Ironton Register 2 Feb. 1888 – Mr. D. T. Miles saw the war, fighting in the old 6th Ohio. He belonged to Company B; not the company the Lawrence County, [Ohio] boys were in, but he knew several of the Lawrence squad, during those days of fighting and fasting. Mr. Miles was in all the big fights, and upon our pressing invitation, he related some of his personal experiences, in the way of a “Narrow Escape”.
He said substantially: “At last, the flush of the gray morning began to reveal the outlines of Mission Ridge [also known as Missionary Ridge] above and peering into the woods in front of me, I saw dimly a reb picket in his dug-out, as intent on looking for me as I was for him.
He was about 60 yards distant, but neither of us fired, for there was a sort of law or honor between the pickets, that neither should shoot at the other, unless there was an aggressive movement on hand, that while we were simply watching each other, there should be no shooting ..[Illegible].
“When the reb fired, he skipped, and when I landed safely, I skipped after him, and I shot at him when he wasn’t twenty feet away, and plague me if I didn’t miss him and he seemed as big as a barn door. And from that on, there must have been twenty of our boys shot at him, and not one hit him. That reb goes into the rebel entrenchments at the foot of Mission Ridge, which was but a short distance ahead.
“But we were ordered back, across the creek, again, to make ready to attach the breastworks in front of us. And right here I met with another ‘Narrow Escape,’ and quite similar to the one, just narrated. While re-crossing the creek, a shell came from the rebel Batteries, a big round fuse shell, and struck the water right at my feet, but the fuse was extinguished before the shell exploded, for if it had burst, I wouldn’t be here to tell you to know big Georgian and I failed to kill each other.”
“Well, Mr. Miles,” answered the reporter, “I am exceedingly glad it didn’t explode on your own account, and, also, on mine for I would have been sorry to have missed such a very interesting reminiscence.”
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