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PEN-PICTURES OF EVERY-DAY LIFE
IN GENERAL SHERMAN'S ARMY, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE ATLANTA
CAMPAIGN UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE WAR **.
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MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Bring the good old bugle, boys! we’ll sing another song,
Sing it with a spirit that will move the world along—
Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.
CHORUS.—“Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee!
Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!”
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia.
How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound!
How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found!
How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground,
While we were marching through Georgia.
CHORUs.—“Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee,” etc.
Yes and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears,
When they saw the honor'd flag they had not seen for years;
Neither could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers,
While we were marching through Georgia.
CHORUS.—“Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee,” etc.
e' t
“Sherman’s dashing Yankee Boys will never reach the coast' "
So the saucy rebels said, and 'twas a handsome boast,
Had they not forgot, alas! to reckon with the host,
While we were marching through Georgia.
CHORUS.—“ Hurrah! Hurrah' we bring the Jubilee,” etc.
So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude—three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us, for resistance was in vain,
While we were marching through Georgia.
CIIoRUS.—‘ IIurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee,” etc.
—By Pe?"mission of S. Br&#720.pd’s Sons, Cleveland.
DEDICATION.
N. TO MARY S. LOGAN,
Wife of MAJOR GENERAL John A. Logan, HIMSELF A Conspicuous REPRE-
SENTATIVE of THE VoluntEER Soldiery of THE NATION, AND THROUGH
HER to THE Noble Wives, MoTHERS AND Sisters of the volun-
teer Soldiers, whose GENErous DEEDS, WEARY ANxieties
AND TEARFUL MoURNINGS DURING THE GREAT Struggle,
were the Most SACRED SACRIFICES MADE At
the ALTAR of Patriotism, THESE PAGEs
ARE DEDICATED witH AFFECTION AND
REveRENCE. -
THE AUTHOR,
ACCEPTANCE.
I thank you for the honor you do me in dedicating your book to me, and
through me to “The Noble Wives, Mothers and Sisters of our Volunteer Soldiers.”
We have been drifting too rapidly from the memories of those terrible marches and
battles and anxieties, and I am glad that you have written as you have, for the
narrative will reawaken a spirit of gratitude to those who battled and suffered, and
stimulate patriotism in the breasts of those who have grown up since the days of war.
With great respect, &
MARY S. Logan,

J 2.<r 2. r
1% ºf % A.Y.,'
& Żº
*//-///
/24-3/
PR E FA C E.
^*.
This volume does not pretend to be a tactical history of the
campaigns of which it treats, and the grand movements of the Army.
are only mentioned in the most general way. Neither is it meant
to extol the achievements of any particular individual or command.
It is intended to be, as its title indicates, a series of Pen-
Pictures of the Every-Day Life of the Soldier during the campaigns
beginning with the movement against Atlanta—how he lived, how
he marched, and how he fought on skirmish line and in the
line-of-battle. Its descriptions and incidents are drawn from the
personal experiences of the author and those of his immediate com-
rades, and his recollection of events is freshened and confirmed by
very complete diary entries, made at the time. They are from the
standpoint of soldiers in the ranks, with whom the writer served
as one of their number during a portion of the time covered by
the marrative, and from whom he was never so far removed but
that he was fully acquainted with their actions and sentiments.
These experiences, save in a very few instances, are such as
were peculiar to no one soldier, but common to all, and any one
of sixty thousand of “Sherman's Men” might say that his own
history is contained in these pages. The incidents will prove at
least suggestive enough to enable such a one to recall almost for-
gotten scenes. To his children they may not be uninteresting,
telling as they do the story of what their father saw and did
“While we were marching through Georgia; ” and it may happen
that some young man, who is hereafter to bear arms in the service
of his country, will draw from the narrative an inspiration to
unselfish and patriotic effort.
The author offers no apology for his style of writing. He has
7
8 PREFACE.
made no endeavor to meet the possible requirements of critics, but has
written for those who by reason of experience or sympathy can
enter into the spirit which actuated the Volunteer Soldier during
the War for the Union. Many of these pages have been submitted
to the criticism of one of the most prominent leaders of these men,
and he has been pleased to say: “You write with great facility,
and bring back to me, both in language and style, the occurrences
of the war most vividly.” With such commendation the author
does not hesitate to place his work before his old comrades.
THE AUTHOR,
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Drummer Boy. Rallying to the Defense of the Flag. The Drummer the Most
Conspicuous Figure in the Army. - ge :- sº wº. 17
*. CHAPTER II.
The School of the Soldier. How he was Educated. The Difference Made by Rank.
Heavy Marching Order. Surprised by the Paymaster. * «-» 25
CHAPTER III.
The First Dead. A Gunboat Expedition. The Tennessee River Opened Up. A
Gallant Fight. Death of a Noble Young Soldier. How a Company was
Reduced. sº * * sº *-* wº * 32
CHAPTER IV.
The Growth of a Regiment. A Nondescript Command. Forts Henry and Donel-
son. Battle of Shiloh. Siege of Corinth. Trouble on Account of Slave Eman-
cipation. Siege of Vicksburg. wºme sº sº * > * 42
CHAPTER V.
The Army and its Personnel. Troops Gathering at Chattanooga. Their Glorious
ecord. A Pen Picture of General Sherman. s * sº 6o
CHAPTER VI.
Making Ready. Accumulating Supplies. Protecting the Railroad. The Railroad
Construction Corps. The Telegraph Corps. The Signal Service. Blazing its
Way. Georgia to be Overrun with the Bivouac. Wagons Lightened and Men
Loaded Down. Patent Coffee. sº º sº * tº 69
• CHAPTER VII.
En Avant The Advantages of Harmony. Grant Crosses the Rapidan, and Sher-
man Moves Out of Chattanooga. Engagement at Rocky Face Gap. The
Enemy Abandons Cassville. Allatoona Occupied by Sherman. º 82
CHAPTER VIII.
An Incidental Campaign. A Severe Forced March. How Straggling was Punished.
The Amende Honorable. - º º * * * QI
CHAPTER IX.
View from Ackworth. A Grand Panorama. , Kenesaw Mountain. The Troops in
Action at Big Shanty. A Railroad Engine Fired on by Artillery. Telegraph
Communication Restored. - - º º ſº & TO.O.
CHAPTER X.
The Entire Union Army in Line. The Blue Line Crowding the Gray. The Soldier
on the Skirmish Line. Captor and Prisoner. An Independent Skirmisher.
Fighting for Apples. The Line of Battle. Under an Artillery Fire. Sports
behind the Works. • * Toé
CHAPTER XI.
3Before Kenesaw. Bishop-General Polk Killed. The Enemy Abandons Pine and
Lost Mountains. Privations of the Union Troops. A Desperate Assault upon
the Enemy's Lines. sº 4- gºe sº sº - I 22
..CHAPTER XII.
JRace for the Chattahoochee. A Horrible Night March. A Weird Spectacle. An
Army of Phantom Giants. Profanity in the Ranks. * wº - 130
Q
10 CONTIENTS.
CHAPTER XIII
The Lines on the Chattahoochee. A Long Flank March. Destruction of “French *
Cotton Mills. Johnston's Masterly Retreat. He is Superseded by Hood. A
Sharp Engagement. General Gresham Wounded. - * • 137
CIHAPTER XIV.
A Famous Division. Complimented by Sherman. Its Commanders: Hurlbut, Lau-
man, Crocker, Gresham, Giles A. Smith and Belknap. Personal Anecdotes. 145
CHAPTER XV.
Dies Irae. The Battle of July 22d. The Attack on Sherman's Leſt, . His Troops
Fighting on Both Sides of their Works. The Iowa Brigade Enveloped. Cap-
ture of both Union and Rebel Regiments. General Belknap Pulls a Rebel
Colonel over the Works by his Coat-Collar. Hand to Hand Fighting Death
of McPherson. Logan Assumes CC mmand. The Enemy Repulsed. Incidents
of the Battle º * gº * & ge I54
CHAPTER XVI.
The Iowa Brigade. A Bitter Struggle. Capture of the 16th Iowa Regiment. Who
were the Captors? The Flag of the 16th Iowa Restored Twenty Years After-
ward, by the General who Captured it. sº - * gº 167
CHAPTER XVII.
Logan Succeeded by Howard in the Command of the Army of the Tennessee. Bitter
Feeling among the Troops. Sherman’s Reasons. Who the " Bummer Generals”
Were, and What they Did. , & ſº * & 174
CHAPTER XVIII.
Hammering Away! Another Flank March and Sharp Battle by the Army of the
Tennessee. What Foreigners Said of the War. Trouble between Schofield and
Palmer. Palmer Resigns. - gº * * . & & 179
CHAPTE R XIX.
The Old Chaplain. His Death. A Prophetic Address. How He Stood Up for “My
Boys.” A Noble Life. - º * dº * - 189
CHAPTER XX. f
Important Movements. “Atlanta Ours and Fairly Won! ” Importance of the Victory.
Congratulations of President Lincoln and General Grant. The “Cracker-Line”
Reopened. Blair and Logan Go Home to Take Part in the Presidential Contest.
Sharp Correspondence between Generals Sherman and Hood. “We Must Have
Peace, Not Only in Atlanta, but in All America’ ” - * e 195
CIHAPTER XXI.
A Breathing-Spell. Adventures of a Union Soldier in Returning to the Front. He
Joins the Military Telegraph Corps. On the Track of Hood's Raid. - 2O7
CHAPTER XXII.
Hood's Raid. Union Troops at Kenesaw and Big Shanty Dispersed. Allatoona
Attacked. A Glorious Struggle. Sherman’s Message and Corse's Answer.
The Assault Repulsed. Verses by a Soldier Poet. General Sherman's Con-
gratulatory Order. & wº * g tº • 214.
CHAPTER XXIII.
A Family of Soldiers. A Hero at Allatoona. Patriotic Words from a Brother. The
• Soldier Father in Search of his Boys Corpse. Meeting with General Grant. 234
CHAPTER XXIV.
Hood Raiding the Railroad His Bloodthirsty Summons to Surrender. The Defiant
Answer. Sherman in Pursuit. Death of General Ransom. tºº & 239
CHAPTER XXV,
Sherman about to Move Southward. Reorganization of the Army. The Presidential
Election in the Field. Orders for the March to the Sea. sº 245
CONTENTS. 11
CHAPTER XXVI.
A Jolly Party of Soldiers. Their Amusement Interrupted by Sherman's Orders to
March. The Departure of the Last Railroad Train Going North. Destruction
of the Railroad. Atlanta Burned. A Suggestive Scene. * 3 tº 251
CHAPTER XXVII.
On the March. Personal Characteristics of the Men. Their Endurance and Self-
ºne: How they Sheltered and Fed Themselves. Itinerary of the
March. - ſº * e- º * * º 258
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Genesis of the Bummer. Orders for Foraging. The “Bummer" Searching for
Provisions. His Politeness to Women and Affection for Children. His Efforts
to Reach his Regiment with his Plunder. The Adventures of a Typical
* Bummer.” A Sad Prank Played on a Staff Officer. - * > 267
CIHAPTER XXIX.
The Events of a Day. The Army at Breakfast. The Troops on the March. The
Skirmish Line in Advance. Personal Characteristics of the Men. Wading
through Swamps. Building Corduroy Roads, Crossing a Stream. The Army
in Ill Humor. Their Spirits Cheered by Martial Music. sº - 278
CHAPTER XXX.
A Real Camp Fire. Camp Songs. A Dead Enemy and his Picture. An Anecdote of
Lincoln. Adventure at Vicksburg. A Cipher Dispatch. * • 289
CHAPTER XXXI.
Crossing the Ocmulgee. Friendliness and Faith Shown by the Negroes. Passage of
the Oconee. A Newspaper in Camp Destruction of Provisions and Forage by
the Citizens. The Army on the Point of Starvation. ge & 3 lo
CHAPTER XXXII.
Tearing Up Railroad. Nearing Savannah. Within Sound of the Guns of the Fleet.
A Sharp Skirmish on the Outskirts of Savannah. How a Shell Looks in Motion.
A Severe Artillery Fire. Running Past the Enemy's Batteries. * 319
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Troops Starving. An Elaborate Meal. Fort McAllister Taken. Arrival of
Supplies and Mail. The Boy who did not Live to Receive his Letter. Savan-
nah Entered. g * * * * • 327
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Troops in High Clover at Savannah. A Staff Officer Finds Pleasant Acquaint-
ance and Comfortable Quarters. Generous Hospitality of an Enemy. His Sad
Death. A Genuine Poem. Alas, poor Yorick' sº £º * 337
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Army Transferred to South Carolina The Soldier on his Sea-Legs. An Uncom-
fortable Passage. Landing at Beaufort. Floundering in the Mud at Poco-
taligo. - tº * * * º † g * 343
CIIAPTER XXXVI.
Old Friends Heard From. Letters from Gunboat Officers and Others. An Incident
in Mississippi. - * *- * 349
CHAPTER XXXVII. }.
Wading the Salkehatchie. A Health-Wiecking Experience. Death's Bowling Alley.
Occupation of Orangebung. Matching Through a Blazing Pine Forest. 355
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Approach to Columbia. A White Horse Draws a Warm Fire. Passage of the
Congaree River. General Belknap's Troops First to Fºnter Columbia. The
Fiſteenth Corps a Trifle Too Late. The 13th Iowa Regiment Loses its Flag. 365
12 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Experiences of a Detachment of the 32d Illinois Regiment in Columbia, City Coun-
cilmen Anxious to Surrender. Burning Cotton in the Streets. Escaped Pris-
oners and Negroes Running a Muck. An Independent Skirmisher in the Tower
of the City Hall. A Jovial Palty Meet in the Senate Chamber and Repeal the
Secession Ordinance. Curious Relics in the Arsenal. The City Fired. W.
Gilmore Simms Reviewed. Who was Responsible 2 - º • 375
CHAPTER XL.
Bevolutionary Battle-Grounds. Cheraw, South Carolina. Celebration of the Re-
Inauguration of President Lincoln. Skirmish at Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Arrival of a Dispatch Boat. A Curious Train of Refugees and Freedmen.
Nealing the End. To the Rescue ! A Horrible Night March. , A Sharp Skir-
mish A Remarkable Escape. Death of a Brave Conscript. The Last
Battle. & º s tº sº * > * 395
t CHAPTER XLI.
A Joyous Interlude. The Worst Brass Band in the Army. A Western Gunboat
fficer in New York. Interesting Interview with General Anderson, the Hero
of Fort Sumter. Lee Asking Terms of Grant. A Notable Scene in Wall
Street. - tº sº & tº tº tº •º 4O9
CHAPTER XLII.
Beautiful Scene in Fortress Monroe Harbor. A Loyal Virginian. A Night Scene in
the Dismal Swamp. Assassination of Lincoln. Rage of the Troops and Terror
of the Citizens. The News Reaches the Army at Raleigh. Peace Negotiations
between Sherman and Johnston. Fears for the Safety of Sherman. The Crape-
Draped Sword. - tº sº tº * * e - 421
CHAPTER XLIII.
The Armies of Sherman and Johnston Confronting Each Other under Flag of Truce.
Sudden Appearance of General Grant. , Surrender of Johnston. The Terms
Granted. Quarrel between Sherman and Stanton. - ſº • 428
CHAPTER XLIV.
Society of the Army of the Tennessee. Organized within the Sound of the Enemy's
Guns. A Brilliant Array of Presiding Officers. General Sherman in the
Chair. - As ge tº sº * - 438
CHAPTER XLV.
On to Washington. “Yank” and “Johnny" on Good Terms. Richmond and Libby
Prison. Amusements of the Prisoners. Profane Psalm-Singing. Hanover
Court-House and Patrick Henry. The Battle-Ground at Fredericksburg.
Alexandria and Ellsworth. - e e- ſº te • 448
CHAPTER XLVI.
Arrival at the National Capital. The Grand Review. Meade's Army. 'The Soldiers
of the West, A Phantom Army. General Sherman's Farewell Order. 460
CHAPTER XLVII.
Homeward Bound. Troops Shipwrecked on the Ohio River The Army Sent Home.
General Logan's Farewell Order. - * * * sº * 473
CHAPTER XLVIII.
A Supplemental Campaign. Up the Missouri River. At Fort Leavenworth. On to
Utah . The Overland Stage and Pony Express. A Demoralized Command.
Remonstrances against the March. Arrival at Fort Kearney. Ordered Home
for Muster-Out. - º * > tº ſº & tºº 479
CHAPTER XLIX.
Arrival at Springfield. The Troops Discharged. A Reminiscent Picture. Vale! 487
#
|
A.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, - º - - Frontispiece.
THE FIRST DEAD, º º * = - º º 35
THE PEACH ORCHARD AT SHILOH, - º ge - 55
ON THE SKIRMISH LINE, tºº * - tº e - 75
RESTORING COMMUNICATION, - * * º – 95
GEN. GRESHAM WOUNDED, - * > - tº - II9
MAP OF BATTLEFIELD, JULY 22, 1864, - • - I43
GEN. BELKNAP CAPTURING REBEL COLONEL, º - I63
A STRUGGLE FOR A FLAG, - *- - tº - I83
PORTRAITS OF COMMANDING OFFICERS, - * - 2O3
A DEMAND FOR SURRENDER, - º * gº – 219
THE DEFIANCE, º - º - e º 22O
GEN. CORSE AT ALLATOONA, -> - *. º - 223
UNION TROOPS IDESTROYING RAILROAD, . tº. 229
ON THE MARCH, - - tº - tº * - 243
THE BUMMER, ge - º - º -> 26I
MAKING CORDUROY ROAD, tº - º º - 279
A REAL CAMP FIRE, - tºº º - e - 295
AUTOGRAPH. CIPHER DESPATCH, º- sº º - 303
A HUNGRY PARTY, - - º - tº e tº 3I5
LAYING PONTOONS, - - tºw ºs º - 335
WADING THE SALKEHATCHIE, - - * tº- 363
BEFORE COLUMBIA, - * - - * - 383
REFUGEE TRAIN, º - tºº - tº - 4O3
PoRTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF GEN. ANDERSON, º - 417
ACTION AT BENTONVILLE, - º - tº - 429
HALT ON THE MARCH, - * - - º - 45I
PORTRAITS OF DIVISION COMMANDERS, * tº º 467
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MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER I.
THE DRUMMER-BOY.
%2: 22– tº
= @ T was a country town in Ill-
2-- ge * * tº
jºsº inois, on an April morning,
*
*s---
tº 12 nearly a quarter of a century
>º & ago ; a generation now old
* §§ -: % º
N º } enough to bear arms has grown
#.3%
§§ §§º ©
º, º up since that day.
§ §§ -
§ſ. § '' *
º % • * Following close upon the
j ºs- - news of the firing on the
== º flag, a public meeting had
been held in the old brick
church, which also served as a school house ; and a
civil engineer, who had figured in the militia service,
delivered a lecture on “Fortifications,” sketching upon
the blackboard the outlines of Fort Sumter, and noting
the position of the attacking batteries, as nearly as it
was possible to locate them by the published reports.
Newspapers were not so enterprising then, and dia-
grams and maps did not accompany their narratives.
The speaker was a quiet man, and his slow and meas-
2 - 17








18 MARCHING THROUGH GLORGIA.
ured speech, delivered with a foreign accent, and
abounding in technical terms understood by but a
few, fell upon the audience with depressing effect.
The people cared nothing for science — their hearts
were full of sentiment. They had expected an appeal
to their patriotism, and a leader to direct them in the
path of service for country, but they were disappointed
and left in uncertainty. A day or two afterward,
President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling for
seventy-five thousand volunteers — how immense the
number seemed then – and public sentiment began
to crystallize.
Right merrily the Drummer-Boy rattled away, as if
his very life depended upon the effort. His little frame
shook with excitement, and his eye sparkled as if his
most ardent ambition were now realized. As he plied
the drumsticks he kept up a running fire of remarks,
addressed to the excited youths who stood about him,
or in answer to questions, never losing a stroke or miss-
ing a beat the while. -
“Yes, you bet I’m going ; an' so’s Dan Messick,
and Tom Johnson, and Watts Towse, and Johnny Rice,
an’ all the boys that's wuth shucks | Why, we kin git
up a whole company right here ; an’ Palmer, he knows
Lincoln, an he kin git us them short rifles with swords
on the end, like Major Burke brought home from Har-
THE DRUMMER - Boy. 19
per's Ferry. An' bein’ volunteers, we kin drill as we
please, and 'lect our own officers, and ’t ain’t like reg’ler
soldierin' at all. Why, I seen Ellsworth's Zoo-zoos
drill last summer, and you kin bet they do it nice
That's the kind of drill we want And ’t won’t take so
long to learn it, 'cause most of the boys was in the
marching companies 'fore 'lection, and they got so’s
they could march good enough for anything, and they
handled their torchsticks first-rate, but I reckon there's
some difference between them and guns. But all you
boys come up to the court-house to-night, and Palmer’ll
tell us all about it !”
God bless the little Drummer-Boy ! The favorite
design for soldiers' monuments throughout the coun-
try, seems to be the figure of the perfect soldier, fully
armed and equipped, his whole bearing bespeaking
the hardy veteran of many hard-fought battles and
wearisome campaigns. More suggestive, and more
completely typical of the aroused patriotism and enthu-
siasm of a people, and of their capability for putting
sentiment into action, would be that of the Drummer-
Boy.
When the flag was assailed, and all that it repre-
sents was put in jeopardy, the inspiring rat-a-tat-tat of
his drum was heard in every village and at every cross-
road ; and the young farmers from the fields, the
apprentices from the shops, and the lads from the
school-houses, fell in behind him and marched into
20 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
camp. He was the youngest and smallest of them all,
but for the time he was the most conspicuous. His
own rank was not high, but all rank sprang from him.
It took one hundred men to make a captain, a thousand
to make a colonel, and five thousand to make a gen-
eral ; but the Drummer-Boy made them all.
In camp he had it all his own way, and he made the
most of his opportunities. He began at five o’clock in
the morning, and the men were obliged to obey the
call, and appear in line in various stages of dress and
undress, to respond to roll-call. Then he dragged
them out to the wearisome guard-mounting, and later
marked time for them at squad drill, company drill
and battalion drill. Towards evening he summoned
them to the color-line for dress-parade, a perfunc-
tory ceremonial regarded with great contempt by
volunteers, as an amusement which should be left
entirely to holiday soldiers. At nightfall he inter-
rupted the seductive game of euchre, and dispersed
the gathering at the deceptive chuck-a-luck table, call-
ing the men to their quarters to answer to another
roll-call. Then, perhaps, in the middle of the night.
when all were wrapped in slumber, dreaming sweet
dreams of home, which they called, but not irrev.
erently, “God’s Country,” he would beat the long
roll, and bring them out into the darkness and storm,
sometimes to meet the enemy, but more frequently to
resist a charge of stampeded mules from the wagon




-THE DRUMMER - BOY. 21
train. In all these persecutions he had firm allies in
the captain and colonel, who would put on extra duty,
or buck and gag, any who failed to respond to all
these irksome calls.
But there were occasions when the Drummer-Boy
performed a service in which all honored him. What
comrade does not remember the long marches, when
the soldier, overloaded with gun, knapsack, and what
all, with rations scant and water scarce, trudged along
the dreary road, until the limbs were weary and the
spirit broken; disgusted with the service, with his com-
rade and with himself; cursing the “Confederacy” and
his own government in one and the same breath. Then
it was that the Drummer-Boy, as weary and worm as
the soldier in the ranks, tightened up his snares, put
energy into his little tired frame, and rattled merrily
away. How the sound stirred the sluggish blood in
every vein! How it braced up every muscle! What a
mighty shout went up from the lips of the men, and
with what hearty determination did they push forward

on their way!
Then how all missed him during the long months
from Chattanooga to Atlanta, when the army was con-
stantly in action, or seeking unsuspected points of
advantage by swift and secretive marches, and he was
forbidden to play lest his drum should give informa-
tion to the enemy, and attract too much of their atten-
tion. And when the end of the campaign came at last,
22 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
and Sherman told the anxious friends at home,
“Atlanta is ours, and fairly won!” and the drums and
fifes and brass bands again broke the dreary stillness
with their exultant strains, how all voices rose and
swelled, and drowned out all other sounds! And
again, when the men had exhausted themselves with
shouting, how glorious was the harmony of martial
music to their ears! What would have been the
victory without it?
Recall that magnificent panorama in May of 1865,
when, at the close of the war, two hundred thousand
men of the Army of the Union marched in triumphal
procession down Pennsylvania avenue, in the national
capital. What would this have been without the
drummer? A grand pantomime — a pageant with-
out a soul—a picture without color—a flash of light-
ning without the thunder peal. It might have awak-
ened admiration, but never enthusiasm. It might-
have dazzled the eye, but it could never have fired the
heart. |
Nor was the Drummer-Boy merely a musician. He
was a soldier as well. Technically known as a non-
combatant, he was seldom elsewhere than at the front;
and he has given up his life, musket in hand, in the
line of battle, or in the act of giving water to a wounded
comrade under fire. <s
But what has been his reward?
Nearly a quarter of a century has gone by since

THE DRUMMER – BOY. 23
the vast Army of the Union sprang into being. A
generation has grown up since it fulfilled its mission,
and its returning heroes resumed the garb and duties
of every-day life. Year by year, old soldiers have
been wont to assemble to renew the friendships of
years agone. These gatherings have been prolific of
orators, and at each meeting eloquent addresses have
been made by speakers of all grades, from that of
Major General up to High Private—the latter rank
higher now, because, alas! there are so few of them!—
telling of scenes of battle and victory and death. The
exploits of all arms of the service, infantry, cavalry
and artillery, have been dwelt upon; and there have
been many descriptions of the achievements of some
individual command, to whose particular effort the
successful issue of the war has been shown to be due.
The mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts of the
soldiers, have been lovingly remembered and grate-
fully eulogized for sending to their dear ones at the
front the delicacies they so often failed to receive
—no fault of the fair donors, God bless them! The
chaplains have received due recognition for lifting up
the voice of supplication on the right side of the ques-
tion, and interpreting scripture to the confounding of
the enemy. Sometimes a quartermaster has distin-
guished himself by coming to the front—he was not
often credited with such performances in war-days
—in vindication of his own calling, and to whitewash
24 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the character of that much misunderstood branch of
the service, the government mule. Occasionally a
sutler steps forward and lays claim to a little cheap
credit—a commodity for which he charged the boys
very high, when in the heyday of his glory; and in
one instance an army surgeon has even been known to
lay claim to honor for valuable assistance in putting
down the rebellion, by putting down the throats of the
soldiers a great deal of quinine mixed with a very little
whisky (the panacea for every ill in the early days),
and furnishing them unlimited quantities of blue oint-
ment.
But amid all this jubilation, the most significant
figure of war-days has been overlooked—the Drum-
mer-Boy, the real recruiting sergeant for the Armies
of the Union!
THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER, 25
CHAPTER II.
THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER.
º
º
º
t
º
º, º ºſº
* . w
º
Č
º
N\, OOK here, sonny You'd just as
is well go right back home! Uncle
dº
º
NºN
-~iſ:
ſº
!º
*#-
º: S § \ fº- to
& # Ø\tº Sam wants soldiers, he does, and
fift iš.
§ has no use for boys / The
§
|
:
§
mustering officer says recruits
must be eighteen years
ſ
/
Å
|
y
;
Af
A.
A
|
ºº
#
[3º
%
*J
ºf
º
^^2. A º
2. E%iº &
2 º' §§º old, five feet four inches
2:### Éi. º ſº ſº *
2#### §§§ high, weigh at least one
– 35:º ºf * * * * Nº.
==== hundred and twenty-five
pounds, and be free from
all physical defect. You are only seventeen; you are
two inches too short, and you don’t weigh enough by
thirty pounds. Even if you were mustered in, you
couldn't carry a knapsack, and your gun would be so
long that you couldn’t load it. You take good advice.
Go home on the first train, Sonny, and let men attend
to this business!”
The speaker was the elder of a number of young
men sitting on the bank of Clear Lake, near Spring-
º Illinois. They had followed the Drummer-Boy
1
to camp from the town before mentioned, and not yet















26 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
having been received into the service, were still clad in
the garb they had brought from home. The majority
were young farmers; the speaker whose dogmatic utter-
ance is quoted, was a school teacher, and the one he
addressed so contemptuously was an undersized lad
who had but lately been promoted from the position of
printer’s “devil” to that of compositor at the case.
About these men, gathered school, workshop and
farm companions, until the requisite number for a
company was made up, and all were presented to the
medical officer for examination. Every man was
intensely patriotic, and it was with much misgiving
that he stripped himself, opened his mouth to show his
teeth, and passed under the measuring standard, fear-
ing lest he should be rejected and sent home, there to
become the scorn and laughing-stock of his neighbors.
All but two passed the dreaded ordeal successfully, and
the company was mustered into the service of the
United States. Among the successful candidates was
the printer-boy, but to preserve the truth of history it
is necessary to explain that he was obliged to muster
in as a musician, the regulations for the enlistment of
such being less proscriptive than for the ranks. This,
however, was by private arrangement with the colonel;
and a few days afterward, the lad, who had never
handled either drum or fife, was, at his own request,
“reduced to the ranks,” and took his place in the line,
}
THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER. 27
at the tail-end of his company, the shortest man
therein, or in the regiment, for that matter.
Now the education of the soldier began. As a sen-
tinel on camp-guard he was armed with a club, there
being a scarcity of arms; and so solemnly was he
impressed with the importance of his duties, and the
penalty for any sin of Omission, that when, as occasion-
ally happened, he went to sleep on post, he felt as
one risen from the dead, upon learning that he was
not to be shot this time, but merely put in the
guard-house, or bucked and gagged. He was carefully
instructed in the salutes due to officers, and so reli-
giously did he endeavor to discharge these important
requirements, that on one occasion, when corporal of
the guard, he turned out his entire force to present
arms to a hospital steward, whose gaudy chevrons he,
in his ignorance, took to be at least the insignia of a
brigadier-general. He was drilled from the rising of
the sun to the going down of the same, and when he
moved himself clumsily he was relegated to the “awk-
ward squad.” This, perhaps, was in charge of a cor-
poral who, at home, had been a green farm boy, and the
butt of his boyish pranks ; and when he resented what
he conceived to be the overbearing conduct of this
petty officer, clothed with a little, so little, brief author-
ity, and expressed himself, in language disallowed by
polite society, and forbidden by the “articles of war,”
he learned how vast a difference had been built up
28 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
between the two by a pair of worsted stripes. Perhaps
the lesson was a difficult one to master, and the young
soldier revolved it in his mind for a couple of days
while engaged in the pleasant recreation of grubbing
out an immense stump, with a guard standing over
him, armed with musket and bayonet. At another
time he would be tempted to mutiny and desertion,
when, being detailed for “fatigue,” he found that
duty to be cleaning up in front of the tent of the
captain, who, at home, was a carpenter or painter.
At a later day he struggled with the dreadful task of
crowding into his knapsack a supply of clothing, and a
general assortment of notions, almost sufficient to stock
a cross-roads store. There were an extra pair of pants;
two changes of under-clothing; several pairs of home-
made socks; a “house-wife’ with its wealth of pins,
needles, thread and buttons, put up by sister ; a Bible
from his mother ; a portfolio with writing material ; a
bottle of extract of ginger, or cholera cure, for use in
case water proved to be unwholesome ; a water-filter ;
a patriotic song-book, and a “Manual for the Soldier;”
a box of collars and a couple of cravats; and finally, a
“boiled shirt” or two. Then, more awful mystery yet,
came the packing of the great-coat to the upper outside
of the knapsack. To roll it so that it could be kept
within reasonable compass, and not exceed the capacity
of the straps which were to confine it, was an accom-
plishment but few mastered. However, it was not
THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER, 29
long before the poor fellow learned that he had no
use for such an assortment of goods, or, at any rate,
had not the disposition to transport them. So, little
by little, the great packs were reduced ; the owner
gazing ruefully upon the treasures with which he
parted so reluctantly from time to time.
Then the soldier was overjoyed when the time
came to draw arms. Heretofore there were in the
camp but a few old-fashioned flint-lock muskets of
the time of the Mexican war. These had been com-
mitted to the care of a few smart fellows who were
members of militia companies before the war, and who,
as “drill-masters,” now displayed their dexterity in the
manual of arms and bayonet drill, before gaping crowds
of unarmed warriors on the parade-ground. But now
the recruit had a gun of his own, and was at last a full-
fledged soldier. It little mattered that the weapon was
a clumsy old “Belgian,” thrown away as useless by its
petty crowned owner in Europe ; or an old govern-
ment musket altered from a flint-lock ; it was a gun,
and the soldier asked no questions. He learned to
curse it before long, however, for he found that its
destructive power was rather in his own direction than
in that of the enemy.
The recruit was now completely armed and
equipped, and he was ordered to take his place in
the ranks for inspection and review. It was one of
3() MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the hottest days of midsummer, and, what with the
heat and the paraphernalia he carried, comprising all
the weapons and supplies drawn from the ordnance
officer and quartermaster, the ordeal was a severe one.
He was marched in column, by platoon and com-
pany front, at common time, quick time, and double
quick. Finally, the pace was increased to a run,
which continued for nearly an hour, and the recruit,
all but exhausted, put forth his best efforts, fearing
that in case he failed in this final test, he would be
ignominiously discharged from service.
Perhaps the most astounding revelation of all to
the young soldier was the fact that he was actually to
be paid for his services. Never to be forgotten is the
day when it was first announced that a real paymaster
would come into camp and count out to each man
twenty-two dollars for two months' time. In his
ignorance and patriotic zeal, the recruit had never
anticipated anything of this nature. To serve his
country was his sole ambition, and the approval of his
own conscience, and the plaudits of his friends, would
be an all-satisfying reward. When he had been actu-
ally paid, he looked upon his money as something to
be gotten rid of as speedily as possible; he felt that to
hoard it would be to give opportunity for reflections
upon his patriotism. Hence he at Once sought out the
sutler, and soon exhausted his little fortune, paying a
THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER, 31
dollar for a can of blackberries, twenty-five cents for a
very ordinary cranberry-pie, and for other articles at
the same rate. Thereafter he was frequently in debt
to this despoiler, and pay-day never again came often
enough.
32 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST DEAD.
ºš: HORTLY after the cap-
>$@ ture of Fort Henry,
General Grant ordered
a reconnaissance up
the Tennessee river,
to develop the ene-
my’s new line. The
wooden gunboats “Tyler”
and “Lexington’’ were dis-
—
*E= patched for this duty, and upon
=~~ the former was embarked the
-ms.
g = company referred to in the preceding
chapter, while a companion company from the same
regiment took passage on the latter. *
It was a pleasurable excursion for men long accus-
tomed to the irksome routine of camp duties, and
wearisome marchings through swamps and brakes.
The skies were bright, the atmosphere clear and
invigorating. The shore on either side was putting
on the verdant beauty of field and wood; and the
fresh spring breezes were laden with the odors of

THE FIRST DEAD. 33
fragrant flower and shrub. It was in the last days of
February, and the surroundings were novel to those
accustomed to the bleak winters of an Illinois prairie;
so that, in spite of their loyalty to their own loved
home, and their determination to see nothing admir-
able in Dixie, their spirits broke out with joyous exu-
berance, while their patriotism was stimulated by the
cheers and benedictions of those, native to the soil,
who flocked to the river's edge to look upon the flag
of their country. A pathetic poem was printed in
Harper's Weekly shortly afterward, depicting such a
SCéIlê .
$ # 3% Sk # # # #
“And the south wind fondly lingers
'Mid the veteran's silvery hair;
Still the bondsman, close beside him,
Stands behind the old arm-chair,
With his dark hued hand uplifted,
Shading eyes, he bends to see
Where the woodland, boldly jutting,
Turns aside the Tennessee.
“Thus he watches cloud-born shadows
Glide from tree to mountain crest,
Softly creeping, aye and ever,
To the river's yielding breast.
Ha! above the foliage yonder,
Something flutters, wild and free!
‘Massa! Massa! Hallelujah!
The flag's come back to Tennessee!’”
* 3% % 3% 3% # # #
Among those who came to the river's bank to greet
the flag, were many young men seeking to escape the
- 3 *_º.
34 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
neighborhood sentiment, or practical conscription,
which sought to drive them into the service of the
“Confederacy.” Several of these enlisted in Company
“C”; and in one instance sixty patriotic young Ten-
nesseeans, clad in their native butternut garb, and ~
armed with their sporting shot-guns and rifles, came
in a body, and were mustered into the national army.
The days passed merrily away, and where all were
in the happiest mood, Dan Messick, orderly sergeant
of Company “C,” was the happiest and merriest of all.
A compactly built young man of about nineteen years,
with a full round face, and an eye which twinkled with
humor, or if necessary flashed in command, he was one
whom his comrades not only respected, but loved. But
his career, begun with so much promise, was soon
brought to a mournful end.
The vessels steamed up river, at times slowing
their speed in order to examine the shores at points
where an enemy might lurk. At Clifton they stopped
to load a transport with wheat and flour from a mill
operated for the Confederate army; and at Chickasaw
Bluffs a midnight sally was made upon a party of rebel
officers, who were merry-making at a farm-house near
the river, and they were brought away as prisoners.
Having passed Savannah, the heights just north of
Pittsburg Landing came into view about ten o’clock
on the morning of March 1st. The troops were not
aware that the commander of the gunboat had been
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THE FIRST DEAD.
� |-*See page 39.






THE FIRST DEAD. 37
informed by well-disposed citizens that the enemy was
engaged in fortifying this position, with a view to again
closing the stream so recently opened by the downfall
of Fort Henry; and as field-glasses were not included
in the equipment of private soldiers, they detected
nothing suspicious. A few minutes later they had
cause for wonderment when the engines slowed down,
the wheels revolving just sufficiently to hold the vessel
nearly motionless against the current. At the same
moment the commander of the gunboat, Lieutenant-
Commander Gwin, in complete uniform, with his
sword by his side, appeared upon the bridge. His
glass was fixed intently upon the heights, as if he
expected trouble, and every eye followed the direction
of his gaze, but without being any the wiser.
Presently a puff of smoke rose from the heights,
then a heavy ball flew over the “Tyler” and splashed
the water astern. The gunboat at once opened with
her heaviest guns, 68-pounders, which were in her bow,
firing shell at first, then grape-shot, steaming mean-
while nearer the battery. The “Lexington,” some-
what farther down stream, opened fire a few minutes
later. The enemy answered briskly, but without
effect, for a short time, and then abandoned their guns.
Pittsburg Landing, which had been concealed
behind the heavily wooded bluffs, now came into view,
a mere landing place for steamboats, with a log-house
upon the summit of the short and rather steep hill
38 MARCHING THROUGH GIEORGIA.
which rose from the water's edge. Infantry and
cavalry were in sight. The latter were stampeded by
a few well directed shots from a 24-pounder howitzer
upon the “Tyler’s ” upper deck; but the infantry con-
tinued to deliver an effective fire, crippling three gun-
ners, and leaving upon the vessel's sides, pilot-house
and chimneys, marks which she bore to the close of the
War”.
The gunboats were well abreast of the landing,
maintaining only sufficient headway to resist the cur-
rent. Meanwhile, Messick counted off fifteen files
from the right of Company “C,” and they were ordered
into the yawls, which by this time had been lowered to
the water. Under cover of the fire of the gunboats,
and of the muskets of the soldiers left aboard, the
boats pushed off to the shore. The first to spring to "
land was Messick. A portion of Company “K,” from
the “Lexington,” joined the party, and all advanced up
the hill, the gunboats meanwhile being necessarily
silent. Then the little band, not fifty men in all,
reached the summit, and the enemy, Occupying the
timber which fringed the clearing on all but the
river side, opened a fierce fire, which was handsomely
returned. “Load as quick as you can, and give them
the devil!” yelled the captain, himself a native Ten-
nesseean, and the boys dashed past the log-house
toward the timber, which secreted the enemy, firing as
they went. The captain was partially disabled by a
THE FIRST DEAD. 39
bullet in his leg, but continued in command. Seeing
the folly of rushing upon a superior force, so well
posted, he ordered the men to fall back to the log-
house, from whose windows, and the spaces between
the logs, a fire could be maintained without great
exposure. Messick was some paces in advance of the
house, and presented a most conspicuous mark. He
wore his first sergeant's bright red sash, not around
his waist, as was usual, but over the shoulder and
across the breast, after the fashion of an officer-of-the-
day. He was seen to load his piece, take deliberate
aim and fire, and then turn partially about to reload,
when a ball struck him in the head, and he fell at full
length, dead. An effort was made by some of the men
to reach the body and drag it behind the house, but
the enemy’s fire was too fierce to permit it. At this
moment it was discovered that the enemy’s cavalry,
taking advantage of the silence of the gunboats, were
endeavoring to interpose between the little detachment
and the landing, and a retreat was ordered. One of
the men, while on the way to the boats, managed to
pick up a new Enfield rifle, lost by the enemy, a rare
weapon in those early days, when the Union troops
could boast nothing better than the old altered flint-
lock firing “buck and ball.” Another made the
possession of a snare drum inscribed with the words,
“Captured from the Yankees at Manassas.” A third,
descending the hill in great haste, unfortunately thrust
40 --- MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
the point of his gun into the ground, and found him-
self propelled into the river, with no other injury than
a thorough ducking. As the soldiers pulled off in
their boats, the enemy followed them to the brow of
the hill and poured down a fierce fire, to which the
gunboats and troops aboard made hot reply.
March 2d and 3d, the gunboats, with the troops yet
on board, passed and repassed the landing repeatedly,
firing shell at intervals, but eliciting no reply. On the
4th, an officer and a party of soldiers landed under a
flag of truce. They found that the enemy had with-
drawn the guns from the earthworks commanding the
river, and retired toward Corinth.
This was the first chapter of the campaign culmi-
nating in the fall of Corinth. The expedition had
been eminently successful. It had prevented the
fortifying of the bluffs at Pittsburg Landing, the most
formidable defensive point on the river. Ten days
later, General Grant's army arrived and made an
unmolested landing.
March 15th, Company “C” found eighteen graves
to certify to the skirmish fought two weeks earlier.
The burials had been made so hastily that the toes of
the dead protruded through the ground. Seventeen of
the bodies were those of the enemy, the other was that
of Messick. A sorrowful moment it was for the little
company, mostly beardless youths, as they stood
around the grave of their first dead, one whom they
THE FIRST DEAD. 41
had loved so well, and for whose future they had cher-
ished such lofty anticipations. He was a gallant
soldier and a true comrade, born to command, with a
spirit of dash and enthusiasm which inspired his fel-
lows, and a boyish warm-heartedness which won the
love and confidence of all. He was one who may be
held up as a fit type of the American Volunteer whose
shadowy image is honored and mourned in so many
homes; and this weak tribute to his memory may be
justly dedicated to the aged parents throughout the
land, whose lives have never ceased to be embittered
from such a death:
“The old man desolate,
Weeping and wailing sore
For his son who is no more!”
42 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GROWTH OF A REGIMIENT.
§ *
sº HE company mentioned in the
—
ſº*%.% t preceding chapter was part
zºº p p
*-ºs-
of a regiment which, in after
;
º ºl."
Kºść
º! Už, \'s Sºx
tº º %3 days of battle and march,
㺠gº acquitted itself neither
#. better nor worse than any
* = one of a thousand others,
drawn from the various States of
the loyal North.
At the beginning, the regiment regarded itself as a
most formidable organization, equal to almost any
undertaking. If so required, it would undoubtedly
have essayed the invasion of the seceded States, alone
and unaided. But its colonel, who had held a subal-
term's position in the Black-Hawk affair, which by a
poetic license had been dignified with the title of
“War,” determined to make his command abso-
lutely invincible ; and he secured from the War
Department special authority to recruit and add to it
a battery of artillery, and a company of cavalry. These



Asºº THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 43
were secured, and, in the light of a later experience, it
is comical to look back at that complex regiment on
parade, with its ten companies of infantry, and artil-
lery and cavalry on either flank, all making vain
endeavors to obey the commands laid down in the
blue-book for one arm of the service alone. The
absurdity of the combination was soon apparent, and
before entering upon active service the organization
was broken up, the cavalry and artillery being sent to
join appropriate bodies of their own kind, and the in-
fantry put upon proper footing as an actual regiment.
The regiment lay at Bird's Point, Missouri, oppo-
site Cairo, Illinois, during part of the winter of
1861–2. It was one of the few comprising General
Grant's little Army of the Tennessee in the beginning,
the force being divided between Cairo, Bird's Point,
Missouri, and Fort Holt, Kentucky. Headquarters
were at the first-named place, from which, before the
coming of General Grant, emanated military orders
with the somewhat pompous preamble, “Headquarters,
Grand Cairo and Dependencies.”
At a later day the regiment assisted in the invest-
ment of Fort Henry, and a portion of it took an unim-
portant and almost bloodless part at Fort Donelson,
while other detachments made expeditions into the inte-
rior and up the Tennessee river.
Then came the ascent of the Tennessee river,
already opened up by the engagement described in
44 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the foregoing chapter. This was one of the finest
pageants of the war. The thirty-five thousand men
comprising the army of invasion were embarked upon
sixty transports, led by the gunboats. The fleet dis-
played bunting in profusion ; and with many of the
regiments were brass bands, whose music echoed from
shore to shore. Several of the boats were provided
with calliopes, and their patriotic melodies, softened
by distance, sounded enchantingly. As far as the eye
could reach, up stream and down, rounding bends and
threading their way among miniature islands, the long
line of vessels stretched away, a magnificent panorama
ever in motion.
March 16th, General Sherman's division disem-
barked at Pittsburg Landing, followed the next day
by General Hurlbut's. The regiment of which this
narrative treats, was a part of the latter command.
Original journal entries show that camp discipline was
rigidly enforced. Company and battalion drills and
dress-parades were invariably performed each day.
There was reason enough for this, not only in a mili-
tary sense, but for the moral effect. Illness increased
rapidly among the troops, caused by unwholesome
water. For nearly all complaints the surgeons had one
sovereign panacea, whisky and quinine, prepared at the
hospital tent by the barrelful, and administered with a
tin cup. Unfortunately for those who had a taste for
THE GROWTH OF A REGIMIENT. 45
the liquor, it was so unsparingly drugged that its use
as a beverage was impossible.
March 29th, a new camp was laid out, one mile far-
ther south. Camp-guards surrounded each regiment,
and a picket was posted, but no works constructed.
On the 31st, General Hurlbut reviewed his division
for the first time, preparatory to a review by General
Grant on April 2d. April 4th, a heavy rain began to
fall, continuing all night and part of the 5th. About
eight o'clock on the night of the former day, scattering
firing was heard to the front, and the regiment, with
others, was sent in that direction. A march of five
miles was made, and the troops were ordered back to
camp without encountering an enemy or learning
the cause of the alarm. This was two days before the
battle of Shiloh, and rebel prisoners taken in that
engagement said that the Union forces that night
marched inside their lines, and might have been cap-
tured, but for fear of causing an alarm.
Sunday morning, April 6th, a beautiful spring day,
the troops were preparing breakfast, when sounds of
conflict came from the right front. The battle of
Shiloh had begun
A few moments later, the long roll sounded, and
the troops went into ranks on their color-line, and soon
marched in the direction of the firing. At the side
of the road they passed Colonel Pugh, of the 41st
Illinois regiment, a gallant old white-haired man who
46 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
had seen service in Mexico. There was a remarkable
squeak in his voice, and no one who heard his words
that morning will ever forget their forceful meaning or
peculiar intonation : “Boys | fill your canteens!
Some of you'll be in hell before night, and need
water | ?”
Farther up the road, the troops meet the stragglers
from the front, some wounded, and all terror-stricken.
Brave encouragement they give to men going into
battle : “It’s no use, boys | We’re all cut to
pieces !”
On presses the column. At a turn in the road it
changes direction to the right. In a fence-corner the
surgeons have established their field hospital, and here
are spread out their operating tables, and a glittering
array of knives and saws, exposed to the sight of raw
troops. It is horribly suggestive. No wonder many
turn pale, or that the lad, who at home was an innocent
Sabbath-school scholar, should take from his pocket a
pack of playing cards and throw them away. He has
perhaps a superstitious feeling that such property may
bring him ill luck; besides, if he is to be killed, he
&loes not care to have his mother hear that he has fallen
into habits she would not countenance.
Here is a gap in the rail-fence, and the column
passes through, and forms in line of battle in an orchard
of young peach trees. Other regiments connect with
it, right and left. A battery of artillery gallops up on
THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 47
either flank and unlimbers. That on the left opens fire
with great vigor upon the enemy, now plainly in sight;
that on the right stampedes without firing a gun—the
cannoneers cut the traces, mount their horses, and
gallop wildly to the rear.
In front, and on the extreme edge of a field which
lies beyond the orchard, is a dense forest, occupied by
the enemy. The troops march bravely toward it. The
colonel sees that he is not strong enough to carry the
position, and he orders “About face.” The men march
rearward in line of battle. Here and there the line
bulges; the men are gradually quickening their pace;
there is every provocation for a stampede. The
commander orders “Steady ” and the gallant fellows
set their teeth hard, and, with muskets at shoulder,
regain the accustomed drill step. “Battalion, halt
About face | Lie down, and no firing without orders!”
The regiment has not fired a gun, but it has received
severe punishment. Its retrograde movement, under
fire, is a magnificent exhibition of pluck for raw
troops.
The enemy's batteries have now opened. They fire
solid shot, which strike the ground a couple of hun-
dred yards in advance, and reach the troops in ricochet-
ting. Admirable range the gray-coated artillerists
have A small tree near by, not thicker than a stove-
pipe, is bruised with the marks of five cannon-balls
within the height of a man. A cannon shot knocks out
48 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the corner-post of a shed, letting fall the roof, and
with it a squad of venturesome fellows who have
climbed up to witness the panorama in front. Now
the enemy fires shell and grape-shot. One of the
iron missiles tears a cruel groove in the skull of
a color-guard. Another knocks off the muzzle of a
lad’s gun as he is capping it for another shot. He
completes the operation, and discharges his weapon,
but when he brings it again to his side, he finds that
he can not squeeze his cartridge-ball into the ragged
muzzle. “Don’t that beat the devil l’’ is his exclama-
tion to his commander. The next moment he has
another gun, which has been thrown away by a com-
rade, who flees in mortal terror, only to die in two
days, not from a hurt, but from simple fright !
Now out of the forest in front marches the gray line
of battle. On it comes, without a break in its ranks.
The Union troops open upon it a terrific fire, each man
loading and discharging his gun as rapidly as possible.
The gray line cannot withstand the storm of leaden
hail—it loses its pace, halts, and then recoils. Three
times it attempts to pass over that dreadful field of
death, and as often does it fall to pieces, and hasten
back to shelter in broken fragments. More than a
score of years afterward a rebel captain who was in
the charge confessed to a soldier who opposed him
that day, that the slaughter in the peach-orchard was
THE GROWTH OF A REGIMIENT. 49
the most horrible action in which he was engaged
during the entire war.
Our regiment is now shifted to the left of the Co-
rinth road, and engages the enemy at short pistol-
range. The ground is broken and densely wooded—it
is not far from the famous “Hornets' Nest.” The fire
on either side is horrible. The thick underbrush is
literally mowed down by bullets. Men are shot in
half-a-dozen places at once. The dead lie where they
fall; the wounded drag themselves below the brow of
the hill for protection from further harm. The ammu-
nition is nearly exhausted. Where are the field-boxes
of cartridges P Fatal blunder there are none where
they are most sorely needed. Here and there the sol-
diers drop behind the hill and take from the cartridge-
boxes of the dead and wounded what ammunition is
left, and resume their places in the line, only to
repeat the act, again and again. So intent are they
upon their errand, that one lad does not recognize the
close friend and comrade whom he despoils. Twenty
years afterward the two meet to talk of the battle, and
the former learns, for the first time, whose form it was
he bent over in that hour of desperate effort,
This is the key to the position of the Union army,
and here the enemy makes his most heroic effort. A
Tennessee brigade is broken under the terrible fire it
encounters; one of its regiments rallies and advances
three times, only to fall back again and again. Har-
4
50 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
ris, the Governor of Tennessee, appeals to his troops
to make a final effort, and save the fair name of their
State. General Albert Sidney Johnston, the idol of
the Confederates, now places himself at their head—
leads them to the assault, and is mortally wounded.
In this valley of death the regiment loses more than
one-half of the men who went into action. Little won-
der that, with a line so thinned out, in a dense wood, a
young soldier, on his return to the front from a search
for cartridges, thinks himself deserted, and takes his
way to the rear. At the head of the ravine the old
colonel hails him : “Where are you going P” “To
find the regiment l” “Well, go to the front All
that are left are there !” “All right, sir! I thought
they were all gone !” and the lad again goes into
action.
Every cartridge at last is gone ! “Tix bayonets!”
is the command of the colonel. But the left is crushed,
and the enemy comes with a wild, surging charge from
that flank, firing as they advance. Every field officer
is killed or disabled, the brave old colonel falling last
of all, with a ball which he carries to this day. There
is little semblance of organization now, and the men
seek the rear as best they can. There are scores of
regiments in the same plight, and the last hour of the
day is given to seeking their own members, and re-
forming, to hold the lines that night, and prepare for a
fresh struggle on the morrow.
THE GROWTH OF A REGIMIENT. 51
The troops are without either food or water, and
their thirst is aggravated by the salty taste of the car-
tridges they have been biting all day. Neither have
they tents nor blankets, for the enemy has posses-
ision of their camp. Then the rain begins to fall, and
the men draw their gun-locks under their coat-skirts,
and sit up against the trees, seeking to shelter them-
selves as best they can. All night long the earth shakes
with the concussion of the great guns on the gunboats,
and the explosion of their shells in the enemy’s lines.
But neither army cares for a night engagement, and
the hostile lines confront each other in comparative
silence. In the morning the Union troops advance
and sweep the enemy from the field, the fresh men of
Buell’s army taking a glorious part in the victorious
Onset.
For some days after the battle, this regiment was
firmly of the opinion that it had sustained the fiercest of
the enemy’s assaults on that terrible Sunday; and that
the blunder of some other troops was the cause
of the temporary disaster. But the men soon came to
learn the important truth, that in this, as in nearly all
conflicts between armed men, each portion of the line
has all it can attend to, and its best effort and most
fearful sacrifice, are equally necessary, no more and
no less, to a successful issue.
The siege of Corinth followed, a most wearisome
and exhausting campaign. General Halleck was now
52 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
in command, and the troops were literally worn out
with the excessive duty put upon them. Six weeks
were consumed in passing over the thirty miles between
Pittsburg Landing and Corinth. At every advance,
earthworks, strong enough for permanent fortifica-
tions, were thrown up, with abattis in front. The disci-
pline was more severe than ever before. No soldier
was permitted to visit another regiment. The reveille
sounded at five o’clock in the morning. From six to
seven the troops were drilled at double-quick without
arms. Squad and company drill lasted from ten to
eleven; battalion drill from two to four; and dress-
parade took place at four o'clock. By the casualties
of the battle, the exposure, and labor during the
siege, a company of ninety men, who left Illinois
less than a year before, was reduced to twenty-three
effectives, and this proportion probably existed through-
out the army.
There was constant skirmishing, but no severe ac-
tion, during the siege of Corinth, and the city fell into
the hands of the Union troops, May 28th. The retreat-
ing enemy was followed a few miles, the army being
then recalled and posted along the railroad between
Corinth and Memphis, making frequent wearisome, and
generally profitless, marches into Mississippi, pursuing
or pursued. The battle of Hatchie River was an inci-
dent of this campaign. It was fought by General
Hurlbut’s division, which intercepted the forces of
THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 53
Price and Van Dorn, after their repulse at Corinth in
October, 1862.
The efficiency of the army had been greatly improved
by the withdrawal of the old muskets. For these were
substituted Enfield and Springfield rifled muskets, both
admirable weapons. About the same time the com-
plete “regulation ” uniform was issued. This con-
sisted of a ridiculous dress-coat of dark blue, with
brass shoulder-scales; a tall, stiff felt hat, looped up on
one side with a brass eagle, while in front was dis-
played a brass bugle. A feather and heavy blue cord
completed the head-dress. The men had a great con-
tempt for this assortment of military millinery, and
exhibited a remarkable faculty for losing all the
ornaments, which were not readily replaced; the hat
crown they persisted in turning down to about one-
third its normal height. The officers finally recognized
the impossibility of maintaining such a uniform, and
the troops soon took up with the comfortable blouse
and fatigue cap, which were their distinguishing marks
during the later years of the war.
During the marches in Tennessee and Mississippi,
in the summer of 1862, large numbers of negroes
flocked to the army. The Emancipation Proclamation
had not yet been penned, and all these poor people
were driven back to their masters, save a few able-
bodied men (sixty to a regiment), whose use was
permitted as teamsters and cooks. The slaves
54 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
imagined that the coming of this army meant their
liberation from bondage. Men, women and children
followed the troops for miles, carrying knapsacks
and bringing water for the weary soldiers. Their dis-
tress on being repulsed was pitiful to behold. At this
time foraging was strictly forbidden, and severe
punishment awaited the hungry soldier who entered
a field for potatoes, or shot a pig. It was the day of
the “rose-water war policy,” so mercilessly ridiculed
by Orpheus C. Kerr.
In September, 1862, the first great blow was
struck against slavery, and the discipline of the
army was put to its crucial test. President Lincoln
had issued his cautionary proclamation, setting forth
that, on the first day of January following, in the event
of still existing rebellion, he would proclaim the free-
dom of the slaves. The majority of the troops were
not in sympathy with this measure, and there was
every prospect of wide-spread desertion. In many
instances commissioned officers did not attempt to con-
ceal from the men their own opposition, and expressed
the intention of resigning. In this crisis, Colonel
Logan, of the 32nd Illinois regiment, took a decided
stand. He caused the proclamation to be read at
the head of his command, and said that any officer
tendering his resignation for this reason, or expressing
disaffection, would be reported, with a recommenda-
tion for his dishonorable dismissal for insubordina-
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THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 57
tion and disloyalty. The effect of this determined
action was most salutary. Not a resignation was
offered, and the brewing storm passed away. Other
commanders were equally patriotic, many in spite of
personal convictions; there was no further open dis-
affection in the army.
In the winter, occurred the march through Missis-
sippi, the intention being to reach the rear of Wicks-
burg. The campaign was brought to an abrupt close
by the disaster at Holly Springs. That important sup-
ply depot was yielded to the enemy, by its commander,
without firing a shot.
A few months later, the regiment was a part of
the army engaged in the operations against Wicksburg,
being under fire almost daily for three months. The
incidents of the siege would require a volume in
themselves. The bombardment at night by the gun-
boats and mortars was indescribably grand. The
labors of the army were arduous, but there was less
work with the spade than at Corinth. The troops
learned that slighter works were sufficient protection,
and they husbanded their strength for the skirmish
line. The Union army made some advance almost
every night, and frequent dashes by day. The end
came, July 4th, 1863, when the enemy displayed the
signal of surrender. It was not long before the
national colors were unfurled from many points in the
city ; and the fleet of gunboats steamed up to the
58 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
wharf, each vessel firing a national salute as she
rounded to. The next day a large part of the Army
of the Tennessee marched out to Jackson, and de-
feated General Joseph E. Johnston, who was threaten-
ing the Union rear, returning afterward to Wicksburg.
The remainder of the year was devoted to expedi-
tions into Louisiana and the interior of Mississippi,
which, while important in the general plans of the war,
are not necessary to this narrative.
Now began preparations for the campaign against
Atlanta. The army was in magnificent trim for the
task. True, it had lost many a gallant soldier, who,
if living, would have done yet greater service for his
country, and won honorable distinction for himself.
Alas, such are the fortunes of war ! Aside from this,
campaigning had proved a severe school, and it
yielded admirable results. It was a most thorough
winnowing process. The sickly and infirm had been
retired from service ; the half-hearted had dropped
by the wayside ; the coward and camp-bully, generally
synonymous terms, had deserted. The company men-
tioned in the opening chapter will serve to illustrate
the casualties incident to these campaigns. Its ninety
men at the outset had been reduced to thirty-five when
the Atlanta campaign began. Anticipating the narrative,
it may be mentioned that but twenty-six of the number
marched out of Atlanta to the Sea. Only sixteen
remained to the end, to be mustered out with the colors
THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 59
at the close of the war ; and among these was the lad
who was bade go home, because he would never make
a soldier. He participated in all the campaigns of
the Army of the Tennessee, from first to last, without
a wound, a day in hospital, or absence on sick leave.
Such was the history of one regiment. Its ex-
perience was not peculiar ; with little exception, it
was that of most volunteer regiments in the field.
60 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
. CHAPTER V.
THE ARMY AND ITS PERSONNEL.
§ º-SūHATTANoogA, Tennessee.
&A within the shadow of famous
* . ſº
º º
ºf V
old Lookout Mountain, was
the scene of extraordinary
bustle and preparation dur-
ing the month of April, 1864.
Forces were being concen-
§º. ; %
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º *% §
§§ W. º º *
\\º trated and equipped for what
§ Nº. ºft * */ º
\ \º § was destined to be one of the
§ @º
most brilliant and successful
campaigns of the war, if, indeed, it did not surpass all
others in brilliancy of conception, completeness of
execution, and thoroughness of results. It was di-
rected against Atlanta, and out of it grew the im-
portant, but frolicsome, march to Savannah, and the
campaign of the Carolinas. So closely did these
events succeed one another, and so intimately blend-
ed were their consequences, that the March to the
Sea may be said to have begun at Chattanooga, and
to have ended with General Joseph E. Johnston's



