On to Atlanta: The Civil War Diaries of John Hill Ferguson, Illinois Tenth Regiment of Volunteers

On to Atlanta

On to Atlanta t h e c i v i l wa r d i a r i e s o f j o h n h i l l f e rg u s o n, i l l i n o i s t e n t h r e g i m e n t o f vo l u n t e e r s Edited by Janet Correll Ellison with assistance from Mark A. Weitz

University of Nebraska Press • Lincoln and London

Copyright © 2001 by the University of Nebraska Press All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ferguson, John Hill, 1829 –1910. On to Atlanta : the Civil War diaries of John Hill Ferguson, Illinois Tenth Regiment of Volunteers / edited by Janet Correll Ellison with assistance from Mark A. Weitz. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. isbn 0-8032-2012-x (cl.: alk. paper) 1. Ferguson, John Hill, 1829 –1910 — Diaries. 2. Sherman’s March to the Sea — Personal narratives. 3. United States. Army. Illinois Infantry Regiment, 10th (1861–1865). Company G. 4. Illinois — History — Civil War, 1861–1865 — Personal narratives. 5. United States — History — Civil War, 1861–1865 — Personal narratives. 6. Illinois — History — Civil War, 1861–1865 — Regimental histories. 7. United States — History — Civil War, 1861–1865 — Regimental histories. 8. Soldiers — Illinois — Diaries. i. Ellison, Janet Correll, 1957– ii. Weitz, Mark A., 1957– iii. Title. e476.69 .f47 2001 973.7978 — dc21 2001027557

 

To my sons

Myles, Mason, and Merrill

Contents ix Preface xiii Introduction xxv Chronology 1 Diary iv: 1 January to 13 September 1864 93 Diary v: 1 January to 10 June 1865 139 Notes for Diary iv 148 Notes for Diary v 153 Bibliography 157 Index

Preface I have always had a great love of history. I credit my father for this. He has always given my sister and me a sense of belonging to the world and taught us that often the actions of just a few individuals have an impact on world events. My mother has always encouraged me to use my imagination and be tenacious. I have also been blessed with aunts, uncles, more distant relatives, friends, and teachers who nurtured me in so many ways. One of these many caring family members was a cousin named Mrs. Ona Brown Mitchell. “Miss Ona,” as I called her, was my second cousin on my father’s side. She was born in the early part of the twentieth century in east-central Illinois. Although I knew her for most of my life, we became close only when I was an adult. We visited many times, and she was a constant correspondent for many years. She passed away just a few years ago. In the early 1990s, when I was living in Jacksonville, Illinois, Miss Ona wrote to me and mentioned that one of her family members had been a Union soldier and that he had kept a diary during his service. His granddaughter was an alumna of MacMurray College in Jacksonville, and she had placed his diaries in its archives. Miss Ona asked if I would go to MacMurray College’s Henry Pfeiffer Library and have a look at them, and I agreed to do so. The staff at the library was very helpful. They spent several days locating the documents of John Hill Ferguson in the storage area of their archives and called me when they were available. Central Illinois, where Jacksonville is located, is Abraham Lincoln country, and one fall afternoon I found myself sitting in the library’s Lincoln Room on a hard oak chair. I was looking at five small books of differing sizes with varying types of paper, written mostly in India ink and in a neat hand. These were the diaries of John Hill Ferguson. Within a few moments of exposure to these papers, I became aware of their significance. I was holding history. It was alive in my hands and before my eyes. After my obligation to share with Miss Ona the information that she requested was fulfilled, I wanted to find a way to bring these neglected documents to others. I began to transcribe Mr. Ferguson’s diaries in my spare time. Initially I recorded them verbatim, including all nonstandard spellings and, since Ferguson did not use any punctuation for the first few years, without adding any punctuation. Later, I corrected the spelling of only the

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proper nouns and added punctuation that made the text more readable. My goal was to make the diaries accessible to all readers while maintaining an authenticity with Ferguson’s writing patterns and vernacular. In transcribing and editing Ferguson’s work, I discovered a man of exceptional character. He seemed to have a strong work ethic and a concern for self-improvement. During the four years he kept his diaries, he read whenever and whatever he could, and as he exposed himself to new material, his use of language, standard spellings, and punctuation improved. John Hill Ferguson was born on 29 January 1829 in Newton-Stewart, Scotland, in Dumphrieshire. He was the third son of John Ferguson and Susan Miller Ferguson and theirs were a farm family. A brief reference in Ferguson’s obituary indicates that the Ferguson family was initially of Irish descent. It appears that there were at least five sons and two daughters. Attempts to locate additional information about Ferguson’s family members, his formal education, and community and church involvement prior to his immigration have been unsuccessful. Ferguson immigrated to the United States in the 1840s with several of his siblings and lived for a short time in Morristown, New Jersey. He then moved to east-central Illinois in Clark County. He became a U.S. citizen in 1856 and is listed in the Illinois census of 1860 as a single man, aged thirty-one, occupation farmer, and living in the household of his brother Thomas and his wife and children. Also listed in the census is a young woman named Jane Coryell Rogers, a widow with a young son living with her father. Jane Rogers is the mysterious “correspondent at York” whose identity and reputation Ferguson protects throughout his writings. Ferguson’s brothers George and James were also living in the area of Clark County, Illinois. James enlisted and served much of his time with Ferguson in the Tenth Regiment. The only other sibling mentioned by Ferguson is his brother Andrew, who stayed behind in Scotland with his parents. Ferguson enlisted in the Veteran Volunteers in the fall of 1861. He was thirty-three years old, slightly older than many of his fellow soldiers. This maturity may have made him more susceptible to illness, as he suffered frequently from a lung ailment that may have been pneumonia, but it also may have kept him alive in situations that required quickwittedness and good judgment. He was trained at Fort Butler in Springfield, Illinois. The first entry in his diary is 28 February 1862 at Bird’s Point, Missouri, which is approximately thirty miles north of New Madrid, Missouri, where the Battle of New Madrid and the Battle for Island

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No. 10 would soon take place. Thus begins Mr. Ferguson’s account of his next four years as a veteran volunteer in the Union Army. Mr. Ferguson never reveals his reasons for recording his experiences, but his account is thoughtful, concise, and generally fair. Ferguson reports his day-to-day activities in a fairly objective manner. Early on in his diary Ferguson writes that he enlisted as a Union soldier because he wanted to see the Union preserved; he is not taking a moral stance against slavery. Despite his use of terms like “darkies” or “negoras” for slaves and Negroes, he does not like to see them beaten or mistreated, and his interactions with them are decent and honest. On one occasion, Ferguson records how a Union soldier murdered a Negro because the man refused to pick up the soldier’s hat. Ferguson expresses sadness at his death, commenting that he was a good worker who could be relied on to complete whatever task was given to him. Ferguson writes that the Negro was a truthful man and had good sense. Decency and honesty seem to guide Ferguson’s life. He attends church services during his garrison in Nashville and attends services in the field with the chaplains. He does not indulge in excessive alcohol consumption, nor does he frequent the “smoky rows” where the prostitutes ply their trade. He gives up the habit of chewing tobacco and sends most of his money home to Clark County instead of playing cards or chuck-luck. He looks after his fellow soldiers when they are ill and visits them in the field hospitals. He expresses compassion for the women and children who are struggling to survive while the war rages all around them. On the rare occasions when he has rations to spare, Ferguson shares his food with the children he encounters. Ferguson was mustered out of the service on 4 July 1865 at the rank of second lieutenant, but the details about his leaving the army are unknown. The archives in the libraries in Robinson, Illinois, reveal that the newspapers, in celebration of the Fourth of July and the end of the war, closed for a two-week period. Consequently, there are no photographs or written accounts of parades, ceremonies, or celebrations for the returning veterans. John Ferguson and Jane Coryell Rogers were married on 28 July 1865. They had one daughter, Ella, and they lived in Hutsonville, Illinois, for the remainder of their lives. Ferguson resumed his occupation of farming. Ferguson’s granddaughter, Mabel Osburn Duffill, in a letter to MacMurray College’s librarian, recalled that he grew corn, had an orchard, and grew vegetables in the garden. In addition, he raised pigs and chickens, and had a cow and a horse. He was considered quite prosperous in his time. He retired from farming in 1877 due to ill health and began to draw his soldier’s pension. The lung ailments he had suffered from

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throughout the war eventually were diagnosed as tuberculosis, and this is listed as his cause of death. John Ferguson died at home on 13 May 1910. His obituary details the virtues he demonstrated throughout his life and refers to him as “Uncle John,” as this was evidently how he was known in the community. He was a longtime member of the Presbyterian Church in Hutsonville as well as a member of the local G.A.R. Post. His friend of many years, Nehemiah Fancher, wrote a tribute to him in the newspaper as well. He recounted their experiences as soldiers together, noting that Ferguson was “Always strickly honest, quiet, and unpretentious; kind, self-sacrificing, and generous.” Ferguson is buried in the Old Hutsonville Cemetery, which is near the farm where he and his wife made their home for so many years. As I examine the wealth of material John Ferguson left behind and the experiences he recounts, I am struck by his character and his wisdom. This spirit of goodness and honesty lends a wondrous credibility to his record of the events he witnessed. I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Ferguson’s legacy, and I hope that I have done his memory and work adequate tribute.

Introduction Although this book contains the annotated and edited transcription of the diaries written in 1864 and 1865, John Ferguson actually began recording his experiences early in his enlistment. The complete Ferguson diaries include five separate volumes, and their complete length is substantial. What follows here is a brief summary of the first three diaries, which will serve as an introduction to diaries four and five, as they focus on the Atlanta campaign with Sherman. John Ferguson began his service in the Union Army in the fall of 1861. Regimental histories indicate that the Illinois Tenth Regiment of Veteran Volunteers, Company G, received training at Camp Butler in Springfield, Illinois. Their movement afterward was south, through St. Louis toward New Madrid, Missouri. Ferguson’s first entry in his diaries is 28 February 1862 in Bird’s Point, Missouri. He reports that he is not sure where they are going to go from Bird’s Point, however he “felt sure there was a fight on hands as we had all got new guns of the best qualety.” By Tuesday, 11 March, Ferguson reports of being camped within sight of New Madrid and that the pickets from both sides are shooting whenever they get sight of each other. After the Union Army takes New Madrid, Ferguson and his regiment occupy the area surrounding the town and the Rebel fort. Ferguson reports on various aspects of his surroundings, such as the land, its inhabitants, the weather, and fortifications and weapons. He continues this practice throughout his diaries. In New Madrid, Ferguson reports of crude but strong Rebel fortifications made of earthworks, brush pits, and sharpened poles. The weather is often rainy and the river is high. Cannonading can be heard as the various gunboats and artillery companies fire upon each other in the struggle for Island No. 10. Around 9 April 1862, Ferguson’s regiment moves into Tennessee, then into Illinois, and then back into Tennessee. General movement throughout the rest of the month is in a southerly direction and by 4 May Ferguson indicates that he is in “Mizzisippi,” in the area of Corinth, where he will remain until mid-June. On 17 June Ferguson’s brother James becomes very ill with what Ferguson calls “the flucks.” He is admitted to the hospital, where his condition worsens. On 19 July Ferguson himself becomes ill with a chill and severe cold. This is the type of ailment that will trouble him throughout the remainder of his life. On the twenty-fifth, James Ferguson is

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sent to the general hospital at Farmington, Mississippi, and he is eventually sent home to Illinois to recuperate. On 27 July Ferguson’s regiment moves to Tuscumbia, Alabama, and he is in camp there until 30 August. The soldiers camp on a large fairground, where Ferguson reports that they have access to plenty of goodtasting water. The soldiers fix up their camp and even make themselves bunks out of nearby fence rails. This seems to be a quiet time, when most of the activity in camp consists of standing picket and having dress parade. After 29 August 1862 Ferguson and his regiment pack up camp and begin a march north, back toward Tennessee. Around Linville, Tennessee, Rebels repeatedly attack the rear of the Union regiment as the troops pass through the small towns. One death and several casualties are reported, but most view these “gurilla” attacks as an annoyance. Hattlin’s Battery eventually shells the guerillas but only briefly because of concern for the civilian population. These Rebel attacks continue to be a hindrance for the next few months. The men exist on food foraged from the surrounding countryside. Sweet potatoes appear to be especially plentiful. Ferguson complains about the quality of the meat that is supplied sporadically. By mid-October, Ferguson is near Nashville, Tennessee. The weather is beginning to turn cold, and the men are on half rations; later those are reduced to one-third. Ferguson laments the scarcity of chewing tobacco and reports that “some of the boys pays 50 cts for a 5 ct plug of tobacco against pay day but I will chew the pockets out of my pants . . . before I pay any such prices.” By 1 November 1862 Ferguson has reached Nashville by way of Murfreesboro, remaining there for about six months. The rations are still scarce, but Ferguson voices optimism that when the telegraph is established between Nashville and Evansville perhaps more provisions can be requested. He comments that along with the mail they may also get something else to eat “besides hard crackers that is so full of worms that they can not lay still.” He surmises that since they get so little meat anyway, “probbely worms are better than none.” While garrisoned in Nashville, Ferguson describes many of the places he visits in the city. He includes a detailed drawing and description of Fort Negley and the armaments placed around it. Ferguson visits and describes the state capital building, many of the public parks, numerous churches, and some of the gardens of the finer homes in town. One of these private gardens contains a rather elaborate glass fish tank filled with large goldfish. During November 1862, Ferguson’s regiment is in camp at Stone’s

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River just west of Nashville. Ferguson writes that he is frequently on picket and engages in occasional skirmishing. The weather continues to become colder, and Ferguson is often plagued with chills and fever, but he continues to follow orders and go on picket except when he is advised by doctors not to do so. By December the troops are moved back up to the area of Fort Negley. The Rebels are making attacks on various Union strongholds around Nashville and the surrounding areas, which are for the most part repulsed. Ferguson receives word that his company and several others are to be garrisoned in the fort for the winter, and strict orders are given for the men to look their best —hair combed, boots polished, coats buttoned up “nisely” —while on guard duty. For a time, dress parade is held four times a day. During his time in Nashville Ferguson spends his spare time in several ways. He reads more newspapers and many of the regimental records and documents. As he does this, the punctuation and spelling in his diaries become more consistent and standard. He writes numerous letters to his family and friends as well as letters for his fellow soldiers who cannot write. He attends a few plays in town, including a Shakespearean play, the title of which he erroneously records as “Henery the Third.” He prefers the “wind up play,” which is a romantic comedy about a young man who has never seen a woman. He falls in love with the first woman he lays eyes on, mistaking her at first for a strange, exotic bird. Ferguson observes Nashville’s various buildings, plantations, and estates. He notes the civilians and their reactions to being held by Union forces. General James D. Morgan has issued orders that common citizens and their possessions are not to be disturbed, and, diligent soldier that he is, Ferguson obeys. Many of the civilians are sympathetic to the Union cause, while others are openly belligerent and show concern for the Rebel prisoners of war brought into town under guard. Some of these citizens try to smuggle food and messages through the barred prison windows. Ferguson notes that one day he saw citizens throwing apples to the second-story window of the prison where the prisoners were hanging through the bars to catch them. The guards finally tell the Rebels to back away from the windows or they will be shot in the head. Ferguson attends church services throughout the city and observes the practices of the various denominations, including Presbyterian, Baptist, Unitarian, and Catholic. He attends services in the Negro churches as well. He is most intrigued with the service he attends at the Catholic Church. He describes the two priests and their “gowns” and vestments,

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one of which he thinks resembles a “fancy glazed table cloth.” There are four altar boys “dressed in pink frocks” who spend all their time running around waiting on the priests who move back and forth in front of the altar and kneel frequently as they conduct the various parts of mass. Ferguson wonders why there are so many candles burning on a clear, bright day. He does not understand why the priest walks down the center aisle of the church and sprays the congregation with water. Ferguson is perplexed by the complicated ritual involved in the priest’s preparing the bread and wine for the sacrament. “I had an idea that he was going to treat me and my partners as we ware strangers but I was mistaken. After he got through with his pirformance, the other Priest got up, he appeard to be more senceable he read about half of the 3ed chapter of John then preached a very good little sermon in english then the party was dismissed.” In March Ferguson reports of numerous skirmishes in the Franklin and Murfreesboro areas. These seem to occur every few days, and according to Ferguson, the Rebels are usually the losers in these encounters. In April Ferguson has his photograph taken at a studio in Nashville. He says they are spoiled so he will have them retaken. He sends one home to his brother George and another to his parents in Scotland. Ferguson records how some of the Union soldiers are getting into trouble and ending up in jail. Some of them come into camp drunk and start fights with officers. Others leave camp without passes or desert altogether. One soldier, a private in the Tenth Michigan, deserted twice and was court-martialed and sentenced to death. Ferguson’s division marched out about a mile and a half from town near the Granny White Turnpike and formed a large square, in the center of which the execution was to take place. Ferguson reports there were many spectators. The soldier was brought under guard in an ambulance along with his coffin. He then knelt in prayer on the coffin with several ministers and was allowed his final say. He expressed his hope that God would forgive his sins and that his death would serve as a warning to all soldiers. He was then shot through the chest and head and fell backward over the coffin and onto the ground. He was placed in the coffin and buried on the spot. Ferguson reports that “it was a horrable sight” but reflects that it will serve as a stark reminder to those who might be inclined to desert. Near the first part of June, Ferguson begins to hear rumors that his regiment will move to the front. Ferguson seems pleased with this idea since he is convinced that too many of the men are acquiring bad habits —gambling, drinking, and seeing the “degraded weman” down on Smokey Row. Orders to pack up and prepare to march come down sev-

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eral times but each time they are countermanded. There seems to be a concern that Nashville needs to be well guarded in the event of Rebel attack. Ferguson’s last entry in his first volume is 4 July 1863 in Nashville. He attends a patriotic program and witnesses the firing of the siege guns as part of the celebration. There is a gap of approximately one month, and Ferguson records his next location as a camp at New Fostersville, Rutherford County, Tennessee. It is difficult to ascertain whether Ferguson’s activities kept him from recording in his diaries or if pages have simply been lost. By 18 August the general movement of Ferguson’s regiment and many others is toward Chattanooga. During the first few days of marching, the transportation of camp items and knapsacks is haphazard and items are misplaced for a few days at a time. Ferguson loses his oilcloth one day and his knapsack the following day. He figures “it has gone to hunt my oil cloth which straid [off ] last night and has not returned.” The knapsack turns up three days later but without the oilcloth. In Lewisburg, the soldiers in Ferguson’s regiment, fueled by a barrel of whiskey, plunder the courthouse and come away with numerous papers and law books. Ferguson comments, “I expect many a valiewable paper was distroyed after passing through this little town.” The roads are becoming rougher, making marching difficult. Many sutlers’ wagons become stuck or break down, and soldiers oftentimes plunder them. By 23 August Ferguson’s regiment and several others are marching through Columbia, Tennessee. As the soldiers pass through the town, the citizens are in groups on the streets but Ferguson says they do not greet them enthusiastically like they did year before. That time, the citizens greeted them enthusiastically, cheering and waving Union flags. But as the soldiers passed through the town, a group of bushwhackers fired on them from behind. In retaliation for the sneak attack, the soldiers burned the gristmill. Now, the Union soldiers taunt them, reminding them of the gristmill incident. After setting up camp, Ferguson and several others go to town to attend church, but the only meeting they find is in the local colored church. The Union soldiers are received warmly in the church and they ask permission to continue to attend services while camped in Columbia. By the twenty-sixth, the troops are marching toward Athens, Alabama. Marches are often eighteen to twenty-two miles per day. Many of the communities the troops pass through look run-down and the citizens tend to be strong “secesh” supporters.

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By 8 September 1863 Ferguson’s regiment and several others are camped in Stevenson, Alabama. There are numerous rumors about the next move, with Chattanooga being the most likely destination. While in Stevenson, Ferguson’s brother James returns to the regiment; he was sworn back into service on 12 September 1863. They begin a march toward Bridgeport, Alabama, in dust that is up to six inches deep. Ferguson states that their marching raises clouds of dust so thick that it is difficult to see and by the end of the day it is impossible to tell whether the men are black or white. The next day, after they cross the Tennessee River on pontoon bridges just past Bridgeport, the men have their first opportunity to wash themselves in the river. While there, Ferguson encounters two young women dressed as men riding in a wagon. They are wearing soldier’s britches and their long hair is tucked up inside their hats. It is rumored that they have been cooking for the field officers and are dressed as men in order to smuggle them through the Union lines. They appear to be about eighteen or nineteen years old and Ferguson says “they were both of the common sort.” One of the women seemed not to mind the vulgar comments from the soldiers in the rear and laughed as they passed along, whereas the other sat with her face hidden in her knees. Ferguson surmises that she either “regreats the cource she was pirsueing or els she was only a young beginner, and had not got hardened to it yet.” The traffic on the road to Chattanooga is heavy with trains of empty wagons leaving the town and full wagons and trains of pack mules heading toward it. At the same time, the bridges and railroads to and from Chattanooga are being repaired, further impeding travel. About five hundred deserters from the Rebel Army are also brought into camp. They tell Ferguson that they are exhausted and do not want to fight anymore. They complain of low or no pay, and most of them figured they would be killed anyway if they continued to fight. Over the next few days more Rebel deserters straggle into camp and surrender. On 22 September Ferguson receives orders that his company and four others are to march as part of a guard for a train of about fifty-five wagons of ammunition that must be taken to Chattanooga. The train must go by way of Walden Mountain since the Rebels are already holding Lookout Mountain, which would have been a closer route. On 23 September Ferguson marches to the foot of Walden Mountain, observing that it appears to be about two miles from the bottom to the top. At first glance it appears to be impossible to climb because of its steepness and rocky projections. The road is cut into the side of the mountain and runs both north and south. It takes the train from ten in the morning until after dark to climb the mountain. In some places the

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grade is so steep that the mules cannot pull the wagons without the men pushing the wagons forward. The wheels have to be blocked with large stones to keep them from rolling backward. After the troops reach the top they plan to continue down the other side of the mountain; however, by eleven o’clock the mules are so exhausted that they can no longer pull their loads. While on top of the mountain, a large number of wounded pass by on their way back to Bridgeport. About one hundred men are able to walk. They are followed by wagons with more wounded and ambulances carrying the most severely wounded. In one ambulance is a colonel who asks why the troops have stopped on top of the mountain. The wagon master replies that the mules have given out and can go no further until they have rested. The colonel urges them to go on because the lives of the men on the battlefield are dependent on the arrival of the ammunition. Although the colonel’s advice is reasonable, the men choose to wait until daylight to start down. Not only are the men and mules exhausted, but there is no moonlight that night by which to travel. By this point, the supply of rations has been depleted. The next morning, the train begins its descent down the other even steeper side of the mountain. Two of the turns are dangerously sharp and the wagons have to be pried and lifted around the turns with rails. By three in the afternoon, all the wagons have descended from the mountain and are waiting by the river for their turn to cross over to Chattanooga. As they come down the mountain, some artillery and skirmishes can be heard. Later the artillery increases and the random gunfire turns into volleys. Ferguson and others climb a nearby mountain overlooking the city and watch the battle by moonlight. Soon the siege guns open fire and the large shells can be heard buzzing through the air and bursting in the distance. This battle continues until about two in the morning. The Rebel charges are repulsed and they incur great casualties. After nightfall, the men draw half rations for two days and are able to eat for the first time in twenty-four hours. In the morning, Ferguson observes that many women and children have come from Chattanooga during the night down to the Union camp by the river to escape the bombardment of the city. They have no shelter or food and Ferguson expresses great sympathy for them. He says he would gladly help them if there were rations available. By noon of the twenty-fifth, the ammunition has been unloaded and the men begin their return trip to Bridgeport. Another train of one hundred fifty wagons coming off the mountain delays them until the following morning. They spend the night at the foot of the mountain, cooking hogs and listening to another battle at Chattanooga. Ferguson

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observes “it seems as if the Rebels prefair fighting in the night while the moon shines.” The next morning at daybreak they finally begin their ascent of the mountain. As they reach the summit, Ferguson describes the scenery around him as beautiful but it reminds him of “trubled sees” with all the rocky ridges and valleys in between. Gunfire can still be heard from Chattanooga. They meet another supply train on their descent, which some of the men raid for food. Ferguson is disturbed by their behavior because he feels that the soldiers on the battlefield need these supplies more than they do. After a few minor delays, they reach the bottom of the mountain at dusk. By 28 September Ferguson is back in camp at Bridgeport. He is happy to have the opportunity to wash himself and his clothes. He resumes camp activities of inspections, drills, and dress parades. He even hires a Negro named Washington to cook and clean for him. The twelve men in Ferguson’s mess agree to pay him seventy-five cents each per month for performing these duties. Ferguson meets a group of refugees camping by the river. There are six or seven women, two men, and several small children. They received a pass from General William S. Rosecrans to head north. They are no longer able to eke out a living in the countryside because all the foodstuffs are exhausted, and they are fearful of being injured in the battles. Ferguson advises them to sell their team of horses and wagons and let the government send them north. On 30 September around ten o’clock in the morning, Ferguson is startled by an explosion that makes the ground tremble like an earthquake. A detail from the Tenth, Sixteenth, and Sixtieth Regiments had been formed to load ammunition. Two of the men accidentally dropped a box of percussion shells, which exploded and set off two barrels of powder. The explosion’s casualties include six mules and eleven men, about seven or eight others are mortally wounded, and many others are slightly injured. The explosion lasts about five hours, during which time fragments of men, mules, and burning debris rain over the camps. Part of the Tenth Regiment’s camp is set on fire. Ferguson calls this episode “A Sad Affair.” On 1 October 1863, the regiments set out for Anderson’s Cross Roads in darkness and rain. The following day they march another fourteen miles and sense an urgency in their movement. They soon learn that a large force of Rebels has attacked a train of about four hundred wagons and is burning them. As the regiments continue they meet a group of teamsters, who frantically inform them that the Rebel forces are very strong and the Union soldiers will be “all cut to peaces” if they encounter

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them. As the soldiers press on, they begin to see smoke. The various regiments and cavalry units advance and set up battle lines. Sharp skirmishing takes place but there is no major engagement. Eventually the regiments go into camp, and Ferguson and his friend Nehemiah Fancher go take a look at the ruins of the wagon train. The scene is one of great destruction. One hundred wagons had started up the mountain and avoided attack. The rest were corralled on a field of four acres or strung out along the road. On the small field, about eighty wagons have been burned and looted and approximately five hundred mules have been killed. In a few days these will all be dragged into a large pile where railroad ties will be placed among them and set on fire. The rest of the wagons are destroyed over a three- to four-mile stretch of road leading to the base of the mountain. Ferguson notes that all types of supplies —weapons, ammunition, food, clothing —are strung out on the ground among the burned and still burning wagons. Ferguson and Fancher gather up for themselves such items as blankets, cans of food, and “a good suply of tobacco.” On 3 October 1863 Ferguson is still camped at Anderson’s Cross Roads. The regiments have been busy rounding up all the mules that were not killed the day before. Citizens from the surrounding countryside come in to camp to report on Rebel activity, including a woman who relays information regarding where some Union soldiers are being held prisoner. A civilian man overhears her and quickly leaves camp to alert the Rebels. The next day, the mules and harnesses are taken back to Bridgeport. More Union troops are arriving in the area and more Rebel soldiers are being brought in. Ferguson writes that a group of four or five men from Ohio scouting without their arms were met by three armed Rebels who demanded their surrender. Allegedly, the Ohio soldiers gathered up handfuls of rocks and demanded that the Rebels surrender or they would “pepper there brains out.” The Rebels complied and were marched back to Colonel John Tillson. Responding to the shabby treatment of Union prisoners and theft of Union supplies, the colonel has begun to strip the Rebels of all stolen clothing, blankets, and money as they are captured. Ferguson spends the next few days in camp performing guard duty and picket. Rations are scarce due to the circumstances in Chattanooga. One day Ferguson goes out to kill a hog. He expresses guilt about doing this because “the people genrly are in a state of sterveation.” He observes a small farm where a widow is crying as the Union soldiers take all the corn from her field. Ferguson consoles her by telling her that if she sees the quartermaster she will be compensated for

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her crop. The next day at dress parade, orders are read that forbid any further foraging. Ferguson remains in camp at Anderson’s Cross Roads until 22 October. The weather becomes cooler as winter approaches and several days of rain in mid-October make traveling the roads more difficult for the numerous supply trains that pass by each day. Ferguson expresses sympathy for the mules kept in harness all day with no food or water. They are beaten mercilessly to keep them moving even after they have been worked to a state of exhaustion. On 23 and 24 October Ferguson’s regiment is marched over Walden Mountain in a rainstorm. The men are cold and hungry and generally miserable. For two days afterward, they are in the camp at Igo Ferry, which Ferguson says is about five miles northwest of Dallas. As usual, rations and forage are scarce. Cannonading can be heard in the direction of Chattanooga. On 27 October Ferguson, Fancher, James Anderson, and Ferguson’s brother James set out to buy corn from the locals, who are, for the most part, Union sympathizers. Ferguson says they suffer even more than the soldiers. The women and children are nearly starving because the Rebel soldiers have taken their goods and foodstuffs are scarce. There are virtually no men to help run the households and farms. The four men encounter two women chopping wood and offer to finish the job for them. At the beginning of November, Ferguson and his companions build a small cabin —about twelve feet by ten feet —to help shelter them from the approaching winter weather. They eventually fill the cracks with mud and build a chimney and benches. They enjoy their little home for about two weeks before moving on toward Chattanooga. Near Igo Ferry in Hamilton County, the Union and Rebel pickets are directly across the river from each other and the men spend their days talking back and forth without exchanging gunfire. Both sides wish they had a canoe so they could go across and visit. By mid-November the Union forces have steamboats running from Stevenson and Bridgeport so rations are now more plentiful and it is no longer necessary to haul wagon trains over the mountain. Ferguson keeps meticulous records of the letters he writes and receives, his pay, and his expenditures such as tobacco, stamps, pens, paper, and newspapers. On 16 November 1863 he draws his pay for the preceding four months in the amount of $65.75. As is his custom, he pays his expenses and debts, keeps a few dollars for himself, and mails the remainder home to his brother for safekeeping. On 22 November Ferguson is in camp about four miles north of

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Chattanooga. He reports hearing musketry firing to the west of Chattanooga and siege guns directed toward the Rebel batteries on Missionary Ridge. General Sherman’s corps is now on the scene. Both Sherman’s corps and the Army of the Cumberland under General George H. Thomas cross the river on pontoon bridges. Ferguson reports it is “a splended sight” to look across the fields and river and see the extensive lines of troops. Ferguson does not include great detail of the push to take Missionary Ridge, but simply states that they “drove the Rebs all the time” and by night had taken possession of Missionary Ridge. On 26 November Ferguson’s regiment is marched across the Chickamauga Creek on a pontoon bridge with orders to keep very still as they march. They are to determine whether the rumor of the Rebels’ evacuation is true. Near Chickamauga Station the scouts come upon Rebel skirmishers. As they engage, artillery is run forward and shells are thrown into the woods where the Rebel pickets are. The Union forces soon encounter more fierce resistance from the Rebel pickets, which are well entrenched in their works. An artillery battle begins but after about half an hour, the Rebel battery retreats. Ferguson’s regiment is ordered to deploy as skirmishers. They pursue the Rebels through thickets. Soon a yell breaks out “which was quickly taken up by the whole regt” and they begin a regular charge. After chasing the retreating Rebels through a large clearing, the men are halted by a staff officer. The Rebels were retreating at a frantic pace “without any particular regard to order.” The Union soldiers are within seventy-five to one hundred yards of the retreating Rebels. They open a heavy fire on them until the Rebels are beyond the range of their weapons. Eventually, the encounter ends as the Rebels escape and the Union men are halted. When General Morgan finds out, he smiles and says that he had “seen many a charge maid but this was the first he ever saw maid by a line of skirmishers.” After waiting several hours for the other Union forces to catch up to them, Ferguson’s regiment again begins its pursuit of the enemy. This chase leads them into a swamp and as darkness falls, they can no longer see well enough to continue. At one point, they are even briefly firing at each other. By 27 November Ferguson’s regiment is near Ringgold, Georgia, in pursuit of the retreating Rebel forces. Since Ferguson and his regiment are toward the rear, they miss some of the more intense engagements. His division captures about one hundred forty Rebels and while guarding a group of them Ferguson asks them about their captivity and how the war is progressing for the Confederacy. The Rebels respond that they thought they would continue to fight until after President Lincoln

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was out of office and some other man was president. They suspect that people in the North are tired of Lincoln and he will not be reelected. Ferguson replies that he thinks that they are mistaken and that Lincoln will be reelected. The Rebels reply that if that happened they would be forced into his terms but would surely hate them. On 29 November 1863 Ferguson is ordered to prepare to march with five days’ rations and sixty rounds of cartridges. He does not know where they are going but he expects they are being sent to Knoxville to reinforce Burnside. The soldiers camp near Cleveland, Tennessee, on the first night, and on the following day march through Charleston and Calhoun. During the next few days, Ferguson observes that this part of Tennessee looks very fertile and productive and there is still plenty of food nearby. These people have not known hard times yet, he says, but their time is coming. By 5 December Ferguson is in camp about eighteen miles from Knoxville. Food is scarce and many of the men are barefooted. They are desperate for supplies. By the sixth, the word is given that Longstreet has gone into North Carolina, so the Union soldiers are given orders to about-face and head back to their previous camping grounds. Their movement is south. Some of the rations issued to the men are spoiled and many of the men become violently ill. By mid-December, the men are anxious to return to Chattanooga to draw rations and obtain proper winter clothing. To make matters worse the weather is cold and rainy. Ferguson puts a thermometer on a bush away from the fire to find out the temperature only to find someone has stolen it. He says if he ever finds the thief, he will have him arrested. By 18 December the men are back in camp outside of Chattanooga, dry, warm, fed, and with their accumulated mail. On 21 December General Thomas places an order to allow the Tenth and Sixteenth Illinois Regiments to reenlist. They can have six days’ furlough and $400 for the next three years. Over the next few days, almost every man reenlists. On 25 December 1863 Ferguson records, “This is serinly a hard spent Christmas.” The men are all in camp with almost no rations. Ferguson says they would much rather march and have plenty of food than be idle in camp with nothing to eat. On the twenty-sixth, they head for camp in Rossville, Georgia, where they will remain for some time. The weather continues to be cold and wet and rations are scarce. Seven small crackers per man are described as two-thirds rations. On 31 December 1863 Ferguson writes, “So ends the chapter for this year. And My hopes are that the beginning of the new year May be more favorable for us then the close of this year have been.”

