| Extracted from: HISTORY OF THE EIGHTY-SECOND Indiana Volunteer Infantry, ITS ORGANIZATION, CAMPAIGNS AND BATTLES. ALF. G. HUNTER, Late Adjutant. INDIANAPOLIS: WH. B. BURFORD, PRINTER AND BINDER. 1893. CHAPTER IX. THE MARCH TO THE SEA. |
| The forces selected by General Sherman for his campaign to the sea embraced the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twentieth Army Corps. The Fourteenth was commanded by Brevet Major-General Jefferson C. Davis, the Fifteenth by Major-General P. T. Austerhaus, the Seventeenth by Brigadier-General A. S. Williams, and the Twentieth by Major-General F. P. Blair. They were designated as right and left wings, the Fifteenth and Seventeenth forming the right, and the Fourteenth and Twentieth forming the left wing, Major-General O. O. Howard being in command of the right, and Major-General H. W. Slocum of the left wing. The army contained sixty thousand infantry, five thousand five hundred cavalry, and sixty-five pieces of artillery, with about one thousand three hundred artillerymen, making a total of sixty-six thousand and eight hundred. We concentrated at Kingston, Georgia, on the 2d day of November, 1864, for the purpose of making arrangements for the campaign, remaining in camp until the 12th. During this time the army was paid off, there being several months due. This was done to let the men with families send their money home for their families to pass the winter with. The railroad and telegraph was destroyed between Chattanooga and Atlanta, after sufficient supplies had been brought up for the advancing army. General Thomas moved back with the Fourth and Twenty-third Corps for arrangements to meet Hood should he advance on him, or to follow him should he follow General Sherman. Everything being ready our corps marched the 12th at 8 A. M., on the Kingston and Marietta road, passing through Cartersville, encamping near Alatoona. On the 13th, marched at 6:30 o'clock A. M., passing through Alatoona, encamping near Big Shanty. On the 14th, marched at 6 A. M., passing through Marietta, crossing the Chattahoochee River at Turner's Ferry, encamping near the railroad bridge. On the 15th marched at 6 o'clock A. M. Arriving at Atlanta passed through the city and encamped for the night. During the night of the 15th the light from the burning city made our camp as light as day. Details were sent in to check the fire. The more details the brighter the light. S. V. W. Post, leader of our brigade band, brought his band around to brigade headquarters and gave us some fine music, and when through said, "Nero made music while Rome burned, why not Post make a little while Atlanta burns." Had my wishes been granted he would have had to play as long as there was anything to burn. This fine sight filled my idea of soldiering. The army was well sifted by this time, and every man who started on this campaign was a soldier in the fullest sense of the term, and could be fully relied on for any duty assigned them. The commanders from captains up to the general in command were men amply qualified to fill their places in any emergency. While it looked like a big undertaking to cut loose from all communications in the rear and start for the sea, a distance of about three hundred miles, there was not a man in the command but what was anxious to make the start, never fearing the result. On the 15th of November, 1864, the Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twentieth Corps started on their lines of march, the right wing with Kilpatrick's cavalry on the right flank through Jonesborough and McDonough, thence eastward and reached Gordon on the 23d. The Twentieth Corps by Decatur, Stone Mountain, Social Circle and Madison, thence southward to Milledgeville with instructions to tear up the railroad from Social Circle to Madison and burn the bridges over the Oconee River. On the 16th the Fourteenth Corps (of which the Eighty-second formed a part) marched through Lythonia, Conyers, Covington, Sandtown and Shady Dale to Milledgeville, tearing up the railroad as we advanced. On the night of the 22d we encamped on Howell Cobb's plantation. The Twenty-third Missouri worked all night burning the fences and buildings as a reward to Colonel Quinn Morton, for insults offered him by Cobb, when a prisoner. To a person that never seen railroads destroyed it would be a funny sight. As a little explanation will give the idea of how it was done, I will state the mode. In some instances the track was turned over the length of a regiment or brigade by raising gradually until on a balance on the end of the ties, then at the word over, one shove and away it goes. Another way is to raise the spikes, loosening the rails from the ties, pile the ties, fire them, and balance the rails across the burning pile, and when the rails heat they bend down until the ends touch the ground. When they cool they are so crooked that they have to be taken to the shop for straightening before they can be used. Another way the Engineer Corps done, having tools for the business, formed after the style of a cant-hook. Putting one at each end of a rail and as many men as could get hold of the handle bearing down (each end working in opposite direction), this forced the spikes out, and twisted the rail in something of the appearance of an auger, making them entirely useless until melted and made over. Then pile the ties and burn them. In many instances I have seen the rails taken up and heated on the burning piles of ties, and when red-hot in the center four men at each end of the rail would carry them to a tree or telegraph post, and place the red-hot part against the tree and walk around until meeting, then pass and go until meeting again, then let it drop. Our orders were to make fifteen miles per day, and do this kind of work when along a railroad. The 23d the right wing reached Gordon and the left wing Milledgeville. Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia, and one of the most Godforsaken little holes I ever seen, the highest-toned ladies being snuff dippers. We remained here one day. General Sherman had interposed his army between Macon and Augusta, leaving the enemy in doubt as to his intentions. They had no army to offer any resistance, and the citizens were perfectly paralyzed. General Beaureguard was traveling through Georgia trying to fire the people up to resist his advance, but to little use, as everybody was scared to death. During our eight days' march we had not had any enemy but cavalry to bother us. They hardly made us feel that we were soldiering, their show of fight being so weak. The second move, the two wings moved on parallel lines for Millen. General Kilpatrick's cavalry to destroy the railroad between Milledgeville and Augusta, and try to rescue the prisoners at Millen. The left wing crossed the Ocona River and moved through Sandersville and marched eastward toward the Georgia Central Railroad. The right wing moved from Gordon on the railroad, tearing it up. The division to which the Eighty-second belonged arrived at Louisville, Ga., and received orders to move to General Kilpatrick's assistance, all the rebel cavalry having attacked and being too many for him. We moved several miles to the left and found his command on the bank of a deep stream called Rocky Comfort, the bridge being destroyed and the banks too steep for cavalry to pass over. As soon as the First Brigade, under Gen. Morton C. Hunter, crossed and took the front, the enemy fell back out of gunshot. Kilpatrick's men and horses being worn out was given until the next morning to feed and rest up. On December 1st Kilpatrick advanced in good style. Our brigade moved on the extreme left flank with him for several days. During this time we were tearing up railroad track one night, when Cobb's militia came down from Augusta with some artillery and bombarded us. If any one was injured by this mob I never heard of it. General Kilpatrick was at General Hunter's headquarters during the time of the bombardment and said he would give them something to do in the morning. When morning came he formed his command (our brigade supporting him) and charged the rebels in their rail stockade, killing and wounding over one hundred. The other two brigades of our division joined us, and the whole division moved with Kilpatrick's troops, and drove the enemy through Waynesboro and across Buck Head Creek. They burned the bridge in their rear. Kilpatrick sent detachments up and down the stream for twenty miles, burning the bridges, and we never seen anything more of Wheeler's command for three or four days. The left wing and the Seventeenth Corps moved on parallel roads, making a feint on Augusta. Kilpatrick's command was on the extreme left flank, and our division marched with them as supports, all the rebel cavalry being in his front. The Fifteenth Corps moved to the right. Our division, with Kilpatrick's Cavalry, took the Savannah road. We came to a stream called Little Ebenezer River, about thirty miles from Savannah, and found the bridge burned. The stream was very deep and the banks extremely high. The crossing was only two miles from the Savannah River, where the enemy had some gunboats, which were engaged in shelling the crossing. While waiting for a bridge to be completed Wheeler came up in our rear, thinking he had caught our cavalry without protection. He made a dash at them, they being ordered to fall back in haste. Wheeler's command came charging with a yell, our cavalry retreating rapidly. Soon the rebels received a volley from the infantry, and retreated much faster than they had been advancing. This was the last we saw of Wheeler on this campaign. Our bridge being completed we cross and encamp for the night. A short distance to the left of this crossing is a church called Ebenezer. A short distance from its front could be plainly seen the banks forming the outside lines of Fort Green, used in the war of 1812. On the inside of the fort stood a pine tree as much as one foot and a half through. In the church I noticed a bible lying on the pulpit. It had many names of soldiers of that war. As it had been used for a record of soldiers who were fighting for the preservation of the United States, and apparently revered on that account, I recorded my name on one of the fly leaves, being engaged in the same kind of duty; but don't presume my name met with as much reverence as those which preceded mine. NOTE: The fort at Ebenezer the writer refers to as Fort Green built for the War of 1812 was actually a fort erected to protect the area from Indians in 1757, not Fort Greene. From here on, until striking the main line of rebel works, we