"In the St. Louis Globe Democrat there recently
appeared a notice of Gen. H. V. Boynton's address to the Army and Navy Club,
concerning the Chattanooga campaign. which stated that:
"The audience embraced distinguished ex-Confederates
as well as ex-Union officers, together with many officers of the regular army.
Gen Roger Q. Mills, of Texas, was one of the ex-Confederates present. His
brigade was one of the three or four which Cleburne marched to the northern end
of Missionary Ridge and successfully pitted against Sherman in the hard fighting
for possession of Tunnel Hill. When
Gen. Boynton had concluded his talk Gen. Mills showed on the map where his
brigade had fought.
"There was an incident." he said.
connected with that battle which I recollect very distinctly. "I am
not able to tell it all, and perhaps some one here can complete the story with
the name of the officer. Down below where we lay on Tunnel Hill was a
large open field. Beyond that was some woods. A Federal brigade came through the
woods and out into the open field. There the troops re-formed their lines. The
officer in command was perfectly cool. He took his time. and the troops formed
as if they were on dress parade. They were within easy range and we fired into
them. They withdrew and went back into the woods. In a few minutes they came
back and formed again in the same determined way. When the officer in command
had got them formed to ranks he made them lie down, while he rode up and down
the front as if waiting for orders. Gen. Hardee came up to my brigade
while we were firing on them and said: "Stop shooting at those men. It's
murder."
We stopped. Some time afterward I talked with
McDowell about Hardee's order and asked him what be thought of the action.
He said: "It was not murder; it was war!" Hardee was an officer
of the regular army: he had fought under the flag, and I suppose he could not
stand seeing it fired on when carried by such brave men. The way that
brigade and its commander acted under fire impressed me. and I have often
wondered who the officer was."
One of the officers present was able to tell to whom
Gen Mills' tribute of bravery applied. He
was
Gen. Carman."
"Descendants of Joseph Loomis in
America", page 318, Elias Loomis, 1875