THE ARMY AND ITS PERSONNEL. 61
surrender to General Sherman at Raleigh, North
Carolina. These operations covered a period of
twelve months, during which time almost every day
was spent in marching or fighting, and frequently
both. There were many severe battles, and at all times
sharp skirmishing, sometimes here, sometimes there,
and often along the entire line. But it was ever a
grand “Forward l’” from first to last.
The troops selected for these important undertak-
ings were the choicest of the nation, the veterans
of the campaigns narrated. Many of them hav-
ing nearly completed a three years’ term of service,
re-enlisted, and were designated by the War De-
partment as “Veteran Volunteers,” and authorized to
wear the chevrons indicative of long and ardu-
ous service. They were just returning from home,
after enjoying a brief furlough, granted in con-
sideration of their re-enlistment. Every man was a
seasoned veteran, toughened by exposure, and taught
self-reliance through the workings of that first law of
nature, self-preservation. His bearing proclaimed a
high degree of pride in his soldierly record, a con-
scientious belief in his mission, and an unfaltering
faith in the successful issue of his cause. He was not
only a perfect soldier himself, but he was a school-
master to the raw recruits brought to the front from
time to time to replace the fallen and disabled,
who, taught by his example, learned the full duty of
62 . MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
soldiers in vastly less time than he had acquired it,
and became almost veterans by his side, before the
campaign had fairly opened.
The largest body of troops was the Army of the
Cumberland, the heroes of Stone River and other hard
fought fields, commanded by Major-General George
H. Thomas, a grand soldier, whose every feature pro-
claimed him to be as unyieldingly steadfast as the
“Rock of Qhickamauga,” which name he bore. His own
distinguishing characteristics were reproduced in his
men, and their superb staying power, and capacity for
giving and taking severe punishment, were appre-
ciated by Sherman, who always sent them to hold an
enemy while others sought his weak point. The Army
of the Ohio, under Major-General Schofield, with many
of the same traits, performed a similar mission in con-
junction with it. Last, was the Army of the Tennessee,
fresh from the victories of Wicksburg and Jackson,
and the relief of the beleaguered garrison at Chatta-
nooga—trained to long and rapid marches, swift in
motion and as true to its mark as the arrow, which
WàS the distinguishing badge of one of its corps.
This command, as Sherman expressed it, was the
“snapper to his whip-lash ;” and it was thrown from
flank to flank as necessity required, marching often by
night to attack the enemy at an unexpected point by
day. It was commanded by Major-General James B.
THE ARMY AND ITS PERSONNEL. 63
McPherson, one of the bravest who ever wore a sword,
though as gentle and lovable as a woman.
| Subordinate to these officers was a brilliant array of
corps, division, and brigade commanders. Among the
former were Logan, Blair, Dodge, Howard and Palmer;
among the latter, Belknap, Gresham, the Smiths,
Leggett, Mower, Force, Phillips, Rowett and others.
Auxiliary to these forces, and principally engaged in
protecting provision trains and covering the flanks of
the army, but at times making rapid and destruc-
tive raids upon the enemy's communications, were
large bodies of cavalry, commanded by Stoneman, Gar-
rard and Kilpatrick.
In supreme command was Major-General William
T. Sherman, the most unique figure of the war period.
Spare of form, and careless in dress, he would have
found difficulty in securing a position on a brigadier's
staff in the early days of 1861, when gay trappings
commanded a premium, and dress-parades and grand
reviews passed for “war.” But when he spoke he re-
vealed his extraordinary mental powers and wealth of
nervous energy. Whether ordering a movement of
troops to meet an unexpected contingency, or listening
to a report of disaster or success, he instantly compre-
hended the full import of the event; and, equal to any
emergency, gave his commands with Snappish prompt-
'ness, and at the same time so explicitly that there could
be no mistake as to his meaning. In some quarters he
64 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
had been censured for not being a “fighting general;”
he treated the sneer with a smile. “Fighting is the
least part of a general's work, the battle will fight it-
self,” he said, on one occasion. To him the actual
conflict was an incident, which he knew could be trust-
ed to the courage and ability of the officer actually
upon the spot. Not that he was wanting in the quali-
fications of a general ; he possessed them in the
- highest degree, his mind constantly grappling with
great general plans. His men once in position, where
he wanted them, and there were those to direct the
battle, who had naught else to do.
General Sherman had won great renown as General
Grant's chief lieutenant at Vicksburg, and in re-
lieving the Union army beleagured in Chattanooga.
History tells how competent he was for the chief
command in the great task now set before him ; but
no one, not with him, can realize how complete-
ly he was master of his forces and resources. Not a
detail was unknown to him. With wonderful direct-
ness and promptitude, he ordered the movements of
this vast army, at times separated into numerous
columns and detachments, all acting independently,
so far as they themselves knew, yet all co-oper-
ating in the grand plan of their chief. Like Grant,
he was a rare judge of men, and he was seldom
mistaken in his estimate. The weak points of this
brigade commander, the strong points of another, were
THE ARMY AND ITS PIERSONNEL. 65
ever in his mind. He knew the various posts along
his railroad communications, hundreds of miles to the
rear, and their commanders. If the telegraph told
him that a block-house, was attacked, he knew whether
the officer in charge would surrender to a cavalry dash,
or resist a division of infantry with artillery. He
knew, at all times during a campaign, just how many
rations and rounds of ammunition there were in his
wagon trains ; how his men were in health and spirit;
and the condition of the feet of his cavalry and ar-
tillery horses. With all this intimate knowledge of
officers, men and means, and an army having un-
bounded confidence in itself and in him, Sherman was
absolutely invincible,
Yet a little more than two years before this, he
had been semi-officially denounced as a “crank’’
(although this precise term was not then in vogue),
and considered unfit for the command of more than a
brigade, because, at a moment in the first year of the
war, when some one high in authority prophesied
an end of the struggle “in sixty days,” he insisted
that two hundred thousand men would be needed to
occupy Kentucky, and carry on offensive operations!
But this was not far from the number Fate had now
committed to his charge, to work out the greatest
problem of the day—the annihilation of the war-
supporting resources of the “Confederacy,” and the
66 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
transfer of his army to the battle fields of the East, to
co-operate with Grant in the destruction of Lee.
And more He was to write his own name high
among those of the great masters of war ; and to plan
campaigns that would be models for study by genera-
tions of soldiers yet unborn. His strategy was mar-
velous, and he found a worthy adversary in General
Joseph E. Johnston, the opposing commander. Move
succeeded move, like rook and pawn on the chess-board,
one giving a check here, the other there. Sherman
maneuvered so as to gain position after position with"
the minimum loss of men and material; Johnston re-
treated so skillfully before him that he scarcely lost a
tin-cup. That the one should achieve victory where
the other sought to withhold it, is high praise. No
other such struggle of Titans was witnessed during
the war.
| As a writer, General Sherman was in many respects
inimitable, and were he not a soldier he should
have been an author. His orders, reports and letters,
were often couched in homely but vigorous phrase,
somewhat after the manner of Lincoln, emphasizing
his points in such manner as to fasten them indel-
ibly upon the mind. Once, while preparing for
the great campaign, he said: “Beef and salt are
all that is absolutely necessary to life, and parched
corn once fed General Jackson's army on this very
ground.” Citizens, at various places along the line of
THE ARMY AND ITS PERSONNEL. 67
his march, clamored to be fed; and the kind-hearted
Lincoln urged Sherman to supply their necessities.
He answered : “The railroad can not supply the
army and the people too. One or the other must
quit, and the army don't intend to do so, unless
Jo. Johnston makes us. Let their friends relieve
them by wagon, as they would before railroads were
built.” The enemy having endeavored to wreck
railroad trains by planting torpedoes on the track, he
wrote to a subordinate : “Order the point suspected
to be tested by a car-load of prisoners or citizens
implicated; of course an enemy can not complain of his
own traps.” Newspaper correspondents were a
special abomination in his eyes, provoking him to
great wrath, and spasmodic profanity of a highly
original pattern. “They are,” said he, “as a rule mis-
chievous. They are the world's gossips ; they pick
up and retail camp scandal, and gradually drift to
the headquarters of some general who finds it easier to
make reputation at home than with his troops. They
are also tempted to prophesy events, and state facts,
which reveal to an enemy a purpose in time to guard
against it.” The present editor of a great newspaper
in the Mississippi valley, then a correspondent with
the army, incurred the personal displeasure of the
irascible General at, or immediately after, the battle of
Shiloh, and was treated by him in such a manner as
never to be forgiven ; even to this day the out-
68 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
raged scribe allows no opportunity to pass without
giving the General a sharp rap in partial payment of
the old score. º
Since the war, if it be possible, General Sherman
has grown even more completely into the affections of
those he once commanded in the field; and his appear-
ance at any of the numerous soldiers' reunions calls
forth greater enthusiasm than that of any other general
of the war period. This is largely due to his unaffected
heartiness, when among those who wore the blue in the
dark days of the Rebellion. He is the most approach-
able of men, as accessible to the private soldier as to the
major-general; and his intercourse with all, whether in
private, or upon public occasions, is such as to impress
all with his entire honesty when he said, in a letter
to the author of this narrative: “I cherish a real love
for the men who fought the civil war to a successful
conclusion, and I wish them, one and all, the largest
measure of honor and happiness on this earth.”
MAKING READY. 69
CHAPTER WI.
MAKING READY.
*
£º. --
_* W HE column about to move
> -->2-’ \
*\º. § southward from Chattanooga was
-* & & 2%,” a ". º
lº, W, aſ to consist of nearly one
–23 % § §§§
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:* º º R 2
º
_º Nº. ... the plan of campaign con-
ºf 4 “\}
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/º sº parture from the railroad,
}: *s A v. T
\ ** , º, . . Sºº - . and dependence upon the
'ºes 2/2- wagon trains for subsistence.
1-2^2 => The army was to be re-clothed as
- * far as possible, and these stores, together
with food and ammunition for infantry, cavalry and
artillery, and forage for animals, in sufficient quantities
for a thirty days' supply, were all to be sent from
Louisville, Kentucky, the base of supplies, nearly
four hundred miles distant, over a single pair of rails
traversing a hostile region. Although the road was
guarded by several thousand men, posted along its
length, in forts, stockades or block-houses, at towns,
rivers, and water and wood stations, the enemy often
made serious breaks, destroying scores of engines,




70 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
hundreds of cars, and burning or carrying away vast
quantities of stores, which were greatly needed at the
front. At its ordinary capacity, when undisturbed, the
railroad could do little more than provide for the
necessities of the army.
To accumulate supplies for a forward movement, in
the face of such difficulties, demanded close economy
and extraordinary effort. All items of the army ration
which could possibly be dispensed with, were stricken
Out, little being transported save hard bread, bacon,
sugar, coffee and salt. Beef was driven from Louis-
ville on the hoof. Only the most necessary articles
of clothing were issued. Shoes and stockings, abso-
lutely indispensable to the march, were provided in
abundance ; little attention was given to supplying
Outer garments; the men were generally willing to
wear the same coats and trousers they had brought
with them from Wicksburg. True, in many cases,
these dilapidated articles exposed more of the human
anatomy than they concealed, but their wearers did
not expect to see company which would be fastidi-
ous about such things. Many of the line officers were
scarcely more presentable than their men, and with
them partook of the same limited fare.
But supplies failed to accumulate. Cutting red
tape with a stroke of his pen, Sherman ordered all
railroad cars reaching Louisville, from whatever direc-
tion, to be loaded with supplies and sent to the front;
MAKING READY. 71
and in spite of the angry protests of railroad officials
all over the country, his order was obeyed to the letter.
Henceforth, trains on the “United States Military
Railroad” were motley enough, and it may be said,
without exaggeration, that in many of them there were
not more than three cars belonging to any one road,
and nearly all came from north of the Ohio river.
A few passenger cars were run as far south as
Nashville, but none beyond that point; and an officer
or soldier seeking his command at the front was
obliged, on leaving Nashville, to find a place on the
top of a freight car, as a member of the armed guard
which accompanied each train. He was frequently
fired at by guerrillas from behind trees and hills,
and often his train was thrown from the track, by
some obstruction or a displaced rail, and he was
attacked at a great disadvantage by a considerable
force of the enemy. But this route, rough as it was,
was one of pure delight compared with the dirt-road
assigned to most of those returning from home or hos-
pital. The latter were organized into temporary com-
panies or detachments, and obliged to drive and
guárd beef herds, or wagon trains, until they reached
their destination.
Notwithstanding the difficulty of securing railroad
transportation, and the urgent necessity requiring it
entirely for military purposes, sanitary and christian
commissions and volunteer philanthropists from every
72 MARCHING THROUGH GIEORGIA.
.*
State having a soldier in the field, sought the freedom
of the road, only to be denied by the lynx-eyed Sher-
man. One of these well-meaning functionaries com-
plained to his governor that the great general had
treated him with discourtesy. The governor appealed
to Stanton, Secretary of War, who lectured Sherman,
whereupon the indignant general retorted in this
characteristic way : “Even a single passenger is a
small matter, but he is two hundred pounds avoirdu-
pois, and his weight in bread and meat would feed one
hundred men for a day. For mercy’s sake allow us
for the period of our brief campaign to have the exclu-
sive use of our single track of rail, every foot of which
we must guard, and every inch of which has cost us a
precious life.”
And this slender artery of life, upon which depended
the very existence of a hundred thousand men, and
perhaps that of the nation itself, was soon to be indefi-
nitely extended, to keep pace with the army pressing
southward, every additional mile costing more lives,
adding to the risk of breakage by the enemy, and
diminishing the moving column to the extent of the
detachments left behind for its protection. Important
bridges and strategic points were guarded by veteran
troops, posted in earthworks with artillery; but for the
greater part the defenses were block-houses and stock-
ades, garrisoned by “short term " men enlisted for the
purpose. It was a service of vast importance, but
MAKING READY. 73
monotonous and inglorious, and the rudely painted
sign displayed at each of these minor posts, addressed
to passing trains, “Please throw us a paper!” told a
pathetic story of loneliness and anxiety. In many
cases these little garrisons were fiercely attacked and
made gallant and successful resistance. The heroic
defense of Allatoona, referred to hereafter at length,
is almost as famous as the “Charge of the Light
Brigade”—it was certainly far more momentous in its
results.
The Railway Construction and Repair Corps, made
up of civilians, was an all-important ally. Targe
detachments were stationed at suitable points, and dis-
patched to each break in the road as soon as one oc-
curred. As a matter of fact, this corps was perpetually
in motion. So thoroughly was it equipped, and so
zealously did it push the work, that the enemy fre-
quently heard the engine whistle at the front, within a
few hours after they had inflicted damage which they
believed could not be repaired in a week. Duplicates of
bridges and important trestles were kept in reserve to
replace those destroyed, each timber being numbered
and fitted ready to put in place. Some of this work was
almost marvelous. But the grandest achievement of
the corps was the replacement of the bridges over the
Chattahoochee, Etowah and Oostanaula, which had been
destroyed by the retreating enemy. These structures,
being within the enemy's lines, could not be dupli-
74 MARCHING THROUGH GIEORGIA,
cated from the store-house, and most of the timber
had to be cut out of the forest, on either side of the
streams. They were from six to twelve hundred feet
long, and from eighty to one hundred feet high, yet
they were replaced in two to five days. The moral
effect was marvelous. The Union troops were led
to believe that their communication with home could
never be interrupted, save for a few hours at a time ;
while the enemy was fully convinced that Sher-
man and his men were all but omnipotent, and that
destructive measures were of little avail to arrest their
progress. Indeed, there was a story in those days to
the effect that Johnston had determined to blow up
an important railroad tunnel in order to stop the
invaders, whereupon one of his men remarked, “There
is n’t no use in that, 'cause Sherman carries 'long
duplicates of all the tunnels l’”
Not less important was the service rendered by the
Telegraph Corps, also made up of civilians, and under
the charge of Colonel J. C. Van Duzer, who was desig-
nated “Superintendent of United States Military
Telegraphs.” Colonel Van Duzer was an operator
at Carlinville, Illinois, early in 1861, and, on that
dreadful April morning, gave to the people of that
place information of the first firing upon the flag at
Sumter. He was accomplished in his profession ;
and a genial, whole-Souled man.
At every fort and block-house was stationed one
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MAKING READY. 77
or more of Colonel Van Duzer’s corps. Each op-
erator had for his equipment a navy revolver, and a
miniature pocket “sounder,” which frequently served
a good purpose. At times, he was driven out of his
office by a dash of rebel cavalry, or, perhaps, an infantry
force seeking a lodgment upon the railroad. He
usually made his escape, and the first thing he did,
after bidding a hasty good-bye to his assailants, was
to climb a telegraph pole, attach his pocket instru-
ment, and notify General Sherman at the front, of the
number and designs of the enemy, and the direction in
which they had gone. Rarely did the rebels learn
anything of importance from this trusty servant. He
dealt in a cipher code, which was unintelligible save
to the initiated, and even this was frequently changed.
Another important adjunct was the Signal Corps.
Its members were chosen from officers and men
of the army, with a special view to intelligence,
daring and adaptability. Each detachment carried
a white flag bearing a black square, colors recogniza-
ble at a great distance ; and signals were conveyed
by certain movements to right and left, vertical and
horizontal, indicating different letters of the alpha-
bet. The letters signaled stood for other letters, so
that a cipher code was necessary to the interpretation
of a message, and the key was changed at frequent
intervals. The officer in command of each detachment
carried powerful field-glasses, and also a fine portable
78 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
telescope, in order to distinguish signals at a great dis-
tance. The Signal Corps always sought the most con-
spicuous eminences, whence they could overlook a large
scope of country, and detect the movements of the
enemy ; and frequently they erected a temporary
observatory in the top of a tree, in full view, and
within easy range, of the hostile riflemen. Some of
their deeds were of momentous importance, as at Ken-
esaw Mountain, after the fall of Atlanta, when Sherman
signalled to Allatoona, and encouraged its gallant little
garrison to protract its resistance to Hood's desperate
assault, until reinforcements could reach it. This
service of the Signal Corps was fraught with great
personal danger, as when, before Atlanta, on the
memorable 22d of July, the observing officers held
their position in a tree almost on the very line of
battle.
With each column marched a Pioneer Corps, whose
position was as near the advance as was safe, and which
rendered invaluable service in repairing roads and
bridges. As it traveled, it “blazed” its way on trees
by the roadside, that troops following might make
no mistake as to direction. Each army corps had its
own peculiar “blaze,” which was so familiar to all,
that a straggler knew at a glance whether he was
following Logan, or Blair, or Palmer, although there
might not be a soldier or wagon in sight.
Each army corps had a distinguishing badge, the
MAKING READY. 79
color—red, white, blue, or yellow — indicating the
divisions. The badge was worn by the men upon coat
or hat ; and it was inscribed upon the wagons of the
supply and ammunition trains. Some of these em-
blems were peculiarly suggestive of the traits of the
commands to which they belonged ; as the “Arrow,”
worn by the Seventeenth Corps, noted for its rapid move-
ments, and sureness in reaching a place when wanted ;
the “Cartridge-Box” of the Fifteenth Corps, famous
for its fighting qualities, and capacity for making
itself heard ; and the “Acorn” of the Fourteenth
Corps, which stood firm in action as the oak before the
storm. Less significant were the “Star” of the Twen-
tieth Corps, the “Cross” of the Sixteenth, and others.
It was this complete system of organization, this
close attention to seemingly small matters, in very
many particulars peculiar to it alone, that raised this
army to so high a degree of efficiency, and gave to its
chief such a wonderful mastery over it. Well might
he say, as already quoted in these pages, “The least
part of a general’s work is to fight a battle.”
Napoleon once remarked that he had overrun
Europe with the bivouac. Sherman had caught the
same inspiration. Wagon trains were cut down to the
smallest possible number of wheels and animals.
Early in war days each company was provided with a
six-mule wagon, and three were considered necessary
for regimental headquarters. Even then, when a
80 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
movement was ordered, it became necessary to abandon
much camp paraphernalia because of insufficient
transportation. The cutting down process had been
going on gradually, until now but one wagon was
allowed to a regiment, and that for ammunition mainly,
regimental officers being only permitted space enough
for a tent-fly, a small mess-kit, and a few light
valises; and this species of property was always the
first to be abandoned, if it became necessary to lighten
the load, on account of broken-down animals or unusu-
'ally bad roads. A pack-mule for carrying cooking
utensils was permitted to each company, but was often
dispensed with.
Each army corps, of fifteen to twenty thousand
men, had a commissary and ammunition train of about
five hundred wagons. The various headquarters were
provided with one or two tents each, to shelter the
general and staff, Sherman himself setting the example.
He was closely imitated, save by General Thomas, who
took with him so large a headquarter train, that it
went by the name of “Pap Thomas' Circus.”
The “lightening of the army” involved a grim con-
tradiction of terms. The number of animals was less-
ened, and their burdens decreased, but additional loads
were put upon the troops. The endurance of the man
surpassed that of the beast. General Sherman esti-
mated that the soldiers of each corps d'armee carried.
upon their persons the equivalent of three hundred
MAKING READY. 81
wagon loads; but this estimate includes arms and per-
sonal effects which would not be transported for the
troops in any event. The men became almost pack-
horses, and, encumbered as they were, their long and
rapid marches were nothing short of marvelous. Each
man carried his gun and accoutrements, forty rounds
of ammunition in his cartridge-box, and one hundred
and sixty more in his pockets, knapsack, or haversack.
His blanket and light rubber blanket were made into a
long roll, the ends tied together, so as to admit of being
carried upon the shoulder. This roll generally con-
tained an extra shirt, a pair of socks, and a half-sec-
tion of a “dog-tent,” or piece of light ducking, which,
when buttoned to the half carried by a comrade, made
a very fair shelter for two men. Occasionally a soldier
carried an extra pair of pants or an overcoat, but this
evidence of extravagance was regarded with contempt
by most of the men. Knapsacks were often discarded
entirely. The provision issued to the soldier was a
much abridged ration, but it brought up the total
weight of his burden to good thirty pounds, or
more, no light load to carry for days at a time, in all
weather, and over all kinds of road. He habitually had
a three days' supply of hard bread and fat pork, and
this was to last from seven to ten days in case of
necessity.
But if Uncle Sam limited the boys as to their bread
and meat, he more than made it good with his lavish
6
82 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
issues of sugar and coffee. And here let it be recorded,
that coffee accomplished more toward suppressing the
rebellion than any other one article, unless it be gun-
powder itself. It was generous in quantity, beyond
reproach as to quality, and “the boys” knew how to
extract its subtlest virtues. Each one carried an
old oyster can in which, after bruising the fragrant
berry upon a stone, with the butt of his musket, he
brewed the delicious beverage—the summum bonum of
human comfort, the panacea for all ills. Black as the
face of a plantation negro, “strong enough to float an
iron wedge,” and innocent of lacteal adulteration, it
gave strength to the weary and heavy laden, and cour-
age to the despondent and sick at heart. The with-
drawal of the coffee ration would have moved the
army homeward a great deal sooner than could John-
ston or Hood. In fact, a dastardly experiment on the
part of a soulless contractor almost provoked a great
mutiny at One time.
It was when Halleck’s army lay in front of Corinth,
in 1862. For about two weeks there was issued to
the troops, in lieu of the coffee berry, an extract which
purported to be essence of coffee, compounded with
sugar and milk. It came in half-gallon tin cans, and
so much resembled patent wagon grease that it went
by that name. A teaspoonful, stirred into a tin cup of
hot water, was supposed to produce first-class home
coffee, but taste and stomach revolted against the
MAKING READY. 83
villainous compound; and the pale air was streaked
with oaths of the most ornate and florid phraseology,
abounding in the most picturesque imagery of the
hadean future of the patentee and contractor, their
heirs, administrators and assigns forever. The com-
missary department never had the temerity to attempt
another issue of the vile stuff.
The troops were now ready to move out of Chatta-
nooga. “The pomp and circumstance of glorious
war ” were to be left behind with the sick, the
tents, and the surplus baggage. The army was at its
fighting weight, stripped to the buff, ready and
willing to give and take hard knocks. Henceforth,
for twelve months to come, until the end of the war,
there were to be no daily drills or parades, except for
a few days after the capture of Atlanta, and again at
Savannah. The drum and fife were seldom to be
heard, and the army marched and fought its way to
the Sea and to Grant, to the prompt and stirring sum-
mons of the bugle.
84 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER VII,
EN AWANT.
SING the language of Gen-
eral Grant, “heretofore
• the armies in the East
and West had acted in-
dependently and without con-
cert, like a balky team, no two
ever pulling together.”
General Grant had lately been
transferred to the East as
General-in-Chief, and General
Sherman had succeeded to the supreme command in
the West. Both were thorough soldiers; they were
also intimate friends, rejoicing in each other's suc-
cesses, and not only willing but glad to be so placed
as to co-operate. They used the telegraph freely, and
maintained a voluminous private correspondence, ex-
changing views with reference to the movements of
the armies, East and West, suggesting means to this
or that end, and each conforming his course to that
of the other. In short, complete confidence and con-
cert of action existed, and the war was carried on,
from Chattanooga to Virginia, with a definite plan.





EN AWANT. 85
May 4th, 1864, General Grant crossed the Rapidan,
moving toward Richmond; and, twelve hours later,
General Sherman put his army in motion in the direc-
tion of Atlanta. Each was fully determined to furnish
so much employment to the enemy in his front that
no forces could be spared by either to confront the
other.
Sherman's army numbered ninety-three thousand
men for battle. Against him, Johnston had at the
outset sixty thousand effectives, which number was
shortly to be increased to seventy thousand. The latter
army, being upon the defensive, and operating on inte-
rior lines, was by all rules of war more than equal to
its assailant. This ratio was substantially maintained
during the campaign ending with the fall of Atlanta;
hence it will be seen that the federals had no material
advantage over the enemy.
General Sherman's first step was the occupation of
Dalton, naturally a strong point, and a railroad junc-
tion of great importance to the enemy. The direct
route was impracticable. It lay through the pass
known as Buzzard Roost, cleft by nature through
Rocky Face, a formidable spur of the Alleghany range
of mountains. The Army of the Cumberland, under
General Thomas, occupied the northern entrance to the
pass, supported by the Twenty-third Corps under
General Schofield; while the Army of the Tennessee,
under General McPherson, began that series of flank-
86 MARCHING THROUGH G|EORGIA.
ing movements for which it was soon to become
famous. McPherson’s line of march lay southward to
Snake Creek Gap, which gave an easy access to
Resaca, to the south of Dalton, occupied by the enemy
under General Johnston. This movement was begun
in excellent order, McPherson passing through Snake
Creek Gap without difficulty, only meeting, at the far-
ther end, a cavalry force, which was easily dispersed.
On arriving in front of Resaca, however, he found the
works so complete and well manned that he doubted
his ability to take them by assault, and he fell back to
Snake Creek Gap. Sherman was greatly disappointed,
and used the only harsh language he ever uttered to-
ward McPherson, who was, indeed, his most trusted
lieutenant. He said: “Such an opportunity does not
occur twice in a single life, but at the critical moment
McPherson appears to have been a little timid. He
could have captured half of Johnston's army, and all
his artillery and wagons.” At the same time he
robbed his censure of much of its sharpness by saying
that McPherson was perfectly justified by his orders.
Meanwhile, Thomas and Schofield fought Johnston
hard at Rocky Face, until the failure of McPherson's
movement upon Resaca was known, when Sherman
ordered a concentration of his army upon the latter
point. As soon as this became known to Johnston he
abandoned Dalton, and both armies faced each other
at Resaca.
EN AWANT. 87
The strength of the enemy's position here, and the
nature of their works, proved to be all that McPherson
had asserted, and the entire army found serious
employment for some days. The enemy’s line was
developed May 14th, and the next day was a continu-
ous engagement, more or less severe, along the entire
line, the Army of the Tennessee taking the brunt of
the work, and gaining a heavily fortified ridge from
which it might reach, with its guns, the railroad bridge
across the Oostanaula river. The enemy made repeated
and desperate attempts to dislodge McPherson, but
without success. That night Johnston abandoned
Resaca. *
From all over the South came a fierce howl of rage
on account of this disaster, and Johnston was censured
so severely that at a later day he thought proper to
vindicate himself, in language which is a fine tribute to
the army which opposed him. “My own operations,”
he said, “were determined by the relative forces of
the armies, and a higher estimate of the Northern
soldiers than our Southern editors and politicians
were accustomed to express, or even the administra-
tion seemed to entertain. Observation of almost
twenty years of service had impressed on my mind the
belief that the soldiers of the regular army of the
United States, almost all Northern men, were equal in
fighting qualities to any that had been formed in the
wars of Great Britain and France. General Sher-
88 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
man's troops, with whom we were contending, had
received a longer training in war than any of those
with whom I had served in former times. It was not
to be supposed that such troops, under a sagacious
and resolute leader, and covered by entrenchments,
were to be beaten by greatly inferior numbers.”
Johnston, however, so far heeded the clamor as to
issue a general Order, promising to give battle at Cass-
ville; and his troops, as was discerned from the utter-
ances of prisoners, were constantly taught that they
were not retreating because the fortune of war was
going against them, but because their general was
Only drawing the enemy on to certain destruction.
On the 17th, General Johnston went into position
at Adairsville, but the Army of the Cumberland
pressed him closely in front, while the Army of the
Tennessee threatened him seriously on one flank, and
that of the Ohio on the other. He therefore decided
to retreat to Cassville, where he entrenched heavily,
and issued to his troops orders for battle. He failed
to make a stand, however, and, on the 20th, retreated
farther southward.
General Johnston always considered the abandon-
ment of Cassville as suicidal, but fixed the responsi-
bility upon Generals Hood and Polk, who maintained
that their position would be enfiladed by the federal
artillery, and that they would be unable to hold it.
General Johnston says of this : “Although the
EN AWANT. 89
position was the best we had occupied, I at last
yielded, in the belief that the confidence of the com-
manders of two of the three corps of the army, of their
inability to resist the enemy, would inevitably be com-
municated to their troops and produce that inability.”
An angry discussion grew out of this affair, and many
statements have been made on either side, General
Hood in particular entering a bitter denial. In face
of these conflicting statements, it is extremely difficult
to arrive at the truth.
Upon abandoning Cassville, the enemy retreated
across the Etowah river, burning the railroad bridge
behind him, although immediately and hotly pursued.
Here Sherman halted his army for a brief time, for
much needed rest, as well as to enable the Construction
Corps to repair the railroad, and give opportunity for
reloading the provision trains, which were well nigh
exhausted.
Meanwhile, a division under General Jeff. C. Davis
made a rapid movement upon Rome, Georgia, some-
what to the right and rear, and entered that place after
a brisk engagement, in which he lost about one hun-
dred and fifty men. This success not only relieved
the principal column from constant threat, but it also
made an easy pathway for General Frank P. Blair,
who was marching from the Tennessee river with two
divisions of the Seventeenth Corps, returning from
“veteran furlough.”
90 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Allatoona was the next obstruction, and a most for-
midable one. General Sherman determined to avoid
it by a movement to the right, and on the 23d, General
Thomas moved his command toward Dallas, taking
twenty days’ rations in haversack and wagon. He
had approached near New Hope Church, when he
found that the enemy had abandoned Allatoona and
was again in his front. A sharp engagement ensued,
in which the enemy was driven some little distance, to
the vicinity of the church, where he entrenched, and
Generals McPherson and Schofield were called to
close up with the remainder of General Sherman's
army, then in line. In this movement General
McPherson was sharply attacked in the vicinity of
Dallas, but his men, by brisk work, had succeeded in
throwing up slight fortifications, and repulsed the
enemy, inflicting considerable loss. Some days after-
ward General Sherman occupied Ackworth, again
reaching the railroad, and the Construction Corps was
set to work rebuilding the bridge over the Etowah.
During the month, since leaving . Chattanooga,
Sherman had driven the enemy nearly a hundred
miles, fought six battles, captured twelve guns and
two thousand prisoners, and killed and wounded
fifteen thousand of the enemy. His own loss in killed
and wounded was about ten thousand men,
AN INCIDENTAL FORCED MARCH. 91
\ CHAPTER VIII.
|
|
| AN INCIDENTAL FORCED MARCH.
h º HE main army was joined at
i
3. Ackworth by General Frank
P. Blair, with the Third
zº
# and Fourth divisions of the
º
-
-
t
Seventeenth Corps. Gen-
—sºf
-
=;
eral Sherman had been
|
•
loath to leave Chattanooga before the arrival
of these troops, who had been home on the thirty
days' veteran furlough granted to all soldiers re-
enlisting for another term of three years. They could
Inot be assembled in time, however, and he had been
obliged to begin the campaign without them. They
were now greatly needed to make up for the losses
thus far; besides, General Sherman's intimate ac-
quaintance with them, dating back to the early days
on the Tennessee river, led him to depend upon them
in an unusual degree.
General Blair's command had rendezvoused at
Cairo, and was to be transported by boat to Clifton, on
the Tennessee river, thence marching across the coun-
try by way of Huntsville, Alabama. There were some






92 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
curious incidents connected with this march. General
Blair, a gallant officer, was noted for strong self-
assertion, and a disposition to make this trait quite
conspicuous when he happened to be in a position
where he could do so. Notwithstanding urgent and
repeated orders from General Sherman to hurry his
command to the front, he tarried at Cairo, taking
things quite easily. Possibly he had some excuse for
dilatoriness. The transports were under the control of
a high officer of the quartermaster-general's depart-
ment, clothed with extraordinary powers by the Sec-
retary of War, who was not disposed to regard the
emergency as sufficient to call for any unusual effort.
Nearly all the steamboats chartered by the govern-
ment were engaged between Cairo and ports on the -
lower Mississippi, and the diversion of any of them
to a trip up the Tennessee seemed to him too unim-
portant an undertaking to engage in.
At this juncture, Colonel John I. Rinaker, of the
122d Illinois Regiment, commanding the post of Cairo,
received telegrams from General Sherman, enquiring
as to the whereabouts of General Blair's command,
and directing him to take any measures necessary to
expedite its departure, if it had not already gone.
Colonel Rinaker at once issued orders for the seizure
of any boats coming into port, and it happened that
the first to arrive were fast side-wheel steamers,
engaged in general trade on the lower Mississippi.
AN INCIDENTAL FORCED MARCH. 93
The officers of the vessels entered loud objections,
appealing to the quartermaster in charge of river
transportation, who directed them to pay no attention
to Colonel Rinaker’s orders, suggesting that other and
smaller boats would soon arrive, which would answer
the purpose as well. Even this assurance was a great
concession, but Rimaker refused to release the boats, and
General Gresham, who was extremely anxious to reach
the front, at once embarked his brigade and proceeded
up river, closely followed by the remainder of General
Crocker's division and that of General Leggett.
General Gresham, in particular, was highly pleased
with Colonel Rinaker's action, and expressed his
obligations to him in warm terms.
The march from Clifton was an exceedingly
unpleasant experience. Thirty days of high living at
home, feasted by mothers, wives, and sisters, upon all
the enervating delicacies to which they had so long
been strangers, together with balls and late suppers,
had softened the muscles of the men, while their pam-
pered appetites rebelled against short rations of coarse
food. But there was urgent necessity for these troops
at the front, and delay was not to be tolerated. The
men did not understand the requirements of the case
as did General Blair, who had been goaded almost to
desperation by the sharp and frequent messages of
General Sherman, bidding him push forward in the
shortest possible time, and they swore horribly at
94. MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
their commander for the rapid pace to which he
continually pushed them. Sixteen miles a day was
the shortest march expected; as a matter of fact, more
frequently from eighteen to twenty miles was the
distance actually accomplished. This was no small
task, loaded down as the men were with rations and
ammunition; besides, the weather was extremely
hot. During the greater part of the march, the
column was annoyed by Roddy's rebel cavalry, which,
while not sufficiently strong to do any great damage,
was numerous and alert enough to keep the blood
warm and cause great watchfulness.
- May 26th, the troops reached Decatur, Alabama, on
the Tennessee river, one of the most picturesque situa-
tions visited by the army during the entire war.
Later in the day, a pontoon bridge was laid and they
crossed to the east side.
Before reaching Rome, much of the route lay over
a very mountainous region. Sand Mountain, a spur
from the southern continuation of the range of which
the famous Lookout Mountain is the most conspicuous
member, was particularly dangerous. This was not a
single peak, as the name would imply, but a succes-
sion of mountains, of no great altitude, yet very
precipitous. In the sides of these, immediately over-
looking an almost perpendicular descent of hundreds
of feet, a roadway had been cut, so narrow as to
furnish room for only one team. A sudden pitch
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AN INCIDENTAL FORCED MARCH. 97
sidewise, or a rough jolt against one of the many
huge bowlders which lay in the roadway, was sufficient
to upset a wagon and send it tearing down the moun-
tain side, end over end. Several such accidents
actually occurred, but fortunately no human life was
lost, the teamsters being fortunate enough to leave
their saddles and reach a place of safety before the
crash came. The passage of the train necessarily put
a great deal of arduous labor upon the troops, and it
was by no means unusual to see a squad of soldiers
bolstering up a wagon, in order to keep the center of
gravity within the limit of safety.
Considerable straggling from ranks occurred dur-
ing the march, and severe measures were taken to
repress it. In one instance, by the personal order of
General Blair, and under his own eye, one of the offend-
ers was “spread-eagled ” at the tail-board of a wagon,
his arms being extended, and his hands tied to either
end of the gate, his face to the wagon. Unable to see
through the vehicle, or look down at the road, his
punishment was painful enough in the passage over
the mountain, as he was jerked violently from side to
side, with every motion of the wagon. When night
came, the wagon pulled in to the place selected for
General Blair's headquarters; and the general, recog-
nizing his victim, and appreciating the fact that the
breach of discipline had been sufficiently punished,
ordered him to be cast loose, and provided a good
7
98 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
supper and a canteen of “commissary;” then dis-
missed him, with an injunction to remain in the
ranks thereafter. The soldier accepted the liquor, if
not the advice, as the amende honorable, and bore no
malice.
Near Warrenton, Alabama, a country post-office
yielded a large mail sent out from the rebel army, under
General Bragg, in the September previous. The letters
had been held at this place on account of the impossi-
bility of forwarding them to their destination, and
were sealed as when the writers sent them out. The
Yankees, having no respect for the sanctity of such
communications, distributed and opened them, the con-
tents in many instances provoking great merriment.
The following extract from one of these letters gives
an inside view of the feeling, not only in the enemy’s
ranks, but at their homes as well:
“MERIDIAN, Sept. 23d, 1863.
‘‘DEAR MOLLIE: * * As I know you will hear nothing
at Natchez favorable to our cause, I will give you all the particulars
known so far in regard to our great victory. On the 18th, after several
unsuccessful attempts, Bragg forced Rosecrans to battle near Ringgold,
Georgia, which has continued up to the present time, and is still raging.
Bragg has gained a great, glorious and crushing victory. Rosecrans
destroyed Chattanooga yesterday, crossed the Tennessee river, and is
flying towards Nashville, hotly and vigorously pursued by Bragg, with
the noble army of veterans who have already thrashed him soundly,
taking over six thousand prisoners, fifty-two pieces of artillery, and
innumerable small arms, etc. Bragg will make his victory still more
disastrous to ‘the best government the world ever saw.' It is his inten-
tion to drive the enemy across the Ohio river before he stops. Where
are now the beautiful Misses , who cursed Jeff Davis and the
Southern Confederacy when Vicksburg fell ? Also, those cowardly
AN INCIDENTAL FORCED MARCH. 99
Sneaks who have given up all hope; the men who have treated the Yan-
kees with such favor, and entertained them at their houses 2 Their
shameful conduct will never be forgotten. * * Expect me home in
about fifteen days. I think by that time you will all be once more free.
:k # With much love, as ever, WILL.”
Rain fell almost without intermission during the
latter part of the march, but shortly before reaching
the Coosa river the sun again shone out, and dried the
men's clothing upon their persons. The river, already
greatly swollen, was rising rapidly; and, as the pon-
toon train was almost hopelessly anchored in mud, far
in the rear, the troops were ordered to ford the
stream. Being averse to again marching in water-
soaked clothing, they removed their shoes, socks and
trousers, and strapped them upon their knapsacks;
then, tucking their shirts under their arm-pits, plunged
in, dressing themselves on gaining the farther shore.
An elderly woman, connected with the Sanitary Com-
mission, who swam her horse across in time to wit-
ness the passage of the strange procession, remarked
that she had never seen anything like it before.
June 8th, General Blair's command reached Kings-
ton, Georgia, and opened communication with the
main body of the army, which was some miles farther
south.
100 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
CHAPTER IX.
RENESAW MOUNTAIN.
§ as scene than that spread before
2ó º § the vision from the summit
º & ºftºs of Ackworth's rugged hill that
bright June day, more than
twenty years ago. To front and
rear, the valleys stretched away
in wide expanse of field, and
orchard, and grove. The air
was laden with the incense of
flower and fruit. Fleecy clouds
floated athwart the blue expanse above, intercepting
here and there the bright sunshine, and mottling the
landscape with alternate patches of light and shadow,
which chased each other from field to field, across
hillock and stream.
Through this fine setting passed a magnificent
panorama. Following the meanderings of numerous
roads, hither and thither, to right and to left, up hill
and down dale, in Sunshine and in shadow, long lines
of blue, tipped with shining steel, threaded their way.







KENESAW MOUNTAIN. 101
Here, borne by a mounted orderly, a yellow guidon,
inscribed with the familiar devices belonging to gen-
eral headquarters, spoke the presence of the supreme
chief and his staff. At intervals, similar banners
emblazoned with arrow, or cartridge-box, or acorn,
designated the places of corps commanders; others
with these emblems in red, white, or blue, told of the
presence of division and brigade generals, enabling the
practiced eye to recognize and name each command
as far as the devices could be discerned. Between
and among these, behind and in front, as far as the
eye could reach, floated countless national colors, each
marking a regimental organization. So far did they
lie below the point of observation on Ackworth, that
regiments seemed to be but companies, and no sound
came up from the mighty host. In rear of each divi-
sion followed the artillery, the bright brass of the
Napoleons alternating with the dull color of the steel
Rodmans. And then, away in the background, rising
and falling with hill and valley, outlined against the
bright green of field and wood, or the clear blue sky,
the long wagon train stretched out, the white canvas
covers seeming, in the distance, like the sails of ships
at sea.
Far to the front, bounding the entire southern
horizon, rose majestic Kenesaw, “the Twin Moun-
tain,” and its adjacent peaks, as if planted there to
stay the steps of the onward pressing hosts, bidding
102 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
them go thus far and no farther. But already, almost
at their very base, white puffs of smoke rose in defi-
ance from the rifles of the federal advance; while high
overhead, at Ackworth, waved the tell-tale flags that
bore the directions of the great war-chief to the
troops opening the conflict.
June 10th, the army reached Big Shanty, a railroad
station lying almost at the foot of Kenesaw Moun-
tain. It was already famous, having been the scene
of a remarkable occurrence early in 1862. In order
to break the Atlanta railroad and prevent the rebels
from reinforcing their army, opposing General Grant
at Shiloh, General Mitchell sent twenty picked men to
this place, then far in the interior of the “Confeder-
acy.” They went disguised, pursuing different roads,
and in accordance with their prearranged plan came
together at Big Shanty, then a rebel camp. Watching
an opportunity, they stole a light freight train, while
the crew were at dinner, and made off at the utmost
speed in the direction of Chattanooga. Their inten-
tion was to burn various large bridges after passing
over them ; but hot pursuit was made by another
train, and they were unable to accomplish their pur-
pose. They soon consumed all the wood and water
aboard the tender, and found the engine otherwise
becoming useless, the brass journals having actually
melted in the wild run ; and, when near Chattanooga,
the daring fellows found themselves obliged to jump
KENESAW MOUNTAIN. 103
from the engine and seek concealment in the woods.
The enemy hunted them down, however, and hung
several of their number. A thrilling account of this
remarkable adventure has been recently written by
one of the survivors, now a Methodist minister.
Near by, and towering grandly upward, rose Ken-
esaw, a formidable range, nearly three miles long.
Known as “the Twin Mountain,” it might be better
described as a single eminence with a slight break or
depression about one-third the distance from its
northern end. To the northwest lay Pine Mountain,
and to the south, Lost Mountain, two almost conical
peaks, connected with Kenesaw and each other by
heavily timbered ridges. It was the most perfect
natural fortification Sherman's army ever encountered,
and the enemy made the most of the advantages it
afforded. Their line from Kenesaw to Pine Moun-
tain was generally semi-circular, the concavity being
presented to the Union troops. From base to peak,
these everlasting hills bristled with batteries and
swarmed with men. Their elevation gave them a
bird’s-eye view of the federal skirmish and battle
lines, and their flags could be seen waving from peak
to peak, signaling every movement of their assail-
ants. While everything transpiring in the Union
army was distinctly noted by them, their own
movements were concealed by the heavy timber which
veiled their lines. A partial compensation for this
104. MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
was found in the fact that the federal signal officers
had deciphered the enemy's code, and could read
their flags almost as readily as they themselves. In-
deed, it was by means of these signals that General
Sherman learned of the death of Polk, the rebel
Bishop-General, a few days later. It is not improb-
able, however, that the enemy was equally quick-
witted, and acquired much valuable information in a
similar way.
The enemy’s line was soon developed by the fed-
eral skirmishers, those of Blair's Seventeenth Corps
occupying the left, near the north flank of Kenesaw;
Logan's Fifteenth Corps and Dodge's Sixteenth Corps
joining them on the right. Then came Thomas, with
the Army of the Cumberland, in front of Pine Moun-
tain, and the interval between that and Kenesaw.
Schofield lay under Lost Mountain.
Before the close of the day, the skirmish line was
feeling the enemy along his entire front of nearly ten
miles, while here and there a battery threw a few
experimental shells.
The next morning, a sunless, cheerless, drizzling
day, General Sherman rode to the front, with a single
staff officer and an orderly. Dismounting, he seated
himself upon a fallen log near the railroad track.
Colonel Van Duzer had just taken from his pocket a
light piece of wire, scarcely larger than a horse hair.
This he spliced to the telegraph wire which dangled
KENESAW MOUNTAIN. 105
from a pole near by, and attached it to his pocket-
instrument, not larger than an ordinary snuff-box.
Seating himself beside the general, he began tapping
the delicate little key, the general dictating. A half-
hour later, Van Duzer's ear was closely bent to the
miniature sounder, and his lips moved as he gave
Sherman the answering message. The latter made
a gesture, expressive of satisfaction, then mounted
his horse and rode away. A few moments afterward,
Van Duzer told the writer that the general had
reported satisfactory progress to headquarters at
Washington, receiving in return an answer, expressing
great satisfaction, and conveying warm congratula-
tions.
Later in the day, a daring federal engineer ran his
locomotive up the railroad immediately under Kene-
saw, and drew the fire of the rebel batteries. He
blew his whistle defiantly, and then backed away with-
out injury, while the vast Union army cheered and
cheered, until the hills of Georgia rang with the
sound. It was terribly exasperating to the enemy,
and their skirmish line opened a spiteful fire, which
was as viciously returned, night alone putting an end
to the noisy but comparatively harmless conflict.
106 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER X. *
ON THE LINES.
P to this time, the entire
army had been engaged
with the enemy at no
One time, and the actual
fighting had covered a
Small front. At Kenesaw,
Johnston made his first de-
jã
_\ºſº cided stand, obliging Sher-
_* *T* ==e rºz 24 - o e
sºs: & 4 / man to bring into use all
the means at his disposal. Here
the whole army went into line of battle, shoulder to
shoulder, and from the 10th of June until the fall of
Atlanta, in September, nearly three months later,
there was scarcely a day but every division, brigade
and regiment was under fire. The line was not far
from ten miles long, and a picture of a single day's
experience of any one regiment would be a faithful
portraiture of what was transpiring along the entire
front of the army each and every day of those three
eventful months, except upon occasions when the



ON THE LINES. - 107
grand skirmish rose to the dignity of a general
action. Not that all the troops were engaged in
similar degree. At times a part of the army was
occupied in desultory skirmishing, while near neigh-
bors were seriously employed. Again, these condi-
tions would be reversed. On the whole, the experi-
ences of the various commands may be regarded as
balancing fairly at the end of the campaign, honors
and losses being impartially divided.
And now the thin Line of Blue, deployed as
skirmishers, pushed the Line of Gray steadily back-
ward against Kenesaw. It was man against man —
equally courageous, equally self-reliant, equally
fervent in his endeavor. Rarely did either see more
than a half-dozen of his enemy, more frequently
but one, often none at all, sometimes only able to
locate his position by the puff of smoke from his
rifle. Yet, Blue and Gray were but short rifle-range
apart, and a movement of the line-of-battle, constantly
in easy supporting distance on either side, would have
brought more than one hundred thousand men into an
almost hand to hand conflict, and unloosed the throats
of nearly half a thousand pieces of artillery!
At times, the soldier in Blue made a dash forward,
gaining a score of yards of ground; but generally he
crept warily from tree to tree, or crawled upon the
ground, availing himself of every little hillock or
inequality, to take advantage of his adversary, who,
108 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
whether advancing or retreating, was as wary as him-
self. No matter what his position, his eyes were
always to the front, and the slightest motion of the
enemy was greeted with a shot from his ever ready
Enfield. Loading his gun—it was a muzzle loader
then, and he was obliged to bite his paper cartridge,
and drive the charge home with his ramrod—was
reduced to a science, which set at defiance all the
minute and machine-like movements peculiar to the
manual of arms. Behind a tree, without exposing
a surplus inch of his anatomy, or prone on the
ground, rolled upon his side or lying on his back, he
drove his charge home, and was ready for instant
action. He in Gray was equally quick and fertile of
expedients. Not a foot of ground was lost or gained
without a sharp struggle, and a list of killed and
wounded on either side. A line was generally
entrenched almost as soon as it was established, some
of the men carrying spades, and others rails, against
which they threw a little dirt. On level ground they
sometimes dug a hole, in which to kneel down or stand
up, so that they might peer over at their enemy.
The best work in constructing these slight but valua-
ble fortifications was often done by night, and the
morning nearly always found the skirmish-line better
prepared to inflict injury upon the enemy than it had
been the night before. Frequently two or three men
would occupy the same hole, and then all sorts of devices
ON THE LINES. 109
were used to circumvent the enemy, One would raise
his cap on a ramrod to draw his fire, while a comrade
took the opportune moment to spot the Gray who took
the bait. Often the skirmishers were obliged to leave
shelter before they had “warmed their holes,” as they
expressed it, to make a sudden dash upon the enemy,
for the purpose of securing more ground, and some-
times it was their opponents who stirred them out in
turn, and made them take a hurried trip to the rear.
At times, having located their enemy's position dur-
ing the day, they would make a midnight dash,
noiselessly, without firing a gun, taking the Gray “in
out of the wet,” and bearing him back as a prisoner.
Occasionally the Blue would keep his prisoner with
him in his rifle-pit until he was relieved and could
take him into camp. In such cases the two frater-
nized most heartily, the Yankee sharing his provisions
with the “Johnny,” and the latter dividing tobacco
with his captor; both “swapping lies” the while,
comparing notes as to where they had met before, and
what they did upon that occasion, interspersing these
reminiscences with highly imaginative prophecies of
the outcome of the campaign; the Yankee meanwhile
losing no opportunity to take a crack at his captive's
relatives and friends. If the Blue line made itself
particularly annoying to the Gray, and being the
assailant, it generally did this daily, the enemy would
sweep the ground with grape, canister, and shell, pro-
110 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
voking a warm return fire from the federal artillery.
This usually quieted both skirmish lines, and the
occupants of the rival rifle-pits would remain under
cover until the artillery duel was over, when they
would blaze away at each other with more spirit than
before. A storm had the same effect. No matter
how severe the skirmishing might be, it would
speedily die away under the effects of a rain; and as
soon as the sun shone out again, the firing would
re-commence with redoubled vigor, regardless of
provocation or possible result.
At nightfall, or just before, when the ground to be
occupied could be sufficiently discerned without at-
tracting the attention of the enemy, the skirmishers
were relieved by others of their comrades. These
would bring provisions to last a day, and they in turn
would enter upon a round of experiences such as have
been described.
A figure on the skirmish line, familiar perhaps to
the entire army, was a vagabondish fellow, whose
regiment is not remembered. He conducted his part
of the campaign entirely after his own fashion.
Armed with a rifle having telescopic sights, and laden
with a spade, a couple of haversacks of provisions, and
a brace of canteens, he would find an eligible location,
dig a hole, and stay there until his rations or ammu-
nition were exhausted, when he would go to the rear
for a fresh supply, only to return and resume his
ON THE LINES. 111
murderous work. He was a dead shot, and the terror
of the enemy's artillerists, whose guns he had fre-
quently silenced. Great effort had been made to kill
or capture him, but without success.
There were many comical incidents even where
death stared every man in the face. The skir-
mishers of Gresham's division of Blair's corps one
day found an apple orchard in their front. Their
mouths watered for the rare fruit, but it was certain
death to walk to the trees. Some of the men, by slow
and tedious effort, dragged themselves upon their
stomachs until they reached the much desired goal,
then flopped over upon their backs, and brought down
the apples by throwing sticks into the trees. The
enemy poured a hot fire through the orchard, and suc-
ceeded in killing one man and crippling others. At a
later day, Blue and Gray arranged a truce on their
own responsibility, and met here to enjoy the fruit
and exchange opinions with reference to the war. The
average Southern soldier could not by any means com-
pare with the Northerner in intelligence or discern-
ment, for school houses and newspapers were too
unequally divided between the two sections. Some of
the ideas of the Southerner were extremely crude.
The typical Gray—he of the “poor white trash,” who
made up the great majority of Georgian and Carolina
troops, “Corncrackers” and “Tar Heels,” as they were
known—saw only one cause for the conflict: “What
112 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
did you'uns come down here to steal we'un's niggers
for 2 °
It was a remarkable fact that the bitterness of
the Southerner increased as he had less interest in
negro property, by reason of his utter poverty, which
absolutely forbade his owning even one “nigger.”
His views on the conduct of the war were equally
comical. One whom the author recalls to mind,
expressed a sentiment frequently heard from his
fellows, that “Sherman didn’t fight far,” that John-
ston had offered to fight him at a dozen different
places, but “Sherman darsn’t take it up, and only
flanked him.” But “Sherman would soon git to whar
he couldn’t flank no mo', and then he'd have to fight,
and Johnston’d lick him.” Strange as it may appear,
the same ideas were expressed, but in better language,
by the Atlanta papers, which frequently fell into
federal hands. One of these, by the way, was an old
friend with a new face—the Memphis Appeal, which,
on the occupation of that city by the federals, in 1862,
was moved, and became the Grenada. Appeal. Like
the Wandering Jew, it was obliged to “on,” and after
three or four more removals finally brought up at
Atlanta, as the Atlanta Appeal. The boys in Blue,
who were always alive to an opportunity for a joke,
had long before dubbed it the “Moving Appeal,”
which it was, in spirit and in fact.
So went life on the skirmish line. And death, too!
ON THE LINES. 113
For each night, when the new line went out, it found
that some of those who had gone forth a few hours
before, to battle for country, had been “relieved from
duty” by that dread commander, whose army is the
grim and silent majority, and whose decrees are inex-
orable.
And others of the gallant skirmish line crawled
painfully back, or were borne tenderly by comrades,
pierced by bullet or bruised by shell, to drag out a
maimed existenee, or perish miserably in hospital.
The line of battle was habitually from one to five
hundred yards in rear of the skirmish line, the dis-
tance depending greatly upon the conformation of the
ground, and always strongly entrenched. The men
were as expert in the use of the spade and the ax as
with the rifle, and two hours' work made a very fair
protection. Earth was thrown up to the height of two
or three feet, sometimes higher. Frequently head-
logs were placed upon the parapet, the ends resting
upon skids leaning inwardly, and to the ground. The
space between the head-log and the parapet permitted
the troops to aim their rifles at the enemy with little
exposure of themselves, while the skids provided a
way for the head-log to reach the ground without
doing injury to the men, in the event of its being dis-
lodged by a cannon ball. Immediately behind these
works the troops erected their shelter tents. They
were not allowed to leave their quarters, but were kept
8
114 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
continually on the ground, ready to move forward at
any moment to support the skirmish line, make an
onslaught upon the enemy, or to resist an attack. No
music was permitted, and frequently fires were for-
bidden. The latter regulation was, however, a dead
letter, except in very rare cases, where the men them-
selves could actually see its necessity by immediate
danger. Coffee was their staff of life, and they must
have it, no matter what risk attended. The most
disheartening event that could happen a soldier was
to be called into line just as his coffee pot was begin-
ning to bubble.
At night, the men in the line of battle rested
lightly, with their arms at their sides, and seldom
undressed. Firing on the skirmish line, more or less
noisy, continued all night, and frequently some un-
usual stir on the part of the enemy, real or fancied,
provoked a lively fusilade, causing the troops on the
main line to fall into ranks, ready for such emergency
as might arise, at times remaining under arms until
after daylight.
Even when in repose, the casualties in the line of
battle, hidden perhaps from sight of the enemy, were
often as numerous as on the skirmish line, for it
caught nearly all the bullets that overshot the skir-
mishers. David Kimball, now superintendent of
newspaper distribution in the Chicago post-office, will
long remember his own experience. He was seated
ON THE LINES. 115
just within a light barricade of logs, built to protect
his field-desk, with his back to the enemy, when a
rifle-ball flew over and nipped a piece of skin from
his neck. It was amusing to see him throw his hand
upon the injured spot, and hear him express himself
in language not authorized by the Book of Common
Prayer!
But when the enemy opened with his batteries it
was really hot! The shells burst at the most awk-
ward moments, while the solid shot whistled through
the trees, tearing off huge branches, and making .
it generally uncomfortable. Eccentric enough these
missiles were, and their ways past finding out. In one
case an elongated shot—a “lamp-post,” as that sort
of a projectile was called—struck the root of a tree
in front of a staff tent, belonging to General Giles A.
Smith's headquarters. The shot glanced, and fol-
lowed the trunk twenty feet upward, tearing off the
bark, and finally cutting away a large limb which, in
its fall, nearly wrecked tent, and occupants as well.
The next shot cut down a tree which fell upon a “fly.”
adjoining, spraining the leg of an ordnance officer,
and breaking one for his orderly.
These slight drawbacks did not disturb the spirits
of the men. They gathered in knots near their
color-line, playing the “little game” of euchre
or seven-up, discussing the campaign, and prophe-
sying as to the next movement. In every regiment
116 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
was someone who had seen somebody, who had heard
somebody from headquarters say, etc., etc., and then
he would relate the news. There was no newspaper,
no intelligence whatever from the outside world, but
surmise and imagination amply supplied the defi-
ciency. Canards, more or less plausible, were set
afloat, seemingly without any foundation, but they had
the rare merit of being innocent lies, that injured
no one. If it were a tale of disaster, it had happened
to Grant, or had occurred out in Missouri, or down in
Texas—it was never at home. It is highly suggestive
of the unbounded self-confidence of this army, that
there was never bad news from any part of itself.
Palmer, away over on the right, or Schofield as far to
the left, might have had a severe battle; he might have
lost two or three thousand men; yet the story was passed
over as unimportant. It would not affect the general
result, and the corps which had come to grief, would
make up for it to-morrow or the day after. But after
every story, probable and improbable, had been told,
and commented upon; and after the men had exhausted
their ideas with reference to the immediate future, all
would agree that nobody knew anything about it,
except “Uncle Billy,” and that he was a “long-headed
cuss” who “would work it out all right.” Fertile sub-
jects for discussion at these veritable camp-fires were
the occurrences on the skirmish-line, the men who had
just come in, leading off, narrating with remarkable
ON THE LINES. 117
vividness, and more vigor of expression than could be
permitted in these pages, every incident of the day.
“Between deals” the good and the bad traits of
those who had “turned up their toes,” as the boys
expressed it, were discussed with remarkable freedom,
and the old adage, “de mortuis nil misi bonum,” was
set at utter defiance. If, as sometimes happened, a
soldier had been killed near the skirmish-line while
looking on, it was unanimously voted that he was “a
fool,” and “it served him right,”—there were
opportunities enough for a man to be killed while in
the strict line of duty, without poking around where he
bad no business. Not that these men were heartless,
but they regarded death as a necessary and familiar
incident to soldiering, and they had grown into the
habit of putting the best face upon their surroundings.
It would have been a spiritless army if the troops had
gone into mourning over every comrade lost.
At intervals, in the line of battle, on little spurs,
were redoubts occupied by the field batteries. These
were favorite resorts of the general officers, present-
ing favorable opportunities for reconnoitering the
enemy's lines. Often a corps commander with his staff,
and the division and brigade commanders, came to
such places on this errand, and their presence invari-
ably attracted a considerable number of soldiers,
curious to know the meaning of such a gathering.
Such an unusual throng could not fail to attract the
118 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
attention of the enemy, and his batteries would open a
fierce fire, driving all but the gunners to shelter. A
laughable circumstance occurred at one such time in
the vicinity of Spear's Fifteenth Ohio Battery. A
wagon loaded with intrenching tools belonging to the
Pioneer Corps, was covered with darkies, curiously
looking on, when a solid shot plumped into the vehicle,
and there was an irruption of picks, spades and “Con- -
trabands,” as if they had been vomited out of a vol-
cano. The darkies reached solid ground almost be-
fore the tools had ceased to fly, and “lit out for tall
timber" at an astonishing gait.
Artillery duels were of daily occurrence, and some
splendid practice was done. Clayton's First Minne-
sota Battery of Rodman guns was particularly effi-
cient, having gunners whose fire was as true to the
mark, as that of a good rifleman. The range of these
splendid guns was marvelous. In a trial between this
battery and one of Parrott guns, belonging to Oster-
haus' division of Logan's Corps, the former pitched
shells entirely over Kenesaw Mountain, while the
latter barely reached the summit.
A well known figure during these events was that
of Mr. Davis, the skillful artist of Harper's Weekly,
who was on the ground making sketches for that jour-
nal. He was frequently under fire, but his work at
such times bore little resemblance to the actual scenes
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See page 141.





















































