met with but little resistance. When nearing the enemy's main works the country was taken up mostly with rice fields. These were easily overflown, making the water from one to three feet deep. This caused much labor to prepare corduroy roads for the men and artillery to pass over. On the 10th the enemy was driven to their main works. Then the movement of the army to form a perfect siege commenced. The necessity for supplies compelled the right wing to take Fort McAllister, commanding the Ogeechee River. About the time this was accomplished, General Sherman, being on top of a rice mill watching the movement of troops, observed a steamer which came to give notice that the supply fleet was in waiting. On our march, we being on the extreme flank, our supply train was in charge of the Second Division of our corps. They not being good foragers, had used up our supplies (as well as their own) and when we came to the siege we were entirely destitute of rations, and the outer country for forty miles had been foraged clean by the rebels. The only thing we could get to sustain life was rice, and it in the sheaf like we tie our wheat in this part of the country. Threshing machines of every description, on the rude plan, were constructed and used for the purpose of threshing it. Then the greatest fanning mill found was to throw the grain and chaff into a kettle of water. The grain would sink to the bottom and the chaff float on top. By pouring off and adding more water the rice was put in shape for cooking. Water being very plentiful, it wasn't much labor to procure an ample supply. Our horses ate the rice from the sheaf and appeared to enjoy it much better than the men. The next day after taking Fort McAllister, Generals Sherman and Foster met Admiral Dahlgren and made every arrangement for taking the city of Savannah by force. Heavy siege guns were to be brought up, one corps to be thrown across the Savannah River into South Carolina, to take the only road of the enemy's escape, the navy fleet under Admiral Dahlgren to attack the water front, and the army to storm the rear fortifications. General Sherman sent in a demand for thesurrender of the city and forces; but Hardee refused to surrender. Several regiments from the Twentieth Corps were thrown across into South Carolina to develop the enemy's position. Hardee appeared to think this meant a thorough siege, and during the dark and windy night he withdrew his forces, making a successful escape. On the next morning, December 20,1864, the Union forces marched in and took possession of the city. Hardee had destroyed all the material possible to keep the notice of his retreat from our army. He left his guns unspiked; steamboats, railroad stock, cotton, and large quantities of public property of value uninjured. With the exception of the capture of the rebel forces, our march to the sea was a grand and glorious victory. It bore every evidence of the weakness of the rebel cause, and showed to the world that men engaged in a just cause could and would be successful in all their undertakings. During the whole march there wasn't enough of the enemy confronted us to stop one division of Sherman's "Grand Army." "We left a track of desolation forty or fifty miles wide from Atlanta to Savannah. The railroad system of the State was destroyed for months to come; work shops, station houses, tanks, warehouses, mills, factories, cotton-gins and presses, besides cotton, farm products, fences, buildings, etc. In the language of Colonel Gleason, of the Eighty-seventh Indiana, "We made it a howling wilderness." This victory, with others taking place at the same time, gave proof to the soldiers on one side that their victory was close at hand, while on the other side that the end was plainly in view. The fighting qualities of the rebel soldier had vanished. Instead of one of them being equal to five "Yankees," they would much prefered five on their side to one on ours, and even then I doubt very much if they would have met with success when it came to a battle. The people through the country were fully ready to say, "Let us cease our efforts in this cursed cause." The Union army accepted of Savannah as a great Christmas gift. The army was soon encamped in and around the city enjoying plenty to eat, and taking a good rest for the next and last campaign upon which they were to be called to march against their country's traitors. Now, to let the loved ones at home know of their victory and safety, and to hear from the dear ones at home, was the next pleasant task to accomplish. During our march Captain Grosvenor, of the Eighty-ninth Ohio, died. He was on the staff of Gen. Morton C. Hunter, commander of the First Brigade, Third Division, Fourteenth Corps. I had the pleasure of being on the same staff, and take great pleasure in saying he was a polished gentleman, a true patriot, and as brave and gallant an officer as was ever in any army. We had no men killed or captured in the Eighty-second, and very few sick on the campaign. This was decidedly the finest soldiering it was my pleasure to meet with during my time of service. Plenty to eat, reasonable marching, and just fighting enough to remind us there was an enemy in our front. To give its proper standing I would call it a regular "dress parade" performance from Atlanta to the sea. |