Chronology o f t h e c o m p l e t e j o h n h i l l f e r g u s o n c i v i l wa r d i a r i e s

The following chronology does not record each and every movement and location of Ferguson’s regiment. Only those places where the troops stayed for a significant amount of time are included, and the dates indicate when the troops first arrived at that location. d i a r y i 1862 28 February —Bird’s Point m o March —New Madrid m o 9 April —Tiptonville t n 4 May —Near Corinth m s 3 July —Nashville t n 11 July —Big Springs m s 28 July —Tuscumbia a l 11 September —Franklin t n 16 October —Nashville t n 19 November 1 9 —Nashville t n d i a r y ii 1862–1863 14 November to 1 January —Nashville t n This volume contains lists of the letters that Ferguson both received and wrote as well as lists of military matters he observed, such as deaths, desertions, and illnesses. Also included are many poems and song lyrics that were popular at the time. d i a r y iii 1863 This volume also contains lists similar to those in Diary i i . 24 January —Nashville t n 20 August —New Fostersville t n 23 August —Columbia t n 29 August —Athens a l 7 September —Stevenson a l 13 September —Bridgeport a l 2 October —Anderson’s Cross Roads t n 25 October —Igo Ferry t n 20 November —Camp Callwell t n 26 December —Rossville g a

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d i a r y iv 1864 This volume also contains rosters of soldiers, lyrics, poems, and hints to farmers. 1 January —Camp near Rossville g a 11 January to 8 March —On furlough in Illinois 9 May —Battlefield at Buzzard Roost 18 May —Rome g a 26 May —Dallas g a 28 May —Marietta g a 23 June —Kenesaw Mountain g a 8 July —Camp near Chattahoochee River in Georgia 23 July —Southwest of Atlanta g a 1 September —Jonesboro g a 13 September —South of Atlanta diary v

1865

1 January —Camp near Savannah g a 6 January —Camp near Beaufort s c 7 February —Edisto River s c 10 February —Orangeburg s c 10 March —Swamps in North Carolina 4 April —Camp near Goldsboro n c 15 April —Raleigh n c (War ends) 11 May —Camp near Richmond va 19 May —Camp near Alexandria va 24 May —Washington d c (The Grand Review of the Union Army) 10 June —Camp at Louisville k y (The final entry ends abruptly, as Ferguson was en route to his home in eastern Illinois.)

Diary IV 1 January to 13 September 1864

January 1st 1864 Camp near Rossville, Georgia Friday 1st Today has been very cold with hard frost. So much so that we cannot keep comfortable by a large logg fiar.1 Last night was very stormy with heavy rain until midnight at which time the cold set in. About one hundered Rebs came in today and give themselvs up and report a large number yet a comeing. They report the Rebel army demoralized, and says every man of Bragg’s old army will disert the first opertunity. These prisoners came in today were sent out on picket and thought it there best chance, so off they came. They say there army is about starved out. They have nothing to eat and the soldiers will not put up with it long. But they cannot be much worse off then we are, for we have just enough to sustain life, still we can look forward and hope for better times accomeing.2 Camp near Rossville, Georgia Saturday January 2ed Today has been very cold with a north wind. We went on picket at 8 Oclock this morning. The boys sees rather a hard time standing picket as they are not aloued any fiar on there posts. Some are paying others $1.50 cts. to stand two hours for them. All the liveing we have had today was one bisket, and that we eat for brackfasts. Sunday 3ed Still cold with hard frost. We came in from picket at half past 8. Some little flower had been drawn for 3 days rations. Nearly half of it was baked up and we only had two biskets a peice and a small peice of meat and some coffee. But lucky for us Brother James and [Alfred E.] McDaniel, went to Brigade head quarters and got about two qts of shilled corn which they brought in the evening. I soon had watter got, and the corn put on with some ashes in to make homeny, and against late bed time we had it boyled, and ready to eate. It was a glorious dish and greatly relieved our craveing apitites. We have enough left for brackfast which will help us through another day.

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But I must stop writing as my ink has got frozen so that it is not fit for use. [The next few days’ entries are in pencil.] Monday, 4th day of January Today cold and cloudy with some rain and some sleet. Nothing new in camp. I wrote a small letter to Elizabeth Pendley in answer to one I received yesterday. We have lived pritty well today in the way of grubb. We had some homeny for brackfast and a kettel of been soup in the afternoon which answered for dinner and supper. The talk is we will be mustered tomorow and by Sunday or Mondy nixt we will be all ready to clear out for Ills. Tuesday 5th, 1864 Last night cold with frost. Today warm with sunshine. Our company Officers has been buisey for the last 2 or 3 days makeing out muster roles and discharge papers. Our company was the first to get ready for muster, and was mustered this evening. Company B got ready for muster at dark but was too late. So our company is the only one mustered today. We are mustered and soren into the service of the United States for 3 years or dureing the war as a veteran Regt. $400.00 bounty is to be payed to each veteran, and the old bounty of $100.00 & $75.00 of the new is to be payed down in advance, with the adeation of all our back pay, and premium of $2.00, and a furlough of 60 days absance from actuel field saravice in the State of Ills., and a furlough of 30 days to be given each veteran soldier from Springfield to there respective homes.3 Brother James could not come in as a veteran under the late order from the war department, stateing that no one could be ascepted into the veteran regt without he had served two years, and all them who had not been in two years but had been in 23 months could get a furlough with the regt, on the promis that they would come into the veteran service at the experation of there two years. These orders did not reach Brother James’ case as we expected. He cannot come in as a veteran; he has to remain on some detatched duty until we return. Had I known before I became fast in this nixt term, I would not have went in at the present. When he came to the regt it was with the understanding that he should be mustered out with the regt but this was not so. Every man had to serve out his 3 years, so that spoyled our arangments in regard to going to Scotland and as he was anxious to go with me, I resolved to reinlist and come out free, near about the same time he did, if we were both blissed with health and strength until that time. I can look forward and imadgin the dangers, sxposurs, and hardships we will have to incounter dureing the nixt 3 years should the war last.

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But should the war last, these hardships had to be gon through. And why not I share with others in these tryals and have the honor of going through the whole campain from first to last should I live, and should there be any honor attatched to it. Besides, I have no longer any home nor earthly inducements to intise me to leave the army. Had Brother James the same chances of myself, and could go along with me on my furlough, I would be as well contented in the army as the world could place me. That is in some respects. But as things has turned out as they have, We have been both disapointed and may regret the steps we have taken but cannot amend them. We still see hard times in regard to rations and no telling when the boys left here will get enough to eat. But my hopes are it will not be long, for I feel for them more on that account then on any others. Wed 6th Today has been very cold. All day our company had to go out on picket in place of Co. E until they would be mustered, with the expectation of being relieved as soon as they could be mustered. But there papers were not right, and had to put off muster until late in the evening, at which time we got orders to remain all night. We sent in, and had our blankets brought out, and some coffee and one small bisket to each man for supper. We are sitting around the reserve fiar making ourselvs happy as possable. Camp near Rossville, January Thursday 7th 1864 Today very cold and cloudy with some little snow. We were relieved from picket by the 10th Michigan and came into camp expecting crackers would be drawn and brackfast ready awaiting us but it was not. We came in hungery but found nothing to eat. The quartermaster said they were not due us until noon so we had to go without any thing to eat until one Oclock, and then we only drawed 6 small crackers for 4 meals. We have been looking for the pay master today to pay us off so we will get to go into God’s country once more in our lives, but he has not come. We will sertinly go in a few days. Friday 8th Today the coldest day of this year. Last night snowed a little, enough to make the ground look speckled. I never lay so cold in my life. I thought I would freeze to death before morning. We only had one blanket over us as we had to hang one of them up at the end of our tent to brake the cold north wind off of us.

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The pay master has not got here yet but is to be here tomorow without fale. We have to carry our wood half a mile as the timber is all choped down that is within our reach. Camp near Rossville, January Saturday 9th Today still cold with hard frost. Nothing drawn in the way of rations today —only 25 lbs of crackers to each company. The pay master has not come yet, but will be here tomorow to pay us off sure. Colonel Tillson starts in the morning for Nashville to have clothing ready for us when we go there. Sunday 10th We awaited the arivel of the paymaster until 3 oclock with the greatest of pations, as we are tiared of staying here, starving as we have been for something to eat. Nothing in the way of rations today until dark this evening at which time we got plenty for once. We drawed two days full rations and one box of crackers due us on our back rations and all for two days. No one can tell how happy we were this evening at supper — plenty of sowbelley and coffee. It is believed rations will be plenty from this time forth. We got our pay this afternoon and will be ready to start in the morning. Monday, 11th of January 4 miles east of Bridgeport We left our camp near Rossville shortly after day light, and bid good by to these that we left behind. Brother James & Byron Anderson both shed tears when we shook there hands, and there hearts filled so that they could not speak. I felt sorry for them but could not help there puseation. They were both anxious to come but could not, as they had not served two years. We marched accross the Old Battle field and struck the rail road at foot of Lookout Mountain. The ballance of our day’s march was over the ground where Hooker fought.4 We marched in on the rail road some 26 or 27 miles. It was the hardest day’s march I ever marched to carry our knapsacks. Where we stoped over night there was no chance to have fiar as there was no rails to be found on our march and at this place. What little timber was left were large trees and we had no axes. So far as we have come, the railroad is in runing order with the exceptions of one bridge.

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Bridgeport January 12th Tuesday 12 Shortly after day light we marched again and arived at Bridgeport about 9 oclock. There I found Earnest Francis and Abe Whitehead and 4 or 5 others belonging to the 21st regt. Abe & Earnest crossed the pontoon bridges with me and stayed with me the ballance of the day. We expected to leave here for Stevenson in the afternoon but the train that came after us, unfortunatly the loccomative run off the track. They have been to work at it ever since, but no likelyhood of its being put on tonight. 4 companys of our regt went off on a little train this evening but could not take any more. We drawed more rations today for 3 days then we have drawn for two weeks, for the last 3 or or 4 months. We had crackers, light bread, and beans already cooked, and sow belly without end. The boys could not take along more then half of what they drawed. It looked like a pitty to see so much thrown away. Nashville, January 13th Wed 13th, 1864 We left Bridgeport this morning at 3 oclock and arived at Nashville about 7 in the evening. After we got off the cars we had to stand some time in the street before we could finde out where we were going to stay. At last we were taken to a large church where I have often been to meeting when in Nashville before. It has since been used as a hospitle but at present it not used for anything. Seats and every thing has been taken away. I have went around through several stores and bought me a payr of boots, and one hat, one shirt, and pare of suspenders. It was late before any of us went to bed. Thursday 14th Still in Nashville awateing transportation. We could a left hear at 2 oclock p . m . but it was impossable to gather the boys together, as they are scattered all over town and some of them pritty tight. They have been fighting the citty gards and would not alow one of our regt to be arested. We expected to get off this evening at 7 oclock but all our hopes faled. We now expect to start at 9 oclock a . m . tomorrow. I went to the new Theatter and spent the evening with great pleasure, sitting and admiaring Maggie Mitchell the main acteress. She is young and very small and a world beater in every act. She takes the leed in every play and draws thousands to admiar hir. It was late before we returned to our quarters. We could have stayed all night and still been deeply intrested in the delightfull schames of Maggie Mitchell.5

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Friday 15th Today still pleasent and finds us still rambeling the streets of Nashville. We have not got off yet, nor do not know realy when we will. I went back again to see Maggie Mitchell pirform this evening. All the money taken in this evening was for hir benefit. The house was more then crouded. She also had Photographs taken for the purpus of selling to the soldiers or any person or persons that wished to buy them. Altho she had a large number of them, there was not one third of the people got a chance to buy one. They went off like hot cakes at 50 cts. The gass went out from some cause before the last play was finised so we had to go or be left in the dark. It was still a little better then last night. On steem boat at Nashville January, Saturday 16th Today pleasent, but cold towards evening. There is no chance for us to get transportation to Louisville for 3 or 4 days yet, and probably not then, so our Colonel thought it best to get transportation for us on a steem boat to Cairo [Illinois]. So we have got aboard just before dark in order to have every thing in readyness to imbark in the morning. Our boys are haveing a good time this evening, and a good many of them feels there whisky a little two well. For my part I feel rather under the weather from a sovear cold I caught the first night after leveing our camp in Georgia. Sunday 17th Early this morning by day breack we found ourselvs out in the river on board the Emma Floyd on hir way to Cairo. But as I have been very sick all day I have not observed any particulers as we passed along. We have tied up at Fort Donaldson for the night, as it is not considered safe to run the river after night on account of the geurrillis.6 Still on the River at Smithland Monday 18th Left Fort Donaldson at day light. Last night rained and was snowing this morning. The snow at this place is about a foot deep, and today it is the coldest we have seen this season. It is 95 miles from Fort Donaldson to this place and 95 from Nashville to Fort Donaldson, makeing 190 from Nashville to the mouth of the Cumberland where it emptys into the Ohio at Smithland. We finde the Ohio runing foul of ice. So much so, that we will have to lay at this place until morning. There has been no ice in the Cumberland or Tennessee Rivers this season.

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Tuesday 19th Left Smithland at day light and arived at Cairo about one Oclock p . m . . We lost a darky on our way to Cairo in the Ohio. He fell over board and was seen a swiming amongest the ice, a mile and a half behinde us. He was a good sweemer but could not possably reach land as the ice was runing thick and piled up on both sides of the current. The distance from Smithland to Cairo is 65 miles. We expected to start on our way by rail road at 7 Oclock this evening but was disappointed. Wed. 20th On our way to Decatur (Illinois) Yesterday evening I was detailed in charge of the guard with orders to let no one out without he was passed by his commanding officer. I have been kept on duty all night and all day. Quite a number of the boys drunk. Prepairations were made and we left the boat at 5 Oclock, and got piled on an extry train got up to run us through. It was about dark before we started out. Thursday 21st We arived at Decatur about 2 Oclock p . m . where we had to remain until about 6 in the evening, at which time we started out, passing through Springfield on our way to Quincy. Quincy, Friday 22ed We passed through Jacksonville last night about 10 oclock. A large gun was fiared twice as a salute as we passed allong. On ariveing at Quincy at 3 Oclock in the morning, a salute was fiared from a large gun. We fell in, and was formed in cloce colomn of companys, and then we were addressed by one of the leeding cittizens of Quincy, who bid us welcom to there citty. He said he would not detain us with a speatch as were all tiared. So he said he would leed the way, and the officers and men of the 10th Ills would follow him to the Pinkham Hall where we would find a brackfast prepaired for us by the young ladys of the citty and sarounding neighborhood and were there now in the hall awateing us.7 So he gumped down and lead the way. We fell in our proper places and marched up town where 3 or 4 more rounds were fiared from there large gun. In 4 a breast at the east end of the hall, there was over one hundered young ladys and a few young men standing up with flags in there hands, singing the Star Spangled Banner. General Prentiss was ther and addressed us for a short time.8 We then stacked arms, brock ranks, and took seats, and

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a splended brackfast was soon served. This feast was prepaired for supper but as we failed to get there last night, they prepaired us a brackfast. Brackfast was eat and most of the cittizens gon to there homes before day light appeared. We have remained in the hall all day with the prevelidge of going where we wished all day. After dinner, some clothing were drawn and at 5 Oclock we had dress parade, and a little battalian drill. The whole citty turned out to see us and thronged the streets so as to bother us a great dale. Decatur Saturday 23ed We had our furloughs filled out at day light and ready to go to the train. As I was doing up my knapsack, some one picked up my over coat and packed it off. It was a right fine cavelry overcoat. I bought it in Nashville for 9 dollars. We got down to the depot before 8 clock and got tickets for Decatur. Some would not pay and come through gust the same. A & B of our Regt got off the cars at Jacksonville. A salute was again fiared as they returned to there homes. I was informed that a great dinner was awateing them prepaired by the cittizens of Jacksonville. We got to Decatur about 11 oclock. Our boys has scattered all over town at different taverns. I have ingadged boarding and bed for 9 until Monday morning for one dollar and sixty cents each. Sunday 24th Today very pleasent. I walked around town the greatest part of the day. Went to the Church at half past 10 OC in company with James Anderson and a cittizen friend he met there. After supper in the evening, Old Mr Brown latly of Walnut Prairie [a small town near Ferguson’s hometown of Darwin] came into the taverin and incisted on us going to his house. We went down a while and had a very good time. Monday, January 25th 1864 Left Decatur at 4.40 a . m . and arived at [Peaney], about 7 oclock. The boys cut up big in town as we had to stay until 11 oclock for the train to Terre Haute. We arived at Terre Haute about 5 Oclock p . m . , had supper, and hunted around to find a wagan or waggans to take us down to Darwin, but in vain. Between 8 & 9 oclock we started on foot carrying our knapsacks, but at the lower end of town we found an old fellow and hiared him for $12.00 to take us down to Darwin ferry where we arrived a little after one oclock. We under took to cross over on the ice, but 3 of them that started over first brock through, and as I had something of a load I concluded I would stay until day light. So Bullerd, J. Blockson, and myself went down to a house and stayed until morning.

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Tuesday 26 After brackfast we crossed over the river. We found the ice perfectly safe. Got up in town, saw a great many of my old friends, had something to drink, then started up to find where Brother Thomas lived above Darwin. I had no truble in finding him out. I stayed with him the ballance of the day. Wed 27th Went to Marshall, Illinois and saw a great many of my old aquentces. Clark County, Illinois Thursday, 28 day of January Went down in the waggan with Thomas to Wm. Clarks, eat dinner, and went down to York. I could not cross the river as I expected so I had to stay in York until Saturday evening, at which time Susan and Maryann went with me cross the river to there father’s.9 I came back over the river on Tuesday, had supper at Cammels, and a dance at Kitchmans Hall. I was only a spectator and after a while I took my leve. I did not come away by myself, of corse. I had some one alonge whos company was not in the least offencive.10 As my partner never stayed out late, we went home together and injoyed the evening more agreable where we were not so much crouded. I also stayed in town on Wednesday night and went with the company I had chozen to a dinner on Walnut [Walnut Prairie] prepaired by the cittizens for the benifet of the soldiers. I think the soldiers will never forget the kindness of the people of York and Walnut. They have got up a splended dinner and I am proud to say that every thing passed off agreable and all parties went home well satisfied. The day following we had a dinner at Brother Thomases’ above Darwin. I got Wm. Clark’s teem, went out and got a load of [gells] 11 to take along, as I was well satisfied we would have rather a dule time without them. We got up to the appointed place by 12 Oclock. Dinner was soon prepaired. The ladies occopied one side of the table and the soldiers the other. We had a very good dinner and all seemed to injoy themselvs. At 1/2 past 3 Oclock p . m . the little party brock up. I took my charges home where I found them, then went down to York the same evening with Susan & Maryann. Stoped there and fed my horses. Of corse I wanted to stay a few minuts, so it just sooted me to feed. I did not intend to stay more then fifteen minuts, as I had to return to Darwin the same evening. As soon as I thought the horses had eat I started off. I pulled out my watch to see what time and I had already been there one houre and a half. I think the hands of my watch had caught and dragged. I could not account for it any other way.

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I got to Brother Thomases’ at one Oclock a . m . Saturday morning, but as I have neglected writing up my book at the proper time, and a great many importent little itims has escaped my minde, and that which is most fresh in my memory would not look well here. At least I have no disiar to make fule statements of all particulers. So I will make a jump and say no more of what little occurances took place, from the date of the above statements until Sunday morning. The 20th day of February, the morning appointed for us all to meet at Darwin to start for Terre Haute, Ind., and the morning on which we intended to bid good bye to all, and to Old Clark for some time. No telling how long —probably for ever. But we did not get away as soon as we expected. Lieut. Winsitt was late off getting to Darwin so we had to wate for him, as we could not fix out transportation for our recruts until he came, as there was no blanks at Darwin, only what he had. Consequently it was noon before we got ready to go. Mrs. Sackrider had fixed up a very nice dinner for the soldiers and we were called in and eat. I leve my thanks and good wishes with hir and all others that has taken such in intrest in the soldiers, which is all the return I am able to make at present. I was more then surprised at the croud of people that gathered in Darwin that day. When I did not expect to see any one, only the soldiers getting ready to start and the cittizens around there homes. Adue to Darwin, Feb 20th. But they left there homes and mingled with the cittizens of the surounding neighborhood on the river bank. The mejoritiy was ladys, which went to show that our taken leve was much regreated amongst the fair sachs. I am not able to say how many ladys I shook hands with before I went unto the ferry boat. But since I made a beginning I was bound to go though with all, and they were so numers that I had to stop and rest my arm, and wipe the swet from my hand a few times before I made it, through cold as the morning was. But we were soon cross the river and placed in waggans and found ourselvs moving on a sharp trot towards Terre Haute. We again cast our eyes back as if takeing the last look at Darwin. But the first thing that caught our eye was a perfect white sheet of pocket handkirchfs fluttering like snow flakes. They were bidding us a last adue. We took off our hats, waved them high above our heads, and give a few rousing cheers to the ladys. We had a very fine time going to Terre Haute. We arived at the Clark house a little before sun down. A great many of the boys got to drinking a little too much and went to houses where common weman were harbered. Then they got into truble and had there not been so many of them, some would a been killed. If not

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they would a been arested and had to pay a fine. But as it was they came off tollereable well. One or two got there nozes cracked a little, and some a black eye. We stoped in the Clark house that night and payed one dollar each for supper, bed, and brackfast. We did not leve Terre Haute until after dinner on Monday the 21st. I injoyed the foarnoon the best I could walking around town. About 10 Oclock Brother Thomas hitched up his team and started back to Darwin. The boys had a big time. Terre Haute, Indiana Feb 21st After they got down to the depot they went to a grocery and called out licquers of all kinds, and drink all they wanted. Then in order to play off on the grocery keeper, went off and would not pay for it. I saw what was there dezine so after they had all gon out I payed the bill. But soon they came back and went in again. Some had canteens filled, some bottles, and then drink at the bar, and when the bar keeper would refuse to let them have what they called for, they would threaten to cleen him out so he had to do as they wanted. After a while they went off again. The grocery keeper followed me and wanted to know if I could not make them pay. I told him No and if they did not feel disposed to pay him he would have to loose it, for I was not accountable for there doings, and could not help it. Soon we got on board of the train. The boys cut up bad. They kicked the ends off of the seats, brock down the stoves, and brock the windows, and dun all the divelment they could think of. We stoped at Mattoon and wated there until 10 Oclock and 40 minuts and then took a train to Tolono where we arived about midnight. Returning to Quincy Feb. At our arivel at Tolono we soon learned that the train runing west was due at 3 Oclock a . m . so we determined not to go to bead, but go out to a eating house and have some supper, as we had nothing to eat all day. We found 4 saloons but they all declaired they had nothing in the house to eat. We were almost temped to pull down there sine boards but it seemed these shebangs were all kept by weman. There husbands were eather gon or in bead very sick, and there suplys sent for had not come, and they were all out. As we could not find any men, we concluded it would not be right to truble the house of a lone woman so we returned to the tavern where we left our knapsacks and awated the train. So we got a board the cars and left Tolono without sheding a tear. What a wonder! About one Oclock p . m . we arived in Quincy and marched direct from the depot to our berricks which had been built for us dureing our furlough.

