A Fierce Battle   

        Heavy artillery and a fierce battle ensued.  LaGrange ordered 3 regiments to assault Ft. Tyler while he led the 4th Indiana in a dash across the wagon bridge to secure a footing on the east side of the Chattahoochee River. As he re-crossed the bridge a shot from one of the fort cannons killed LaGrange's horse and stunned the Colonel. He would rethink his strategy for another three hours.¹ 

        Tyler  flew a flag given him by the town. He promised he'd die before he  surrendered it.²  

        Early in the battle, the flagpole had been damaged by enemy fire.  "A shell fragment severed the halyard on the flagpole, allowing the garrison flag to flutter free.  With a hatchet in his belt and two staples in his teeth, 17-year old Sgt. Charlie McNeil shinnied up the pole, under fire, and nailed the rope in place."  He is said to have been greeted by a chorus of Rebel yells as he waved a defiant salute to the Yankee gunners and slid back down the pole.³

        Shortly after noon, Tyler kept his promise. He had been advised to destroy nearby homes to deny attackers any cover, but he had refused. Union sharpshooters infesting those homes had a clear shot through the fort's south entrance, the only breach in its 8-foot-thick earthen walls.   Just inside the entrance was a barricade 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide to absorb any shots fired through the gap.  

Next Page    Tyler Dies

 

Sources:

¹  Randall Allen, "A Most Voluntary Gathering,"  The Battle of West Point, Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society, 1997, pp. 23-34

²  Randall Allen, "A Most Voluntary Gathering,"  The Battle of West Point, Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society, 1997, pp. 23-34

³  Donald J. Downs, "Last Fort or Redoubt Battle of the War Between the States?  It Could Easily Have Been," pp. 3