Ironton Register 24 May 1888 – Our old German fellow citizen, Charles Tomer, did splendid service for his adopted country. He was in the 14th Kentucky Infantry and fought through the war. As he was wending his way down toward the Belfont Mill, the Register reporter gently ambled by his side and questioned him about his experience in the war.
He said he had a funny little experience on the 22nd of June 1864, down in Georgia. It occurred in the sight of Kennesaw Mountain and was in one of those conflicts that made that mountain famous in history. His regiment was in the 23rd Army Corps, and was on the left, as he recollects.
But that doesn’t matter. We are not after the movements of armies, but the experiences of individuals. Mr. Charles Tomer says his Regiment had been having some pretty severe trials and privations and had been permitted to go back to the rear for a rest, but the rest didn’t last long.
“On the morning of the 22nd of June, as before marked, they were ordered to the front again, and he described very vividly how their regiment marched between the open lines of the other regiments to go out where the shots were flying, and with what feelings he moved from the point of security to the point of danger.
They had no sooner arrived in front than their regiment was thrown into the line of battle, and his Company A and another company were deployed as skirmishers. They were particularly warned to be careful – that another company was in front somewhere and not to fire unless they were sure the troops ahead were rebels.
In observing this warning, they were right on a line of rebel skirmishers before they knew it. In fact, many of the rebs wore blue clothes and the deception was easy. When the rebs began to pop at them, however, they felt it was time to ‘go in,’ and they did, killing one or two of the rebs and by a quick movement got around them and captured 49.
“At this time,” said Charles Tomer, “Bill Taylor, of our company, called me to a fence where he was standing, and Good Lord! I never saw so many rebels in my life. They just swarmed. I couldn’t see any end to them. We stood there awfully astonished and didn’t know which way to run.
Finally, they got so near to us that we concluded to shoot at them and then light out. And so, we shot, but they didn’t pay the slightest attention to our fire. Then we scampered back toward our regiment as fast as we could go. Now, here comes my ‘Narrow Escape’ that you asked me for.
“There was a piece of swampy ground that I hadn’t noticed till I was right into it, and goodness gracious! there I was stuck and the whole rebel army right at my back. My feet stuck so I could hardly move, and the more I tried to get out, the worse it was for me, till I began to use my gun as a sort of push-pole, then I did manage to get out, but thinking every minute I was a goner.
Just as I pulled out of the swamp and started full tilt again, a big reb who had got around the swamp while I was struggling in it, grabbed me by the back and said, ‘Stop, stop, I’ll not hurt you.’ I said, ‘I’ll be dead if I do,’ as I jerked myself from him and skedaddled into the woods. I expect he hadn’t his gun loaded, or he would have got me anyhow, but other rebs who saw the escape, let drive at me and the bullets whizzed around right lively.
“I kept on till I found two of our boys behind a big tree. I got behind it too, but we didn’t stay long. The whole rebel army was on us again. Our next run brought us to the regiment drawn up to fight the whole rebel army, but after fighting for about three minutes and losing 79 men, the regiment retreated also. But that swamp was the closest call I had in the whole war. I’ll think up a better one sometime when I see you again. Good-bye.”
Richwood Gazette, Richwood, Ohio 13 July 1882
Mrs. Mary Tomer, the wife of Charles Tomer, employed at the Belfont Iron Works, Ironton, was run over by an engine and two flat cars and completely cut in two, obliquely, from one shoulder to the opposite hip.
One broken and lacerated leg, which became detached from the body at the hip joint, was carried eight years further than the body. The viscera of the upper part of the body, the heart, liver, lungs, etc., were thrown out to one side of the track. There was no portion of the body left intact except the head.
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