ON THE LINES. 121
he intended to depict. He merely outlined the
ground and positions, and then filled in guns and
troops from memory, when and where he could work
with less strain upon the nerves.
122 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XI.
BEFORE KENESAW.
ºn twº
sº. AIN fell daily for almost two
weeks from the time the
army went into line near
Big Shanty. The roads
became quagmires, and
the movement of artillery
and supply trains was all
but impossible. The effect
upon the men, almost
shelterless, and subsisting
on short rations of hard tack, pork and coffee, was
most depressing; yet operations were not suffered to
lag, and there was continuous skirmishing. As a mat-
ter of fact, the excitement of the conflict was a neces-
sity from a sanitary standpoint. Suffering from
inclement weather, and illy provisioned, as the men
were, inaction would have begotten disease and death;
action was health and vigor.
June 14th, an unusual gathering was seen upon
the summit of Pine Mountain. The Union forces,
supposing it to be a party reconnoitering their lines,

BEFORE KENESAW. 123
opened a sharp artillery fire, dispersing the group on
the instant. A few minutes later, the enemy’s signal
flags were unusually active, and one of Sherman's
signal officers, who had deciphered their code, read
their message, which said that General Polk had been
killed during the cannonading. Polk was a corps
commander, and also a bishop in the Protestant Epis-
copal Church. It was charged by the enemy at the
time, that the fatal missile was discharged from a gun
aimed by General Sherman in person, with a full
knowledge of his identity. It was an absurd state-
ment to make, and manifestly false. There was much
controversy between various batteries, which claimed
to have caused his death, among them being Spear's
Fifteenth Ohio Battery, attached to Gresham's division
of the Seventeenth Corps. The point at issue was
never definitely settled, but General Sherman ex-
pressed an opinion favorable to the claims of a battery
belonging to General Howard’s Fourth Corps.
The next day, June 15th, was one of great activity
all along the entire front of the army, General Sher-
man having ordered a general advance, with the inten-
tion of breaking the enemy’s lines at any point where
a weak spot might be discovered.
At nine o'clock in the morning, the Union artillery
opened a fierce fire, eliciting no reply until two hours
later, when answering volleys were returned. The
shells from the rebel batteries rendered the headquar-
124 * MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
ters of Gresham's division uninhabitable, so tents
were struck and the wagons sent to the rear, while the
general and staff made their quarters for the time in a
redoubt occupied by Spear's Fifteenth Ohio Battery.
This location was not more comfortable, but one
from which all the movements in front might be
viewed. Artillery firing and sharp skirmishing were
kept up by both lines, and at One time a gallant
charge was made by Gresham's division, and two lines
of the enemy’s rifle pits were taken.
X To the left of Gresham's division was Leggett's,
which was the extreme left of the army. The latter
command overlapped the enemy's front, and Force's
brigade made a splendid charge, gaining the rebel
rear, capturing an Alabama regiment entire, and com-
pelling the enemy to re-arrange his lines with con-
siderable loss of ground. Thomas and Schofield were
equally successful on the right; and, as another result
of the operations during the day, the enemy was
obliged to abandon Pine Mountain, drawing in his
forces to Tost Mountain. This, with Kenesaw and
the connecting heavily timbered ridge, became his
new line, which was semi-circular, its concavity being
presented to the Union army.
The next day, June 16th, a further advance was
made; and, as a consequence, the enemy was obliged
to abandon Lost Mountain. His position was now
Kenesaw Mountain, and its heavily timbered flanks;
|BEFORE KENESAW. 125
but this effectually covered the town of Marietta, pro-
tected the railroad behind the mountain, and covered
all avenues to the Chattahoochee river.
June 17th and 18th, the rain again descended in
torrents, flooding the country, rendering the roads
worse than before, if it were possible, and drenching
the illy-sheltered troops to the skin. Notwithstand-
ing these discouragements, the Union lines were
pushed up closer against Kenesaw, a little each day,
Blair's Seventeenth Corps and Logan's Fifteenth
Corps making the greater progress.
Skirmishing continued in a desultory way, the
monotony being at times relieved by artillery duel-
ing, until June 27th, when a determined assault was
made upon the enemy’s lines. This was the severest
engagement thus far in the campaign. To the Army
of the Tennessee was assigned the task of gaining a
foothold at the break in the mountain—the point
which marked the distinction between “Little Kene-
saw'” and “Big Kenesaw'”— and the brunt of this
attack fell upon Morgan L. Smith's division of the
Fifteenth Corps. The remainder of this command
and Blair's Seventeenth Corps supported the move-
ment.
Early after breakfast, the troops were formed for
the attack, concealed as much as possible by the
timber. At eight o'clock, three guns, upon an emi-
nence near the center, gave the signal for the advance.
126 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
and Smith's assaulting column dashed from under
cover. As soon as the troops emerged from their
shelter, the enemy’s batteries opened upon them with
grape and canister, and over their heads the Union
gunners poured answering volleys. The very ground
shook with the tremendous concussions, and every
known missile of death hurtled through the air. On
went the Blue lines at a keen run, passing beyond the
rifle pits of their own skirmishers, and entering upon
the border land of the valley of the shadow of death.
Still on they pressed, at a rapid pace, firing scarcely a
shot, reserving all their energies for the supreme
effort. They ran over the rifle pits of the enemy's
skirmishers without a thought of the fleeing occu-
pants. Their goal was five hundred yards farther on.
And then, from the light red line of earth, which held
a concealed foe, came a storm of lead, which, united
with the volleys of artillery on either flank, bore down
countless scores. At every pace of their magnificent
advance, men dropped, mangled or dead. None
stopped to see who had fallen—looking neither to the
right or left, they instinctively sought each other's
side, closing up the gaps, and continually shortening
the line, but resolutely pressing on. The only instinct
left alive was that of destruction. And now they came
upon the abattis in front of the enemy's position,
reaching up the steep ascent of the foothill of Kene-
saw Mountain. No line could be preserved here. The
BEFORE RENESAW. 127
obstructions were more fatal to military formation
than iron or lead. The men tore through, climbing
over or under the entangling tree-tops and twisted
vines as best they could. It was slow and painful
work. And now from front and flanks came a fire of
musketry, tenfold fiercer than before, and every missile
that artillery could throw. The lines were irretriev-
ably crushed, and the men sought such shelter as the
ground afforded, afterward falling back and occupying
the enemy’s late skirmish line.
Assaults were also made by Thomas and Schofield,
and all failed. The result was another chapter in the
lesson of war which the army, from general to private,
was learning. The direct assault upon heavily
fortified lines was to become almost a memory of the
past. It was founded upon the old traditions of
warfare in the days of rude short-range arms, when a
dense charging column might advance with impunity
near to an enemy, and bear him down by sheer force
of numbers and momentum, before he could deliver an
effective fire. Improved small arms of long range,
and well served artillery, firing shell, grape, and
canister, rendered obsolete such columns of attack.
General Sherman, however, successfully defended
the experiment. “All looked to me,” he said, “to
‘outflank.” An army, to be efficient, must not settle
down to one single mode of offense, but must be pre-
pared to execute any plan which promises success.”
128 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
He feared that such constant fighting behind
entrenchments, even frail as they were, would beget a
timidity that would cause the troops to fail him at
some critical moment when a decisive aggressive
movement was necessary; he also hoped that the
assault might be successful, arguing that strength of
position sometimes made defenders negligent, and an
easy prey to a determined onset.
The Union loss in this engagement was two
thousand five hundred men. The enemy, fighting
from behind cover, lost not more than one-third as
many. The operations for the month practically closed
here. Sherman had lost seven thousand five hundred
men, and Johnston nearly six thousand.
The Union troops suffered great privations during
this time. The weather was horrible, heavy rains
being of almost daily occurrence, making the move-
ment of wagon-trains extremely difficult. This of
itself was a sufficient obstacle to feeding the army;
but the difficulty of procuring supplies was aggrava-
ted by the raids made by rebel cavalry upon the
railroad to the north. A journal kept by the author,
notes that “the railroad has been broken so much of
late that, with the utmost endeavor, it is only able to
supply bread, meat, coffee, and ammunition. The
men are even cautioned to be sparing of cartridges.
No soap is to be had; the men have no clothing
except that upon their persons, and there is great
BEFORE KENESAW. 129
suffering on account of vermin.” June 30th was a
red-letter day, the journal for that date noting that
“an issue of soap was made, and the troops had all
opportunity to wash their clothes.” The scarcity
of tobacco was a serious hardship to many; some
experimented, in a persistent but unsatisfactory way,
with dried coffee-grounds smoked in pipes as a sub-
stitute. One ardent lover of the weed considered
himself highly favored in securing a one pound bale
of smoking tobacco in return for a five dollar bill.
It was during the closing days of the month that
newspapers from the North found their way into camp,
an unusual incident, for there were no news-venders
with this army. These papers contained information of
the renomination of President Tincoln, an event which
the troops hailed with great satisfaction, as being an
emphatic rebuke to the so-called peace-proposition
policy strongly urged at the North, and a full
assurance of the vigorous prosecution of the war to a
successful issue; while the Illinois soldiers were
doubly joyful to learn of the nomination of General
Richard J. Oglesby for Governor. He was a gallant
soldier, who had been severely wounded at Corinth;
and, besides, a plain man of the people, whom all
loved.
Notwithstanding the great hardships of the cam-
paign, the end of June found the troops in excellent
spirits, and in every way well prepared for farther
hard service. 9
130 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XII.
&
THE RACE FOR THE CHATTAHOOCHEE.
ſº * * * *
2% *} * wº of the futility of attempt-
º º º
-º-º: =}} ||Y.
| *:::::A; ND now Sherman, convinced
àº.
ing such an impregnable
position as Kenesaw in
front, again called into
requisition his peculiar
talent for “flanking ; ”
... º.º.3%
sº
sº § -º º
ſº \
tº. Ş
} -lº
cº
% which, in other words,
was accomplishing suc-
cessfully by means of brains, ends which many a
commander would have failed to reach with much
loss of life. Not that Sherman's maneuvers were
bloodless, but he reduced the loss of life to a min-
imum.
He determined again to leave his railroad com-
munications for the time, and make a detour, placing
himself on the Chattahoochee river between Atlanta
and Kenesaw, thus compelling his adversary to aban-
don his works, in order to avoid being cut off from
the Confederacy. The wagon trains were filled with





THE RACE FOR THE CHATTAFIOOCHEE. 131
hard bread, meat, coffee and ammunition; while the
rations issued were reduced to the lowest limit, to
guard against absolute starvation, in the event of
pending operations being protracted beyond the time
hoped for.
The Army of the Tennessee, under General Mc-
Pherson, occupied the extreme left, and was to march
first, having the greatest distance to travel. Pending
its movement, its trenches were occupied by dismounted
cavalry, armed with seven-shooters, and able to make
as much noise as the infantry, which had ordinarily
occupied these lines. Every precaution was taken to
order the movement so that no intimation of it could
be gained by the enemy occupying the overhanging
mountain. The march was to begin July 26; the
day previous, the enemy displayed a white flag and
proposed a truce, to permit the burial of the dead on
either side, who had already Iain upon the field for
forty-eight hours. But even this was refused, lest in
some manner the plan might be exposed. At ten
o'clock of the night designated the grand movement
was begun. *
Who that made that night march will ever forget
the weirdness of the spectacle, the strangeness of his
sensations? Without note of bugle or roll of
drum the sleeping army was roused from its slumbers.
Secresy was the watchword of the hour. Artillery
and wagons moved with muffled wheels. Then out
132 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
into intense darkness advanced the silent hosts. From
the side of the road the moving column might be felt,
but it could not be seen. The army literally walked.
by faith, each man following in the steps of one he
believed to be in advance of him. The ground,
sodden with heavy rains, gave no sound of foot or
hoof, and feet and wheels rapidly converted the road-
way into a sea of mud. .#
Now the troops “string out” in the darkness until
they reach over three times their ordinary ground,
even in marching order. The ranks are not compact
and well dressed ; each man goes as he pleases.
The head of column halts on account of some obstacle,
and those in the rear, not knowing what has occurred,
“close up” on their comrades in front, and collide in
the darkness. Then is heard angry dialogue, the men
being forgetful of all injunctions to silence. “Why
the don’t you keep up?” “What the 8,126.
you running over me for?” “Hold up your gun,
and keep it out of my eye!” “ your eye!” and
so on, with countless variations. Then one finds him-
self anchored to the ground by the depth and consist-
ency of the mud; and, while endeavoring to extricate
himself, those hurrying on from behind stumble over
him in the darkness, until a score or more of men are
piled on top of one another, before the word “ease
up” can be passed back.
Oh! the profanity of that night march! The
THE RACE FOR THE CHATTAHOOCHIEE. 133
objurgatory division of the mother-tongue stood re-
vealed in all its elaborateness and comprehensiveness;
and yet, reinforced as it was by copious selections
from foreign languages, it proved utterly inadequate
for such an emergency. Oaths of the most intricate
construction and far-reaching meaning were thrown
upon the midnight air, with a vehemence which left no
doubt as to the sincerity of the swearer. He damned
all things, visible and invisible, known, unknown and
unknowable. The United States and the “Confed-
eracy” were alike relegated, side by side, to the grim
sulphurous shades of the forever cursed; then the
swearer wished that Sherman and Johnston were both
in hadean regions “to fight it out themselves;” and
further expressed the conviction that it would be com-
parative bliss to be there himself. Nor was the
swearing spasmodic and occasional, but persistent and
unanimous.
Shortly after midnight, a great blaze of light burst
from Kenesaw, and then it was known that the enemy
was also in motion toward the Chattahoochee! Sher-
man had found as wily a strategist as himself. John-
ston knew by intuition what the movement of his
antagonist would be—it was the step he himself would
have taken if similarly situated, and he hastened to
anticipate it.
There was no longer reason for concealment; nor
was it even attempted; and now, at intervals along the
134 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. .
column of Union troops, blue lights were burned to
guide their quickening steps. The scene thus revealed
can scarcely be imagined, and but faintly described.
Victor Hugo would have revelled in the spectacle.
Doré might have sketched it, and called it “A Night
in Hell!”
In relief, against the awful black background of
mountain and forest, stood revealed, in an instant,
hosts of moving men in tattered and travel-worn
uniforms; not marching with precision as if on parade
or review, but plodding along irregularly, each man
as best he could. They carried their arms in every
possible position. Their countenances were ghastly
in the unnatural glare. Here were faces of dogged
determination, of uncomplaining patience, of hopeless
weariness. Many wore patches and bandages about
the head to cover wounds, and others limped pain-
fully. At intervals, from unusual elevations, the
glare of light threw the distorted and exaggerated
images of the moving host in bold relief against a
leaden sky—an army of phantom giants marching in
air!
Plodding wearily, yet rapidly along, passing by
the Twentieth, Fourteenth and Fourth Corps, the
Army of the Tennessee reached Schofield's corps, the
extreme right of the army. It was now early morn-
ing of the 3d. Halting only long enough to make
coffee, the troops again pressed on to Nickajack Creek,
THE RACE FOR THE CHATTAHOOCHIEE. 135
six miles from where it empties into the Chattahoo-
chee river, and sixteen miles from Atlanta. The
night's march had been upward of twenty miles.
Here the progress of the troops was arrested, and the
skirmish line was again deployed. The enemy was
immediately in front.
Sherman had hoped to deliver a blow while his
enemy was crossing the Chattahoochee river; and he
confessed to a feeling of disappointment on discover-
ing that Johnston had previously prepared works on
the north side of that stream, and along the Nicka-
jack, and now occupied them in force, with every
appearance of making a stand.
The Army of the Tennessee held the right flank
of the Union army, extending along Nickajack creek.
Gallant charges were made at various times, and con-
siderable ground gained, by Logan's, Dodge's and
Blair's corps. In the movement by Gresham's divi-
sion, the latter command was led by Colonel Logan's
32d Illinois Regiment, under the eye of the division
commander. In this affair the regiment suffered
severely; among its dead was Private Doty, who was
killed by the concussion of an exploding shell. Not a
bruise was found on his body, nor was a drop of blood
started.
July 8th, the enemy made a vigorous but unsuc-
cessful assault, endeavoring to regain the works of
which they had been dispossessed.
136 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
The only information received by the troops from
the outer world, during these operations, was through
the medium of Atlanta papers, and these contained
very little of what might be really called news. The
fire-eating class of editors was not yet extinct, and
little was to be found in their journals except boasting
of the achievements of their own troops, and slanders
at the expense of their enemy. One issue of The Ap-
peal spoke contemptuously of “Sherman and his great
raiding party,’” attributing their spirit in battle to
plentiful potations of whisky, and prophesying that
their “Dutch courage” would ooze out when
Wheeler's cavalry should succeed, as they surely
would, in breaking the railroad to the North, thus
cutting off the liquor supply. The abandonment of
Kenesaw Mountain, by Johnston, was referred to as a
fine exhibition of “strategy,” which would lead Sher-
man to certain destruction. The Union troops were
accused of unusual inhumanity. The Appeal said
that, on one occasion, when a flag of truce was dis-
played by them after a severe skirmish, the question
was asked by a confederate officer : “What do you
want? To bury the dead?” To which the reply
was : “Dead be — We want to trade for
tobacco l’” The news from the North was very
meagre, the Southern journals being only able to
reprint from such Northern papers as fell into their
hands in the East, or were occasionally brought within
their lines by citizens from Memphis and Vicksburg.
BEFORE ATLANTA, 137
CHAPTER XIII.
BEFORE ATLANTA,
|YYING on opposite banks of the Chat-
s § gº tahoochee river, Blue and
sº Gray again confronted each
other. The Army of the Ten-
nessee had worked its way down
º º
& * ſº £º tº * & º
sº Nickajack creek to its mouth,
º
2.
(ºf
and was exchanging shots with the enemy across
the stream, while Cox's command had made a lodg-
ment on the river farther to the left ; meanwhile
Johnston had crossed his army to the Atlanta side
of the Chattahoochee. The tactical history of the
campaign by which Sherman forced his adversary to
again retreat, is not necessary to this narrative. The
next problem was to force a passage of the stream.
After several days had been spent in demonstrating
upon Turner's Ferry, the Army of the Tennessee was
assigned to its old familiar task of passing from one
flank to the other. At two o'clock on the morning of
the 16th it marched northward, and at dawn halted at
Marietta, behind Kenesaw Mountain, nearly twenty


138 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
miles north from Turner's Ferry, whence it started.
On the 18th, the command reached Roswell, on the
Chattahoochee river, twenty miles northeast from
Marietta. Here had been located large cotton mills,
managed by persons who claimed the protection of the
French flag, which was displayed with great assur-
ance. It was notorious, however, that the establish-
ment was conducted in the interests of the “Confed-
eracy,” manufacturing cloth for the rebel army; and a
cavalry force under General Garrard had, a few days
before, destroyed the property in spite of the remon-
strances of the Ostensible foreign proprietors. Gen-
eral Garrard made a very full report of the affair,
enclosing with it the owners’ protest and claim for
French protection, whereupon General Sherman wrote
him : “Your report is most acceptable. I will see as
to any man in America hoisting the French flag, then
devoting his labor and *. capital to supplying armies in
open hostility to our government, claiming the benefit
of his neutral flag. Should you, under the impulse of
anger, natural at contemplating such perfidy, hang the
wretch, I approve the act beforehand.” A large num-
ber of the female operatives gladly availed themselves
of an offer to be sent North, where “white wheat
bread and a dollar a day” were to be had. Most of
them eventually arrived in Indiana, and found employ-
ment in factories.
On the 19th, the Army of the Tennessee crossed
BEFORE ATLANTA. -º-, 139
the river at Roswell, and established itself firmly on
the south bank. The next day it passed through
Decatur, marching directly toward Atlanta. At this
place were found several hundred pikes—iron blades
mounted on poles about nine feet long—with which
the enemy had promised to do great execution at close
quarters. These remarkable weapons were never seen
in action, being as useless implements of war as the
magnified bowie-knives (“corn-cutters,” as they were
called,) of Fort Donelson days.
Here the Union forces learned that the Confederate
government had retired Johnston, appointing Hood
to command of the army which had so long opposed
them. Johnston was a fine strategist, and had so con-
ducted his retreat as practically to lose nothing from
Chattanooga to Atlanta, except the territory he had
been obliged to abandon, and the men killed, wounded,
or captured in action; he had scarcely lost a straggler,
or so much of his equipage as a tin-plate. But he had
not succeeded in checking the much dreaded Sherman
and his vandal cohorts. The “Confederacy” wanted
“a soldier who would fight.” There was a camp
story to the effect that, on receiving the news of
Hood superseding Johnston, General Sherman called
a council of officers, who had known the new Con-
federate commander personally, in order to learn some-
thing of his character. Several officers, who had
been classmates with General Hood at West Point, ex-
140 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
pressed themselves in various ways, pertinent and
otherwise; but the climax was reached when an old
Kentucky colonel remarked that he “Seed Hood bet
twenty-five hundred dollars, with nary a p'ar in his
hand!” This anecdote convinced all that such an
exhibition of nerve was good evidence of the fighting
qualities of the new commander. However this may
be, General Sherman was satisfied that the change of
commanders betokened more vigorous measures, and
made his dispositions accordingly, sending notice of
the fact to every part of the army, and notifying his
subordinates to be prepared, at all times, for sharp
and unexpected battle. The troops grasped the im-
port of Hood's appointment with as quick intelligence
as the officers, and expressed great satisfaction with
the assignment, regarding Hood as a hot-headed
fellow, who would butt his brains out against their
entrenchments, thus shortening the campaign and the
Wal’. .*
July 20th, the Union army pressed on toward
Atlanta, the Army of the Tennessee occupying the left
flank on the line of the Augusta railroad. The enemy
was driven handsomely for two miles, without great
resistance. The attack was resumed next day, and
two lines of rifle-pits taken, almost at the point of the
bayonet. In these operations, Gresham's division of
Blair's Seventeenth Corps lost five hundred and
BEFORE ATLANTA. 141
twenty-five killed and wounded—an extremely large
proportion of its strength.
It was on the first of these two days, July 20th,
that General Gresham received a serious wound,
which not only retired him from active service
altogether, but deprived him of the opportunity of
winning great personal distinction ; besides, it was
indirectly the cause of immense loss to the Union
army. Had he not been wounded, in all human
probability Atlanta would have fallen into his hands
that day; the bloody battle which was fought on that
very ground two days later, would have no place in
history, and McPherson might have been spared a
glorious but needless death.
General Gresham's division, holding the extreme
left of the army, advanced in splendid order, driving
before it a strong cavalry force. The General had
left his horse at the foot of a slight hill, and ascended
the slope, occupied by his skirmishers, to reconnoiter
the enemy’s lines, which were posted on an emi-
nence now known in history as Leggett's Hill, the key
to the position of the Union army during the battle
of July 22nd. It was evident to him that he was well
on the enemy's flank, and he was making his disposi-
tions to take advantage of the opportunity, when the
rebel skirmishers opened a sharp fire. His aide,
Captain Duncan, received a score of bullets through
his clothes, but escaped injury; the General fell,
142 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
pierced in the thigh by a rifle-ball, and was at once
removed to the rear. During the confusion incident
to this untoward disaster, and the assignment of
another officer to the command, a strong division of
Hood's infantry was hurried to Leggett's Hill, and
the magnificent opportunity was lost. x
General Gresham's injury was so serious that he
had hard work to save his leg from the surgeons, who
seemed determined to saw it off; but he was full
of pluck, and stoutly insisted that this should not be
done. Some days later he was sent to his home at
New Albany, Indiana, and thus ended his service in
the field.
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BEFORE ATLANTA. 145
CHAPTER XIV.
A FAMOUS DIVISION.
ÇHÚ $EN TION made of the Fourth Division
4. of the Seventeenth Corps, in the
preceding chapter, recalls some-
what more of its phenomenal his-
tory, and the unusual career of its
commanders. Of the six generals who
led it from first to last, two became members of
the President's cabinet, one of this number holding,
at different times, the portfolios of the Post-Office
and Treasury Department, and becoming recognized
at a later day as a probable candidate for the Presi-
dency. Another was an assistant to a cabinet minister,
while a fourth held an important appointment in the
diplomatic service. The remaining two died before
the war ended. Of the entire number, the two ex-
cabinet members alone survive. -
This command, under General Stephen A. Hurlbut,
was the Fourth Division of the original Army of the
Tennessee, as that body was constituted at Shiloh,
where it first went into line in its entirety. In that
‘10



146 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
desperate action it sustained a glorious part, and its
list of killed and wounded was one-fifth of the
casualties of the entire army, six divisions in all. It
bore a full share in the siege of Corinth, which
followed. At a later day, it fought and won the battle
of the Hatchie, which General Hurlbut made the
occasion for issuing a congratulatory order, wherein
he said: “The title of ‘Fighting Fourth,’ won at
Shiloh, has been burnished with additional splendor.”
Shortly before this, the Fifth Division, which had
been an elbow-to-elbow companion from the outset,
was sent to duty in another field, and its commander,
General William T. Sherman, wrote the following
letter, which is quoted as showing the estimation in
which he held General Hurlbut’s command:
HEADQUARTERs, 5TH DIV., ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,
MEMPHIS, TENN., SEPT. 6, I862,
Brig. Gen. S. A. HURLBUT, Commanding Fourth Division, Army
of the Tennessee :
DEAR SIR : Permit me through you to convey to the officers and
men of your division an expression of my deep regret that the necessities
of the public service, should at this time separate our commands. Our
divisions were the first to disembark at Pittsburg Landing in the early
part of March, and through storm and sunshine, adverse and prosperous
times, we have been side by side. Not only have social ties arisen
between us, but the habit of acting together has made us as one
command, and I feel at parting with you as if my own division was
divided. I need not express to you the assurance of my high personal
and official respect, for I hope I have evinced it on many and all
occasions. For Generals Lauman and Veatch, I must say that no
officers could have been more zealous, close, and attentive to their impor-
tant duties than they have ever been. I can not recall an instance of
their having been away from their posts for even an hour. To them I
predict an honorable and brilliant future. Indeed, with very few excep-
A. FAMOUS I)IVISION. 147
tions, your division is composed of a class of steady, good men, who by
their behavior in camp, on guard, on the march, and in battle, reflect
honor and credit on themselves and their country. Be pleased to convey
to all my hearty thanks, and assure them that I will hail the change in
events that will bring us again together.
With sentiments of high respect, your friend and servant,
W. T. SHERMAN,
Major General.
Hurlbut’s division was a part of the army with
which General Grant marched into Mississippi, in his
effort to reach the rear of Wicksburg, in the winter of
1862, returning soon afterward to the line of the
Memphis and Charleston railroad. Upon the organiza-
tion of corps d’armee, this division became the Fourth
of the Sixteenth Corps, and General J. G. Lauman
was assigned to the command, General Hurlbut hav-
ing been made a major general and corps commander.
It participated in the siege of Wicksburg, and, the
next day after the surrender of that famous stronghold,
marched with other troops to attack General Johnston
at Jackson. In the action at that place it made a bril-
liant but disastrous charge, and sustained great loss.
The responsibility was charged upon General Lauman,
and he was relieved of his command. He returned to
his home in Iowa, and died shortly afterward of a
broken heart, if ever man so died. He was an officer
of tried courage, and a man of fine personal traits.
General Lauman was succeeded by General Mar-
cellus M. Crocker, of Iowa, and the division became a
part of the Seventeenth Corps, retaining the same
numerical designation. Some time afterward, sev-
148 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
eral of the old regiments were transferred to other
commands, and their place was taken by the “Iowa
Brigade,” a magnificent body of men, formerly com-
manded by the same officer who now became their
division general. These troops, with the 32d Illinois
Regiment, which had belonged to the old Fourth
Division from the beginning, now constituted the
Third Brigade.
General Crocker was an officer of superior ability,
great personal courage and determination, and a
man of irascible temper. It is due to his memory
to say that his irritability was, in large measure, due
to his physical condition, for he was a great sufferer
from asthma; while his anger was rarely bestowed un-
deservedly. But his rage, when once aroused, was
something frightful. Upon one occasion he called a
careless regimental commander to account. The
latter answered in an insolent way, whereupon the
general threatened him with ball and chain, and a
passage from Natchez to Cairo in the hold of a steam-
boat. He would doubtless have experienced this treat-
ment had he not hastened to tender proper apologies,
and made profuse promises of future good behavior.
In another instance, a wealthy planter, living in the
vicinity of Natchez, came to General Crocker, then .
commanding the district, and applied for a permit
to ship a large quantity of cotton to the North.
This commodity then commanded an extravagant
A FAMOUS DIVISION. T49
price, and there were officers of no small rank who
stood accused of conniving with rebel owners to place
it on the market, and divide the proceeds. General
Crocker was a man of mean fortune, but of incor-
ruptible integrity.
“You can ship your cotton, sir,”
said he, address-
ing the citizen, “under the regulations of the
Treasury Department. You must furnish proof of
loyalty, and subscribe to the oath of allegiance.”
“But, General,” was the response, “I can not take
the oath. My government—”
“What government, sir?” angrily asked Crocker.
“The Confederate—”
The enraged general allowed the rebel to proceed
no further.
“You infamous —— scoundrel ! You come
here to ask favors of me, and talk about your govern-
ment I Get out of my office, and be thankful you get
out alive l’’
“But, General, I can make it to your advan-
tage—”
This was the last irritant. The enraged general
had the fellow speedily ejected, but the end was not
yet. General Crocker sent for his engineer officer.
“Captain,” said he, when that officer had appeared, -
“that rebel,
about his loyalty to his government, and offering me
, has been here talking
money to let him ship his cotton North. We can’t
150 MARCHING THIROUGH GEORGIA.
hold this place without works, and I want you to lay
out a line, and plant a fort on the very foundations of
his house !” &
Forty-eight hours later, the home of the indis-
creet rebel, just at the outskirts of the city, was razed
to the ground, and a battery of artillery planted on
the ruins of what, shortly before, was one of the
handsomest residences in the South.
Early in 1864, General Crocker's division took its
veteran furlough, and then rendezvoused at Cairo,
preliminary to taking part in the Atlanta campaign.
Soon after the movement began, the general’s health
failed utterly, and he returned to his home in Iowa,
where he died not long afterward.
General Walter Q. Gresham, who had commanded
a brigade under Crocker, succeeded to the vacant
command. One anecdote always leads to another,
and mention of the latter officer recalls one of the
former. . -
At Natchez, in October of 1863, General Gresham
was post-commander. He was detached from his
brigade, and had only a handful of troops for pro-
vost guard duty, making necessary, when an emer-
gency arose calling for additional force, a requisition
upon General Crocker, the district commander, who
had a large division in the outskirts of the city.
One bright Sunday morning, a barge loaded with
forage came from up the river, and required immedi-
A FAMOUS DIVISION 151
ate unloading; whereupon the following correspond-
ence took place, the originals of which are now in the
hands of the writer of these pages:
POST HEADQUARTERS,
NATCHEZ, Miss., Oct. II, 1863.
GENERAL : I have to ask a detail of one commissioned officer and
fifty enlisted men, to report at these headquarters immediately, for
fatigue duty, Very respectfully,
W. Q. GRESHAM,
Brig. Gen. Comdg.
Brig. Gen. M. M. Crocker, Comdg. District.
To which the following answer was returned:
HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF NATCHEz,
NATCHEZ, Miss., Oct. II, 1863.
GENERAL : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your requisition
for one commissioned officer and fifty men for fatigue duty to-day. Is
the detail absolutely necessary? See order from Executive Mansion [for-
bidding labor by troops on the Sabbath, except in case of imperative
necessity—AUTHORI of November 16, 1862; also one of the Ten Com-
mandments. Very respectfully,
C. CADLE, Jr., A. A. G.
Brig. Gen. W. Q. Gresham.
To which General Gresham made the following
reply:
POST HEADQUARTERS,
NATCHEZ, Miss., Oct. II, 1863.
SIR : The order from Executive Mansion of Nov. I2, 1862, has
been repeatedly read and duly admired, and will be faithfully observed
whenever practicable. The “Commandments” referred to are not on
file in this office, Very respectfully,
W. Q. GRESHAM,
Brig. Gen’l.
General Gresham's march from Clifton to Ack-
worth, and his wounding before Atlanta, have been
152 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
t
narrated in previous chapters. He was a gentleman
of fine mind, and of those gentle and winning ways
which made every soldier his friend. He had been
with the division ever since the days of Shiloh, where
he was a field officer in an Indiana regiment; and the
entire command deplored the sad event which unfitted
him for further service. When General Grant became
President, General Gresham was appointed a United
States district judge, from which position he was called
by President Arthur to become Postmaster General.
He acted in that capacity but a few months, when he
was appointed to the Treasury Department. Shortly
afterward he was recalled to the bench, a position
much more agreeable to him.
General Gresham was succeeded in command by
General Giles A. Smith, a gallant officer, who had
received a severe wound at Missionary Ridge. When
the war had practically ended, General Smith was
assigned to a command on the Rio Grande, where a
large force had been gathered in anticipation of
possible foreign complications, growing out of Napo-
leon’s Mexican policy. He served as Second Assist-
ant Postmaster General under President Grant, and
died a few years ago in California, whither he went
seeking renewed health.
The latest commander of the division was General
William W. Belknap. He was a man of commanding
appearance, stoutly and compactly built, and so
A FAMOUS DIVISION. 153
admirably proportioned that neither his height nor
weight left any unpleasant impression; of fair com-
plexion, with blue eyes beaming with sympathy and
good nature; wearing a full long beard, somewhat
inclined to reddishness, he was a magnificent speci-
men of the ideal Anglo-Saxon type. He was a man of
indomitable resolution and great personal courage.
In the saddle, directing the movements of his com-
mand, or in his office, dispatching routine business, he
could be decided, severe, even exacting ; but he knew
also how to be affable, and in a social way was a most
admirable gentleman. He was originally major of the
15th Iowa Regiment, and rose to the coloneley. In
the engagement at Nickajack creek, July 5th, he
attracted special attention by his wise dispositions
and personal courage; and again, in the battle of
July 22d, he distinguished himself in a marked man-
mer. The recommendation for his promotion to the
grade of brigadier general was made by General Sher-
man, by telegraph. The appointment was made by
the President immediately; and it seemed as if all
joined with their great captain in the verdict that “no
promotion was ever more fairly made, nor more hon-
estly earned.”
Upon General Grant's election to the Presidency,
at the close of the war, General Belknap was ap-
pointed Secretary of War. He resigned after a time,
and is now practicing law before the federal courts in
Washington.
154 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER xv.
DIES IIHAE.
* ULY 22d was a day of dis-
aster and sorrow. The
disaster was retrieved.
|
:g
&º
The sorrow will endure
ººº
sº;3%
#
as long as patriotism and
heroism are honored.
History has told how Hood
made his brilliant sally—how
he twisted up the federal left
wing—how the gallant McPherson fell, early in the
battle, and how Logan's inspiring presence gave as-
surance of final victory ; but it is only from narra-
tives such as this, however imperfect, from the pen
of eye - witnesses and participants, that the actual
events, and the personal heroism of individuals, may
be known. -
After the action of July 21st, the Army of the
Tennessee was moved farther to the left, in order to
keep pace with the enemy’s lines, which were being
extended in that direction. The Fourth Division of


DIES IRAE. 155
the Seventeenth Corps, commanded by General Giles
A. Smith, held the extreme left of the Union army.
The troops worked hard that night, entrenching their
position, and so urgent was the necessity for every
man, that the flank and rear were picketed in part by
the headquarters guard, who were among the very
first upon whom fell the enemy’s attack the next
morning.
Early on the morning of July 22d, General
Smith's front line was advanced a considerable dis-
tance, meeting with little opposition; and, inasmuch as
the enemy was said to be abandoning his position in
General Thomas' front, General Sherman concluded
that Atlanta was to be yielded to him without further
struggle. He was speedily undeceived. Hood had
merely shifted his army in order to make a desperate
and almost successful attack from a quarter whence
danger was scarcely expected.
About eleven o’clock, sharp firing in the rear of
the hospital, near Smith's headquarters, gave warning
of what was to occur. By great effort, the ambu-
lances containing the wounded and sick, about four
hundred in number, were driven to the safest place to
be found, the right and front, just behind the general
line of battle. The headquarters wagons followed,
their movement being hastened by the advance of the
enemy’s skirmishers, closely supported by a full line
of battle, moving over the ground just vacated, en-
156 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
veloping Smith's flank and rear, and reaching as far
as Dodge's Sixteenth Corps. As a matter of fact, by
reason of the inclination of the assaulting line,
Dodge's command sustained the first attack. His
troops were marching down the road in column, to
connect with the Seventeenth Corps. They at once
halted, faced the foe, and delivered a fire which
checked the onset almost on the instant.
General Smith was poorly prepared to meet the
assault, his rear being presented to the enemy; and
the attack fell upon him with dreadful force. He
was fortunate, however, in having on the left of his
line the brigade of Iowans formerly commanded by
Crocker, noted for its thorough discipline and incom-
parable esprit de corps. These troops, already under
fire, were ordered to the reverse of their works, to
occupy the side heretofore presented to the enemy.
This movement was successfully accomplished, except
by the 16th Iowa Regiment, which, with a two-gun
battery, was captured, after an heroic struggle.
The Iowans were assailed in front, as well as rear,
and upon the flank, and portions of the command
repeatedly moved over their own works, from side to
side, to repel attack. So rapid were the movements,
and so much was crowded into a few hours, that it
is impossible to gain an entirely correct idea of the
sequence of events. Cool-headed men, who were
upon the ground, vary as much as two hours in timing
DIES IRAE. - 157
signal circumstances with which they were personally
concerned; but discrepancies of this nature are by no
means peculiar to this battle.
The works of the Iowans were charged by three
separate brigades, in succession. Govan's, the first,
was driven off, taking away with it, however, as pris-
oners, the 16th Iowa Regiment, as before mentioned.
Lowry’s brigade followed, in a magnificent charge,
which led to the most desperate fighting of the day,
but was finally repulsed. The last attack, likewise
unsuccessful, was made by Smith's brigade, and is not
particularly noticeable as compared with Lowry’s.
Lowry’s assault was courageous and persistent in
the highest degree. His troops actually reached the
works of the Iowans, but were unable to surmount
them. The contending lines were only separated by
thin earthworks, less than shoulder high, and the
fighting became desperate and promiscuous. Musket
clashed against musket, and color-bearers flaunted
their standards in face of each other.
As the 15th Iowa Regiment, Colonel (afterward
General) Belknap commanding, sprang to the reverse
of their works, they were confronted by the 45th
Alabama Regiment, whose commander, Colonel
Lampley, waved his light felt hat, as he led the
charge. Colonel Belknap, taking the act to be a
signal of surrender, ordered his men to cease firing
(a command heard only by few, owing to the tumult
158 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
of battle), and, at the same time, beckoned the rebel
officer to come in. A young soldier by Lampley's side,
and by his direction, as was plainly to be seen, fired
three shots at Belknap, but without effect. Mean-
while the Alabamians advanced nearer and nearer,
and Belknap discovered that, instead of thinking of
surrender, they meant fight in bitter earnest. Three
color-bearers of this one rebel regiment were shot
down in rapid succession. When the last fell, the
contending lines were at such close quarters that the
flag was torn from his dying grasp by a member of
the 11th Iowa. The trophy was afterward claimed
by the 15th Iowa soldier who shot down its bearer,
and it was delivered to him. The Alabamians were
now at the very foot of the Union works, and to
deliver a fire upon them it was necessary for the
Iowans to hold their muskets over the works, almost
perpendicularly. Belknap jumped upon the parapet
and again beckoned Lampley to come in. The
latter shook his head, and urged his men to make
a final dash. He came nearer, until he was fairly
against the works. Then Belknap, watching his op-
portunity, leaned over the parapet. fastened his grasp
upon Lampley’s coat-collar, and, with the aid of a
corporal near by, dragged him inside. Within a few
minutes, every Alabamian who was not killed, or lying
wounded upon the field, was a prisoner. Colonel
Lampley was found to be wounded, but the injury was
DIES inz. 159
so slight that his own men ascribed his death, which
occurred a few days later, to depression at the mis-
fortune of being captured, rather than to the wound.
Meanwhile, the battle raged elsewhere on the lines
of the Iowa brigade with scarcely less fury. At one
time the colors of four rebel regiments were displayed
within a stone's throw of the 11th Iowa. The 32d
Mississippi Regiment all but reached the works, los-
ing in the attempt one-third their number from a
single volley of musketry. A soldier of the 11th
Iowa and a rebel died together in a desperate struggle -
on the top of the defences. Sergeant-Major Safely, of
the same regiment, with a few comrades, made a sally
and captured a colonel, captain, and more than their
own number of privates. An Iowan jumped upon the
works, swinging his gun over his head, singing “The
Battle Cry of Freedom,” and died, with the unfinished
words upon his lips. Colonel Jones, commanding the
53d Indiana, of the right brigade of the same division,
was wounded, and, while being carried from the field
on a litter, was killed by a shell. Chaplain Bennett,
of the 32d Ohio Regiment, also of the same division,
fought through the battle. He was a crack shot, and
kept a wounded soldier busy loading guns for him.
The poor fellow was killed at his side. A gallant sig-
nal officer, in his station in the top of a tree overlook-
ing Atlanta, was forced to make a precipitate retreat,
his observatory being demolished by a shell.
160 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
The opening of this onset by the enemy was the
occasion of the death of the brave and beloved
McPherson.
Between ten and eleven o’clock that fatal morning,
General McPherson visited a hospital tent, where were
a number of officers and men of the 16th Iowa Regi-
ment, who had been wounded in a charge the day
before. Among them was Captain McArthur (sub-
sequently of General Belknap's staff), to whom he
spoke encouragingly, complimenting him and his
comrades upon their good conduct the day previous.
Shortly afterward, the General was seen making some
dispositions in the vicinity of General Dodge's corps.
Thence he passed, in full view of many of the troops,
in the direction of General Blair's position. A man
of fine personal appearance, always with a most
amiable expression of countenance, he never looked to
better advantage. His entire staff had been dis-
patched on one urgent errand or another, and he was
attended by a single orderly. Passing along a blind
road, he disappeared in the dense forest. Hun-
dreds of soldiers saw him at the moment, but no one
attached any concern to the incident, for the lines
were supposed to be well connected.
A few moments later, a volley of musketry was
heard in the direction he had taken, and his well-
known horse, wounded and riderless, dashed rapidly
to the rear, giving the first intimation of the dreadful
DIES IBAE. 161
event; and the news that General McPherson was
killed, or a prisoner, spread rapidly among the troops,
causing great dismay.
At a later hour, it was learned that, upon entering
the forest which was the scene of his death, General
McPherson suddenly encountered the enemy's skir-
mishers. In response to the summons to surrender,
he touched his hat in soldierly salute, and at the same
time pulled his rein to ride to the rear. A volley of
musketry was discharged, killing his orderly, and he
himself fell from his horse, mortally wounded. The
enemy’s line was soon pushed back, and a private
soldier of the 15th Iowa Regiment, George Reynolds,
found his dying general prostrate upon the ground,
and moistened his clammy lips with water from his
canteen. When assistance came, life was extinct.
The body was sent to the rear, whence it was con-
veyed to the old family home in Ohio. The estima-
tion in which he was held was suitably voiced by
General Sherman, who, in his report to the Secretary
of War, said :
“General McPherson fell in battle, booted and
spurred, as the gallant and heroic gentleman should
wish. Not his the loss, but the country's; and the
army will mourn his death, and cherish his mem-
ory, as that of one who, though comparatively young,
had risen, by his merit and ability, to the com-
mand of one of the best armies which the nation had
called into existence to vindicate her honor and in-
I I
162 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
tegrity. History tells of but few who so blended the
grace and gentleness of the friend with the dignity,
courage, faith and manliness of the soldier. His pub-
lic enemies, even the men who directed the fatal shot,
never spoke or wrote of him without expressions of
marked respect. Those whom he commanded loved
him even to idolatry, and I, his associate and com-
mander, fail in words adequate to express my opinion
of his great worth. I feel assured that every patriot
in America, on hearing this sad news, will feel a sense
of personal loss, and the country generally will realize
that we have lost, not only an able military leader, but
a man who, had he survived, was qualified to heal the
national strife which had been raised by designing
and ambitious men.” -
XS A scene of dramatic power occurred when Logan,
the next in rank, succeeded McPherson in command.
At all times a man of unusually fine soldierly appear-
ance, he now became a picture for an artist. Bare-
headed, flushed with rage, and an instinct to avenge
the death of his commander and friend, he spurred his
high-strung black charger to its utmost speed, and
dashed along the lines of his troops, somewhat dis-
ordered in places, restoring confidence everywhere by
his gallant bearing and sharp, assuring words.
Whether or not he shrieked the words which some
have attributed to him, “McPherson and Revenge 1"
is not material; his action spoke them, had his lips
been silent. What Sheridan was at Winchester, that
was Logan at Atlanta. His presence itself was an
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DIES IRAE. 165
*
assurance of the triumph shortly to be wrenched from
a foe who already believed himself the victor.
Meantime the gap in the Union lines between the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, into which the gallant
McPherson rode, meeting his death, had been occu-
pied, the first troops to arrive being the 64th Illinois
Regiment. This command was fortunately armed with
the Henry rifle, a sixteen-shooter, and it opened a rapid
and murderous fire. As it delivered the first volley,
the enemy's line bent forward, almost halting, as if to
avoid the deadly discharge, and then rushed forward
with redoubled speed, seeking to reach and bear down
the Union troops before they could reload their pieces.
But, rapidly as lever could be moved and trigger drawn,
the men of the gallant 64th fired volley after volley,
and the Gray line staggered, halted, and then fell back,
leaving behind them their battle-flag and a number of
prisoners. The placing of this regiment was in obedi-
ence to the last orders General McPherson ever gave ;
but their execution came too late to save the life of the
gallant soldier. From this moment, on to the end,
although the lines swayed backward in places, and
the troops at times found it necessary to fight from
both sides of their works, the general position was
assured, and the possibility of any overwhelming dis-
aster averted.
The battle raged fiercely throughout the day in
front of the Seventeenth and Fifteenth Corps. How
166 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Smith's division fared has been already told. Leg-
gett’s division, of the same corps, had a no less serious
time. They occupied the hill which was the key to
the Union position, and only held it by the most des-
perate courage. At times they were all but cut off
from the remainder of the army. General Force, one
of the brigade commanders, was shot through the face,
and reported as dead, but he recovered in time to
engage in the “March to the Sea.” A large portion
of the Fifteenth Corps was dislodged from its posi-
tion, but made a gallant charge and regained its
ground. - - As
At nightfall the enemy drew off, crushed and dis-
pirited. His loss during the day, according to the
best authorities, was not less than ten thousand, killed,
wounded, and prisoners. Smith's division of the Seven-
teenth Corps took three hundred and twenty-six pris-
oners, including the 45th Alabama regiment, with its .
field and company officers, and five stands of colors.
Sherman's loss was three thousand five hundred and
twenty-one men, and of this number Smith's division
lost one thousand and forty-two men, and the Iowa
brigade alone lost six hundred and sixty-four
THE HISTORY OF A FLAG. 167
CHAPTER XVI. ---
THE HISTORY OF A FLAG.
22d, the 16th Iowa
Regiment of the Iowa
brigade of Smith's di-
vision, Seven teenth
Corps, was captured
bodily.
º º °, ſº
ºğlliº Nº.
wº The skirmishers of
\ſſ #'. & ę
\º º: #| this regiment were
driven in about one
o'clock in the afternoon.
The regiment itself, occupying the trenches, was
ordered by the colonel, Ad. H. Sanders, to withhold
fire until the word of command. The enemy's columns
charged forward, until they had nearly approached
the works. Colonel Sanders said they came within
fifty yards—the rebel commander said the distance
was thirty yards. Then the Iowans opened a mur-
derous fire, and the assaulting force staggered back,
seemingly annihilated. A second charge was as suc-
cessfully repulsed, and this time a large part of their
*






168 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
force advanced so near that the men could neither go
farther nor retreat ; they hugged the ground, giving
and taking a severe fire, which continued for nearly
a half-hour. They then displayed a white flag and
asked to be permitted to surrender. This was agreed
to, and they were ordered to lay down their arms and
come inside the works as prisoners. The demand was
complied with, and the captives were found to be the
2d and 8th Arkansas regiments, with a small body of
Texans, perhaps seventy-five men. -
Colonel Sanders now held in his rifle-pits, as pris-
oners, nearly twice the number of his own command.
He had employment for his entire force, making it
difficult to spare men to take the prisoners away.
Before he was able to dispose of them, the enemy had
gained the rear of his line, and he was attacked from
that direction as well as from the front. In order to
* protect the rear, some of Sanders’ men fixed bayonets
and stood guard over their prisoners, compelling them
to stand between themselves and the enemy, thus
silencing the fire from that quarter, while the Iowans
continued the battle. At this juncture, many of the
prisoners, who still retained their arms, finding them-
selves to outnumber their captors, and further em-
boldened by the persistence of their own troops in
front, again began to show fight. Colonel Sanders dis-
armed two of them, when he was surrounded by rebels,
who pointed their guns at him, demanding his surren-
THE HISTORY OF A FLAG. 169
der. He saw that the works to his rear were in pos-
session of the enemy, whereupon he determined to call
upon his men to move by the flank and cut their way
out. The battle then became a melee. A rebel cap-
tain seized a gun from one of his men, and fired at
Colonel Sanders, the ball passing between his legs.
Color-Sergeant Lucas, who had planted his colors in
the ground, shot the captain on the moment. Lucas
again took up his colors, and two rebels attempted to
snatch them away from him, but he held them with a
firm grasp. A moment later, a rebel struck Lucas over
the head with his gun, prostrating him upon the
works, and securing his flag. Meanwhile, a free fight
with clubbed guns and bayonets raged on all sides.
The 16th Iowa was now entirely surrounded, and
with it two companies of the 13th Iowa, who had been
sent to its assistance. The ammunition of the little
command was utterly exhausted, and to surrender was
the only way to escape annihilation. Yielding them-
selves prisoners, the 16th Iowa were marched within
the enemy's lines, their captors being, in part, the
very prisoners they had themselves taken but an hour
before.
Nearly twenty years afterward a thrilling scene,
one without precedent, and a most fitting sequel to
the deadly struggle before Atlanta, was witnessed at
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was upon the occasion of the
reunion of the survivors of Crocker's Iowa Brigade.
170 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
While Secretary of War, General Belknap (who
had fought in the Iowa Brigade during the bitter
struggle which has been described, and a few days
later wore the star of a brigadier, and succeeded to
the command,) received from General Govan, com-
mander of the assaulting forces on that day, a letter in
which he stated that the flag of the 16th Iowa Regi-
ment had come into his possession. He expressed his
desire to return it to the former owners, who, he said,
“bore it with such conspicuous courage and gallantry
in my presence on that memorable occasion, and only
parted with it when to retain it longer was impossible,
after having done all that could be expected of human
courage and valor to defend it.” General Govan
added, that when the flag came into his possession, a
fragment had been torn from it by the storm of bul-
lets, and the portion wanting had been replaced by
a part of his own Confederate battle-flag, sewed
therein by the hands of his wife. In reply, General
Eelknap returned heartfelt thanks to General Govan
for his magnanimity and soldierly courtesy, and ex-
tended to him a cordial invitation to attend the
reunion of the Iowa Brigade, to be held at Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, September 26th, 1883, and return the
captured flag in person.
The invitation was accepted in the same friendly
spirit in which it was given ; and, in the presence
of several hundred survivors of the Iowa Brigade,
THE HISTORY OF A FLAG. 171
and a large concourse of interested spectators, General
Belknap unrolled the old flag and waved it over his
head, while all present rose to their feet, and in
great excitement cheered and cheered until they were
fairly exhausted; while the veterans who had followed
the starry symbol so long and through such stirring
scenes, sobbed and wept with very joy.
Then, in response to repeated and urgent calls,
General Govan was invited to the stage, and in a
voice trembling with emotion, said:
“Veterans of Crocker's Iowa Brigade : I am
unable to find words to express the feelings of
pleasure and satisfaction that I feel in standing before
you. I feel it a compliment, not only to myself, but
to every Confederate soldier who served in the war,
that I am permitted to participate in this reunion.
They will feel grateful for this honor, and will re-
spond and return it whenever an opportunity offers.
I have testified heretofore to the valor of your Iowa
soldiers in their heroic resistance at Atlanta. And if
I had said nothing, the long roll of the killed and
wounded of my command would bear mute but irre-
sistible testimony of your courage and valor on that
occasion. In behalf of our ex-soldiers, I beg leave to
return to you the flag won from you on that memo-
rable occasion. I trust you will bear it as honorably
as you did then; and I assure you, should it ever
again be assailed, the men who opposed you that day
will stand by you in the future, and vie with you in
its defense. I hope that flag may float as long as
172 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the everlasting hills endure, over a free, prosperous,
happy and united people, as long as the waters flow to
the great ocean.”
As soon as the applause which greeted this ad-
dress had died away, Colonel Ad. H. Sanders, the
commander of the 16th Iowa Regiment, came forward,
and, with a voice husky with emotion, said:
“The old flag! Lost, captured, but never disgraced.
Let those who in solid line, and line massed on line,
as brave soldiers, Confederates though they were, as
ever did a soldier's duty, charged and charged again
on the 16th Iowa, July 22d, 1864, till enemies dead
and wounded numbered half as many as our men in
the rifle-pits, and prisoners from their ranks nearly
doubled our whole number; let them say, whether in
the final capture of this flag, they thought in the hour
of their triumph it had been disgraced by our defense,
or their victory. They know, because they were
there, and it was a sad and awful place for brave men
to be, whether thirsting for glory or hungering for
that flag. Only the day before, sixty-five men of the
16th Iowa fell in a charge on rebel works, with these
same colors waving at their front. Was the old flag,
with all its record of victories, and never a defeat, the
very next day to be trailed in the dust, without a
struggle such as men fight to the last drop of their
hearts' blood, when honor more than life is at stake
The old flag | In many a battle, eyes have glazed in
death looking at its loved folds. Men, with gaping
wounds, and suppressed cries of agony, broke from .
THE HISTORY OF A FLAG. iT/3
the field, having turned their last gaze at the old
colors, still fluttering mid smoke and shot. But never
was so much blood shed for the defense of this flag as
was spilled like rain for its capture, on that 22d day
of July. Ask those who won it and wore it, and now,
as gallantly as they fought for the prize, restore it to
the brave hands that once so proudly upheld it. In
the presence of the brave and chivalrous officer who,
with so many complimentary expressions accompany-
ing the gift, has restored this flag to the regiment
from which his command once wrenched it, I can not
find heart or voice at this hour to disparage the cause
which secured such defenders as General Govan and
his brigade. The flag of the Union, represented by
these colors, still waves, vindicated, triumphant. Its
friends and foes of two decades ago, are now as one,
equally ready and equally brave, to defend the old
flag, and all it represents, whether danger threatens
from abroad or at home. Now, in the name, and as
representative on this occasion, of the survivors of the
16th Iowa Infantry, I receive again our old loved
colors—and, in the name of these comrades, I return
thanks for the generous, chivalrous kindness which has
enabled us this night to rejoice with even greater joy
than those other comrades of the Iowa Brigade, who
never lost a flagſ ’’
Addresses were also made by Generals Gresham
and Belknap; and letters were read from Generals
Grant, Sherman, and Logan. Altogether, the event
was a most notable one, and stands among the unusual
incidents growing out of the Rebellion.
174 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
CHAPTER XVII.
“THE BUMMER GENERALS.”
§§ º FEW days after the battle of July
3 § 22d, the Army of the Tennessee
sº º was greatly disturbed on learn-
|\ \º
-º ing that General O. O. Howard
had been assigned as their com-
mander, sending General Logan
back to his corps. Howard was a
gallant officer, but a stranger to this
army, and he was devoid of that per-
sonal magnetism which gave Logan
so firm a hold upon the confidence
* and affection of his troops. Togan
had made a brilliant record as regimental, brigade,
division, and corps commander ; he had been severely
wounded; and the men of the Army of the Tennessee
looked upon him as the most conspicuous represent-
ative of the genuine volunteer soldier. Besides,
whether rightly or not, they were disposed to blame
the “regulars” for endeavoring to monopolize more
of the honors of the war than their numbers or ser-
vices entitled them to, and to feel that his being set
**

