, and gracefully pulling the strings, it was unveiled and greeted with much applause.

Colonel Betts then said: I now have the honor of introducing to you the Honorable Daniel H. Hastings, Governor of our grand Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Governor Hastings spoke with much feeling, and in an eloquent and appropriate address commanded the close attention and intense interest of all present. He expressed himself as much gratified that the opportunity was afforded him to speak to the survivors of the great battle of Chickamauga, and the other battles in and about Chattanooga, at the dedication of their several monuments; and stated that he thought it proper that these monuments, commemorative of the brave and loyal deeds of her sons, should be erected at the expense of the State. In the course of his speech he said: "I have seen a picture of you and yours in many a Pennsylvania home. That picture is in every home of the grand old Commonwealth. It is of the young wife, with babe in her arms, or the dear mother at the door of her home. I see you for the first time clad in your soldier coat of blue, and see you looking back for a last sad glance at your loved ones, and often, indeed, did it prove to be the last glance, and the dear ones who waited and watched, waited and watched for your return, in vain. Their only consolation was that a precious life had been freely given up on the sacred altar of the country." The Governor's address was greeted with much applause and many cheers. The Governor has since written: "I am very proud of the monument erected by your regiment, and I was greatly touched with the deep earnestness that pervaded the dedicatory exercises."

Colonel Betts: It now gives me great pleasure to present to you Lieutenant John F. Conaway, the secretary of our association, as the orator of this occasion.

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ADDRESS OF LIEUTENANT JOHN F. CONAWAY.

OMRADES of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry:— Whatever may have been our thoughts on the morning of September 20, 1863, when we were drawn up in line of battle at this place, one of the most remote was that thirty-four years afterwards we would assemble, as we do to-day, to dedicate this monument or tablet which now stands before us, and I must say that I consider it a glorious

privilege to be permitted to speak to you on this occasion as comrades and survivors of a loyal volunteer regiment of cavalry that passed through nearly three years of continuous, active service in the field, in the greatest war of modern times. As a part of the Army of the Cumberland, it took us nearly three months to reach this field from the place of our last previous and, to us, most serious encounter with the enemy on the battlefield of Stone River, a distance, by rail, of not much over one hundred miles. There were great obstacles to be overcome at that time, however, and only those who actively participated can fully comprehend and appreciate the hardships, trials and dangers we were called upon to encounter and endure in that grand campaign. To-day, after a pleasant journey of about thirty hours, some of us with our wives and grown-up children, and many of us having traveled over a thousand miles from our homes in Pennsylvania and other states, we have come to this historic locality to assist in the dedication of the monuments, so generously provided by our grand Commonwealth, of the Pennsylvania commands engaged at Chickamauga and the other great battles in and about Chattanooga, but more particularly are we here to dedicate this monument of our own regiment. It is a matter of history and will be remembered by all who participated, that under the gallant and able leadership of our Colonel, afterwards Brevet Brigadier General, Wm. J. Palmer, we took an important part in the events preceding and those immediately leading up to this most sanguinary conflict; and on the battlefield itself we were actively engaged in detachments on nearly, if not quite, every part of it, but on the morning of the second day of the battle we moved with General Rosecrans from the Widow Glenn's House, about a mile distant, and were concentrated right about where we now stand. So it has been deemed proper that our monument should be erected here. I have no purpose, my comrades, to attempt a description of the battle of Chickamauga, nor could I do so with satisfaction to you or to myself, but I wish to say a few words in relation to the part we performed here. When we recall the events of the 19th and 20th of September, 1863, many of them transpiring on this spot and in sight of where we now stand, we cannot fail to realize that it borders on the miraculous that any of us are alive to-day to take part in these exercises. Every man has his own story to tell, and many of the events that occurred here have been vividly recalled and described by several of our comrades at the annual reunions of our Survivors' Association, twenty-four of which have been held up to this time. I need not mention names--indeed, were I to do so, it would be necessary for me to mention the name of every man of the command who was present in this battle, for I believe there was not one of our regiment who participated, but who was called upon to perform some specially important and dangerous duty at some time or other, from the beginning of the battle up to the time when we were compelled to leave the field, either alone or in company with one or two others, or with a larger detachment. Nearly all, if not all, of the orders of General Rosecrans, both verbal and written, directing the movements of corps, divisions.

brigades and regiments, were entrusted to members of our regiment for safe delivery. It was a duty, comrades, that took us to the farthest front, into the thickest of the fight, into the greatest possible danger, and the record has yet to be made that the confidence thus reposed in the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry on the battlefield of Chickamauga was in a single instance misplaced.

