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The army has lost no braver or nobler officer, in all that constitutes soldierly character and ability, than
General T. E. G. Ransom.
Like the
French Chevalier Bayard, he was alike “sans peur et sans reproche,” without fear and without reproach.
Numerous instances are recorded of his calm and magnificent courage; one of the most remarkable is an incident appertaining to the assault on
Vicksburg, on the 22d of May, 1863.
His brigade formed a part of the charging column that day, and as it advanced toward the rebel breastworks a storm of grape and canister swept through it from an enfilading battery, killing or wounding many officers, and for an instant checking the whole movement.
Perceiving that the men wavered,
General Ransom seized the colors of a regiment, and rushing to the front, waved them over his head, and shouted, “Forward, men!
We must and will go into that fort.
Who will follow me?”
Inspirited by this action, the column rallied about its intrepid leader, and gained the ditch in front of the fort.
But the strength of the position and the commanding fire of the enemy satisfied him that the assault would prove only a useless sacrifice of life.
Then, placing himself at a conspicuous point, he addressed his men in a loud, clear voice, as follows: “Men of the second brigade!
we cannot maintain this position.
You must retire to the cover of that
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ravine, one regiment at a time.”
He then announced the order of retiring, regiment by regiment, and added: “The first man who runs or goes beyond that ravine, shall be shot.
I will stand here, and see how you do it.”
And there, in full range of the enemy's fire, he mounted a stump, from which he could see his entire command, folded his arms, and watched the movement, himself the most exposed man of the whole brigade.
A captain of the Seventy-second Illinois, who had been intimate with
Ransom before the war, crawled on his hands and knees to the foot of the stump, and begged the general to leave a position of so much danger.
Turning his flashing eyes upon the captain for an instant,
Ransom said, with an emphasis that commanded obedience, “
Silence!”
and remained where he was until the movement was accomplished.
At the battle of
Sabine crossroads, where, as usual, he was always in the thickest of the fight, inspiriting his men by his presence, he was severely wounded in the left knee.
On the day following the battle four surgeons examined the wound at
Pleasant Hill, and were divided in their opinion-two being in favor of amputation while the other two deemed it unnecessary.
The general, who was an interested listener to the conversation, raised himself on his couch and said: “Well, gentlemen, as the house is equally divided on this subject, I will, as chairman of the meeting, decide the question.
I shall retain the wounded leg, loss included.”