“THE BUMMER GENERALS.” 175
aside was in some way a reflection upon themselves
and their achievements. General Sherman himself
was evidently uneasy as to the outcome of General
Howard's appointment, for he said in his “Memoirs,”
published since the war, referring to the battle of
July 29th:
“This was the first fight in which General Howard
had commanded the Army of the Tennessee, and he
evidently aimed to reconcile General Logan in his dis-
appointment, and to gain the heart of that army to
which he was a stranger. He very properly left
General Logan to fight his own corps, but exposed
himself freely; and afterward walked the lines, the
men gathering about him in the most affectionate way.
To this fact at the time I attached much importance,
for it put me at ease as to the future conduct of this
most important army.”
But much harm was done General Logan person-
ally; General Sherman's criticisms being enlarged and
made much of by those bitter partisans who were not
in sympathy with General Logan's political views.
General Sherman had said in his “Memoirs: ”
“I did not consider him (Logan) equal to the
command of three corps. Between him and General
Blair there existed a natural rivalry. Both were men
of great courage and talent, but were politicians by
nature and experience, and it may be that for this
reason they were mistrusted by the regular officers.
I regarded Logan and Blair as ‘volunteers,”
176 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
that looked to personal fame and glory as auxiliary
and secondary to their political ambition.”
These expressions were eagerly caught up by news-
papers which had been known during the war as “fire-
in-the-rear” sheets. One of these printed a long and
bitter screed entitled “The Bummer Generals,” tak-
ing for a text the paragraph quoted above. Such
articles excited great indignation among the men who
had served in the Army of the Tennessee; and many
angry replications found their way into print. An
article by the author of this volume contained the
following, which acquired a wide publicity:
“The effect of such assaults is great injustice to
noble men who deserve better treatment. In the early
days of the war, when well-known “regulars’ tried
their best “to keep out of the current,’ as they them-
selves expressed it, Frank Blair, the bummer gen-
eral,’ with a handful of Home Guards, principally
Germans, was overthrowing a rebel camp in the
suburbs of St. Louis, and by the act held Missouri
faithful to the Union. . . . Logan, Oglesby,
Palmer, Hurlbut, the Smiths, Crocker, Belknap, Mc-
Arthur, and scores of others who became “bummer
generals,’ were holding public meetings, and bringing
squads, companies, and regiments to the support of
the government.”
Referring to the battle of July 22d, the same arti-
cle said: e -
“. . . When it was known that McPherson
“THE BUMMER GENERALs.” 177
had been killed, portions of the line wavered and
broke. It was then that General Logan assumed
command, and by his courage, and that personal mag-
netism which gave him so much power with his troops,
succeeded in restoring confidence, and saved the day,
and perhaps the army. In this, he was nobly seconded
by General Frank P. Blair. Yet, notwithstanding all
this, General Logan, and after him, General Blair,
were not deemed fit to succeed McPherson. Although
they were the commanders of western troops, which
they had largely assisted in enlisting, and with
whom they had been identified from the beginning of
the war; yet the command was given to Howard, a
perfect stranger to them, of whom they knew nothing.
General Howard was never a favorite with the Army
of the Tennessee; and we are satisfied, brave and
honest man as he was, that had he been in command
on the 22d of July, the result might have been far
different.” -
The same article continued, referring to General
Sherman's complaint, that General Logan and others
went North at the close of the Atlanta campaign in
1864, to engage in the presidential campaign:
“We believe the honest sentiment of the country
will admit that they did the cause a better service
than had they remained at the front. The campaign
was over, and the army was resting, with nothing
to do but hold its ground until prepared for another
movement. But at the North, “peace conventions’
had declared the war a failure, and many earnest
Union men had almost lost heart. President Lin-
I2
178 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
coln needed their influence at the polls; and it was
such men as Logan, and Blair, and Oglesby, wounded
and victorious heroes, who kept up the faith of the
people toward their government, and largely aided
to make a successful issue at the last.”
General Logan never did a nobler act in his life
than when, after the action of July 22d, he testified to
his own honesty of purpose, and stern ideas of sol-
dierly duty, by returning uncomplainingly to the com-
mand of his corps, on being supplanted in the com-
mand of the Army of the Tennessee by one who was
not guilty of the atrocious crime of being a civilian, or
“bummer” general. True, Logan was not a profes-
sional soldier, but he was such a soldier as might well
be held up as a fit exemplar for soldiers the world over.
He was one of the bravest among the brave ; among
the true, he was one of the truest. Where duty com-
manded him to go, he went ; where it called him to
stay, there he remained. He was of such stuff as the
men of the Light Brigade, who made that glorious
charge at Balaklava ; as the men of the “Cumber-
land,” who fired their guns at the enemy as their ship
went down beneath the waves. \ -
There are wars to be fought hereafter, and the sons
ef men now living may possibly fight them. God
grant that they learn their lessons of a soldier's duty
from a “bummer general” such as John A. Logan,
rather than from a “professional soldier,” such as
Fitz-John Porter |
HAMMERING AWAY. 179
CHAPTER XVIII.
HAMMERING AWAY.
;PON the close of the
W. \l engagement of July
%| y º 22d the enemy drew
# * back into his en-
jº trenchments at At-
lanta. The next day
a truce was declared,
to admit of either army
burying its dead. For
ten days thereafter a great
part of the army was engaged in burning the ties and
twisting the rails of the Georgia and Virginia rail-
road, reaching east. This task was preliminary to a
movement by the right flank to reach the only railroad
remaining open out of Atlanta, that running south.
As usual, the rapid march, which was the main inci-
dent of the plan, fell to the lot of the Army of the
Tennessee.
As soon as it was sufficiently dark, on the night of
J uly 26th this command silently moved out of its
works, and marched north and west around Atlanta,



180 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
thence south to Ezra Church, which lay almost due
west from the point of departure. The movement con-
sumed almost the entire night, and the distance cov-
ered was about twenty miles. - .
Immediately upon taking up the new line the troops
entrenched. It was remarkable how quickly this kind
of work was performed. Frequently a brigade would
pick up a rail-fence so clean that nothing was left to
mark where it had been, and carry the rails half-a-
mile, throwing them down to serve as a protection,
when they had advanced as far as possible. Often the
same rails sufficed for half-a-dozen different lines,
being carried forward whenever an advance was
made. gº .
The Army of the Tennessee found itself in trouble
at early dawn on the 27th, and sharp skirmishing
continued throughout the day, at times almost rising
to the dignity of a regular engagement. The next
day was one of serious fighting, Logan's Fifteenth
Corps taking the brunt of the work, and successfully
withstanding six vigorous charges. General Logan
lost upward of five hundred men, and Blair and Dodge,
who sent reinforcements at a critical moment, sus-
tained some loss. The casualties of the enemy were
not less than five thousand.
General Howard said of this engagement : “I
wish to express my high gratification with the conduct
of the troops engaged. I never saw better in battle.
HAMMERING AWAY, 181
The general commanding the Fifteenth Corps, though
ill and much worn out, was indefatigable ; and the
success of the day is as much attributable to him as to
any one man.” -
This practically closed the campaign for July.
Sherman had lost nine thousand seven hundred men;
the enemy, ten thousand eight hundred and forty-
one. Hood had forced the fighting at fearful cost
to himself, and was already falling into disfavor. An
Atlanta paper said : “If Mr. Hood keeps on in
this way of fighting, his army will be wiped out
in ten days, and the Yankees will still have a few
men to go to Mobile left.” But the Unionists had
also lost severely, although better able to afford it.
Another paper printed the following : “Some one
asked a Frenchman if the American war was over.
‘No,' said he, “I still see a few inhabitants 1'." This
piece of humor was credited to a French paper—a
familiar expedient with newspaper men when they con-
coct a lie, and do not desire to be held responsible
for it.
Sharp skirmishing and fierce artillery duels were
of daily occurrence until August 4th, when an unsuc-
cessful attempt was made upon the enemy's left. The
Twenty-third Corps (Schofield's) was the assaulting
column, and the Seventeenth Corps advanced its lines
in support. The latter command moved promptly at
the moment designated ; but Schofield's either failed
182 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
to move, or did so with such little spirit, that the
Seventeenth Corps was subjected to a severe enfi-
lading fire, compelling it to retire. The attack
was repeated the next day, and was again repulsed.
The affair resulted in General Palmer resigning the
command of the Fourteenth Corps, an event of great
moment, inasmuch as it was the first and only serious
disagreement between the general-in-chief and a sub-
ordinate, during the entire campaign.
It may be premised that, at the time of this un-
fortunate occurrence, the understanding in the Army
of the Tennessee was, that the responsibility for the
difficulty rested upon General Palmer. The writer
was in a position to know the feeling, in the highest
places in that portion of the army, and his journal
says, under date of July 5th :
“General Schofield was to reach and hold the rail-
road (south of Atlanta). General Palmer was under
orders to report to Schofield, but Palmer raised many
objections. While the two generals were quarreling,
our skirmish line (Seventeenth Corps) was stoutly
resisted and compelled to retire.”
This was the statement made at the time in the
Seventeenth Corps. The details have since been as-
certained.
General Sherman, in his report of the campaign,
says:
“I ordered General Schofield to make a bold at-
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HAMMERING AWAY. 185
tack upon the railroad, and ordered General Palmer to
report to him for duty. He at once denied General
Schofield's right to command him. . . I wrote to
General Palmer :
“‘From the statements made by yourself and Gen-
eral Schofield to-day, my decision is that he ranks you
as a major-general. The movements of to-morrow are
so important that the orders of the superior on that
flank must be regarded as military orders, and not in
the nature of coöperation. I did hope that there
would be no necessity for my making this decision;
but it is better for all that no question of rank should
occur in actual battle. The Sandtown road, and the
railroad, if possible, must be gained to-morrow if it
costs half your command. I regard the loss of time
this afternoon as equal to the loss of two thousand
men.’”
The same day, General Sherman wrote to General
Thomas, General Palmer's immediate superior :
“Yesterday General Palmer raised the question of
rank with General Schofield. I went in person, and
found that General Schofield ranked General Palmer,
and so decided. . . General Palmer asked to be
relieved of his command. I declined, and ordered
him to go on to-day and execute the plan prescribed
for yesterday, in connection with and under the com-
mand of General Schofield.”
To this General Thomas answered :
“I regret that Palmer has taken the course he has,
and, as I know he intends to offer his resignation as
186 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Soon as he can properly do so, I recommend that his
application be granted.”
General Sherman sent the purport of this note to
General Palmer, and said :
“If you resign because you measure your number
of men as greater than his (Schofield's), and your
services in battle as giving you greater right to com-
mand, you commit the mistake of substituting your
own individual opinion over law and military usage.
The special assignment of General Schofield to the
command of a separate army and department, shows
that he enjoys the confidence of the President even
above his mere lineal rank. If you want to resign,
wait a few days, and allege some other reason, one
that will stand the test of time. Your future is too
valuable to be staked on a mistake. . . I again
ask you not to disregard the friendly advice of such
men as General Thomas and myself, for you can not
misconstrue our friendly feelings toward you.”
General Palmer persisted, however, and was re-
lieved, and shortly afterward was assigned to the
command of the Department of Kentucky, with head-
quarters at Louisville, in which position he acquitted
himself with full satisfaction to the government. His
retirement from active service was greatly regretted
by his troops, who felt much as did the Army of the
Tennessee when Logan was set aside to make way for
Howard; but the remainder of the army almost unan-
imously sided with Sherman.
HAMMERING AWAY. 187
At a later day, General Palmer authorized the fol-
lowing statement, but it was not put into such form as
to secure widespread circulation :
“He (Palmer) was ordered to take a position in
the rear of the Army of the Ohio, and support Gen-
eral Schofield. A question of rank arose. Palmer
said that rank made no difference to him in the opera-
tions then pending; that he was there to support the
Army of the Ohio by order of General Thomas, and
as Schofield was in charge of the movement, he held
himself subject to his orders. General Sherman met
General Palmer soon after, and said to him that he
thought he was wrong. Palmer replied that he had
waived all questions of rank, for the purposes of the
contemplated movement, and was awaiting orders from
Schofield. General Sherman rode on to Schofield's
headquarters. On that night he sent a letter to
General Palmer, saying that his voluntary consent to
obey Schofield's order was not enough; that he must
acknowledge his inferiority of rank. General Palmer
asked to be relieved. Sherman replied that he could
not properly ask to be relieved in the presence of an
enemy. By the advice of General Thomas, Palmer
concluded to waive the question of rank until the end
of the campaign. It was supposed that would settle
the matter; but, on the following night, to his com-
plete astonishment, he received a letter from Sher-
man, saying that he (Sherman) understood from
Thomas that he (Palmer), intended to offer his resig-
nation at the end of the campaign. If so, he might
fairly say that the campaign was already closed, and
resign. Palmer answered in effect: ‘Yesterday,
188 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
when I asked to be relieved on a question of rank,
you wrote that I could not honorably do so in the
presence of the enemy. Now, you write otherwise.
On this plain evidence of your unfriendliness, I con-
clude that I can be of no service under your com-
mand, and respectfully ask to be relieved.’”
THE OLD CHAPLAIN. 189
CHAPTER XIX.
THE OLD CHAPLAIN.
zº
*% % tº
ºft ſillº ſºft WAV *
iš. ºW HILE the operations
% ºf ſº iſ ſº º º, &
A #W ºw - ºf a tº
º ºf about Atlanta were yet
* *: º º º | % * e
º Wº º % continuing, the author was
# * º tº called to Marietta, twenty
§ sº miles rearward. Here he
S$ §: # R. º ; ſº R. - wº ©
... Sº º found, in the hospital, “Father”
-- :S$ **** §§ N -
º_ºº- §§§§ % S-
M’Millan, the chaplain of his
regiment, prostrated with disease. The venerable man
was already at death's door, and could converse only
with great difficulty.
It was a sorrowful meeting.
The two were warmly attached, having known each
other for many years, and both realized that in life
they could not meet again.
man breathed his last.
A day or two later the old
The writer can not halt his pen without paying a
feeble tribute to the memory of this noble soldier of the
cross. He was of such stuff as the martyrs and saints
of old, who illumine the dark pages of history with
4






190 MARCHING THROUGH G|EORGIA.
gleams of brightness. Born in Tennessee, he inherited
from his Scotch-Presbyterian ancestors stern ideas of
right, and unflinching devotion to duty as it came to
him. Although reared amid the corrupting influences
of slavery, he conceived the “institution” not only to
be a foul blot upon our civilization, but a sin against
God ; and, unwilling that his children, all sons, should
be subjected to the demoralizing influences of this
“sum of all villainies,” he abandoned a fine position,
as the head of a leading educational institution, and
high family connection, to educate them in a land of
freedom. He removed to Illinois, and assumed the
pastorate of a Presbyterian church in a growing town
in the interior of the state. Here he won the love
of all by his unaffected sincerity and genial warm-
heartedness. The reason for his removal from his na-
tive state was soon known throughout the community,
but his opposition to slavery did not lead him into any
excesses of speech. He denounced the system as a
moral crime and a political wrong ; but, like many of
the old-school Whigs, believed it to be so hedged about
by the sacred constitutional compact, that none could
rightfully seek its overthrow, except by moral agita-
tion. He discerned, however, the true import of the
storm already rising. He had lived through and list-
ened to the angry threats of the Southern nullifica-
tionists, and had heard disunionism preached in his
native state. John Brown had made his crazy raid
• THE OLD CHAPLAIN. 191
upon Harper's Ferry ; extreme Southerners had said
that the election of an “abolition ” President would be
just cause for secession ; and Lincoln, then opposing
Douglas for Congress, had startled the country with
the vehement declaration, not born of fanaticism, but
founded upon the inexorable logic of God’s decrees,
“This nation can not permanently endure, half slave
and half free. ‘A house divided against itself can not
stand.’” Never to be forgotten by any one of his
hearers, was a sermon delivered by the venerable cler-
gyman just before the war-cloud burst. He plead for -
conservatism and brotherly toleration, and a settle-
ment of the question at issue through the development
of ideas, rather than a resort to passion and blows.
His peroration was a masterly piece of rhetoric. He
said: “Before me I see two mighty armed hosts.
One bears the banner, ‘God and Slavery !” the other,
God and Freedom l’ There are my brothers, my
friends ; here am I and mine own | Shall I raise my
arm against them P Will they discharge their fatal
volleys into their brother's breast? Forbid it, Almighty
God, if may be ; but if not, work out Thy mighty de-
crees with us, Thy feeble instruments, even though
our blood be spilt in expiation of the crime of the
nation l’”
At a later day, in Tennessee, his own state, while
the war was in progress, and he wore the uniform of
his chaplaincy, when the question of emancipation was
192 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
just coming to be discussed, he wrote resolutions advo-
cating that policy, purely as a war measure. These
resolutions were adopted by his regiment in mass
meeting, without a dissenting voice ; and so dispas-
sionate and convincing were they, that they attained a
wide publicity. The New York Times referred to
them as the most logical and convincing statement of
the case that had yet been presented. Their salient
points, showing the spirit of that day, curiously blend-
ing radical war-aggressiveness with conservative polit-
ical ideas, are here given :
I. The integrity of our blood-bought Union, “one and indi-
visible,” “It must and shall be maintained.”
2. A prosecution of the war commensurate with all the resources
of the nation, till the last vestige of the rebellion is obliterated, and the
majesty of law vindicated and fully established. -
3. Settle the question whether we shall have a government to
administer, before we divert public attention from the great matter in
hand, to the question what political party shall administer it.
4. While the South remained loyal to the Union, we were ever
ready to protect all her constitutional rights; and when she returns to
her allegiance we pledge her the same. But since she has forced war
upon us, by whipping and hanging, without form of trial, and viciously
mobbing those who, by the constitution, were entitled to all the immu-
nities and privileges of citizens; by wantonly seizing the property and
funds of the nation ; by confiscating just debts, property and funds of
loyal citizens; by refusing to allow the evacuation of Fort Sumter
unless it was surrendered ; by bombarding and reducing it when the sur-
render was refused ; by publicly declaring her purpose, by force of arms,
to take the capital of the nation, with its archives; and by setting up a
government of her own within the territorial limits of the United States;
we are now for giving her war until she is subdued to her proper
allegiance. We are for weakening her by cutting off her resources, con-
fiscating her property, slaves not excepted ; and by every means known
to civilized warfare, reducing her to her proper loyalty.
5. As the rebels have employed slaves, first in making their forts,
THE OLD CHAPLAIN. 193
and more recently under arms (?), we approve the policy of arming
slaves to meet slaves in battle. A/or do we fight to free the slaves, but
free the slaves to stop the ſight.
But this is anticipating. Soon after the organiza-
tion of the regiment mentioned, he was called to the
chaplaincy, and joyfully accepted the charge, regard-
ing it not only a sacred duty, but a high privilege,
to be enabled to go where he might “watch over my
boys,” as he put it, meaning the sons of many of his
old neighbors and parishioners. Many of the army
chaplains fell into disrepute during the war, drifting
into the general tide of demoralization; and, if not
positively vicious, losing sight of almost everything
but their own comfort. Chaplain M'Millan never lost
an iota of his dignity of character, his sense of duty,
or his kindly affection for those about him. His care
for “my boys” was solicitous and touching. More
than once he personally rebuked officers of high rank
for using towards soldiers, language that would not be
tolerated elsewhere than in the field. In camp, he
visited the hospital and the tent of the private, writ-
ing letters for those unable to do so themselves;
and cheering the down-hearted, and admonishing the
erring. On the march he was ever watchful for the
crippled and infirm, and daily left his saddle to allow
such a one to ride for a time. The exposures of cam-
paigning told severely upon his aged frame, and he
finally succumbed to disease, breathing his last, far
I3
194 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
from kindred and home, within hearing of the conflict
he had so graphically portrayed in advance of its
opening. The epitaph of such a man might well be
the noble words uttered by Paul :
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
7)
day
“ATLANTA IS OURS, AND FAIRLY WON.” 195
CHAPTER XX.
“ATLANTA IS OURS, AND FAIRLY WON l’”
jºſſ HE remainder of August
- was marked with un-
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the campaign. We endured four
hours' shelling to-day. The enemy having heavier
guns than ours, has it pretty much all his own way.”
17th : “The enemy has raided the railroad again, and
orders have been issued limiting rations, and instruct-
ing the men to be saving of ammunition. Demon-
strated heavily on the enemy’s lines to-day to aid
Schofield, who is on the right.” 19th : “Demon-
strated again to-day. Schofield does not seem to be
able to reach the railroad.” 20th : “Late last night
the firing on the skirmish line was suddenly quieted
by a tremendous rain. As soon as it ceased, the lines

















196 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
opened a brisk fire again.” An entry the same day,
summarizes the losses of the division (Giles A.
Smith's) thus : “June 10th, at Big Shanty, this
division numbered five thousand men. To this date,
we have lost one hundred and seventy-five killed,
eight hundred and fifty wounded, seven hundred and
sixty missing—in all, one thousand seven hundred
and eighty-five men.”
August 26th, the army commenced a movement
against the West Point railroad. All artillery and
wagon trains that could be moved without attracting
attention, were sent early in the day in the direction to
be pursued; and, as soon as night fell, the guns from
the front followed with muffled wheels. A slight skir-
mish line was left in the pits, with instructions to
- keep up sufficient firing to induce the belief that the
ordinary force was present, and all other troops
silently left their works. The march was continued
until daybreak, which found them thirteen miles to the
south and west. Coffee was hastily made, as hastily
swallowed, and another six miles added to the dis-
tance. The remainder of the day was given to rest,
which was sadly needed.
Next day, August 28th, the troops marched eight
miles, and found the enemy at Red Oak Station.
They were driven without great effort, and a footing
on the railroad gained, when the army went to work
with a will to destroy it, burning the ties and twisting
“ATLANTA Is OURS, AND FAIRLY WON.” 197
the rails to such an extent as to utterly preclude the
possibility of their use again.
The following day, August 29th, a further march
of twelve miles was made, and early next morning the
enemy was again encountered on Flint river, near
Jonesboro. They assaulted the Union lines, evidently
hoping to catch them before they could get well
straightened out for action, but were repulsed.
September 1st, a stout engagement was fought,
resulting in the defeat of the enemy. His loss was
severe; and among the prisoners taken was General
Govan, who captured the 16th Iowa Regiment on the
22d of July, as narrated in a preceding chapter, and
the greater part of his brigade.
That night, heavy explosions were heard in the
direction of Atlanta, twenty miles distant, leading
to the conclusion that General Slocum was making
an attack; but, the next morning, prisoners brought
in by the cavalry, reported that the noise was caused
by Hood blowing up some of his ammunition trains;
and, in consequence of the raid upon his railroad, he
had abandoned the city. *
Then it was that General Sherman sent to Wash-
ington his announcement of the victory, which con-
tained the famous sentence: “Atlanta is ours, and
fairly won 1’’
Referring to it, General Sherman says
in his “Memoirs” :
“This victory was most opportune. Mr. Lincoln
198 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
told me afterward that even he had felt in doubt. . . .
A presidential election then agitated the North. Mr.
Lincoln represented the national cause, and General
McClellan had accepted the nomination of the Demo-
cratic party, whose platform was that the war was a
failure, and that it was better to allow the South to go,
free to establish a separate government, whose corner-
stone should be slavery. Success to our arms at that
time was a political necessity. The brilliant success
at Atlanta filled the requirement, and made the elec-
tion of Mr Lincoln certain.”
Immediately upon the occupation of Atlanta, Gen-
eral Sherman issued orders proclaiming the end of the
campaign, and Ordering the army into camp “for rest,
and reorganization for a fine winter's campaign.” The
Army of the Cumberland was to be grouped in and
about Atlanta ; the Army of the Tennessee at East
Point, and the Army of the Ohio at Decatur. This
movement began September 5th, and proved to be a
remarkable conclusion to an eventful campaign. It
rather resembled the retreat of a defeated army, than a
victorious march by conquerors.
As the head of the column turned toward Atlanta,
Hood's army was but a little distance behind it, and
his cavalry was particularly active. It was necessary,
therefore, that the artillery and supply wagons should
precede the troops. A heavy rain had been falling all
day, and, what with the unmeasurable mud in the
roads, and the unserviceable condition of the animals,
“ATLANTA Is ours, AND FAIRLY won.” I'99
consequent upon long service and ill-feeding, it was
nine o’clock at night before the long train was straight-
ened out, and the troops began to move. The march
was spasmodic and painful. For a few minutes at a
time, the men plodded along as well as was possible in
the intense darkness and blinding rain ; then a halt
would occur, sometimes for five minutes, sometimes
for a half-hour, caused by a portion of the wagon-train
stalling or breaking down. Occasionally a wagon, irre-
trievably wrecked, or its team utterly worn out, was
thrown to one side of the road, and burned. At one
moment, startled by such a conflagration, the writer's
horse made a sudden leap, and the rider, asleep in the
saddle through sheer exhaustion, was awakened by
falling into the mud. After a march of six miles, con-
suming twelve hours' time, a halt was called, and the
wearied troops prepared such food and took such rest
as the weather would permit. During the day a fur-
ther hard march of six miles was accomplished, and
camp established near East Point. -
That evening, general orders were read to the
troops, communicating the following historic papers :
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3, 1864.
The national thanks are rendered by the President to Major General
W. T. Sherman and the gallant officers and soldiers of his command,
before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability and perseverance displayed
in the campaign in Georgia, which, under Divine favor, has resulted in
the capture of Atlanta. The marches, battles, sieges, and other military
operations that have signalized the campaign, must render it famous in
20() MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the annals of war, and have entitled those who have participated therein
to the applause and thanks of the nation.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
President of the United States.
CITY POINT, VA., Sept. 4.
MAJ. GEN. SHERMAN : I have just received your dispatch announc-
ing the capture of Atlanta. In honor of your great victory, I have
ordered a salute to be fired, with shotted guns, from every battery bear-
ing upon the enemy. The salute will be fired within an hour, amid
great rejoicing. U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant General.
And now that the troops fully recognized the im-
port of their brilliant but wearisome and bloody three
months' campaigning, and learned with what joy the
news was received at home, they gave way to a pro-
tracted jubilee. The brass and martial bands, which
had been silent all the long way from Chattanooga to
Atlanta, now played their most exultant airs; and the
men vied with the instruments in making noise
expressive of great joy. All were happy and smiling,
from the commander-in-chief to the humblest private
in the ranks, and even the bray of the half-starved
government mule seemed mellow and melodious, as it
added to the din.
Better yet, “the cracker-line,” as the railroad was
called, was again in repair, after having been greatly
disturbed by the enemy ; and presently the troops
enjoyed the novel experience of abundant rations and
frequent mails.
At this time, by the urgent request of President
“ATLANTA IS OURS, AND FAIRLY WON.” 201
Lincoln, Generals Blair and Logan went North to speak
during the presidential contest, then at its height.
Blair returned in time to accompany his corps in its
march to the sea. Logan, however, when just on the
eve of return to the front, was cut off by Sherman's
departure from Atlanta. He at once went to Washing-
ton, and was ordered to Nashville to relieve General
Thomas, who rested under the imputation of want of
enterprise. On reaching Louisville, however, Logan
was so fully convinced of Thomas' ability and deter-
mination to stop Hood at Nashville, that he went no
farther, but telegraphed General Grant that it would
be neither just nor expedient to relieve Thomas
when he was doing so well. Accordingly, Thomas
retained his command, while Logan remained at the
North until Sherman reached the sea, where he
rejoined the army, and resumed command of his old
corps.
While the army was resting in the vicinity of At-
lanta, General Sherman busied himself in preparing
for another campaign; and, as a necessary incident to
the success of his plans, he demanded that the entire
population of Atlanta should be removed, the people
being given the privilege of going North or South, as
they might prefer. To those electing to go North, he
proffered rations, and transportation for themselves
and their effects; those preferring the South he would
remove, with their goods, to Rough and Ready, twenty
202 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
miles distant, and place them under the protection of
the Confederate military authorities. Negroes in the
employ or keeping of these people, were to be free
to go South with their masters if they so desired.
The determination to depopulate Atlanta provoked
an angry correspondence between Generals Sherman
and Hood, in course of which the latter dealt in much
florid rhetoric, and exposed himself to the most cruel
thrusts of Sherman's caustic pen. Hood protested
“in the name of God and humanity,” and declared
that “the unprecedented measure transcends, in
studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before
brought to my attention in the dark history of war.”
He added: “We will fight you to the death ! Better
die a thousand deaths than submit to live under you
or your government, and your negro allies.”
In reply, General Sherman defended his course,
and suggested it as “unnecessary to appeal to the
dark ages of the history of war, when recent and
modern examples are so handy;” and instanced
numerous cases, adding, “You defended Atlanta on a
line so close to town that every cannon-shot, and
many musket shots, that overshot their mark, went
into the habitations of women and children.” He
continued : “Appeal not to a just God in such a
sacrilegious manner—'you who, in the midst of peace
and prosperity, have plunged a nation into a dark and
cruel war.”
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“ATLANTA IS OURS, AND FAIRLY WON.” 205
The civil authorities of Atlanta also sought to
secure a revocation of the order, and instanced some
pitiable cases of real distress which would follow its
enforcement. To them General Sherman replied in
pregnant terms: “My order was not designed to
meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for
the future struggle in which millions of good people
outside of Atlanta have a deep interest. We must
have peace, not Only in Atlanta, but in all America.
To secure this, we must stop the war. To stop war,
we must defeat the rebel armies. . . When peace
does come, you may call on me for anything. Then
will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with
you to shield your homes and families against danger
from every quarter.”
Even while General Sherman's brain was busy
with these matters, and his plans for a new campaign,
he found time to give kindly thought to the unfor-
tunate men of his own and of other Union armies,
who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. A flag
of truce station was established at Rough and Ready,
and such of the rebel prisoners as had not been sent
North were delivered to General Hood, in exchange
for an equal number of Union prisoners. But Gen-
eral Sherman's kindness of heart found its most
eloquent expression in the consideration he gave to
alleviating the distress of the unhappy wretches held
in the Andersonville prison pens. He had learned
206 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
their condition from the few captives who were so
fortunate as to escape, and asked permission from
General Hood to send within the rebel lines à train-
load of clothing and other necessaries to relieve their
immediate wants. The request was granted, and the
Western Sanitary Commission, through its agent, Mr.
James E. Yeatman, of St. Louis, upon General Sher-
man's request, forwarded a large quantity of under-
clothing, soap, scissors, and fine-combs—articles for
which there was the utmost need. The well-meant
effort was unproductive of good, however, for before
the supplies could reach Andersonville, the prisoners
were removed to keep them from falling into the
hands of Sherman's army, which, by that time, was
sweeping through the “Confederacy,” making
“A thoroughfare for Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the main.”
A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS 207
* , CHAPTER XXI.
i A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS.
22222* 2.
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=###########, ºff, lowed the end of
Sºl I W. the Atlanta campaign,
the adjutant was granted
a brief leave, accompanied with a hint from Colonel
Cadle, General Blair's adjutant general, to “get back
in a hurry, or you will lose some fun.” His journey
was marked with so many incidents of an unusual
nature, that the narrative is given, although it
obtrudes somewhat more of the personality of the
actor than he had intended at the outset.
A part of the adjutant's mission at the North was
to procure commissions for a number of meritorious
non-commissioned officers, for whose promotion the
casualties of the campaign had made opportunity.
Visiting the office of the Adjutant-General, he made
known his errand, and presented the necessary recom-
mendations; but those in charge did not receive him


























208 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
with great cordiality, apparently resenting the irregu-
lar method of dealing with the department, instead of
observing the usual red tape channels prescribed by
military etiquette. In this strait, the adjutant called
upon Governor Yates, and presented his case; where-
upon that great-hearted man, ever a warm friend of
the soldier, and now doubly glad to have an opportu-
nity for rewarding in some measure well deserving
men of that army which had rendered such dis-
tinguished service, made the crooked path straight,
and ordered the immediate issuance of the commis-
sions so much desired.
Reaching Louisville, October 1st, on his return to
the front, the adjutant learned that the railroad was
a forbidden way to soldiers, peremptory orders requir-
ing them to go forward, if at all, in marching detach-
ments, all rolling stock being absolutely necessary for
the transportation of army supplies. He was so fortu-
nate, however, as to have a personal acquaintance with
the commander of the district, and that officer kindly
provided him with a railroad pass to Nashville, which
was as far as his authority extended.
The next day, the adjutant reached Nashville, and
was greatly disconcerted to learn that no soldiers were
, allowed to pass south of that city under any pretext
whatever ; and that all transient officers and men were
required to report to the local military authorities for
assignment to provisional commands, then being organ-
A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS. 209
ized for the defense of the post. No particulars were
given of the emergency calling for these unusual dis-
positions, and the wildest rumors prevailed.
Sorely out of patience, the adjutant wandered
about the city disconsolately, delaying compliance
with the printed orders which stared him in the face
wherever he turned, and hoping to find some way
out of the difficulty. No experience is so hard for
the soldier, as to find himself far away from his own
command, and obliged to do duty with strange troops,
especially when the latter are of a hap-hazard, made-
up-for-the-occasion character ; and his memory re-
verted to his experiences when, as a private, he was
so situated at Memphis, and madé to do duty with a
spade, in the trenches of Fort Pickering.
While his mind was thus occupied with painful
reminiscences of the past, and doubtful misgivings as
to the future, the adjutant's eye fell upon a building
with a sign-board inscribed, “U. S. Military Tele-
graph : J. C. Van Duzer, Supt.” He hailed the name
with glad surprise, for it was that of his old friend,
the telegraph operator “at home,” before the war
began. Colonel Van Duzer was fortunately present,
and, in answer to anxious inquiry, gave a startling
account of affairs at the front. Hood had interposed
his army between that of Sherman, at Atlanta, and
Chattanooga, and was marching down the railroad,
wrecking it completely. How near he had approached
14
210 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
to Chattanooga, or what course Sherman was taking to
stop him in his all-devastating career, could not be
ascertained. However, none but construction trains
were running south from Nashville, and they with fear
and trembling ; while all soldiers reaching that city
from the North, were being held and organized for
local defense, or to be dispatched to such point on the
road as might require their services.
Colonel Van Duzer then gave the adjutant assur-
ances that he would assist him to rejoin his command
at the earliest possible opportunity, and, in the mean-
time, guarantee him immunity from draft for local
military duty. It would be necessary, however, for
him to lay aside his uniform, and masquerade for the
time as a member of the Telegraph Repair Corps. To
this the adjutant readily consented; and, what with the
friendly offices of Colonel Van Duzer, and the compan-
ionship of two bona fide members of the corps, who had
been school-day and workshop companions with him,
in former years, he found himself much more pleas-
antly situated than he had expected.
At length came a day of release from all uncer-
tainty. At noon on the 4th of October, the adjutant
mounted the top of a box-car loaded with artillery
ammunition bound for Chattanooga. He wore a cap
bearing the initials, “U. S. M. T.” (United States
Military Telegraph) ; and in his pocket bore a pass
under the hand of Colonel Van Duzer, certifying to his
A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS. 211
connection with that corps, and ordering all trains to
transport him at pleasure. The train ran but slowly,
and darkness came before half the distance had been
accomplished. Then fell a torrent of rain, continuing
all night, thoroughly drenching the unhappy traveler.
In places the track ran through tunnels, and long cuts -
in the solid rock, where the water came down from
the mountain sides in floods, making necessary a firm
grip upon the brakeman's footway, to avoid being
swept away.
On the 7th, by virtue of his pass, the adjutant
boarded a repair train and ran to the Oostanaula river.
The bridge there had been destroyed by the rebels,
and with a companion, a genuine telegraph repairer,
he crossed the stream in a scow. On the other side
another engine was found, which conveyed them to the
Etowah. Here, again, the bridge was gone, and again
a scow was brought into requisition. On the other
side were found an engine and tender which had
been cut off by the rebel raid. The engineer was
alone, his fireman having deserted ; and his joy
was great at finding blue-coated friends, with some-
thing in their canteens and haversacks, instead of
gray-jacketed enemies seeking his life. His engine
was cold, and almost out of wood, but there was
fortunately some water in the tank. The U. S. M. T.
‘Orders were produced, and the engineer readily con-
sented to go anywhere, if the necessary fuel could be
212 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. .
had; whereupon the three chopped up sufficient fence-
rails and fallen timber to fill the tender, then got up
steam, and started south.
On the evening of October 8th, the party reached
Allatoona. Hood's attack had been made but three
days before, and everything was in confusion. All the
red tape belonging to the subsistence and ordnance
departments had gone down in the general wreck,
and the adjutant found it necessary to issue, with-
out the formality of a requisition, food, arms and
ammunition, to a squad of fifteen men belonging to
commands farther down the road, who attached them-
selves to him on learning his destination. The party
followed the railroad south, marching on foot. Night
overtook them about midway between Allatoona and
Big Shanty, where they went into bivouac, posting
pickets, and refraining from making fires, lest the
enemy might be lurking about. In the morning the
journey was resumed, and in due time all reached
their various regiments.
The railroad between Allatoona and Big Shanty, a
distance of fifteen miles, had been entirely destroyed
by the enemy. Every tie was burned, and every rail
twisted; the cuts in the road were filled with heavy
trees felled from the side of the road, and the wrecks
of many engines and cars, given to the flames after
their supplies had been removed to the enemy's wagon
trains.
A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS. 213
At Allatoona, the adjutant met some of his friends
of the 7th Illinois, and other regiments, among whom
was Captain M. R. Flint, General Corse's aide, from
whom he derived a vivid narrative of the bloody battle
which had been so lately fought.
214 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XXII.
ALLATOONA.
NHE enemy had passed
around Atlanta with the
intention of destroying
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and Fifteenth Illinois Veteran Battalions, of
the Fourth Division, Seventeenth Corps. The little
command made a vigorous resistance, but the enemy
was in strong force, and captured it almost bodily.
Somewhat farther south, guarding the water-tank,
a short distance from the base of Kenesaw Mountain,
was posted the 32d Illinois Regiment, of the same
division. The commander of this regiment, Major
Davidson, on hearing the first scattering shots of the
enemy's advance upon Big Shanty, formed his line,
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ALLATOONA. 215
threw out skirmishers, and pushed forward to learn
what the noise meant. He advanced within half a mile
of Big Shanty, when a heavy attack was made upon
his flank by a greatly superior force, dispersing his
men after a sharp conflict. Several of the skirmishers
were captured; among them Sergeant John M. Rice, a
young man of unusual intelligence. Rice was taken
at once before General Jackson, and sharply ques-
tioned respecting the position and character of the
troops farther up the road ; and, using his own
language, he “had hard work inventing lies fast
enough to answer the questions, and keep from self-
contradiction.” The General assured Rice that his
personal effects should be respected, but within ten
minutes after leaving the presence of that officer, he
was robbed of all the clothing he wore, receiving a
motley assortment of villainous “butternut,” in ex-
change. With other prisoners from his own regiment,
and those of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Illinois Bat-
talions, Rice was sent to Andersonville, and did not
regain his liberty until the close of the war.
From Big Shanty the enemy pressed northward, and
only halted when he arrived in front of Allatoona. At
that point were stored vast supplies of subsistence and
ammunition, indispensable to the existence of the
Union army. To Sherman the loss of this post meant
a disastrous ending to a hitherto successful campaign.
To Hood, its acquisition promised means for prose-
216 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
cuting offensive operations, and held out a hope for
the absolute ruin of his enemy.
Neither the movement nor its purpose escaped the
shrewd and ever-watchful Sherman ; he saw the one,
and divined the other. Hastening to Wining's Station,
from whose summit he could convey messages to Ken-
esaw, and thence to Allatoona, by the flags of his signal
corps, he instructed the commanding officer at the lat-
ter place to call General Corse from Rome to his assist-
ance. He also said: “If he (Hood) moves up
toward Allatoona, I will surely come in force.” By a
poetic license, some verse-maker twisted this message,
making it read, “Hold the fort, for I am coming !”
and wrote the hymn which goes by that title. Unlike
most popular songs, this one has never been followed
by an “answer.” Possibly the response of Corse, after
the battle, “I am short a cheek-bone and an ear, but
am able to whip all hell yet !” was not considered an
appropriate text.
The garrison at Allatoona was a brigade of three
small regiments, and a battery of field artillery, all
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Tourtelotte, of the
4th Minnesota Regiment. General Corse arrived from
Rome, during the night of October 4th, bringing with
him Colonel Dick Rowett's brigade of three fragmen-
tary veteran regiments, which increased the number of
the garrison to nearly two thousand men. The 7th
Illinois, of Rowett's brigade (his own regiment) was
ALLATOONA. 217
so important an acquisition to the defensive power of
the garrison, that its services can not be overestimated.
It was armed with the Henry rifle, a sixteen-shot maga-
zine gun ; and the rapidity and effectiveness of its fire
told fearfully upon the charging columns of the enemy
at various times during the action which followed.
Indeed, it is questionable whether the comparatively
slow fire of muzzle-loading guns would have been able
to cope with the dense masses of the enemy in their
desperate assaults. The moral influence of this fire-
arm was probably as great as its destructive power.
The enemy held it in great dread, speaking of it as
“a gun the Yanks loaded up on Sunday, and fired off
all the rest of the week.” The 7th had received these
arms only a few days before the battle, the men sup-
plying themselves, out of their own means, at a cost of
fifty-one dollars a gun, more than three months' pay.
Rowett's brigade might have been readily inter-
cepted by the enemy. The troops came by railroad,
in freight-cars; and their safe arrival at Allatoona was
only due to the fact that so few men were visible, that
the enemy supposed the train to be loaded with sup-
plies, and, confident of their ability to capture the
post, permitted it to run into the depot under the
protection of the forts. The train bearing the second
brigade of Corse's division ran off the track soon after
leaving Rome, and did not reach Allatoona until after
the battle. -
218 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
General Corse's command left the cars about two
o'clock in the morning, and at once formed line.
The enemy was even then within easy rifle range,
and kept up a spattering fire. Captain M. R. Flint,
of General Corse's staff, annoyed by the incessant.
zip-zip of the bullets, and anxious to be employed,
asked his chief whether it would not be advis-
able to carry the ammunition from the train into the
fort. The General was not apprehensive of serious
trouble, and did not think it necessary, but left the
matter to the discretion of his aide. Captain Flint at
once detailed a sufficient number of men, and carried
out his suggestion. The act was providential—it was
but a few hours before the ammunition was sorely
needed; its absence might have caused a great dis-
aster and changed the entire campaign.
Shortly after sunrise, on the morning of the memo-
rable 5th of October, General Sherman stood upon the
summit of Kenesaw Mountain, anxious for tidings.
from Allatoona. -
At the same moment General Corse and staff stood
at the signal station on Allatoona. By his side was
the signal officer, transmitting the message of his
commander. The flag fluttered to right and left,
22
slowly spelled out the words: “Corse is
At this moment, the enemy occupying the valley
below and to the south, discharged a battery of artil-
lery. A shell cut away the flag-staff in the hands of
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ALLATOONA. 221
its bearer, and the message was not completed. Before
a new flag could be procured, the mist, and smoke
rising from the enemy's batteries, spread an impene-
trable veil between Kenesaw and Allatoona. What
must have been Sherman's anxiety at Kenesaw
“Corse is —!”. What should have been the re-
mainder of the message? Was Corse at Allatoona, or
was he not? Was he living, or dead?
Allatoona Pass is a lofty hill cleft by the railroad.
The summit on either side was crowned with fort and
rifle-pits. Colonel Tourtelotte's brigade occupied that
On the east, General Corse's that on the west. At the
foot of the hill lay the warehouses with their immense
stores of supplies, upon which so much depended.
About eight o'clock, a flag of truce came in, bearing
the following letter:
AROUND ALLATOONA, Oct. 5th, 8. I5 A.M., 1864.
Commanding Officer, O. S. Forces, Allatoona.
Sir : I have placed the forces under my command in such positions
that you are surrounded, and, to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I
call upon you to surrender your forces at once, and unconditionally.
Five minutes will be allowed you to decide. -
Should you accede to this, you will be treated in the most honorable
manner as prisoners of war.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully yours,
S. G. FRENCH,
Major-General Commanding Forces C. S.
At this moment the enemy, not less than five
thousand in number, surrounded the little garrison on
three sides. Their columns, all prepared for the
charge, were in plain sight on the west; a strong
222 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
force was moving up the hill from the north; and the
batteries in the valley to the south were in position.
Corse was a man of small stature, but his every
pound of flesh and blood was that of a hero. His eye
flashed as if lighted with a Promethean spark; and
his chest swelled with angry defiance to the hideous
threat implied in the summons to surrender.
“Captain Flint,” said he, “answer this!”
Drawing from his pocket a small order-book, Cap-
tain Flint seated himself upon a tree-stump, and wrote
as follows, General Corse at once dictating, and direct-
ing the placing of his forces:
HEADQUARTERS FOURTH DIVISION, FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPs,
8.30 A.M., Oct. 5th, I864.
Major-Gen. S. G. French, C. S. A., etc.
Your communication demanding surrender of my command, I
acknowledge receipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for
“ the needless effusion of blood,” whenever it is agreeable to you.
I am, very respectfully, your Obdt. Sv't,
JoHN M. CORSE,
Brigadier-General Commanding Forces U. S.
The assault began at once—so soon indeed, that it
seemed as if the enemy did not await the return of
their flag of truce. The artillery on the south opened
a vigorous fire, and a small detachment endeavored to
scale the hill from the north. The latter force was
speedily covered with the rifles of the Unionists, and
found itself unable to advance or retreat.
The principal attack came from the west, Cockrell's
rebel brigade advancing up the hill toward the fort,
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ALLATOONA. 225
and assailing Rowett’s regiments with great vigor.
The latter made a spirited resistance, but the ex-
terior line of rifle-pits was entirely too long to be
held by so small a force, and the troops fell back, the
7th Illinois Regiment occupying the fort, while the
39th Iowa and 93rd Illinois regiments went into the -
interior line of rifle-pits immediately in front of it, and
upon the right. Colonel Rowett was slightly wounded
by a fragment of shell while retiring.
This position was charged by the enemy, in solid
column, seven different times. The first assault was
repulsed without great difficulty, and upwards of an
hour elapsed before the attempt was repeated, the
interval being occupied with incessant musketry
and artillery firing. The fort was poorly con-
structed, its weakest point being an opening at about
the center of the western face, the most exposed
portion of the work. Fortunately, a number of cotton
bales were at hand, and these were used to close the
gap. The cotton was repeatedly set on fire by shells,
making it necessary for a portion of the troops to
cease fighting, and smother the flames by rolling the
bales over and over.
It was during the slight lull in the battle that
General Corse fell, painfully but not dangerously
wounded.
In front and to the north of the fort was a house
which served as a vantage ground for the rebel sharp-
15
226 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
shooters, who had almost succeeded in silencing one
of the two pieces of artillery which bore upon their
lines. Several gunners had been killed at their post,
and the artillerists resorted to many methods of load-
ing the pieces with the least possible exposure. One,
while lying upon his back, under the gun, ramming
home a cartridge, was wounded in both hands. So
thick was the tempest of bullets that the gabions were
cut to pieces, releasing the earth, which had furnished
a slight protection. At length the one gun which
bore upon the house became useless. As was after-
ward learned, it was actually choked with a sawdust
cartridge furnished by some dastardly contractor.
The situation was perilous in the extreme. Calling
General Corse to the spot, Captain Flint indicated the
position of the sharpshooters, and the useless con-
dition of the piece of artillery, which he suggested
should be replaced with one from another face of the
fort. Corse rose on tip-toe to view the ground in
front, and while in this position a rifle-ball ploughed
along the right side of his face, carrying away a part
of his ear. Stunned by the shock, the gallant com-
mander fell into the arms of his aide, who seated him
upon an ammunition box in an interior corner of the
fort. Colonel Rowett, a no less gallant soldier than
his chief, at once succeeded to the command.
But Corse made wise dispositions before he fell.
The choked gun was replaced by a fresh piece, which
ALLATOONA. 227
did murderous execution; but this was only after
laborious effort amid soul-sickening scenes. Dead
and wounded men were strewn thick in the way to the
embrasure, and scores were laid aside as tenderly as
was possible before the task could be accomplished.
The General also dispatched his aide to ask reinforce-
ments from Colonel Tourtelotte, who, in the redoubt
on the east side of the railroad cut, was less seriously
engaged. The aide, having entered the place during
the night, was not aware that a footpath extended
across the cut from summit to summit; and he
made a perilous journey under fire, down one hill
and up the other, happily returning in safety, closely
followed by Colonel Hanna, with his 50th Illinois
Regiment, familiarly known as “The Blind Half-
Hundred.” This command, in moving across the rail-
road cut, encountered and dispersed a detachment of
the enemy engaged in an attempt to burn the supply
warehouses.
Many of the muskets were now so hot with rapid
firing that they were well-nigh useless; and ammu-
nition for the sixteen-shooters of the 7th Illinois
was becoming scarce. In this crisis, the defenders of
the fort were counted off in relays, one-half to fire at
a time, at Once saving ammunition and giving oppor-
tunity for the guns to cool somewhat. At one time an
officer gave the command to one of the relays, “Cease
firing!” The lion-hearted Corse, apparently insen-
228 MARCHING THROUGH - GEORGIA.
sible, heard the words, and thought them to mean
surrender. Rising to his feet with a bound, the
exertion causing the blood to flow afresh from his
wound, bathing his face with the crimson tide, he
thundered: “No surrender, by God! Hold Allatoona!”
Gallant soldier! Glorious hero! Well might
Sherman say, “I know Corse! So long as he lives
Allatoona is safe!” - -
But they were all such soldiers, such heroes!
There was no thought of surrender by Rowett and his
IſleIl. -
The enemy was about to make a desperate effort;
their preparations were plainly to be seen. The
Union troops with the ordinary muskets were directed
to fix bayonets to repel an encounter at close quarters;
the 7th Illinois to reload their sixteen-shooters and
reserve their fire for an opportune moment. The two
pieces of artillery had been silent for some time for
want of ammunition, but a brave man made the dan-
gerous journey across the railroad cut, swept by the
enemy's artillery, and returned with a box of can-
ister.
These dispositions were made none too soon, for the
enemy was already advancing to the charge. Night
was coming on and Sherman would soon be thunder-
ing upon their heels. Allatoona must fall now or
never. Fired with the energy of desperation, the
rebel columns came on, and as they neared the works
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ALLATOONA. 231
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the two pieces of artillery, doubly charged, fired their
deadly contents full in their face, while the troops
poured into them a storm of bullets. At this critical
moment, General Corse shouted with a voice of uncon-
querable determination, “No surrender! Officers,
draw your revolvers! No Libby prison in ours!”
The enemy’s columns halted, shivered for an
instant under the pitiless storm, and then fled.
About the same moment Colonel Rowett fell with his
second wound, a rifle-ball plowing a deep groove
through the very crown of his skull, but his pluck
was great, and he soon rallied.
The gallant commander, and his equally brave and
determined second, were both wounded. But there
was little need of commander now ; the enemy was
in retreat, and Allatoona was safe.
During this bitter contest, Lieutenant-Colonel
Tourtelotte, with the 4th Minnesota and 18th Wiscon-
sin regiments, and a two gun battery, held the redoubt
on the east side of the railroad cut. He was able,
however, to repulse the attack of the enemy without
great difficulty, and afterward rendered material assist-
ance to the defenders of the western redoubt, cover-
ing their flank with his artillery, and sending them
reinforcements at a critical time. The gallant Colonel,
however, suffered a serious wound.
French left behind him two hundred and thirty-
one dead and four hundred and eleven wounded and
232 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
prisoners. Corse's command lost seven hundred and
seven men—more than one-third the entire force.
On the night following, a soldier of the 7th Illinois
Regiment, Sergeant-Major Flint, by the flickering
light of the camp fire, wrote the following stirring
lines:
Winds that sweep the southern mountains
And the leafy river's shore,
Bear ye not a prouder burden
Than ye ever learned before ?
And the hot blood fills
The heart until it thrills
At the story of the terror, and the glory of the battle
Of the Allatoona hills.
Echoes from the purple mountains
To the dull surrounding shore;
'Tis as sad and proud a burden
As ye ever learned before!
How they fell like grass
When the mowers pass,
And the dying, when the foe was flying, swelled the cheering
Of the heroes of the Pass.
Sweep it o'er the hills of Georgia
To the mountains of the North;
Teach the coward and the doubter
What the blood of man is worth.
Hail the flag you pass! .
Let its stained and tattered mass
Tell the story of the terror, and the glory of the battle
Of the Allatoona Pass. *
General Sherman was so highly pleased with the
defense of Allatoona that he issued a general order as
follows:
“The General commanding avails himself of the
*From History of 7th Illinois Regiment.—Ambrose.
ALLATOONA. 233
*,
opportunity, in the handsome defense made of Alla-
toona, to illustrate the most important principle in
war, that fortified posts should be defended to the
last, regardless of the relative numbers of the party
attacking and attacked. The thanks of this army are:
due, and are hereby accorded to General Corse, Colo-
nel Tourtelotte, Colonel Rowett, officers and men, for
their determined and gallant defense of Allatoona, and
it is made an example to illustrate the importance of
preparing in time, and meeting the danger, when
present, boldly, manfully and well.
“Commanders and garrisons of the posts along our
railroad are hereby instructed that they must hold
their posts to the last minute, sure that the time
gained is valuable and necessary to their comrades at
the front.”
[NotE.—The author is aware that General Sherman states in his
“Memoirs,” that he received General Corse's signal message in full.
But General Corse and his aide are positive that the message was
interrupted as stated at pages 218–219.j
234 MAl:CHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
3. CHAPTER XXIII.
A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS.
N the action at Allatoona fell
Dudley Atchison, a private
of the 7th Illinois Regi-
ment. This gallant young
soldier, in the full vigor of
early manhood, and with all
the enthusiasm of youth,
was not surpassed by any of the heroic
band in cool courage and steady determination. He
fell in the very heat of the action, pierced by two
deadly bullets — one entered his forehead, lodging
within the skull ; the other passed in above the left
ear, and made its exit over the left eye.
But death did not come at once to the gallant lad,
For many hours after the battle was over, he lingered
in agony, lovingly ministered to by a comrade and
kinsman who scarcely left his side. Not a single
complaint was uttered by the dying soldier. He
answered all questions addressed to him, sometimes
rationally, at others, in a careless manner which indi-
cated that his mind was wandering. He spoke of his

A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS. 235
comrades who were dead or wounded, and when asked
as to himself, said that he was “all right.” He
inquired of the comrade who sat by his side, whether
Howell or Howe was attending him, referring to the
old family physicians. Then he thought himself to be
at home, surrounded by parents, brothers and sisters ;
and frequently called for his favorite brother “ Aleck,”
who had fallen more than a year before at Wicksburg.
At last, death gave him merciful release from his
sufferings, and the same comrade who had ministered
to him so devotedly, hollowed out a grave on the sum-
mit of blood-stained Allatoona, and laid him tenderly
away, wrapped in his army blanket, side by side with a
kinsman whose life went out in the same heroic strug-
gle, and there the bones of the patriotic lads rest to
this day.
The spirit of the men of that period may be dis-
cerned in the words of a brother of the fallen soldier,
a comrade in the same company, who, in a touching
letter to his parents, said: “The cause is worthy of
the great sacrifice.” And the dead lad's commander
wrote to the heart-broken mother : “He died nobly
in the line of duty. He was a brave, obedient and
efficient soldier.”
“Aleck,” the brother to whom the dying boy
referred in his moments of delirium, was a lieutenant
in the 97th Illinois Regiment. It was during the siege
of Wicksburg that this young officer, temporarily in
236 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
command of his company, led it in a gallant but
ineffectual charge upon the enemy. He fell, at his
post of duty, with a ball through the brain.
To noble soldierly character he added high moral
qualities, which commanded the respect of all about
him. Without being in any sense inclined to cant (in-
deed, he made no pretensions to being religious within
the ordinary meaning of the word), he was, both in
word and deed, an example of true manliness. Without
moral blemish himself, his conduct was a wholesome
restraint upon those of his comrades who were inclined
to excesses; while, upon occasions when he deemed it
expedient, he would drop a word of admonition or
reproof, but with so much unaffected sincerity, and
kindly personal interest, that it could not be taken
amiss. At one time he said : “Boys! Let us be
guilty of no conduct that we would blush to have our
mothers and sisters know !”
This gallant young officer was held in such high
esteem by his company, that its members made up a
purse and erected over his grave a handsome monu-
ment. Among the devices borne thereon were the
unfurled national flag, and an officer's sword ; while
suitable inscriptions told the story of his death, and
summed up his virtues as a soldier and a man. His
remains were interred at his boyhood's home, before
the war closed, in the presence of a large and deeply
affected assemblage of neighbors and friends. The
A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS. 237
clergyman pronounced a suitable discourse ; and an
old, gray-headed man, an ardent unionist, and a life-
long friend of the family, brought from his home a
handsome national flag, and wrapped it about the
burial-casket, and buried it with him.
The aged father of these noble lads early enlisted
as a private in the 7th Illinois Regiment, and, about a
year afterward, was discharged from the service on
account of disability.
Soon after his son “Aleck” had fallen in front of
Wicksburg, the sorrowing parent visited the army then
besieging that place, in order to recover the body of
his son. Seeking the regiment to which the young
man had belonged, he lost his way among the numer-
ous roads made for the passage of wagon trains to the
various portions of the army. Presently he came to a
number of tents without flag or guard, where sat a
middle-aged man, wearing what appeared to be the
blouse of a common soldier. The old man addressed
him, stating his errand, and naming the regiment he
sought. The man in the blouse rose from his camp
chair, walked with him some distance, pointed to the
proper road, bade him a kindly good-day, and then
returned to his quarters.
“Who is that ?” asked the old man of a soldier
who stood by.
“That's General Grant l” was the answer.
That a great general, his mind burdened with the
238 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
plans and anxieties of a mighty military movement,
could so simply and unaffectedly enter into sympathy
with a plain old man, and assist him to do the last sad
duties for the remains of one poor fallen soldier, is of
more than passing interest. To this day, General
Grant is enshrined in the hearts of that aged man and
the sorrow-stricken mother, as one to be loved as well
as honored.
This family gave to the country, sire and sons, four
in number, every male of arms-bearing age, two of
whom found soldiers' graves. Yet it is but a repre-
sentative of thousands of homes throughout the land,
equally rich in patriotic zeal, and equally lavish in
the sacrifice of patriotic blood.
ON THE BACK TRACK. 239
CHAPTER XXIV.
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the garrison, and over his own name said, “If the
place is carried by assault, no prisoners will be
taken.” This fiendish threat failed to intimidate the
gallant commander, Colonel Weaver, who answered :
“I am surprised at the concluding paragraph, to the
effect, that, “if the place is carried by assault, no prison-
ers will be taken.” In my opinion, I can hold this
post. If you want it, come and take it!”
This heroic defiance was in itself a victory. Hood
made no attempt upon the post, but continued up the
railroad, destroying most of the track, and all the





















240 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
bridges, almost as far as Chattanooga. Besides this
damage, he burned about twenty locomotives, and
hundreds of cars loaded with subsistence stores and
ammunition. So thorough was the work of destruction,
that the federal garrison at Atlanta was completely
isolated for nearly a month. The writer's journal notes.
that the first train from the north, after the grand raid,
did not arrive until October 29th.
As soon as Hood began his movement, Sherman.
left the Twentieth Corps to garrison Atlanta, and with
the remainder of his army, depleted by casualty and
discharge to less than fifty thousand, started north
after him. On land as well as at sea, “a stern chase is.
always a long chase,” and the troops, seemingly
engaged in a hopeless undertaking, were consumed with
anxiety. It is not difficult, now, to discern that even
in the early stages of the pursuit, Sherman was paving
the way for the famous “March to the Sea.” He had
telegraphed General Grant that “it would be a physi-
cal impossibility to protect the roads now that Hood,
Forrest, Wheeler, and the whole batch of devils, were
turned loose, without home or habitation,” and asked
permission to make the march to Savannah, promising
to “make Georgia howl!”
But the army was without newspapers or letters,
and the General did not take the men into his confi-
dence. Their only information was derived, or in-
ferred, from what they could actually see; and, under
ON THE BACK TRACK. 241
the circumstances, the outlook was anything but en-
couraging. What did it all mean? They were leaving
behind them the territory that had been conquered.
They were marching North, and their enemy was
between them and the Ohio river. Would Hood run
over Thomas, at Nashville, or pass around him, and
cross the stream, before they could overtake him 2
Were the plains of Ohio, and the prairies of Illinois,
to become battle-fields? Were the homes of the Union
soldiers to be devastated, as had been those of Georgia
and Virginia º Had Grant been defeated before
Richmond 2 Was a part of Lee's victorious army
following close upon Sherman's heels Would the
rebellion prove successful after all, and had the
trail of patriot blood from Cairo to Atlanta been made
in vain Such were the gloomy thoughts which
filled the minds of the travel-worn and half-starved
troops during that apparently hopeless and purpose-
less march.
October 13th, the Army of the Tennessee passed
through Rome. The region was rich in all kinds of
supplies, and for a few days the soldiers were again
well fed. -
It was in this neighborhood that General T. E. G.
Ransom died. This gallant young officer was tempor-
arily commanding the Seventeenth Corps, in the absence
of General Frank P. Blair. Although stricken with
disease, yet he insisted upon accompanying his com-
I6
242 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
mand. The jolting of the ambulance caused him so
much pain, that it became necessary to carry him
upon a litter, and he almost died in the arms of his
men; those who bore him, when they discovered that
death was so near, having barely time to halt, and
place the wounded general on a bed in a farm-house,
before he breathed his last.
October 21st, the army reached Gaylesville, Ala-
bama, where the pursuit of Hood ceased.
It was near this place that General Sherman
received from General Grant permission to march to
the sea, together with a hopeful, encouraging letter
from President Lincoln; and he immediately perfected
his masterly plans, for the campaigns of two great and
widely separated commands. While reorganizing his
own immediate army at Atlanta, he was also directing
a similar effort at Nashville. The mission of the one
was to annihilate the war-supporting resources of the
“Confederacy;” that of the other, to make possible
the mission, by drawing away the only enemy which
was to be dreaded. How completely successful were
these great and brilliant plans, history records. But
the troops, through whose effort success was achieved,
were in utter ignorance of these designs, and the
momentous results which depended upon them. Yet,
with earnest fidelity to the cause, and unshaken
confidence in their commander, they cheerfully devoted
themselves to the new and unknown task set before
them.
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STRIPPING TO THE BUFF, 245
-*. CHAPTER XXV.
STRIPPING TO THE BUFF,
sº VENTS during the last week in Octo-
º ber, and the first ten days in
November, 1864, were stirring
enough. The railroad, which
had been completely wrecked
by the enemy, was repaired
from Chattanooga to Atlanta,
where the bulk of Sherman’s army was assembling.
Every train going north was loaded to its utmost
capacity with the wounded and infirm; with surplus
artillery, and, in fact, almost everything that the men
could not carry upon their backs. Returning trains
brought only the most needed articles—hard bread,
pork, coffee, sugar, and ammunition. It was evident
even to those in the ranks that some important, if not
desperate, undertaking was at hand. The acute-
ness of their perception and correctness of conclusion
were surprising. The destination of the army was
either east, to attack Lee, or south, to the coast. This
was settling the matter almost as definitely as the