One comrade has said: "I was told to take two men and find General Granger, somewhere on the extreme left"-and he has described the thrilling and dangerous ride they had, and how, finally, they succeeded in finding not only Granger but Thomas, also, and the orders were safely delivered. Another comrade has related that he remembers distinctly that the line was broken in front of the Dyer House, and he has described our position as being drawn up in line immediately in the rear of headquarters, and how General Rosecrans was moving about in front, and as he came through the thicket Colonel Palmer rode up to him and said: "General, shall I charge with my regiment," and the reply was: "No, Colonel, you had better take your command a little further to the rear." Now, to show the ground covered by us in the performance of our duty in this battle, I wish to refer to an event that occurred on the right and which has not been spoken of before, that I remember. You know that on the night of the 18th the line of battle was changed, and although the fires were kept burning along the front, the army was moving all night in solid, compact mass in the rear of that line of fires towards the left, to take up a new position and to form the new line of battle. Just at that time it was necessary that Colonel Minty, commanding a considerable portion of cavalry somewhere on the extreme right, should be communicated with. That duty devolved upon an entire company of our regiment. That company left headquarters, in the vicinity of Crawfish Springs, about dusk on the evening of the 18th, and soon after, in the darkness, came upon this solid mass of infantry making the movement toward the left. It was a surprise so sudden that in an instant, instinctively, without orders, thousands of muskets were cocked at once, and the men who had filled the road from side to side broke to the right and left, and the sound of the cocking of those thousands of muskets, and the rustling of the leaves in the woods, struck terror to the hearts of the men of that company which can hardly be described. It was necessary to explain quickly, and the explanation was made none too quickly, I can assure you. I do not believe, comrades, that a company of cavalry during the entire war was ever so near complete annihilation as was company I on that occasion, although not a shot was fired. Colonel Minty was found; the orders were, instructing him that the line of battle was being changed and to come in a little closer, and as the sun rose bright and clear on the morning of the 19th, the bugle call of "boots and saddles," from regiment to regiment, echoed and re-echoed among the hills and mountains at Blue Bird Gap. My comrades, the scene that presented itself to our gaze on the morning of September 20, '63, I think, simply baffles description.

What a grand rush and charge in overwhelming numbers the enemy made, battery after battery was quickly taken, although the most heroic efforts were made to hold the guns. Our own regimental line, formed to resist the attack, was pierced in several places, the enemy taking position in our rear, behind the trees, and firing at us as we fell back to form a new line, of which we formed several in our vain efforts to check the retreat. But notwithstanding all this great confusion and carnage, we left the field with a compact organization and a column practically unbroken, and were soon admirably posted in the valley near Lookout Mountain, where at the time some of us, at least, thought that Wheeler with his cavalry would come sweeping down upon us in an effort to take Chattanooga in our rear. From that position we moved into Chattanooga and occupied Cameron Hill. One company had been sent up on to Lookout Mountain to watch the movements of the enemy. It was a narrow escape for them, and they succeeded in rejoining us by coming down the rugged and steep side of the mountain near the point with their horses from summit to base, and reaching us just as the enemy was closing in around the town. Young men who have visited this field and been on Lookout Mountain since the war, have said: "That story of yours about a company of your regiment being cut off on Lookout Mountain and escaping by coming down its side with their horses," as I have described, "must be one of your fairy tales of the war. It does not seem possible that they could escape in that way." There are comrades of company L here to-day, however, who know that the description I have given is correct.

This, comrades, is something of our experience in the battle of Chickamauga. Time will not permit me to go more into detail.

We were mustered into the service as a regiment on August 22, 1862. Young, untried, no experience whatever as soldiers, but full of patriotic fervor, the detachments hastily sent from our camp at Carlisle to Antietam performed the duty assigned them there better than, at the time, they thought they did. This has been amply testified to by competent authority long ago. An unfortunate event, however, occurred in our Antietam experience. I refer to the capture of our commander and organizer, Colonel Palmer. Had he been successful in his last mission into the enemy's lines, and been able to return to us at once, I believe that, after these many years we can agree, much if not all of the trouble and disappointment and spirit of discontent that befell us as a regiment during the succeeding two or three months, would have been avoided, because it is fair to presume, in the light of subsequent events in our regimental history, that we would have been speedily perfectly organized; and as a well-organized and equipped regiment of cavalry, had we arrived at Nashville, as we did, on the eve of the movement of General Rosecrans against Bragg-instead of two hundred and seventy-two men mounting their horses on the 26th of December, 1862, and eventually becoming the advance of the right wing of the Army of the Cumberland in the Stone

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