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There was not over one third of our Regiment there that afternoon, yet we had to fall in, and have dress parade, and some drill. Quincy, Illinois February [25] On Wednesday in the afternoon we had battalian drill and dress parade. We also had orders to fix up and have our arms and our person look as well as possable as we had to march up town to receive a flag that was to be presented to us by the people. On Thursday afternoon, according to orders we fell in, marched up to the public squair, where General [Benjamin M.] Prentiss presented the flag to Tillson. Prentiss made us a very suteable little speach to which Colonel Tillson promised faithfully to protect to the last. The Star Spangled banner just placed in his hands.12 The cittizens were called on by General Prentiss to give 3 cheers to the 10th Ills. Accordingly they took off there hats and give us 3 rousing cheers. The laydes aided them with there squeeking voices, and waveing there white handkerchiefs all they could. Afterward Colonal Tillson called upon us to give the people of Quincy 9 and a tiggar, which was dun in good stile to the gratifycation of the cittizens. We were then minuvered in various movements through the squair. The cittizens crouded in, in vast numbers. The majority was ladies. They crouded us so that it was almost impossable for us to make our movements perfect. Tillson brought us to about face and formed a line of battle along the lower fence. He then ordered us to charge baynets then forward on the duble quick. The cittizens were scared nearly to death. Such roleing and tumbeling to get over the fence, both by men and weman, I never saw.13 Afterwards they were a little shie, and did not seem to think it any two safe to get very close. We drilled some two hours. The cittizens seemed to think it fun but had they been drilled as much as we were, and been doing the duble quicking we were doing, they would a been tiared of it before we began. After returning to camp we had orders to be ready to move at 7 Oclock on Friday morning the 26th. Rations were drawed, and recruts exemined and sorn into the service, drawed there uneform, &c. Friday 26 All was in readiness at 7 Oclock to fall in and march to the depot, but some little arengments had to be fixed at head quarters which delayed us until about 10 oclock. About 11 Oclock p . m . we found ourselvs aboard a second class hog train. Each car was crouded and cold as the day was, quite a number was obledged to go on top of the cars. The wind blew very strong at times carrying off quite a number of hats dureing the day. Also one soldier, a privit in Co. A, roled from the top of

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one of the cars and fell overboard. He was left behind but not much hurt, as he got up and went to a little streem to wash the mudd off his hands. Before proceeding any farther I must make a few statements which ought to a come in before this. On Wednesday morning the 24th nixt morning after ariveing at Quincy, some recruts got to fooling with the muskets and bursting caps at each other. One gun being loaded, went off, blowing the whole pate from one of there fool heads and scattering his brains all over the place. He was killed imediently. Green recruts, like regts, has got to learn by sad experiance. Another circumstance —just as we started out on the train from the depot at Quincy about half a mile from town, a cittizen came wriding along meeting the train on a very large gray horse. The horse seemed to be some frightened. The rider headed him to the train and tryed to make him stand until the train would pass, but the horse kept setting backwards until his hinde feet went over a deep gully in the side of the road, washed out by the heavy rains. He went down and fell backwerds with the rider under him. There he lay with his back down and feet up, lungeing at a fearful reat, and the rider still beneath him. He was killed dead without a dought. We met 3 or 4 cittizens with teams halling wood to town near the place. We hurryed them up to aid the man in the trinch. He was undoughtedly killed before any assistance could reach him, but we continued on our way and soon got out of sight and far beyond ever hearing more of the circumstance. The same evening of the day we left Quincy, we arived at Springfield about sundown. We only stoped there a short time to let a train pass, then continued on our way. By this time the night was getting very cold with some rain and sleet, so them that were on top of the cars had to croud inside of the cars in some shape, so we were wedged in dureing the night like herring in a barrel. Lafayette & Indianapolis Saturday 27th Day of February A little after daylight this morning we found ourselves roleing along towards the Wabash River. It seemed some what strange to me to see pine trees grow in that section of the country, but it is even so. We crossed the river at Attica about 7 Oclock p . m . , then to Lafayette where we stay some 4 hours wateing for a loccomotive, as the one that brought us there had to return. We had plenty of time to run around the scirts of town, get brackfast, &C. About noon we were furnished with a loccomative, and again we were roleing along toward Indianapolis where we arived some time before night, without anything worthy of note, with

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the exceptions of the boys cleening out a grocery in a little town as we passed along. The train stoped there some 10 minuts. The boys brock for the grocery but as soon as the grocery keeper saw them comeing, he locked up and put the kee in his pocket. The boys wanted in to have something to drink but he refused to open his doar. There was no time to fool away and something to drink they were bound to have, so they quickely brock open the doar. At first some carryed off bottles from the bar of all kinds of liquers, then when bottles could no longer be found, they took hold of watter buckets and vessels of all kinds, broke in the heads of whiskey bbls, and dipped in and carryed off. Hundereds were flocking around the grocery in less then a minut. Soon they could be seen carrying keggs on there sholders packing them into the cars. Then after the keggs were all gon they would gather two and 3 around the remains of a Whiskey bbl and pact it a board of the train also. Some pitched unto crackers and carryed them off by the haver sack full, and some carrying part of a bbl, one third or half full, some with cheese, some with biloney, some tobacco, some one thing and some another. The whole thing was cleened out in less time then one could reed the circumstance. Soon the old loccomative, hoop, hooped and away we went, well stocked with grocerys —espaculy liquers of all kinds. In the car I was in we had one kegg of bear and one of blackbery brandy. The boys went in one big, passed it around by the quart cups full. After drinking all they wanted and filling there canteens, they pitched there keggs, bbls, &C, over board with what ever liquars remained in them. Some time between 4 and 5 Oclock we arived at Indianapolis, where we again had to exchange loccomatives and did not get to leve there until 9 Oclock. About 6 in the evening our Regiment was invited to eat supper at the soldiers home. We fell in and marched up to the place and found that only about one company could eat to a time and then the supper was rather a poor get up. Only bread, coffee, and a little beef. I thought it was a soldier’s fair sure enough, but as our company was the 9th company, there was no chance for us to eat for 2 or 3 hours, and to stand out in the cold and wet that length of time, wateing for a little coffee and bread, I concluded it would not pay. So Company G, B, and some others companys brock ranks, went and got supper where they pleased. I went with a squad to a saloon, had some oisters, a cup of coffee, and other little nick nacks. We made out a very fine supper then returned to our hog cars. Before 9 Oclock the Regiment had all returned and was again seated and ready for another move. Soon the iron horse began to snort, then chuck, chuck a few times, then we began to role along, then he give one of his wild yells, then

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chuck he took it again, and off we went like blickson. It seemed as if he frightened himself with his own fearful yells. Louisville, Kentucky Sunday 28th On Our Way to Dixies Land We arived in Louisville this morning a little after day light, or rather in Jeffersonville. The morning was wet and cold. We crossed the river on a steem ferry boat large enough to hold the whole regiment. After we were cross, we could not find any place to go out of the rain but we soon found a place by bracking rank and takeing pussession of 3 or 4 large tobaco sheads. We took wood where ever it was to be found and built fiars under these sheads and roled hogheads of tobacco out side and occuppied there places inside. It was 3 oclock before we started out for Nashville. There was 3 other trains, with a regiment on each ready to follow us to Nashville. We had a better train of cars this time then we had before. They were fixed up a purpus to carry soldiers. The seats were small, but room enough for two in each and one little pain of glass for each seat. On our way we met a train loaded with Reb prisoners. They were taken at Knoxville about a week ago.14 Nashville, Monday 29th We arived at this city a little before day light but did not leve the cars until after day light. Colonel Tillson went a head on the express yesterday to have a place prepaired for us, but he could not be found so Lieut. Col. Wood marched us up to No. 1 berricks, expecting to get us in there but it was full, and no chance for us there, so Wood had to leve us standing on the street for nearly two hours, until he went around to hunt a place for us but every place was full. So he pressed a church and marched us down where we can stay until some better place can be found, or we get ready to go to the front. Today has still rained steadly all day and still rains tonight. Tuesday March 1st 1864 Still in Nashville. Today has been still wet, cold, and disagreable. This morning the snow was an inch deep all over the ground. The boys are aloud to come and go when they pleas and go where they pleas at night as there is not room for them to sleep in the church. Wed 2ed This morning cold with hard frost. Dureing the day the frost thawed out leveing the streets slopping in mudd. It has been rather disagreable traveling around today.

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Jesse R. Ingle went up to Fort Negley last night to see Jack Stevens and was taken with a chill and fever. Was very sick last night and today. He is likely to have a bad spell. Thursday 3ed Today very warm and would be a pleasent day only for the mudd and it is the worst I ever saw it in Nashville. About 3 Oclock I went up to the Medical Directors and got an order for an ambulance at the goverment stables to bring Jesse R. Ingle down to the hospital. I also got a card to admit him into hospital No. 1. I went up to Fort Negley and brought him out and placed him in the amblance, from there down to No. 1 hospital. I helped to strip him and put on his hospital clothing, placed him on his cot, and left him. He is very sick and likely to have a bad time. Friday 4th Today has been very warm and only for mudd and slop in the streets, we could injoy ourselvs walking around the city. But as it was so unpleasent underfoot, I did not attempt to go around any today, but stayed in quarters and amused myself, writing for myself and others. Our regiment all left for the front today with the exceptions of B, G, & K. There is some talk of us going tonight but I do not expect to go before 3 Oclock tomorow afternoon. It is raining again tonight and has the appearance of a wet time. Still at Nashville, Tennesee Saturday 5th Today warm with sunshine. The mudd has dryed up fast today. We expected to leave for Chattanooga to day 3 Oclock but was disapointed. We have orders to be ready to go at half past 6 tomorrow morning. I have walked around the lower end of town this afternoon, in a part called Smokey Row. This part of town is located by the lowest grade of weman. No deasent woman or any one that has any respect for there carractor will live or pass throu this part of town. I have never passed through this part of town but once before, and never expect to pass through it again. It is strange and many would to believe it, that a large portion of these weman have been well brought up and of welthy parents. Still they have left there homes and forsaken there friends and bid a due to socity to associeate with the lowest, and most degraded of humen being. If all weman were as vulger spoken, and as reguardless of shame as these weman are, I would say and mean it two, God keep me from ever forming aquantence with a woman. I believe I have nothing more of in-

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trest, and the above statement is not realy necessery. It might as well have been left out. On our rought to Chattanooga Sunday March 6th We got up this morning at 6 Oclock and hurryed off to the depot without brackfast, but the trains were all crouded with troops and no chance for us yet. So we stacked arms in barracks yard close by with the promis of going at 4 clock. So I went up the Hospital No. 1 to see Jesse R. Ingle once more before we left. He has a high fever yet and is not any better then he was when I left him there. After we returned I learned that our 3 companys had been invitied to eat dinner in the berricks and that all who wished to eat had gon in so I went in also, expecting something of a dinner. But on entering the room I found long tabels set the whole length of the room. There was no seats. Every man had to stand up. I thought to myself, Soldier fassion. Plats were strung along on both sides of each table, and a soldier cook going around with a Larg camp kettel, putting a dipper fule of beens on each plate. That with a bole of coffee and some hard tack and a little sow belly was the dentys [dainties] of our table. There was no spoons, no knives, or forks. We had to brak a cracker in two, and use one half for a spoon while we eat the other half. Guards were stationed in different parts of the room to see that they kept well closed up, and when dun, fall bac and make room for some one els. Dinner comenced about 11 oclock and the tables were still crouded when we left at 4 p . m . , and yet a large number were awateing a chance to eat. There was some 3 or 4 Regiments at that barracks awateing transportation and one came in while we were there. We left Nashville at 5 Oclock. The cittizens cheered us and the ladys waved there white handkerchiefs and some flags from there doars and windows. They were biding adue to the last remains of the Old 10th on leveing there city. It was dark when we arived at Murfreesboro. Monday the 7th at Chattanooga We arived here a little after 12 today. Our 3 companys went right on to Rossville and as we had no waggans here to hawl our baggage, I was left in charge of it with 12 guards until sent for, which I expect will be some time tomorow. Alfred Preston was also left in my care. He is sick with fever. I will take him to a hospital tomorow as he is two sick to ride in a waggan. Chattanooga, Monday, March 7th Quite a large number of refuges has come in this evening. Some 25 or 30 weman and nearly as many men and little boys and girls without

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end. They stay in the same station room at the depot where I am in charge of my baggage. There was some 6 or 8 weman here with there familys when I came. There is a Sergeant here detailed for the purpos of taking care of them. He says that he has sent over a thousand to the states of Ills. & Indiana in the last month and over 200 to Nashville and up in Kentucky. While I was at Nashville I saw as much as one hundered in one day, laying around the depot, wateing transportation. They are a miserable looking set of people. Ragged, thin, and care woren and most of them were in good circumstances before the war. But the Rebs has robbed them of every thing they had and left them in a state of starvation, so needcessnty compeled them to hunt some place where they could live. Some of them has been nearly 2 months on the road before they reached a place of safty. The children were hungrey and crying for something to eat and there mothers had nothing for them to eat, and as it was late, they knew not where to go to buy bread. As it was I had a good suply of hard tack on hand, which I devided around freely amongest the children. I noticed the fathers and the mothers were glad to eat of what I had given to the children, but I give all I had to the little ones, and grown people were two numers for my little suply, for less then a full box would not a suplyed them. It is now after midnight so I will close my book for tonight and lay me down on the floor and take a nap. Tuesday 8th Today very warm and pleasent. Our waggans came here after the baggage about one oclock p . m . . We soon loaded up and was on our way to camp. We arived in camp about 4 Oclock. I was glad to see the boys look so well. We were all messed off this afternoon. I am in a shanty with James and Fancher and George W. Hawn. Wed 9th Today has passed off very pleasently. I have wrote a letter to Scotland in answer to one I received last night. We had dress paraid this evening at half past 4 Oclock. Gen. Morgan and stave were spectators. Camp near Rossville, Georgia March 10th Thursday I was detailed this morning for picket in charge of 12 men, with 2 corporals. Today has been very warm and sultlry and promises rain tonight. Friday 11th Today cool but pleasent. Comenced raining last night about 12 Oclock, accompanyed with thunder & lightening, but cleared off before day. This morning was rather cool, but pleasent dureing the day. We had no

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chance to sleep last night as there was no shilter and the ground was sweeming with watter all over. We were relieved from picket by a detail from the 16th Ills at 9 Oc a . m . . We had dress parade and battalian drill this evening by Lieut. Col. [McLean or McLaine F.] Wood. Saturday 12th Today warm and pleasent. Nothing worth note today, only I have dun some washing this evening for the first time for over a year. I am in hopes another year will me relieve from rubing and scrubing at my shirt sleves for it is a women’s work when comes to due scrub the grees and the dirt from out of the blue. Camp near Rossville, Georgia March 13th Sunday Today warm and pleasent. Any one in good health could not do otherwise then injoy themselves such weather as this. But for my part, I have been in a manner sick all day with a bad cold. We had company inspection at 9 Oclock then our Regiment formed on the coller lines at 10 a . m . and was marched over to Gen. Morgan’s head quarters where the Old General had taken his stand, prepaired to read the articles of War to our Regiment & the 16th. He detained us about 2 hours reading and talking to us. Then at half past 4 p . m . we again formed on the coller lines with arms and equipments for the purpos of mustering for pay. It was dark when we got through. It is generly believed that our regt. will not only leve the brigade, but leve this department.15 Monday 14th Today warm and pleasent. I was detailed at noon in charge of 8 men to cut poles and brush and fix up the sinks. My task occupied the greatest part of the afternoon. It is now getting late and I must get to bed as I have wrote two letters since candle lighting. Camp Rossville, March 15th [The entries for this day and the three following days are brief and contain descriptions of the weather, dress parades, and drills. On several days Ferguson concludes his entry with the comment, “Nothing worthy of note today.”] Catoosa County, March 19th, Saturday Today a little cold and cloudy. We had dress parade and inspection this afternoon and all them in our regt that had not been mustered in as vet-

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erans were mustered this evening and soarn into the service for 3 years or dureing the war, there time comencing March 1st. Small pox has broken out in our regt. 6 casses were taken to the hospital yesterday and I am told there is 17 casses in all this evening. Lewis B. Layton is one of them that were taken off yesterday. Sunday 20th Today warm and pleasent. We had company inspection at 9 Oclock a . m . . No drill or dress parade today. Monday 21st Today warm and cloudy. In the evening we received the Nashville Union of the 20th evening. On observing the various deaths of over 200 names amongest the sick soldiers in hospitals for the past week, ending Saturday evening, we discovered the unexpected and grievous news of Jesse R. Ingle’s death. He was a member of Co. G, 10th Ills. about 20 years of age; had served his country nearly 3 years; had reinlisted for the war. He was left sick at Nashville as we passed through to the front. He was much respected and much regreated.16 Camp Rossville, Georgia March 22ed, Tuesday This morning cold and snowing heavily. Had no role call. Consequently I lay longer and was injoying the comforts of a warm bed, when Jas. Anderson came into my cabin, and handed me a list of names, and informed me I was for picket and had to report with these men to head qts right away. So I very unwillingly ralled out from the warm blankets. Brackfest being wateing, I comenced to eat, when I heard the Sergt. Major sing out, “Hurry up that guard Co. G.” I looked out and sure enough the guard was formed in line in front of Regtmantle head qts. So I stepped out and sang out to the boys to fall in, then returned to my tent, got some assistance to get ready, such as my blankets folded up, some coffee in my canteen, crackers and meat in my havor sack. Was soon rigged out. Had the boys to fall in and started off without brackfast. The snow about a foot deep and still a falling thick. Stoped snowing about 3 Oclock p . m . . Until after that time I never got to sit down. Camp near Rossville, March 23, 1864, Wednesday This morning bright, warm, & pleasent. Was relieved from picket at 9 oclock by the 16th Ills. Got into camp before 10 Oclock. The snow aboaut 12 inches deep but melting fast. In the evening of the same day it was intiarly gon in many places, the sun being very warm all day.

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Thursday 24th Today very pleasent and warm. I have remained in my cabin alone all day, as Brother James, Fancher, and George Hawn on picket. I have wrote a letter to John Ingle in regard to Jesse’s death and promised to use every exersion in my power to have his remains sent home. I also wrote to Rufus Neal at Nashville to have him taken up and sent off and pay what ever might be the cost and I will see that the money is refunded back again. Tonight while I am writing the wind blows in heavy blasts threatening to carry off my tent cover. A little rain dashs acationly against our tent cover by the driveing blast of wind. We are likely to have a stormy night from present appearance. Camp near Rossville, Georgia Friday 25th When I awaked this morning and looked up it was bright day light and the factory covering of our cabin was bent down with the waight of snow on our roof. The ground has another coat of snow on this morning but again disapeared dureing the day. I think we will have plesent weather after this. Report of the pickets being drove in near Ringgold. I have only wrote 5 letters today. Saturday 26th Today pleasent —the ground drying off fast. Our company had skirmish drill in the afternoon. We had dress parade in the evening. Jesse R. Ingle died March 15th.17 Sunday 27th Today warm and pleasent. Had inspection at half past 7 a . m . and dress parade in the evening. Wrote a letter to the Flag of the Union. Lewis B. Layton died last night with small pox.18 From all appearance we will have a general move soon. Camp Rossville, April 12th Tuesday 12th 1864 Haveing been sick for the last two weeks and unable to write my journal every evening, I will here make only a few remarks on some particulers of the past. On Monday the 28th of March I went out on picket, feeling as well as common. The day was rainy and disagreable. After dark, thunder, lightening, and heavy rains set in which continued until nearly daylight. I was wet as a drinched rat and some what fituged by standing on my leggs as there was no chance of sitting down to rest. At 9 Oclock a . m . Tuesday morning the 29th, we were relieved and returned to camp. On

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my way in I was taken with a chill and was followed by fever. The docter came to see me and pronounced it winter fever. I was sent to brigade hospital in an ambulance where I lay in rather a low condeation for several days. Once the fever was broke I mended very fast. Docter [Robert L.] Ritchie of the 16th is in charge of the brigade hospital. He is very attentive to his pations and understands his buisness better then the most of docters in the army. I had very good attendance and 5 days after riseing from my cot I was able to return to the Regiment. I got back to the company yesterday morning. Although I am not stout yet, I feel I am improveing fast and I think in a few days I will be again fit for duty. Capt. Waters rezined and went home while I was sick. Lieut. Wilson is looking for his commission as captan every day. Also James Anderson is looking for his commission as First Lieut. at the same time. Today is cloudy with some rain. Our regt. has company drill every morning at 8 Oclock and always on a fair day they have brigade drill in the afternoon from 2 to 5 by General Morgan. I have not been out yet nor do to expect to drill any for a few days yet. I have just been reading the netorias outrage of them hell doomed Copperheads at Charleston, Ills. My blood boyls at the thought of it. How I wish I had been there with our company armed and equiped. If I had not stuck to them something near as [light] as the divel is doing, they might have my pelt for lieing. It is rong far rong to take any of them prisoners. I would say hang or shoot them down as quick as caut.19 Rossville, Georgia Wed 13th 1864 Today pleasent. The usuel drills have been executed today. I have not went out yet. I feel very much under the weather today. I fear my health is not a going to improve very fast, yet I cannot be idle. In order to keep my minde at rest and for exercise I have wrote several letters today and sent 20 dollars inclosed in one to Brother Thomas yesterday. Thursday 14th Today cold and cloudy. I went out on company drill this morning feeling rather weak for the undertakeing, but determined not to lay back from duty if able to go attal. I stood the drill better then I expected until the command was given to pirform the same movements on the duble quick. At this command I first thought of droping out but concluded to try it a little while and so I continued in my puseation on the left of the company until they halted. I felt as if I was about gone up. I sit down on the ground, coughed, and spit up blood. So I rezined my puseation for the time being to Sergt.

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Hartman. From the effects I have scarcly been able to be out of bed all day. I feel injered in the breast by the exersion. Friday 15th of April Today still cold with sunshine. The usuel drills have been pirformed today although I have taken no part in them. I am some little better today then I was yesterday and last night. Saturday 16th Today dry and winday. We have had brigade inspection this after noon by Cap. Race, Brigade inspecter. I am better today and went on inspection. Sunday 17th Nothing of importance today. There has been no drills of any kind today with the exceptions of Co. inspection soon after brackfast. Monday 18th Today pleasent. Had company drill soon after brackfast. No other drills today. Lieut. E. A. Wilson promoted to Captan; First Sergt. J. W. Anderson promoted to First Lieutennant. Consequently I have taken the place of the orderly Sergeant. Corporal Henderson has been promoted to Sergeant; Simeon Donaldson, & Byron Anderson promoted to Corporals. All dun on the 18th of April. [Ferguson reports fair weather and various company, brigade, and battalion drills for 19 –22 April.] Saturday 23ed The 60th Ills. Infantry returned from there furlough today. Consequently we had to move camp as we have been occupying ther quarters dureing there absance. We have now to take our shilter tents again. This afternoon has been so winday that it was almost impossable to put our tents up. We have got them up so as to answer our purpos for the night. We shall remodle it tomorow if the day is fitting. Tonight is raining and has all the appearance of a wet night. Sunday 24th Last night rained and still continued until about 8 Oclock this morning. It cleared off, so Cap. Wilson, Lieut. Anderson, Rosebrook, and Myself went to the woods, got poles, and fixed our tent. We have now got the best tent in the regiment, fixed up with dog tents.

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Rossville, Georgia April 25th 1864 Monday Today pleasent. David Kinney appointed Corporal. Large details have been maid to cleen up the ground in front of our company quarters. Robert Hutchison got a big extra duty for disabaying to do a fituge [forage] because he had no shoes. Tuesday 26th Nothing of importance today. No drills of any kind. Cleening up is the particuler attension of officers and men. Wednesday 27 The muster roles have come and all to be made out between [now] and Saturday. Thursday 28th Today warm and pleasent. Our muster roles has come with orders to have them all made out and ready for muster on Saturday. We have also drawn clothing today. Plenty of everything for all who wanted. From all appearances and prepairations going on, gos to show some big move close at hand.20 Brother James and myself had our picturs taken both in one case and sent to Scotland. Friday 29th Today warm. Had brigade drill this afternoon by Gen. Morgan. It was very warm and fitugeing. Heavy fiaring of musketry was distinctly heard from our camp early this morning and most of the foarnoon in a south east direction. I have learned no particulers of it yet, farther then we ar satisfied heavy fighting was going on. Orders has just arived while I am writing that all unnecessery bagage is to be boxed up tomorrow morning and sent to the rear.21 Also the pay master is to be hear to pay us off on the first day of May. Every thing seems to be hurried up in order to be ready for an early move. Tonight thundering and cloudy. Has every appearance of heavy rains before morning. Saturday 30th We have been buisey all foar noon boxeing up everything that we could not convenantly carry along. They have been sent to Chattanooga this afternoon and I understand they are to be stored at Bridgeport, Ala. We have also drawed 3 days rations to carry along to do us 5 days comencing on Monday morning, the second day of May.

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We can hear heavy cannonaiding in the derection of Ringgold or farther east. I expect we will attact them in force then they will have to get up and skidaddle as they always do on such occations. May 1st 1864 Camp at Rossville, Georgia Sunday May 1st Nothing going on today. As everything has been sent back to the rear we are laying on our armes, awateing marching orders. Orders came at 9 oclock p . m . to be ready to march tomorrow morning at half past 6. Monday 2ed At the appointed houre, all was ready and formed on the Coller line, and soon was on the march, our regiment in the rear of the brigade. The morning was warm, and the boys were prity well loaded, as they tryed to pack all they had with an extra supply of rations as they did not know wither they would be situated so as to draw much rations soon or not. A great many of the boys got tiared of there loads, and some throwed away there blanket, some there overcoats, some one thing and another, so that the roads were litterly strung with clothing of all kinds belonging to soldiers for several miles. About 10 Oclock the sun was darkened by the thickening clouds that gathered over us and much threatened heavy rains. The day became quite cool with only a little rain. Just enough to fan and cool our burning foreheads. We camped on a very pleasent side hill one mile from Ringgold. The [second] brigade of our devision came in this afternoon and camped on our left. The Rebs attacked our pickets early this morning at this place and was drove back to Tunnel Hill where they came out in large force and drove the brigade back that pursued them. We took some 12 prisoners. Camp near Ringgold, Georgia Tuesday 3ed 1864 Today warm and pleasent. The nights are cold anough for winter. Fiars ar much needed in camp in the morning until the sun is about one houre high. We have fixed our tents up in good order with the expectation of staying here a week or longer. Camp has been cleened up today and looks well. A private in co. E was killed this morning by a tree falling on him. Our pickets and that of the enemy are in sight and watch each other close. Wednesday 4th Today pleasent and warm after a cold morning. Wrote some letters to send by Lieut. [Henry] Schaffnit north, as the mail is detained at Chat-

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tanooga until after the battle that is likely to come off soon. Marching orders arived about 10 Oclock p . m . to be ready to march tomorrow morning at daylight with one day’s cooked rations. Thursday 5th Today very warm. We were up at 3 Oclock. Had role call and brack fast eat, and all packed ready to move at the appointed houre. At day brack we fell into line, our regt takeing the lead of our devision. We marched through Ringgold about 2 miles where we formed in line, stacked arms, and lay around until after noon when we had orders to put up our tents. The 60th was sent out and drive the Rebel pickets and 4 companys left on picket. In the field, South of Ringgold Friday May 6th 1864 Today still warm. Brother James, Wm. Horner, Joseph Blockson, and Myself and a few others started out with Abe Whitehead, determinded if possable to finde the 79th Regiment as we went out yesterday evening, over 2 miles to the left, but could hear nothing of it. We followed the lines along. Found nearly all of the 4th Core intrinched. After a walk in dust and the hot sun of about 4 miles, we found the 79th or rather what remained of it —Robert Lacy’s company haveing only 5 men and 3 commissioned officers. We only stayed a short time then started back. Came by a very larg and costly building which is now accupied by Gen. Stanley and used as his head quarters for the present. By this house there is 52 differrent springs, all tasteing different. These springs were kept in the best of order and people came from all parts of the country to these springs to be cured of all kinds of diseases. Of the different springs I coppyed 20 names as follows. In the first place, the spring is named Catoosa Springs, Magnesa Spring, Red Sulphar, Choutmonsia Sps, Emetic Sp. 5th Red Sweet, Sp 6th Blue Sulpher, 7th Chalybeate, Sp 8th White Sulpher, 9th White Sulpher excelsor, 10th Buffalo Spring, 11th Bedford Sp, 12th Healing Spring, 13th Freestone, 14th White Clove, 15th Coffee Sp, 16 Alkalie Sp, 17th Epson Spring, 18 Epsom Salts, 19 Black Sulpher Sp, 20 Congress Springs. The above is part of the names of these springs. They are all different and some of them only a few feet apart. The whole number do not cover a 1/4 of an accor of ground-bathing houses, bathing springs, and pure water springs and all together.22 We have orders to move tomorow morning at day light with 3 days rations. I expect the ball will open tomorow.23

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Saturday 7th Up this morning at 2 Oclock. Brackfast eat, and all ready, formed on the Caller lines. At day light our devision went on the advance. Skirmished nearly all the way but the Rebs fell back without much fighting. At 2 Oclock p . m . our brigade was advanced and deployed and pushed forward with orders to take a large hill about one mile and a half distent. We found no Rebels on reaching the hill but the valley below and rocky face is alive with them.24 On the field surrounded by Rebs On crossing the right of our regt. about a duzen shots were fiared which made the Rebs get up and skidaddle. Here we halted and lay down almost given out with heat and fituge, and many of our boys give out and were obliged to fall back and some of them throwed away there knapsacks, and all that was in them. After laying on the advance lines about two hours, we had orders to close on the left and then marched to the top of the hill where we put out pickets and remained for the night. The Rebs are as thick as grass hoppers all around us with the exception of the side by which we came in and nothing to provent them from getting clear around, as we are advanced a mile a head of any other troops. But the hill is high and very steep and we have no fears but our regt. can hold it. On the field, Sunday 8 Our pickets reported this morning early that they believed from the noize and appearances of the enemy that they were evaueating. Soon we had orders to move at 6 Oclock but our skirmishers soon found them after day light appeared. So we did not go out as we were at first ordered. The enemy is in full view of us in every move they make, as they are on one ridge and us the other, laying close together. We have a splended view of the country clear down below Dalton and as we are right oppisit of the gap through the mountain held by the enemy, and close to all there main works, we can see every move with the naked eye. Major Gen. Sherman and Gen. [O. O.] Howard and Gen. [George H. Thomas] was here a good part of the time viewing the Rebel works with there glasses from this hill.25 Sherman give Howard orders to go and have a heavy skirmish line thrown down to press the enemy in the gap, so as to compell them to open there battreys in order to learn there strength, and to suport the skirmish line by a battalian or so, as it was not necessery to expose a large body of men to there fiar should they open there battres. Howard did as he was ordered, drove in the Rebel scouts and pickets from the valley, and skirmished heavely in the mouth of the gap. The enemy resisted strongly from there riffell pits, but would

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not open there battreys. A large detail from our regiment to chop down the timber on the top of this hill for the signel corps to opperate. On the Battle Field At Buzzard Roost Monday 9th day of May Our company on picket last night guarding the signel corps. Early this morning before daylight, we had orders to pack up and be ready to move imediently. As we were already up, we were the first company to get ready and moved down into the valley where we were to form the regt. On reaching the valley we found our lines were all on the move marching towards the mountain held by the Rebs.26 Our brigade was moved to the left of the gap, and the 60th Ills deployed to skirmish up the hill and our regt. and the 16th to follow them up as reserve. We soon found the Rebs were strongly intrinced along the top of the mountain, two high and steep to admite a charge on there works. We lay under a heavy fiar from there Sharp Shooters until about 3 Oclock p . m . when we were moved to the gap. The 16th and 78th Regiments were deployed and sent out. Also our first devision deployed on our right and advanced to the foot of Horn Mountain. Heavy skirmishing soon took place. Our skirmishers was reinforced 3 or 4 times. About half of our regiment were sent out and the other part held on reserve. The skirmishing soon increased to a general ingagement which lasted from about half past fore until 9 Oclock p . m . when it got too dark for them to see each other. In fact they had been fighting for an houre and a half at the blaze of each other’s guns. Dureing this ingagement the musketry was the heaviest I have ever heard. It was more like a continuel role of thunder then any thing els I can compair it with. We got two sections of a battrey on a little ridge in the mouth of the gap probably 200 or 300 feet high. They were halled up by ropes. We had another battry on a small ridge to our left which assisted our men conciderably by throwing shell among the enemy. But as the Rebel’s skirmishers was stronly assisted by a line of Rebels well intrinced to there rear and up so high on the hill side as to shoot over there own men, and make it a pritty warm place for ours. Also there Sharp Shooters from the top of the mountain kep pooring it to our men. Our forces got about half way accross the field that lay between where we were and the Rebel intrinchments but found it impossable for them to go any farther, and seeing no sight to accomplish any thing tonight, they slowely fell back until they fell back to where we were.27 They then lay down in line with us, the Rebels still fallowing up there retreat. But they smelled a rat, and halted before they got close enought for us to give them a good voley. The fiaring seaced

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for the night. Pickets were placed out and the other moved back into the valley at the foot of the hill where we could have some coffee maid, as we had no chance to have a cup of coffee since last night. Our neigors are all scared so that the have flead to the rear and cannot be found, so we have to make coffee, and fry meet ourselvs. There has been some 10 or 12 men wounded in our regiment today and 3 or 4 killed and wounded. The 16th about the same as our regiment. I wonder there is not more as the bullets flew around us all day like bees swarming. Gen. Howard stood by us the most of the afternoon, most of the time behinde a tree. Gen. Stanley and Sherman were here a while but went away again. If this Buzzard Roost is taken by storm, it will cause many a one to grieve the loss of there husband, father, brother or some near relation. But if it cannot be taken without storm, I would say let us rush on it tomorow and take it at all hazards no matter what may be the loss. Let us meet our fate, with honer to ourselvs and those who bear our names or is intrested in our wellfair. For nothing can be gained by cowardice, neather honnor nor safty, not a drop of blood saved.28 Still on the Battle Field, May 10th 1864 Tuesday 10th At early day light we were called up and moved slowely up the hill side with as little noize as possable. Near the top of a little ridge on the hill side, we were halted and lay down in line while the Pioneers went to work to chopp down trees and build stockaids to protect a battry they intended to place there. But the Rebels Sharp Shooters soon made it too hot for them to work. So the Battalin all quit except one company and they succeeded in building 2 stockaids by loosing 9 men. 2 sections of a battry was placed there and shelled the top of the mountain at times all day. We lay until dark in its rear to support, under a steady and well derected fiar from the Rebel Sharp Shooters. We had one man wounded in our company by the name of John Kenny. He was shot in the arm while eateing brakefast, and remarking at the same time, what the people would think at home if they knew we were eating breakfast so contentedly and the bullets buzzing around our ears like hornets when disturbed. He had not finised his remarks when Zip a bullet took him in the arm. After that the boys were more carefull in keeping concealed. There has been a good deal of artilery fighting today and some sharp ingagements of musketry but only for short intervills. We were relieved at dark by our 3ed brigade and moved to the reserve.

