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[303] it was proper to do so, carefully guarded their safety. But when duty required it, he was ready to face any peril and set before his soldiers an example of valor which they followed with alacrity and zeal. It is praise enough for his command to say that it was the equal of that led by the renowned Pat Cleburne. He was in many fierce battles and always bore a conspicuous part. In the battle of Belmont he led three regiments of Pillow's force, and it was his movement to the enemy's rear that won the day. He was commissioned major-general March 10, 1862, and we find him on the field of Shiloh commanding the second division of the first corps under Leonidas Polk. At Perryville, Ky., it was Cheatham's division that opened the fight, and throughout that hotly-contested battle pressed steadily forward. Again at Murfreesboro Cheatham's was one of the four divisions which drove the Federals back a distance of between three and four miles, doubling them back upon their center until their line was at right angles to its original position. At Chickamauga we find Cheatham's division attached to the right wing under Leonidas Polk, sustaining the reputation gained on so many former occasions. At the battle of Missionary Ridge, when the Confederate left center had been broken, Hardee threw a part of Cheatham's division directly across the path of the advancing Federals and held the ground until darkness closed the fight. In all the movements of the army of Tennessee in 1864, Cheatham and his men had their full share of peril and of honor. At the battle of Kenesaw Mountain (June 27th), Cheatham's and Cleburne's divisions probably inflicted upon the Federals a heavier loss than they suffered on any other part of the field. In the battles around Atlanta, Cheatham had command of a corps, and in the battle of July 22d, his men captured five cannon and five stand of colors. In Hood's final campaign he led his corps into the thickest of every fight. At the close of the war, Cheatham returned to the pursuits of peace, blessed with
Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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