24 (5 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
General himself could, for he has said, since the war
closed, that at the time he had two or three alterna-
tives continually in mind.
The army was now thoroughly reorganized for a
new campaign. The Fourth Corps and Twenty-third
Corps had been sent northward to assist General
Thomas in disposing of Hood. General Sherman’s
immediate army now consisted of four corps, viz.:
Fifteenth, temporarily commanded by General Oster-
haus; Seventeenth, General Frank P. Blair ; Four-
teenth, General Jeff C. Davis ; Twentieth, General A.
S. Williams. General Dodge having gone North on
account of wounds, the Sixteenth Corps was broken up,
its two divisions being assigned to the Fifteenth and
Seventeenth Corps. The army was divided into two
wings, the right wing, commanded by General How-
ard, and the left wing commanded by General Slocum.
The infantry numbered fifty-two thousand. In addi-
tion, there was a cavalry force of five thousand men
under General Kilpatrick, and about fifty pieces of
artillery. The grand total was a trifle under sixty
thousand men.
While the work of reorganization was going on, the
paymasters were busy with their task. There were
many months’ arrearages due the troops, the unusual
activity of the campaign preventing disbursements at
the regular intervals of two months. Payment might
as well have been postponed, for the army had little
STRIPPING TO THE BUFF. 247
use for money. There were no merchants in the
vicinity, and the rapid movements of the army had
made the war-risk of the sutler so hazardous that he
had retired from business many months before.
The most exciting incident of the day was the presi-
dential election. Most of the States sent to the army
sworn commissioners to receive the ballots of those
soldiers who would have been entitled to vote if at
home. The Illinois troops, however, were debarred
this privilege, an anti-war legislature of their State
having refused to make the necessary provision. The
indignation of the disfranchised troops was intense;
and there are yet living thousands of men who will
never outlive their contempt and hatred for the politi-
cal tricksters who put such a wrong upon them. The
Illinois regiments, however, appointed judges, and took
informal votes, merely by way of expressing their sen-
timents. In the 32d Regiment, the vote was recorded
as two hundred and six for Lincoln, and fifty-eight for
McClellan. The McClellan vote in this instance was
unusually large, as compared with that in neighboring
regiments; and the Iowa troops, who were almost
unanimously Lincoln men, viewed the result with con-
siderable contempt. In this canvass throughout the
army, there was no political feeling, in the ordinary
sense of the word. Very many of the soldiers who
voted for Lincoln were known to be Democrats ; but
they recognized the fact that his reëlection meant an
248 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
earnest prosecution of the war, while there was no
assurance of good results coming out of the so-called
“peace policy.”
The same day, November 8th, General Sherman
sent out Special Field Order No. 119, which was as
follows:
[Special Field Orders, No. 119.]
HEADQUARTERS, MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
IN THE FIELD, KINGSTON, GEORGIA, November 8, 1864.
The General commanding deems it proper at this time to inform the
officers and men of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twen-
tieth Corps, that he has organized them into an army, for a special pur-
pose, welſ known to the War Department and General Grant. It is
sufficient for you to know that it involves a departure from our present
base, and a long and difficult march to a new one. All the chances of
war have been considered and provided for, as far as human sagacity
can. All he asks of you is to maintain that discipline, patience and cour-
age which have characterized you in the past ; and he hopes, through
you, to strike a blow at our enemy that will have a material effect in pro-
ducing what we all so much desire, his complete overthrow. Of all
things, the most important is, that the men, during marches and in
camp, keep their places and do not scatter about as stragglers or for-
agers, to be picked up by a hostile people in detail. It is also of the
utmost importance that our wagons should not be loaded with anything
but provisions and ammunition. All surplus servants, non-combatants
and refugees, should now go to the rear, and none should be encouraged
to encumber us on the march. At some future time we will be able to
provide for the poor whites and blacks who seek to escape the bondage
under which they are now suffering. With these few simple cautions, he
hopes to lead you to achievements equal in importance to those of the
past.
By order of Major-General W. T. SHERMAN.
L. M. DAYTON, A. D. C.
Accompanying this was Special Field Order, No.
120, containing directions for the march. These were,
in brief, as follows:
STRIPPING TO THE BUFF. 249
1. The habitual order of march, whenever practicable, to be by four
roads, as nearly parallel as possible, and converging at points to be indi-
cated from time to time.
2. Each corps to have its own ammunition and provision trains.
The separate columns of troops to start habitually at 7 o'clock in the
morning, and make about fifteen miles per day, unless otherwise
ordered.
3. The army to forage liberally on the country. Each brigade com-
mander to organize a good and sufficient foraging party, under the com-
mand of one or more discreet officers, who will gather, near the route
traveled, corn or forage of any kind, meat of any kind, vegetables, corn-
meal, or whatever is needed, aiming at all times to keep in the wagons
at least ten days' provisions for his command, and three days' forage.
Soldiers not to enter the dwellings of the inhabitants, or commit any
trespass ; but during a halt, or in a camp, to be permitted to gather tur-
nips, potatoes and other vegetables, and to drive in stock within sight.
The regular foraging parties to be intrusted with the gathering of pro-
visions and forage, at any distance from the road traveled.
4. To corps commanders alone is intrusted the power to destroy
mills, houses, cotton-gins, etc., and for them this general principle is
laid down. In districts and neighborhoods where the army is unmo-
lested, no destruction of such property should be permitted ; but should
guerrillas or bushwhackers molest the march, or should the inhabitants
burn bridges, obstruct roads, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then
commanders should order and enforce a devastation more or less relent-
less, according to the measure of such hostility.
5. Horses, mules and wagons belonging to the inhabitants, to be
appropriated freely and without limit by cavalry and artillery; discrimi-
nating, however, between the rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor
and industrious, usually neutral or friendly. Foraging parties may also
take mules and horses to replace the jaded animals of their trains, or to
serve as pack-mules. In foraging of all kinds, the parties engaged will
refrain from abusive or threatening language ; and may, when the officer
in command thinks proper, give certificates, but not receipts, and they
will endeavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for their
maintenance.
Many of the troops neither saw nor heard of these
orders until after the march had actually commenced ;
many more did not hear of them at all, in an official
250 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
way. Army operations did not admit of the perform-
ance of the clerical work necessary to furnish so many
copies of these papers as were needed ; or, of holding
dress-parades, which offered the only opportunity for-
promulgating orders meant for the mass of the army.
“THE LAST LINK IS BROKEN.” 251.
CHAPTER XXVI.
“THE LAST LINK Is BROKEN.”
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OVEMBER 8th was an event-
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3:. A "**** A veteran regiment occupied the
old railroad eating-house known as “Big
Shanty,” a short distance from the base of Kenesaw
Mountain. The building was enclosed by a stout
stockade, pierced for musketry. Vivid recollections
of scenes at this and similar posts will come back to
many old comrades—evenings of sport, followed by
midnight alarms which called them out to meet real
or imagined foes.
That night, a merry party of soldiers gathered in
' which served as the
adjutant's office. He shared his quarters with the
an upper room of the “Shanty,’











. 252 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
post telegraph operator, whose instruments were on
an improvised table. Outside, a severe storm raged,
the rain descending in torrents; within, the fun grew
fast and furious. The boys—there is no such fitting
word to name those dear old comrades of years ago—
were indulging in the amusement of a “stag-dance,”
and when the word came to “swing partners,” the
“gentleman’’ grasped the fingers of the one with a
piece of cloth tied about his arm, to designate him as
a “lady.” The figures of the dance were accom-
panied with the melancholy thrumming of an old
banjo in the hands of colored “Jerry,” the mess-
cook, who had unceremoniously left his master to
enter upon a life of freedom. “Jerry,” by the way,
followed his new-found masters North, after the war
ended, went to school for a time, and finally en-
gaged in “preaching,” the highest earthly ambition of
the male contraband of those days. Three years ago,
he was pastor of a colored church in one of the principal
cities in Illinois, and wore a broadcloth coat and a silk
hat. At that time, he attended a reunion of the sur-
vivors of the old army mess, for which he once baked
the succulent yam, and brewed the inspiring coffee.
The old mess, reunited so far as death and distance
would permit, was made up of professional men who
were accustomed to a reasonable degree of good-living
and “form.” In the army, they had all served in the
ranks, eventually winning commissions; and one of
“THE LAST LINK IS BROKEN.” 253
their number, in the early days, was greatly disturbed
to find that the army was “fighting to free niggers 1”
But so strong was the feeling of companionship,
growing out of old army associations, that “the Rev-
erend Jerry,” as he was called, was asked to say
grace, and took his share of the table, and the conver-
sation, in cordial friendliness with his white comrades.
But to return to Big Shanty-while the sport was
at its height, the telegraph operator called a halt, and
handed to the adjutant the following dispatch which
he had just received:
Commanding Officers of all Posts.
This is the rain I have been awaiting so long. As soon as it is
over, we'll be off.
W. T. SHERMAN.
The orders for the great march, quoted in the pre-
ceding chapter, had not reached the merry-makers at
Big Shanty, whose regiment was temporarily detached
from its brigade. Yet the message was readily under-
stood. Hood was so far north that it would be impos-
sible for him to return. There were many large and
greatly-swollen rivers between him and Sherman,
and his pontoon-train was known to be well-nigh use-
less. Besides, any movement he might make south-
ward, would bring Thomas' hardy veterans close upon
his heels. He could no longer disturb this army, and
Sherman need only care for what new enemy he might
find in his front, and on his flanks.
254 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
During the next three days, the railroad was pushed
to its utmost capacity, trains bringing in supplies
from the North, and returning loaded with surplus
artillery, sick and wounded. Late in the evening of
November 12th, the last train bound North rolled past
Big Shanty. It would have been a windfall for the
enemy. It carried many officers who had resigned,
and soldiers whose terms of service had expired.
Large sums of money were committed to them by
their comrades, for delivery to families or friends at
home. One, a surgeon, had not less than twelve
thousand dollars in his valise, enclosed in ordinary i
envelopes endorsed with the amount and the name of
the person for whom it was intended. Fortunately,
no accident befell the train; but it was more than
two months before this was known to the men who
trusted so much to uncertain fate.
The passing by of this train awoke strange sensa-
tions. Hearty cheers and “God bless you’’ came
from scores of the homeward bound; as hearty cheers
and fervent “Good-byes” from those left behind.
But the brave words of both belied their hearts.
The former gave an encouragement which was tinged
with a feeling of dread; the latter felt an anxiety
their shouts did not reveal. The departing train was
the sundering of the last link connecting them with
country and home. They were about to march out in-
to a great unknown. It was as a voyage upon untried
“THE LAST LINK Is BROKEN.” 255
waters, beyond which might lie no shore. They knew
not what course they were to pursue, what dangers
they were to meet, what enemies were to oppose them.
They expected battle, but what its issue would be,
none could foretell. Those who might fall would
leave their bones in a strange and unfriendly land
forever. Then thought recurred to wife, mother,
sister or sweetheart at home. What would be their
fearful anxieties? -
A half-hour after the train was out of sight, the
various troops along the road were set to work
destroying the railroad, and by midnight a glare of
light reaching from Atlanta as far northward as the
eye could reach, revealed the thoroughness of their
work. A regiment would scatter along one side of
the road, each man picking up the end of a tie, then
at the word of command, all would throw the ties end
over end, the fall breaking the rails loose. Then ties
and telegraph poles were piled up and fired, and the
rails thrown across them. The latter were soon red-
hot in the middle, and the men would pick them up
and wrap them around trees, or twist them with cant-
hooks into a corkscrew pattern which it was impos-
isible to straighten. In many instances a dozen iron
rails were twisted around a tree or a telegraph-pole.
The men worked with a will, seeming to take a savage
delight in destroying everything that could by any
possibility be made use of by their enemies. They
256 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
attained great proficiency in these methods; and after
this fashion they absolutely destroyed three-fourths of
the railroad between Chattanooga and Atlanta before
beginning the great march; and, afterward, every mile
of track they encountered from Atlanta to Savannah.
These were the scenes transpiring as far north
as Sherman’s army extended. Each detachment, im-
mediately upon accomplishing the work in its own
vicinity, marched rapidly toward Atlanta. On the
night of the 14th, the troops occupying Big Shanty
set the torch to building and stockade, and followed
the remainder of the army. There was now not a
federal soldier between Atlanta and Chattanooga, and
the hills and plains, which had lately echoed the fear-
ful din of artillery and musketry, and had been alive
with masses of fiercely contending human beings,
were as still and desolate as if a demon of destruction
had passed over.
But there were monuments testifying to the fearful
struggle—trees riven by cannon shot, and broken-
down caissons. Here, there, and everywhere, were
graves of those who wore the blue and those who wore
the gray, each surmounted by a board upon which were
rudely cut by knives of comrades, the name, company
and regiment of him who lay beneath. But amid all
the graves, not a single epitaph ! There was no
time for sentiment, and death's work had no novelty
here.
“THE LAST LINK IS BROKEN.” 257
On the night of November 15th, the torch was
applied to the railroad shops, foundries, and every
one of the many buildings that had been used in
fitting out the armies of the enemy in this vast
“workshop of the confederacy,” as Atlanta was
called. The flames spread rapidly, and when morning
came, it is doubtful whether there were a score of
buildings remaining in the city, except in the very
outskirts. Sherman had determined to render the
place utterly incapable of any more service to the
enemy, and with this end in view all the inhabitants
had been removed weeks before.
The Twentieth Corps, which had garrisoned Atlanta
while the remainder of the army was pursuing Hood
northward, were the last to leave the city, and
as they marched out, the fine silver band of the
33rd Massachusetts — who that ever heard it, will
ever cease to remember its glorious harmonies 2–
played “John Brown.” The men took up the words
wedded to the music, and, high above the roaring
flames, above the crash of falling walls, above the
fierce crackling of thousands of small arm cartridges
in the burning buildings, rose the triumphant refrain,
“His truth is marching on 1”
For picturesqueness and suggestiveness, the scene
was one never to be forgotten.
17
258 MARCHING THROUGH G|EORGIA.
CHAPTER XXVII.
ON THE MARCH.
HE army was now fairly out
of Atlanta and on its
way to the sea. It was
ºfºº
a remarkable body of
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again.
Sixty thousand in round numbers—it was an army
of veterans, who had served an apprenticeship of more
than three years at their profession, and learned
nearly all that was worth knowing, at least far more
than their generals knew three years before. Their
brilliant achievements had already gone into history,
furnishing themes for poet and scenes for painter.
Their calendar contained scarcely a day that did
not commemorate some more or less important battle,
skirmish, or march. Each regiment had been re-









ON THE MARCH. 259
duced by the casualties of constant service to less
than one - third its numerical strength at the out-
set. He was a fortunate colonel who had three hun-
dred men remaining out of the round thousand he
enlisted at home; thirty men made far more than an
average company; there were many which mustered
less than a score. A brigade did not parade a longer
line than did one of its regiments when it went into
service. &
This army of veterans was also an army of boys.
The old men and the big men had been very generally
worn out and sent home or to the hospital. It was
the “little devils” (as Sherman once called them in
the hearing of the writer) who remained, and could
always be depended upon to carry their load, march
all day, and be ready for a frolic when they went into
bivouac at night. Very many of them, notwithstand-
ing three years of soldiering, were not old enough to
vote. Many a regimental commander was not thirty
years of age; and the majority of line and staff officers
lacked a great deal of this advanced age. But they
had been in the service from the beginning, and what
they did not know about campaigning was not worth
inquiring into. Each soldier was practically a picked
man. Such had been the ratio of casualties that he
may be said to have been the sole survivor of four
men who had set out from Cairo in 1861; all but he
having succumbed to disease or death. He had in-
260 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
herited all their experience and added it to his own.
He was fertile of resources, and his self-confidence
was unbounded. His careless, swinging gait when on
the march was the impersonation of a determination
2
to “get there,” although he knew absolutely nothing
of his destination. Of that he was careless. His
confidence in the long-headedness of “the old man’”
(General Sherman) was such that he did not dis-
turb himself on that score. He was heading south
instead of north, and this was ample assurance that
Thomas was taking care of Hood, and that Grant
was “holding Lee down.” He went into action as
unconcernedly as he took the road in the morning
for a day's march; or, if not ordered into the con-
flict, he would sit on a fence, or lie down in the
road, the image of peaceful contentment, within hear-
ing of a fierce engagement, apparently wholly indif-
ferent as to the result. On the skirmish line he
frequently advanced without orders, and never fell
back until so commanded, unless it was beyond human
endurance to remain. He gloried in his strength, and
believed that no effort or hardship was too great. He
waded swamps, made corduroy roads, and pulled
wagons and cannon out of ruts from which the bottom
had seemingly dropped. But there was one thing he
did not know, that in all this magnificent effort he was
making immense drafts against his reserve energy,
and that the day was sure to come when he would
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ON THE MARCH. : 263
find himself far older than his years by reason
thereof. * .
This army, which had been marching light from
Chattanooga to Atlanta, was now simply reduced to
what it had on, and that was not much. It would have
made a magnificent tableau for a “Beggars' Opera”
on a stupendous scale. What few tents had been
smuggled as far south as Atlanta were now entirely
discarded, and only a few “flies” for the various
headquarters, and one to each regiment to shelter the
field-desks of the adjutant and quartermaster, were
retained. A little furniture was supposed to be
... " necessary to the last named officers, but they gene-
rally reduced this in about the same proportion as
everything else. The greater part of their “office"
was carried in breast-pocket and saddle-bags, making
more room under the “fly” for comrades who would
otherwise have been entirely shelterless. The “fly.”
was a fair cover in fine weather, when shelter was not
needed; but, being open at both ends, it was a sorry
makeshift in a rain storm. Each soldier was supposed
to carry half of a shelter-tent, which, combined with
the counterpart carried by a comrade, made reasonable
protection for two, but many of the men regarded them
with contempt. The average soldier cared only for a
blanket, and this he carried in a roll, swung over his
shoulder, the ends being tied together, meeting under
the opposite arm. A majority of the men discarded
264 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
knapsacks altogether; those who yet clung to them
carried only a shirt and a pair or two of socks. Each
soldier had forty rounds of ammunition in his cart-
ridge-box and one hundred and sixty more elsewhere
upon his person. His cooking utensils were a tin oyster
can, in which to make his coffee, and some times one-
half of a canteen to serve as a skillet, or frying-pan.
His haversack contained a liberal amount of coffee,
sugar and salt, a very small fragment of salt pork, and
three days’ rations of hard bread. This supply was
habitually to last him ten days. It was expected that
he would “skirmish 'round” and levy upon the country
for such food as would be a fair equivalent for that
large fraction of the army rations of which he was
necessarily deprived. It is a matter of record that,
without a single known exception, he was equal to the
task, and proved to be such an excellent provider, that
when he reached the sea he was in better flesh and
spirits than when he left Chattanooga. During the
greater part of the march, he subsisted mainly upon
sweet potatoes and fresh beef and pork, the former
baked in the ashes and the latter broiled upon the red
embers of a wood fire, or held in the flame on the end
of a ramrod, making a very toothsome meal. But
even that grew somewhat monotonous after a time.
The soldier's outfit was not complete without a
“deck” of cards, and these were carried in the pocket
so as to be convenient at any halt on the road. Fre-
ON THE MARCH. 265
quent thumbing had so worn these treasured paste-
boards, that in many instances it was an absolute
impossibility for one to tell what card he held, if so
be he took a hand with a party having a “deck” with
which he was unacquainted. It is to be hoped the
moralist will not grudge the “boys” the amusement
they derived from the game. There were no news-
papers, no circulating libraries, no Y. M. C. A., not
even a tract in that desolate region.
To sum up, no army ever marched with less im-
pedimenta, and none adapted itself so completely or
cheerfully to its conditions.
The army marched in four columns, the various
corps pursuing parallel roads. These columns were
sometimes five, sometimes fifteen miles apart. Their
combined front was from forty to sixty miles, for by
day the skirmishers and flankers of each corps spread
out until they met those of the corps next to them on
either side, so that if anything unusual happened
in any portion of the army, information was almost
immediately given to the other commands. By night
the positions of the various columns could generally
be distinguished from their fires.
In front of each corps marched a regiment of
cavalry or mounted infantry. Frequently these troops,
with the aid of the infantry brigade at the head of the
column, were able to brush aside the enemy without
much trouble, and without halting the main column;
266 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
and it was only when crossing a stream, where the
passage was contested, that anything like a general
line of battle was formed. Each brigade in the
column took its turn in the advance, and likewise each
regiment in the brigade. A cavalry brigade under
the dashing Kilpatrick, with a few light guns, moved
on this flank or that, as the emergency required.
The itinerary of the march of the Seventeenth
Corps (whose movements this narrative mainly fol-
lows) shows the distance traveled between Atlanta and
Savannah to have been two hundred and ninety-five
miles. The crow's flight would make it much shorter,
but he would not make so many flank movements
or circuitous routes. The actual march consumed
eighteen days. Nine days were spent in crossing
streams where the passage was contested, or waiting
for supporting columns. The army reached the
defenses in front of Savannah, December 10th, but did
not gain an entrance to the city until nearly two
weeks later.
GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 267
CHAPTER XXVIII.
GENESIS OF THE BUMMER.
| ".
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| ovember 15th
the first day out
of Atlanta, the
Seventeen th
º
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* gº sº fifteen miles,
sº completing that stage of the journey
early in the afternoon, and devoting the remainder of
the day to destroying the railroad. The Fifteenth
Corps pursued a parallel road to the right ; and,
still farther in that direction, on separate roads, were
the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps. The next day
the columns marched sixteen miles, and resumed the
work of railroad wrecking. On the 17th, twenty miles
more were left to the rear, and the troops bivouacked
on the banks of the beautiful Cahawba.
This was a section of country which the war had
not disturbed until this moment. It was literally a
land overflowing with milk and honey, and well was it













268 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
for the army that such was the case. The three
days’ rations of hard tack which the men had placed
in their haversacks were already exhausted, and there
was no assurance that more would be issued from the
commissary train for seven days to come; indeed,
there was every reason to believe that there would
not be such an issue.
The emergency produced the forager, commonly
known as “the Bummer.” He was not a development;
he was a creation; and no history of this most roman-
tic and frolicsome of campaigns can be complete
without recognizing the personality and character-
istics of this unique type of the army.
The Bummer had abundant warrant for his being.
Sherman had given him a personality, and specified
his duties; but certainly no one could have been more
surprised than the General himself, to see the apti-
tude of this creature for his task, and the originality
of his methods.
Under general orders for subsisting the army upon
the country, as far as possible, regular foraging par-
ties, properly officered, scoured every road on the
flanks of each column, gathering horses and mules
from the plantations to replace those which had given
out on the march, together with grain and hay for
the animals, and meat, meal, etc., for the troops.
These supplies were turned over to the commissary
and quartermaster's departments, for issue in the reg-
GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 269
ular way. The result might have been foreseen.
There was general dissatisfaction, for there were not
enough hams, or chickens, or syrup, for all. Those
who were obliged to put up with side-meat were filled
with indignation ; and, under color of the license
given by Sherman’s orders, every regiment in the
army sent out an independent foraging party, whose
duty it was to see that its particular command was
furnished with all the delicacies the country afforded.
These men were the most venturesome in the army,
and in their keen competition to outdo each other,
and capture something that the others would envy,
they took great risks and experienced many startling
adventures.
When the Bummer left the column on his first day's
excursion, he either went on foot, having just quitted
the ranks, or bareback on some broken-down horse or
mule, which had been turned out from the wagon train
utterly exhausted. At the first farm house he came to,
he looked about for a fresh mount. If it was to be had,
he helped himself; if not, and some rival Bummer
had not been there before him, nine times out of ten
some darkey belonging to the place would pilot him to
where the stock was hidden in the woods or swamp.
Then he would search the place for provisions, and
Soon have his animal, and perhaps two or three others,
loaded down with poultry, meats, meal, sweet potatoes,
honey, Sorghum, and frequently a jug of apple-jack;
270 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
or he would find a wagon and load it, with the aid of
a few negroes, and hitch together mules and horses
indiscriminately with such improvised harness as he
could make out of old ropes, chains and leather straps.
But he worked hard for what he obtained. In many
cases, smoke-houses and barns were empty, and when
he had nearly abandoned all hope of finding anything,
some old darkey, belonging to the premises or the
neighborhood, would direct him to search under the
house. Often a hint from the same source would lead
him to open what appeared to be a newly-made grave,
but which proved to be the repository of the provisions
he had been vainly seeking.
In few instances were the inhabitants found “at
home.” The majority, terrified by the horrible stories
published by their newspapers, of the rapine and
rapacity of the dreaded “vandal Yankees,” had fled,
taking with them what they could. Where the prem-
ises were abandoned, the Bummer made a clean sweep,
appropriating everything he wanted, and a great many
things he did not want. If the negroes on the place
told stories of great cruelty they had suffered, or of
bitter hostility to the Union, or if there were blood-
hounds about, which had been used to run down
slaves, the injury was generally avenged by the torch.
Where the Bummer found women and children, he
was usually as courteous as circumstances admitted.
He would “pass the time of day” with the old lady,
GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 271
inquire when she had heard from “the old man,” and
whether he was with Johnston or Lee, winding up
with kissing the baby. Behind this excess of good
nature, it must be confessed, lay, in part, a selfish
motive. The Bummer was a wily diplomat, and having
established “an era of good feeling” between himself
and his unsuspecting victim, he cross-examined her in
an innocent and insinuating way, managing to acquire
a great deal of valuable information. He ascertained
what enemy had been in the vicinity, how recently,
their course on departure, and their probable designs.
He learned all that was to be known of the neighbors
farther down the road, whom he expected to “raid”
the next day—the quantity and description of sup-
plies, and where they were to be found. Information
under this head was usually yielded more willingly
than upon any other subject; for it is a curious trait
of human nature that a man (or woman) who has been
robbed, or swindled in a trade, takes a keen enjoy-
ment, perhaps disguised, in seeing his fellows made
fully as miserable as himself. In return for the
information acquired, the Bummer compensated his
informer with Munchausen narratives of what he and
his comrades had already done ; never failing to draw
strongly upon a vivid imagination as to what they
expected to do.
In taking supplies the Bummer generally drew a
fair line between rich and poor, and what could be
272 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
spared and what could not. His depredations were
usually confined to the country on either side of the
road traveled by his own column, and he would cover
five or ten miles until he met the bummers of another
corps; thus, these men actually swept over a breadth
of country from sixty to eighty miles. They would
often dodge past their own cavalry advance; and in
many instances they attacked and dispersed the
enemy. - .
Having loaded his horses or wagons, as the case
might be, the Bummer would head for the road upon
which his own column was marching. By discreet
queries he would soon learn in what direction his
regiment was at the time. If rearward, he waited
inside a field until it came along; if, in front, he
endeavored to place his outfit in the wagon train as
early as possible, in order to follow into camp. In
this he was sometimes disappointed, and his acqui-
sitions, teams, supplies and all, would be confiscated.
by some grouty quartermaster or commissary who
did not believe in such irregular proceedings. But
generally the Bummer knew whom to suspect, and
when he hesitated to trust his wagon or horses in the
train, he would conceal them near the road, and
dispatch some one to the regiment for re-inforcements.
The needed help soon arrived, and a score of zealous
chaps would distribute the coveted eatables among
themselves in a prompt and business like manner.
GENESIS of THE BUMMER. 273
One would swing a couple of hams from the end of his
gun and trudge into camp, while others labored with
the turkeys and chickens, or a jug of molasses, or
a gum of honey. Sometimes an officer would attempt -
- confiscation, and then the Bummer would announce
that he was purveying for the mess of General This-
or-That, naming some one notorious for ill-temper
and a determination to stand up for what belonged to
him. . The fiction generally saved the provisions.
The author recalls one who was the most perfect
type of the Bummer he ever met. “Snipe,” which
by the way, was not his name, was a square-built
fellow, with light complexion, and a tuft of red beard
on his chin. He did duty as an orderly for the
adjutant of an Illinois regiment. When rations
became scarce, Snipe, of his own motion, and from a
real love of adventure, added to the duties of his
position, those of purveyor of the mess to which his
chief belonged. As soon as the troops left camp
in the morning, he would strike out for a day's
excursion. It was his particular delight to bring
in a fresh horse for his chief almost daily; and truth
requires the admission that he knew a good one when
he saw it. If the animal was particularly fine, it was
utilized at once, the one displaced being relegated to
the artillery or wagon train. Snipe was often absent
a couple of days or more, and when it came to be
believed that he had fallen a victim to his venture-
- 18 - -
274. MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
someness, he would “bob up serenely” with an
- unusually large and excellent supply of provisions.
On one of these excursions, Snipe’s absence was
protracted into the third day. A short time before
this, some of the bummers had been killed by the
enemy's cavalry, and their bodies left on the road,
with cards pinned to their jackets, reading “Death to
Foragers!” Taken in connection with this incident,
- Snipe's demise was commented upon as a matter of
fact, and a new orderly was duly installed in his
stead. About midnight the voice of Snipe was heard
arousing the camp. Seen in the flickering light of
the pine-knot camp fires, he and his outfit presented a
ludicrously striking appearance. He had six ani-
mals, horses and mules, strung together with a
motley assortment of improvised harness, made up of
all sorts of odds and ends of leather, rope and iron
chain. He bestrode one of the wheelers, and swayed
in the saddle with an excitement which was in some
degree the exhilaration of victory, but in greater part
the effects of applejack. His wagon was an immense
box of the Tennessee pattern, high at each end and
low in the middle, similar to an old Dutch galliot,
loaded to the guards with the choicest of wines and
liquors; and, by fortunate chance, there was in the
eargo a small box of glass goblets. Snipe at once had
his wagon unloaded, with the boxes extemporized
a bar, and grandiloquently called upon all hands to
GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 275
walk up and take a drink. It is curious to note
that every man in the regiment at once awoke and
accepted the invitation. If they had been wanted for
guard duty, or fatigue, it would have taken the ser-
geant-major, an Orderly-sergeant, and a stout pair of
boots, to have awakened the very same men. Samples
of the wine were sent to corps headquarters, and the
general pronounced them excellent, at the same time
intimating that a further supply would be acceptable,
* Snipe, however, failed to discover any reason for
complying with the request, and by the assistance of
some men from a couple of neighboring regiments, his
stock was exhausted before daylight.
A prank perpetrated by Dick Rucker, of the same
regiment, had a more serious side to it. Rucker was
not a “bummer,” but a quartermaster, and as such
was one of the regularly authorized foragers contem-
plated in General Sherman's orders at the beginning
of the campaign.
One day, when near Savannah, Rucker, who was
looking for horses for his wagons, took an animal
belonging to a clergyman, whom we will call Taylor.
The story may be written in three scenes :
“Can't help it, Mr. Taylor,” said Rucker.
“ But,” remonstrated the clergyman, “it’s the only
horse I’ve got.” . -
“It don't make any difference,” said Rucker, and
he took the horse. -
276 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
“But, Lieutenant, General Sherman and I are old
friends ! If you won’t leave me my horse, at least
give me your name, and I can get an order from the
General to have it restored to me !”
“Oh yes, if that'll do you any good,” said
Rucker, as he rode off with the animal. “My name
is Lieutenant Smith, adjutant of the –d Illinois.”
The second scene was at Thunderbolt Inlet, and
Lieutenant Smith (although that was not his name)
was directing the embarkation of his regiment on a
gunboat for passage to South Carolina, when a
mounted officer rode up and accosted him.
“Lieutenant Smith, General Sherman has directed
General Howard to have you return the horse you
took from Rev. Mr. Taylor, near Savannah. Please
turn it over to my orderly.”
Lieutenant Smith, who was entirely ignorant as to
the horse or the trick Rucker had played upon him,
was naturally indignant, and hotly answered :
“I don’t know anything about Mr. Taylor's horse,
and you can give General Howard my compliments
and tell him to go to the devil l’”
And Smith went aboard the gunboat, while the
staff officer rode away.
The third scene was in the vicinity of Pocotaligo,
a couple of weeks later. As soon as the regiment
came within easy reach of General Howard, Smith
was ordered to report at the General's headquarters.
GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 277
“Lieutenant, you sent me a very insulting mes-
sage. What have you to say?”
“General, I beg pardon for sending such a mes-
sage, but I didn't steal any horse, and it made me
angry to be accused of such a thing.”
“Well, Lieutenant, the evidence seems to be that
you did take the horse. You will report to your com-
mander as under arrest.”
Lieutenant Smith went back to his mess sadly
crestfallen, and to add to his discomfort it became
apparent to him that his messmates, among whom was
Rucker, were having a great deal of fun at his
expense, concerning something he knew nothing about.
After some days, one of the number told of the prank
that Rucker had played upon him, and the lieutenant
at once wrote an explanatory note to General Howard,
who released him from arrest.
But it was now too late for Mr. Taylor to recover
his horse. The army was by this time a couple of
hundred miles away from where the animal had been
taken. Besides, the animal had been used up and
abandoned by the wayside. Furthermore, he was a
worthless, disreputable beast at best, not of sufficient
value to justify the trouble he had caused.
278 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE EVENTS OF A DAY.
&/OON after day dawns, the bu-
gler sounds the reveille, and
the sleeping army bestirs itself
men turn out unwillingly, half-
dressed, to roll-call, and then
j// gather in little knots to pre-
* | º ſº% pare the morning meal. One
% § % reawakens the all but dead em-
bers of last night's camp-fire,
and piles on fresh wood ; others take a bunch of can-
teens and go in search of water. Each man makes his
own pot of coffee. The berry is laid inside a piece of
cloth, and broken on a stone under the blows from the
butt of a musket ; and the delicious beverage is soon
brewing in the old tin oyster-can held over the fire at
the end of a ramrod. If the foragers have been suc-
cessful the day before, sweet potatoes are baking in
the ashes, and a piece of beef well-salted is broiling






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MAKING CORDU ROY ROAD.
See page 286
























































THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 281
upon the glowing embers. Meat thus cooked would
satisfy the appetite of the veriest gourmand. Scorch.
ing by immediate contact with the fire, imparted a
delicious flavor ; besides, all the natural juices were
retained within. If the country was barren, the
hunger of the men was satisfied with “hard-tack,”
and a fragment of army bacon “sizzled ” in the fire.
An hour later the bugle sounds the “assembly,”
and the troops fall in on their color-line; each regi-
ment, brigade and division has its appointed place
in the column, and all move in an orderly way.
The head of column marches out promptly at the
appointed hour. This is a coveted place in the line of
march. The troops occupying this position have no
interruptions, except the occasional delays necessary
for brushing away the enemy in front; and they
usually reach their stopping-place for the night early
in the evening. Those who constitute the rear-
guard are less happily situated. They must await the
movement of the wagon-train and fall in behind. It
is generally noon, oftentimes later, before they are
able to move; this delay involves a corresponding
lateness in reaching their camping-ground, and fre-
quently they do not settle down until nearly midnight,
and sometimes even later.
Well in the advance is a small detachment of cav-
alry, or mounted infantry, moving at a good pace.
But they are argus-eyed, and frequently halt to ascer-
282 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
tain the occasion of a suspicious circumstance, or to
reconnoitre the road. Two or three ride in advance,
their reins held in the left hand, their repeating car-
bines or Henry rifles resting across the pommel of the
saddle, or held at the side, muzzle downward, ready
for instant pulling to the shoulder.
A detachment of the enemy, also mounted, is dis-
covered, and the main body of the Union troopers are
notified. Down the road the regiment charges, at a
sharp trot, then at a gallop, until well within range of
the enemy, when they break into a wild rush, urging
their horses to the utmost speed, firing as they go.
The enemy turns and retreats until he reaches his
supports, and then the federal advance is checked.
The Union skirmishers dismount, seek such shelter as
the ground will afford, and keep up a sharp fire until
the infantry supports hurry forward and seek the
enemy's flanks. Meanwhile a few pieces of artillery
open fire down the road, over their heads. In half an
hour the enemy vanishes. The Union troops resume
their place in the column; an ambulance drives
rapidly forward and receives a load of bleeding
sufferers; a grave or two is hastily dug under the
shadow of the trees, and the march is resumed until
the next turn in the road, a small stream, a swamp, OY"
a clump of timber, offers opportunity for a repetition
of the scene. - -
These events do not disturb the main column. At
THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 283
the halt the men scatter to the sides of the road;
some drop into a doze, others reach into their haver-
sacks and munch a piece of hard tack, while here
and there little knots engage in the mysteries of
euchre or seven-up. Presently a general and his staff,
or a mounted officer, passes by, and a running fire of
interrogatories is discharged: “How far is it to
camp?” “What's up ahead?” “What in the
are we stopping here for?”—followed by sarcastic
remarks upon his appearance, or possible errand, con-
cluding with the inevitable injunction to “Grab a
root l” Happy the man who, under such circum-
stances can, either by a soft answer turn away wrath,
or keep his tongue to himself; for an impatient retort,
or an indication of annoyance, will provoke some keen
remark that will pass from regiment to regiment, and
follow him the length of the entire column, no matter
how fast he speeds his horse.
The enemy in front has been brushed away by this
time, and the column is again in motion. The men
plod along in a go-as-you-please fashion. Conver-
sation, quip and badinage, interspersed with fragments
of song and school-day recitations, enliven the hour.
There is no such place to learn character as here.
Every man is weighed by his comrades and his true
value ascertained. His weaknesses may be concealed
in society—here they stand fully revealed. Any pecu-
liarity, good or bad, physical or mental, is detected,
284. MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
and fastens upon him some significant appellation,
from which he can not escape. A particularly tall man
goes by the name of “Fence-rail,” or “Ramrod;” a
short one by that of “Stunch,” or “Shorty;” while
one of square build is known as “Chunky" or
“Fatty.”
But traits of character are more readily recognized
than those of person. Here is “Shakspere,” so called
from his habit of interlarding his reflections upon
current events with quotations from books read in
boyhood. There is “the Professor,” who at home
was a country school-teacher and cross-road lyceum
debater. He commits what is the unpardonable sin in
the eyes of his comrades, that of using a big word
where a small one will answer equally well. He
affects superior wisdom, and the initial movement of a
campaign is as much information as he needs to
enable him to tell all about what the outcome will be.
If he does not know just how things are, he knows
just how they should be. In camp, on Sunday, if
there be no chaplain, he will expound a passage of
Scripture before a jeering and skeptical audience, but
is in no wise disconcerted at the unfavorable recep-
tion given to his well-meant effort. Here, too, is
“Grunty,” whose life is a perpetual torment to him-
self, for he becomes a butt for the jeers and pranks of
all his comrades. To him nothing is as it should be,
but everything is as it ought not to be, “Hog” cares
THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 285
only for himself. Never a cracker or piece of tobacco
will he divide with a comrade, and a dying man could
Scarcely hope for a drink of water from his canteen.
“Slouchy’ never carries a blanket or overcoat on the
march, but depends upon stealing one or both when
he reaches camp. He is intolerably filthy, and has
not a friend who would sleep under the same blanket
with him.
But these are the exceptions. The great majority
have been formed in other moulds. Among them is
“Old Bully,” generally a boy, and who otherwise be-
lies his name, by not being a quarrelsome or over-
bearing brawler, but the personification of companiona-
bility, ever good-natured, abounding in kindly deeds
for his fellows. Here, too, is “Old Reliable,” a slow-
but-sure sort of a fellow, usually older and more staid
than most of his comrades. He has but little venture-
someness in his make-up, but is ever one to be de-
pended upon. At the end of the day he is always in
camp, and is one of the first to be ready for the march
in the morning. He is never without a needle or
button, or piece of tobacco, that can not be had else-
where in the regiment, and is ever willing to do a kind
turn for a comrade, and make no fuss about it. Here,
also, is “Fire-Cracker,” a light-hearted chap, with a
sharp tongue and a ready wit, full of quaint conceits,
firing his jokes and repartees at his companions from
one end of the day to the other. One such man in a
286 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
company does better service in keeping his fellows in
good health (so much does health depend upon animal
spirits) than a dozen surgeons. He takes pride in
“keeping up with the procession,” and no matter how
many may be the stragglers on a hard day's march, he
is always in his place. .
Now the column descends from the high land into
the swampy bottom, which tells of the nearness of a
formidable stream. A small but well equipped pioneer
corps, generally composed of negroes, has worked man-
fully to put the road in repair, but here the greater part
of the army must lend a helping hand. Entire bri-
gades stack arms and tear down miles of rail-fences, and
carry them to make a corduroy road where the bottom
has dropped out of the country, or fell trees by the
roadside, if rails are wanting. The heavy army wagons
and trains of artillery rumble across, the poor ani-
mals suffering cruelly as their feet plunge between
the rails. Soon the extemporized road disappears in
the soft ooze, and a second, and even a third, roadway -
is laid, before all the trains are able to pass through
the swamp. Meanwhile, other large detachments are
struggling with wagons or guns whose teams are
exhausted, or which are sunk in the mud almost
beyond recovery—lifting them out by main strength.
Farther on is the river. The skirmishers are
exchanging shots with the enemy on the other shore.
Now a couple of pieces of artillery are hurried for-
THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 287
ward and pitch shells across. The pontoon train is
brought up, and under the protection of this fire
the pontooniers launch their canvas boats, one after
another, and connect them, until they reach the other
side. The skirmishers rush across, an infantry bat-
talion close at their heels, and drive the enemy from
the river bank. Planking is then laid upon the boats,
upon which troops and trains pass over.
On the other shore the ascent is steep, and the
roadway is through thick, sticky clay. Hundreds of
men apply themselves to the wheels of the heavy
wagons and guns, while the army teamster cracks his
whip and urges forward his weary animals with the
choicest oaths known to the language. Here is a fer-
tile field for a word-picture, but the pen quails in view
of the immensity of the task. Nothing that ever fell
upon human ear is to be likened to the complexity and
comprehensiveness of the vocabulary of the army
teamster. He knows the pedigree and performances
of the mule, and every detail of its anatomy ; and he
anathematizes it from one end to the other, giving a
full bill of particulars. He runs the gamut of oaths
in every key, and with every possible inflection of
voice, and then profanely apostrophizes himself be-
cause of his inability to express himself as vigorously
as he thinks circumstances justify.
So the day wears away. There is no halt made for
the noon-day meal. The men eat as they march, or
288 . MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
when there is a stop because of the road being blocked;
the provident soldier limiting himself to the fractional
part of his ration, in order to make his provision last
until a new issue is made ; and the reckless eating
until all is gone, trusting to good fortune to provide
for him on the morrow. As evening comes on, the
steps of the men grow laggard, and they drag them-
selves painfully along the dreary road. The jibes and
jokes which have been bandied from man to man have
died out, and there is only sullen silence or profane
complaint. Then the foragers rejoin the column, and
their treasures of eatables unloose the tongues of the
men, and cause them to chirrup gleefully in anticipa-
tion of the feast to come with camp and night. Anon
the martial music strikes up, a tremendous shout is
raised, and the column regains its buoyancy of spirit
and elasticity of gait.
At length the camping-ground for the night is
reached. If the foragers have been successful, the
men now enjoy the real meal of the day. Turkeys,
chickens, beef and pork, vegetables of all descriptions,
sorghum and honey, make a toothsome meal, and the
severity of their labor gives to the men the heartiest of
appetites.
A REAL CAMP - FIRE, 289
CHAPTER XXX. A
A REAL CAMP-FIRE.
HE day’s march over,
the men gather in lit-
tle knots about their
camp - fires, without
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to companionability.
The men are variously engaged. Some repair
garments falling into pieces through long and hard
service. Many beat the sand and dust of the march
out of their shoes, and patch up, as best they Can,
the stockings which are so worn and ragged as to be
little protection to their blistered, travel-worn feet.
Others cook a fragment of meat or a potato for the
mid-day meal on the morrow, while not a few indus-
triously thumb a “deck” of cards. Euchre and seven-

















IQ
290 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
- up are the favorite games; but occasionally poker is
played, grains of corn standing for “chips.”
The men produce their pipes and tobacco — was
there one who did not smoke, and call it “solid
comfort 2" — and discuss the events of the day.
In this symposium, the Bummer who has been out
foraging that day, occupies a conspicuous position.
He is the gazette of the army. His rambles have
led him among comrades belonging to other com-
mands traveling far distant roads, and he knows all
about what Slocum or Kilpatrick has been doing.
This narrative, and his encounters with citizens on
the plantations he has visited, he relates in a graphic
manner, the only interruption being an occasional
quip interjected by a listener, and at times a profane
reflection upon the veracity of the narrator. But amid
all the running fire of sharp retort, there is rarely
anything but good humor. The thin-skinned man,
who could not take a joke, wore himself out with
homesickness, and was discharged, and the quarrel-
some camp-bully deserted, long ago.
Then conversation turns upon the morrow, -
which way are we going, and what will we do
when we get there It is a curious commentary
upon the practical side of our system of education,
that few soldiers in the ranks, (and nearly all had at
least attended public school,) had any sufficiently
clear recollection of geography to be able to figure
A REAL CAMP - FIRE. -- 291
out their actual position. They knew they were
heading south, or southeast, as the case might be ;
they had gathered from citizens that their direction
was towards Savannah or Mobile, but that was all.
Even the large rivers they crossed were not con-
spicuous enough landmarks to give many their
bearings.
This subject disposed of, the boys would fill up the
evening with such anecdote and song as grew naturally
out of the conversation.
There was less, singing in the army than the latter-
day “Camp-Fire" would lead the uninformed to
believe. In the early days it was different. Then,
a prayer meeting was held almost nightly in some
quarter of the regiment, and the songs sung were
of the “I’m going home !” and “When shall we
meet again P’’ order, but these soon outlived their
usefulness. They were too suggestive of death and
the judgment, and the realities of active service in
the face of the enemy was sufficient. For similar
reasons, the boys did not take kindly to songs of a
mournfully domestic order, such as “We shall meet,
but we shall miss him,” and “We are sitting by
the cottage door, brother.” Neither did such as
“We are coming, Father Abraham,” or “Down with
’ attain any great
the traitor, and up with the star,'
popularity in active war-days. The one was a rallying
song for recruits, and these were veterans; the other
292 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
was a sentiment which could be safely sung a thous-
and miles at the rear; but those who were at the
front had learned the magnitude of their contract, and
they did not care to do any unnecessary boasting. A
new love ditty with a taking melody was favorably re-
garded, but what the boys really ached for, and sang
with a joyous abandon, was some comic song such as
“Darkies, hab you seen de massa 7 ° or “Brigadier
Bralaghan; ” or such roystering verses as “The
Bould Sojer Boy,” or “Benny Havens, oh l’’ and it was
rarely that a really ribald song met with much favor.
Johnny
, a sadly illiterate but true-hearted boy,
furnished great amusement with his one solitary song,
not exactly of a Sunday-school pattern, something
about his grandfather's ram, which he sang daily and
nightly for nearly four years, until, poor fellow, he
was killed at Bentonville. In his innocence he never
suspected that his comrades were “guying ” him when
they asked him to sing. Then there was “J erry,”
the cook for an officers’ mess — the “Fine-Haired
Mess” it came to be known, but why, is scarcely
apparent—who also had but one song, but that one
a great favorite, which he sang in a most melancholy
heart-broken way, with up-rolled eyes, to the dismal
thrumming of an old banjo: . .
“O ! far’ you well, my Mary Ann,
Far' you well my dear !
I’ve no one left to love me now,
An' little do I keer
A REAL CAMP - FIRE. 293
“O ! if I had a scoldin' wife,
As sho' as you is bo'n,
I’d take her down to New Orleans,
An' trade her off for co’n ”
But anecdote growing out of the events of the day
was the principal pastime, and every regiment could
yield sufficient to furnish themes for poet and scenes
for painter.
One evening a soldier displayed the picture of a
fair young girl. He had taken it from an enemy,
dead on the field of battle. “Blame me !” said he,
“but it just made me sick. And he was a nice-look-
ing young feller, too. Why, he had the picture held up
right before his eyes, and he had just as natural and
sweet a smile on his face as if he was alive l’”
“Well,” said a comrade, “at least I’d a let the
poor chap been buried with his picture!”
“Stealin' that picture,” said another, “was about
as mean a trick as Jack Ruggles did the other day.
Why, he came across a dead Johnny, lyin' flat on his
face, and he turned him over and took a plug of black
navy out of his pocket and took a chaw, and smacked
his lips and said it was mighty good. I’ve been
hungry for tobacco, but
me if I want any out of
a dead man's pocket.” -
- “Say, Stunchy,” said another, “don’t you remem-
ber the J ohnny we buried in front of our lines at
Shiloh, with a cartridge between his teeth? A bullet
hit him in the head and killed him. He never fell
*
294 *
MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
over nor moved a muscle, and there he was, dead on
his knees behind a stump, his gun in one hand, his
hand up close to his mouth, with the big part of the
cartridge in his fingers, and the paper he had bit off
the end still 'tween his teeth. We couldn't straighten
him, and we buried him just so.” .
“You bet I remember that, and I mind a derned
hard jolt I got on Monday night, when the battle was
over. The Johnnies run us out of our camp the first
day, and when we got the bulge on 'em and whooped
'em out, I went to my tent to see what was gone, and
there was a blamed Johnny lying there asleep, at least
that’s what I thought he was doing. I shook him and
hollered at him, but he didn’t answer, and then I
: found he was dead. He was shot bad, and crawled in
there after he was wounded, I reckon. But he might
have gone in for plunder and been killed while he was
in there. There was an awful stiff fight in that camp,
and the tents were riddled full of holes.”
“Talking about men being killed,” remarked an-
other,” reminds me of Colonel Jones, of the 53d
Indiana. You all remember how he was wounded that
awful hot day McPherson was killed. While they
were carrying him off the field a shell exploded close
by and killed him. He was a fine officer and a nice
man, and I heard some of the officers up at division
headquarters telling a pretty good story that he was
responsible for. It seems that when Lincoln was a
i
|
º

A lºt EAL CAMP - FIRE. - 297
young chap he was working for an old skinflint that
kept a cross-roads store. Lincoln wanted a pair of
boots, and as the storekeeper didn't owe him enough
to pay for them, Lincoln asked him to let him have
the boots and take the pay out of his wages when he
owed him enough.
“‘No,' said the storekeeper, ‘you just wait till
you earn the money, and then you’ll get the boots!”
“Well, when Lincoln was elected, the old man
wanted to be postmaster, so he wrote, telling the
President what he was after, and for fear Lincoln
wouldn't remember him, said that Lincoln had been
his clerk once. . -
“After a while he got a letter from Lincoln, saying
he was very sorry the office had been promised to
another man. And he also wrote:
“‘You need never fear that I will forget you, old
, friend. I remember you very well, especially the
boots!' -
“Lincoln wasn't a bit malicious about it, but you
see he couldn’t lose so good an opportunity for a
joke.” -
“It's all very well, you fellows talking about dead
men, but I tell you, boys, I’d just as lief be killed as
scared to death, as I was almost at Wicksburg.” The
speaker continued :
“You see, I went home from Memphis on a fur-
lough, and when I got back there my division had
298 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
gone to Wicksburg. I was corralled at Fort Pickering
and put to work on the fortifications until there was a
big enough squad of us to put on a boat and send
down river. • *
“Well, we got started, and went up Yazoo river to
Haines' Bluff. We landed there about five o'clock in
the evening. There were two others besides myself
who belonged to Lauman’s division, and we asked
where it was. They told us it was about six miles on
the left, and we made up our minds to reach it that
night.
“We walked along pretty briskly, and it got to be
dark, and finally we ran up against some tents, and
asked who lived there, and the guard said it was
General Hovey's headquarters. We asked where
Lauman's division was, and he said we were heading
for it, and to go straight ahead.
“Well, after awhile we saw some camp fires, and
we walked towards them, but they were a good ways
off. Then we got into a hollow where we couldn’t see
them, but supposed we were going in the right direc-
tion. Pretty soon we came to a hill and commenced
climbing it. We were all singing a new song we had
learned while at home on furlough, and were just in
the middle of the chorus, “Dear Annie, dear Annie of
the Vale,” when a blaze of fire jumped right out of
the hill and the bullets whistled around by baskets-
full. We all turned to run, and my foot caught some-
A REAL CAMP - FIRE. 299
thing and I fell. The hill was pretty steep, and my
knapsack, full of goodies from home for the boys,
made me top-heavy, and I rolled down hill, end over
end, and landed, ker-chug, in a ravine lined with
underbrush. The other boys were nowhere to be seen,
and I tell you I was scared. The bullets came raining
through the brush from both sides.
“Well, I lay all night in a cold sweat. The idea
of being killed down there, all by myself, and mother
never know what had become of me, was awful.
“Next morning I made up my mind to reconnoitre,
but the guns began to crack again from both sides,
and then artillery, and I found that I was between the
Union and rebel lines, and I tell you I hugged the
ground close.
“After a while the artillery let up, and then there
was only a few rifle shots. I had studied the lay of
the ground and got the points of the compass, and
made up my mind which way I ought to go to get
into the Union lines. Then I rose up on my knees
and looked through the brush, and on both sides of
me I saw earthworks, and noticed that farther to the
south they bent away from each other. So I con-
cluded to follow the ravine farther that way, and I did
so, crawling on my hands and knees for fear I would
be shot at. Then I took another observation, and
found that the works on my left, which I took to be
the Union side, had run out.
300 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
“Then I took a white pocket-handkerchief out of
my pocket—you see I was just from home—and tied
it on a stick, and made up my mind to surrender to
the first man I came across, Yankee or Johnny. So I
marched along to the left, at right angles from the
ravine, when somebody halted me—he was about two
hundred yards off—and I waved my white flag. It
was a squad of cavalry, and, great Scott! but I was
glad to see that they wore blue coats!
“Well, I told them my story, and who I was, and
showed their officer my furlough, and he told me how
to get to the division. On the road there, I came
across a camp where the men were at dinner—it was
noon, now—and as I was hungry, I asked for some-
thing to eat. They told me to sit down with them,
and while we were eating they told about a desperate
charge the Johnnies had made on them the night
before. From the way they described it, I knew it
was us three fellows singing, ‘Dear Annie of the
Wale!' -
“Then I found my division. It seems it had not
moved up so as to complete the line of investment,
but was well back in the rear and to the left of the
line, and we wanderers had gone clear around the
left flank of our own lines, and got in between them
and the rebels. Then we got turned around, not
knowing where we were, and marched right up in
front of our own rifle-pits!
A REAL CAMP - FIRE. 301
“One of my comrades that night, got into camp
all safe. The other was never heard of, and he was
probably shot and died somewhere in the thicket
where I spent such a miserable night. But for
nearly three months that ground lay half-way between
the two lines, and there was no chance to go and look
for a body; besides, the underbrush was so thick and
covered so much space, that it might never have been
found anyway.” -
“Yes,” said another, “there were some curious
circumstances in that Wicksburg campaign. I mind
that General Hurlbut had a scout whose name was
Bell. He was from Galesburg, and an awful smart
chap. You remember we had Pemberton cooped up
in Wicksburg, and Jo Johnston was out behind Black
River, in our rear, and they were trying to agree
upon a concerted movement to smash Grant, who was
in between them. This Bell deserted and went to
Johnston, and somehow or other got into his confi-
dence, and undertook to carry a dispatch through
Grant's lines to Pemberton. He also took along
a lot of gun caps, which were badly needed by the
Johnnies in Vicksburg. Hurlbut knew all about the
scheme, and when Bell tried to get through the lines
he was captured by Hurlbut’s pickets and taken to
the General.
, “The officers had a hard job making out the
cipher dispatch, but they finally read it as follows:
302 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
‘‘My last note was brought back by the messenger.
Two hundred thousand caps have been sent. It will
be continued as they arrive. Bragg is sending a
division. When it comes I will move to you. Which
do you think the best route? How and where is the
enemy encamped? What is your force 2'
“Well, Bell’s gun-caps were dampened so as to be
useless, and he was allowed to go into Vicksburg with
them and his dispatch. The next day he came back
with an answer from Pemberton, and that gave away
the whole job. Grant had found out where Johnston
was to make his rear attack, and he fixed for him.
The upshot was, that Vicksburg surrendered before
Johnston knew it, and then Grant turned and smashed
him.”
“Say, boys,” broke in a comrade in the uniform of
a lieutenant. “You don’t know how near I came to
having a commission long before I did, do you ?
“While we were laying at Natchez, General
Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General of the Army,
came down to look after his pet hobby of arming
the negroes. I was chief clerk for General Crocker's
adjutant-general then, and one morning General
Thomas came into the office when I was alone. Says
he, ‘General Crocker gives a good account of you.
How would you like to have a commission as adjutant
of a negro regiment 3'
“It came so bluntly, and his voice was so kind,
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A REAL CAMP - FIRE. 305
it took me off my feet. After a few moments I
said :
“ . General, I am proud to have the confidence
of General Crocker and yourself, but I can't take it.’
“The General looked as if he did not know what
to make of it, and I went On :
“‘General, I am very grateful to you; and I want
to say that I am fully in sympathy with the purpose
of arming these people. I am an original abolitionist,
having been brought up on Greeley’s Tribune , but I
started out in this war with my schoolmates and
work-shop companions. If I can win a commission
serving with them, I will be glad of it. But if I
can not, I will serve with them as a private to the
end.” *
“The General didn’t speak for a few minutes, and
then he said :
“‘Young man, I respect your feelings, and I
hope and believe you will gain your desire before the
war is over. Now, I will be here for a couple of
weeks, and if you know of any corporals or sergeants
who would make good company officers, and take
commissions with negro troops, let me know.’
“Well, boys, I remembered that, and most of the
men in this regiment who received such commissions,
were appointed largely upon my recommendation.
“I had another good chance,” he continued, “just
after the siege of Wicksburg. You remember that
2O
306 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
division commanders were instructed to report the
names of young soldiers who had behaved themselves,
for appointment to West Point cadetships. Well, my
name was sent in, but I would n't accept. I started in
to see this war through, and here I am.”
“Now, byes, it’s domd sthrange how aisy the
shoulder-sthraps came to some of yees, and how harrud
it was for some of the rist of us.” The speaker was a
tall, raw-boned Irishman, wearing the chevrons of a
sergeant. He continued :
“I was on garrud juty at Gin'ral Chrocker's hid-
quarthers, back of Wicksburg, and wan day some uv the
byes made up their minds for a little spoort. So we
sint to Boviny for a gallon of whishkey, and put it
away in a tint, ready for night. Well, it happened
that some of the eshcort company shmelt it, an’ they
sthole it, and had the divil’s own time. Some uv thim
was quarrelsome chaps, an’ they had a bit of a shindy.
“In the mornin', the Gin'ral—he was a fine sowl-
ger, an’ a mighty good man, but cross as the very divil
sometimes — he had thim brought up afoor him, an’
sint thim to the garrud-house.
“Now, you say, we did n’t intind to be lift widout
our fun, so we got another jug of whishkey, an’ that
night we had some rare spoort. The Gin'ral's wife
had come down river that day, an’ was quarthered wid
him at the big brick house, an’ it's aisy to belave that
she was dishturbed by the noise. Anyhow, it was n’t
A REAL CAMP - FIRE. 307
long afther I crawled into me tint, afoor I hurrud
somebody a-thumpin' On the canvas from the outside,
an' thin the Gin'ral — I knew his voice in a minit—
says he, ‘Corporal of the Garrud l’—you see the
corporal shlept in the same tint wid mesilf —‘Corporal
of the Garrud In the mornin’ bring thim drunken
divils to me office I’ll tache thim a lesson | If
there's any gittin' dhrunk and raisin'
about these headquarthers, I’ll do it mesilf, be gobs l’
says he.
“Well, byes, I was mighty bad scared. The Kur-
renal had ricomminded me for promotion, an' he was a
Prisbytarian, an awful sthrict, an' I knew if he got
howld of this schrape it was all day wid me prospicts.
You may belave I did n’t slape a wink, but did a pow-
erful thinkin', an’ made up me mind what I wud do.
“In the mornin' I got up airly an' took a drink to
sthiffen me narves, an’ wint sthraight to the adjutant's
office, an’ as good luck would have it, there was the
Gin’ral all by hisself. -
“I made my best shalute, an’ says I, ‘Good mornin',
Gin’ral I hope your honor is well this fine mornin’.”
An' then I says, not givin' him time to spake back :
“Gin’ral,” says I, ‘I desire, sir, to repoort mesilf as
wan of thim drunken divils that raised last night.
I just made a domb lamb's-tail of mesilf, sir, an' I
hope your honor will excuse me this wanst l’
“It took the Gin'ral just right, an he begun to
to be done
308 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
laugh, an’ says he, “Was there any fightin' last
night 2'
“‘Divil a bit, your honor,” says I.
“‘An' are yees an Irishman º' says he.
: ‘By no manes, sir,’ says I. ‘Me father was from
County Corruk, but I was borrun in this counthry,’
says I. -
“An' thin the Gin'ral laughed all over, an’
says he -
“‘It’s domb lucky for yees,’ says he, “that you was
borrun in this counthry. I’ve always noticed whin a
full-blooded Irishman gets dhrunk, he wants to fight.
I don’t want to interfare wid anybody's innocent
amusemints, but I won’t allow anybody around these
headquarthers to get dhrunk and fight / Go to your
quarthers, sir!” -
“That was the last av it, but the sthory got out,
an' divil of a commission have I sane !”
Meanwhile the men drop away gradually to their
shelter-tents and blankets, each one seeking such spot
as may suit his convenience, preferably snug up
against the root of a great tree. So little semblance
is there of the permanent camp, with its color-line, its
officers' tents, and the avenues separating the quar-
ters of the various companies, that the sergeant-major
has no little trouble to find the orderly-sergeants, and
they the men, when a midnight call is made for fatigue
or picket duty.
A REAL CAMP - FIRE. 309
The camp-fires now die down ; and, environed by
hundreds of vigilant sentinels, the army sleeps upon
another of its countless bivouacs.
Far along in the night, an orderly from brigade
headquarters rides into camp, and calls for the adju-
tant, to whom he hands a circular order directing the
command to march in a certain direction at a desig-
nated hour on the morrow. The adjutant acknowledges
receipt, by writing his name on the back of the order,
which the orderly takes to the next regiment, until all
have been notified. The men neither know nor care
anything about the incident, and the bugle-sound in
the morning is their only warning that another day's
march is to begin.
310 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XXXI.
WORKING A PASSAGE.
; §§ # ... i
sº, the troops march-
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troyed. On both sides of the stream, for many miles,
the roads lay through low, flat ground, sodden with
recent rains, and the heavy wagon trains soon con-
verted them into almost bottomless abysses of mud,
entailing upon the men severe labor in corduroying,
and extricating artillery and wagon trains — work to
which necessity had already accustomed them, and
which was to be almost a daily experience hencefor-
ward to the close of the war.


