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On the field of action near Buzzard Roost Wednesday 11th 1864 Last night was very stormy with thounder, lightening, and rain. But fortunatly for us we were relieved last night from the advance line to the rear where we could injoy the benifits of our tents. Today cold and cloudy. The rail road is fixed from Ringgold to this place and the cars came here today bringing 7 large, 64 Lb. seage guns, and I understand there is mor a comeing. Our lines of defence will soon be compleat on this side. I think from appearance, Sherman intends to take time, and make sure of every foot of ground he takes by fortifying and planting seage guns and battrys around them so as to get them hemed, and compell the whole Rebel garrison to surrender after a while. Our devision has orders tonight to be ready to march in the morning with 10 days rations. A Ohio Regt. went up the mountain this evening and lost 200 men before they got back. They might have known where our Regiment could not go, none els need try. In Rattle Snake, Georgia May 12th Thursday 12th Early this morning, brakefast past, we found ourselvs moveing with knapsacks on towards the right of the army. At first I thought our devision was the only one that had to move, but I found out before night the whole army was moveing off to the right on account of the roads been crouded with troops and waggans. We moved very slow. We had not reached the gap at dark on account of some delay in our front. We were halted and stacked arms a little before dark with orders to get supper as we would stay there one houre. It was half past 7 Oclock p . m . when we started again and marched up the gap —the worst road to march in the night I ever saw. About 1/2 past 11 Oclock we were halted and went into quarters for the night, makeing our beds accross the corn rows. Tiared as we were any kind of a place was good enough. Friday 13th At day light we were up and continued our march for some 2 miles where we halted and stacked arms and received orders to stack our knapsacks, as we would move forward without them. About an houre after day light we heard heavy fiaring in the neighborhood of Buzzard Roost where we had just left. But we were not long in ignorance in regard to it. I understand the Rebs seeing us move out from the gap yesterday morning thought we had all left only a few and to satisfy them-

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selvs sent out a heavy force at early day light to feel what the Yankees were doing. Howard was in command at that place and aloud them to get into the valley before he would attact them. He then opened on them with his large guns and artilery, and soon started them on the retreat. Then crouded his infantry on them so close that the Rebel’s Sharp Shooters dar not fiar for killing there own men. This was just what Howard wanted. He followed them to the top of the mountain with but little loss compelling the Rebs to quit clame. Jo Johnston finding himself out generaled and his strong defence taken from him, and the Yankees threatening his rear with heavy forces, he determined to evacuate, but Gen. Sherman soon observed his intensions and sent out the 15 corps under command of Gen. McPherson to head them at Coosa River. On there reaching the Coosa, the Rebs had got there and comenced runing cross there artilery, but the 15th corps opened a heavy fiar on them and compelled them to fall back, leveing the crossing in the hands of Gen McPherson. It is believed tonight that we have them surounded and no chance left them for escape, only to cut there way out, and we will be apt to catch them at that. [Hugh Judson] Kilpatrick attacted the Rebs on the rail road this morning with his cavalry but was repulced and himself sovearly wounded. Our devision is laying tonight on the main road runing south 3 miles below Dalton. Saturday 14th Heavy fiaring has been dun today mostly in the center by the 1st & 3ed devision of the 14th Corps and our devision on reserve. About 50 ambulances have been busey all day convaying the wounded to the rear. Our first devision suffered heavely —been in the hotest of the fight all day. The troops have been moveing from our right to our left in heavy columns all the afternoon. At dark our devision was moved about one and a half miles to the right where we were closed in close column of devision by battalians. Gen. Morgan told us to take all the rest we could while we stayed there for he did not know how soon we would have to move again. We had not lay down over 1/2 an houre when we were ordered to fall in. We were then moved down to the front line and relieved a detatchment of Hooker’s Army so that they could move with there corps to our left. Here we are close on the Rebels. They occupy one hill well fortifyed about a 1/4 of a mile from the hill we hold. We were furnished with

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picks and shovels, and before day light we built brest works so as to conceal us from there sharp shooters. On the Battle Field, Sunday May 15th Tacoosa County At early day brake the Rebels opened on us from there intrinchments. We returned the fiar which was kept up all day, but as we were behinde our brestworks they dun us but little harm. I believe we only had 3 wounded in our regiment. Our agutent was one them. Heavy fighting has been going on all day to our left. The Rebels have been drove less or more every day. Our men has not been repulced on any charge they made. After day light had gon and the moon shineing brightly, fighting about seaced for the night, some of our boys hollowed over to the Rebs and wanted to know what they thought of things and matters by this time. Rebs answered, “We will give you hell tomorrow. We have a large force going around in your rear, so by tomorrow night, we intend to take you in.” Chapin, general spokesman, replyed, “Rebs, dont you know anything? If you did you would know that you were all prisoners now. We could take you in any time. We are not fighting you, only guarding you in, until a way can be fixed to send you north.” We also told them Grant was in Richmond but there answers was you are damed liears. On pirsute of the flying enemy Monday 16th Last night at 11 oclock p . m . we were aroused from our sleep by a volley of musketry on our left. The heavyest fighting followed that has been fought. While it lasted, the musketry sounded like a role of thunder and the artilery belched out its deadly blasts at a fearful reat, throwing shell and grape among the enemy. The enemy had charged our works, eather with the intension of brakeing our lines and cutting there way out, otherwise for a faint to draw our attension, while they went out some unknown road to us. After about 20 minuts hard fighting the Rebels were repulced. Our boys charged on them with the usuel yell on such occations, and drove them clear from the valley and over the hill lately occupyed. As it was night and the moon had gon down, we made no further pirsute. All was quiet from that time. Morning came and no Rebs could be seen. Not a gun had been fiared up to 7 oclock. Company H of our Regiment was on picket and were ordered to advance in skirmish line and learn the fact whither they had gon or not. They advanced to the strong fortifyed poseation of the enemy and found they had all gon. On reaching the top of the hill, they give 3 cheers to inform us of the fact. After they cheered, they give 9 and a tigger, and then returned bring-

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ing 2 prisoners that had been left a sleep when the Rebs started off, and truck such as Rebel blankets, buckets, bunches of cartrdges, &C. We were then ordered to fall in and marched back to the gap where we left our knapsacks, a distance of about 7 miles.29 We only remained there about 20 minuts, when we again fell in and marched out on the road leading to Rome, our regt. in advance of the whole devision. We marched until dark with knapsacks on and two days rations in our haversacks. The day being warm we were much fituged and exausted after a march of about 20 miles. It is yet said to be 18 or 20 miles to Rome. Tuesday 17th Orders last night to be ready to march at day light. As our regiment was in advance yesterday, we were in the rear today. Moved along slowely. Had to stop often on account of the waggans sticking in creeks and bad places. After a march of about 12 miles which we made by two oclock, we reached Coosa River where our waggan train carrelled for the night and our regiment left to guard it, as the devision continued there march accross the river towards Rome which is 8 1/2 miles from this place. It is reported that there is 30,000 mallatta [militia] stationed there to guard the place. Our advance guard run into there pickets shortly after crossing the river but they skidaddled after they received a few shots from the advance guard. Wednesday 18th 1864 On the battle field at Rome, Georgia After writing my journals of yesterday thinking nothing more would occour worthy of note, as companys E. K. & G were placed on picket, and every thing seemed favorable for the night. But some time after we went on picket, the 125th Ills Regiment came up guarding another waggan train. They also stoped at the same place. About half past 11 oclock p . m . a company of that regiment came out to relieve us, and we had orders to report to our brigade near Rome imediently. After the pickets were all relieved and there knapsacks repacked, we returned to where we had left the regiment, but found they had gone, leveing orders for us to fallow as soon as our company could be got together. It was half past twelve when we started out. The roads been good and the night pleasent with moon light. We joyned our regiment just as they were going into camp, 2 1/2 miles from Rome, at half past two oclock a . m . . The distance being 6 1/2 miles from where we started. Our feet being sore and blistered from our late marches, we found it give some of us much pain and suffereing to make this extera march while we aught to be sleeping and takeing our rest, but we dragged

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along surprising to our selvs, believeing it necessery and just that we should be in the front with our brigade and share in the conflict about to come off. A few of our company give out and lay on the road side till morning at the risk of being picked up by guerrillus.30 While on picket last night we could hear heavy cannonaiding in the afternoon and continued until after daylight has passed away. At reaching this place I learned the results which are as follows. The 34th Ills was the advance regiment and one company went a head as advance guard. The Rebels, well informed of our comeing, drawed in there pickets and kept concealed until the advance guard was within there lines and the columns marching close behinde. All at once they opened a tremendous fiar on our troops from masked battreys, riffel pits, and brestworks. The 34th retreated from that horrican of death quick as possable but not all of them. 50 were killed or wounded, and part of the company that formed the advance guard were taken prisoners. This unexpected salutation of the enemy threw our advanceing columns into a confused condeation for a few minuts, but they were soon rallied, and formed in line of battle and again moved forward. Battreys were placed to there rear on the most convenient hills and a heavy fight for a few hours insued. The Rebs continuely drove from there forts, riffel pits, and brestworks. The 22ed Indiana suffered the greatest loss of any other regimen ingaged.31 Shortly after daylight this morning we were aroused while resting very comfortalbe after the fituge of yesterday and last night. Our brigade was moved off to the right, and our regiment suported a battrey. Soon our skirmishers came on the enemy and fighting comenced. The Rebs were 18,000 strong under Gen. Polk. Our division only being about 7,000 strong, the Rebs might have rushed unto us, out flanked us, and whiped us had they been awair of our numbers.32 But in order to fool them and make believe we were in large force, Gen. Davis formed his devision in single line of battle, also leveing intervills between the brigades, so as to extend his lines as far to the east and west as he could, haveing no reserve atall. From the courage our men showed in rushing forward and the seemingly extent of our lines, the Rebels flew from before us, rushed accross the Coosa River, set fiar to the bridge. It was soon all in flames so that we could not cross. Our battreys were placed in forts lately occuplyed by the Rebs and shelled the woods on the oppisit side of the river for some two hours. The Rebs burned a large waggan train close to the river to keep them from falling into our hands as they had no time to take them along. They also burned two bridges that crossed a branch of the river leeding around from its mouth on the west of town and running south. It is called the

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Etowah River. Rome is situated in the forks of the two rivers, only a small part of it on the north of the Coosa River. About 10 oclock our 3ed Brigade under Colonel [Daniel] McCook marched up the river and crossed his brigade on rafts 4 miles above town. About 3 oclock one of his regiments entered town although quite a number of our boys had crossed over in canoes and were all over town long before that time. Many houses and stores were diserted. The boys helped themselvs to what ever they wanted. Some brought a whole box of tobacco into camp. Nearly every one that went over brought less or more tobacco and plunder of various kinds. A soldier in the 16th regiment found a small salt seck filled with silver in a house, from which the people had flead. But this plundering is all stoped, since McCook’s Brigade has got into town. 2 regiments are on provo duty and aresting every soldier they finde doing anything rong.33 We are laying tonight on the same line where we have been the greatest part of the day, on the north side of Coosa River, oppisit town. The city of Rome has the appearance of a fine city —has probably 5,000 inhabitance. I have just lerned that Sherman has cut Johnston’s Army all to peaces and captured all his artilery. If this be true they are played in this part of the country.34 Thursday 19th Tonight finds us lungeing around on the same ground we occapeyed last night. The reason of our delay is caused by the bridge being burned accross the Alabama River.35 Pontoons have been brought forward today and a bridge will soon be compleated. Quite a large quantity of tobacco has been captured by our devisions and today it has been issued out to the various regiments and companys. We have also drawed shoes for them who wanted. They were said to be captured at this place. Rome, Georgia May 20th 1864 Friday 20th Still laying around on the same ground. We are anxious eather to move and go into camp or go some where els. It seems to be the openion of some that we will go into camp, in or near Rome until such times as we are ready for another forward movement. A report came this evening that Sherman has captured the whole of the Reb’s waggan train and all there artilery. We could hear cannonaiding south of Kingston tonight. I am told our army is 9 miles below Kingston on the rail road. Kingston is on the Chattanooga and Atlanta rail road, due east from Rome.36

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Saturday 21st Still on the same ground today yet and liveing on corn meal captured off the Rebs. Sunday 22ed At half past 7 oclock a . m . we were packed up and on the move according to orders. Had to wate at the river some time for canvice pontoons to be put together to cross us over. Company I crossed first and deployed out in skirmish line. The Rebs fell back with resistance. After we crossed, we formed in close colmn of devision in the gardin of a welthy Secesh who had fled and left his house. We will stay here tonight. Near Rome, Monday 23ed We still remain as we were last night, in and around the dwelling and under the shade trees, takeing our ease. The house and gardin give evidance of welth and grandure and a happy home. But the inmates fleeing at our appproach, and leaveing all to our mercy exepting them selvs, gos to prove there disloyalty. So we took possession and used every thing around the place as our own. There is another house about 20 yds from this, but it belongs to a lone lade. Although a secesh at heart, we protected hir and hir property by placeing guards around hir house to keep soldiers from entering it or molesting any thing about hir. Yet she looks sour as Sattan and scorns the looks of a Yankee, of which hir looks, hir manners, hir actions give evidance. We have drawn 3 day’s rations with orders to march tomorrow morning at 5 Oclock. I am told our devision will be all on this side of the river tonight ready to march with us. We will now go to Atlanta. Heavy fighting may be expected before we reach that place but reach it we will, if the hills and valleys should trimble benearth the shocks and seage of battle. There We are ordered and there we will go. Some of us will undoubtedly fall in the strougle, but those whose fate it may be, will die an honorable and glorious death. And the survivers will rush a head, revenge there deaths and gain the victory, as we know no other way to end a bloody fight. Tuesday 24th Left Rome soon after daylight. Not haveing any derect road in the direction we had to march, we had frequently to cross fields and travel by roads, some times strikeing a county road which we would travel for a few miles. Our corse was a south east derection. The day being cloudy with some rain made it very favorable for our march. After a march of some 16 miles we came into a county road where we found the 20th and the 15th corps going into camp for the night.

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We also went into camp close to a very large spring. The best watter we have seen for some time. We have traveled the last 7 miles through a heavy pyne country where no watter was to be found. Shortly after getting into quarters and our tents up, we were visited by a very heavy rain accompanyed by thunder which lasted until midnight. This rain storm threatened us all day but favored us by keeping off until night. Wed 25 It was 8 oclock this morning when we renewed our march. Our march like that yesterday was generly through fields and following woods roads in all derections. Some times going north, then south, then west, but I believe our intended derection was south east. We got along very slow as we had to skirmish part of the [way]. There was heavy cannonaiding going on to our left and continued until after night. We marched about [20] miles today. At Dallas in line of battle Thursday 26th Shortly after day light we moved out takeing a north east corse through woods and corn fields. After a march of about two miles we struck a road where the 4th corps had camped. After passing a part of them bye we were lead into the woods and stacked arms where we remained until 11 Oclock. Dureing that time the roads was thronged with a part of the 4 corps and there waggan train passing along. We were then marched back the same road we went, until we arived at where we camped last night. Then took a road leading south east. After a few miles march, Company A of our regiment was deployed, and skirmished from there to Dallas. No Rebs were found until we reached the town. Our skirmishers got clear into town before a gun was fiared. The Rebs made strong resistance around the skirts of town but we unslung knapsacks and drove them right along. We drove them over a high Ridge about a mile from town where we formed in line of battle, and so remains tonight. The 15th Corps attacted them on our right at the same time we entered Dallas. Judgeing from there cannonaiding they had heavier fighting then we did.37 There has been heavy fighting on our left all the evening and is continued up to the time of my writing. It is now 9 oclock now; savage fighting is still going on. On the Battle Field Near Dallas Friday 27th Shortly after daylight companys B and G were deployed as skirmishers and advanced, relieveing 3 companys of the 10th Michigan, the bal-

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lance of our regiment following up in our rear in line of battle to support us. We deployed in the rear of the 10th Michigan. When ordered forward, we started off as usuel on the rush, passing the old skirmish line. Our major told them as we rushed past that they were relieved. The captan of the Michigan company stood like a man bewildered and remarked, “That is relieveing a skirmish line damed quick.” We had not gon a hundered yards when we discovered men laying. Some raised there guns to fiar, and others hollowed not to shoot —they are our men — for they evedantly had on our uneforms. One gumped up only a few yards a head of Michael O’Brien and fiared just as [he] raised his gun to fiar. The bullet struck against O’Brien’s gun stock shivering it all to peaces and runing down between the rammer and the barrel and logded against the tube. Some slivers from the bullet peeled the skin off the back of his hand in several places and the jar stuned his arms so that the Reb got away before he could recover enough to shoot. The Rebs kep a gumping up like grass hoppers, the most of them runing without fiaring. They were sertainly surprised, not expecting us so suddenly. Our boys poored it into them pritty heavy, and still rushed a head faster. We got so close on one Reb that he was affraid to run. So he lay flat behinde a logg until we got right unto him when he gumped up, throwed up his hands, and sang out, “I surrender, I surrender!” We drove the Rebs clear from the hill and accross the valley to the nixt hill, when our major came up and told us we were 1/2 a miles a head of the skirmishers on our right. So we had to stop there and our right thrown back for fear of being flanked. The Rebs took up a poseation on the side of a very large hill, so we fought them heavely all day accross a nerrow valley about 150 yds wide. They kept falling back all day, and at night there was no Rebs closer then the extreem top of the ridge, though that was in good musket range and they pasted it to us pritty keen. They held a ridge on our right from which we were exposed to a cross fiar. William D. C. Coppage was killed, shot through the bowels, the bullet passing clear through him and lodgeing in his cartrage box. John Hungerford got wounded in the thigh, not dangerous. Company B had one killed and 2 sovearly wounded. After dark we were relieved by a company of the 10th Michigan. Just got back to where the regiment lay, about 400 yds in the rear of the skirmish line, when we heard a yell as if some party were makeing a charge, and then heavy fiaring of musketry followed. We were ordered to fall in. The charge was made by the Rebs on our 3ed brigade stationed on our left, but they were repulced. Several charges were made dureing the foor part of the night, and the Rebs repulced every time. Our regiment did not go out, as our men was still successfull. Besids companys

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G and B had no amoneation, as they were all shot away, although some of men started out with 75 rounds, and none less then 60. It is surprising to think there was no more killed then there was. The Rebs lossed a great many more then we did as we saw them carrying off quite a number. Heavy fighting on the left all day.38 On the Battle Field Near Marietta Saturday 28th It was the intension of Gen. Davis to advance our brigade and take the large hill in front of us and give orders to that effect last night. Our regiment was to advance and be supported by the brigade. Companys K, E, & H of our regiment had orders to deploy as skirmishers. But morning came, found the Rebs strongly intrinched near the top. Besides we were yet advanced farther then the 16th Corps on our right. The Rebs holds a hill to our right from which we are exposed to a cross fiar. Until that is taken it would be madness for us to advance farther. The 16th Corps made a few charges on it this evening. After two hours heavy fighting they gained part of the hill. We had orders this evening to be ready to march at any minut. I understand we were to move 5 miles to the left but oweing to an unexpected attact on our lines at this place in the night we did not go, but had to sit up and keep in readyness to fall in at any minut. Our men is intrinching along the advance lines tonight in order to be ready to give them a warm reception should they come. We only lost one man in our regiment today that I know of. We have received some papers tonight for the first since the comencement of this campaign. On the battle field near Dallas Sunday May 29th Among the numerous occorances I have here noted it becomes due my pen to place in my journal one of the most grievous and painful trials on record. Today while our regiment was supporting a line of skirmishers and exposed to the fiar of the enemy, our lines was not advanceing at this point. Consequently our regiment and the 16th stacked arms in line of battle and the boys laying or sitting around where ever it was most convenent, and where they could best keep concealed and protected from the bullets flying at randum all around. Brother James had just finised writing some letters and sent them of by the mail carrier and had taken a seat on his knapsack close beside Captain Wilson, Sergeant Henderson, and Myself when a bullet hit him in the back of the left sholder and came out at the lower end of his caller bone cutting a gash up along his throat to his chin. He fell flat on

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his face and the blood flowed rappadly. I cannot express my feeling or thoughts for a few moments, as at first sight I thought he was shot in the head as the blood seemed to run from his mouth. But on farther exemination I felt more reconciled, as I do not believe it will indager his life if good care is taken. Never the less it is a desperat and painful wound. I had him carried over to our regimentle docter where a bandage was placed around the sholder and neck to stop the blood. He was then placed in an ambulance and sent to the rear.39 Before closeing my jurnal for the night I will mension the particulers of the wilde charge made by the enemy yesterday afternoon. There loss at first reported in killed and wounded was put at 1,500 but more correct statements this evening says there loss was almost 3,000. We have the same orders tonight as last night to be ready to move at any time. Our suply train came up this eveing and althoug rations were due us tonight, the suply train was sent back to the rear for what reason I do not know, but time may explain it clearly. Monday evening the 30th at sundown This evening finds us still occupying the same ground as yesterday as we are at this time acting on the defencive. We have built a line of brest works to defend us against the desperit wild charges they are in the habit of makeing in the night. There has been no fighting today only by the skirmishers. Last night at 10 oclock the Rebs charged the left of the 16th corps, joyneing our right. But after an hour desperit fighting the Rebs fell back. In about half an houre they renewed the charge again, and again was repulced. They continued chargeing all night. Made 7 desperit charges for the purpos of brakeing our lines, and was every time repulced. There loss in them 7 charges is estemated at 2,000. Our loss only about 45 as we were inntrinched. The Rebs were made desperit with whisky and told by there officers it was only hundered day men & neigors they had to contend with, and that a desperit charge would brake our lines, then they would flank us. And that we would become demoralized and would not attempt to make a stand short of Chattanooga. The Rebs had 10 days rations issued last night for that purpos. Incourgaed by there officers and maddened with whisky they charged and fought more like fiends then humen beings. 3 other desperit charges were made on our right and one on our left about the same time the Rebs made there first charge on the left of the 16th corps. It is believed the Rebs will charge our regiment and the 16th Ills tonight. If they do they will finde us ready.40 Elijah Rock got wounded this evening. He was standing takeing his

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smoke when a bullet hit him on the chin, only makeing a flesh wound and brakkeing his pipe all to peaces. He turned around and said to Michael O’Brien, “There is your pipe all gone to hell.” I was standing makeing a detail for another relief when the same ball blazed my cheek. On the Battle Field near Dallas May 31st 1864 There has been but little fighting today beyond the usuel fiaring of the pickets and they keep plugging away all the time. The left of the 16 corps was obliged to move back this afternoon as the smell of the dead became so offencive that they could not stand it. The ground in front of there lines is totaly covered with the enemy’s dead where they charged with so much desperation on the night of the 29th. Yesterday morning the Rebs sent in a flagg of truce to burry there dead. Leave was granted them and fiaring was ordered to seace dureing that time. Our men went out in front to bring in a few dead and wounded of men at the same time, some that were killed and wounded on picket when the Rebs charged, and some fell while chargeing on the Rebs after they were repulced. The Rebs seeing them gathering up there dead and wounded, fiared on them. So our men opened fiar on them and drove them back to there intrinchments. Only a few of the wounded had been cared for, the others were left to die and decay on the field between the two contending armys. We have the same orders tonight that has been given us the last 3 nights, to be ready to move off without noize by the left at early daylight. June 1st 1864 On the Battle Field near Dallas We had orders to move by the left at day light, but as it seems to be a general move of the whole army to the left, we did not move out until after 8 Oclock a . m . as we had to wate until the 16th corps had moved out and taken poseation north of Dallas.41 The 16th moved out first, then our regiment was strung out so as to fill up there lines of brestworks. Soon the pickets came up, then occupyed the works while we moved off. On reaching the road at the foot of the hill, we found it yet crouded with the 16th corps, ambulances, &C. There we halted for about an houre. The 16th corps had withdrawn there skirmishers on our right and we could see the Rebs comeing up and going into there intrinchments. As it was going to expose us to a heavy fiar from the top of the ridge, a regiment was sent back on the dubble quick and routed the Rebs back before they got two nummerous. After the road was cleared, our devision moved off, our regiment covering the retreat, and the skirmishers following up in our rear, we marched some 8 or 10 miles to the

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left and relieved a part of the 14th corps. Heavy fighting has been dun hear. The Rebs charges every night. On the battle field Thursday 2ed We have taken poseation in the second line and has been buisey building brestworks all day. We have the best works now ever we had any where. A heavy fiar is kept up by our skirmishers night and day. James Tomlinson got shot through the arm last night by a Rebel bullet at least one mile and a quarter from there picket line. While I am writing the bullets are singing over my head and frequently make me dodge my head when they come very close, although we are behinde our breastworks.42 Friday 3ed 1864 Still remain as we were yesterday. The Rebs made several attempts to charge our works last night but fell back without driveing the pickets. We have been trying to draw them out all day so as to get a good rakeing fiar on them. Our front lines were marched to the rear, Colonels and Captains giveing commmand and marching off quick so the enemy could both hear and see them. After marching over the hill out of sight, they returned to there intrinchments on there hands and knees. Unnecessery battrys that had been brought up dureing the night and placed where the enemy could see them were also moved quickly to the rear. All other battries and large parret guns were masked so as to conceal them from the enemy. After our front lines had returned on there hands and knees through the under brush, the skirmish line was drawn in. Then we were in readiness to receive another of their wilde charges and prepaired to sweep their massed columns with a deadly fire should they advance in their usuel way. But our plans all failed. No inducement would bring them out. They smelled a rat certainly as they only advanced a light skirmish line to ascertain the fact whether we had really gone or not. We had heavy thunder shours this afternoon and is still raining tonight. General Hooker charged the Rebels works to our left this afternoon and carried two lines of entrinchments, capturing two battries and 4 large guns, but the enemy came on his thinned and exhausted columns in such force that he was obliged to fall back to his old position, leaveing the battries to fall back into the hands of the enemy again. Our loss in this charge was 2,100 killed and wounded. I had a letter from Brother James today. He is in brigade hospital and doing well.

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Saturday 4th day of June Our brigade was relieved shortly after day light by a part of the 4th corps and moved about 3 miles to the left where we went into camp in rear of General Palmer’s Head Quarters. Here we expect to remain for two or 3 days to cleen up and have a little rest, as we have been fronting the enemy and kept close to our posts ever since we started out on the 3ed of May. Still raining today. Sunday 5th Another day is past and gone and every heart bounds with joy as it is the general oppinion that the Rebs have again flead and left a poseation as strong in its natural defence as any they ever held. The 4th Corps succeeded in drawing the enemy out yesterday afternoon at the same place we left yesterday morning. The Rebs had come out in force and the skirmish line fell clear back to the second line of intrinchments. This insured the enemy that the first lines were evacuated, so they marched up there columns to the foot of the hill and then charged. When they got within 30 or 40 yds, our infantry poored a deadly fiar into there ranks and every masked battry opened at the same time, makeing the hills seem a perfect flame of fiar for a few minutes. The enemy immediently retreated. Our infantry and batterys ceased fireing, and 4 lines of our men with fixed bayenets charged on the flying enemy and followed them so close that they passed over their intrinchments without ever attempting to make a stand. The Rebs dare not open there battries on our men for killing there own. 2 battrys and some larger guns fell into our hands without the loss of a man; the Rebel loss is said to be heavy. This breaking the Rebel center endangered there army of being cut in two, and flanked right and left, and would undoubtledly be cut to pieces should they attempt to hold their present position. The 14 corps have been in pursute all day. We all hope after we again finde their posetion that we will not push right unto them, but be allowed time to rest and recruit up and get some cleen clothing. We will move tomorrow morning at sun rise. In camp near Acworth Monday evening June 6th We left our camp in rear of Gen. Palmer’s Head Quarters about 9 Oclock a . m . and marched to the left. We went into camp in line with the 4th Corps within 2 1/2 or 3 miles of Acworth. Here we expect to remain for a few days until our army gets into propper position again and that of the enemy found out. We have entrenced our front lines in case of an attact.

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Tuesday 7th Still in camp today as we were last night. Our devision hopsital was moved to Acworth yesterday. I went this afternoon and seen Brother James. He is doing well but not past danger yet. Corporal Fancher was with me. After staying an houre or so at the hospital we took our leave, traveled around town for a short time, then returned to camp. The mail had arived —the first we have received for 10 days. I had one letter from Susan Ferguson which was all my supply and none for James this time. Camp near Acworth June 8th We stil remain in camp today.43 Report says we captured 2,100 prisoners while attempting to cross the Chattahoochee River. The 21st Ills has returned from their furlought. Abe Whitehead is here tonight and expects to go home soon. Daniel Layton is here from the 30th Ills. They belong to the 17th Corps of which 2 devisions arived last night from the department of the Mississippi. The other 3 devisions is said to be on the way to joyn them, also 2 devisions of the 16th Corps is comeing up to joyn their corps.44 Thursday 9th Our brigade had marching orders at 4 a . m . to be ready to march at 6. Breakfast was hurried up and our knapsacks packed and we were all in readiness at the appointed time. 8 Oclock found us yet laying around in the sun at which time the order was countermanded, and went to work and put up our tents again. Dick Alexander & Lafayette Milam payed us a visit today, also Dan [Kimy] from the 21st. In line of battle near Marietta Friday 10th Left Camp at 6 Oclock a . m . with 3 days rations. Our direction was south. We only made 2 miles by noon as the roads were crouded with troops. We had to lay still until they past. The afternoon rained heavily with thunder. The roads were deep with water and mudd. We marched about 6 miles from our old camp when we found the enemy skirmishers were deployed and advanced. Our battreys assisted them in driving the Rebel pickets. We formed in line of battle, joyned on the right and left with other devisions and corps, where we will remain for the night. Saturday 11th About midnight orders came to be ready to move at daylight, but did not move until 10 a . m . when we fell in and moved to the left some 3 miles, where we again formed in line and stayd until 5 p . m . .

