Many other personal glimpses of the fighting come from officers and men.  One division was made up largely of Illinois regiments, among others the 3d Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col.  John V. Clinnin.  The position held by these troops was vital to the entire advance, and it required rapid action on the first day to reach the objective at the same time as the other units.

Menomme creek is a little stream which is not shown on maps.  It runs eastward from the village of Septsarges to the Meuse.  The stream holds vivid memories for the Illinois infantry.  It was there that it met the most severe resistance, the Germans catching our men just as they were relieving other young soldiers.  The men fought their way down to the creek.  On the other side along the highway between Septsarge and Dannevoux the Germans had entrenched themselves and were shelling the road which the Americans had crossed.  They were also using intrenched machine guns at the edge of the woods.

  “I heard bullets whistling overhead,” said a wounded soldier in
  a hospital.  “We were lying near the edge of the creek at the time
and knew that a machine gun was shooting at us, so I just started out and got it.”

“Our colonel was right up there with us getting into line.” said Private Hiram E. Burnett.  “One night when the shells were bursting all around and several men were wounded the colonel went over the top just like any of us.”

The Bois des Forges has been a battle ground since the war began, with trenches in front and miles of barbed wire, machine gun nests and concrete pillboxes inside.  A frontal attack on such a stronghold apparently meant suicide, but the Illinois men, led by Col.  Sanborn and Col.  Abel Davis, took it so neatly and quickly that they bagged nearly 1,000 soldiers, fifteen officers, twenty-six guns ranging from 105s down, 126 machine guns, twenty-one flatcars, two rolling kitchens, an ambulance and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

“We were looking for you in front,” said a captured German officer.  “We did not expect that you would come through the swamp and outflank us.  We did not think that any Yankee outfit was so foxy.”

“A GREAT SHOW”

“It was a great show when we crossed that river and rushed on through the woods, cleaning up machine gun nests,” said Private Gray McKindy of Woodstock, “The machine guns in the woods started throwing bullets as soon as we reached the river.  They thought they could stop us from going up the opposite hill, but we did it and got every gun there.”

Private Kenneth W. Steiger was one of those who went in on the second night when his captain called for volunteers to make up a patrol.  Steiger became separated from the others in the darkness and ran into a party of three Germans.  Quickly covering them with his rifle he brought all three back.

Private Bernard Snyder returned with prisoners before dark on the first day.  Making use of his ability to speak German, he induced a dozen Germans to lay down their arms, pick up stretchers and carry American wounded back five kilometers (three miles) to where ambulances were waiting.