WORKING A PASSAGE. 311
The next day the troops passed through the beauti-
ful town of Monticello. No male inhabitants were to
be seen, except young boys and infirm old men. The
rebel conscription act had literally “robbed the cradle
and the grave,”
as the expressive phrase of the day
had it, driving into the ranks all who could possibly
do any manner of military service, whether in the
field, in garrison, or guarding prisoners. A few
women occasionally peered curiously from their win-
dows, but usually they kept themselves well hidden
from sight. The negroes turned out in full force to
hail their deliverers. It was remarkable that the
federal army found among the most ignorant of this
enslaved people, who had been continually told that
the dreaded “Yankees’’ were demons and not men,
an unshaken faith that the coming of this army was
to bring to them freedom from bondage, and many
extravagant scenes were witnessed. It was not an
unusual occurrence to see negroes fall upon their
knees by the roadside, as the troops passed by, and
hear them bless God and the boys in blue in one and
the same breath. They manifested an ardent anxiety
to see General Sherman, and in some instances
addressed him or spoke of him with a reverence and
extravagance of expression which they could not have
exceeded had he been the Savior of mankind. Thou-
sands of these poor people left their humble homes,
carrying their children and a few household effects,
312 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
*f
and, falling in behind the soldiers, trudged along, with
no idea of where they were going, except that they
were on the highway from slavery to freedom. It was
useless to tell them to stay at home; that they would
be freed by the war wherever they might be, and
that the troops could not feed them. With a blind
faith, they persisted in the journey, braving all hard-
ships, until they reached the coast and were provided
for.
There was another remarkable trait in the slave
character—their entire devotion to the soldiers of the
Union. The writer has never heard of a single in-
stance where one of these blacks, man or woman, ever
betrayed a blue-coated straggler, or escaping prisoner,
into the hands of the enemy; but, on the other hand,
they gave them every possible assistance, secreting
them by day, feeding them and assisting them on
their journey by night. Still more wonderful was the
knowledge these ignorant people had of military
movements. Much sport was made in early war times
of the “intelligent contraband,” whose narratives
were given to the press by war correspondents; but
his news was usually reliable in its general terms,
although ignorance led him into exaggerations when-
ever a numerical force was in question. In countless
instances, the negroes along Sherman's line of march
through Georgia and the Carolinas had information of
the advance of his troops, and of their achievements,
workING A PASSAGE. 313
long before seeing them, and knew of victory or dis-
aster in Tennessee, Virginia, or on the coast, before
many of the white people about them did. It was
believed by the Union soldiers that the negroes trans-
mitted the news by swift runners, traveling day and
night, and the belief is plausible in view of all the
facts. *. -
The next four days after leaving Monticello, the
army marched fifty-five miles, reaching the Oconee
river.
Hitherto, the cavalry and mounted infantry in
advance, with occasional assistance from the leading
brigade of each column, had been able to brush aside
the enemy in front; but here the passage of the
stream was disputed by a strong force of infantry and
artillery on the opposite bank. Deserters and pris-
oners stated that among the enemy's troops were six
hundred convicts from Southern penitentiaries who
had been put under arms. Many of the latter were
taken prisoner, but General Sherman at once ordered .
them to be liberated, shrewdly concluding that they
would trouble their own people more than they could
him.
November 23d and 24th, the opposing forces skir-
mished incessantly, and there was considerable artil-
lery firing. The next day a sharp little engagement
occurred, in which Belknap's brigade took the prin-
cipal part. Under cover of its fire, three miles of
314 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
high railroad trestlework through the swamp Were
destroyed. Later in the day a crossing was effected
at Fall's Ferry, higher up the stream, with little
opposition. -
Near the Oconee river the troops came in possession
of some late Southern newspapers containing the first
information they had received from the outer world in
nearly two months. The ill-looking pages, imprinted
upon dingy paper, almost as dull in color as that in
which the butcher wraps his meat, was of a verity,
” a light shining in darkness.
“lua; lucet in tenebris,
Loud-voiced readers were called into requisition, and
the contents were listened to by thousands, who
drowned the voice of the reader, ever and anon, with
exultant cheers, or howls of derision, as the para-
graphs pleased or displeased them. -
First, and all-important, was the news that Lincoln
had been re-elected to the Presidency, and the Govern-
ment had called out more troops. Referring to this,
the editor denounced the Northern democracy bitterly
for “permitting the election of the hated despot,” and
said that there was now no longer hope from without,
but the Southern people must achieve their own free-
dom. It was a curious fact that among the means to
this end was urged the freeing and arming of half a
million slaves—this, too, by a people who had set out
to establish a government with slavery as the corner-
stone. This, however, would require time, and the
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WORKING A PASSAGE. 317
immediate emergency demanded that the white people
of the South, men, women and children, should rise
against the invaders. In order to inflame their pas-
sions, the paper contained many horrible falsehoods
with reference to “the great raid,” as they termed
Sherman's march, giving scandalous narratives of rob-
bery, rapine and murder. They spoke of Sherman as
“the great raider, horse-thief and murderer,” and pro-
nounced awful curses upon him and his vandal fol.
lowers. In other columns were found inflammatory
appeals from military and civil authorities, calling
upon the inhabitants to harass the troops in every
conceivable way ; to fire upon them from behind every
barn and stump; to burn bridges, and fell heavy trees
across the roads in their line of march ; and to remove
or destroy all provisions and forage in their track.
Frantic efforts were made to comply with some of these
requests, and the movement of the army, from the
Oconee river to Savannah, required redoubled effort.
The citizens were too discreet to carry out the guer-
rilla warfare urged upon them, which, while delaying
the army in no great degree, would have made it nec-
essary to hang a few of their own carcasses from the
trees lining the roads. But the roads were blocked
with felled trees almost the entire distance, and it be-
came necessary to send large working detachments
from the marching column to assist the pioneer Corps,
which, under usual circumstances, were able to keep
3.18 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the way sufficiently clear to admit of the passage of
artillery and supply trains. Again, throughout this
same region, so thorough was the destruction or
removal of provisions, that for many days the troops
were obliged to subsist almost entirely upon peanuts
and parched rice taken from the fields, the contents
of the supply trains being well-nigh exhausted.
THE OGEECHEE. 319
CHAPTER XXXII.
30th, the army marched
forty-six miles, entering
upon the region of the
savannas. Here the great
pine trees rose straight in air nearly
a hundred feet, surmounted at the top by a
crown of brilliant green. But few branches projected
from the trunks, and these far from the ground. The
trees were not thickly set, and the ground was remark-
ably free from undergrowth, permitting the troops to
march on either side of the road, which was left clear
for the wagon train, thus shortening the column fully
one half.
December 1st, the army crossed the Ogeechee river
and engaged in its old task of destroying the railroad.
This piece of track afforded unusual opportunity for

320 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the most thorough exercise of the destructive propen.
sities of the troops. The rail was of the light pattern,
such as is generally used now for horse-car tracks,
laid upon wooden stringers about eight inches square,
which rested on the usual ties. Both stringers and
ties were of pitch-pine, and burned readily, while
the iron was so light that it soon heated to cherry
red, when it was readily wrapped around fence posts -
and trees, the men exercising their fancy in the
construction of iron “neckties” of curious pat-
terns. Particular attention was given here, as at other
points where railroads were destroyed, to the glass
insulators on the telegraph poles. These were either
broken with axes, or thrown into the waters of the
adjoining Swamps, and were not readily replaced by
the enemy. In fact, the whole mechanical system of
the South was an importation ; and as soon as armies
drew a line between North and South, that moment
the South began to go down. With Northern mar-
kets closed to it, railroads, cotton-works, and nearly
everything in the way of machinery, fell into decay;
scarcely a cog-wheel could be replaced by Southern
mechanics. Their railroads were wonderfully run
down; and in very many instances a train might be
heard at considerable distance, from the creaking of
the wheels in the axle-boxes, because of the absence
of oil. -
December 2nd the army came to Millen, which had
THE OGEECHEE. 321
been a large prison-pen for the safe-keeping of Union
prisoners. The cavalry advance made a rapid move-
ment upon the place, hoping to release their unfortun-
ate comrades, but were dismayed to find that they
had been removed to a less accessible point.
December 9th, the troops reached a point seven
miles from Savannah, having marched forty-five miles
since the 3d. At this place the soldiers were greatly
rejoiced to hear the guns of the Union fleet; and to
learn from citizens that the ships had been sending
up signal rockets nightly for , some time past, in
anticipation of the arrival of the army. It mattered
little that the principal obstructions, an hostile army
and strong fortifications, yet separated soldiers and
sailors. The former felt that their success was
assured, and, at the worst, only a few days would pass
until the two would clasp hands.
The next day, December 10th, the march was
resumed, Belknap's brigade leading the Seventeenth
Corps. Here the troops ran hard up against the
enemy at a point near the stone reading “4 miles to
Savannah.” At this place torpedoes had been planted
in the road, and the cavalry advance exploded some of
them in passing along. General Sherman was greatly
enraged at what he denounced as conduct not justified
by the laws of war, and he caused prisoners to pass
up and down in order to test the road. It was, how-
ever, the opinion of the writer of these pages, that the
2 I
322 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
torpedoes were placed, not so much for the loss of life
they might occasion, as to give notice of the occu-
pancy of the road, their explosions serving as signals
for the enemy to open fire with their heavy guns.
This conclusion seemed reasonable from the fact that
the guns were trained directly down the road, which
was screened from sight of the artillerists by the
heavy growth of trees, and that fire was opened imme-
diately after the explosion of the torpedoes. These
engines were used, however, at some points where the
explanation would not hold good.
The line of march lay down a broad sand road,
lined on either side with live-oak trees whose branches .
met over-head, forming a beautifully arched avenue,
straight as an arrow. Suddenly the troops came
to a clearing perhaps a quarter mile wide. The 32d
Illinois Regiment was in front, and as the adjutant
and the old grizzled major who was in command,
riding side by side at its head, left the wooded avenue
and entered the clearing, a shell rose from over the
timber in front. It had evidently been projected from
a great distance, for it was falling fast in its trajec-
tory, and in a direct line for the regiment. Usually
these missiles were heard, but not seen, and familiar-
ity with the sound had bred a certain degree of
contempt. But this shell is plainly visible, from the
instant it rises over the timber in front, and it holds
the gaze as did the glittering eye of the gray-beard
THE OGEECHEE. 323
*
Ancient Mariner that of the wedding guest. It seems
to be charged with a personal message. Its motion
appears to be slow and deliberate; it is so sure of its
mark that there is no need for haste. At first it is
a small black blotch on the sky. It grows. It is as
large as a tin-cup—as a plate—a barrel. Now its
immensity fills the entire field of vision, shutting out
trees and sky. Will it explode before it comes
near enough to do damage? Why don’t we “flank
off” to one side of the road, and give this demon of
destruction a clear right of way? There are no
and allow it pass over-
orders. Shall we “dodge,
head, rather than sit up straight as a target for it?
Certainly, if the major will only “dodge” first. But
he does not, and pride will not permit his companion
—when, sh-sh-sh—the shell passes over, very low
down. Thought has traveled far more rapidly than
iron propelled by gunpowder. The danger is past.
A few moments later the troops left the road,
formed line-of-battle through the timber on the left,
and deployed skirmishers. This was scarcely done,
when some one brought word that the shell whose
course has been noted, had played havoc with the
color company of the regiment. Riding hastily back
to the road, the adjutant found Ed Lawson, the
captain, with five men of the company following his
own, stretched out upon the ground, all wounded,
but none killed. The shell had exploded at the head
324 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
of Lawson's company, the center of the regiment,
and a fragment struck him in the lower part of the
stomach, bruising him severely. He subsequently
recovered, yet it is not too much to say that this
injury hastened his death, which occurred a few
years afterwards. He was one of a squad of noble
fellows who formed the nucleus of the company men-
tioned in the opening chapters of this volume; a most
conscientious soldier, as well as a man of excellent
deportment, and unimpeachable personal character.
He rose from the ranks to the grade of orderly ser-
geant, and finally became captain of the company in
which he had enlisted as a private. -
Near the point where the troops entered the tim-
ber and went into line-of-battle, was General Sher-
man. He had dismounted, and was walking ner-
vously up and down the side of the road, his head
bent over on his breast, his hands crossed behind
him. He seemed intent upon his own thoughts, and
oblivious to the volleys of shell and shot which tore
down the road. Those who saw him in this situation
thought that he was exposing himself unnecessarily,
and heartily wished, for the sake of all concerned,
that “the old man” would seek a safer place, at least
until the Savannah problem was solved, and the
cracker-line re-established. -
For ten hours the troops lay under as hot an
artillery fire as they ever experienced: a cannonade
THE OGEECHIEE. 325
from field pieces in actual action, would have been
far preferable. As it was, they were posted in dense
pine timber, and the heavy missiles from the 32-
pounder and 64-pounder guns of the enemy’s perma-
nent fortifications, tore through the immense trees,
hurling branches and splinters in all directions. It
was very demoralizing, but fortunately the casualties
were light. g
With night came a novel experience. The com-
mand was ordered to extend to the right and reach
the Ogeechee river, preparatory to a complete invest-
ment of Savannah. The only route was a narrow
causeway built up through the rice swamp, parallel
to, and within plain sight throughout its whole length,
of the enemy's heavy works, about eight hundred
yards distant. The troops were massed in the heavy
timber at the approaches to the causeway. As soon as
darkness should well settle, they were to pass over
and in a hurry.
Fortunately the moon, which stood high and was
near the full, was obscured by heavy clouds. The
moment came, the word was given, and the head of
column left its shelter, the troops marching in close
order. They had made but a short distance, when
suddenly, on the left, from down in the water, rose a
shrill whistle, which was repeated again and again,
until the sound was lost in the distance. It was a
326 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
line of the enemy's picket-boats signaling the move-
ment back to the forts.
The response was prompt. The enemy's gunners
*
had excellent range, and a storm of shot and shell
flew across the water and over the causeway. The
fierceness and suddenness of the attack accelerated
the pace of the troops to such a degree that, in the
darkness and confusion, many were pushed over into
the water ; but in every such case, so far as heard
from, the men who came to grief received their bap-
tism on the side of the causeway farthest from the
enemy's batteries — an unanswerable argument show-
ing the natural instinct of men to recede from gun-
powder rather than advance toward it. Fortunately,
no lives were lost, but there were more guns and
drums abandoned that night in the rice-swamp than
during all the previous six months from Atlanta thus
far.
Such experiences as these were the severest strain
upon the nerves, and put discipline to a hard test.
These troops would stand comparatively unconcerned
amid a torrent of shot and shell, when so posted as to
be able to fight back. But to take a severe fire, on
unknown ground, in the darkness of night, without
opportunity of defending themselves, was a very dif-
ferent matter.
SAWANNAH. 327
CHAPTER XXXIII.
SAWANNAH.
º
§
| ECEMBER 10th, the in-
All vestment of Savannah
was almost complete.
The extreme right
(Blair's Seventeenth
Corps) rested on the
Ogeechee river, seventeen miles
from the city.
Near that point were standing huge
live-oak trees, which antedated the memory
and legends of “the oldest inhabitant.” Their great
branches, as large as the trunks of trees in our own
latitude, spread so widely that a good-sized regiment
might form a line of battle beneath them. From
their boughs drooped graceful festoons of moss. Just
beyond, flashed the billows of old ocean, its surf
falling upon the ear distantly and hoarsely.
Under the moonlight, the scene was yet more im-



328 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
pressive. It might have been the picture so beauti-
fully described by Longfellow :
“The murmuring pines
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic.
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.”
For many days the troops had been reduced almost
to starvation. The rations in the supply-trains were
exhausted ; and, in compliance with orders from the
authorities, the citizens had either removed or de-
stroyed all provisions and forage along the line of
march for a week past. In this strait, the army, offi-
cers and men alike, subsisted upon immature “goober-
peas” (peanuts) dug out of the sand-hills, whose ster-
ility yielded nothing better, and rice gathered from
the swamps, beaten out and parched. Even this poor
makeshift for food soon failed, as the army massed
close about Savannah ; and the hunger of the men was
heightened by recollections of the good living they had
indulged in but a few days before, when in the region
of sweet potatoes, pigs and beeves. The mules and
horses were worse off — they either had no corn at all,
or the little doled out was stolen from their troughs
and nose-bags by hungry soldiers.
At this period of general suffering, the adjutant's
faithful “Bummer’” succeeded in acquiring a few
sweet potatoes, a small piece of fat pork, a solitary
SAVANNAH. 829
onion, and something in a canteen. Just as this tempt.
ing repast had been spread out upon an empty hard-
tack box, and the writer and a mess-mate were seating
themselves for “a square meal,” Frank Orcott, of the
7th Illinois, one of the best fellows living, appeared in
sight. He was mounted on an under-sized mule, with
a dear-mother-I’ve-come-home-to-die expression in its
eye; and absence of flesh made its anatomy resemble a
wind - wrecked “prairie - schooner.” Frank himself
seemed as if he had lost every friend in the world, and
when hailed, he looked around with a glad surprise.
He joyously accepted an invitation to dinner, and
although the two have eaten many a sumptuous meal
at each other's tables since, they have never met upon
such occasions without adopting, unanimously and
enthusiastically, resolutions setting forth that their
best dinner was eaten on the banks of the Ogeechee
river, that December day, more than twenty years ago.
It is such an episode as this that makes the heart of
the old soldier throb, and the water dim his vision,
when he hears those beautiful lines of the soldier-poet,
Miles O’Reilly : *
“There are bonds of all sorts in this world of ours,
Fetters of friendship, and ties of flowers,
And true-lovers' knots, I ween.
The boy and the girl are bound by a kiss,
But there's never a bond in the world like this,
We have drunk from the same canteen.
‘‘ It was sometimes water and sometimes milk
And sometimes applejack, fine as silk ;
But whatever the tipple has been,
330 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
We shared it together, in bane and in bliss,
And I warm to you, friend, when I think of this,
We have drunk from the same canteen.”
December 13th, General Hazen's brigade of the
Eifteenth Corps, made its magnificent assault upon
Fort McAllister, which blocked the Ogeechee. Un-
mindful of the great belching guns of this formidable
fortress, the rattling volleys of musketry, the entang-
ling abattis and chevaux-de-frise, the interlacing wires
which snared their footsteps, the exploding torpedoes—
this gallant band rushed on, and in a few moments the
national flag flying over the ramparts told the story
that the great river was again open. Then the supply
boats, which had been gathering below to succor the
famishing army, pushed their way up, and were
received with tremendous enthusiasm ; while soldiers
and sailors, who had never seen each other before,
grasped hands as if they were own brothers. Now
supplies were distributed in lavish profusion, and col-
lapsed stomachs assumed aldermanic proportions.
Here, too, heavy mails were received, and “the boys’
made happy by the receipt of letters from home, in
answer to those written from Atlanta two months
before.
But there were letters which found no owners. One
came addressed to a comrade who was particularly dear
to the writer of these pages. He was a soft-cheeked,
girlish-looking lad from the interior of Ohio. He had
a romance — who of the boys had not ?— and this had
SAWANNAH. 331
been confided to his friend. But the poor fellow fell
in a skirmish a few days before reaching Savannah,
and it was the sad duty of his companion to return the
letter to an anxious maiden at home, and with it give
the sad tidings of the loved one's death. God pity the
mothers, wives and sweethearts whose heavy eyelids
were held up by dreadful anxiety through those weary
months when no tidings came, and hallow in their
hearts the memory of those who died.
The Union lines were now in constant action, push-
ing steadily forward against Savannah. Several heavy
guns from the fleet were put in position, and when all
was in readiness for bombardment, General Sherman
made a demand for the surrender of the city, enclos-
ing a copy of the bloodthirsty demand of General
Hood at Resaca (similar to that of General French at
Allatoona), and said : “Should I be forced to assault,
I shall feel justified in resorting to the harshest meas-
ures, and shall make little effort to restrain my army,
burning to avenge the national wrong which they
attach to Savannah and other large cities which have
been so prominent in dragging our country into civil
war.” The demand was refused, and siege operations
were prosecuted vigorously.
On the night of December 20th, the Seventeenth
Corps was well up in front of the enemy's works, Gen-
eral Belknap's brigade succeeding in advancing within
three hundred yards of the fortifications immediately
332 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
outside the city, making its approach under a severe
fire of musketry and heavy artillery. Next morning
the skirmish line was farther advanced, when the
works were found to be deserted, the enemy having
retreated across the Savannah river, into South Car-
olina.
The writer immediately rode into the city and
down to the river front. Two miles below lay a couple
of dark hulks which a citizen near by said were a ram
and iron-clad gunboats belonging to the “Confederate
navy’ — the soldiers supposed them to be national
vessels. The Union flag was soon flying from a dozen
prominent buildings, and the rebel vessels defiantly
fired a few ineffective shots toward the city. A bat-
tery of heavy Parrott guns was brought to the river
front, and returned the fire for a short time, but with
as little effect. A few minutes later, a blaze of flame
leaped from the portholes of the vessels, and there was
an irruption as of a volcano, followed by a dull, muffled
roar. The enemy had blown up his “navy.”
General Sherman, a day or two afterward, wrote to
President Lincoln : “I beg to present you, as a
Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred
and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, and also
about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.” He fur-
ther said, in his official report : “I estimate the dam-
age to Georgia at a hundred millions of dollars, at
least twenty millions of which has inured to our ad-
SAVANNAIH. 333
vantage, and the remainder is simply waste and
destruction. This may seem a hard species of war-
fare, but it brings the sad realities of war home to
those who have been directly or indirectly instrumental
in involving us in its attendant calamities.
As to the rank and file of my army, they seem so full
of confidence in themselves that I doubt if they want a
compliment from me ; but I must do them the justice
to say that, whether called on to fight, to march, to
wade streams, to make roads, clear out obstructions,
build bridges, make ‘corduroy,” or tear up railroads,
they have done it with alacrity and a degree of cheer-
fulness unsurpassed. A little loose in foraging, they
‘did some things they ought not to have done,' yet, on
the whole, they have supplied the wants of the army
with as little violence as could be expected.”
President Lincoln, in reply, said: “Many thanks
for your Christmas gift. When you were about leav-
ing Atlanta for the coast, I was anxious, if not fearful.
Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is all
yours.” General Grant wrote: “I congratulate you
and the brave officers and men under your command on
the successful termination of your most brilliant cam-
paign. I never had a doubt of the result. When
apprehensions for your safety were expressed by the
President, I assured him that, with the army you had,
and with you in command of it, there was no danger
but you would reach salt water in some place.” And
334 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
General Halleck said : “Your march will stand out
prominently as the great one of this great war.”
Some days after entering Savannah, the troops were
overjoyed to learn of the glorious victory won at Nash-
ville, under General Thomas, by their former comrades.
The Army of the Tennessee had particular reason to
be proud of their own Sixteenth Corps, which bore so
gallant a part in the action, under the leadership of
General A. J. Smith, that General Thomas telegraphed
to the President : “General Smith, with McMillen's
brigade of McArthur's division, charged and cap-
tured the salient point of the enemy’s line, with
over a thousand prisoners.” This was the turning-
point in the Battle of Nashville. Half an hour later,
the shattered remnants of Hood's army were in full
retreat.
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“ALAS, POOR YORICK!” 337
XXXIV.
“ALAS. POOR YORICK l’”
%) 2%% ºt Savannah, the troops
.”* % A/ lived at high-pres-
( 4ZZ tºº ºk. Sure, and their
ſ % sº yi. short stay was a
### § ºf ºſ. º º continual round of
merry-making. If
º
the few male inhab-
º
ºº
itants remaining,
were somewhat for-
mal and distant,
ample amend was
made by the ladies,
who were generally cordial; and each little knot of
soldiers made acquaintance with fair ones, glad to
entertain and be entertained with cards, dance, and
song. The poor Confederate soldier, fleeing before
the Nemesis pursuing, might well say, in the words
attributed to him near Memphis, two years pre-
vious, by a Union soldier who parodied “Maryland, my
Maryland : ” -








22
338 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,
“The Yankee's foot is on thy shore,
Tennessee, my Tennessee 1.
They riot run thy country o'er,
Tennessee, my Tennessee :
How can our hearts be light and gay,
When Yankee hands hold here their sway, \
And Southern girls their 'hests obey,
Tennessee, my Tennessee :
“They steal and eat thy pork and beef,
Tennessee, my Tennessee
For cotton, too, thou'rt come to grief,
Tennessee, my Tennessee .
Thy daughters fair, they're courting strong,
With dance and marriage, card and song,
Woe is the day ! for all goes wrong,
In Tennessee, my Tennessee . .
Thou mak'st them all so light and gay,
Tennessee, my Tennessee :
With liquor good to wet their clay,
Tennessee, my Tennessee .
With the true spirit of the vine,
The brightest of thy native wine,
Blackberry juice and muscadine,
Tennessee, my Tennessee : ”
Among these people of Savannah was one who be.
came particularly dear to the writer of these pages,
and a number of his companions, many of whom will
learn of his tragic death with deep sorrow.
' In casting about for a sheltering roof, in the ab-
sence of a tent, a young officer happened to note a
small cosy cottage standing somewhat back from the
street, in the outskirts of the city. The door stood
open and he entered. The parlor was just what he
wanted, and his field desk was speedily set up in one
“ALAS, POOR YORICK!” 339
corner and his pair of blankets and valise deposited on
the floor. A well-filled book-case stood at one side,
and in this he was delighted to find his favorite
author, rare Bobbie Burns, nature's own poet. With
the book in his hand, and a good cigar between his lips
(it was taken from an adjoining side-table), he was
the picture of contentment, when a middle-aged lady
entered the room. “Ah, sir!” said she, “you
Northern gentlemen do not wait for invitations when
you are away from home !” This in a tone which
was a refined sneer.
“Beg pardon, madam,” was the response, as the
cigar was laid aside, “I did not find anyone at home,
and the door stood open. We are without tents, and
must seek shelter, and I promise to disturb you as lit-
tle as possible. Any room in the house will be ac-
ceptable, and I will adapt myself to your convenience
as much as possible. Perhaps your having an officer
of the Union army as a lodger may insure you against
other intrusions. I have taken the liberty to examine
your book-case, and with your permission would be
glad to make use of it during my stay.”
Glancing at the volume in the hand of her unbid-
den guest, the lady said, “Ah ! Burns ! Is he a favor-
ite of yours ?” &
“Yes, indeed, madam; for I have heard his songs
sung in his own land.”
“Indeed Are you Scotch 2"
340 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
“I can not say as to that, madam. I was born at
Berwick-upon-Tweed, but there seems to be a doubt
as to whether the old town is English or Scotch. At
one time it was called a free city, and one of the Brit-
ish sovereigns wrote himself King of England, Scot-
land and Berwick.”
Thereupon followed a conversation in which it was
made known that the lady was a Scotchwoman, and
had known her guest's father (then deceased) beyond
seas. A most cordial feeling at once arose between
the two conversationalists, and a lasting friendship was
established.
Somewhat later in the day, the lady's husband
reached home, and to him was introduced the young
officer, with an explanation of the friendly ties exist-
ing between him and the wife. He was most cordial
from the moment. Even without such an introduction,
he was disposed to a spirit of gentlemanly toleration,
based upon the idea, as he expressed it, that “to the
victors belong the spoils ;” but the kindly interest of
his wife led him to the utmost cordiality of word and
act, and the two became fast friends. He had under-
stood that the army came through very light ; would
his guest accept such needed furnishings, as his ward-
robe would supply 2 and accept such a loan of money
as would be acceptable until he could supply himself
through the customary channels 2
Mr. Warren was then about forty years of age, a
“ALAs, POOR YORICK!” 341
bank officer, and a large landholder ; but the disasters
of war, and the exorbitant exactions of the Confederate
authorities, had left him but little of his previously
ample fortune. He was a misanthrope, a cynic ; but
whether his melancholy had other cause than financial
disaster, the writer never learned. Yet he was capa-
ble of warm attachments, as this acquaintance amply
testified ; and his regard, when once won, was far
deeper than that common to men who are on familiar
terms with everybody. Of studious habits and con-
siderable culture, he had surrounded himself with all
that could seemingly make life enjoyable. His pic-
tures were exquisite, and his books the choicest. He
was a writer of no mean ability, and many gems of
true poesy fell from his pen and found their way into
the columns of leading Southern journals.
The time came for the young officer to leave Savan-
nah with his command, and the regret of parting was
mutual. An irregular correspondence was maintained
between Warren and his former guest until about ten
years ago, when the latter was surprised to receive
from Warren a letter written from St. Louis, but a
few miles from his own home, requesting a meeting in
that city. The summons was answered in person by
the next train, and Warren was found with his wife
at a private boarding house. He said that he had
broken up his home at Savannah, but gave no
reason, and came to St. Louis hoping to find employ-
342 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
ment. The friend to whom he appealed for assistance
being then on his way East on an urgent errand,
left with him money to supply his immediate necessi-
ties, promising to aid him as he wished upon return-
ing. A few days later, he learned from the newspapers
that Warren had found his death by the deadly
morphine, and that the widow had returned to her
Southern home with his lifeless remains. The pub-
lished account said that his taking off was “accident-
al.” Let us believe that it was, nor grudge him his rest.
As the writer pens this narrative, the portrait of
Warren lies before him, recalling to mind the lines
penned by the poor fellow at the field-desk of the
former in Savannah, on New Year's Day, of 1865 —
alas, how sadly suggestive, when read in connection
with the circumstances of his unhappy death !
One day, one day,
Oh, troubled breast,
Thou'lt be at rest
If love's disdain
Of thee makes mirth
Six feet of earth
Will end his reign.
Rended his chain,
Oh, troubled breast,
Thou 'lt be at rest.
The life uncrowned,
The true love crossed,
The peace here lost,
Will there be found !
Beneath the ground,
Oh, troubled breast,
Thou 'lt be at rest
THE SOLDIER ON HIS SEA - LEGS, 343
CHAPTER XXXV. - |
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\\ ~ THE SOLDIER ON HIS SEA-LEGS.
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* * olinas follow upon that of Georgia,
- and so intimately blended were the
consequences of these historic movements, that the
“Great March " may be said to have actually begun
at Chattanooga, ending only upon the arrival of the
army at Raleigh, North Carolina, where Johnston
surrendered to Sherman. - !
It had been decided that Sherman's army should
be transferred to South Carolina, to operate against
Lee's communications. The itinerary of this cam-
paign shows that it occupied upwards of three months,








344 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. S.
and involved a march of four hundred and eighty
miles to Goldsboro, North Carolina. To this was Sup-
plemented the march to Washington City, via Raleigh,
three hundred and sixty miles farther, making eight
hundred and forty miles in all. The figures look com-
monplace, but it was a great undertaking. The roads
were continuously bad, the army had never traveled
worse, and the weather, with but slight exception, was
horrible beyond description, rain falling almost inces-
Santly. -
A portion of the army made its movement from
Savannah by land, crossing the Savannah river, and
traversing the low ground lying near the coast-line :
while another part was transported by water to Hilton
Head. It is difficult to say which of the two had the
worst end of the bargain—the One, floundering for
days and days in bottomless mud, or the other,
churned and thumped about in rickety vessels on salt
water. As it was, both agreed that they had never
before experienced such misery.
On the morning of January 6th, Smith's division
of Blair's corps marched from Savannah to Thunder- g
bolt Inlet, on Wassau Sound, eight miles, under a
beating rain. There the troops embarked, the regi-
ment which the narrative principally follows, taking
passage on the “Winona,” a wooden gun-boat the
troops first made acquaintance with on the Mississippi
river, at Vicksburg and Natchez, in 1862–3, when it
THE SOLDIER ON HIS SEA - LEGS. 345
belonged to Farragut's squadron. It was a light
draft propeller, carrying several heavy guns, all on the
spar-deck. Of course there were no accommodations
below except for the ordinary ship's crew, and the
soldiers were disposed on deck, “out of doors,” as they
expressed it, as best could be. Soon after noon the
vessel got under way, and it was not long before the
trouble began. There was an unusually heavy sea,
and what with that, and the heavy deckload of guns,
anchors, and the like, the crazy old “Winona’’
pitched about at a terrible rate. Most of the men
were dreadfully seasick ; and, without strength to
hold on to anything, they tumbled from one side of
the vessel to the other, with its every motion, being so
thumped and pounded that many of them were sore
with bruises for days afterward. The scene was
distressing enough, but had its comicalities. In the
working of the ship, the officer of the deck frequently
called out the “steady" which served as a direction
to the man at the wheel, who echoed the “steady" as
he plied the spokes of his helm. The untutored sons
of the prairie, ignorant of the meaning of the words,
took them to be sarcastic injunctions addressed to
themselves, to stand up straight while the decks were
wobbling forty-five degrees port and starboard in as
many seconds; and they replied with elaborate pro-
fanity between the gulps which signalized the commo-
tion beneath their waistbands,
34-6 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Some time after dark, Hilton Head was reached,
and anchor cast, but the vessel continued to roll
wildly all night, making sleep impossible to the sore
and weary landsmen. In the morning the “Winona ’’
steamed into Beaufort, and the men disembarked,
thanking God that they had escaped from an experi-
ence compared with which plain soldiering was
heavenly happiness. .
Beaufort was a beautiful little town, extremely
southernish in every respect. The houses, all of
wood, were low, covering considerable ground, and
encompassed on all sides with spacious verandahs.
The fortifications were garrisoned by Foster’s corps,
all negroes, well clothed, well armed, and in a high
state of discipline. Large numbers of freedmen were
in the vicinity, cultivating abandoned plantations.
In the harbor lay ships, displaying the flags of
almost all nations, and among them, flying the Ameri-
can stars and stripes, were several captured blockade
runners—Clyde-built, long, narrow, dull-colored ves-
sels, lying very low in the water — evidences of
“British neutrality.”
January 10th, the troops marched out of Beaufort,
and after making five miles, ran against the enemy.
He was driven without much difficulty, however, and,
after penetrating the country fifteen miles, the
command halted at Pocotaligo, near the Charleston
and Savannah railroad, to await the arrival of that
THE SOLDIER ON HIS SEA - LEGS. 347
portion of the army which was marching overland,
or, to be more exact, wading through water, from
Savannah. Pocotaligo was an inlet, navigable by
light-draft vessels at high tide, and the works aban-
doned by the enemy were very complete.
There, a few days later, large numbers of recruits
and drafted men were received for various regiments.
Many were substitutes, furnished by drafted men,
receiving bounties ranging from eight hundred to
two thousand dollars each. The arrival of the latter
class occasioned much feeling among the old soldiers,
who had been paid only the four hundred dollars
government bounty allowed for re-enlistment as vet-
erans, and had been cut off from all local bounties.
These recruits were also the cause of other compli-
cations. The regiments to which they were assigned
had been depleted, by the casualties of service, below
their minimum strength, and these accessions were
not sufficiently numerous to bring them up to the
standard to admit of the muster-in of subalterns who
held commissions. As there were not enough of
these recruits to fill up all the companies, it was
plain that some must secure the necessary number,
while others could not. So far as memory goes, the
officers whose duty it was to make the apportionment,
very properly filled up the companies having the
most worthy and capable subalterns to be advanced.
348 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Every regiment had its “bob-tail” companies, and
from these came cries of partiality and favoritism.
Until January 29th, the troops lay in fathomless
mud, drenched daily with the worst rains they had ever
experienced. The enemy was immediately in front,
and the skirmish-line was engaged day and night.
On the 30th, the troops broke camp and set out in
earnest for the interior of South Carolina. The
enemy contested every foot of ground, but fortunately
the sun again shone out, the roads dried up some-
what, and the spirits of the men rose, so that, on the
whole, favorable progress was made.
OLD FRIENDS HEARD FROM. 349.
*
CHAPTER XXXVI.
OLD FRIENDS HEARD FROM.
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who made every effort to mitigate, as much as pos-
sible, its unpleasantness. Hence, in recognition of
kind treatment, the adjutant, on behalf of his comrades
and himself, addressed the officers of the ship a letter
of grateful acknowledgment. The last mail received
at Pocotaligo previous to the army taking up its
march for the interior, brought the following reply:














350 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
f
U. S. S. WINONA,
Port Royal, S. C., Feb. 3d, 1865,
DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 9th ult., enclosing a card of thanks
to the officers of this vessel, has been received. In reply we would say,
that we feel gratified to know that our endeavors to make your recent
trip from Savannah to Beaufort an endurable one were successful. Our
vessel not being adapted to the service in which we were then engaged,
and our accommodations limited, it was not in our power to offer you
such quarters as we would have wished, nor such as you deserved. But
the knowledge that our efforts were appreciated is very agreeable, and
we are happy to have the acquaintance of a portion of that army whose
glorious progress we have watched with such interest, while we have
been comparatively inactive. Be assured that we shall watch your future
steps with renewed interest; and may we be permitted to hope that the
“big guns” of the navy may have a voice in some of your future con-
quests. But however that may be, the officers of the “Winona,” and
yourself and comrades, will have no dispute as to precedence; on the
contrary, our toast at all times shall be “The Army and Navy forever,”
while war lasts and in happier times of peace. •
Please accept for yourself and your comrades the kind regards and
good wishes of the officers of this vessel, and believe me, very truly,
E. H. SHEFFIELD.
Acting Master and Exec. Officer.
The same mail also brought the following personal
letter, which is quoted to show what friendly relations
frequently sprang up between Union soldiers and
Southerners. It was written by Z. N. Warren, an
ardent supporter of the “confederacy,” whose sad
history and unhappy death have been narrated in a
preceding chapter : -
. SAVANNAH, GA., Jan. I9th, I865.
MY DEAR : * * My wife and self are truly rejoiced to
learn that your vessel escaped “the perils of the sea.” We were both
very anxious on your account, knowing that you had encountered unusu-
ally boisterous weather. We sincerely desire that you may escape all
perils of land and sea, and long live to be an ornament of society, and a
useful and honored member of the republic. We greatly miss the com-
OLD FRIENDS HEARD FROM. 351
pany of yourself and Capt. Give him our kindest regards,
* * My health is very poorly indeed; I am suffering greatly
to-day, but try not to despair. * *
Believe me, very truly, your friend,
Z. N. WARREN.
In the same package with this letter is one penned
by a lady residing on a plantation on Black river, in
the rear of Wicksburg. It was just after the end of
the siege that the fortunes of war made a Union
soldier for a time an occupant of her house. She was
a widow, with two daughters, one of whom was
receiving her education in an Episcopal seminary in
New Jersey, and had barely reached home before the
Mississippi was closed to travel at the outbreak of the
war. Three sons were with the rebel army in Vir-
ginia. Nothing had been heard of them for months,
and the anxiety of the poor women was pitiable. All
the plantation hands had abandoned the place, and the
family was utterly destitute, but refined and proud.
In this strait it was the privilege of the Union soldier
to relieve their immediate necessities during his stay.
They were profuse in their expressions of gratitude,
and, soon after the close of the war, wrote of their
efforts to re-establish their broken fortunes, and the
sad news that two of the three boys had fallen on
Eastern battle-fields.
Friendships formed under such circumstances were
not uncommon, and were sometimes marked by inci-
dents as romantic as ever penned by novelist.
352 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Memory recurs at the moment to that same planta-
tion not far from Vicksburg, and to bright-eyed
Mollie, the dear creature, bitter little rebel that she
was. How she delighted to throw open her windows,
so that the soldiers about might hear her play
“Stonewall Jackson's Way,” and how loudly and
exultantly her voice would ring out in “The Bonnie
Blue Flag,” and “Dixie!”
Being not less a woman, however, she did not
repel the delicate attentions of a young Union sol-
dier; and the two spent many happy hours over the
chess - board and at the piano. The girl was not
greatly to be blamed for so amusing herself. Her
lover was with Lee, in Virginia, and there were no
mails to bring tidings from him. But her companion,
being in constant communication with a fair girl at
home in Illinois, was less excusable. The young
rascal probably never made confession to her of the
pleasant flirtation.
One afternoon Mollie wished to go outside the
lines to visit friends. The young soldier proposed to
escort her, and his company being gladly accepted,
they rode out on horseback.
At the picket-line, the soldier gave the counter-
sign, and was cautioned to be careful that the rebel
cavalry did not capture him. But he was so engrossed
with his fair companion that he gave little heed to the
advice.
OLD FRIENDS HEARD FROM. 353
Their destimation, two miles beyond, was soon
reached. The horses were hitched at the fence, and
Mollie and the soldier entered the house, where both
were cordially received. - -
An hour later Mollie was loitering with one of her
friends near the gate, when suddenly she looked up
the road and shouted excitedly to her escort, “O!
here are our soldiers coming!”
The soldier was not a moment in reaching his
horse. A hurried glance revealed a cloud of dust,
and in the wrong direction for friends. He thought
himself drawn into a trap by the fair rebel, and he
put his foot into the stirrup, determined to make a
desperate ride for liberty. But before he could reach
the saddle, Mollie was by his side. “Don’t go with-
out me!” she exclaimed.
She never looked more bewitching than at that
moment, and the soldier could not distrust the anxiety
for his safety which stood revealed in her tear-
dimmed eyes and quivering lips. To assist her to the
saddle required but an instant, and, urging the
horses to their utmost speed, the two flew down the
road. They were none too soon—the enemy, a score
or more in number, were but a few hundred yards
behind. Faster and faster flew pursuers and pursued,
the former gaining, until at a turn in the road, the
soldier was delighted to meet the advance guard of a
body of Union cavalry. A hurried explanation was
23
354 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
given; a moment later a company of gallant troopers
dashed by, and a rattling volley from their carbines
gave assurance that the pursuit was checked.
The soldier and his fair companion soon passed
through the picket lines in safety; and to this day he
holds her in grateful remembrance for having saved
him from capture, if not death. Doubtless, the only
reason for his not being fired upon by the rebel
cavalry was the fluttering of Mollie's riding-skirt at
his side. - .
A few weeks later, orders came for the troops to
abandon the line of Black river, to engage in the
attempt against Atlanta. The young soldier delayed
his departure until the last of his comrades had gone
and the enemy's cavalry was in sight, and then leaped
into the saddle. At the bend in the road which was
to shut out his view of the place where he had spent
so many happy hours, he turned and waved his hand-
kerchief in farewell. The signal was returned from
an upper window, and Union soldier and Southern
damsel had parted forever!
THROUGH FIRE AND WATER, 355
CHAPTER xxxvii.
THROUGH FIRE AND WATER,
FTER four days of
hard marching and
| sharp skirmishing,
º ) the army reached
ſº the Salkehatchie, a
Tºſº. :* M º considerable stream,
% ºf *S which, outside its
banks, broadened into an immense swamp. All
| the bridges having been destroyed, the enemy had
f ; :
» ( & §: -ºffeſſes:-
( 's º # * - … º.º---
plainly made up his mind that this route was im-
practicable beyond question, and so it would have
been to troops led by a less determined chief than
Sherman. But his restless energy and indomitable
resolution were reflected in his men, rendering them
superior to all circumstances, no matter how disad-
vantageous, and their triumph at the Salkehatchie,
although comparatively bloodless, was one of the most
conspicuous in their all-conquering career. To Giles



356 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
A. Smith’s and Mower’s divisions of the Seventeenth
Corps fell the severest labor and the greatest credit.
The swamp at the point chosen for forcing was
perhaps three miles wide. It was such as Moore
described :
“Tangled juniper, beds of reeds,
And many a fen where the serpent feeds,
And man never trod before.”
A dog could scarcely make his way through the
swamp, much less a horse; and the mounted officers
abandoned their animals for the time to travel in the
same way as the soldiers in the ranks. -
At the command, the troops plunge into the timber.
So immense are the trees, and so thickly set, that
the eye can not reach half pistol range; and they
are so abundantly covered with foliage that the light
of day is shut out. No matter for this, however. The
sun has not been seen to-day and a cold drizzling
rain is falling. The progress of the men is slow
and laborious. They force their way through the
dense undergrowth, tearing their clothing, and scratch-
ing face and limbs. Treacherous vines trip them, and
they catch at bush and tree to save their footing.
Cypress-knees concealed beneath the water wound.
their feet at almost every step. Now the water grows
deeper and deeper, as the heart of the swamp is ap-
proached. It comes up to the waist, and the men take
off their cartridge-boxes and suspend them from the
THROUGH FIRE AND WATER. 357
muzzles of their guns, above their heads, for they
must keep their ammunition dry, no matter what else
befalls. The water becomes deeper yet. Those who
have watches, diaries or money, place these valuables
within their hats. Now the water reaches to the arm-
pits, and occasionally all that can be seen of a short
man is his head sticking out of the water. Here and
there are soldiers sitting upon fallen trees or stumps,
exhausted or taken with cramps. The surgeon seeks
them out, and, satisfying himself that their distress is
not simulated, he directs the hospital steward to serve
to the sufferer a “tot” of whisky from the hospital
liquor-cask, which at such times, he carries strapped
upon his shoulders. The administration of the stimu-
lant tells how complete is the exhaustion of the
patient. A half-pint of the fiery liquid is swallowed
without affecting brain or limb. The human mercury
is almost at zero, and the large dose only avails to
restore the system to an approximation of its normal
condition. -
This incident was only unusual in degree. Indeed,
there were days and days when the soldier was
drenched on account of rains or swamp-wading, and
found no opportunity to dry himself save as the sun
shone for a few hours, and dried his clothing on his
body; or when he shivered over the camp-fire at night,
alternately turning front and rear of his person to
the blaze. These were the exposures which wrecked
358 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
health in countless instances, yet left no mark. Here
it was that the soldier must do and endure, for he
would not die. He drew on his reserve energy, and
to-day he suffers with diseases and weaknesses which
cause him to feel an age, and a degree of infirmity,
that face and voice and gait fail to reveal. Thou-
Sands suffer who are unable to locate the date or exact
circumstances which have caused nature to claim her
own, in after years visiting a severe penalty for the
violation of her laws; and of such the pension list is
necessarily silent. There are those of whom the writ-
er knows, whose remarkable experience it was to fight
and march the war through, from Cairo to Washington;
who gave to the cause nearly five years of their life,
and how many of their vigor can not be told; who
passed through many actions without a wound; and
whose pride and resolution would not admit of their
going to a hospital. They had their aches and pains,
but they braved them out. It would be better to-day
if, in war-times, they had experienced worse fortune
or shown less pluck. A wound then—always pre-
mising that it was not too severe—or a brief sojourn
in a hospital, would, in all probability, have afforded
nature a breathing-spell, and left them physically
better men.
But to return to the passage of the Salkehatchie.
After a journey of more than three hours, the troops
* emerged from the swamp and put foot on solid ground.
THROUGH FIRE AND WATER. 359
The movement was eminently successful, the enemy
abandoning his works which had been thus turned.
From the 4th to the 12th, the enemy gave ground
rapidly until he reached the Edisto river, behind
which lay the little city of Orangeburg. The condi-
tions there were nearly identical with those of the
Salkehatchie. - e
The road leading into the city was a narrow cause-
way made of corduroy, straight as an arrow, built
through the swamp. At the farther end were stout
fortifications mounted with heavy guns. It was a
veritable Death's bowling alley. Down its two-mile
length the enemy could pitch his cannon-balls at any
human tenpins that might be set up. The distance to
t
be traveled to reach the battery was so great that the
direct attack would have involved terrible loss of life. -
This route being out of the question, Giles A. Smith's
division was designated to force a passage of the
swamp below the works, and near them, while Mower's
division made an effort still farther down the stream.
As soon as the head of Smith's column appeared at
the foot of the causeway, the enemy commenced a
warm cannonading. The troops were massed in the
shelter of the heavy timber at the side of the road,
and out of view of the enemy, and when all was
ready they rushed helter-skelter to the same kind
of shelter on the other side. Then they deployed
and waded through the swamp, in the same manner
360 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
as at the Salkehatchie, until they came to the Edisto
proper, which was exceedingly deep and narrow, and
ran with a rapid current. This was bridged by felling
large trees, and over these the men scrambled to the
farther side, the enemy giving way before a sharp mus-
ketry fire. The first regiment across, on this part of
the line, was the 32d Illinois, led by Lieutenant-Colo-
nel Rider. The second in command was Major Smith
Townshend, a gallant officer and most genial and com-
panionable comrade. He had been a private in the
1st Kansas, at Wilson's Creek, where Lyon fell. There
he was wounded, and on recovering was commissioned
as a lieutenant in this regiment, rising through the
various grades to that of major. After the war he
became a clerk in the War Department, studied medi-
cine in his leisure hours, and in a few years entered
upon practice in Washington City. Afterward he was
appointed Health Officer of the District of Columbia,
a position he yet fills. He was the first physician to
reach the side of President Garfield after Guiteau's
murderous assault, and administered the first treat-
ment. -- -
Returning to Orangeburg . As soon as the troops
emerged from the timber into the open ground, the
enemy, finding his works turned, abandoned them pre-
eipitately. The skirmish line was less than a quarter-
mile from the railroad when the last train ran out,
loaded with frightened passengers. A number of
THROUGH FIRE AND WATER. 361
shots were discharged at it, but without effect, so far
as was ever heard.
When the troops entered the city, they found the
business portion of it in flames, the effect of the
enemy's suicidal folly in setting fire to large quanti-
ties of cotton piled in the streets. W. Gilmore Simms,
the famous Southern author, had his home at this
place. Whether his premises were destroyed or not,
the author does not know; but many books from his
library, bearing his autograph, found their way into
camp, and were carried away by the men as me-
mentoes. -
The pursuit of the enemy continued during the
13th and 14th, the federal advance constantly skir-
mishing with his rear guard. The march on these two
days was particularly uncomfortable, and at times dan-
gerous. The route lay along a narrow country road,
through an immense pine forest. The trees had been
tapped for turpentine, and the resin coated them
thickly where they had been denuded of their bark,
ten to twenty feet upward. A fire was started, perhaps
accidentally, perhaps intentionally, by the enemy, and
the entire forest was ablaze. The thick, resinous smoke
rose in dense clouds, blinding the sight and choking
the lungs, while the fierce heat blistered faces and
scorched clothing. The horses of the wagon and
ammunition trains and artillery were so frightened
that it was a difficult task to coax or force them
362 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
through the roaring flames, which raged on either
side. Frequently a burning tree fell across the road,
halting the column until it could be cut up and the
pieces dragged away. The sticky, pitchy, black vapors.
soon changed the complexions of the men, and an Illi-
nois mother might have come into camp and, taking
her own son for a pure-blooded negro, have inquired
of him the whereabouts of the white troops. Worse
yet, no soap was to be had, and it was many a long
day before the men regained their normal hue of
countenance,
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CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 365;
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA.
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below the confluence of
§§§ Saluda and Broad rivers.
'ſ' ºff; *śs On the opposite side,
º:#º on ground gently slop-
ing to the river, lay Col-
umbia, its wide streets, wealth of ornamental trees,
and handsome buildings, making a picture charming
to the eye. The imposing walls of the new capitol,
yet unfinished, rose in massive beauty; the white
marble of column and cornice — each stone was said
to have cost a round thousand dollars — glittering in
the sunlight like immense gems. Near this magnifi-






366 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
cent edifice stood its less conspicuous neighbor, the
old capitol, dingy and forbidding.
Until the 6th it was not known to the troops that
the column would reach Columbia at all, the direction
appearing to be toward Augusta. But on that date,
when Midway was passed, it was discerned that
Columbia lay in the line of march, and the fact was
regarded by the army with peculiar interest. All
recognized that city as being of a verity “the hot-bed
of the Rebellion,” the birthplace of nullification, out
of which came secession as a legitimate fruit ; and
they looked upon its occupation as a triumph even
more significant than the capture of Richmond itself.
The 32d Illinois Regiment led the advance that
day. As this command reached the edge of the
almost perpendicular bank overlooking the river, the
adjutant tunned out to allow the column to change its
direction, and form a color-line parallel with the
stream. He was mounted on a fine horse, well nigh
milk white, which his faithful “bummer " had
acquired some days before. A water-mill on the
opposite shore, and the bushes which fringed the
river near it, proved to be full of the enemy’s rifle-
men, who found an unusually attractive mark in the
white horse, and opened a sharp fire, which moved the
troops, in filing past, to exhort the rider to send his
“— white horse to the rear.” Without doubt he
desired very much to comply with the requests so
CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 367
earnestly expressed, but he had a duty to perform, and
honor required that he should not leave his post until
it was completed. However, he “sighted" his color-
line in much less time than usual, and sent the danger-
inviting animal to the rear, but not before three men
in his vicinity had been wounded by the fire which he
had provoked. He never rode such an animal again ;
the ordinary war-risk was hazardous enough, without
offering any special inducements to the enemy.
Attracted by the firing, a section of Clayton's First
Minnesota Battery of Rodman guns was brought up,
and a few shots knocked the water-wheel of the mill
to pieces, and sent timbers flying so lively that the
riflemen scampered away like rats from a burning
barn. About the same time a battery of Parrott guns
threw a few shells into the city, dispersing a crowd of
people plundering the rebel commissariat.
It was while these events were transpiring that
General Sherman rode up, and, after examining the
city through his glass, remarked to General Belknap,
who commanded the brigade in line at this point that
he “would appreciate the men who first made a lodg-
ment in Columbia.” General Sherman then rode away,
and General Belknap set his wits to work to take
advantage of the hint his superior had dropped.
That night, the Fifteenth Corps passed to the left
of the Seventeenth, under orders to effect a crossing of
368 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Broad river, three miles above, and to enter the city
from the north.
While this movement was in progress, General Bel-
knap dispatched a party to make search for a boat,
and Captain H. C. McArthur, of his staff, was so for-
tunate as to find a leaky old scow. He had been a
carpenter, and, assisted by several soldiers, by dint of
hard work all night, succeeded in so repairing the
craft as to make it tolerably seaworthy.
About 9 o'clock on the morning of the 17th, the
frail bark was successfully launched, and a party of
thirty men, belonging to the 13th Iowa Regiment, vol-
unteered to cross over. Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy
was in command, and he was accompanied by Captain
McArthur and Lieutenant Goodell, of General Bel-
knap's staff. A number of natives who stood about in
open-mouthed wonder, warned the men against the
dangers of the rocky channel and swift current, and
some of the soldiers declined to take the risk. Twenty-
one, however, and the officers named, embarked and
essayed the passage of the stream. It was a desper-
ate undertaking; the current of the Congaree was
very swift, and the channel was broken by dangerous
rapids which would have deterred less determined
spirits. But energy and courage were strong in these
gallant men, and, after several narrow escapes from
wreck on the rocks, they landed in safety on the
Columbia side. Ascending the slope to the town on a
CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 369
double-quick, at a distance of a couple of squares from
the river, the party intercepted a rebel officer hurrying
off in a buggy. The officers and the color-bearer took
possession of the vehicle, and drove rapidly toward the
capitol buildings, directing the squad to follow as fast
as possible. When within a few hundred yards of
their destination, the officers in the buggy were fired
upon by the retreating rebel cavalry, but without
effect. Seizing the only gun in the party, McArthur
jumped out and fired at the enemy, unhorsing one of
their number. Upon the arrival of the remainder
of his men, Kennedy went to the capitol buildings,
and displayed the national flag from the old State
house, and his regimental banner from the new one.
From the dome of the old building could be seen the
skirmishers of the Fifteenth Corps, nearly a mile
away. -
About three-quarters of an hour later, Lieutenant-
Colonel Kennedy and Captain McArthur were stand-
ing in the rotunda of the old State house, when an
officer with a first-lieutenant's strap upon his shoulder,
and a flag in his hands, rushed in, and with an
almost breathless voice asked, “Which is the way out
to the dome 2"
“What do you want *" inquired McArthur.
“I want to put this flag out !”
“Well,” said McArthur, “you're just too late by
24
370 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
three-quarters of an hour, and we’ve had our flags on
both buildings for that time !”
“Who in — are you ?” .
“From General Belknap's brigade of the Seven- -
teenth Corps l’” - •.
The officer gave vent to an expressive but impolite
ejaculation, and in response to a question addressed to
him, said that he was from the 9th Iowa, of Colonel
Stone's brigade, Fifteenth Corps. - -
Shortly afterward, Kennedy’s color-bearer reported
that his national flag had been stolen from the dome.
It was not recovered until the army reached Cheraw,
when it was returned by a member of the 30th Iowa,
Colonel Stone's brigade. -
Immediately after Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy's
party had crossed the river, a detachment of the 32d
Illinois Regiment, also from General Belknap's bri-
gade, made a crossing, and placed their colors upon
the city hall. v.
While there is no question of the first occupation
of Columbia by General Belknap's troops (Third
Brigade, Fourth Division, Seventeenth Corps), the
truth of history demands the statement that the for-
mal surrender of the city was made to the Fifteenth
Corps.
At dawn on the morning of that day, Colonel
Stone's brigade of the Fifteenth Corps, threw pon-
toons across the river above Columbia, working under
CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 371
a heavy fire. Five companies of the 30th Iowa Regi-
ment, under command of Major Cramer, passed over,
and as soon as a sufficient supporting force had
crossed behind them, advanced and made a charge
upon the enemy, capturing thirty prisoners, in the
outskirts of the city. Major Cramer's command then
moved forward on the main road leading to the city,
and soon encountered a carriage bearing a white flag,
driving towards them. Major Cramer rode forward
and hailed the occupants, one of whom proved to be
the mayor of Columbia. A surrender was demanded,
which was promptly made. Colonel Stone, com-
manding the brigade, afterward rode up, and to him
the mayor made a more formal surrender. Colonel
Stone and Major Cramer then took seats in the mayor's
carriage, and in company with him drove into the city.
The part taken by the 13th Iowa Regiment was
suitably recognized by General Giles A. Smith, the
division commander, who wrote the following letter,
the original of which is before the writer of this
narrative: -
HEADQUARTERs, 4th DIVISION, 17th A. C.,
NEAR Columſ BIA, S. C., Feb. I7, 1865.
Brig. Gen. W. W. Belknap, Commanding 3rd Brigade:
SIR : Allow me to congratulate you, and through you Lieutenant-Col-
onel Kennedy, 13th Iowa Veteran Volunteers, and the men under his
command, for first entering the city of Columbia on the morning of
Friday, February 17th, and being the first to plant his colors on the
capitol of South Carolina.
While the army was laying pontoon bridges across Saluda and Broad
rivers, three miles above the city, Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy, under
37 . MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
your direction, fitted up an old worn out flat-boat, capable of carrying
about twenty men, and accompanied by Lieutenants H. C. McArthur
and W. H. Goodell, of your staff, crossed the river in front of the city,
and boldly advanced through its streets, sending back the boat, with
another procured on the opposite side, for more troops, and on their
arrival, with seventy-five men in all, drove a portion of Wheeler's cav-
alry from the town, and at II.30 a. m. planted his colors, one upon the
old and the other upon the new capitol.
The Swift current of the Congaree River, and its rocky channel,
rendered his crossing both difficult and dangerous; and the presence of
the enemy, but in what force unknown, rendered the undertaking still
more hazardous. Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy and his regiment are
entitled to great credit for its successful accomplishment.
GILES A. SMITH,
Bvt. Major-General Commanding.
General Sherman, however, had forgotten his re-
mark that he “would appreciate the men who first
made a lodgment in Columbia.” His report acknow-
ledged the formal surrender of the city to Colonel
Stone, and only incidentally stated, that “about the
same time a small party of the Seventeenth Corps -
crossed the Congaree in a skiff and entered Columbia
from a point immediately west.”
A pleasant incident marked the occupation of Co-
lumbia. Among the prisoners there liberated was
Lieutenant Byers, of the 5th Iowa Regiment, who
while in prison wrote the following, one of the most
stirring lyrics of the war:
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA,
Our camp-fires shone bright on the mountain
That frowned on the river below,
As we stood by our guns in the morning,
And eagerly watched for the foe;
CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 373
When a rider came out of the darkness
That hung over mountain and tree,
And shouted, “Boys, up and be ready
For Sherman will march to the sea.”
“CHORUS.—Then sang we a song of our chieftain,
That echoed o'er river and lea;
And the stars in our banner shone brighter
When Sherman marched down to the sea.
Then cheer upon cheer for bold Sherman
Went up from each valley and glen,
And the bugles re-echoed the music
That came from the lips of the men.
For we knew that the stars in our banner
More bright in their splendor would be,
And that blessings from Northland would greet us,
When Sherman marched down to the sea.
CHORUS.—Then sang we a song, etc.
Then forward, boys forward to battle !
We marched on our wearisome way,
And stormed the wild hills of Resaca—
God bless those who fell on that day !
Then Kenesaw proud in its glory,
Frowned down on the flag of the free ;
But the East and the West bore our standard,
And Sherman marched down to the sea.
CHORUS.—Then sang we a song, etc.
Still onward we pressed, till our banners
Swept out from Atlanta's grim walls
And the blood of the patriot dampened
The soil where the traitor flag falls;
But we paused not to weep for the fallen,
Who slept by each river and tree,
Yet we twined them a wreath of the laurel,
As Sherman marched down to the sea.
CHORUS.—Then sang we a song, etc.
Oh proud was our army that morning,
That stood where the pine darkly towers,
374 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
When Sherman said, “Boys, you are weary,
But to-day fair Savannah is ours l’’
Then sang we a song of our chieftain,
That echoed o'er river and lea,
And the stars in our banner shone brighter
When Sherman camped down by the sea 1
CHORUS.—Then sang we a song, etc.
DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 375
CHAPTER XXXIX.
DELENDA EST CARTHAGO.
, Saºza -
º §sº =º
º -- ~~~<=S
ºšs º
ºft §§§ ºzs 's- º
ſ
#. º º º º ANY accounts have been writ-
§ ! º º º ten about the destruction
º sº º º! ſº ſ of Columbia, notably that
g º º º º from the pen of the dis-
+.
---
tinguished Southern author,
William Gilmore Simms. This,
in common with others, is
} º Wºº founded upon information ac-
|#Nkº & 2, quired at second-hand, and is
#######$º per e e º
º wide of the truth in many im-
portant particulars. The writer was
! with the earliest troops in the city; he saw the
beginning and remained until the end. In certain
particulars the narrative is not entirely creditable to
some of the Union troops; but, at the same time, it
will be shown that much undeserved blame has been
bestowed upon them.
As stated in a preceding chapter, Columbia was
first occupied by a company from the 18th Iowa