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Our regiment was formed in close column of devision and moved forward, some times march by the head of colmn and some times by the left flank. We followed close to a part of the 18th Regulars that were deployed to skirmish in our front. It was about an hour after dark when we halted for the night. Every thing was wet and dripping as heavy shours have followed each other in succession all day. On the Battle Field in line of battle, 5 miles south of Acworth Sunday 12th No orders of any kind today. Last night and today has rained heavily. The roads and fields are in a horrable condeation with mudd and water. The cars are runing through to Acworth today which will greatly aid us in the way of suplys. Cannonaiding and heavy skirmishing has been going on to our right and left all day but all quiet in our front. Monday Eveing 13th Day June This evening finds us still on the same ground and situated as we were last night. The rain never ceased to pour down until about 4 Oclock this afternoon. Since that time we have been drying our blankets, cleening our guns, &c. There has been heavy cannonaiding to our left all day. We had orders to hold ourselvs in readyness to fall in at a minutes notice. Although we are on the front lines all seems to be quiet in our front. Nothing has occored worth notice today but as it is not yet dark there is no telling what may take place yet tonight. Could our friends at home have seen us, situated as we were yesterday and today, dureing these heavy rains, in our little dog tents. Huddled up together and only got up to eat when our darky would bring us some coffee. With that and some hard tack, a meal was soon compleated, and again we huddled up under our tents, covering with a blanket, our tents leeking and dripping on us all the time, the ground around us knee deep in mudd. Yet all seems to be happy, gay, and contented although we are on the advance lines. Nothing but a skirmish line between us and the enemy. I think we were situated so, where our friends could see us they would look in and exclame, “My Goodness, come out of there. You will get your deaths of cold. How in the world can you live in that way?” “And them molded crackers, and spoiled beef. Gracious, throw them away and I will bring you some bisquet and butter, fried ham and eggs, and such things as a humen being ought to eate!”

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Tuesday 14th Today fair and pleasent. Had orders to fall in without knapsacks and to leave our tents standing. About 8 oclock we moved forward and some to the right. Heavy skirmishing was dun and the Rebels drove back over one mile. No general ingadgement took place although we much expected it. After advancing and building brestworks, our company and company K were sent out to support a company of the 14th Michigan while they advanced the skirmish line so that our pickets could be put out the proper distance. 3 of this Michigan company got badely wounded. One through the bridge of the nose, another shot in the mouth, the ball comeing out at the back of his head. The 3ed was hit on the lower jaw with a piece of shell, mashing it so that it hung down on both sides. At any other time or place the sight would have been a sarious one. Towards evening, our breast works compleated and all danger past, a detail was made from each company to go back and bring up our tents and knapsacks. On the skirmish line, June 15th Wednesday Companys K, G, B, A, & F were sent our on the skirmish line this morning. Our front has been tollerable quiet all day. The boys has to keep very close as they are on top of a hill in a open field, and every time one of them moves the Rebs bangs away at them. Heavy skirmishing has been going on all day to our right and left and some heavy charges have been made on both flanks. Our left has swinged around and is said to have captured 400 Rebels, takeing the first two lines of the enemy intrinchments, and in possession of Marietta.45 Our right wing has advanced some 3 miles today. Heavy cannonaiding all along our lines dureing the day. The Rebel camp is kept hot as we can see our shell dropping into their camp, their works, and all over the large hill to which they so tightly cling. One more day and they will have to get up and dust again, or be cut off from their retreat and be obliged to fight or surrender. A battrey in our rear have been throwing shells over us all day into the Rebel works. Some 8 or 10 of them bursted immediatly after leaveing the guns, greatly endangering our safty on picket as the pieces flew around and buiried themselvs in the ground close to some of our boys. Reb. General Polk was killed yesterday by one of our shells in the town of Marietta. Our officers have learned the signell of the enemy and by watching them learns all particulers.46

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In line of battle near Marietta Thursday evening, 16th June Relieved this morning by a company of the 10 Michigan. And returned and stacked arms on the same line where we left yesterday morning. Our orders is to be ready to fall in at any moment, leaveing our tents standing. We have drawn rations this evening for 3 days. The old draw is not out until tomorrow evening which leavs us with 4 days rations on hands. Some 4 or 5 of our field officers went out in front of our picket line with a flag of truce and met some Rebel officers in the middle of a large field where they remianed for some time and had a long chatt. Both parties were very friendly and agreed that it was nonsence for the pickets to fire at each other so much without one or other of the parties were advanceing. There is heavy fireing going on along our lines in different places all day and canonaiding kept up continually. The camp is full of flying rumors and all sorts of reports —too numerous to mension and unworthy of notice. Friday evening, 7 Oclock P . M . Another day of our warfair has past away and many a brave soldier has gon with it and bid adue to warfair and worldly cares forever. Our lines have been chargeing the enemys works and driveing them back all day. We have captured over 1,000 prisoners, with what loss I am not able to say. It seems to be the opinion that the Rebs are leaveing their present position and attempting another splended retreat which is one of Jo Johnston’s favorite moves. By experance he has become perfect, but in a forward move he is not drilled atall. Consequently he is a novice in the art, and fears to attempt such moves.47 Today has rained heavily. Saturday Evening 18th Heavy rains still continues to pour down in perfect torrents at time. Our army still advancing today. Heavy cannonaiding and musketry on all sides and a general engagement expected every minute. Our devision in the center have moved forward about one mile. Our extreme right has swung around some 3 miles but fought hard for every inch of ground they have gained. We have built breast works this eveing to defend ourselvs against any charge or demonstrations the enemy may deem fit to make. We have still captured a number of prisoners today. One told us that Johnston made them a speech a few days ago and told them he had the Yankees almost surrounded and there suplys cut off and he expected in

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a few days to capture the greater part of their army. But while he was speaking our locomotive whistled loudly near their skirmish line. This proved the whole speech to be false and only delivered to deceive them or to encourage them with hopes, while death and destruction stared them in the face. Sunday evening, 19th This Sabbath day will be remembered by every member of the Army of the Cumberland while they are permited to live in rememberance of the past. Shortly after daylight it was discovered, the Rebs had fallen back and left the position they held last night. We fell in and moved forward in order to capture a part of their army or compell them to fight. But they had not gone as we expected only fallen back to a stronger position. Heavy skirmishing took place early in the forenoon and was continued all day. The 60 Ills. lost heavily. Our regiment had 3 wounded — one of them George Pickup —belonging to our company. We advanced to the foot of the large hill, on which the enemy has strongly fortified. The skirmish line ascended part of the way up, but found it another rocky face, and the Rebel devences too strong for them to go any farther. Our artillery was brought up and placed some distance in our rear and shelled the hill but a great many of them bursted too soon and made it rather dangerous for us, as they would frequently burst right over us. There has been but little fighting on our left today. But our right was hotly engaged and pressed forward driveing the enemy before them. Amongest the bursting of the thunder and heavy rains that have been falling the greater part of the day, the deadly blasts of artillery and rolling of musketry can be heard on all sides. We have no orders to put up works tonight, so we are laying in the timber close to the foot of the mountain. The bullets are whistling over us where we lay and often go —Zip! —into the ground close by or against a tree. Gen. Sherman passed along our lines today on foot. He looked very pleasent. His expression of countenance was sufficient to prove to all who noticed him that every thing was working well. Monday 20th day June Today we find the enemy in heavy mass on the hill above us and their sharp shooters and our skirmishers keep up a continuel fireing. The enemy have two battries, one on each end of the hill, which they only use at time.

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This afternoon our battries opened on the hill. The heaviest fire I ever seen thrown from artillery. The hill seemed to be in a continuel blaze and clouded up with smok. It looked as if it was imposseble to remian there 5 minutes and live, but they no doubt found some shilter behind there works, although a great many must have been killed dureing the 5 or 6 hours of the heaviest cannonading ever witnessed in this army. We built breastworks this forenoon and the boys would stand behind them and cheer good when a large shell would burst in their works and see the dirt thrown high in the air and the Rebs with their dirty white blankets around them get up and skedaddle in every shape and direction —some jumping like sheep on his hands and knees and some runing half bent —to hunt a better hideing place. Our regiment gos on picket at dark. Our chances for a little fun is good. Some 3 or 4 men has been wounded in our Regiment to day.48 On picket, on foot of mountain [Kenesaw] Tuesday evening 21st of June We have had a very good time on picket. Our reserve being covered by a little ridge that shiltered us from any danger, I concider our present position the best and safest that can be found any where within range of this mountain and would sooner stop here then to be relieved. Our boys on post frequently hollowed over to the Rebs something very laughable and entresting to us, but rather offencive to the enemy. They would answer, “You damed Yankees,” and pour down a volley of musketry at the same time. Wednesday 22ed After being relieved from picket last night by the 16th Ills., we returned and went in on the same line they left. There was no breastworks on this line, and all of the underbrush was cut down in front, leaveing our camp entiarly exposed to the enemy. I woundered why the enemy did not shell us as our fires shown plainly to them, and we had no spades to work with. Consequently we had to remain uncovered and at the mercy of our enemy. The night passed off without been disturbed. When day light came some was in favor of building breasts works and some thought it unnecessery. About 9 oclock the enemy opened on us with about 20 peices of artillery and shelled our lines all day and frequently droped them among our tents. Although they dun but little damage it looked frightfull. No one knowing what minute would be his last. Our regiment lost 2 killed and 3 wounded. One, a member of Co. J, had the whole top blown off his head. 2ed private Co. F was struck by a peice of shell in top of his sholder and cut down into his heart. He never knew what hurt him. Corporal Kenny

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of our company slightely wounded in the heel. Private Co. B in the legg; private Co. F in the arm. There was some 8 or 10 killed and wounded in other regiments joining us. Our battries did not open on them for some reason unknown to me. I expect they have been takeing position and will give the enemy the doze tomorrow. As the old saying is, every dog has his day. This was the Rebs. Tomorrow will be ours. Tonight we are fortifying. Had a hard time to get spades as every spade that can be found is in use, so we have to wate our turn.49 June 23ed At foot of Kenesaw Mountain Thursday 23ed The cannonading of yesterday ratherly awoke us to a sence of our duty in regard to building breast works. So we worked all night, most of the time with one spade, makeing prepairations for today. About 10 oclock a . m . 3 of our batteries opened on the hill. The enemy returned the fire, and a heavy cannonading was kept up for over an houre, when the Rebel batteries ceased. In a short time all was a calm and still again. At half past 3 p . m . the Rebs opened from a fort on top of the hill wherin they had placed their guns for better protection, and better range on one of our batteries. A general artillery duel took place which lasted until nearly dark. Our battery was well aimed, as we could see the shells drope direct in their fort and the dirt flying high in the air, and could see the gunners run from their guns at times. One shell struck and exploded what we supposed to be a man, throwing his body high in the air. Our battery played for some time with good effect after the Rebs ceased to reply, then just at dark all was still for a short time, when the Rebs opened again, directing their shell in different directions, expecting to have the last shot for the night. But our battery again opened with more accuracy then ever. Nearly every shell or solid shot entering their works. Our boys would cheer so as to make the hills ring with the sound. Our pickets advanced a little after dark and aided by the reserve poured volleys into the Rebs and would yell as if they were chargeing. We could see the fire from their guns and the Rebs gradually falling back. Received a letter tonight from Brother George, dated June 10th. Friday 24th But little cannonading has been dun today. The Rebel sharp shooters on top of the mountain has got range on our works and sent the bullets in

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amongest us every chance they have of seeing any of the boys moveing round. 2 has been wounded in our regiment today. Saturday 25th About 10 Oclock a . m . the Rebs opened their batteries but after a few rounds, our batteries dried them up. Our batteries have worked with good effect all day. The enemy dare not reply. We lost 3 wounded today. Sunday 26th June Last night we received orders to be ready to march at dark. All bein packed up we lay down on our knapsacks to awate farther orders. About midnight the 4th devision of the 15th Army Corps marched in and relieved us. They had been on the extreem left and says there was scarcely anything in their front there. The enemy haveing to move to their left and our right to provent being out flanked by Hooker. We marched some 6 miles this morning but only gained about 3 in distance south of where we started. I finde the whole army is moveing to the right. Hooker will then flank them without a doubt and compell them to with draw their left from Kenesaw Mountain, which will no doubt ruen the Rebel army. Hooker is within shelling distance of the rail road and no trains can pass. As he now commands the rail road, the Rebs must leave their present position in a few days as we are now reinforced by the 13th Corps and should they remain many days, our right would swing around them so that they could not escapte attall without they cut their way out, and such an attempt would only be the destruction of their army. 32 Rebel prisoners were captured in our front and were marched past us under guard. Our boys on picket and them Rebs converses freely together at times and frequently meet half was to exchange papers, or coffee for tobacco. One Reb came over yesterday and talked for some time and drank coffee with our boys. When he got up to go some of our boys remarked he had better stay with them. After a minutes thought he said if he had a cleen shirt he would stay. One of our men told him if that was all the truble, he would give him one so he accepted the offer and staye.50 The picket agreed. [Several lines here are on a page of the diary that was damaged by water and are very difficult to read. Also, a portion of the page is missing.] The Rebs would hollow over, “See here Yank. That is not fair. You agreed not to shoot.” The Yank would reply, “You must not minde that fellow. He is a hundered day man, and dont know any better.” After a while a Reb would send a ball over. Our boys would sing out, “See here Reb, you agreed not to shoot.” The Reb would reply, “You must not minde that fellow. He is a conscript and dont know any better.” After a while they met again and had a chat, and agreed not to shoot

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without notifying each other before fireing. This was all understood and each party returned to their proper places. Our boys would see a Reb walking out in open view. He would rest his gun on a log or against a tree and take sight, then sing out, “Look out Reb! I am going to shoot!” puling tricker as the last words escaped his lips so the notification, although given according to was of but little service [The preceding lines were also on a damaged page.] In line of battle near Marietta Monday, June [2]7th 1864 Today a general engagement has taken place all along our lines. We were ordered to move at early day light without knapsacks but did not move until 7 Oclock, at which time we moved forward under a heavy fire of musketry from the enemy. Our brigade and a brigade of the 4th Corps which moved to the left. About 9 Oclock the 2ed and 3ed brigade of our division came down in mass and crossed our lines with fixed bayonets with orders to carry the Rebel works if possible. The charge was made successfully across the enemy’s riffel pits and all them that was secreted in them surrendered and was sent to the rear. But on reaching the enemy’s main works, a deadly fire was poured into our ranks. Their batteries swept our ranks with grape and canistor so that our men were compelled to fall back, but only a little ways as they were rallied again and formed [a] line, where they lay down and comenced fortifying by diging with their bayonets and lifting the dirt with their hands. In this way they formed a little protection. While one party was at work, another part kep the Rebs down behind their works and the gunners from useing their guns. There works is within 25 and 30 yds of the enemy. Our loss is heavy and the sight is sickening. To look over the field and see the dead wounded and dieing laying all over wallowing in their blood, and many hallowing for god sake to help them, where no help could reach them close to the enemy’s work. Their only chance was to lay there and die. Some 4 hundered belonging to our division has been taken to divison hospital this after noon and a detail has been made to carry off all that can possible be reached after dark. Nearly all of our field officers were killed or wounded and a great many of the line officers. This has been rather a serious day and much to be lamented. The loss of so many brave men without any articuler gain. The loss of our enemy is light, as they are behinde their works. From what I can learn the charge was repulced all along our line. Our loss in this unfruitful and badly conducted charge must be very large. Our regiment only lost 10

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today, but a great wounder that many more was not killed as the shells burst around us for about 3 hours so thick that it seemed no man could live in such a place. 3 was wounded in our company. I feel thankful beyond expression that we have escaped as well as we have.51 In Line of battle near Marietta Tuesday 28th 1864 I have been informed that Johnston was massing his forces to charge our lines at the time we charged them yesterday. Had we only have wated 2 or 3 hours longer, the slaughter of yesterday would have been reverced. The loss of our division was 6 to 2 in wounded. The loss along our lines must be desperit, as some of them lost greater then we did. The enemy has shelled our works the greatest part of the day. Our position was rather a disagreable one as it was right on top of a hill and a battery on our left and one to our rear, which draws the fire right to us. We had one man wounded. His name is Simeon Donaldson, Corporal in our company. He had his hand taken off. Some 2 or 3 others has been wounded in our regiment today. But the Rebel batterys got the worst of the duel, as our batteries throwed 3 times as many shell, and with better effect. In line of battle near Marietta Wednesday, June 29th 1864 The performance of today has been vary entresting and amusing to the many spectators who witnessed the seen. The enemy sent in a flag of truce for our division to go over and buirry their dead. The smell was getting so offencive that they could not stand it. The truce give us from 8 until one Oclock. Dureing that time, we and the Rebs mingled together on a piece of ground between our works and theirs, a space of only 27 yds. Guards were detailed on both sides. Guards from our army ad instructions to let none of our men pass over the enemy’s works nor alow any arms to be carried off, as it was strickly forbiden on both sides. The enemy had the same instructions, but many of our boys would watch their chance and put their foot through the strap of the guns and walk slowely, dragging the gun after them. In this way a good many guns were taken off. I talked with some of the Rebs. They were very friendly and was anxious to traid tobacco or some thing with us in order to get some coffee. Our Generals were nearly all there convercing with the Rebel officers but none went in their real uneforms. They borrow coats from officers of lower rank, so as not to make the rank known. General Morgan took a spade and pick, and went with the detail, buirring the dead. No one would ever suspect him other then a private, but while he was to work he kept looking around and notising all particulers about the Rebel works. Quite a number of our men lay along the enemy’s

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works. They were a fearful sight, swelled up as big as 4 men and black as a pollised stove by laying in the sun. They were buirried right where they lay.52 In line of battle near Marietta, Thursday June 30th 1864 All quiet along our lines today beyond the usuel fireing off between our advance line and the enemy, and both keep poping away at each other from behinde their works. No man alowed to show his head above their works. We had a form of mustor today but the pay rolls could not be filled out on account of all books and papers being back at this time. We had a heavy thunder shower this afternoon. This evening is cool and pleasent. Friday, July 1st 1864 In Line of Battle Near Marietta There has been but little dun today. The Rebs shelled our works of some 2 or 3 hours, but our batteries dried them up after a while. Simeon Donaldson of our company had his left hand taken off by a shell bursting over him. The Rebs made an attempt to charge our works last night but was repulced. It seems to me a general engagement must take place in a very short time, as the two armys are now two close together to remain long in this position. General Brewer returned to the company today, been absent sick.53 Saturday 2ed An importent movement is going on today. The 16th & 17th corps moveing to the left with a large train of pontoons. Their intensions are to cross the river and out plant the enemy and prevent them from makeing a stand on the other side. Our cavalry attacted Roday’s Cavalry on the right and cut them all to pieces and scattered them in all derections. The advance line of our division is within 27 paces of the enemy’s works and is buisey night and day working under ground. If the Rebs remains there many days, they will be hoisted sky high. How To Make Lard Candles To every eight pounds of lard, add one ounce of nitric acid, and the manner of makeing is as follows. Having carefully weighed your lard, place it over a slow fire, or at least merely melt it. Then add the acid and mould the same as tallow, and you have a clear beautiful candle. In order to make them resemble

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bona fide tallow candles you have only to add a small portion of pure beeswax. In Line of Battle Near Chattahoochee River, Sunday July 3ed 1864 Today has been very interesting to them who felt well enough to injoy it. But as for my part, I have felt so ratchedly bad all day that I was scarcely able to get along atall. Cap. Wilson is sick and was obliged to wride in an ambulance today and James Anderson sick at hospital so it would not look well for us all to play out such a time as this. Oweing to our movements of yesterday, the Rebs were complelled to evacuate there works last night.54 Their evacuateing was discovered at once, and at day light we started on pursuit. Our regiment was sent out on a reconeizence. After crossing the enemy’s works about 2 miles we came on the enemy. Sharp skirmishing took place, the enemy gradualy falling back. We took 11 prisoners. In a short time Gen. Hooker came up with the advance of the 20 Corps pushing forward a heavy skirmish line, which drove the enemy so close that they were obliged to open a battery. Hooker then had a battery rushed forward to a sutable place, and opened on them with grape and canistor and swept the Rebs down at a fearful reat. About 11 Oclock our regiment moved to the left and joyned our devision. After remaining there about an houre and a half, we fell in and moved to the right, passing a part of Hooker’s corps resting in the road. About 5 Oclock we relieved a part of the 20th Corps. where they had intrinched. The enemy is entrenched about 3/4 of a mile in our front. Their musket balls caries to us very easily and they shelled the 20th corps for some time, but all is quiet now, with the exceptions of stray bulets from the skirmish line that pass over us. We have captured a great many prisoners today, mostly in squads from 10 to 40. I understand their reason for stoping and takeing up a position on this side of the river is that our men has crossed the river and destroyed the bridge. I expect they are played out or nearly so.55 The 4 Day of July, Celebrated Today the 4th of July, General Sherman felt desposed to celebrate it according to custom, and as we were entrenched close to the enemy he thought it would be killing 2 birds with one stone to give them the benefit of it.56 So every battery opened on the Rebel forts and riffel pits, makeing it the hotest day for them they have had for some time. They would frequently open a battrey on us but would soon be dried up by 3 or 4 of

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ours turning loos on it. Our lines were advanced today. The 60 Ills were on the skirmish line, and lost heavely. Our regiment relieved them in the evening under a desperit fiar from their riffel pits on top of a hill and our line was in a swamp at the foot of the hill only about 100 yds. distant. We were entirely exposed to them not haveing any covering from their view whatever. After placeing out 2 posts, 4 men to each to relieve each other, we went to work with two spades and built ourselvs works to protect us from their fire. It is very strange that not a man from our company got hurt when I expected one half or more to be killed and wounded, as the bullets flew around thick and close. Tuesday 5th The enemy kept up a heavy fire from thir riffel pits until about 3 Oclock, at which time they ceased to reply to our boys on post. We were convinced at once that they had gon as we had been looking for them to leave after the abuce of yesterday and from their unusual fireing of last night. We deployed half of our company and I advanced with them. Cap. Wilson followed up with the remaining part of our company as a reserve. We passed their riffle pits, found they had gon. Our canon had toar up the ground fearfully around them. We continued until we reached their main works and found them evacuated also. Their breastworks and fortifications around their guns were of the strongest kinde, yet our battries had injured them conciderably and blood was seen in many places. We then returned to our picket reserve, had breakfast, and took a good wash, then had orders to close to the right and form our regiment. This compleated, we moved out to the road and marched off with the columns that had crowded the roads since day light. We soon reached the enemie’s works, expecting one line was all they would have but we found not less then 6 main lines and was some what surprised to find that they had works extending clear around their front flanks and rear, was all fortified and sharp stakes and sharpened brush stuck in the ground every where in front of each work. Along about noon we came on on their rear and skirmishing commenced. The Rebs drove right along until about 4 oclock when they became stubborn and would not drive. They had gained a position they wished to hold. The 14th Michigan were deployed and moved forward, charged their riffel pits, and compelled the enemy to fall back sufficiently so as to gain a ridge where we could form a strong line of defence. Our brigade is all in single line. We have no reserve atall. Our orders are to build strong works so that we can hold them against any force that might come

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against us. Not haveing any sleep last night, the boys are nearly all fatuged and given out. Yet we must work tonight in order to defend ourselvs. I am told through various sorcis that only two divisions of Rebs lay in our front. The main army has crossed the river. Our army has nearly all crossed the river on a pontoon bridge. To our right a large smoke can be seen riseing in the direction of the railroad. It is supposed to be the rail road bridge. There is heavy cannonading near the same place. There is also heavy cannonaiding to our right. It is thought to be cross the river. We have captured a large number of prisoners today. July 6th 1864 In Line of Battle Near Chattahoochee River Worked nearly all night last night building breastworks. As we only had two spades and one pick to the company, it was rather slow work to build strong works. Captain Wilson was very sick all night and was sent back to division hospital this morning. We are now without a commissioned officer present with the company. We have remained in our works all day. Heavy skirmishing has been dun today. The enemy made their appearance in our front in two lines of battle and stacked arms in rear of their skirmish lines. They appeared as if fixing for a charge. We had orders to hold ourselvs in readiness. The day has passed off quietly with the exceptions of cannonaiding in various parts of our lines. We hope to get one good nights sleep, as we are about warried out for want of rest. Report says the 15 Corps has cut one division of the Rebel army all to pieces and captured a larg number of them. Thursday 7th Today we have layed off [in] camp and we have been buissey all day puting up our tents and shades, &c. We expect to remain here a week and probably longer to rest and get washed up. We are still close on the Rebs. Our pickets and theirs keep pegging over at the other. July 8th 1864 In Camp Near Chattahoochee River, Friday 8th Today very warm. Some cannonading is going to our left. I am directly informed that we have full possision of the rail road bridge which is only about 2 miles to our left. It was taken last night before dark, and a crossing will be effected there soon. The report of our troops being cross the river to our right begins to look doubtfull. 5 companies of our regt. on picket today. The Rebs made a big fuss

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last night and caused us to get up, as we expected they were comeing on the charge from the way the musketry rattled. But in half an houre it all cooled down again and we returned to our beds. Had they come they would have found us ready. We have our camp well cleened up, with good shades built with brush over the tents. We can now rest with the greatest of ease from the hardships of the last two months and would not object to staying here until the war closes, but I cannot expect the campaign will end here. Atlanta must be ours first, so a few days is all we can expect to remain in camp. July 9th 1864 Still in camp near Chattahoochee River, Saturday 9th We have remained in camp all day. I have lunged around in the shade and injoyed myself very well. Heavy cannonading has been going on on our left the greatest part of the day, which gos to prove our campaign is not over yet. In the afternoon our batteries opened all along our line and shelled the Rebel works. Only one rebel battery replyed and that was only slightly. Just enough to let us know they had a battery there. Heavy fireing of musketry was kept up between our pickets and the enemy’s sharp shooters until about midnight when the Rebs again cleared out. We had orders for the right wing to be ready to move at day light. The 23ed corps has crossed the river above the rail road bridge today. Sunday 10th 1864 Breakfast past and every thing packed up ready to move at day light, but the Rebs had left our front and all crossed the river before day light.57 After dinner, as there was no likely hood of moving today, I went over to exemin the Rebel works and found them represented—the strongest of the kinde we have ever seen. Their breastworks were very heavy with heavy posts set in close along the back of them, with port holes cut out at the bottom to shoot throug. Along in front of the works sharp pins were drove in the ground about 18 ins. high and made sharp, and filled up with small brush. Still in front of them, large limbs of trees were trimed off so as to form another line of defence. These trimed limbs were placed closely together, with the sharpened poynts towards us and pined down. Still in front, another berricade was made of split rails and stakes sharpened, about 6 feet long and drove in the ground close together and leaning about 2 feet forward. At the end of each regiment, a place was fixed for 2 guns and a stockaide, covered over with heavy loggs and dirt to protect them from shell. They had two lines of breast works close together and in many places 4 so that they could fire by voleys.

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July 11th In Camp Near Chattahoochee River, Monday 11 We still remain in camp as we were. Our tents put up. We rest more quietly now, as the Rebs have gon. The bullets no longer sings through our camp. Besides we can rest at night as there is no danger of them chargeing us as the river is now between us. Our pickets are on one side and the Rebs on the other. They will talk a while, and then shoot a while. We can hear cannonaiding to our left cross the river. I expect the whole army is crossed with the exception of our corps and the 4th. Tuesday 12th Still lounging around in camp. Nothing going on to amuse us. We hear a little cannonaid at times, but no movements are being made at present. I expect the army is wateing here to rest and get supplyed with necessery clothing. The wather has become too warm and the troops too much fatigued to push right a head. They need rest and a chance to recruit up their striength and knapsack meterail. In Camp near Chattahoochee River Wednesday 13th July We still rest quietly in camp today. We can hear the artilery banging away at a distance, but gives us no concern. Gen. Sherman intends to have his head quarters in Atlanta by the 20th [August]. We expect to see warm times in a few days but has no fears inregard to the results. I had a letter from Brother George today. Will answer tomorrow. We have drawn a full out fit of clothing today. The weather is uncomfortably warm but tonight resembles rain. Thursday 14th Today has been very warm. Have drawn 3 days rations this evening with the expectation of marching tomorrow. The last two or three nights like this evening, much resembles rain, with heavy thunder but after threatening an houre or so, it clears off again, and no rain yet. The nights are very warm. The warmest I have seen in the south. In Camp Near Chattahoochee River, July 15th Friday Went out this morning with Cap. [Charles P.] McEnally [Co. B] and Lieut. [ John] Winsitt [Co. H] about 4 miles to the rear to gather black berries.58 We found them very scarce. I got some over a quart. Got back to camp just at noon. The berries were cooked for dinner. Cap. Wilson, Cap.

