made a rapid march up Dirt Town Valley, crossed the Chattanooga
range by a bridle-path, threw a train of fifteen loaded cars off the
track, burned them, and destroyed a small section of the track, but he
did not attempt to destroy the bridge near by at Tilton--it was
defended by a block-house with a capacity for seventy men.

When General Wheeler made his great raid north in August, 1864, he
struck the railroad at various places. He destroyed two miles of track
immediately south of Tilton, Ga., but did not come within range of the
block-house, and did not attempt to destroy the bridge defended by the
block-house. During this raid General Wheeler, without hesitation,
attacked and carried a part of the works at Dalton. During the Atlanta
campaign there was not a bridge destroyed by the Confederates between
Nashville and Atlanta which was protected by a block-house.

After the fall of Atlanta, General Hood moved with his entire army
against the Chattanooga and Atlanta railroad, destroying thirty-seven
miles of track. On October 12 he struck the railroad at Resaca and
Tilton. Tilton was garrisoned by the Seventeenth Iowa.
Lieutenant-Colonel Archer commanding. He had about 350 men--no
artillery. An Army Corps was in his front. Colonel Archer held the
enemy off seven hours, fighting from his rifle-pits and block-house.
At last the Confederate commander placed several batteries in
position, and opened upon the devoted garrison. In a short time the
block-house was rendered untenable, and Colonel Archer was forced to
surrender. This was the first and only success against our block-house
system. On December 4, 1814, Bates's division of Cheatham's Corps
attacked the block-house at the railroad crossing of Overall's Creek,
five miles north of Murfreesborough, Tenn. The enemy used artillery
to reduce the block-house, and although seventy-four shots were fired
at it, no material injury was done; the garrison held out until
relieved by General Milroy from Murfreesborough.

After the Atlanta campaign, in the Department of the Missouri, every
important bridge and town where detachments of troops were stationed was
protected by block-houses and stockades, and during the Indian campaigns
of 1864-5-6 our lines of communication, stage and telegraph, were all held
successfully by small detachments of troops in block-houses and