332 This bout with malaria made it impossible for him to serve in the ranks. He went before the Medical Board in Murfeesboro, Tennessee and there he was made Assistant Surgeon with the rank of Captain and was transferred to the First Arkansas Regiment. In the Battle of Atlanta on Peachtree Creek, he was struck on the arm by a shell while he was dressing wounded soldiers. He said. "A shell came along and exploded and the pieces looked like a drove of partridges as they flew around." For a month he was so crippled from the wound that he was hospitalized. On his furlough he visited Aunt Martha Hill at "Social Circle," near Madison, about fifty miles from Atlanta. Before his arm healed he returned to his regiment because "Major Little wrote for me to come, if possible, because we were so badly needed." At Franklin, Tennessee, Captain Arnold went into action under General Hood. Cool weather had set in and times were very hard. The rations were scarce and the soldiers drew corn by the ear from the Army wagon, four ears for two days spent marching. The Mess Sergeant refused to exchange bad ears for good ones and "many fellows broke their jaws eating corn." With Generals Hood, Bragg, and Beauregard, Captain Arnold saw action at Chickamauga, Perryville, and in other battles through the entire campaign in Tennessee. On the Holstein River, my grandfather saw action in a ravine not far from Strawberry Plains, on the road to Greenville from Knoxville. Near Ashville, on the French Broad River, his beloved officer, General Van Dorn, was killed. Dr. Milam, one of his closest companions, was horribly crippled near Corinth, while he was crossing a bridge where the Federals were passing.           Contents  Words  Study Questions  Related Sites Next