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[David R.] Waters, and Myself soon consumed the products of my forenoon’s labour.59 Cap. Waters came to us on a visit last night, and expects to remain with us a few days. Saturday 16th Today very warm and have received orders to march tomorrow morning at 5 Oclock wth 4 days rations. Our brigade had inspection today by Cap. [George A.] Race [Co. F], Brigade inspector.60 Our boys feels much better then they did when we came heare. They have had plenty of time to cleen up and rest them selvs good. Besides they have got all the clothing they wanted. Every one expresass his willingness to go a head and put this thing through. Our work is now to take Atlanta, and we hope the work will be dun quickly so that we may once more get settled down in camp for a short time at least, where there will be no danger of a Rebel shell droping in our midest. In Line of Battle, 2 miles south of Chattahoochee River Sunday, July 17th 1864 At 5 Oclock this morning, we had breakfast past, and all ready for the expected movement. We marched about 4 miles to the left and halted some 3 or 4 hours on the river bank awateing for a pontoon bridge to be built. The 4th Corps had crossed some 5 miles above here and moved down on the oppisit side and drove the Rebs back so that our pontoon was laid without any resistance. We crossed about noon, our brigade in advance. The 16th was deployed and heavy skirmishing took place. Our brigade advanced close after them. About 3 oclock the Rebs made a charge on the 16th but so light that the 16th held them in chack without falling back. We have drove them back about a mile and a half since we first ingaged them. The 4th corps is on our left and the 20th on our right. We have thrown up works tonight so as not to be surprised. We have not found any work yet, but expect to butt against them soon. Colonel Tillson is sick and was sent to the rear this afternoon. [Captain] Wilson is in command. The 16th Regiment lost heavely today. July 18th 1864 On Skirmish Line South of Chattahoochee River Our regiment went on picket at 9 Oclock a . m . and relieved the 16th Ills. The enemy had fallan back dureing the night. The 16th lost 6 men killed and 2 wounded. One was a liewtenant shot in 6 places. The bone of one thigh all shattered. The Rebs charged and compelled the 16th to fall

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back a short distance. It was in this charge the Liewtenant was shot and lay suffering with his wounds for about 2 hours between the two lines. At last the 16th determined to get him and charged the Rebs, drove them back killing 8 which were left for them to buirry. About 3 Oclock our regiment was ordered to advance. Companys D, I, & C were deployed on the skirmish line. After advancing about a mile we found the enemy again but they fell back without much resistance. Companies I & D came to a creek. A bridge was built with rails, and Co. I crossed over with the understanding that the creek would be the guide for both companies to go by. But the creek forked with out being noticed by eather of the two companies and after advancing some distance, company D was fiared into from the left. This seemed strange. Cap. Mason thought Co. I had got turned round and was firing at his company, suposeing them to be Rebs. He started off to the left to finde Co. I, and to notify them of his being there. He had not went but a little ways when the bullits came at him pritty thick and close. So he had to go back. In the mean time Capt. Race, Brigade Inspector, was crosing along in rear of our picket line and road right up to the Rebel works. The Rebs looked surprised at his uneform, not expecting any Yankees there. A Reb officer inquiared what regiment he belonged to. Cap. Race made no reply but stuck his spurs to his horse and got out of there in the quickest possable time. The Rebs fired after him, but did not hit him. In his hurrie, dashing through the woods his hors fell and throwed him on his sholder, but he got up and so did his horse. He mounted and dashed a head again leaveing his hat behinde him and the Rebs fireing after him heavely. When he came back and told his tale, other officers laughted at him and said there were no Rebs in there. It was impossable. Race was shoure of it, but none els could see it. Fireing was still going on. Seemed to be in every derection, so our major concluded it was companys D and I had got turned some way and was fighting each other. So he started to go down to where he supposed Co. D was when he was fiared at and shot through the thigh. He was carried to the rear and Captain Lusk of Co. K took command of the regiment.61 Every thing was in confusion. The companies on the skirmish line could not account for any but them selves. They had all sepperated and were faceing every way and most any way, and a vacancy of about 200 yds. between each company. Company H and E were sent out to learn the truble and straighten the lines. Cap. [Franklin A.] Munson was shot through the arm and the bone chattered.62 In the forks of the two creeks, the Rebels had there main lines faceing both ways. It is not yet assertained how the Rebel lines runs but the vacancy is filled up, and our lines will be aranged tomorrow, if not to night.

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On the Skirmish Line Tuesday 19th Last night Companies I, H & D got so close to the Rebel works that our regiment could not be relieved today. So we have to remain until after dark. After dinner, companies D, G, B, & C were ordered to advance and take possession of the creek at all hazards. We advanced with caution, feeling our way carefully, but no resistance was made. We got the creek without any truble. We could see the Rebel work through the trees and under brush not over 30 yds. from the creek in places. Their reason for not fireing on us was they wanted us to cross and advance towards their works, then they would make a dash on us and kill and capture the most of us. But Gen. Morgan feared that and acted with caution. But the 3 brigades on our left deployed 2 regiments, and crossed the creek, then charged on the Rebel skirmishers some 3 or 4 times, driveing them back each time until they got clear cross a large open field and formed their line along the adge of the timber, and went to building riffel pits. A great many had layen down their guns and knapsacks, to use the spads when they were surprised by a brigade of Rebs chargeing right unto them. Our skirmish line of corse run back, but over half of the 2 regiments were killed wounded and captured. These 2 regts concisted of the 22ed Ind. and 52ed Ohio. The Rebs run right unto them and shot a great many in the creek as they were sweeming cross. Some jumped into the creek and got drounded. This is rather a sad affair and badly managed as they ought to have been strongly supported at the creek. But they were like our regiment—had no support atall. But the left of our regiment helped them out of it a great deal as they were in good range, and had a rakeing fire on the Rebs as they crossed the field, and killed and wounded a large number of them. But nothing compaired with the loss these two regiments sustained. Our regiment lost 1 killed, and 5 or 6 wounded. Some two or 3 casses mortaly. We lost 3 yesterday. Our Major and Cap. Munson of Co. H and a private in Co. J all wounded. Since we have got down to the creek, which is the line between us and the Rebs at the present. We have built good riffel pits close on the river bank. Black barries are plenty here and we have all gathered and eat what we wanted. Some of the boys have got their cans and coffee pots full, although it was not altogether safe to be going around as the bullets whistled back and forth, some times comeing close enought to make a fellow dodge. I will stop all further remarks as it is getting dark and the 60th Ills. is comeing down to relieve us.63

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In Line of Battle South of Chattahoochee River 20th After being relieved from picket last night we marched back to where we left our knapsacks, a distance of about 1 1/2 miles. The moon was just makeing hir appearance in the east so we concluded that we would remian there and eat supper, as our darkies had it partly cooked. After all had dun eating we slung knapsacks and marched to finde and occupy the works lately occupied by the 60th Ills. The moon by this time was high enough to make our road nearly light as day. Haveing our suppors eat and been relieved and now marching in the rear out of range of Rebel bullets we all felt gay and mirry, although we had been on the skirmish line for two days and one night. We had to march about two miles. On reaching camp, or rather line of breastworks, we formed in the rear of them and stacked arms and received orders to draw two days rations. This deprived us of the pleasent night sleep we expected to have in the rear. It was after midnight when I lay down. At 3 this morning orders came around to have breakfast eat, and all packed up, ready to move at day light. So I had to crawl out when just in the middle of my first sleep, and go around and awake the boys to get ready. But day light came and all were ready to comply with the order. But no move was made by our regiment, as we have remained here all day and expects to remain all night. There was some heavy fighting dun this afternoon by the 20 corps and our first division, also a part of our brigade. Shortly after dinner, Hooker began to press the Rebs pritty heavely, as much for the purpos of drawing their attension, while our first division charged and carried there works at the river, as it was to gain ground. He must have been tutching a tender place. The Rebs massed their forces in his front and charged him. Just the thing we wanted. They soon buted against Hooker’s works and was repulced with a heavy loss. But they were not satisfied yet. They renewed the charge and tried it again, and again was repulsed. A third attempt was made to carry our works, but was again compelled to fall back. On their retreat, Hooker charged them and drove them some distance when they got rallied, and a heavy field fight took place which lasted until dark, at which time the Rebs were forced back into their works again. Hooker held the ground and fortified. Our first division charged and carried their works on the river without much oppisition. The 10th Mich. and 60th Ills. crossed the creek where they relieved our regiment and drove the Rebels from their works and got posseasion of a large hill without much reisitance, although we expected it would cost many precious lifes to take it. The 3ed brigade of the 1st division were on our left, joining Hooker, and fought heavely all after

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noon, makeing varies charges, and gained ground fast. We are gaining ground fast and will soon be in Atlanta if we keep on.64 Thursday 21st Our regiment moved this morning and took up a position on top of a large hill from which the enemy was drove last night.65 The 10th Michigan was deployed on the skirmish line and advanced, driveing the enemy steadly before them. After advanceing some 2 miles, General Morgan give them orders to fall back slowely, as they were too far advanced from the main line. So about noon the 10th Michigan came back to where we are, formed their regiment and marched to the rear, the Rebs following them up. Our company and company B was deployed along the Rebel works and soon fixed them to suit us. We were to remain there on picket. The other 8 companies of our regiment went back and recrossed Peachtree Creek then moved to the left and crossed Nancy’s Creek and formed a line of picket between us and the river. We have fixed up so as to give the Rebels their dues should they attempt to retake this hill. There has been no fighting on our left today. Every thing seems remarkable quiet. It is the oppinion here that both parties are buirrying their dead under a flag of truce. It is reported here that the Rebs lost between 4 and 5 thousand in their charges yesterday afternoon. Our loss estemated at 2 thousand killed and wounded in Hooker’s corps and 200 in the 1st brigade of our first division.66 A large grist mill fell into our hands on Peachtree Creek. It will be some [loss] to the Rebs as they live on corn meal altogether. This makes 2 mills we have captured since we crossed the Chattahoochee River. Friday 22ed Heavy charges were made dureing the night. The full particulers I have not learned. McPherson charged the Rebel works at day light, and drove the enemy from their strong position. He folowed them up, fighting desperatly at times, and by 9 Oclock he drove them through the city of Atlanta, and took possission of it. At 10 Oclock the Rebs were reinforced and charged McPherson in mass and drove him out of the city, but he rallied them on the north eadge of town where he took up a new position and held it, but was shot down by a Rebel musket while getting his corps into position. McPherson was a brave and dareing general and was highly respected throughout the 15th and 16th Corps which he commanded.67 There has been heavy fighting going on all day. The loss of today, or the results, I have not learned. As our division is on the intiar right of the army we finde but little to contend with. We were relieved from picket at 7 Oclock by a cavalry force then marched back and joyned

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our brigade where we received orders to be ready to move at any time. We had some coffee made and eate dinner and started out. Crossed Peachtree Creek and marched to the south west side of Atlanta, and formed on the front line. Our regt. is on the extreem right of the whole army. Rumar says the enemy can be seen massing in our front, one and a helf miles distant. We are ordred to put up strong works, and the boys are busy to work at them. South west of Atlanta Saturday, July 23ed 1864 Heavy fighting all day.68 The Rebs made several charges but was repulced every time. In their last charge which was about noon, they came up in 9 lines of battle. They were defeated and drove back. Their loss is dreadful. Our artilery and siege guns have kept up a continuel thundering all day. Rebel Jo Johnston has been relieved from command and Gen. Hood takes his place, much to the dissatisfaction of the Rebel army. He seems determined to break our lines and continuely keeps charging in mass with the hopes of makeing a breach some where. If he keeps on chargeing as he has dun for the last 3 days, he will soon have no army to charge with. His loss will not fall short of 15,000. Some puts it as high as 22,000 & 25,000. Our loss is heavy, but nothing compared with theirs. Sunday 24th There has been no heavy fighting within our hearing today. Skirmishing and cannonaiding is kept up night and day. The troops on our left raised a yell and fired heavely from their works about 9 oclock last night to make the Rebs think they were charaging. It was dun no doubt to carry out some strategic movement. Rumor say the Rebs have been reinforced from 20,000 to 26,000, but this report is not credited. Rumor reports Hood killed, and Gen. Lee died from the effects of a wound. 3 Miles south west of Atlanta, Monday 25th Today as usuel, too warm for comfort. Our lines unusuel quiet today. We believe the Rebs are fixing to get out of our way just as fast as they can. Report says Hood and [Gen. William Joseph] Hardee were both killed a few mornings since while chargeing the 15th corps. for the purpos of driveing them from the city. Gen. Sherman thought the Rebs were leaveing last night and give orders for the whole line to yell and fire from their works as if they were chargeing. About one oclock this morning the bugles sounded along our lines, then the yell, then the fireing. Our batteries opened at the same time. The Rebs thought the whole Yankee nation was on them, so they

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opened their batteries and fired heavely from behinde their works. But as both parties were concealed behinde their works, no body was hurt, but we found out the Rebs were not gone yet. Still we are sure they will go soon or do worse. It is now getting dark, and orders has come to lay off our camp, and put up tents. I believe Sherman intends to take up a position and hold it, then let Mr. Reb butt against our works as much as [they want]. In Camp 3 miles southwest of Atlanta, July 26th This morning we layed off our camp ground and put up our tents. Here we can rest and enjoy ourselves very well. Should the enemy attempt to charge our works, we can soon be ready to get behinde them in order to holde them off. We have received a very large mail today, out of which I had 3 letters for myself and one for Brother James, which I forwarded to him at Madison, Ind. by return of mail. Wednesday 27th At 12 oclock we had orders to fall in in light marching orders. Our regiment was all deployed on the skirmish line and supported by our brigade. We drove the Rebs right along, fireing heavily. We had to make two charges on account of crossing open fields. We had one man wounded— shot in the sholder [Corporal Hero Siefkin]. There is three or 4 others wounded in the regt. but none killed. The Rebs left 3 dead, one a captain, in our hands. The 16th, 17th, & 15th Corps all came up in our rear and went to building breast works. Our brigade returned to their camp a little before dark, with the exceptions of our regiment and we had to stay until some time after dark before we could be relieved. Dick Alexander was here this afternoon, also Lafayette Milam, both from the 30th Ills. They have both returned from a raid on the Richmond Railroad. He states their corps and 2 divisions of cavalry destroyed [bottom of the page has crumbled away]. Just returned from a raid Thursday, July 28th 1864 Shortly after breakfast our division had orders to fall in. We expected to take up a new position on the front lines, as they were advanced last night while our regiment was on the skirmish line. The 16th Corps took up a new position in front of our old works and the 15th Corps joyned them on the left. The 17th corps was yet laying in there rear, so we packed up and moved out, but insted of moveing off to the right on line with the others, we took at first nearly a due west corse, until we came within half a mile of the Chattahoochee River. We then marched south,

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and south east until dark when we struck a big road and headed north and returned to the rear of the 16th Corps, nearly where we started. About one oclock a . m . morning of the 29th, we were a set of tiared boys. The day being very hot, quite a number were sun struck. This move I afterwards learned was only a reconoisance to finde out if the enemy were makeing any move towards our right flank or our rear, and to open up a larger space of country for our cavalry to scout over and watch their movements. This expedeation was not made without resistance, although we did not have any thing but cavelry to contend with. Yet we found them makeing stubbern resistance some times, as they would take advantage of the hills and their fortified places and would compell us to bring our artilery into action before we could get them routed. We skirmished heavely with them the greatest part of the day but found no heavy force as our cavalry had reported. We had not left camp two hours when we heard heavy fighting back where we had left. The artilery and musketry was tremendous at times. It was kept up the greatest part of the day. Then just at dark 3 heavy charges were made. I think our men made the charge as our artilery seased fireing. What the resoults of today has been I have not yet learned. Friday 29th The sun was up warm before we arose, or waked up. We were in a large corn field where no shaid could be found after the riseing of the sun. And as we were all fateuged and worn out by yesterday’s and last night’s marching, we felt unwilling to get up from under the scorching sun. We had orders to draw 3 days rations. After that was compleated, our divisions moved again, and took up a position on the extreem right. We had some skirmishing but no heavy engagement. We were supported by one division of the 20th Corps. It was about sundown before we got to building our works as we moved out too fare and had to fall back in order to get in line with the troops on our left. The fighting of yesterday was caused by the Rebs chargeing our works. They charged the 15th & 16th Corps 7 times, and only met with deadly slaughter and repuls every time. The last charge they maid after being repulced. Our troops charged on them and took their first line of works. Our whole loss is not supposed to be over 300, where the enemy loss is estemated at from 8,000 to 10,000 in killed and wounded. In their last charge one regiment of what is called Louisiana Tigers, left one colonel,

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one major, and 7 captains dead on our works. It is believed the whole regiment was killed, as 3 hundered of the same regiment are yet laying dead on the field. The dead Rebs are laying thick all over the ground and in many places laying cross each other. The Rebs sent in a flag of truce after the fight asking leave to buirry their dead. But Sherman refused them. The Rebel wounded have been carried to our hospitals to be cared for.69 Saturday 30th 1864 About 7 Oclock we received orders to be ready to move in a minutes notice. Our tents were taken down, and our knapsacks packed, ready to sling at any time. About 11 Oclock we fell in and moved to the right and front. We soon began to feel of the Rebel pickets and skirmishing comenced. We soon reached the position we wanted, and went to work, and built breast works. Should the Rebs feel like chargeing our works tonight they will finde us ready. While we were advanceing and driveing the Rebel skirmishers, they set fire to 3 logg houses where they had piled some of their dead and burned them up rather then they should fall in our hands to be buirried. Sunday 31st At 10 Oclock we had orders to fall in in light marching orders. About that time we were on the way, the 16th in advance. After marching about 2 miles due south we found the Rebels in force as was reported. The 16th Regt. was all deployed on the skirmish line, and our regt. brought up to support it. Our brigade was in line of battle to our rear, and the 2ed & 3ed brigade still in rear of them. The 16th drove them into their riffel pits after some heavy skirmishing. The Rebels fought wickely from their riffel pits. Their bullets passed over us and around us pritty thick for some time. They also used a battrey against us and we had none along to reply to it. As we were only on a reconoisance and not knowing what force we would have to contend with, it was thought best not to have any artilery or waggans to occuppy the road. About 2 Oclock we had the heavest rain that has fell this season. We withdrawed our skirmishers and returned before dark to our works where we left in the morning. Monday, August 1st 1864 Behind our works in line of battle two miles west & 5 miles South of Atlanta. All quiet today. Not a sound to be heard, with the exceptions of picket fireing. Our regiment transfaired from this brigade. To what Army or department, I do not know. But is it decided that we leave the Army of

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the Cumberland. Some heavy shours today. Tonight cool and pleasent. Byron Anderson sent to division hospital sick with fever. Wrote two letters today, to Brother Thomas, and one to Elizabeth Pendley. Tuesday 2ed 1864 Our regiment on picket today and had a very good time. The Rebs have fallen back from our imedient front. Two little squads were sent out side to watch their movements. The 23ed Corps have moved to our right and takeing position and a regt of that corps relieved our regt. from picket this evening. I expect we will have to move to the right tomorrow. Wed 3ed Heavy fighting on the left this evening. The Rebs charged our works 3 times and was repulced as usuel with the desperit slaughter. Report says we captured a fort & quite a [unusual] of prisoners, +20 guns. August 4th 1864 All was quiet today up till noon. Many believed the Rebs had gone, and rumor stated they had left our front. But this proved untrue. They were soon found when our skirmishers advanced about one oclock. Our division had orders to move immediently in light marching orders. We moved off to the extreem right to support the 23ed Corps while they got into position and works built. There has been pritty heavy skirmish fireing this evening. The Rebels have opened every gun they have this evening from one end of their lines to the other. The shells flew thick and bursted all over the field in which our brigade was massed, but fortunately none were hurt. We will probably stay here until some time tomorrow as the enemy might feel disposed to charge our flank about day light in the morning. Friday 5th About 8 Oclock, breakfast past, and we were awateing orders to move, a piece of shell entered the neck of a member of the 14th Michigan, cuting the large vain. He died instantly. About 9 Oclock a . m . we moved on to be the point on the right. The enemy resisted strongly and used a great deal of artilery. But we succeded in gaining the position we wanted and went to work and built breast works. The Rebels shelled us wickedly, but only made us work the faster in order to compleat our safty. But now our works are finised and we are ready to receive a charge or their cannon balls without being much concerned. Towards evening a detail was made of 14 men from each company to go back and bring up our knapsacks. I also took two men and went back to our regimentle waggans and drawed some hats, some blouces, havor sacks, knapsacks,

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& canteens, and a few shilter tents, all of which were badly wanted by our men. We have got our tents up in proper form behinde our works, and will take it easey while we stay here. Saturday 6th Some heavy fighting today on the right. Our Corps, the 14th, and a division of the 23ed Corps, tried to advance their position but found the enemy in force. Several charges were made from both sides, but no advantage gained. Our brigade charged 3 times, and carried their riffel pits every time, but the enemy would charge us in force and drive us back to our old position. The Rebs hold the same position tonight they held this morning. Our pickets are within 30 yds. of them. Both parties have to keep close. There is various rumors in regard to our loss, but I shall wate a more accurate statement. A heavy rain set in about 4 Oclock and still continues at dark, and has the appearance of a wet night. Gen. [Absalom] Baird was said to be killed yesterday. He commanded the 3ed Division of our corps and was much respected by his command. His loss will be much regreated.70 Sunday 7th 1864 Today our division and a part of the 23ed Corps advanced and charged the Rebel works and drove them out. Our brigade, Morgan’s, was the first to advance, and first to charge and carrie their work. The Rebs were sovearly frightened believeing that they would all be captured if they did not get out of there in the quickest possable time. After crossing over the works lately held by the Rebels, we formed a line on a suitable place and fortified under a heavy fire from their artilery and skirmishers. Their shells burst all around us and cut down trees on all sides, yet our company is all safe yet, and only a few wounded in the regiment. We built our works with 4 spads and two axes in the shortest time I ever seen works built. Had the Rebs charged us in 5 minutes after we stacked arms, they would have found us behinde works so strong that they could not take them from us. Our brigade took between one & two houndered prisoners, besides killing and wounding quite a number. The 14th Michigan was on picket, or rather the skirmish line, and suffered heavely. Lost more then the other 4 regts. in our brigade.71 Monday 8th Today heavy thunder shours. We have built wings to our works to protect us against a cross fire. One Rebel battery has full range on our work

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and would do us a great deal of harm was it not for our batteries that were put in position last night. With the assistance of the skirmish line, our battries soon dries up the Rebel batteries. Consequently, they do not send us but a few shell to a time. Sergeant [Benjamin F. E.] Kimball of Co. K was shot dead while playing cards.72 The bullet passed through his head—he never knew what hit him. Tuesday 9th—just returned from picket line Last night our regiment went on picket and relieved the 16th Ills. A little after dark, we advanced our riffel pits in order to get better range on the Rebs. Companies E, K, G, & B went out and occupied the riffel pits. The other 6 companies lay on reserve about two hundered yards in our rear behinde breast works. Our riffel pits and those of the enemy are within 75 yds of each other, and in order to keep them down, we have to keep up a steady fireing. Our company has shot away over 2,000 rounds of amoneation last night and today and some of the other companies has used a great deal more than we have.73 We advanced our riffel pits after dark over the top of the ridge, and has good range all day on the enemy’s works. Today has been wet and disagreable. No place to sit without sitting down on the wet clay in the bottoms of the pits. I did not sleep any last night on account of the rain and not haveing my oil cloth along. 45 miles south west of Atlanta Wednesday 10th Our regiment was relieved last night at dark by the 14th Michigan, and returned to the same place we left. We finde there is about as much danger here as there is on the picket line as the bullets fly over here thick. The Rebels throws us a few shells every once in a while. One soled ball passed through our camp, cut down one tree, passed through another, then took off a man’s head belonging to Co. D, then went throught the works around Cap. [Samuel T.] Mason’s tent and nearly buirried Mason in the rueins. Two or 3 others were slightly hurt. Two or 3 other soled shot passed through our camp but dun no harm. We have built strong works around our tent today and has sunk it 3 feet in the ground inside. We feel perfectly safe laying here tonight. Thursday 11th Nothing unusuel today. The usuel fireing of the picket is still kept up and a few shell visit our camp ocationely from a Rebel battery. Our reg-

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iment is on picket again tonight. The 60th & 10th Michigan has been gon to the right for the last 3 days which brings us on oftener then comon. But they have got back to their brigade tonight, and will be for duty here after. Friday 12th Today has been the most intresting one to quite a number of our boys on picket. Previous to this date, our pickets and the Rebs kept up a continuel fireing at each other night and day. But last night, our boys got to hollowing over to them and the two parties for the first time at this place, quit shooting and entered into conversation. They agreed to quit shooting and be more friendly while neather party were advancing. There was no more shooting dun last night at this place. Dureing the day the Rebs gos around and talks over to our boys. They seem to place a great deal more confedance in us then we feel disposed to place in them. They go around and sit on their riffel pits within 50 yds of our riffel pits without any fear of our boys shooting. In the afternoon they agread to meet and have a friendly chat. Some of our officers went over and met them half way. Soon the privates were comeing from both parties shakeing hands and rejoiceing at their meeting as if they were old friends and had been absant for a long time. Both parties sit down in the brush to have a general chat and when another of our boys would go over, still adding to the number, the Rebs would all get up and each one shake hands with the knew comer in the most friendly terms. And when an additional Reb would mingle with the croud, our boys would up and shake hands, by saying to each at the same time, “How do you do, Johney?” The Rebs had huged the riffels pits so close, that they had become the very collar of the clay and had been mudd all over, but had a chance to dry today. They acknoledged that they had lost heavely by our shooting, and said some of them had lay in their riffel pits for 5 days and could not be relieved, and part of that time their pits were nearly full of watter. Still they dared not come out or show them selves. Our boys have been tradeing largely with them today. The Rebs seem to have plenty of tobacco for which our boys trades coffee and some their canteens. Some of our boys got two large plugs of tobacco for their canteen, which is equel to 4 dollars, as our suttlers ask 2 dollars, and could get 3 dollars just as readly if they asked it, for tobacco chewers will have their tobacco, cost what it will. As for My Self, I have quit. For how long I am not able to say, but hope forever. Our brigade has been relieved from this pusition today by a part of the 3ed division. Our brigade has all moved to the right, excepting our

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Regt. and we were not relieved from picket until this evening. We then moved to the rear about a quarter and put up our tents. Some protend to say that we will not go to our brigade any more, that our transfair has come to head quarters and when we move from here, we will take up our new position in some other part of the army. Our destination is yet unknown to us. Saturday 13th We find ourselvs relieved from the front lines for the first time and gon into camp. How long we will remain hear I am unable to say, but our orders are to fix up camp, so a detail has been made and our camp cleened up. Quite a number of our boys went out a forageing today and brought in rosting ears and some apples. I understand a squad of Rebel cavalry dashed down on our boys while picking corn about 3 miles out to our rear and killed [bottom of page crumbled]. Sunday, August 14th 1864 South west of Atlanta Our lines are very quiet today, but little firing has been dun on the picket line since our regiment was on picket on the 12th. Quite a number of our boys has been out today after corn and apples. Orders for brigade inspection tomorrow at one Oclock. Rumor says we will be payed off in a few days. Monday 15th 1864 Today warm, a light shour in the afternoon. We had inspection about two Oclock by Cap. Race, Brigade inspector. Our company highly complemented for their good appearace and good condeation of arms and accuterements. I have busied Myself at leasure time, in writing a letter to father and one to Brother George. Tuesday 16th Rumor informs us that a Rebel raid has been made on the railroad at or near Dalton, and the road tore up in 4 places. It is also reported the Rebs held Dalton and commanded the rail road by a battrey at last accounts.74 We have just taken our position on picket. The left wing of our regt. in the riffel pits, concisting of H, E, K, G, B. Their is but little fireing dun at this point. In fact there is but little firing dun from our side for several day for the reason that diserters come in more numerous when we do not fire so much.75 I am sitting with my back against a tree writing up [page crumbled].