376 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
- Regiment of General Belknap's brigade, Seventeenth
Corps. This detachment planted its flag upon the
capitol buildings. . -
Immediately upon that command reaching the
Columbia side of the river, Adjutant Hedley, of the
82d Illinois Regiment, who was in conversation with
General Belknap at the moment, asked permission to
take a company over. The request was readily
granted, and the Adjutant sent an orderly for the
color company of his own regiment. This com-
mand, headed by Captain Tip Richardson, responded
promptly, and double-quicked to the river. The
men embarked in the rickety old scow which was
used by the 13th Iowa detachment, and had been
brought back by some negroes. To pole it across
the stream was a task of great difficulty, and no
little danger, the current being very swift, and broken
into rapids which threatened every moment to wreck
the craft upon the rocks. On reaching the Columbia
shore the men scrambled out and set off up the slope
toward the city at the top of their speed; but they had
not gone far when they were met by several negroes
carrying buckets full of whisky, which they offered
with great cordiality. The troops, however, had more
pressing business on hand at the moment, and thrust-
ing the hospitable blacks aside, started for the city
hall at rapid pace. On reaching the building, the
color-guard ascended to the tower and displayed its
DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 377
colors. Meanwhile Adjutant Hedley and Captain
Richardson halted in the mayor's office, on a lower
floor, and entered into conversation with several citi-
Zens, one or more of whom represented themselves to
be members of the city council. These gentlemen
were in great distress, fearing that the city would be
utterly destroyed, and called attention to a large quan-
tity of baled cotton in flames in the main business
street, near the city building; also, to the fact that
some of the business houses were already being pil-
laged. They said that the mayor had gone out to
meet General Sherman and surrender the city, but they
feared it would be too late to save it from destruc-
tion. They were assured that a force adequate to
preserve Order and protect property, would soon enter,
and were advised to hold their fire engines in readi-
ness to fight the flames in case of necessity. The
suggestion was acted upon, and an engine was run out
upon the pavement from the engine-room on the first
floor, in readiness for action.
It is here to be noted that this detachment of the
32d Illinois were the first federal soldiers in that part
of the city, the company from the 13th Iowa having
gone to the capitol building. When the former
entered the place, as before stated, the cotton piles in
the street were in flames, and negroes, in that part
of the city, as well as some white citizens, asserted
that Wade Hampton's rebel cavalry had fired them on
378 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
retreating. There was at the same time some pil-
laging going on, the depredations being committed by -
negroes belonging in the place, and white men in
civilian's dress, or “butternut” jeans; some of the
latter were federal prisoners, confined in public build-
ings, who had been released by the negroes while the
enemy was vacating and the federals entering. As to
the pillaging, it will be borne in mind that the 32d
Illinois detachment was met at the river's edge by
negroes carrying liquor by the bucket-full. These,
negroes, and after them some of the prisoners whom
they had released, evidently began the depredations.
While the officers named were yet in conversation.
with the citizens in the mayor's office, a soldier from
the 13th Iowa Regiment, occupying the capitol build-
ing, entered the room and said that the colors of his
regiment had been stolen, presumably by troops
who had more recently entered the city. Hedley
and Richardson at once ascended to the tower to
see whether they had suffered like misfortune, but
fortunately their colors were still in place, and in
custody of the color-guard. As a precaution against
loss, and to ensure the presence of the color-guard,
they fastened with a bolt, on the under side, the
trap-door leading into the tower. Then, descending
to the mayor's office, they noticed that the head of the
Fifteenth Corps had stacked arms in front of the
building and established a provost-guard.
DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 379,
Shortly afterward an officer of the provost-guard
made complaint of the men in the tower firing wildly
up the street, and, upon investigation, it was found
that some of the color-guard, finding themselves
locked up in the manner described, and not relishing
the idea of losing their share of the liquor that was
being consumed upon the street, had cut the bell-rope
and let it down upon the outside of the building, with
the request that a jug of whisky be sent up. The
liquor was accordingly supplied by some sympathetic
comrades, and One of the soldiers became so excited
by frequent potations that he evidently imagined him-
self to be a beleaguered garrison resisting an attack.
Fortunately, his aim was wild, and no one was injured
by his reckless firing. The color-guard was at once
relieved, and, with the remainder of the company,
directed to rejoin the regiment. Before leaving the
building the party took two flags from the mayor's
office — one, the rebel “stars and bars,” made of
some coarse woolen stuff, now in the possession of
Adjutant Hedley; the other, a handsome silk state
flag. Captain Richardson tendered the latter to
General Belknap, who directed him to keep it, which
he does to this day.
Up to the time of the arrival of the Fifteenth
Corps and the establishing of a provost-guard, not a
building had been fired, and reasonably good order
prevailed, considering the circumstances. Very many
380 . MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
men, some soldiers, but mostly negroes and escaped
prisoners, were somewhat intoxicated, and did some
pillaging, mainly in liquor houses and a military fur-
nishing store. These depredations were soon stopped
by the provost-guard.
Shortly afterward, the jail building just in rear of
the city hall was fired, but the flames were soon sup-
pressed. This seems to have been the first fire alarm.
Simms, the Southern historian, does not charge this
deed upon the troops, but upon the escaped prisoners
before mentioned. -
Somewhat later, General Sherman rode into the
city. It was a sight for a painter, the smile which
overspread his features as his eyes fell upon one of
his “bummers,” who was just crossing the street in
front of his horse's head. The fellow was far gone in
liquor, his gait being wonderfully irregular. He wore
a handsome silk dressing-gown reaching nearly to his
feet, and outside of it were buckled his accoutrements.
He carried his musket at a loose “shoulder shift.”
In place of his military head-gear, he wore a shiny
“plug’” hat, tilted well back, and around his neck
were strung a number of epaulettes, evidently part of
the stock of some military furnishing store. A mo-
ment after, he was in the clutches of the provost-
guard.
Somewhat later in the day, a jolly party met in the
old senate chamber, where, thirty-three years before,
DELENDA EST CARTHAGo. 381
the legislature of South Carolina proclaimed its hos-
tility to the federal union. A mock senate was organ-
ized, and a vote of censure was passed against John C.
Calhoun, the great nullificationist, whose states’ rights
doctrines had found their logical sequence in the
existing wicked and unhappy rebellion. His marble
bust, a conspicuous ornament of the hall, was made the
target for inkstands and spittoons. The secession
ordinance was repealed, - “John Brown’’ was then
sung with great enthusiasm, and the “senate” ad-
journed to re-assemble at Raleigh, N orth Carolina.
The magnificent government arsenal was a place of
great interest. On the grounds, mounted upon pedes-
tals, were several fifteen-inch shells, trophies of the
war, presented to the state by General Beauregard.
One bore the inscription: “This shell was thrown into
Fort Sumter by the Abolition Fleet.” Another, “This
shell was fired into Charleston by the Abolition Bat-
teries.” The use of the word “abolition” bespeaks
the venom of the traitor who presented the relics, and
his determination to recognise in no manner whatever
the government he so bitterly hated. In the arsenal
grounds were also some famous old pieces of artillery,
several being revolutionary war relics bearing the
legend, “Georgius Rex, 1770,” surrendered by Corn-
wallis at Yorktown. Also a fine Blakeley gun, made
in England, bearing a brass plate with an inscription
to the effect that the piece was “Presented to the
382 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Sovereign State of South Carolina by one of her sons
residing abroad.” This fine specimen of ordnance is
now in the gun-yard at the Rock Island Arsenal.
Inside the Arsenal buildings were many new Enfield
rifles from English workshops, evidences of that
British “neutrality” of which so much was heard in
those days. On leaving the building, the writer
brought away with him as mementoes a pair of ele-
gant spurs, which he yet retains ; and a set of “Har-
dee's Tactics, Compiled for the Use of the Confederate
States Army.” They were in three volumes, and
were printed on paper not much lighter in hue or
finer in texture than ordinary brown wrapping paper.
This valuable relic he had the great pleasure of pre-
senting in person to General Robert Anderson, the
hero of Fort Sumter, some months later. A portrait
of the General, and an autograph acknowledgment of
the gift, were given in return, and are among the most
highly prized of the owner's war relics.
The visit to the capitol and arsenal occupied the
afternoon almost until evening, and up to the late
hour of departure from the latter building, reasonably
good order prevailed in the city. There was some
drunkenness, and at times a little pillaging, but the
provost-guards managed to keep down any general
tumult, and prevented destruction of property. *
Towards dusk the writer was one of a number of
soldiers who repaired to the principal hotel, the name
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DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 385
of which is forgotten, and called for supper. Some
federal officers were already seated when the party
entered the dining room. The servants were intoler-
ably slow, and when, after much delay, they brought
in the meal, it was found to consist of fried side-meat,
corn-bread and rye “coffee.” Before this food was
dispatched, the alarm of fire was raised, and it was
discovered that the hotel was in flames. The proprie-
tor, servants and guests, departed hastily, neither
waiting to render nor pay a bill. How this fire
originated has never been stated.
Many of the business houses on Main Street were
now in flames, and the fire was spreading rapidly.
There had been a high wind for a couple of hours, and
it was now blowing a hurricane, carrying to all direc-
tions flakes of burning cotton from the huge piles of
blazing bales in the street. As soon as possible, large
details of troops engaged in an attempt to stay the
tide of destruction, making almost superhuman efforts,
but their task was a hopeless one. They might as well
have attempted to stop a fire in a powder magazine.
The very elements had conspired for the destruction
of the city; and human means were futile. The fire
apparatus was old and wornout. One rickety engine
had been wrecked, and the hose chopped to pieces by
drunken negroes and escaped prisoners.
The street was soon a seething mass of flame on
both sides, and from end to end. Then the real work
25
386 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
sº
of pillage began. Some, wild with drink, and others,
sober enough, who conceived that property abandoned
by its owners to destruction was flotsam and jetsam,
belonging to whomsoever might have courage to res-
cue it, entered the burning buildings and took what
suited their fancy. •
The attempt to save the city was abandoned, and
the soldier-firemen and the provost-guards exerted
themselves to the saving of human life. There were
many so intoxicated as to be in danger from the fall-
ing walls, and in some instances it was necessary to
carry them out of harm’s way. Notwithstanding all
this effort, some lives were lost. -
. Meanwhile, there were those who were applying
the torch elsewhere in the city. A half-block of frame
shanties of the most disreputable character were fired
in malicious mischief. A similar fate befell the fine
residence of Wade Hampton, who commanded the
lately retreated rebel cavalry; also that of Mr. Tren-
holm, the rebel Secretary of the Treasury, and of
other high dignitaries. The incendiaries in these
cases evidently regarded the destruction as justifiable
and praiseworthy.
It is beyond question that in some instances pri-
vate premises were plundered and individuals robbed.
The writer, however, has this only on hearsay ; he
witnessed no such disgraceful scenes. There were
some ghouls in this army, as in all others, no matter
DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 387
how civilized the age, or righteous the cause ; and a
very few such in the midst of thousands of honest and
conscientious soldiers, could readily bring reproach
upon all. But the author does not know, nor, after
diligent inquiry, has he been able to find any soldier
who was in Columbia at that time, who knows of any
such vandalism as was attributed to Sherman's army
by William Gilmore Simms, in his pamphlet, “The
Burning of Columbia,” published in 1865. He says:
“Ladies were hustled from their chambers—their
ornaments plucked from their persons, their bundles
from their hands. It was in vain that the mother ap-
pealed for the garments of her children. They were
torn from her grasp and hurled into the flames. The
young girl striving to save a single frock, had it rent
to fibres in her grasp. Men and women, bearing off
their trunks, were seized, despoiled ; in a moment the
trunk burst asunder with the stroke of the ax or gun
butt, the contents laid bare, rifled of all the objects of
desire.
“‘Your watch l’ ‘Your money !” was the demand.
Frequently no demand was made. Rarely was a word
spoken, where the watch, or chain, or ring, or bracelet,
presented itself conspicuously to the eye. It was
incontinently plucked away from the neck, breast, or
bosom. Hundreds of women, still greater numbers of
old men, were thus despoiled. The slightest show of
resistance provoked violence to the person.
“The venerable Alfred Huger was thus robbed, in .
the chamber and presence of his family, and in the
388 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
eye of an almost dying wife. He offered resistance,
was collared and dispossessed by violence.
“We are told that the venerable ex-Senator Colonel
Arthur P. Hayne was treated even more roughly.
% 3% $: Sé % 3% 3% *
“Within the dwellings, the scenes were of a more
harsh and tragical character, rarely softened by any
ludicrous aspects. It was in vain that the woman.
offered her keys, or proceeded to open drawer or ward-
robe, or cabinet or trunk. It was dashed to pieces
with ax or gun butt, with the cry, ‘We have a shorter
way than that l’ s
$ 3% # Sk Sé Sk # Sk
“Nor were these acts those of common soldiers.
Commissioned officers, of rank so high as that of colo–
nel, were frequently among the most active in spolia-
tion, and not always the most tender or considerate in
the manner and acting of their crimes; and, after
glutting themselves with spoil, would often utter the
foulest speeches, coupled with oaths as condiment,
dealing in what they assumed, besides, to be bitter
sarcasms upon the cause and country.”
These are some of the passionate assertions of a
bitter partisan, who was not within fifty miles of
Columbia at the time of its destruction, and whose
information is wholly second-hand, and unsupported
by evidence. But even William Gilmore Simms chal-
lenges his own assertions when he says : “The west-
ern troops, including those from Illinois, Iowa and
"Indiana, were frequently faithful and respectful.
DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 889
“and many of the houses which escaped sack
and fire, owed their safety to these men.”
Who, then, did all the diabolical mischief spoken
of by Simms ? The “western troops,” of whom he
makes mention as being in Columbia that dreadful
night, outnumbered all others ten to one, and the pro-
vost-guard was an Iowa brigade.
The moral responsibility for the destruction of
Columbia, and for the personal suffering which fell *
upon its people, rests upon the confederate authorities
themselves. With criminal recklessness they fired
immense stacks of cotton in their principal business
streets. It was criminal because it was pure waste,
being only destruction of property of which the fed-
erals could make no use, and if fired, could only jeop-
ardize the buildings of people in sympathy with their
cause. The fearful winds which spread the flames in
every direction, and wiped out the principal part of the
city, that is, the main business street and those adjoin-
ing on either side, were not an invention of the hated
Yankee. The comparatively few fires elsewhere in the
city, kindled by incendiaries, besides nearly all the
pillaging, were perpetrated by negroes and released
prisoners, the latter acting as if in bitter revenge for
the hardships they had undergone while in the hands
of the enemy. For these excesses the confederate
authorities were mainly responsible. All might have
been readily prevented, or at least restrained, by the
390 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
federal troops in custody of the city, had not the
enemy's own recklessness produced conditions which
no human power could control.
When morning came it was found that three-
fourths of the city had been destroyed. It was pitiful
to see homeless families, grouped in the stunted pine
groves adjacent to the city, surrounded by the few
poor household goods they had managed to save from
the flames. General Sherman left them a large quan-
tity of provisions, taken from his wagon train at the
expense of the troops, who were already on short
rations in a sterile country, while many of the soldiers
divided the contents of their haversacks with the poor
people—a measure of liberality which historians of
the Simms stripe never acknowledged.
Columbia was more nearly identified with the
immediate causes of the war than any other southern
city, and her destruction was incomparably greater
than that of any other. A Praise-God-Barebones of
a couple of centuries ago would have ascribed her
downfall to a judgment of God. As it was, there
were those who, while they wielded no torch, and
deplored the sad misfortune of those who suffered,
looked upon her fate as well-deserved.
It is gratifying to note that a fine monument,
erected to the memory of the “Palmetto Regiment”
which fought in the Mexican war, escaped destruction.
This beautiful work of art was a palmetto tree of
IDELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 391
iron, so skillfully made that only the closest scrutiny
revealed the fact that it was not a living tree. It was
mounted upon a fine marble pedestal, in which was
set a brass tablet bearing suitable inscriptions. . . .
Many years afterward, the “Burning of Columbia.”
was made subject of enquiry by the British and
American Mixed Claims Commission, in the cases of
claims for cotton burned, brought against the United
States by British subjects. General Sherman's evi-
dence was direct and emphatic, fixing the responsi-
bility entirely upon the confederate authorities. He
said, “Cotton was burning in the streets of Columbia
at least twelve hours before any soldier belonging
to my army had gotten within the limits of the town
of Columbia. . . I saw it with my own eyes.”
An effort was made by the counsel for British
claimants, to show that the Union army was guilty
of unusual depredations. General Sherman's evi-
dence is conclusive upon this point, and not devoid
of humor :
ºr
“Question—General, it is alleged that Von Moltke
has said that your army was an armed mob 3
Answer—Von Moltke was never fool enough to
say that. I have seen Won Moltke in person ; I did
not ask him the question, because I did not presume
that he was such an ass as to say that.
Question—You deny that statement, do you ?
Answer—Our army was as good an army as the
Prussians ever had ; and Von Moltke is a man of too
392 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
good sense to have made any such statement as was
attributed to him. . . . The Prussian army did
learn many a lesson, and profited by them, from our
war, and their officers were prompt to acknowledge it.
Question—General, I have often heard your ene-
mies in the South admit the perfect discipline of your
army? - -
Answer—We could not have done what we did do,
unless we had kept them under good discipline.
Question—Can you tell me anything about the
Fifteenth Corps?
Answer—Yes, indeed, I can ; I know all about it :
they were as fine a body of men as ever trod shoe
Heather. .
Question—They had the reputation of doing their
work well?
Answer—Yes sir; thoroughly.
Question—Had they not a reputation in Missis-
sippi for leaving their mark upon the country P
Answer—Yes, sir; they left their marks wherever
they went. -
Question—You were aware of this 2
Answer—Perfectly.
; Question—They were a wild set, were they not ?
Answer—No, sir; they were composed of first-rate
men—farmers and mechanics, men who are to-day as
good citizens as we have in our country, but who
went to war in earnest ; they were mostly western
In 611. -
Question—They were good men for destroying
property 2 -
Answer—Yes, sir; when told to do so, they de-
stroyed it very quickly.
l
DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 393
Question—When not told to do so, if they thought
they might do it, and it not be objectionable to their
officers —
Answer—They could do their work very thor-
oughly when they undertook it.
Question—Were they in the habit of destroying
property 2 -
Answer—No, sir; I do not think they were, more
than was necessary; they were a very kind set of men,
and I have known them frequently to share their
rations with citizens and people along the country ; I
have often seen it done.
Question—Do you mean to say that you were not
aware that the Fifteenth Corps was a corps distin-
guished for the marks they left upon the country
through which they passed ?
Answer—I may have known it, and very likely I
did; I generally knew what was going on.
Question—I asked you, did you know it? Were
you not aware that the Fifteenth Corps was remark-
able for the manner in which they left their mark
upon the country through which they passed ?
Answer—Explain what you mean by ‘mark.”
Question—Devastation.
Answer—They killed every rebel within range of
their guns, and left their dead bodies to mark the
ground.
Question—Do you not believe that individuals
assisted in spreading the conflagration at Columbia?
Answer—My own judgment was that the fire
originated from the imprudent act of Wade Hampton
394 MARCHING THROUGH GTEORGIA.
in ripping open the bales of cotton, piling it in the
streets, burning it, and then going away ; that God .
Almighty started wind sufficient to carry that cotton
wherever He would, and in some way or other that
burning cotton was the origin of the fire. ſº
Some soldiers, after the fire originated, may have
been concerned in spreading it, but not concérned at
all in starting it. . . . It would not surprise me if
some vagabond did it without orders, and merely for
deviltry. It would not surprise me if some of our
escaped prisoners, or some of our own soldiers, aided
in spreading the flames. . . . I would not
believe, upon the mere say so, or even the oath, of
any person in Columbia that night, when he would
state that he saw a fire kindled in a house, or in a
shed, unless it were confirmed by some of my own
people.”
NEARING THE END. 395.
CHAPTER XL.
NEARING THE END.
/ 2
sº£ HE army
# = ± W8,S. In OW
§
pushing on in
the direction
g of Cheraw, South
* =º- Carolina, and found
gººse itself on the very
trail of the contending armies of
the Revolutionary War. This fact
lent additional interest to the campaign, and, in
camp or on the march, the troops eagerly pored
over such maps as were available, and ransacked
their brains for school-day recollections of stories
of adventure and battle in the early days of the
nation. Day after day they marched and skirmished
upon ground made famous by contests between the
British rough-riders under Tarleton, and the dashing
partisans of the patriots Marion and Sumter. In
these days of immense armies and thorough Organiza-
tion, such warriors would be known as “bushwhack-


396 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
and “bummers.” Orangeburg and Winnsboro
lay on the route, and these places had been the head-
quarters of Cornwallis at various times. The Fif.
teenth Corps found on its line of march the old town
of Camden, near which Cornwallis defeated Gates.
This was the most disastrous reverse the Americans
suffered during the Revolutionary War. Here they
lost eighteen hundred men, with all their artillery;
and here, too, Baron DeKalb fell. The battle was
once regarded as a stupendous struggle, but Sher-
man's army boasted a record which justified it in
regarding that as nothing more than a respectable
skirmish. It had fought a score of such, many far
more serious, during the march between Chattanooga
and Atlanta.
Somewhat later, a portion of the Army of the
Tennessee fought a skirmish near the old revolution-
ary battlefield of the Cowpens; but notes at hand
neither note the precise locality nor the date.
Leaving the vicinity of Columbia on February
19th, the army reached Winnsboro on the 21st, and
there learned that Charleston had been abandoned by
the enemy after withstanding siege for nearly four
years. The operations of Sherman's army having
severed their communications with the headquarters
and interior of “the Confederacy,” led them to be-
lieve that city to be the objective point of the cam-
ers ”
paign.
NEARING THE END. 397
This recalls the incident that, when in the vicinity
of Branchville, well in the rear of Charleston, some
days previous, Sergeant Barker, of the 32d Illinois,
found among some papers which had been sent out
from the city by the enemy, presumably for safe keep-
ing, a requisition dating somewhere back in the '40's,
calling for thirteen loaves of bread for the garrison at
Fort Moultrie, and signed, “W. T. Sherman, 1st.
Lieut. 3d Artillery.” The dingy little piece of paper
was regarded as quite a curiosity, in view of the
changed condition of the officer whose name was ap-
pended.
March 3d found the army at Cheraw, South
Carolina, on the Great Pedee river. The distance.
traveled during the eleven days' march was some-
thing more than one hundred and twenty-five miles,
over inconceivably bad roads. As soon as they had
emerged from the mud of the swamps, the troops
found themselves anchored in the stiff clay hills,
- which the heavy rains had worked into the proper
consistency to hold feet and wagon wheels as if they
had grown there. The labor of building roads and
pulling wagons and guns out of the quagmires was
very severe. To add to the discomfort, this region.
was almost barren, and little provision or forage was
to be found, making it necessary for the troops to sub-
sist upon the greatly abbreviated rations issued from
398 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the supply trains. Three days' rations of meat and
bread had to suffice for ten days.
At Cheraw large quantities of commissary stores
were found, and issued to the troops or loaded into
the wagon trains. They also secured several thousand
stand of small arms, and about twenty-five pieces of
heavy artillery. The former were destroyed, the lat-
ter were utilized in a novel way the next day. -
March 4th was made a day of jubilee. The last
news received from the outer world was that of the re-
election of President Lincoln; and this was the day
upon which he was to be inaugurated. The event was
celebrated in as grand form as the surroundings would
permit. At noon, when it was supposed the ceremo-
nies were transpiring at Washington, a national salute
was fired from the captured artillery, large sea-coast
pieces. In order to make as much noise as possible,
and at the same time destroy the guns, which could
not be carried away, they were charged to the burst-
ing point, and when the salute was ended, the work of .
destruction was found to be complete. In the mean-
time, the lusty lungs of thousands of wildly exultant
men added to the din. -
March 9th, General Kilpatrick figured in a comical
scene which afforded amusement for the army for
many days. This dashing rough-rider, commanding a
division of cavalry, with a battery of light guns,
always moved on the exposed flank of the army, and
NEARING THE END. 399
could be depended upon to attack or resist almost any
force, apparently regardless of consequences. So
restless was he, so continually in motion, that he went
by the name of “Kill-Cavalry.” He was of medium
height, but compactly built ; his face, adorned with
side-whiskers, expressed at once affability and great
determination. A peculiarity of his dress was a solid
silver star worn upon the shoulder in lieu of the
brigadier's strap prescribed by the regulations.
Late at night Wade Hampton's rebel cavalry made
an unexpected attack upon Kilpatrick's camp, dis-
persing the command and surrounding a house occu-
pied by the General and one of his brigade com-
manders, Colonel Spencer, afterward a senator from
Alabama. These officers, in anything else but uni-
form, managed to run the gauntlet and reach the
woods near by. Here they rallied their troopers, and
after a brisk fight drove away Hampton, regaining
their camp and artillery.
March 11th, a beautiful day, the army was march-
ing toward Fayetteville, North Carolina, at a rapid
pace and in good spirits, Giles A. Smith's division of
the Seventeenth Corps in advance. The adjutant, riding
a “captured ” horse whose high mettle was stimulated
by a sudden blast from a brass band immediately be-
hind, found himself unable to restrain the ambitious
animal, and was borne past the head of the column
toward a squad of soldiers exchanging shots with
400 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the enemy on the opposite side of Cape Fear river.
The Union skirmishers turned out to be “ bummers,”
whose zeal for adventure had led them to outdo the
regular advance. As soon as they discerned an officer
galloping down the road—not knowing that he had no
more business there than themselves, but was only
present on account of the self-assertion of an unruly
horse—they raised a shout, “There goes an officer!
Let's follow him and save the bridge!” At once all
dashed forward in the direction of the river, but the
enemy had piled large quantities of resin upon the
bridge, and it was already in flames and past saving
when the squad reached it; besides, a rebel battery
was playing across the river. This combination of
circumstances, and the fact that his horse was winded
by its mad run, caused the officer to halt, and, with
the soldiers, seek cover until the arrival of the main
column. The wild rider was warmly praised by his
superior for courage displayed, but the compliment
was coupled with a profane reflection upon his want of
SéIO.S62. |
Shortly after the troops entered Fayetteville, a
United States dispatch boat ran up to the wharf–the
first vessel flying Union colors that had ascended the
stream since the war began—the brave little craft
making the venture because of the abiding faith of the
Government in Sherman's assurance that he would be
there at that time. The boat was insignificant enough,
NEARING THE END. 401
scarcely larger than a yawl. It brought no letters, no
papers–nothing but a bag of dispatches for the
General. But for all that, it was hailed with un-
bounded enthusiasm. It was the first courier from
the outside world since the army left Beaufort, nearly
two months before. It spoke no word; but the bright,
familiar bunting at its peak seemed to be a personal
message to every member of the grand army, telling
him the Government at Washington yet lived, and the
great heart of the nation confided in his patriotism
and courage. No wonder he hailed the flag with as
warm delight as thrilled the heart of the patriot in
days gone by, when, imprisoned within hearing of a
deadly conflict, and after a night's weary vigil, he
looked out across the waters from his cell, at the first
gleam of dawn, and gave eloquent expression to his
JOy:
“On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes—
What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
At Fayetteville an expedition was organized to
march down the banks of Cape Fear river to the sea
coast, with a cloud of negroes and white refugees who
had attached themselves to the army as it moved
along. The plantations on the line of march had gen-
26
402 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
erally been abandoned by their owners, and when the
slaves concluded to follow the army north in search of
“white wheat bread and a dollar a day,” they con-
sidered themselves licensed to appropriate whatever of
massa's or missis's finery they could lay hands on.
The white refugees and freedmen traveled together
in the column, and made a comical procession. They
had the worst possible horses and mules, and every
kind of vehicle, while their costuming was some-
thing beyond description. Here was a cumbersome,
old-fashioned family carriage, very dilapidated, yet
bearing traces of gilt and filagree, suggesting that it
had been a very stylish affair fifty years before. On
the driver's seat was perched an aged patriarch in
coarse plantation breeches, with a sky-blue, brass-but-
toned coat, very much out of repair, and his gray griz-
zled wool topped off with an old-fashioned silk hat.
By his side rode mater-familias, wearing a scoop-
shovel bonnet resplendent with faded ribbons and :
flowers of every color of the rainbow; a silk or satin
dress of great antiquity, and coarse brogans on her .
feet. The top of the carriage was loaded with a
feather-bed, two or three skillets, and other “plun-
der.” From the glassless windows of the clumsy
vehicle peered half a score of pickaninnies of all sizes,
their eyes big with wonder. Elsewhere in the column
a pair of “coons” rode in a light spring wagon, one
urging the decrepit horse to keep up with the proces-
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NEARING THE END. 405
sion, while the other picked a banjo, and made serious
attempts to sing a plantation song, which was almost
invariably of a semi-religious character. Those who
traveled on foot, men and women, of all colors from
light-mulatto to coal black, loaded down with bedding,
clothing and provisions, were legion. Occasionally a
wagon was occupied by white refugees, who, being
unionists, had been despoiled by the confederates.
These were sad and hopeless. The colored people, on
the contrary, were invariably gay hearted, regarding
their exodus as a pleasure trip, and evidently strong in
the faith that their lot, on “gittin' to freedom,” was to
be one of bliss. -
The fine government arsenal at Fayetteville, which
had been used by the confederates, was completely
destroyed, General Sherman remarking that he did
not believe the Government would ever be so foolish
again as to entrust such property to a rebel state.
March 14th, the army moved in the direction of
Goldsboro, the march becoming slower on account of
the concentration of the enemy's forces in front.
Johnston, who was displaced by Hood before Atlanta,
had been again called to oppose Sherman, with the
relics of Hood's army, and the various garrisons made
available by abandonment of the sea-coast line. The
Union troops looked for a severe struggle; some felt
that there was a strong probability of having to fight
406 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
a part of Lee's army as well as Hood's, but all were
hopeful, believing that the end was drawing near. "
IMarch 19th, the Twentieth Corps was caught in
flank by the enemy, and had a sharp little engage-
ment. Later reports indicating that it had found in its
front the entire rebel army, with General Johnston at
its head, the Seventeenth Corps was diverted from its
course to go to its assistance, and made a hard night's
march over a miserable causeway built through the
swamp. Rain fell in torrents all night long ; the
lightning was fearful, and one bolt struck a portion of
the column, severely shocking several men. The Fif-
teenth Corps had a scarcely less unpleasant journey,
on the same errand, over a different road, and one
possibly a trifle better—it could not have been worse.
On the 21st, the army went into line of battle near
Bentonville, North Carolina. Notwithstanding the
evident hopelessness of their cause, the enemy fought
desperately, and Sherman's army won fresh laurels in
defeating them. -
Giles A. Smith's division of the Seventeenth Corps
deployed a skirmish line made up, in part, of the 32d
Illinois. This portion of the line was under orders to
make a strong demonstration to create a diversion in
favor of Mower's troops, who had gone into action
farther to the right with so much energy as to be in
danger of being overwhelmed. Unfortunately, the
ground and the conditions were unknown, and Smith's
NEARING THE END. 407
skirmishers, particularly those of Belknap's brigade,
suffered severely. At the word, they advanced through
a heavy pine forest, the line of battle being in near
support, moving on until they encountered the
enemy’s works, and some of the men actually fell
upon the parapet. One of these, a gallant young
lieutenant of the 32d Illinois Regiment, was left for
dead. A few days afterward, he overtook the com-
mand on the march, and was looked upon as a
modern Lazarus. He was scarcely recognizable, for
his uniform was horribly dilapidated, and he wore a
large patch near his nose, and a bandage around his
head, a rifle ball having passed through his cheek,
making its exit behind the opposite ear. It is to be
hoped that he is now enjoying good health and a
liberal pension.
In the charge, one poor fellow, a drafted man (for
which class the veteran volunteers manifested a super-
cilious contempt), bent over the ground as the line
came well under fire. “You ‘connie’ (con-
script), come on and fight!” yelled an officer. “Wait
till I tie my shoe, and you’ll see how a ‘connie
will fight !” was the answer. He finished tying his
shoe, for that is what he was really doing, regained
his position, and fell dead on the enemy's works.
The line was forced back from the works, but occu-
pied its advanced rifle-pits. Early the next morning
the enemy retreated, having been pressed hard at other
4.08 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
points. He was never to fight another battle. But
that was not known then.
The part taken by a portion of his brigade was suit-
ably recognized by General Belknap, in the following
letter to Captain Jeff Dunn, who commanded the
skirmish-line :
HEADQUARTERS 3D BRIG., 4th DIV., I 7TH A. C.,
IN THE FIELD, March 22d, 1865.
CAPTAIN : I take the first opportunity that offers to thank you for
your gallant conduct on the skirmish-line near Bentonville, N. C., March
21st, and to express the appreciation I have for the skillful manner in
which you handled your men. Your line, weak as it was, at a moment's
notice, not only charged the rifle-pits of the enemy, but advanced on his
entrenched line-of-battle, and only fell back before greatly superior num-
bers. At night, when relieved by the first brigade of this division, you
remained with your men on the skirmish-line, and faithfully did more
than your duty, although you could with perfect propriety have brought
in all your men. I have the satisfaction of knowing that the men of
Iowa, as well as those of Illinois, honor you for your conduct, and I will
commend to those of my command your example as worthy of im-
itation.
I am, Captain,
Yours, very respectfully,
W. W. BELKNAP, Brig.-Gen.
March 22d, the army entered Goldsboro, and was
again in communication with the northern homes of
the soldiers. Heavy mails, which had been accumu-
lating for more than two months past, were await-
ing them ; and, to make their happiness as nearly
complete as a soldier's may be, they were served with
unstinted army rations.
A JOYOUS INTERLUDE. 4.09
CHAPTER XLI.
A JOYOUS INTERLUDIE.
entered Goldsboro, the adjutant
was an actor in a chapter of ex-
periences, which, recalled to mind
after the lapse of a score of years,
might seem to have existence only
in dreamland. But a package of
military orders, a bundle of let-
ters, and a few photographs, lying
upon his desk, assure the reality
of the narrative. -
Colonel Cadle, General Frank
P. Blair's adjutant general, an
old and well- known friend, gave hint to the adju-
tant of some military events soon to occur. Sher-
man was to crush Johnston, and then move upon
Lee, whom Grant was holding as in a vise. Those in


41() MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
high place were so well assured of the successful issue
of these operations, that the end of the war, and the
transfer of General Sherman's army to the national
capital, for final review and disbandment, were regarded
as near at hand. General Blair was anxious that his
command (the Seventeenth Corps) should make as
presentable an appearance as possible, when that event
should occur. The Fourth Division (General Giles
A. Smith) was without a brass band ; but among the
recruits received were several musicians, and one who
represented himself as having been a band-leader.
These men were to be organized as a band, and the
adjutant was ordered to go to New York, taking the
leader with him, to purchase instruments, the required
funds having been contributed by the officers of the
division.
March 26th, the necessary orders were made, and
the adjutant and his companion began their journey,
traveling by rail to New Berne, thence by boat through
the Dismal Swamp and canal to Fortress Monroe
and Baltimore. From the latter place they proceeded
by railway.
The business in New York was speedily discharged,
and the band-master sent back to his command with
the instruments. To dismiss this part of the subject,
once for all, it is only to be remarked that the “band”
proved to be the very worst in the army, and the alleged
2
“leader ’’ a most stupendous fraud. It is perhaps
A JOYOUS INTERLUDIE. 411
to the credit of the latter, that he never murdered but
one tune. It was the only one he ever attempted—
“The Roll of the Stirring Drum,” from “The Bohe-
mian Girl.” -
The adjutant availed himself of a saving-clause in
his orders, to remain in New York for a few days and
enjoy a season of recreation. One evening, soon after
his arrival, he stood in the lobby of the Metropolitan
Hotel, in the midst of a large throng of army and navy
- officers, engaged in discussing war questions with con-
siderable spirit. It was evident that all were East-
ern men, for they magnified the achievements of the
army in Virginia, and of the fleet on the sea-coast ;
not forgetting to disparage somewhat their comrades
of the West. This was natural enough, from their
standpoint ; but it was exceedingly irritating to the
adjutant, who finally spoke, with anger and indig-
nation, in vindication of his own army. His hot sen-
tences had scarcely passed his lips, when his hand was
grasped by one in the uniform of a naval officer, who
excitedly asked, “For God’s sake, are you one of
Sherman's men?”
Being answered in the affirmative, the stranger
introduced himself as Acting Master Gibson, of the
gunboat “Marmora,” belonging to the Mississippi
flotilla. He then pointed to his disfigured face—the
cheek-bone had been crushed by a fragment of shell
412 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
while passing the forts at New Orleans in one of Far-
ragut's wooden vessels.
The two, strangers alike to the throng about them,
became close friends on the instant. The Eastern
men, hearing their conversation, at once made the
amende honorable, protesting they meant no dispar-
agement of their comrades in arms, and were unaware
that any of General Sherman's army had yet reached-
the North. They were very sincere and cordial, and
proved to be most companionable gentlemen.
Standing well back at the side of the lobby, noting
the altercation and the explanations, but taking no
part, was an elderly man, whose whitish hair crept
out from beneath a fatigue cap. A military cloak
concealed all evidence of rank. Approaching the
adjutant, he said that he had heard the conversation,
and was surprised that any of General Sherman's
command should have reached the North so soon. i
Then he presented a card bearing his name, and
requested the writer to become his guest. The
speaker was General Anderson, who, as a humble
major, held Fort Sumter against the first treasonable
assault in April of 1861. His invitation, at once a
high honor and a command, was promptly accepted.
The General’s carriage was at the door, and the two
were soon at his residence on Fifth Avenue. It was
now quite late, and the guest was at once shown to a
A JOYOUS INTERLUDE. 413
room, with an injunction that he must be prepared to
do a great deal of talking on the morrow.
At breakfast next day the guest met Mrs. Ander-
son and her children. The latter conversed with each
other and with their parents in French, the General
explaining that it was to assist them in acquiring
fluency in the language, which they were diligently
studying. After breakfast, all repaired to the library,
and the adjutant was desired to give a narrative of the
campaigns of General Sherman's army, beginning
with the march out of Atlanta. Never did speaker
have more attentive auditors, and their deep interest
put him so much at his ease that he told his story
with considerable enthusiasm, the General frequently
calling a halt to ask pertinent questions, or to com-
ment, as the narrative progressed. The morning was
thus spent, and the interview suspended for the time. -
In the morning of the next day the narrative was
resumed and the subject tolerably well exhausted,
when General Anderson complied with the solicita-
tions of his guest, and gave a vivid description
of the attack upon Fort Sumter and the occur-
rences preceding it. He told how, with his little
band of eighty men, he was virtually besieged in
Fort Moultrie, Charleston harbor ; how, upon his
own responsibility, and with the positive conviction
that President Buchanan would disapprove his action,
he abandoned the position by night and occupied
414 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Fort Sumter, the key to the harbor; how at noon
on the following day he assembled his command at
the foot of the flagstaff, and all knelt, while the
chaplain invoked a blessing upon the nation and
their own feeble effort ; after which the General (a
major then) with his own hands ran up to the head of
the staff the flag he had brought away from Moultrie,
while the band played “Hail Columbia,” and the men
broke into cheers. Then he told of the attack upon
the relief-ship “Star of the West,” and its driving
off; of the summons to surrender the fort, of the
fierce cannonading from the rebel batteries, and of
how, with his wooden buildings in flames from the
enemy's shells, his ammunition and provisions ex-
hausted, he saluted his flag, hauled it down and
evacuated the fort.
General Anderson was now looking forward, with
the ardent anticipation of a gallant soldier and noble
patriot, to a scene which he regarded as a fitting close
to his public life. The fortress he was compelled to
surrender to the domestic enemies of the Government,
had been conquered and recovered by the national
forces, and it was to be his glorious privilege to again
raise over the ramparts he had so well defended, the
very flag he himself had been obliged to lower. He
had but recently received from the War Department
orders prescribing the ceremonies, and announcing
April 14th, 1865, the fourth anniversary of the sur-
A JOYOUS INTERLUDIE. 415
render, as the date. General Anderson was to raise
the flag precisely at noon, and it was to be saluted
with one hundred guns from Fort Sumter, and with
national salutes from every fort and battery which
fired upon it in 1861. At a later day the newspaper
accounts showed that these arrangements were fully
carried out, and that an appropriate oration was
delivered upon the spot by the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher.
The author has often regretted that he failed to
take notes of his conversations with General Anderson,
while they were yet fresh in mind. As it is, only the
salient points linger in memory. The General spoke
with entire freedom, and took a pardonable pride in
his military history. He told how he entered the
army, and served on the staff of General Scott, and
was wounded in Mexico. He expressed his great ad-
miration for General Sherman, and his pride in the
success of that officer, whom he referred to as “one of
my boys,” Sherman having been a lieutenant in his
battery, on being commissioned, early in the 40's. He
bade his guest call upon General Sherman on rejoin-
ing the army, and convey to him his compliments and
good wishes. Then the General asked for a souvenir
of the great march, whereupon the writer, with out-
ward pleasure but inward reluctance, presented him
with three volumes of “Hardee's Tactics, Compiled
for the Use of the Confederate States Army,” which
416 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
he had taken from the arsenal at Columbia, South
Carolina, having first, at the General’s request, in-
scribed upon a fly-leaf his name and a statement of
the circumstances under which they came into his
possession. In return, the General handed him a card
photograph of himself, upon the back of which he
Wrote :
To Lieut. Hedley, of Gen. Sherman's army, from an admirer and
lover of his old comrade, Gen. W. T. Sherman, with the regards of
ROBERT ANDERSON,
Major General, U. S. A.
On rejoining the army, the adjutant made good his
promise to call upon General Sherman. He was
received kindly, and the warm - hearted general
expressed great pleasure at the incident, speaking in
high terms of his old commander, and relating several
anecdotes with reference to their early comradeship.
At a later day he addressed to the writer a note, in
which he said :
The episode with reference to Gen. Anderson is certainly most
interesting to me, who esteemed him so highly. I think these anecdotes
of the period should be treasured, because time is passing rapidly, and
with it the memories of the days which tried the courage and patriotism
of our people. I hope you and all others of my old soldiers may live
long and attain all the honor and prosperity to which they can aspire.
Truly, your friend, --
W. T. SHERMAN,
General.
The morning before leaving New York, the adju-
tant had occasion to visit Wall Street. He was stand-
ing upon the topmost step of the sub-treasury build-


A JOYOUS INTERLUDIE. 419
ing, when a bulletin was posted, announcing that Lee
was asking terms of Grant. To this moment there
was not more than the usual bustle on the street, but
in less time than it can be told, the scene changed, and
the thoroughfare was packed from end to end with a
dense mass of wildly exultant people. It was the be-
ginning of the end. The tidings had flown fast. No need
now of telegram or printed sheet. Men saw the glori-
ous news in each other's faces, and felt it in the grasp
of the hand. Then, while the vast crowd cheered and
cheered again, there went up to the very summit of
old Trinity Church, at the head of the street, the tri-
umphant flag of the nation, regal in a splendor it had
never worn before; while underneath, from the cross
high up in air, to the very ground, were flags and
flags, nothing but flags, until the spire was a mass of
bright bunting, bathed in the sunshine of God’s own
peace. Then, exhausted with their own joyous effort,
a great hush came over the vast assemblage, and the
voices of the birds were heard among the folds of the
flag, as might Noah's dove among the olive-branches,
where it found rest and peace. And then those glori-
ous chimes rang out that old “Old Hundred,” which
has been Christendom's Te Deum through so many
generations, and the vast concourse, with streaming
eyes, and tremulous voices, took up the gladsome
words, forever wedded to the music, “Praise God,
from whom all blessings flow !”
420 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
There was no discord in that vast volume of thanks-
giving. All differences as to how this end should
have been reached, or by whom should have come
deliverance, were forgotten, and there was no thought
of aught, but joy that strife had ceased, and that
God’s messenger of peace had indeed come to reign
upon earth.
A KNOT OF CRAPE. 42I
CHAPTER XLII.
A KNOT OF CRAPE.
×2%
*ETURNING from New York to the
% front, a magnificent panorama
presented itself to the eye at
Fortress Monroe. Napoleon had
begun his designs upon Mexico;
and, in view of possible compli-
cations, every maritime power in
Christendom had sent one
or more war vessels into
the spacious harbor, \\ whence they might reach
Mexican waters without much delay, if necessary.
Here were the flags of all nations, and war-vessels
of all types, but among them none looked so trim
and ready for action, nor did any fly such beauti-
ful colors, as our own. Here were the battle-scarred
“Monitors,” which for three years had lain under
a ceaseless storm of iron hail from the batteries
at Charleston ; and swift, heavily armed cruisers,
battered by tempest while pursuing blockade-runners,















422 MARCHING THIROUGH GEORGIA.
and blockading rebel ports. Towering over all, rose
the wall-like sides and lofty spars of a famous old
three-decker ship of the line, a surviving relic of the
naval architecture of half a century ago, made obsolete
by steam and iron, and three-hundred-pounder guns.
In its wake, in curious contrast, somewhat resembling
the little dog-cart of the circus clown following close
upon the heels of the elephant, lazily floated one of
the most diminutive stern-wheelers of the western
river class. It looked strangely out of place on salt
water, and was regarded with contemptuous curiosity
by the genuine old tars of the salt-water navy, who
persisted in calling it “the wheelbarrow.”
At Norfolk, Virginia, it became necessary to leave
the ocean-going steamer and take passage upon a lit-
tle propeller which ran to New Berne, North Carolina.
The craft was not more than forty feet long, and about
ten feet wide, with only sufficient deck-room to shelter
the machinery and the four men who made up
officers and crew. The only passengers aboard were
the writer and a civilian, Mr. Segar. An acquaint-
ance was speedily formed, and Mr. Segar proved to be
a most companionable old gentleman. He was a
native of Virginia, and a man of considerable note.
As a member of the convention assembled to vote Wir-
ginia out of the Union in the early secession days, he
took a leading part in the deliberations of that body,
bitterly opposing its revolutionary and rebellious
A KNOT OF CRAPE. 423
spirit, and voting against the ordinance of secession.
IIe was loudly denounced by the mob, and at one
time a rope was actually placed about his neck, and he
would have dangled from a lamp-post had it not been
for the intervention of prominent secessionists, who
were his warm personal friends. Thereafter it was
not safe for him to live within the rebel lines, and
he was kept employed by the federal government in
various confidential missions.
The route through the Dismal Swamp lay along
the edge of Drummond Lake, a wild and lonely region
which recalled the tradition so well told in verse by
Moore. It was night, and the moon was at its full,
the light increasing, by contrast, the gloom of the
lake, which was almost entirely concealed by the dense
foliage fringing its banks. Here and there strag-
gling moonbeams crept through, and their fitful glint
upon the dark waters far away seemed as if it might
be the fire-fly lamp of the phantom Indian maiden,
and one almost expected to catch a glimpse of
“The lover and maid so true,
Seen at the hour of midnight damp,
To cross the lake by a fire-fly lamp
And paddle their white canoe.”
But more suggestive reminiscences clung to the
lonely region. It had been made even more famous
by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe in her powerful novel
“Dred,” vividly depicting the iniquities of slavery.
424 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
The book, once widely and eagerly read, was a power
in building up that sentiment under which the system
finally sank, but it is almost unknown to the younger
generations who have grown up in the past quarter
of a century.
Morehead City was reached April 15th, and there,
on the day following, was received news of the glori-
ous consummation of General Anderson's mission to
Fort Sumter, of which he had advised the writer some
days before. The joy of the troops there stationed,
on receiving the news, was unbounded, but it was of
short duration. The hurrahs had scarcely died out,
when the intelligence came, on the evening of the
same day of victory and gladness, almost before the
echoes of the joyful guns at Sumter had ceased to
roll, that Lincoln, the beloved and true-hearted, had
fallen by the hand of the assassin.
To those who were on the stage of action at that
time, the recollection of the horrible crime comes as a
dreadful nightmare. Those of a younger generation
can not possibly imagine the terrible sensations, the
awful forebodings, it awoke.
It is but a few years ago that the nation was over-
whelmed with grief because of the murderous taking-
off of the second martyr-President, Garfield. The two
events are in no wise comparable. The latter crime
was in days of profound peace; the former was in time .
of fierce war. With Garfield dead, “the government
A KNOT OF CRAPE. 425
at Washington still lived,” and the smooth, continuous
movement of the machinery of law and order was not
to be interrupted. When Lincoln fell, the hosts of re-
bellion were yet in arms, and men dreaded lest the assas-
sin's bullet might consummate that crime against civili-
zation which lines of battle had for years unsuccessfully
struggled to accomplish. The overwhelming sorrow,
and fear of possible evil to follow, fell upon the nation
like a pall. It was so much, so unexpected, that men
were stunned, stupefied. They wandered about in an
aimless, irresolute way, with voiceless lips and blanched
cheeks. The ordinary concerns of life, the routine
duties which, through long continued habit, had come
to be performed mechanically, were forgotten. Then,
as the mind slowly grasped the horrible reality, stupor
gave place to fierce rage and an intense desire to be
revenged upon somebody—anybody. Women, fearful
that all who bore the name of Southerner would be
visited with destruction of property and perhaps of
life, left their homes and came to the military head-
quarters, bringing with them their children, and plead
in tears that their lives might be spared. Their fears
were idle, their prayers unnecessary. It is the highest
tribute that can be paid to the self-control and mag-
nanimity of the soldiers of the Union, that their rage
was expended with their breath, and that neither bul-
let nor torch was sent upon its deadly work. It is
wonderful to record that no soldier committed a deed
426 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
of excess—a single one might have drenched the land
in innocent blood, and covered the name of American
soldier with undying shame.
The next day, April 17th, the adjutant arrived at
Raleigh, to which point the army had advanced during
his absence. The news of Lincoln's assassination had
not yet reached the troops, and when he informed the
members of his mess, they were incredulous, regarding
it as one of the canards which were so numerous in
those days. But later in the day, General Sherman
gave authenticity to the sad story by the publication
of an order in which, after reciting the circumstances,
he said : w:
“Thus it seems that our enemy, despairing of meet-
ing us in Open, manly warfare, begins to resort to the
assassin's tools. *
“Your General does not wish you to infer that this
is universal, for he knows that the great mass of the
confederate army would scorn to sanction such acts,
but he believes it the legitimate consequence of rebel-
lion against rightful authority. -
“We have met every phase which this war has
assumed, and must now be prepared for it in its last
and worst shape, that of assassins and guerrillas; but
woe unto the people who seek to expend their wild
passions in such a manner, for there is but one dread
result | ?”
Then occurred scenes more remarkable than those
witnessed at Morehead City.
Sherman's army was confronting that of Johnston.
A KNOT OF CRAPE. 427
Both were drawn up in line of battle, only a few hun-
dred yards apart, but peace negotiations were in
progress, and white flags along the lines proclaimed a
truce. Many of the men forgot this state of affairs
in their thirst for revenge ; and, here and there,
squads and detachments grasped their arms, and with-
out thought of orders, and unled by officers, moved to
the front. A single gun might have opened a conflict
involving the whole army, in which no quarter would
have been asked or given. Wiser counsels prevailed,
and the hot-headed went reluctantly to the rear.
The next day. General Sherman and General John-
ston met to consider terms for the capitulation of the
rebel army. The conference was held midway between
the lines, and was regarded by the Union troops with
great misgiving. They were fearful lest their General
should be slain through treachery, and there was much
alarm and nervousness until he had returned in safety
within his own lines.
Over in the corner yonder, is an old rusty saber,
companion in these campaigns the narrative portrays.
In its hilt is a frayed and dust-stained fragment of
crape, twined therein under War Department orders
requiring the army to wear mourning for six months,
in memory of the lamented President. The period
had not expired when the war ended, and he who wore
it was mustered out of service ; and he leaves the
mournful emblem in the sword-hilt to this day —
the most saddening and sacred of his war relics.
428 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XLIII.
VICTORIA
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VICTORIA 431
appeared upon the scene. His coming, taken in con-
nection with the protracted delay, when all expected
the declaration of a lasting peace, was painfully
suggestive, and the troops concluded that Sherman's
course was not satisfactory to the Government, and
Grant had been sent to supersede him. There was
no warrant for this conclusion, but the men believed
it to be the fact, and so implicitly did they trust
Sherman, that, ignorant of the merits of the case, they
looked upon Grant, their former commander, with
suspicion and jealousy, while under other circum-
stances they would have been overjoyed to see him.
This feeling was intensified when, on the day of Gen-
eral Grant's arrival, orders were issued for the termin-
ation of the truce, and the renewal of hostilities, at the
expiration of the agreed forty-eight hours' notice.
The men had supposed the war was over, their mission
accomplished ; but they now felt that the wisdom and
honor of their chief had been called in question ; and
they were inclined to resent the interference. Hap-
pily, however, before the expiration of the truce,
another conference was held by the opposing com-
manders, terms were arranged, and Johnston's men
laid down their arms forever. -
The struggle was ended, and the curtain was now
about to fall upon the final scene, a most fitting
one, which was to shed added glory upon the
gallant Sherman and his victorious hosts.
432 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Here is the Line of Blue which marched out of
Cairo nearly four years ago and pressed on from vic-
tory to victory, every halt adding one more to its list
of heroic achievements. It invested Fort Henry, and
stormed and carried Fort Donelson. It snatched
victory from defeat at Shiloh and Stone River. Wicks-
burg fell before its dogged determination, and Look-
out Mountain succumbed to its impetuous assault.
Atlanta was literally hammered to pieces under its
terrible blows. Then it defiantly marched eight hun-
dred miles through the heart of a hostile territory,
demanding and receiving the surrender of its foe at
the very gate of his capital. It was the victor! It
had the power and the right to exult! Its bands
might play and its artillery thunder jubilant vol-
leys! Well might its columns march with proud
and arrogant step in sight of the enemy it had
conquered! Now for the scenes honored in days of
chivalry ! The disdainful look of the victor, the
bended knee of the vanquished! The surrendered
swords! The grounded muskets! The pillage of the
camp! “To the victors belong the spoils!”
No! nothing of this. The Line of Gray grounds
arms in the seclusion of its own camp, and furls
its ill-starred banners. The Line of Blue stacks arms
in its own quarters. There is neither blare of band
nor peal of cannon. But there is the outstretched
hand, and with it the canteen and haversack!
VICTORIA 433
It was pitiful to look upon those men in Gray.
Engaged in a cause which had a great wrong—a
crime against humanity and civilization—for its foun-
dation, yet were they bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. They had the same hardy manhood and
the same stern devotion to what they misguidedly
deemed to be right. As soldiers, they had won a right
to be admired and honored. Ever in retreat, they
made stout battle at every stopping-place. Defeat did
not dishearten them, and to the very last they fought
with conspicuous courage. In their butternut jeans,
which by courtesy was known as a uniform, and their
broad-brimmed, gray slouched hats, they looked any-
thing but soldierly. That they should be such in
reality was wonderful. Theirs had been a losing
game from the first. The vast majority had not re-
ceived tidings from their families for many months;
they only knew that the war tempest had swept over
their homes; and their fearful anxiety as to the fate
of their loved ones was unappeased. They were
poorly provisioned, and their medical department was
worse than their commissariat; the two great necessi-
ties of the field hospital, quinine and morphine, were
rarely to be had. Yet amid all these hardships and
discouragements they were courageous, self-reliant,
even hopeful. All praise for their true soldiershipſ
But shame and everlasting disgrace be upon the base
28
434 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
conspirators who imposed upon them so desperate an
undertaking in so unholy a cause!
The terms granted by General Sherman were most
magnanimous. Field transportation and artillery
horses belonging to the enemy were lent to them
(such were the terms of the articles of agreement:
practically it was a gift outright) for their march to
their homes, and for subsequent use in industrial pur-
suits. Each brigade or detachment was allowed arms
for one-seventh its numerical strength, to enable those
in charge to preserve order.
There were those who criticised General Sherman
severely for granting such favorable terms, which
were, however, certainly in accord with the sentiment
of his troops and the spirit of the age. It is highly
probable that the censure visited upon him would .
have had no existence, had it not been for the unfortu-
nate animadversions of War Secretary Stanton and
General Halleck with reference to the terms first sub-
mitted by General Sherman, which were overruled at
Washington. The rejected portions of this memoran-
dum provided for the disbanding of the rebel army,
the conduct of the men to their respective states,
there to deposit arms and public property in the state
arsenals; the recognition, by the federal government,
of the various state governments, on their officers and
legislatures taking the oaths prescribed by the consti-
tution of the United States; the people and all the in-
VICTORIA * 435
habitants of the (rebel) states to be guaranteed, so far
as the Executive could, their political rights and fran-
chises; and the executive authority of the United
States not to disturb any of the people by reason of
the late war, so long as they lived in peace and quiet,
abstaining from acts of armed hostility, and obeying
the laws in existence at the place of their residence.
These conditions were properly overruled by the
authorities at Washington, but Secretary Stanton and
General Halleck seemed to lose their heads, and the
former authorized a semi-official “statement” which
was an argument against the agreement. It asserted
that the agreement practically acknowledged the rebel
government, undertook to re-establish rebel state
governments, relieving rebels from the effect of
national victories, and placed in their hands arms and
munitions of war which might be used, as soon as the
national armies were disbanded, in a renewed effort to
overthrow the national government and subdue the
loyal states. w
It is remarkable to look back to that time, and note
how high feeling rose against General Sherman, who
the day before was regarded as a demi-god. A lead-
ing paper, which had never faltered in its devotion to
the cause, and had bestowed the most unstinted praise
upon General Sherman, was led by Secretary Stan-
ton's “statement” to make a bitter assault upon that
officer. It said that “in reading the compact, one is
436 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
at a loss to know which (Johnston or Sherman)
agreed to surrender.” These “infamous concessions”
were “intended (sic) not only to secure full amnesty
to every class of rebel offenders, but to open the way
for the re-establishment of slavery.” This “ignoble
instrument might have become the Magna Charta of
American slavery.” The act of General Sherman was
one of “dangerous insubordination.”
General Sherman contended that the agreement, by
its very terms, and by every principle of law, could
not be valid unless approved by the President; that in
fact it was but a basis. He explained that he had
taken extraordinary precautions to lay the matter be-
fore the President in all its fullness, sending a staff
officer to Washington, and enjoining upon him to
avoid spies and informers, and say nothing to anybody
until the President should make known his determina-
tion. A few days later, in a letter to Secretary Stan-
ton, in answer to the disapproval of the Government,
General Sherman said: “I admit my folly in em-
bracing, in a military convention, any civil matter.”
So late as March 3d, he supposed that all the discus-
sion which had grown up between himself and the
Government was in the nature of privileged commu-
nications, unknown to the general public; but on that
day he read in the public prints of April 24th the
“statement” of Secretary Stanton, together with the
newspaper comments based upon it, and he exclaimed
VICTORIA | 437
with righteous indignation : “It does seem strange
to me that every bar-room loafer in New York can read
in the morning journals ‘official' matter that is with-
held from a General whose command extends from
Kentucky to North Carolina.”
Meanwhile, General Halleck was further complicat-
ing matters by ordering troops under his command to
invade General Sherman's territory, and renew offen-
sive operations, disregarding the truce existing be-
tween Sherman and Johnston, pending discussion of
the terms of surrender. At a fortunate moment Hal-
leck's order was revoked, and none too soon, for two
bodies of federal troops were on the eve of collision.
It is one of the most painful recollections to a
soldier who bore arms in those days, that two officials
so high in the esteem of the nation, each so necessary
to the triumphant vindication of its authority, as
Secretary Stanton and General Sherman, should have
been so completely estranged by these unfortunate
events, that, even in the hour of triumph, when the
victorious armies of the nation marched before them,
as they stood almost side by side on the Presidential
reviewing stand in the national capital, neither recog-
nized the other, and that one of the two went to his
death, unforgiving and unforgiven, so far as the world
can ever know.
438 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XLIV.
SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,
>
§://issil Iliſilllllllliºúliº
-: º >.
| at Raleigh, the foundation
was laid for the organiza-
y tion of the Society, of the
sº º Army of the Tennessee, the
earliest, as well as the most
% sº % | conspicuous and successful
<-º-º: of the many social organiza-
tions which have grown out of the companionships
of camp and field. Its membership represents an
army which had for its General, in turn, Grant,
Sherman, McPherson, Howard and Logan. The
achievements of that command were as brilliant and
remarkable as the lives of its chiefs. Its nucleus
was a half-dozen regiments which occupied Cairo
when the first gun was fired. The little army grew to
be seventeen thousand men, when it invested Fort