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August 17th 1864 Just returned from picket, 6 miles south & two west of Atlanta Wednesday 17th We have passed today on picket very quietly. Only two shots been fired from our company. Company E fired almost constantly dureing the day and many of the Rebel bulets aimed at them passed over our riffel pits. We were relieved a little before dark by the 10th Michigan and returned to camp. The Rebs would not talk to us today. Their officers have strickly forbiden it. 3 or 4 of our boys have went over near their pits, without arms and holding up a newspaper, but the Rebs would signel for them to go back, but would not speak. A Rebel liewtennant stood up on the works and told them to go away and stay away or they would be fired on, for it was strickly against their orders to hold conversations with the enemy. Yesterday I have been told that a whole brigade of Rebs started to come into our lines, but they, the Rebs, opened their battries on them, killed and wounded a great many, and compelled a great many to return. About two hundered got safly into our line. Our battries opened on those of the Rebs, and assisted the Rebs very much in getting away. The same report is confirmed this evening. The rumor of the rail road being cut is true, but not so bad as was at first represented. The [train] will be runing as usuel tomorrow. Thursday, August 18th/64 Today finds us still occupying our old camp and many of us anxiously awateing the change to the 16th Corps, and wonders why our transfair has not returned. The greatest part of our regiment are opposed to the change and much regreat leaveing our old brigade. The other regiments in our brigade declair they will not remain after us, and the 14th Michigan have already tried for a transfair, and the 16th swares they will have one or Morgan need not expect much satisfaction from them. Their has been heavy skirmishing on our right and we had orders to be ready to fall in at a moment’s notice. The 23ed Corps has been advancing their lines and our generals antisipates a charge from the Rebs. I understand the rail road is fixed and a train came through this evening, but no mail came. Friday 19th Our brigade had orders to move in light marching orders at 3 oclock a . m . . About two, while fixing for breakfast, we could see troops comeing in our rear and stacking arms in a large field and along the road. I expected no other then the troops were massing in our rear for the pur-

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pos of chargeing the Rebel works at day light, and had my minde made up to meet anything that might come, no matter what the dangers might be. Still In The 14th Corps Friday, August 19th But on moveing out at the appointed time I was fortunatly mistaken, as our brigade moved out to the rear and took the road leeding to the extream right passing the various brigades & divisions of our Corps. They were all on the move. After moveing to the extreem right of the 23ed Corps, a distance of about 4 miles, we lay down there for some time. I could not see for what purpos but afterwards learned that a cavalary raid had been made on the rail road dureing that time, and we were there to be within strikeing distance should they be attacted. By 8 Oclock, the raid haveing been compleated, we moved farther to the right and front and stacked arms in the timber. In front of us was a large clearing about 3 miles a cross in which was 4 Rebel forts and one distinct line of works. To charge cross there would be madness, so a skirmish line was advanced and one section of artilery for the purpos of drawing the Rebs out if possable so that we could charge them back and carry their works. But they would not come out, but used their large guns pritty freely. One of our guns bursted by a shell exploding inside. A Rebel shell blew up one of our cashins. About dark we returned to our old camp. Head Quts, Co. G, 10th Regt. Ills V. V. I., 3ed Brigade, 4th Division 16th Army Corps, Saturday 20th 1864 Being some what late of going to bed last night we slept until after sun rise.76 I was waked by the corporal from head quarters, notifying us to be ready to move with everything at half past 7 oclock. After getting up and notifying the men I soon learned that our brigade had gon under the same orders and at the same houre. They started yesterday morning and left us behinde. This was sufficent to assure me that our transfair had come and we would take up our position in the 16th Corps today. About the time appointed we moved off. The day being very warm we rested about every mile. The distance only being about 5 miles to the left of where we started, Colonel Tillson went a head and had every thing ready when we came up to move right into position. We relieved the 17th New York Zouaves. I expect they will go to where we left and take our place. We are again on the front lines and pritty close to the enemy. They do a great deal more fireing here from both sides then they do on the

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right. Artilery fireing is kept up here steady. We have layed off camp, put up our tents, and fortified around them. Daniel Layton, Lafayette Milam, and various others from the 30th Ills. were here to see us. Their regt. is close by. In Front of Atlanta August 21st 1864 3ed Brigade, 4th Division, 16th A.C. From our short experance of our new position, we are all very well satisfied Colonel Tillson is commanding our brigade, concisting of the 25 Ind. & 32ed Wisconsin, and our regt, the 10th Ills. I am told that another very large Ills. Regt. is on its way to joyn our new brigade. We have drawed grub today for 3 days. We have made better draws in our old corps then we have dun today, but the late rade on the rail road may have effected this issue to some extent. Lieut. Anderson bought a ham and some corn meal at the commissery, and tonight we had a splended supper of corn bread, ham, and gravy &C. Our divison commander’s name is [ John Wallace] Fuller, Brigadear commanding the First Brigade, now temperary commanding the division. [T. E. G.] Ransom the division general, commanding the 16th Corps at the present.77 Monday 22ed Has been warm and pleasent and I believe the most agreable day of the campaign, although there has been conciderable of cannonaiding, mostly from our batteries. Hd. Qtrs, Co. G, 10 Ills. Before Atlanta, Georgia August 24/64 Dear Friend I have taken my pen and sit down on the ground to write you a letter and something profound And as my health is pritty good I hope that this may Finde you injoying a like blissing but living more gay You see Dear Miss—I am so lonesom and sad with no one to write to drives me quite mad And I thought to kill time, I would write this and see If you Dear Miss, would not write something pleasent to me I have been in the service almost 3 years And like it quite well. Tho time troubled with fears About these nesty bullets that come at us so Quick That before we know it, were dead as a brick I am not very old, neather hansome, but gay and have green backs sufficient, Our board bills to pay In the event that we board, but twas not my intent To speak of this matter without your consent Please excuse me

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Dear—and Ill say so no more And will try and write as if I had wrote letter before And will state to you plainly the facts in the case And then if you do not like it you need not go on the chace I was born in the west, in a neat little village there I lived 12 years without learning to pillage And then was sent north to atttend a high school And might have been there yet If I had not been such a fool But I thought that fighting prehaps be my fort So I inlisted in the 10th, to joyn in the sport But the first little battle that we chanced to get in Led me to believe that my fort in that was quite slim I can write nothing more that would be of intrest to you So I will close this epistle with a hand here so true And which will be yours, if you wish to accept it by giving in turn, one thats willing to help it. And I trust that you will answer, as soon as you can And gladden the heart of a lonely little man. In Front of Atlanta August 23ed 1864 Tuesday— our regt. picket Our riffel pitts and those of the Rebels are in some places within 200 yds of each other and from our riffle pits we keep up a heavy fire all the time. Both parties are within plain view of each other and have to keep close. If a man shows his head, he must expect a bullet through it, or pritty close to it. Our pickets are relieved at 3 Oclock a . m . , as they could [not] be relieved in day light. 5 men has been wounded in our regt. today, two of them mortally. One a orderly in Company J, his thigh brock so close up, that it cannot be taken off. He cannot live many days, hot as the weather is. Wed 24th Quite a large mail came to our regt. from which I had 3 letters from Brother James, Susan Ferguson, & Elizabeth Ferguson. I answered James and Elizabeth. Intended to answer Susan tomorrow, but orders has just come to march in the morning at 9 Oclock. We are to draw two days more rations and send the sick and all waggans back to the rear. I never was more at a loss to understand a move then the present, and I must acknoladge I am intiarly lost for once, but time will reveal the secreat. About 40 of our non veterans has started home today. We have sent for our Co. book and papers. Standing picket in the rear Thursday 25th Companies G & B of our regt, 10th, went on picket, with 5 companies of the 25 Ind. on our left. We were placed about one mile to the rear and

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faced to the north, runing almost a right angle accross our old abbandend works in the rear. Here we were told to build strong works as the troops in front and the old pickets would fall back to our rear after dark. It was 4 Oclock when our line was laid off and we were posted so as to go to work at our riffel pits. It is now getting dark and the boys have got good pits built now, but they still work at them as they expect a visit from the Rebs in the morning.78 Friday 26th 1864 Shortly after day light we could hear the Rebs advancing slowly. They kept fireing as they advanced, thinking if there was any Yankees near they would reply. Companys B and G put out about half of each company to a time behinde some old works so as to have a fine view of the Rebs as the advanced. In front of these old evacuated works was a large open field upewards of a mile accross. Here the Rebs came about 8 oclock with a heavy skirmish line in front. We opened on them so heavely that they fell back in the field but seemed to advance more heavly on the 17 Corps joyning the right of our company, but after some 10 minutes heavy firing the Rebs also fell back from their [position]. About 10 Oclock the Rebs began to move columns to our left and crossed over the same string of works companies G and B held as a lookout post. The Rebs tried to build riffel pits in the field, not exceeding 300 yds. from the line of works occupied by our lookouts. About 10 Oclock I left the riffel pits and went out to the advance post. The chances for shooting was so good that I stayed there until after 4 Oclock p . m . when I was called in to give a report of the number of men drawing rations. About half an houre afterwards, the Rebs came down, flanking the line held by our out posts and drove them in. We then opened on them from the riffel pits and chacked there advance for a short time. But they raised the yell and came on the charge. We then let them have the best we had, and finely chacked them and drove them back. Just at that time a fresh supply of amoneation came to us, which relieved us from any fears, as we expected every minte the Rebs would charge us again, and our amoneation was give out. Our company occupied 4 pits and 2 of them had shot away their last cartradge. On receiveing the new supply, we spread it out in front of us so as to be convenient to every one. We felt greatly cheered with our new hopes and every man was anxious that they might return so that we could better try our hand. But they did not charge any more but fired heavely on our pits for some time. A little before dark our pits all opened a heavy fire on them, and made it so hot that they could not stand it. So they have fallen back some distance and only occationly sends a bullet over our pits. It is now nearly

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dark and the boys are all in good cheer and frequently remarks our luck in getting a fresh supply of amoneation at the time when nearly all hopes had gone. Captain Wilson was in charge of one pit, Lieut. Anderson another, Sergt. Hartman the 3ed, and Myself the 4th. We expect to fall back and leave the work about 8 or 9 Oclock. Our regt. is said to have gon. Infact all the troops artilery and everything is falling back excepting the picket line and we will steal off when the sign comes right. Saturday, August 27th 1864 Some place, but dont know where and feeling so misserably tiared I do not care. I am intirely exausted from the want of sleep, being nearly 48 hours on picket and then marching some 18 miles today. We were not relieved from picket until two oclock this morning at which time we moved off quietly without noize. The pickets of the 17th and 16th Corps all concenterated on the big road and marched west under command of Gen. Rice. We understood the main army had fallen back only 7 miles, resting their left on the Chattahoochee River, but these rumors proved falce. We have marched in every direction today but I believe our main rout has been south west. I think the intension is to strike the Rebs on their left and rout them from here. I look for a general ingagement in a day or so.79 We have drawed two days grub this evening and we have had a very good supper. The first we have eat since yesterday at noon, our collored cook haveing gon with the regiment and takeing every thing with him. He started with supper to us last night, but found us warmly engaged [by] the enemy he turned back, and thinking the regt. was only going to move a few miles he went along and we never joined them until after 4 Oclock this afternoon. Moveing Southwest From Front of Atlanta 28th At 7 Oclock we moved out and soon found out that our brigade was in rear of all, guarding the waggan train. After marching about 4 miles we stacked arms in the skirts of the timber to let the train pass. It is now 6 Oclock p . m . and the train has just passed. We are now going to fall in to move up in the rear. Monday 29th We have been on the move all night and only gained some 2 miles. The night was dark and the road crowded with waggans so that they could not get along attal. About 9 Oclock today we went into camp again, our train being up in rear of the main army. We have drawn three days rations from the waggans, and I understand there is 18 days rations for the army on them. We have broken loos all comunication for the present. The object of our move will soon be told.

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Tuesday 30th Marched at day light. Crossed the West Point Rail Road. Found it totaly distroyed. The rail road irons all bent and twisted, and most of them broken in two. The cuts through the hills have been filed up with brush and dirt thrown in on top of them. How far this road is damaged in this way I do not know but it will undoubtedly be a long time before it can be put in repair again.80 The work was compleated yesterday by [ Judson] Kilpatrick’s Cavalry. As the country through here is full of Rebel cavalry [it] becomes necessery for us to advance with cation, and in order to keep our propper distance from the 15th Corps on our left, we have to cut the most of our roads through the woods and build temporary bridges over creeks. Consequently it was long after dark before we got close enought to the rail road so as to command it. We have intrinced within 600 yeds of the rail road or right opposit Jonesboro. We have marched about 10 miles today. Started out at 6 Oclock and arived here at 9 p . m . . 31st Wed. Heavy skirmishing all day. About 3 Oclock p . m . the Rebs charged our works and was hansomly repulced. They were rallied and charged a 2ed, 3ed, & 4 times. Their loss is very heavy. I understand or at least it is reported that the 14th and 23 Corps attacted the Rebel Army this afternoon and roughted them and took possession of the rail road. About 7 miles above here Kilpatrick made a dash on our right, distroyed a part of the rail road, and took a number of prisoners. Our division took nearly 2 hundered prisoners today. September 1st 1864 In Front of Jonesboro, Wednesday Today has been a very busy, but intresting one. The Rebs have made a number of attempts to charge us today, but so [feeble] that it amounted to nothing.81 Our artilery played heavely on them all day. The 14th and 23ed Corps took possession of the rail road yesterday about 7 miles north of this place and today has been letting into them, driving them right along.82 The Rebel Army is devided in two and will undoubtedly be captured or cut to pieces. Today has been the heaviest fighting of any dureing the campaign. Could we only be blissed with 4 hours more of day light we could make a cleen thing in wipeing out the Rebel Army. But night has come and darkness stops the battle for the night and favours the enemy with a chance to escape or fortify strongly. As our boys charged the Rebel works this evening and drove them out, one Reb who had remained in the works gumped up, throwed up his cap, and sang out, “Old Hood whipped again by G—— d!” We have

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captured quite a number of prisoners today. I have not learned how many. Rebel prisoners acknoladges themselvs baddly whipped and out generaled. Jonesboro September 2ed Friday evening A great explosion could be heard in the direction of Atlanta comencing about two Oclock this morning and lasting to nearly day light.83 At first we could not account for the noise, some supposing it to be fighting on our extreem left, and some thought it was heavy cannonaiding in rear of our supply train. But today we have learned it to be a fact that the 20th Corps was crowding Atlanta and Hood ordered a train of 84 cars loaded with fixed amoneation to be blowen up so that it might not fall into our hands.84 Hood has left Atlanta with the State malatia and said to be moveing east so as to provent being captured by our forces. The 20th Corps went in and took possession this morning. The Rebs left our front here dureing the night. At early day light our skirmishers advanced, crossed their works, and went into town without any resistance or finding a Joney. Brackfast being over, we advanced again. Soon found the Rebs and the heavest fighting took place that has been dun dureing the campaign. The Rebs seemed determined to hold their ground but we charged and repulced them at every point. Our old brigade, Morgan’s, dun noble service. They charged the works of Cleburne’s Division. Although they lost heavely in the charge, they carried the works and drove the enemy right along. This Cleburne’s Division clames never to have ben licked before, and says they had determined to die sooner then be captured. About two hundered of that division has been captured today and they remender baddly used up. They have lost heavely in killed and wounded. I have seen about 200 of their wounded brought in and they are undoubtedly the worst wounded men I ever saw. Nearly half of them has lost eather an arm or a legg, and some both. Some are shot through the head and the brains runing out, yet they live. I seen one had 10 bullet holes through him, and yet he did not dispair. We have taken a great many prisoners today at different times and we expect to capture the greater part of their force before they get away. Our army supply trains have all been ordered up to Jonesboro and I believe they are all carrelled on the west side of the rail road. Jonesboro has been a comfortable town of about 2,000 inhabitance, but nearly all has gon and lef the place destitude.

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6 Miles South of Jonesboro September 3ed 1864 Saturday Some sharp fighting today but nothing compaired with yesterday. The Rebs got cross a swamp. Consequently we could not follow them rappedly, as we had to cut roads through and bridge the swamp in order to get our artilery along. It is rumored that Kilpatrick, Chief of Cavalry, has maid a raid and burned a bridge accross the Chattahoochee River which was the only chance for the Rebs to escape capture by our army. It is believed here tonight that we will make a big hall of prisoners tomorrow. Sunday 4th All is quiet today, the enemy haveing left our front and still falling back. I do not believe that Sherman intends to follow them any farther at this time. The rail road has been destroyed some 15 or 20 miles. Everything goes to show that Sherman intends to end the campaign for the present, and fall back to Atlanta and there form a new bass of operations, recruit, and rest his army, and prepair for a fall campaign which believe will gutt the Confederacy. We have already stunned hir and brought hir to hir knees. Another heavy stroke and she will give up the ghost. The Rebel Army is in a state of demoralisation, brocken up and scattered in all directions.85 Our army supply train comenced going back yesterday. I expect our division will remain here until all is gon, so as to cover the retreat as we dun when we fell back from Atlanta on this raid. The empty waggans were all loaded with cotton at Jonesboro. A large quantety was captured there. I noticed some 4 or 5 large wair houses full, besides a large quantitie stacked out side by the rail road. Our Company B, K, & E is on picket tonight. Went on at 4 oclock. No Rebs to be seen in our front although we can hear cannonaiding off to our left. But I expect they are only shelling the woods. Monday 5th—Like yesterday, has been very warm. I went out side of the picket lines about 9 Oclock for the first time this season on a forageing expedeation. Went south on the Jonesboro Road about 1 1/2 miles. Found a sweet pitatow patch, though pritty well rooted over. I maid out to scratch out about a peck. I then took a road leeding west to hunt some corn green enough for roasting eyers as there was none to be found on the main road. In about 1/2 a mile I found such corn as I wanted then steered as I thought for the picket line, takeing the nighest shoot through woods & corn fields. After traveling some distance I found out I was rong, but did not

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know which was right. But I soon fixed on a corse to the best of my knowledge and started out, almost like to melt with the heat. After traveling some thing like a mile, I found out I was still rong. So again I toddaled in another derection and after some times wallowing along through swamps and underbrush, I discovered a cavalry man rideing cross a field. I awated at the fence corner till he came down. So I inquired for the Jonesboro Road. This question he could not answer, but directed me to our picket line which I found in about a 1/4 of a mile. This part of the picket line was about 1 1/2 miles north west of where our company stood. Being nearly exausted from the heat and fatigue of the day, I sit down in the shade to rest and tell my adventurs to the pickets of the 25th Ind. After resting and haveing a cool drink I started on my way again, following the picket line around. It was 2 Oclock when I arived at company head quarters, as nigh plaid out as ever any sinner was. I have had a burning head aich ever since, and feel like a man sent for, and could not come. At 4 Oclock we abandend our picket line and fell back about two miles. The whole army is moveing back and we expect to continue our march tonight as soon as the waggan train and battres gets moved out. Tonight is very stormy but we have our head quarters in a house. In Front of Jonesboro Tuesday September 6th Last night being so stormy and dark, our teams made rather slow head way. So we did not get to fall back from where we first stoped last night until day light this morning, when we fell in and marched rappadely. Got into Jonesboro shortly after sunrise and took position behinde our old works. In rear of us our waggan train stoped, the mules fedd, and the men eat breakfast. We have drawn 3 day’s rations from the trains. Since that they have moved out and we expect to go soon. The 14th Corps has gone back. I understand each corps and their train is moveing out on different roads. About 4 oclock a small party of Rebs came up in our front expecting we had gon but a few shots put them to flight. I expect they will bragg of driveing us now, been as we are falling back to a more suitable position. The Rebel wounded in our hands has been all sent back that can be moved. About 100 of the very worst casses are left here in hospital in charge of a Rebel doctor. Near East Point Wed., September 7 We moved from in front of Jonesboro at 7 Oclock a . m . . And arived here about one p . m . , our brigade being in advance of the corps. A large por-

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tion of our cavalry was left back to guard the rear to provent stragglers from being picked up and to keep the Rebel cavalry from following us up too close. The Rebels mensioned yesterday were cavalry that came up in our front so boldly. I lerned afterwards that a small portion of our cavalry only showed themselvs to the Rebs and fell back rappadly in order to draw them on. The plan worked successfully. The larger portion of our cavelry being secreted in the woods, swong around and gobbled up the last [cuss] of them. Not one got away to report what the Yankees were doing or where they were going. The squad numbered 150 in all. Our march today was 12 miles. Thursday, 8th day of September Was very pleasent and agreable for marching, the sun not haveing shown hirself today. We moved from where we camped last night south east of East Point and marched some 4 miles where we have gon into a permenant camp about one mile west of East Point. Wm. Marvin, N. Fancher, and several others left back on our last raid has come to us today. Neare East Point Friday, September 9th 1864 The foar part of today and last night we have been bussie fixing and cleaning up camp, expecting to remain here some time. But orders came this evening to be ready to move at 8 oclock tomorrow morning, so our work has proven to be all for no purpos. This afternoon has been passed in fixing up our camp books and makeing our monthly returns, discriptave roles, &C. I had a letter to day, but no time to answer it. Scarce had time to read it. Our non veterans, Marvin, Fancher, and 3 others will start for home tomorrow or nixt day. Their papers will be compleated tonight. Saturday 10th We have been moveing again today. Every thing is up side down tonight. Tomorrow will fix every thing good order again. Our non veterans are getting very uneasie and wonders why they are not sent off. They may have to remain several days yet. Sunday, September 11, 1864 In front of East Point By 8 oclock, according to orders we had all our company ground cleened up and shades built over our tents so that we can again injoy the comforts of a pleasent camp. Orders have been issued from head quarters to have three roll calls each day while in camp. In the morning at half past 5, one at noon, and at sun down in the evening.

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Monday 12th The boys seems to imploy their time in writing to their ducks.86 I expect they are explaining all their late hardships in hopes that their little pet may say, “Poor fellow. What he has suffered.” I wrote a letter to Father, and one to Thomas today, besides a great a deal of other writing. An order has just come stateing that all non veterans will be mustered out here. Tuesday, September 13th 1864 In camp near East Point, 6 miles south of Atlanta Nothing of intrest today. I have come to the conclusion that I will send this book home by Marvin or Fancher. Consequently I have taken it a part, and held back the part unfinised, which I will send or carry home at the end of the year. We have just had company inspection and will have brigade inspection tomorrow at 4 Oclock p . m . . An armistice took place this morning at sun rise by an agreement between Sherman and Hood. Gen. Sherman has ordered all citizens that are not in the government imploy to leave Atlanta and surrounding neighborhood and go north or south as they choose for them selves. He findes transportation eather way.87 The truce or armistice is for the purpus of moveing these people inside of the Rebel line. One hundered men and a field officer has been sent to Rough and Ready, 7 miles below here. They are city guards. The Rebs furnishes the same number for the same place. Their instructions are to command the best of order dureing the armistice.88 Company Roll of Co. G, from its first formation, up to Sept. 12/64 Andrew, William Anderson, Willis Anderson, James W. Anderson, Byron Blanchard, Guy W. Blanchard, Justus C. Blockson, Joseph Barrett, Jackson Barber, Edwin M. Belts, Henry Bacon, Martin M. Blodgett, Dighton Boyers, Thomas C. Booth, Owen K. Bradley, Julius C.

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Bice, Arthur F. Buck, David H. Beal, William S. Besser, Nathan Brantlinger, George Bohn, Henry Bohn, John Brewer, Harlan Bremer, Henry Carey, Caneil M. Chancellor, Wm. M. Chapin, John G. Coppage, Wm. D. C. Deck, Wm. E. Donaldson, Simeon Doherty, John Dagget, Simeon Eno, Stephen H. Ferguson, John Ferguson, James Fears, James M. Fancher, Nehemiah Frank, Henry J. Fawver, Jacob Garner, James M. Grove, Martin Hartman, Wm. Hawn, George W. Howerton, Henry Husted, Nathan Hutchison, Robert Harvey, Albert S. Henderson, John H. Herndon, Edward M. Hungerford, John Hilbert, Fred

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Hensley, James Horner, Wm. Hollenbeck, John Milton Ingle, Jesse R. Jeffers, Francis Jeffers, John A. Johnson, Wm. A. Jeffers, James Jeffers, Thomas Johnson, Garrett V. Julfs, Jacob Kinney, David Kenny, John M. Kerr, James R. Lenex, George Lord, Wm. E. Lloyd, Eli Lloyd, James Lord, Wm. E. Layton, Lewis B. Layton, Joseph P. Livingston, John Marvin, Wm. McCarty, Curtis G. McDaniel, Alfred E. Montgomery, John Moore, Samuel R. Morgan, Jerome Morgan, Spencer D. Mulkins, Robert S. Moore, Charles W. Miller, Eugene A. Nitchman, Benjamin Nitchman, James P. Neal, Rufus O’Brien, Michael Overmire, Levi

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Pease, John A. Prevo, Henry Pickup, George W. Preston, Alfred Poorman, Benny F. Retherford, John Rogers, William Rogers, Martin Rouch, George E. Rosebrook, Freeman Russell, James Roderick, David F. Rock, Elijah W. Siefken, Hero S. Snead, Wm. Stark, W. R. Spiker, Samuel R. Shorter, James B. Sullivan, Thomas Smith, Japhet Tomlinson, James A. Taylor, Wm. K. Williams, Charles C. Wilson, E. A. Willard, John Warn, Henry W. Williams, Edward A. Wyatt, Americus List of wounded in Co. G dureing the Spring Campaign of 1864 1 John Kenny arm slight 2 John Hungerford thigh flesh wound 3 James Ferguson through shoulder & knee 4 Elijah Rock chin, slight 5 James Tomlinson through arm 6 George Pickup on back slight 7 David Kinney heel slight

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8 9 10 11 12 13

Joseph Blockson cheek, slight Simeon Donaldson left hand taken off Edward Williams arm & shoulder Hero S. Siefken shoulder Alf Preston through leg and body E. A. Wilson sholder

Killed in Co. G 10th Ills Wm. Coppage, May 27 Americus Wyatt John Hungerford Starks, James B. Taylor, Wm. M. Wounded in arm and sholder Died in Hospitel

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Diary V 1 January to 10 June 1865

January first, 1865 In camp near Savannah, Georgia This the first day of January 1865 findes me sitting alone at company Hd. Qrs. somewhat reflecting over the past and thinking of the many gay and happy hours I have spent on the first day of years gon by, never to return. But I will incurage myself with the idea and the belief that this war will soon close and that another New Year’s Day will finde us all at home, injoying ourselvs as civilions in a civilized country.1 Rations is somewhat scarce at this time and has been since our arivel at this place. But we do not complain, believeing that the officers in charge of our commisery departments are doing all in their power to precure it for us. We are liveing mostly on rice, corn meal, &c, which we captured when Savannah fell into our hands. The river has not been cleared of torpedos yet.2 Until that is dun it will not be safe for the fleet to ventur up. I have passed the day in the most pleasing and intresting way imaginable. I have written 3 letters to my friends, it being the only way in which I can converce with them at this time. January 2ed Nothing of intrest has occured today, only we have received orders to march in the morning at 9 Oclock a . m . . One day’s rations has been drawn for the expedition. Our Expedition to Beaufort January 3ed 1865 Our division, the 1st 17th Corps, embarked on steem boats at Thunderbolt this afternoon but the steem ship on which our regt., the 10th, and the 32ed Wisconsin was put got so high a ground before it was noticed that she could not be puled off until nixt rais in the river, which came about 8 oclock p . m . . 3 Our steemer then run out of the Warsaw River into the sound or bay where anchor was cast and we remained until day light the morning of the 4th, when we found the ship was moveing out towards open see.4 This sound is supposed to be dangerous as some torpedos have already been discovred and removed. One channel has been cleared of all obstructions and steem boats can run in perfect safty in day light.

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About one oclock p . m . we passed close by Hilton Head and had the pleasure of seeing a large fleet laying at anchor in the bay. About 3 Oclock p.m. we disembarked at the city of Beaufort, marched through the city, and camped about two miles west. This place has been garrisoned for the last two years by [Brig. Gen. Robert S.] Foster’s colored troops. 5th Our whole regt. has been in town today. No passes been required and no orders given to remain in camp. The boys feels at liberty to go and come at pleasure. It is surprising to finde how cheap goods are here to what we have been obliged to pay in rebeldom. Goods are sold at New York prices. They are shiped direct from that city to Beaufort.5 Camp near Beaufort, South Carolina January 6th, 1865 Went to town this afternoon. Had a good time with a few of the boys. Had all the bear we wanted. Bought a gallon of oysters for 70 cts and returned to camp a little after dark. In a short time afterwards, a detail of 20 men and a sergeant was called for to each company to go up town after rations. It was 10 Oclock p . m . when they reached town. I understand they broke ranks, went where they pleased, and cut up all sorts of divelment. Killed two Negro soldiers. Crippled and knocked down a number of others. A whole regt. had to brought with fixed bayonets to guard them out of town. 7th Very cold and uncomfortab Our line officers held an election last night and elected Capt. [David] Gillespie for Major, Major Wilson haveing resigned. Tonight is his treat, and the officers are haveing a gay and festive time, the majority of them being pritty well corned before night. So much so that the ground would fly up and hit them in the face ocationly. 12th —It does me good to think that I am not alone in rejoyceing at Old [McLean] Wood’s resignation.6 Previous to his resignation, or rather his muster out of service, He, old Mc, has been frequently as good as asked to regisne his position to some one more capable of filling it, but never took the hint. Last night while he was talking to the mustering officer about marching orders, the danger of the comeing campaign, &c, Old Mc remarked if he had a set of muster out rolls, he believed he would be mustered out as he believed his health was faleing him. The mustering officer being a captain in our regt. assured him he looked worce every day and for his own wellfair he believed it a wise move in him to

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quit the service at once. And as a friend, the mustering officer precured a set of muster out rolls at once and Old Mc was hurried out so quick that he scarcly knew it was dun until it was too late to repent, and I thank God that he is now gone and the way is open for another better capable of filling the position. If the D——l has as little care or respect for Old Mc as I have, he will pass safly over Jordan. We have marching orders to move in the morning with 3 day’s rations. I have neglected my journal since the 7th haveing been in camp and nothing going on worthy of note. I might remark before leaveing this place, that we have had a gay time eateing oysters since we came here. Our boys gos out about 3/4 of a mile from camp at low water and gets all they want. Musels can also be found in large quantities. We have had brigade inspection today. On The March Cap. Wilson being officer of the day, and Lieut. Anderson sick, I took the company out on inspection. We had one little mail on the 10th in which I had one letter from Mr. Meeker Harris, Walnut Prairie. But none from home yet since we came through to Savannah. 13th —Moved out from camp in heavy marching orders about 5 p . m . . Marched north west about 9 miles and camped in a larg field. No fences to be found. We had to get along the best we could burning green pine. 14th —Marched at day light. Soon came in contact with the enemy. The country being very low and full of creeks and over flowed by high tides, we found much difficulty in routeing them from their strong natural defences. After marching about 10 miles and drove the enemy from their forts and long lines of works cross the river, we crossed and went into camp. 15th —Moved again at day light. Soon came to another river where the enemy resisted strongly and shelled us viggeriously from larg guns. Our battries were brought to bair on them and seemed to do good execution but all at once the enemy seemed to take fright, puled stakes and was gon. We crossed the river a few miles and went into camp where we will probably remain for some time as we have now possession of the Savannah and Charleston R.R.7 In the afternoon our regt. and the 84th Ohio went out to guard a large waggan train after forage. About two miles from camp we passed a large plantation where our boys had found a cistern full of molasses and were crowding arounded it like

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small birds before a storm. Some were carring them in wash tubs, some had a churn, some buckets, some pans, or stone pots, and others could be seen with a bbl. nearly full on a wheel barrow. The boys also found plenty of rice shilled out ready for use. There was also plenty of forage here but the 4th Division clamed it as they were there first. We went about 5 miles south west. Came to a large plantation said to be the welthiest in the south. The owner’s name is Haywood. He ownes 7 miles squair. The Rebs stood picket near his house and seemed determended to defend it, but a strong skirmish line was thrown forward and the Rebs cleared out. Mr. Haywood and family cleared out also, leaveing their large and costly mansion with all its contents without a representative. While the waggons were being loaded up, our boys broke in the doars and windows by which they made an enterance. Overhauled all the finery, wardrobs, and so forth scattering and upseting every thing. After plundering until they were tiared, they set fire to it and in a few minutes the flames eluminated the heavens. The whole cost of the wealthie mansion includeing the furnitur, could not fall short of one hundered thousand dollars. Another very fine house was burned on the same plantation but much inferiar to the main dwelling. This plantation had about 300 Negro huts. They resembeled a city at a distance. Our boys are determined to leave South Carolina in a wast and ruein so far as they go.8 Camp at Pocotaligo, South Carolina January 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st finds us still in camp at the same place.9 Until the 19th we had company drill every morning after brakefast and dress parade every evening, the weather being very pleasent and suteable for that purpos. On the morning of the 19th we had orders to move with two day’s cooked rations. The night previous to our march rained heavely all night and still continued on the morning of the 19th. Never the less we moved out, takeing a north west corse. After a march of about 5 miles we found the enemy’s pickets posted all around but we pushed forward through mud and watter driveing them before us. The Rebs after falling back to a place where we suppose they were strongly fortified, made a firm and determined stand. A regt. of mounted infantry was left to devert them and draw their attension while our division would cross the river, storm two forts over there, then recross in the rear of the Rebs on the south side, and take them in also.10 But on reaching the river we found it two much swollen by the heavy rains to ford it; besides we were discovered by the Rebs in the other side. So our chances for crossing were hopless. So we about faced according to orders and marched back, the rain falling in torents and the roads sweeming. It was long after night when we reached our camp. Such hooping