sociFTY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 439
Henry, and afterward stormed and carried Fort Don-
elson. Farther on, its numbers were swelled to
forty-two thousand men, who fought at Shiloh and
Corinth under General Grant. It invested and con-
quered Vicksburg, being then seventy-three thousand
strong, comprising the Thirteenth Corps, McCler-
nand's; Fifteenth Corps, Sherman's; Sixteenth Corps,
Hurlbut's, and Seventeenth Corps, McPherson's. Its
Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, thirty-two
thousand men, under General McPherson, participated
in the campaign against Atlanta. Later, the Fifteenth
and Seventeenth Corps, thirty-seven thousand men,
under General Howard, marched to the sea, and after-
ward through the Carolinas, while its Thirteenth and
Sixteenth Corps were fighting on Red river, in Mis-
souri, at Nashville, and Mobile. Few of its many
regiments traveled less than six thousand miles in
their wanderings during the war; many of them all
but doubled this distance. Its roll of dead was ap-
palling.
If the history of this Army was phenomenal, the
organization of the Society which sprang from it was
dramatic. It was literally born amid the clash of
arms; and the sound of the enemy's guns was the
accompaniment to the songs of the camp at its first
meeting.
April 14th, Sherman's forces were grouped about
Raleigh, North Carolina, under orders to move against
440 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
the enemy the next morning. Later in the day,
General Sherman received from General Johnston a
letter proposing a truce, with a view to a cessation of
hostilities, but this was not known to the army until
afterward. • - ^
That evening a number of officers of the Army of
the Tennessee met in the senate chamber at Raleigh.
All were in high spirits, for General Sherman's order
had just been issued, in which he announced the sur-
render of Lee's army to General Grant, adding:
“Glory to God and our country, and all honor to our
comrades in arms, toward whom we are marching.
A little more labor, a little more toil on our part, the
great race is won, and our government stands regene-
rated, after four long years of war!”
Among the company was General Frank P. Blair.
He was in his happiest mood, and made a brilliant.
impromptu speech, congratulating his comrades upon
the speedy conclusion of the war, and suggesting the
organization of a Society “to preserve the recollections
and renew from year to year the companionships of
camp and field.” A committee, with General Blair as
chairman, was appointed to draft a plan for Organiza-
tion, and the meeting adjourned subject to call. At
that very hour, President Lincoln fell at the hand of
the assassin, but the sad intelligence did not reach the
army until three days later. -
A further meeting was held April 25th, when
soCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE, 441
General Blair reported a constitution, which was
adopted. That paper embraced the following pro-
visions:
“I. The association shall be known as ‘The
Society of the Army of the Tennessee,” and shall
include every officer who has served with honor in
that army. ~ . -
“II. The object of the Society shall be to keep
alive and preserve that kindly and cordial feeling
which has been one of the characteristics of this army
during its career in the service, and which has given
it such harmony of action, and contributed, in no small
degree, to its glorious achievements in our country’s
C8, ULSé.
“The fame and glory of all the officers belonging
to this army, who have fallen, either on the field of bat-
tle or in the line of their duty, shall be a sacred trust
to this Society, which shall cause proper memorials of
their services to be collected and preserved, and thus
transmit their names with honor to posterity.”
General John A. Rawlins, General Grant's adju-
tant-general, was elected president, and Colonel L. M.
Dayton, General Sherman's aide-de-camp, secretary.
At the time of this meeting, the army was under
orders to move upon the enemy on the following day,
General Sherman’s negotiations with General John-
ston having been overruled at Washington.
In November of the same year, the war being
ended, and the army disbanded, a large number of
members of the Seventeenth Corps met in Chicago,
442 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
and organized the Societies of the “White Arrow”
and “Blue Arrow,” supposing that the organization at
Raleigh had been abandoned. Their membership was
composed of ex-officers of the Third and Fourth Divis-
ions, and their titles were taken from their distinctive
badges in the field. The two organizations united in
a banquet at the Briggs House, and addresses were
made by General Belknap, General Gresham, Colonel
Dayton, and others. They adjourned to meet at
Indianapolis, in November of the following year ; but,
in the meantime, the president of the Society of the
Army of the Tennessee issued his call for a meeting
of that body at Cincinnati, about the same time, and
the Division Societies abandoned their organizations.
The meeting of the Society of the Army of the
Tennessee at Cincinnati, in November, 1866, the first
after the temporary Organization at Raleigh, WàS SUIC-
cessful and notable in every way. General Rawlins,
the President, since deceased, delivered the annual
address, which was an admirable résumé of the history
of the Army of the Tennessee; and an original poem,
“Men of the Tennessee,” was read by T. Buchanan
Read.
At this meeting, an effort was made to modify the
constitution so as to admit to membership all enlisted
men who had served in the Army of the Tennessee, but
without success. It was objected that “the society
was formed before the close of the war, not in its pomp
sociETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 443
and circumstance, but in the theatre of military move-
ment, and within the sound of hostile guns, and was,
therefore, peculiar. At that time the discipline of
service did not allow that character of association be-
tween officers and men that the constitution of this
society contemplated for its members, and the original
principles and intentions of the Society should be
adhered to.” Frequent attempts have since been made
to the same purpose ; but, thus far, unsuccessfully.
After the death of the lamented Rawlins, General
Sherman became President. He has been re-elected
each succeeding year without opposition, and will
undoubtedly be continued in the position so long as
he lives. Colonel Dayton, Recording Secretary; Gen-
eral Hickenlooper, Corresponding Secretary; and Gen-
eral Force, Treasurer, were also elected at that meet-
ing, and have been re-elected each year since.
The annual meetings of the Society are notable
events, and attract the presence of the most dis-
tinguished civilians, as well as military men, of the
nation. The orations and responses to sentiments are
worthy of the most cultured audiences of the land,
and the banquets are very grand affairs.
The meeting at Springfield, Illinois, in 1874, was
one of national interest. Upon that occasion the Lin-
coln Monument was displayed to the public, the statue
of the great War-President being unveiled by General
444 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Grant, himself President at the time, who delivered a
brief but feeling address.
Two years thereafter, the Society met in Washing-
ton City, to participate in the observances connected
with the unveiling of a monument reared to the
memory of Major-General James B. McPherson, third
commander of the Army of the Tennessee. This fine
work of art was an equestrian statue in bronze, colos-
sal in measurement and effect, the cost of which was
defrayed, in greater part, by members of the Society,
and altogether through their effort. The orator of
the occasion was General John A. Logan, whose
eloquent address was read throughout the length and
breadth of the land.
In 1879, the Society met in Chicago and there
received General Grant, then en route east from his
journey around the world. This event was made the
occasion of one of the finest pageants ever witnessed
in Chicago. -
This chapter would not be complete without some
reference to General Sherman as a presiding officer. -
In this capacity he is sui generis, brusque, nervous,
dispatching business at lightning speed, and cutting
to pieces parliamentary rules as ruthlessly as he did
red-tape in war times, when moving supplies to feed
and clothe a vast army. He rarely waits for a motion,
but proceeds upon his own suggestion of what should
be done, and with a determination to do it. “We
SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 445
want a committee to select an orator, and I will name
General Jones, Colonel Smith and Major Brown ; all
in favor of the motion say ‘aye!’ Carried.” And so
he pushes along after a fashion, it is fair to presume,
” would tolerate in no one else. Would-be
“the boys’
orators receive no mercy at his hands. “Yes; speak,
Major; but a very few words. We understand all
about it.” “Now, don’t make a speech, Colonel; let’s
vote,” and so on. He cares nothing for popular
applause. As he entered the hall at Minnetonka, the
members of the Society began to cheer. “Stop that
foolishness,” said he, “and let's get to business.”
Addressing the audience, made up in large part of the
fashionables, he said: “Now, while we are carrying
out this programme, we want quiet. We like to have
these visitors here, but they must understand that
this is a Society meeting, and we are not to be inter-
rupted by applause from outsiders.” At the banquet,
where he invariably presides, he said: “It is now
2 o'clock A. M., time for me to quit, and I think you
had better quit too!” At a Society meeting held in
St. Louis, in one of the theatres, in the presence of a
brilliant assemblage of the people of the city, a
fashionable young man, occupying one of the boxes,
took advantage of that stage of the proceedings where
“the boys” call out any of their comrades whom they
desire to hear, to rise in his place and state that
22
“Several of us would like to hear from Mr. 2
446 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
naming a civilian of some note. “Sit down, young
man!” thundered the General. “We are willing you
and your friends should stay here and listen; but this
is our meeting, and we propose to run it!”
These eccentricities, however, are but incidents.
General Sherman has a remarkable faculty for inter-
jecting really pertinent comments or suggestions in
course of a debate; and, as an after-dinner speaker he
is inimitable, bestowing words of praise and advice in
epigrammatic language. Upon one occasion he said:
“How we all looked for him (Lincoln) to welcome
us back to our homes, after our long and devious wan-
derings; but it was not reserved for him, and another
did it in his stead, while the whole nation stood by to
proclaim with shouts of joy, ‘Well done, good and
faithful soldiers;’ and now I, your old commander,
re-echo the same sentiment, and tell you, you have your
reward—not in money or precious jewels, not in lands
or houses, but the consciousness of a noble duty well
done, and in the possession of those priceless memo-
ries that will become more and more precious as time
rolls on. The day will come when not a man in this
land of ours but would share with you his wealth
could he say, like you, that he was of the Army
of the Tennessee, and could tell his children that
he had heard the first hostile shot at Fort Henry
and the last boom of cannon at Raleigh.
Our men have returned to their homes in peace
and quiet, and go where I may, I meet them,
all more or less busy at their varied callings.
SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 447
Turn which way we may, we find our comrades
busy, their swords turned into pruning-hooks, each
planting his own vine and fig-tree, and no man
afraid. Go, then, I say, and encourage honest indus-
try everywhere. Have unbounded faith in your coun-
try and its flag, and you will win for the Army of the
Tennessee a fame in peace equal to that which you
won for. it in war ; and He who holds the fate of
nations in the palm of His hand, will see that your
labors are not in vain, and that the glory of your coun-
try, for which you battled in war and labored in peace,
shall not be tarnished by an insidious foe.”
448 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XLV.
“ON TO WASHINGTON | ?”
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now the glad assurance of victory, peace, and home.
It was an odd experience for the first few days, to
jog along the road without stopping here and there to
form a line of battle, and to go to sleep at night undis-
turbed by a midnight call to re-inforce the skirmishers.
The occupation of the “bummer” was gone. No
straggling or plundering was tolerated, nor was there
any disposition in that direction ; chickens and butter-
milk were now bought with Uncle Sam's greenbacks,
instead of being “cramped.” The citizens no longer















“ON TO WASHINGTON | ?” 449
fled at the approach of the blue-coated army; but wo-
men and children flocked to the road to see them pass;
and, not infrequently, one of Lee's or Johnston's men,
still clad in his “butternut ’’ suit, which had passed
for a uniform, leaned over his gate to crack a joke with
his deadly enemies of a few days before. “Say, Yank!
ain't you 'uns a long way from home 2'' “You,
Johnny! why in the don’t you fix up that fence?”
“Say, Yank! you 'uns licked us, but we gin you a
of a “rassle' l’’ “You bet you did, Johnny l’”
And then the two would agree that Sherman's men
and Lee's (or Johnston's, as the case might be) could
together “clean out ’’ (that was their way of express-
ing it) any nation on earth.
The line of march lay through many points of his-
toric interest, at which the pen insists upon halting
for the moment — down the Boydtown Plank Road,
rendered famous by the brilliant closing engagements
fought by gallant Phil. Sheridan ; to Dinwiddie Court-
house, where he fought a fierce battle ; and Five
Forks, the scene of what was at once his most brilliant
victory, and one of the most decisive of the war.
“Passing by the old farm where General Winfield
Scott was born, the army crossed the Appomattox
river, and entered Petersburg, famous for sustaining a
siege comparable only to that of Vicksburg.
Two days afterward, Manchester was reached, on
the south side of the James river, immediately oppo-
29
450 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
site Richmond. Here were first met Custer's gallant
troopers, who, despite their hard riding and stout fight-
ing, were so often near to their base of supplies, that
they were generally able to appear very presentably.
They wore paper collars, and affected long scarfs which
fluttered from their necks, each brigade wearing a
distinguishing color. These evidences of excessive
“style” were regarded by Sherman's ragged roys-
terers with great contempt, and their sharp comments
were extremely irritating to the victims.
Across the river lay Richmond, the rebel capital,
which had been, for four years past, in a state of siege.
General Halleck was in command here, and between
him and Sherman some unpleasantness had arisen,
growing out of the discussion with reference to the
peace negotiations at Raleigh. . Halleck issued an
order requiring Sherman’s army to pass in review
before him at Richmond. Sherman refused, where-
upon Halleck forbade the army entering the city at all.
The bridge across the river had been destroyed, and
a pontoon, laid in its place, was guarded by Halleck's
troops. The cranky and contemptuous order by that
officer, with reference to Sherman's army, soon became
known to the men of that command, and they deter-
mined to go into Richmond at all hazards. Accord-
ingly, a large body, unarmed and without officers or
orders, made a charge across the bridge, overpowering
the guards by sheer weight of numbers. No one was
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HALT ON THE MARCH.- · See page 283 •












“ON TO WASHINGTON | * 453
º
hurt, but some of Halleck's bridge guards were uncer-
emoniously dumped into the river, whence they scram-
bled out as best they could. The affair was entirely
irregular and unmilitary, but that Sherman enjoyed it
in a quiet way is not to be doubted.
The next day the army entered Richmond in regu-
lar order. Many points of interest were noted with
keen curiosity, especially the mansion so long occu-
pied by Jeff Davis, the civil chief of the “Confed-
eracy,” and the state capitol, which had been the quar-
ters of the Confederate congress. These and other
public buildings were heavily draped in mourning
for President Lincoln, by order of the Union authori-
ties. The capitol grounds were rich in statuary. Here
was Houdon's magnificent statue of Washington,
and near it a fine marble bust of Lafayette. The
finest work of art, however, was Crawford's bronze
equestrian statue of Washington ; and, grouped about
it, the figures of John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson and
Patrick Henry. More than half of the city was in
ashes, having been fired by the retreating enemy, just
before the national forces entered.
Libby Prison was viewed with a mournful interest.
It was an immense building, three or four stories high,
once used as a tobacco warehouse ; but, since the be-
ginning of the war, as a prison for federal captives,
who were crowded into it until there was absolutely no
room for more. The walls were covered with inscrip-
454 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
º
tions written by the unhappy occupants, all breathing
an air of hopeless despondency, yet full of bitter
hatred for the rebels, and lurid with blasphemous
anathemas. Among them was one, said to have been
composed by Parson Brownlow, a rather doubtful
statement, inasmuch as he never boarded at Libby,
and was a clergyman besides. The words had been
set to music, and it was said that the prisoners were
accustomed to sing them with great vigor, howling the
refrain at the top of their voices, sometimes aggra-
vating the rebel guards on the outside to such a degree
as to cause them to fire a few shots at the upper win-
dows, in the vain hope of putting a stop to the dis-
turbance. The verses were as follows:
O ! may that cuss, Jeff Davis, float,
Glory, Hallelujah!
On stormy sea, in open boat,
In Iceland's cold, without a coat,
Glory, Hallelujah
No rudder, compass, sail, or oar,
Glory, Hallelujah!
A million miles away from shore,
Where myriad briny monsters roar,
Glory, Hallelujah
May shark devour them, stem and stern,
Glory, Hallelujah
A whale then gulp them down in turn,
And the devil get the whole concern,
Glory, Hallelujah
In burning brimstone may he be,
Glory, Hallelujah
While little devils dance in glee,
And lock the door, and lose the key,
Glory. Hallelujah
“ON TO WASHINGTON | ?” 455
And 'mid his roars and frantic cries,
Glory, Hallelujah
O make eternal ashes rise,
And blow forever in his eyes,
Glory, Hallelujah
The floors of Libby were marked off with checker-
boards and faro lay-outs, testifying to the efforts made
by the prisoners to kill time. These species of amuse-
ment, however, were only available in the early war-
days ; later on, the building was too crowded to admit
of anything of the kind. The remains of the cele-
brated tunnel under the wall, made by Colonel
Straight, in his effort to escape, were yet visible.
After crossing James river, the army passed by
Hanover Court-house. This famous old building was
erected in 1732, and many of the original oak benches
yet remained. Within these walls Patrick Henry
pleaded his first case in behalf of the people, against
the privileged clergy under the British crown, and
won a grand victory. He was borne out of these
doors in triumph upon the shoulders of the people,
and was famous from that instant.
Near at hand was an old church, which afforded a
relic of peculiar interest — an old folio Bible, contain-
ing the service of the Church of England. In the
printed text of the prayer for civil rulers, the name of
“His Gracious Majesty, George the Third,” had been
marked over with red pencil, and immediately above
it, well nigh faded out, were the words, written in ink,
“The President and Congress of the United States.”
456 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
From Richmond on, the line of march lay through
a country bristling with field-works, and strewn with
the débris of vast camps. At one place was quite
a thicket of young peach-trees, which a farmer living
near by said had grown up from seeds thrown away by
the soldiers after eating the canned fruit.
Crossing the Pamunkey and Mattapony rivers, the
army passed through Fredericksburg, and halted on
the farther bank of the Rappahannock.
This was the range occupied by Burnside that dis-
astrous day in December of 1862. It was quite high,
well nigh destitute of timber, and commanded a fine
view for miles to right and left. Across the stream
lay the village, scatteringly spread over ground slop-
ing to the river's edge ; and just beyond the town was
visible a heavily wooded ridge, partly crowned with
the stone fence which served the confederate army to
so good purpose. It required but little imagination to
fill out so suggestive a landscape with batteries and
troops, and paint that dreadful battle scene. From
the point of observation, two hundred pieces of fed-
eral artillery discharged their terrible volleys across
the stream, into and through the streets of Fredericks-
burg, and shot for shot was hurled back by Stonewall
Jackson and Longstreet. Under this fire, pontoon
bridges were laid by the federals, one at a point imme-
diately before us, where Sumner and Hooker passed
over. They assaulted Longstreet immediately oppo-
“ON To WASHINGTON 1" 457
site this very ground. The enemy was silent until the
gallant troops were within short musket-range. Then
they opened fire — Longstreet said the gaps made in
the Union column by his artillery could be seen a
half-mile off. But the boys in blue manfully strug-
gled on toward the stone fence they were never to
reach. From behind it leaped a very hell of flame
from small arms, and batteries right and left poured in
an enfilading fire of grape and canister, that human
flesh and blood could not withstand. The Unionists
were compelled to retreat. Their comrades on the left
fared no better, and the battle was lost.
Fredericksburg cherishes, as one of its greatest
treasures, the grave of Edward Heldon, who was a
contemporary of Shakspeare, and one of the pall-
bearers at the funeral of the immortal bard.
Marching via Stafford Court-house and Acquia
Creek, the army entered Alexandria, inseparably con-
nected with the memory of the gallant Ellsworth,
whose murder early in 1861, caused a profound sensa-
tion throughout the North, and drew thousands of men
into the Union army. The story was once familiar,
but is probably new to many of a younger generation.
In 1860, young Ellsworth, a clerk in a business
house in Chicago, interested himself in Organizing and
drilling an independent military company, known as
“Ellsworth’s Zouaves.” This corps soon became noted
for its admirable drill, particularly in the manual of
458 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
arms, which abounded in fancy movements not recog-
nized by the books, and the bayonet exercise. It gave
exhibition drills in all the principal cities, creating a
furore of excitement. Ellsworth, soon after his return
from this trip, went to Springfield to study law with
Mr. Lineoln, and accompanied him on the journey to
Washington, being charged with his safe conduct.
When the war began, the young officer organized a
regiment of volunteers in New York, and became its
colonel. *
- During the early war days, while troops were
assembling at Washington, a rebel flag flying at
Alexandria was plainly to be seen from the national
capitol. Chafing under the insult, Ellsworth deter-
mined to capture the flag. With his regiment he
marched to Alexandria, where he found the defiant
emblem of treason floating from the roof of a hotel.
He tore down the offensive colors, and descended with
them upon his arm. At the foot of the stairs he
encountered the landlord, Jackson by name, who dis-
charged the contents of a double-barreled shot-gun
into his breast, the deadly charge killing him instantly,
and driving into his body a gold military badge
recently presented to him, bearing the significant
legend, “Non nobis, sed pro patria.” The murder
was avenged by Frank Brownell, a member of the
regiment, who shot Jackson dead with his minie-
“ON TO WASHINGTON | ?” 459
rifle, and the same instant ran him through with his
sword-bayonet. -- -
Ellsworth was buried from the White House at
Washington, with imposing ceremonies. Brownell
was ever afterward known as “Ellsworth's avenger,”
and he is to this day a noted and honored figure at the
many military gatherings he attends. He yet has in
his possession the weapon with which he avenged the
death of his chief. His home is in Cleveland, Ohio,
where he is engaged in the custom-house service.
460 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
CHAPTER XLVI.
THE GRAND REVIEW,
º army left Raleigh,
º North Carolina, April
s º #3 ºr 29th, and arrived at
| Alexandria, near Wash-
ington City, May 19th.
* The march occupied
twenty days, and the
is distance traveled was
fully three hundred
miles, an average of fifteen miles
a day—pretty fair marching, con-
sidering the fact that haste was
unnecessary.
At Washington, the troops,
under reasonable restrictions, enjoyed the freedom of -
the city, and explored all the public buildings and
other places of interest, to their hearts’ content ; and
greatly to their credit, they took no undue advantage
of the liberties granted them.



THIE GRAND RIEVIEW. - 461
May 23d and 24th, the armies passed in final re-
view, previous to discharge.
Never before was such a sublime pageant witnessed
by mortal eye – the review of two hundred thousand
citizen soldiery, weather-beaten veterans, flushed with
victory, fit to conquer a world, yet who on the morrow
would doff the habiliments of war, and return to the
office, the work-shop, and the farm. The wisest states-
men had dreaded this day. Foreign, but not unfriendly,
ministers said: “The United States have easily raised
great armies, but will never be able to return to a
peace footing. The soldiers are masters of the situa-
tion ; they can never be disbanded.” Ardent patriots
at home feared that the demoralization of life in the
field, the utter freedom from restraints of social ties
and civil laws during so long a time, would unfit men
for taking up the dull routine of peaceful pursuits,
and lawlessness would run rampant. There were
designing men who, seeking their own advancement,
held the same views, and selfishly sought to lead
many of the troops into ambitious exploits in anarchi-
cal Mexico.
But the soldiers of the Union were no mere adven-
turers. They at once allayed the fears of friends, and
disappointed the hopes of demagogues; proclaiming,
by their conduct, their own unimpeachable integrity
as conscientious soldiers and inimitable citizens. They
laid aside the sword and musket as readily as they
had taken them up, four years before.
462 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
May 23d, General Meade's grand army debouched.
upon Pennsylvania Avenue and poured down the
broad street in admirable order. Heroes, all! No
army, save that gallant, mistaken band it had assailed
for four long years, ever stood up so nobly under
severe punishment. At times, victims of incom-
petency and jealousy in high places, sacrificed on
many a bloody altar, their courage never failed,
their hopes never died out, their faith in the final
result never faltered. Here were the men who learned
the alphabet of war at the first Bull Run, crushed
there only to rise in superior vigor and courage; the
battalions which stood up under the terrible seven
days' butchery in the Peninsula; the brigades which
snatched victory from a haughty foe at Antietam; the
survivors of the murdered legions at Chancellorsville
and Fredericksburg; the hosts who mined and charged
at Petersburg; the victorious columns which com-
pelled rebellion to bow its head at Appomatox! Their
colors were riddled by shot and shell; every rent
stood for a battle, and scores of human lives. Erect
and proud, they strode down the broad avenue, every
foot in time, every musket perfectly poised, while a
glad people, gathered from all parts of the nation,
strewed flowers before them, and shouted themselves
hoarse in their praise.
That night General Sherman's army crossed the
Long Bridge from Alexandria and bivouacked in the
THE GRAND REVIEW. 463
streets entering upon Pennsylvania Avenue. At nine
o'clock next morning it began the march in review.
The avenue was literally packed with people on
either side; every window was occupied, and the very
house-tops were black with humanity. General Sher-
man and his staff led the way. It was amusing to the
troops to note the complete equipment of him whom
they had seen almost daily for years in a dingy
uniform, carelessly worn, which many a brigadier
would have thought disgraceful. His horse's neck
was covered with wreaths of flowers by admiring
spectators. Then came Howard, the gentle but brave,
commanding the Army of the Tennessee; his empty
coat sleeve, pinned upon the breast, mutely proclaiming
his deeds of courage. Then rode Logan, at the head
of his gallant Fifteenth Corps, once Sherman's. None
asked his name—he was known of all; Swarthy of com-
plexion, with heavy black mustache and eagle eye, he
was the image of a born soldier. Then followed his
division commanders: Hazen, who stormed Fort McAl-
lister, and Woods, Smith and Rice, with brigade
commanders, Tourtelotte, of Allatoona fame; and
Clark, so long McPherson's accomplished adjutant-
general, and others. Then came Frank P. Blair, the
liberator of Missouri, and gallant soldier of many a
bloody field, leading the Seventeenth Corps, McPher-
son’s old command. After him were the division com-
464 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
manders, Force, Leggett and Smith; with Belknap,
Potts and others, leading brigades.
But who could picture the hosts that followed?
Here were the men who had taught new lessons to the
masters of war. Such terms as “lines of retreat" and
“base of supplies” were not in their vocabulary.
Their strong backs almost made unnecessary commis-
sary and ammunition trains. Their swift limbs out-
ran and outlasted horses. Ten thousand mile posts
marked the roads they had traversed, through every
revolted state save two. They were the men who
fought at Belmont and assaulted Fort Donelson.
They had been crushed at Shiloh; and while the
enemy was reaping the fruits of victory, snatched it
from him. They had fought over every foot of
ground within thirty miles of Corinth. They had
lain in the trenches at Wicksburg for three bloody
months, and when they rose from before that strong-
hold, the mighty river “went unvexed to the sea.”
They had shattered Bragg at Stone River and Chick-
amauga, and rescued the beleaguered garrison at
Chattanooga, planting their standards above the very
clouds. Foot by foot they had pressed their enemy
back upon Atlanta, and after a well-fought struggle of
nearly half a year, wrested that mighty stronghold
from him. They had dissected the very bowels of the
“Confederacy” by their march to the sea, and be-
stowed upon the nation Savannah, as a “Christmas
THE GRAND REVIEW. 465
gift.” Three hundred miles farther they had pressed
their enemy, and received his surrender as they were
stripping themselves to give the coup de grace.
With heads erect and an air of indescribable sang
froid, these men of the West stretched down Penn-
sylvania Avenue with an easy, swinging gait, peculiar
to themselves, acquired in long and rapid marches.
They wore no holiday garb. The ragged and faded
uniforms in which they had slept and marched,
through the swamps of the Carolinas, still clung to
their bodies, and they strode along as if proud to dis-
play them as badges of faithful service. They were
so regarded by the tens of thousands of spectators,
and cheers upon cheers followed them from the begin-
ning to the end.
There were some very comical features even in the
midst of all this grandeur. In the rear of many regi-
ments were the pack mules loaded down with kettles,
pans, gridirons, and all the paraphermalia of the darkey
cook, who trudged alongside, consciously feeling the
dignity of his office; besides squads of “contrabands,”
who, with their game-cocks, banjos and plantation
airs, provoked much mirth.
From the Treasury Department a large concourse
of Government servants and others viewed the troops;
and high up on the building was displayed the legend,
“The only debt the nation can never pay is that of
gratitude it owes to its gallant defenders.”
3O
466 MARCHING THROUGH G EORGIA.
The grand reviewing stand was erected in front of
the White House. Here stood the President and
Commander-in-Chief, Andrew Johnson. The troops
proudly recognized his presence; but there was not a
heart in all that vast concourse of soldiers and specta-
tors which did not ache with sorrow that Tincoln, the
loved and true-hearted, had not lived to see this, the
consummation of his highest effort and most ardent
hopes. Here, too, were Grant and Sherman, and
about them, offering heartfelt congratulations and
bestowing unstinted praise, the statesmen of the
nation, and the bejeweled ministers of every foreign
land.
As the grand pageant rises once more before the
eye, memory recurs to the hosts who did not live to
participate in this great national jubilee. It must
have been with similar emotions that Bret Harte
wrote that noble bit of sentiment, “The Last Review”:
& ! And I saw a phantom army come
With never a sound of fife or drum,
But keeping time to a throbbing hum
Of wailing and lamentation;
The martyred heroes of Malvern Hill,
Of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville,
The men whose wasted figures fill
The patriot graves of the nation.
“And there came the nameless dead—the men
Who perished in fever-swamp and fen,
The slowly-starved of prison pen ;
And marching beside the others
Came the dusky martyrs of Pillow's fight, •e.
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See page 145.







































THE GRAND REVIEW. 469
With limbs enfranchised and bearing bright;
I thought—perhaps, 'twas the pale moonlight-
They looked as white as their brothers. "
“And so all night marched the nation's dead,
With never a banner above them spread,
Nor a badge, nor a motto brandished ;
No mark—save the bare, uncovered head,
Of the silent bronze Reviewer;
With never an arch save the vaulted sky;
With never a flower save those that lie
On the distant graves—for love could buy
No gift that was purer nor truer.
“So all night long swept the strange array,
So all night long, till the morning gray,
I watched for one who had passed away,
With a reverent awe and wonder—
Till a blue cap waved in the lengthening line,
And I knew that one who was kin of mine
Had come; and I spake—and lo! that sign
Awakened me from my slumber 1’’
May 30th, General Sherman issued his farewell
order, in which he eloquently rehearsed the achieve-
ments of his army, and to which he added some excel-
lent words of admonition. As a matter of fact, most
of the troops had left Washington for their homes
before the order was published, and many an old
soldier will read it in these pages for the first time:
(Special Field Orders, No. 76.)
HEADQUARTERs, MILITARY DIVISION OF THIE MISSISSIPPI,
Washington, D.C., May 30, 1865.
The General commanding announces to the Armies of the Tennes-
see and Georgia that the time has come for us to part. Our work is
done and armed enemies no longer defy us. Some of you will go to
your homes, and others will be retained in military service till further
orders.
470 MARCHING THROUGH G|EORGIA. A
And now that we are all about to separate, to mingle with the civil
world, it becomes a pleasing duty to recall to mind the situation of
national affairs when, but a little more than a year ago, we were
gathered about the cliffs of Lookout Mountain, and all the future was
wrapped in doubt and uncertainty.
Three armies had come together from distant fields, with separate
histories, yet bound by one common cause—the union of our country
and the perpetuation of the Government of our inheritance. There is no
need to recall to your memories Tunnel Hill, with Rocky Face Moun-
tain and Buzzard Roost Gap, and the ugly forts of Dalton behind. -*
We were in earnest, and paused not for danger and difficulty, but
dashed through Snake Creek Gap and fell on Resaca; then on to the
Etowah, to Dallas, Kenesaw; and the heats of summer found us on the
banks of the Chattahoochee, far from home, and dependent on a single
road for supplies Again we were not to be held back by any obstacle;
we crossed over and fought four hard battles for the possession of the
citadel of Atlanta. That was the crisis of our history. A doubt still
clouded our future, but we solved the problem, destroyed Atlanta, struck
boldly across the State of Georgia, severed all the main arteries of life to
our enemy, and Christmas found us at Savannah.
Waiting there only long enough to fill our wagons, we again began
a march which, for peril, labor and results, will compare with any ever
made by an organized army. The floods of the Savannah, the swamps
of the Combahee and Edisto, the “high hills” and rocks of the Santee,
the flat quagmires of the Pedee and Cape Fear rivers were all passed in
mid-winter, with its floods and rains, in the face of an accumulating
enemy, and, after the battles of Averysboro' and Bentonsville, we came
once more out of the wilderness, to meet our friends at Goldsboro’.
Even then we paused only long enough to get new clothing, to reload
our wagons, again pushed on to Raleigh and beyond, until we met our
enemy suing for peace instead of war, and offering to submit to the
injured laws of his and our country.
As long as that enemy was defiant, nor mountains, nor rivers, nor
swamps, nor hunger, nor cold had checked us; but when he, who had
fought us hard and persistently, offered submission, your General
thought it wrong to pursue him farther, and negotiations followed,
which resulted, as you all know, in his surrender.
How far the operations of this army contributed to the final over-
throw of the Confederacy, and the peace which now dawns upon us,
must be judged by others, not by us; but that you have done all men
could do has been admitted by those in authority, and we have a right.
to join in the universal joy that fills our land because the war is over,
THE GRAND REVIEW. 471
and our Government stands vindicated before the world by the joint
action of the volunteer armies and navy of the United States.
To such as remain in the service, your General need only remind
you that success in the past was due to hard work and discipline, and
that the same work and discipline are equally important in the future.
To such as go home, he will only say that our favored country is so
grand, so extensive, so diversified in climate, soil and productions, that
every man may find a home and occupation suited to his taste; none
should yield to the natural impatience sure to result from our past life
of excitement and adventure. You will be invited to seek new adven-
tures abroad; do not yield to the temptation, for it will only lead to
death and disappointment.
Your General now bids you farewell, with the full belief that, as in
war you have been good soldiers, so in peace you will make good
citizens; and if, unfortunately, new war should arise in our country,
“Sherman's Army” will be the first to buckle on its old armor and come
forth to defend and maintain the Government of our inheritance.
By order of
Major-General W. T. SHERMAN.
L. M. DAYTON,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
June 2d, following, Lieutenant - General Grant
issued the following :
Soldiers of the Armies of the United States :
By your patriotic devotion to your country in the hour of danger
and alarm, your magnificent fighting, bravery and endurance, you have
maintained the supremacy of the Union and the Constitution, overthrown
all armed opposition to the enforcement of the laws and of the proclama-
tions forever abolishing slavery—the cause and pretext of the rebellion—
and opened the way to the rightful authorities to restore order and
inaugurate peace on a permanent and enduring basis on every foot of
American soil. Your marches, sieges and battles, in distance, dura-
tion, resolution, and brilliancy of results, dim the Justre of the world's
past military achievements, and will be the patriots' precedent in defense
of liberty and right, in all time to come. In obedience to your country's
call, you left your homes and families, and volunteered in its defense.
Victory has crowned your valor, and secured the purpose of your patri-
otic hearts; and with the gratitude of your countrymen, and the highest
honors a great and free nation can accord, you will soon be permitted to
return to your homes and families, conscious of having discharged the
472 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
highest duties of American citizens. To achieve these glorious tri-
umphs, and secure to yourselves, your fellow-countrymen, and posterity,
the blessings of free institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant, com-
rades have fallen, and sealed the priceless legacy with their blood. The
graves of these, a grateful nation bedevs with tears, honors their memo-
ries, and will ever cherish and support their stricken families.
U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.
HOMEWARD BOUND ! 473
CHAPTER XLVII.
HOMEWARD BOUND !
* HE western
troops, a few
days after the
grand review,
moved home-
ward over the
--- Baltimore &
=T Ohio Railway.
The supply of passenger-coaches was altogether in-
adequate to the great demand, and the men were
obliged to put up with flat and box cars for the jour-
ney. It was no great hardship, compared with what
they had undergone daily during the year past. For-
tunately, the weather was unexceptionable, and there
was ample opportunity to enjoy the magnificent
scenery on that famous route.
At Parkersburg, West Virginia, the troops em-
barked upon steamboats for Louisville. A serious
accident, with collateral comical incidents (what would
“soldiering” have been without such P), befell a por-

474 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
§
tion of the command. The boat bearing the 32d Illi-
nois Regiment was engaged in a race with another
vessel of the fleet, when, just below Blennerhassett's
Island, the former ran into a barge, knocking a hole
in her own bows. Almost as soon as it could be told,
the bottom dropped out of the craft, arid she settled on
the river-bed, the water rising so high as to overflow
the cabin-deck. Quick as was the boat to sink, the
negroes and teamsters on the lower deck managed to
cut loose the horses and mules, and they swam to
shore ; while the men who could not swim, straddled
gang-planks, wagon-beds, and anything that would
float, and continued their voyage toward Louisville
upon their own account.
At the time the boat struck, a merry party was
seated at a card-table in the cabin above, immediately
in front of the bar. When the shock came, all jumped
to their feet and rushed to the guards. While they
were making up their minds whether to leap over-
board or not, a sudden jar indicated that the boat had
struck bottom, and they immediately returned to their
game, unwilling to lose time for a trifle. Another
blue-coat took possession of the bar (which had been
left open by the bar-keeper, in his haste to jump over-
board), and insisted upon dealtng out free drinks to
all who remained on the craft. Half an hour later, the
shipwrecked passengers were taken off by another boat
belonging to the fleet, which, after repeated stoppages
HOMEWARD BOUND. 475
at islands and clumps of timber on the banks, suc-
ceeded in picking up all the soldiers who had aban-
doned their own sinking craft. Fortunately no lives
were lost, but a good deal of personal baggage was
never seen afterward.
Soon after reaching Louisville, orders were issued
for the dispatch of the troops to their respective states
for muster-out. General Logan, commanding the
Army of the Tennessee, just before the disbandment,
occurred, issued the following farewell order:
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,
Lou ISVILLE, KY., July 13, 1865.
Officers and Soldiers of the Army of the Zennessee:
The profound gratification I feel in being authorized to release you
from the onerous obligations of the camp, and return you, laden with
laurels, to homes where warm hearts wait to welcome you, is somewhat
embittered by the reflection that I am sundering the ties that trials have
made true, time made tender, suffering made sacred, perils made proud,
heroism made honorable, and fame made forever fearless of the future.
It is no common occasion that demands the disbandment of a military
organization, before the resistless power of which, mountains bristling
with bayonets have bowed, cities surrendered, and millions of brave men
been conquered.
Although I have been but a short period your commander, we are
not strangers; affections have sprung up between us during the long
years of doubt, gloom, and carnage, through which we have passed
together; nurtured by common perils, sufferings and sacrifices, and riveted
by the memories of gallant comrades, whose bones repose beneath the
sod of a hundred battle-fields, nor time nor distance will weaken nor
efface.
The many marches you fiave made, the dangers you have despised,
the haughtiness you have humbled, the duties you have discharged, the
glory you have gained, the destiny you have discovered for the country
in whose cause you have conquered, all recur at this moment, in the
vividness that marked the scenes through which we have just passed.
From the pens of the ablest historians of the land, daily are drifting
476 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
out upon the current of time, page upon page, volume upon volume, of
your heroic deeds, which, floating down to future generations, will
inspire the student with admiration, the patriotic American with venera-
tion for his ancestors, and the lover of Republican liberty with gratitude
to those who, in a fresh baptism of blood, re-consecrated the powers and
energies of the Republic to the cause of constitutional freedom. Long
may it be the happy fortune of every one of you, to live in the full frui-
tion of the boundless blessings you have secured to the human race.
Only he whose heart has been thrilled with admiration for your
impetuous courage and unyielding valor in the thickest of the fight, can
appreciate with what pride I recount these brilliant achievements which
immortalize you, and enrich the pages of our national history. Passing
by the earlier but not less signal triumphs of the war, in which most of
you participated, and inscribed upon your banners such victories as
Donelson and Shiloh, the mind recurs to campaigns, sieges, and vic-
tories, that challenge the admiration of the world, and elicited the
unwilling applause of all Europe. Turning your backs upon the blood-
bathed heights of Vicksburg, you launched into a region swarming with
enemies, marching without adequate supplies, and fighting your way, to
answer the cry for succor which came to you from the noble be-
leaguered army at Chattanooga. Your steel next flashed among the
mountains of Tennessee, and your weary limbs found rest before the
embattled heights of Missionary Ridge. There, with dauntless courage,
you breasted again the enemy's destructive fire, and shared with your
comrades of the Army of the Cumberland the glories of a victory than
which no soldiery can boast a prouder.
In that unexampled campaign of vigilant and vigorous warfare,
from Chattanooga to Atlanta, you freshened your laurels at Resaca,
grappling with the enemy behind his works, hurling him back, dis-
mayed and broken. Pursuing him thence, marking your path by the
graves of fallen comrades, you again triumphed over superior numbers at
Dallas. Fighting your way from there to Kenesaw Mountain, under the
murderous artillery that frowned from its rugged heights, with a tenacity
and constancy that finds few parallels, you labored, fought and suffered
through the broiling rays of a southern midsummer sun, until at last you
planted your colors upon its topmost heights. Again, on the 22d of
July, 1864, rendered memorable through all time for the terrible struggle
you so heroically maintained under discouraging disasters, and, saddest
of all reflections, the loss of that exemplary soldier and popular leader,
the lamented McPherson, your matchless courage turned defeat into a
glorious victory. Ezra Chapel and Jonesboro' added new lustre to a
radiant record, the latter unbarring to you the proud Gate City of the
South. The daring of a desperate foe, in thrusting his legions north-
HOMEWARD BOUND ! 477
ward, exposed the country in your front, and though rivers, swamps,
and enemies opposed, you boldly surmounted every obstacle, beat down
all opposition, and marched to the sea.
Without any act to dim the brightness of your historic page, the
world rang plaudits when your labors and struggles culminated at Savan-
nah, and the old “Starry Banner” waved once more over the walls of
one of our proudest cities on the seaboard. Scarcely a breathing spell
had passed, when your colors faded from the coast, and your columns
plunged into the swamps of the Carolinas. The sufferings you endured,
the labors you performed, and the successes you achieved in those
morasses, deemed impassable, form a creditable episode in the history of
the war. Pocataligo, Salkahatchie, Edisto, Branchville, Orangeburg,
Columbia, Bentonville, Charleston, and Raleigh, are names that will
ever be suggestive of the resistless sweep of your columns through the
territory that cradled and nurtured, and from whence was sent forth on
its mission of crime, misery, and blood, the disturbing and disorganizing
spirit of secession and rebellion.
The work for which you pledged your brave hearts and brawny
arms to the Government of your fathers, you have nobly performed.
You are seen in the past, gathering through the gloom that enveloped
the land, rallying as the guardians of man's proudest heritage, forget-
ting the thread unwoven in the loom, quitting the anvil, and abandoning
the workshops, to vindicate the supremacy of the laws, and the author-
ity of the Constitution Four years have you struggled in the bloodiest
and most destructive war that ever drenched the earth in human gore;
step by step you have borne our standard, until to-day, over every
'fortress and arsenal that rebellion wrenched from us, and over city,
town, and hamlet, from the lakes to the gulf, and from ocean to ocean,
proudly floats the “starry emblem" of our National unity and
strength. *
Your reward, my comrades, is the welcoming plaudits of a grateful
people, the consciousness that in saving the Republic, you have won for
your country renewed respect and power, at home and abroad ; that with
the unexampled era of growth and prosperity which dawns with peace,
there attaches mightier wealth of pride and glory than ever before to that
loved boast, “I am an American citizen l’’
In relinquishing the implements of war for those of peace, let your
conduct ever be that of warriors in time of war, and peaceful citizens in
time of peace. Let not the lustre of that bright name that you have won
as soldiers, be dimmed by any improper act as citizens, but as time
rolls on, let your record grow brighter and brighter still.
John A. LOGAN,
Major-General.
478 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
General Belknap, commanding the Fourth Division
of Blair's Corps, at the same time addressed to the
writer of these pages a letter, in which he said:
“I am grateful for the friendship ever shown me
by the officers and men of your gallant regiment.
None better ever served in my command, and they
early won my regard. by their dutiful obedience, kind
consideration, and soldierly qualities. It will ever
give me pleasure to meet you or any of your com-
rades.” -
A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 479
CHAPTER XLVIII.
A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN.
/ gº~s
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as they had been led to expect,
the troops were dismayed to find the boats con-
tinue up the Missouri River to Fort Leavenworth.
There they received orders to provide themselves with
a suitable wagon-train, and march to Utah, where
difficulties existed with both Indians and Mormons.
This was an unforeseen event. What it all meant
no one knew. The troops, however, conjectured one
of two causes. These three regiments, among the
oldest in the service, through casualties of war had
become so greatly depleted that the late assignments
..º.











480 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
of drafted men and recruits, received at Goldsboro’
and Raleigh, made them almost new regiments, the
old soldiers being outnumbered by the “conscripts”
four to One. Forces being needed at the West, these
regiments had been ordered to the duty as being prac-
tically new troops. Either this, or the brigadier,
desirous of being retained in the service, possessed
sufficient influence to have a command set off for him,
whether the exigencies of the service made it neces-
sary or not.
The latter was the popular verdict, and the General
was cursed with a heartiness and euphonic originality
which was probably never surpassed, even in the
swamps of the Carolinas. The officers were fully as
much disgusted as the men, and the entire command
was at the very verge of mutiny. The veterans argued
that they were under no moral obligation to obey the
order to go West. They had enlisted early in '61,
“for three years unless sooner discharged,” and when
they found that the war was not to be disposed of in
that time, they had re-enlisted. The war was now
over, and in all equity they were relieved of their con-
tract. Nothing was said, in their oath of enlistment,
about serving after the close of the war, or about
fighting Indians or Mormons. They might be ordered
to South America with as much justice. These were
the sentiments expressed by the old soldiers—the
“conscripts” were not taken into the account at all,
A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 481
and would have received no sympathy if they had
been ordered to march to Hades; but they complained
as bitterly as the others. The officers, however, and
many of the veterans, resented the idea of mutiny, and
discountenanced desertion, believing the injustice was
so evident that, upon proper representations to the War
Department, the order would be revoked and the men
speedily mustered out. Furthermore, they were deter-
mined that no act of theirs, no matter what the provo-
cation, should cloud their long and honorable record.
Accordingly, a statement of the case and a remon-
strance was prepared and telegraphed to Washington,
over the signatures of a number of the field, line and
staff officers. As
July 21st arrived, the day set for the beginning of
the march, and no reply having been received from
Washington, the command left camp, their faces
turned westward, following a New York cavalry regi-
ment and a battery of artillery, as much out of humor
as themselves.
The Illinois Infantry Brigade numbered nearly
two thousand men, and was commanded by Brigadier-
General C. J. Stolbrand, who had attained dis-
tinction as General Logan's chief of artillery, an
arm of the service in which he had been trained in
Europe, and of which he was a thorough master. The
writer was his adjutant-general.
The line of march lay along the old Government
3I
482 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
trail via Fort Kearney. It was only about twenty
years ago, but it was “old times” for all that. There
was not a foot of railroad iron west of the Missouri
river, and each day Ben Halliday's heavy overland
stage coaches rolled by, coming and going, escorted
by a guard of cavalry; and the fleet-footed “pony
express” sped past as if on lightning wings. Here
and there “doby” houses (made from sun-dried bricks,
after the Mexican fashion), changing-places for the
stage teams and pony-express horses, were the only
visible evidences of civilization, or, more correctly
speaking, of human existence. It was wearisome enough
to ride or walk, day after day, over those uninhabited
plains, ascending and descending with the roll of the
ground, reaching the summit of one hillock, hoping to
see a house, or a tree, or a human being, only to
behold the summit of another hill outlined against the
sky still further on. The monotonous scenery and
want of incident in the march begot in the breasts
of the men great repugnance to the untamed West,
and many gave expression to the conviction that the
good Lord never intended that region for aught else
than Indians and buffaloes. They consequently re-
frained from being millionaires to-day, by contemptu-
ously refusing to pay thirty-seven and a half cents
an acre for what is now some of the most productive
and thickly populated land in Kansas and Nebraska.
Game was abundant along the route, and on
A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 483
several occasions the troops halted for a day's hunt.
They had all the comical experiences of the “tender-
foot” on the plains, including the attempt to run
down the supposed crippled jack-rabbit, which hobbled
off on three legs, but, when crowded a little, put
down his fourth, and soon distanced the fleetest
dog. Antelope and elk were very numerous. Great
strategy was necessary to ensure a successful shot at
the former; but the latter traveled in great droves,
and were hunted more successfully. At one time
everybody in the brigade who owned a horse, or could
borrow an animal of any description from the wagon-
train, went into a grand skirmish line; and by keeping
on the hills, managed to surround a large drove of
elk in the valley between. A fierce fire was opened all
along the line and a quantity of game killed; but the
experiment was rather disagreeable to the hunters,
balls from the long-range Springfield rifles on the
opposite side of the circle of hunters, whistling un-
pleasantly near, entirely too much after the fashion
of old times in Georgia.
August 7th, the command reached the Little Blue
river, in Nebraska—a territory then—something more
than two hundred miles from Fort Leavenworth, and
seventy-five from Fort Kearney. This had been the
scene of the Indian uprising which desolated the beau-
tiful valley and made necessary the presence of troops.
Just one year before, the Government made a payment
484 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
*-
to the Pawnees and Cheyennes for ceded lands, and
, the Indians took great offense because it was made in
paper money instead of coin. They made a concerted
raid upon the settlements, and murdered great num-
bers, women and children as well as men, and drove
away two regiments of cavalry. On the Cotton-
wood the destruction had been fearful, and pathetic
evidence of the sufferings of the settlers was visible
in the ruins of their burned cabins, and door-yards
where flowers reared by woman's hand yet peeped
through the weeds which had overgrown them since
the work of murder and rapine was accomplished.
Each night that the brigade went into camp, some
of the dissatisfied soldiers deserted and took the
road homeward. Each morning the column was
shorter than on the day previous. The total number
of deserters during the march was about five hundred.
Many threats upon the life of the General were made,
for he was supposed to be responsible for the march.
One night, a canteen of gunpowder was exploded at
the entrance to one of the headquarters tents, wreck-
ing it and driving the occupants out-doors amid an
eruption of fire and smoke. The adjutant had made
every effort to place reliable guards over the General's
quarters during the entire march, but even they often
deserted. In one instance, he went to his former
company and detailed as officer of the headquarter
guard, a trim, soldierly sergeant who had been his
A SUPPLIEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 485
comrade from the very day of enlistment, and with
whom he would have risked his life. Upon this
trusted soldier he placed a special obligation, con-
fiding to him the General’s security, and perhaps his
life. Even this sergeant, least expected of all others,
deserted the second night he went on duty. The
General, probably looking upon the personal risk as
entirely too hazardous, although he did not lack
courage, as a long and honorable service amply tes-
tified, finally relinquished his command, and rode back
to Fort Leavenworth with a small detachment of
troops passing in that direction. He was succeeded
by Brevet-Brigadier-General Cyrus Hall, Colonel of
the 14th Illinois, a brave and tried officer, and ex-
tremely popular with his men.
August 10th, the brigade arrived at Fort Kearney,
twenty days out from Fort Leavenworth. The garri-
son was very friendly, and several days were spent in
hunting and preparing to continue the march.
From this place further explanations and remon-
strances were telegraphed to Washington, and a few
days later, orders were received in response, directing
the command to retrace its steps and proceed to
Springfield for muster-out.
On the 14th, the homeward march was begun. As
the command neared its destination, many of the
deserters hastened to rejoin, resuming their place in
the ranks in time to be properly discharged. Many
486 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
more, however, failed to appear, and their record is
just now being “whitewashed” by an act of forgive-
ness contained in a recent act of Congress.
It was so recently as last August, at the reunion of
the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, at Lake
Minnetonka, that the writer, in conversation with -
General William T. Clark, former Adjutant-General of
the Army of the Tennessee, learned that the Illinois
Brigade was sent West solely because troops were
needed. It was only the ill luck of this command that
the errand fell to its lot instead of some other. As
a matter of fact, many veteran troops were sent to the
Mexican border at the close of the war, and remained
in service until the April following, six months after
the muster-out of the Illinois Brigade.
THE LAST PARADE. 487
CHAPTER XLIX.
THE LAST PARADE.
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The line is shorter now than it was then. Four
out of every five of the old faces are missing. The
uniforms, once bright and trim, are ragged and travel-
worn. The flags, whose folds shone with resplendent
beauty, are rent by bullet and shell, and stained with
dust and smoke of march, camp and battle, until their
Hues are scarcely distinguishable.

























488 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
The arms are stacked, and the colors folded. The
men break ranks — once more they are free. There
are fervent hand-shakings, hurried farewells, and a
parting which is forever ! The old battalion will
respond to the “assembly” never again *
And so they go out into a world which has become
new to them. They were school-boys, many of them,
when they enlisted. They left their books unfinished,
but are too old now to begin again at the turned-down
page. Some had occupation four years ago, but they
come home to find that others have stepped into the
work they began. Old avenues are closed to them,
old ambitions are dead, and they walk as in a dream—
as strangers in a strange land.
To some, by-and-by, come new aspirations, leading
them to embark in ventures they would not have dared
but for their experience in days of hardship and con-
flict. They take up the struggle against Fate and
those who, having refused to do duty for their country,
have thus far outstripped them in the race of life, but
despite the odds against them, they push forward to
honorable distinction. They lead the van-guard of
civilization in the unexplored places of the land,
building up communities and creating states, planting
everywhere the school-house and the printing-press,
and leading into channels of thrift and enterprise all
who gather about them. North and south, they pass
the confines of their own land, and travel beyond seas,
THE LAST PARADIE. 489
spreading commerce and introducing invention, to
the advancement of their country and their own for-
tunes.
Others, broken in body and weary of spirit, stoop
their shoulders to the burden which lies nearest them,
though it be a heavy one. Poor they are in this
world’s goods, yet are they rich — rich in a life of
noble effort, of heroic deed, of patriotic unselfishness,
of broadened manhood, of conscientious citizenship.
God bless them! The harpies who coined wealth out
of their blood and tears, leave no such heritage to the
children of their selfishness |
But now, side by side with the skeleton battalion,
the old regimental line, as it stood on parade a thousand
strong, before shot and shell tore through its ranks,
before disease had done its deadly work, rises before
memory’s eye. It is peopled with faces once familiar
— those of our boyhood’s comradeship — whose bones
are now the milestones marking the bloody road from
Cairo to the Gulf, to Atlanta, to Savannah, to Raleigh
and Mobile. Others, yet in the land of the living, are
bending under an age older than their years, their
limbs stiffened by weary march and exposure on tent-
less camping-ground, or maimed by cruel shot and
shell. All these, the comrades of long ago, are again
young. They stand erect of form, their eyes gleam
with undaunted courage. Not one is missing !
Present — ARMS A thousand muskets flash in
490 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
x-
the sunlight. How smartly the men handle their
pieces ! One can hear the sharp snap as the guns
respond to the command
The sergeants march to the front and report : All
Present / They return to their posts.
The company officers meet on the center, close upon
the adjutant, march forward, and salute their com-
mander. Even while he returns the greeting, the flag
on high flutters to the ground, and the sunset gun
booms over the waters of the lake.
Parade is Dismissed 1 and the old battalion
marches silently back
“To the camping-ground of ghosts,
Where the spectral guides have led
To the white tents of the dead.”
Comrades, Brothers | Hail and farewell!
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