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and yelling I never heard as the boys made when wadeing water knee deep in the dark towards there camp. After getting into camp, 3 canteens of whisky were drawn for each company. Many of the boys could not lay down on account of their tents being flooded with water. Camp at Pocotaligo Station, South Carolina January 22ed Had orders to move at day light in light marching orders and to take all the axes we could. This asured us that we were going to tair up rail road. As every day and night has rained successfully for several days, the ground is flooded every where and every little branch and brock is flowing to its banks. Yet this morning is fine and has the appearance of fair weather. We marched out along the rail road some 4 miles to where we found where other troops left off last night. Here we went to work tareing up, pileing, and burning, without the knowledge of being so close to the enemy. We were close to the river where the Rebs had a battery on the other side. The first notice we had of their being there or our being so close to the river was given us by the explosion of a shell near to us. Pickets were then put out on each side to provent a surprise and we kept on at work until we finised up all that could be dun in safty. Some 3 or 4 had already been wounded. We returned to camp at 3 Oclock. Tonight still rains. 23ed —Monday Lay quietly in camp all day trying to dry our blankets that have been wet for nearly a week and no chance until now of drying them. Tuesday 24th —Companies G and B on pickets. The day rather cold and frosty. 25 Wed. —All quiet, nothing of intrest occured today. This is the coldest day of this year. Camp at Pocotaligo Station, South Carolina, Thursday January 26th 1865 According to orders issued last night we started out for the purpos of crossing the river where we failed a few days ago. No Rebs were found this side of the river and although we had pontoons along, a crossing could not be effected at that place. So we about faced, marched back some distance, then moved in to our left to try and precure a crossing at another place. The pontoons were layed accross the deepest part and

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the ambulances and pack mules were taken to cary the troops over to the other side. Mules and ambulances mired and worked until long after dark. Succeeded in crossing about 3 companies to a little island about one mile distant and then land was not yet discovered cross the emence swamp yet beyond the island. About 10 Oclock p . m . a few men and mules being drowned and froze to death, [Major General Joseph A.] Mower give it up for a bad job, brought back what few had crossed, then returned to camp again, wadeing swamps to the knees.11 And as the night was uncomanly cold, our briche’s legs froze like stove pipes. We had to thaw them before we could get them off. John Entler very sick — complains of truble in head and throat. Camp near Pocotaligo, South Carolina January, Friday 27th 1865 Today very cold and disagreable. Had a pritty good mail today in which I had one from my Morristown correspondance. Saturday 28th —wrote one letter to Brother Andrew. Sent a book by mail to Thomas. Today still very cold. Sunday 29th —wrot one letter to Edward Thornton, 1 to Brother James, one to Wm. Clark, and one to Morristown. Windes up my day’s work by soweing some buttons on my briches, writing up my memorandum, &C. Prepairing for a march tomorrow morning. Monday 30th —marched at 7 Oclock a . m . and went into camp about 7 miles west of Pocotaligo Station. The Joneys being somewhat stubbern makeing a strong resistance at every swamp. Here is a large swamp and the Rebs have destroyed 5 bridges crossing. Lay in camp all day on the 31st. The road crossing the swamp been cordaroyed and the bridges fixed up so that waggans and artilery can get along without any difficulty. February 1st on the march South Carolina, Wed. 1865 Moved out at 7 Oclock. Found the Joneys plenty but our brigade being in advance did not wate to fool with them but drove them right along. We caught a few Rebs today. They tell us we may drive them to the river and the bigg swamp, but we will never be able to cross it as they have 12,000 troops well fortified on the other side. After a march of about 16 miles we went into camp. All feeling pritty tiared, though in good spirits. Forage is very scarce through here. We are told by the neigros that the Rebs advised the cittizens to run every thing over the river where it would be safe as they expected to fall back to that place, and assured

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them that it was not in the power of Sherman and the whole Yankee nation combined to effect a crossing. But we will see if Sherman crossed and who was the most worsted. On the second we moved forward again. Our brigade in front as usuel on such ocations. The 25th Ind. was deployed on the skirmish line and our regt. supported it, moveing up in line of battle, but the Jonneys drove pritty well until about one or two oclock p . m . when they seemed to take up a stand, determined not to be drove any farther. Then the 10th was ordered to deploy on the left of the 25th and the 2ed and 3ed brigades of our division came up in line of battle to support us. But as usuel we pushed forward and soon routed the Rebs from our front. Here we lay all night on picket. The 25th got into the swamp in front of a Rebel fort that raked them from the high ground on the oppesit side, and being unwilling to give up the ground they had fought so hard to gain, stayed in the swamp all night. Friday, Feb. 3ed —At six oclock this morning we were relieved from picket by a regt. from the 3ed Division. Our regt. then moved to the right, takeing the main road leading into the swamp. After wadeing the swamp about 3/4 of a mile to the right of the road we found the 25th on the skirmish line where they had stood in water all night. We then relieved them and let them go back to high ground where they could warm, ring out their clothing, and make some coffee. Companies I & C were deployed in the same place where the 25th Ind was. The Rebs being in good range, and in sight on the other side of the river, caused both parties to keep up a sharp fireing. About noon Major Gillespie had orders to cross the river with one company if possable. So Lieut. [Thomas H. Kennedy] Cannada of Co. K vollunteered to try the crossing and got 8 or 10 new axes to chop down trees cross the river so as to cross on them.12 This being compleated, he crossed the river with but little loss. But the Rebel line seemed to be reinforced after a while and Co. K stood in danger of being taken in out of the camp or swamp. So Company G was called on to reinforce them. While we were crossing the river on the trees thrown cross, the Rebs let in on us pritty heavy. Cap. Wilson had just got cross when a bullet hit him in the shoulder. He was taken to the rear and the whole responcability fell on me all at once. I had the men to take shilter as best they could behinde the trees. Soon the fight increaced. The enemy seemed to advance, and were trying to flank our company at the bend of the river. I sent word to our Major to send out a company or so on our flank or we would not be able to hold our position. In a short time afterwards, a regt. came out to reinforce

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us and was sent down into the bend so no farther danger was assertained in regard to our flank. But the fight grew more desperet. Towards evening the artilery rolled and flashed at a fearful reat and the rattle of musketry was like one continues role of thunder. Our company shot upwards of 40,000 rounds of cartradges in less then 3 hours, but I much regret our loss. Besides our captain, our company lost 9 of hir best soldiers. Our first and second brigades effected a crossing some two miles above, and as we ingaged them so heavy in front and drawed all their forces to one place, these other two brigades were not noticed by the Rebs until they wer comeing up with fixed bayonets chargeing their fort. It was then getting dark. The Rebs turned their guns on the first and second brigades and cut them down sovearly for a few minutes but they had no time to loose. Their guns were limbered up and they put out on the run. We pursued them, expecting the 4th Division had crossed the river below and would hed them on their retreat. But they failed to get cross in time and the Rebs made good their escape, leaveing 7 of their dead and 30 or 40 wounded in hospital. We captured 25 that I know of. Some says that a larger squade has been taken, but I have not seen them and dont know it. We camp tonight in the Rebel fort. I have just been to talk with the prisoners. They say they thought it was Foster’s Corps they were fighting. They declair if they had known it was Sherman’s Army that they never would have fought so hard to hold the river and swamp, for it has been given up by them all that Sherman’s Army could not be stoped. They would go just where they wanted to go and the Confederacy could not help themselvs.13 Went out a forageing. Found plenty of every thing we wanted. Every farm house has wagon loads of nise, dry, salted meat. Found plenty of meal, flower, sugar, and molasses. Brought in several wagans loaded with pork besides what the boys carried. On leaveing the house where we loaded up, we set fire to a large barn filled with cotton and a cotton gine. In a few minutes it was all in flames. The old lady came out to the doar on hearing the roaring of the flames. When she saw what was dun, she fell down and went to praying with both hands extended upewards. I did not hear the words she uttered but I do not think she prayed for the Yankees without it was for their ruen. Some of the boys told hir not to take it hard. That was nothing to what we dun some places. 5th —Lay in camp all day. 3 men detailed from each company as foragers. They are now all mounted and brings in more grub then we can consume.14

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Monday 6th —Marched at day light. Made rather a slow march as the roads had to be cordroyed in many places so that the waggans could get along. Crossed the Charleston Road about one mile. Came to a swamp and camped for the night. On a Raid —Feb 7, 8, & 9 On the night of the 7th we camped within one mile of Midway on the Columbia and Branchville Rail Road. 8th —Marched out at 7 oclock. Soon struck the rail road and comenced work tairing up, pileing, burning, & twisting. The 15th Corps is to our left. The 14th and 20th Corps still to the left of them. After our regt. had compleated one mile of the work, we marched down to town and went into camp a little east of Midway. Spades and shovels wer sent for and we went to work building breast works we compleated by dark. The best works our regt. ever built. 9th —Marched at 8 Oclock and neared the Edisto River by 10 Oclock. Our brigade was in advance. The 32ed Wisconsin on the skirmish line. The enemy shelled us fuarcely as we lay in line supporting the skirmish line. Our battrey was run forward and shelled their fort vigerously dureing the day. At the mean time the pioneers wer buisey laying a poontoon bridge cross the river and after it was compleated, as they brought [it] to the high ground on the oppisit shore, we comenced just as it was getting dark to cross over, thinking we were going to get over at that place before they would finde it out. But we soon learned the reason why there was no pickets in our front at that place. After we had crossed the river and in what we supposed was high ground on the other side, we discovered that an emence swamp surrounded us and that had to be crossed before we could reach the Rebel pickets. Gen. Mower and Howard & Tillson were all there and after concidering the matter over for some time, they agreed it was best to push forward through the swamp, out flank the Rebs, and rout them at once, cold as it was. The word was given forward, so we waded in, every stepp getting deeper, until we got up to the arm pits, and some small men were eper, and some had to turn back. Although the distance was not quite a 1/2 mile, it took us upewards of half an houre to make the trip. Our leggs were so benumed that were carcly knew whither we had leggs or not. The Rebel pickets were stationed along a fence at the eadge of the swamp. A major was in commmand and when he heard the wadeing in the water near them, he hallowed out, “Halt! Who comes there?” At the same time one or two of the pickets fired. The major, on not receiveing any answer, was giveing the word to fire to the reserve, which he had drawn up in line. We give them a volley. Shot the major so that he died in a

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short time afterwards. The Rebel picket line flead without fireing another. We then formed in line of battle as we came out of the swamp. A skirmish line was sent forward. Consequently no danger was antisipated, so the boys puled of their shoes, rung out their socks. They gumped and danced around in order to keep their blood in circilation, and some would curs and swair, “Why the hell do they not have us charge the Reb fort at once so that we can get into camp and make fire?” Some would swair they would show no quarters to any Rebs that might come in contact with them or fall at their mercy this night. In a short time our brigade was all over and in line. The skirmish line haveing advanced half way up the field, we forwarded our line near to them and halted under a sharp fire from the Rebels as they gradually fell back before the steady advance of our line. The first brigade being over and formed in line of battle in our rear, we then had orders to fix bayonet and forwarded on the charge. The boys raised a yell that might have been heard far enough and dashed forward, hopeing to catch every thing in the Rebel works. I looked every minute as we neared the fort to hear the report of cannon and so some of our boys raked with canistor but their fright was too great. They all flead leaveing two 12 peaces in our hands. We then went into camp for the night, made large rail fires and dried our clothing. The boys were soon in the highth of glee and talked of the adventurs of the day with much intrest.15 North Bank of Edisto River, Feb. 10th/65 Today the tenth, we went out to the first plantation after forage. We finde more meat then our whole army can distroy. Also plenty of pitatos, sugar, molasses, corn, and rice meal, The Negros tells our boys where there masters hides such things that they want to kepp out of our hands, and our boys gos and digs their boxes of valueables. 11th —Marched at 8 oclock. As our division was in the rear today and our brigade in the rear of the train, we did not get into camp until after dark. I might remark here that our scouts and foragers brought in upewards of one hundered prisoners yesterday. When we charged them on the night of the 9th, they flew in all directions and sought shilter every where and any where they could. So yesterday while we lay in camp, our boys were runing every where over the country, and pickeing up Joney in squads of from two to five. 12th —The third Division has been hamering away all day trying to effect a crossing to Orangeburg, cross the North Edisto. At one oclock our

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division fell in and was marched down to the river and their formed line of battle. The 3ed Divison had crossed about one and a half miles below the bridge, and for fear of there being attacted by too strong and drove back, we were placed there to support them. But the Rebs flead as usuel as soon as they found a part of Sherman’s Army had gained dry footing on their side of the river. Our division then crossed at the bridge. Although it had been set fire to by the Rebs and partly destroyed, it was soon fixed to cross troops. On reaching the north bank of the river, we found ourselves entering the very hansom little town of Orangeburg. Every man was ordered to his proper place in ranks and we marched through the town in good order keeping time to the band as it played up “Yankee Doodle” at the head of our regt. I could not help but sympathize with the lady cittizens of this town. It semed that the weman had been flying before us for some time and takeing up shilter here, assured by the Rebs that they were safe on this side of the river. For they would die in thier tracks before a Yankee should cross to that town. Every house had from 4 to 8 wemen in and some more. But they expected nothing else then we would burn down every house and had made them selvs busey from the time they heard the first yell of the Yankees on this side of the river doing up what little clothing and beding they had or could carry, and piled them out of doars, and were standing around them with their shawls and bonnets on, redy for us to put the match to their houses. A great many large diserted buildings were already in flames. Some weman were crying bitterly. Others seemed sullen and independent.16 Distroying Rail Road Near Orangeburg 13th —Stood picket last night. At half past 7 oclock I joyned our regt. on the big road according to orders. Marched about 6 miles then turned into the rail road. Our work was soon laid off and we went to work tairing up, pileing, burning, and twisting. Our regt. distroyed one and a half miles then marched about 7 miles farther where the troops went into camp for the night. The weather is very cold here for the last two weeks and the further north, the colder it gets. A number accidents have taken place today by the explosion of torpedos. 1 killed and 3 wounded in the 25 Ind. by one exploding in a pitato hole. 1 killed and 4 or 5 wounded in the 4 Division while attempting to open a large box which they found in a swamp. A third torpedo exploded, killing and wounding two or three in the 3 division while tairing up rail road.17

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14th —Marched at 7 Oclock to near Louisville and went into camp about one Oclock. Our division is camped in line of battle. The 3ed and 4 Divisons is distroying rail road today. Some skirmishing in our front. Near Louisville, South Carolina Feb. 14th, 1865 Our division being in the rear of the corps, we did not leave camp until nearly noon. Last night very cold with sleet. This morning cold and rainy. Did not get into camp until 12 Oclock this p . m . on account of our advance skirmishing with the enemy. 15th —Marched at 7 Oclock. Waded several swamps. The 15th corps came into this road a head of us and was fighting the Rebs cross the river when we came up. We then took a road leading west about one and a half miles from the river, runing parallel with it. We soon reached a large hill oppisite Columbia where we had a splended view of the city at about a mile and a half distant. The city also sitts on a hill and the river runs through a gorge between. The 15th Corps have made a crossing about one mile above town with but very little resistance. The 14th corps is said to be makeing a crossing below. Battries were placed on this hill and sheled the town but have received no reply as yet. I expect by tomorrow morning there will be no Rebs to be found. The great Capital of South Carolina will be left to the hands of Yankees to plunder. I trust it may be consumed to flames, as it was here they inaugrated this rebelion.18 Columbia, February 16th 1865 All seemed quiet this morning around our line. A few cannon were fired cross the [Congaree] river into the city but no answer returned. The 15th Corps had not got the pontoon laid cross the second river yet so a volunteer party of about 50 men crossed the river oppiset Columbia on a large flatt belonging to our corps and placed their flag on top of the state house. The 15th Corps is very much discatisfied about it but Gen. Mower says if he had been in advance yesterday and deployed his swamp [angels], that is the 10th Ills., he could have went into the city in force before the sun went down last night. It was along in the evening before we got into the city. We passed through it and went into camp for the night about one mile north. Some few public buildings were fired after dark. On the north west cornor of the city, the wind blew very strong from that point and drove the fire maddly over the city, sweeping every thing before it. The farther it went the wider [it] got, forming a V cross the city.19

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Columbia is a pritty large place of 8,000 inhabitance and makes a very eligant show on top of a high hill. 17th —We moved out along the Kingsville and Charlotte RR. and went into camp about 6 miles from town. Our second brigade went back to town last night to distroy the depot and a large state house, the stone work just compleated. It and the depot had to be blown up. A large number of locomatives and cars were left in there flight. They were also burned up and the remaining part of the town consumed to ashes, excepting a few small houses in the suburbs of town. We got all the commisseries we wanted and burned great quantites we could not take along. 18th —Our regt. and a regt. from each of the other two brigades of our division went out to tair up rail road about 7 miles from camp. We run againest the Rebs very unexpectedly and sharp skirmishing comenced. The right wing of our regt. was deproyed and charged the enemy’s pickets. The Rebs flead after fireing their guns. Captain Gillespie thought there was only a few of them watching our movements so he called in the skirmishers and we marched along the railroad by the head of column. After marching about one mile from where we first started them, we came out of a curve in the rail road and found the Rebs in two lines of battle at about 250 yeds distent and cavalry flying to both right and left at full spead. The other two regts. in our rear were sent, one to the right and the other to the left, to guard our flanks while our regt. ingaged them in front. A heavy fireing was kept up for some time when the Rebs brought a battrey to bair on us. So Cap. Gillespie thought it the wisest plan to fall back and take up a good pusition so as to defend our selvs against a charge. Gen. Mower heard the cannon aiding at camp. He ordered out his division and soon came to our assistance. We then moved forward in line of battle, defying any Rebel power, but on reaching the place where we were oblidged to fall back, we found the Rebs had gon, and set fire to a large building at the station. I expect it was full of commisseries and they wished to get them away, but findeing us so close on them they set fire to it and skidaddled for fear of some Yankee movement. We then went out to where we started for, burned and twisted one mile to each regiment, and returned to camp before dark.20 22ed —Since the above date we have been following the rail road and has made a compleat job of it so far as Winnsboro. Here we found the 20th Corps had reached this point a head of us by another road and was guarding the city. Our regt. was halted in the streets a short time, wateing for the train to pass through and the guards got to telling our boys

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how mean the other divisions of the 17 Corps had been. While passing through the citty they had set fire to some houses in the lower end of the city and burned the town nearly half up without the guards seeing any one do it. But they said they could not come that over them again while they were on guard. While they were talking, about a duzin houses flamed up at one time. The flames were soon seen bulging out at the ruffes. The captain of the guard wished to god that no part of the 17th Corps would be alowed to stop in town again while he was on duty. We were soon moved off. Did not get to see how far the fire went before it stoped its distruction. We turned to the right, went back down, crossed river nearly in the direction we came, and camped for the night 9 miles south east of Winnsboro. Before closeing I must coat a little circumstance that occured today. It was a plan taken by our regimental foragers to get meet where they could finde none by any other means. Two or three of the boys wrode up to a big fine house and told the lady that our men had found where she hid hir meet and that they were fixing to burn it. And if she would save any of it she had better hurrie down there. Sure enough, she started and went down into the swamp to where she had a large quantitie of meet, flower, and molasses and other articles she valued as of importance to hir family. Our men followed hir down and thanked hir for hir kindness for showing them where it was. They loaded a waggon of the spoiles and brought it to camp. The boys says they will make this work for the time to come. 24th —Passed through the little town of Liberty Hill. The roads are very bad and has been mostly corderoyed. We camped on Thompson’s Plantation for the night and went on picket. Today has rained steadly and still rains. Near Little Linch Creek, South Carolina Feb. 25 Raining heavely this morning. We went into a Negro shanty and eat brackfast. Moved at 7 oclock. The roads still bad today. 4 of our foragers belonging to our regt. was killed today. The Rebs cut their throats and let them lay. Some few was taken prisoner. How they were use I do not know. The Rebs are dressed in our uneform and fools our boys very much.21 Near Big Linch Creek, Feb. 26th The roads are good and we have made a very good march today. We passed this forenoon where 2 of Co. A men were killed yesterday. A woman had dug a hole about 18 inshes deep and rolled them in and covered them up slightly.

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At this Big Linch Creek there is a large swamp. The pioneers have gon to make a road for us to cross tomorrow. 27th —At 7 Oclock a . m . we crossed the Big Linch Creek on a road made by the pioneers last night, and this morning horses and mules had to wade and one place they had to sweem. A negro woman tried to ride cross on an old horse and carrie hir baby but on reaching the deep water she let loos hir babie and it was drowned. Lay in camp all day on the east side of the river wateing for our supply train. They had to go by another road in order to save the amoneation and supplys from being wet. Our foragers captured 4 Rebel waggans and 43 mules. Also took some 20 horses, 12 prisoners. One was a major, and about 75 or 80 negros. But forage of all kinds is very scarce as we have been traveling through a fine wood country where we do not see a house in 8 or 10 miles or any place where any person could make a liveing. Some companies in our regt. have seen a little hard times in the way of some thing to eate. But our company has had plenty for so far, but nearly out tonight. 28th —Marched 16 miles today. Had a very good road. Went into camp 7 miles south east of Chesterfield. We have built breast works tonight. Hardee is said to be at Cheraw with 15 thousand troops determined to give us battle. Our foragers, or bummers as they are called, brought in some more prisoners this evening but very little forage. After getting into camp some of the boys went out to a house about one mile and a half from here and got all the meat and pitatos they could carrie on two mules. The weather is rather wet and disagreable. Every day has rained less or more for the last week. Today rained steadly. March 1st, Near Chesterfield, South Carolina Lay in camp all day on account of the other corps been far behinde on other roads. We have to wate for them as we are within 10 miles of Cheraw where the enemy is said to be in force some 30,000 strong, and well fortified.22 2ed —Our brigade went out in light marching orders 3 miles from camp on the Cheraw road. We struck their pickets. Skirmishing comenced and the Rebs fell back into their works. We formed line of battle and charged them out so as to gain an open country in our front held by them. As forage and grub was about plaid with us we did not minde a little fight in order to reach a part of the country where it promised us a liveing. The Rebs fell back some two miles and a half after being drove

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from their line of works. Here our foragers got enough to do us for the supper and brackfast, and corn and hay enough for horses and mules. After we had accomplished all we went to do, we returned to camp where we started from in the morning. 3ed —Moved out at 7 Oclock a . m . . Our division in advance again. Our regt. in advance of our brigade found the enemy strongly fortified where we left them last night. They had built a large fort on a hill right in the big road and a line of works runing off to the right and left some distance. Our brigade formed in line of battle, moved off to the left while the first drawed their attension in front. When we got to the extreem end of their works and a few shots were fired from their pickets, we raised a yell and came crushing through the woods like a herricane. The Rebs thought the Yankee nation had broken loos. They did not wate to fire another shot but flead, every man for himself. A great many of them throwing away their arms, knapsacks, haver sacks, &C in order to make the best time they could. We parsued them rappadly, giving them no time to rally. On reaching the suburbs of town, some shots were fired at us from different parts of the city. But the yell and the charge was renewed and the frightened Rebs broke for the bridge and crossed the river leveing every thing to the mercy of the Yankees.23 We followed them to the bridge as quick as we could but it was fired along in different places and had got so much of a start that we could not save it. Several [barrels of rosin] was used to consume the bridge in case we should attempt to cross. I have not lerned yet what capture we have relly made, all I know is what I have seen. 30 bress cannon was left at the depot and near the bridge which time would not inable them to take along. Also two large buildings filled with amoneation, a great many store houses full of cotton, and a large quantity piled up at the depot. Two large buildings was stoed full of corn meal which was loaded unto the supply train. Our foragers get all the meal and meat they wanted in town but no flower of any account. A great many valueables were found buirried. Some 2 or 3 baggs of gold and silver was found by our men buirred in the ground. We learn from the cittizens and prisoners taken that the Rebel force at this place was about 20,000 strong. Beauregard and Johnston, these two dashing generals have often fought this army before and always got baddly licked. Right where our regt camped, a large number of new graves were dug and coffins with dead men in sitting by them. Some had died and some had been killed yesterday and today. In their flight they were forced to quit their work and leave it for the Yankees to compleet. 4th —Lay in camp until about 3 Oclock p . m . at which time the pon-

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toon bridge was compleeted and our division moved forward again. Our company and Co. B of our regt. was deployed on the left supported by a line of battle. A skirmish line from the first brigade was deployed on our right and supported by their brigade in line of battle in their rear. The fields through which we passed were quick sands. We went over the shoes every step. About two miles from the river we struck the Rebel pickets and fired wickedly at long range. But we pushed forward without paying any attension to their shooting until we got within good shooting distance. We then halted and poured it into them pritty heavely for a short time, then yelled as if we were chargeing. But we were too much fagged out to make a charge, or even attempt it. The Rebs flead as usuel. When we reached the timber the Rebs could not be found. Gen. Mower concluded they had gone, and as it was getting dark we went into camp for the night. We had not been in camp more then half an hour when the heaviest cannonaiding broke out in our front ever I heard. Gen. Mower did not understand it. He thought it might be the 15th Corps on our left lead into some trap by the Rebs, as they had gone up the river to cross about one mile above. So our bugles were sounded fall in. Orderlies and stafe officers were flying from place to place as fast as their choice southern steeds could carrie them. We slung knapsacks, took arms, and started off, some times on the dubble quick, some time on a fast walk, from shoe top to knee deep in mud. Steering in the dirrection of the cannonaiding which some times fired at a fearful reat as if 100 guns were used as fast as cannoneers could play them. Then again it would slack, as if the thing was about over with only a shot ocationly. Then we would slack up our forced march. Again it would brake out, seeming more desperet then ever, and again we would increace our speed. Some sticking and tumbeling in the mud, the others d——ming them to get out of the road and pushing on over them. In this way we pirsued our corce for two miles, where we halted. The skirmish line moved forward. Faleing to finde any Rebs they began to think as I did at the start that it was nothing more or less then an explosion of amoneation. A few volunteered to go forward and be sattisfied of the fact. They soon returned with such news as myself and some other expected that the Rebs had piled their boxes of amoneation and set fire to it for fear of its falling into our hands as the roads were too bad for them to hall it, expecting us to push them faster then they liked. We then about faced and returned to camp. By a good rail fire we dried ourselvs, got supper, and got to bed by midnight, Rebel shells still bursting. We have Rebel papers of Feb. 27th. They give evidance of rumors we

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have heared for several days in regard to Schofield takeing Wilmington. Charleston was evacuated and occupied by our troops on the 13th of Feb. Camp Near Cheraw, South Carolina 5th Our division lay in camp all day wating for the 3ed and 4th Divisions to cross over the pontoon bridge. As I have nothings els to write for today I will note a few particulers of the City of Cheraw. The city is very hansomly layed off, with its wide streets, and 4 rows of live okes in each street. It covers I believe 1 1/2 miles squair but the buildings as scattered very thinly over it. I do not believe there is over 6,000 inhabitance in the whole city. 6th —Marched at 9 Oclock. Our division being in the rear of the corps. Passed through the town Bentonville, 14 miles east of Cheraw, and went into camp for the night. Today we have passed through a country, as rich or nearly so, as any I have seen. Plantations are large, the land is rich, and the cultivators of the land seems to understand their buisness. In fact I have seen the best farming along on our travels today then I have seen since I left Scotland. There is no need of starving here. Large quantities of cotton were burned in varies places today. Every place of intrest to the enemy was burned and blown up in the city of Cheraw this morning. The artilery was halled along as we have plenty of mules. Our foragers captured 40 yesterday. Tuesday, 7th day of March Camped at Bentonville. Moved at 7 oclock. Passed through a country like that of yesterday —plenty of every thing. We have more meat tonight then we could consume in a week. We are within two miles of the North Carolina line on the Fayetteville road. The roads being remarkable good we got into camp at 3 Oclock, giving plenty of time to get wood and water. Wed. 8th —Moved at 9 Oclock. Comenced to rain as we left camp. Had to lay on the road sides until about noon as our brigade was in rear of our division and our division in rear of the 3ed. Here we come into swamps again and oweing to its raining all day, the roads were so bad after the train passing that we had to carrie rails and cordiroy the road in order to get the rear along. We only made about 8 miles through as poor a country as it was rich for the two days passed. If this a sempal of North Carolina, I do not wonder at hir being somewhat loyal, or wishing to be friendly with a country most likely to assist hir, as she is not from present appearance able to mintain hirself.

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The rain fell thick and fast as we went into camp at dark and continued until long after night. 9th —Still in rear of every thing as we did not get up with the devision last night. The roads still miserabel. We went into camp at 10 oclock this p . m . , unable to get up with the devision as the roads are bad and the rain still falls heavely. In the Swamps of North Carolina March 10th Marched at half past 5 Oclock this a . m . , makeing rather slow head way oweing to the heavy rains that stil continue to fall, rendering the roads miserabel. No camp for us tonight as it is one emence swamp after another. Sutch hooping, hollowing, and whipeing of mules sticking in these swamps beats all on record. We have waded ever since we entered the state of North Carolina from shoe top in mud to weast deep in water. Waded swamps and lay along the road sides all night. 5 minutes before nine on the morning of the 11th we got into camp where the division lay and found orders awateing us to march at 9, only giving us 5 minuts to rest as we were to go in advance today. We passed the 3ed division. The day being warm after the rain, and haveing a plank road, we got along fine. Our advance guard with that of the 4th Division entered town about noon. The Rebs flead with little or no resistance to the oppisite side of the river. We passed through the little village of Rockfish. I say little vilage, but it is a larg town of little houses and closely built up. Here was two large cotton factories on Rockfish River and these small one storie houses were built for such hands as was imployed in these mills. There was also two large turpintine and rosam factaries carried on by the working hands of this town. These fatories were all fired. I never seen in all my life such a flame and smoke as the turpintine factories made. As the City of Fayetteville was taken with out any truble, we went into camp two miles from it. Our Co. went on picket. March 19th In camp near Goldsboro Oweing to our continuel marching night and day from the date given previous to this deprived me of writing up my journal daily as I generly do. Consequently I have forgoten a great many little particulers that would have been noted had time been favorable. I will only say in regard to the past that our brigade was the first to cross the river at Fayetteville in front of the enemy that give conciderable of resistance from the oppesite side. We continued to drive them back and foraged around for two days, at which time our corps had all

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crossed and we started out again for Goldsboro to connect with Schofield. We found the roads very bad and as we had just so many miles to make each day, it generaly occupied all night as well as day to make it. But today for the first we had a splended road and marched our 17 miles and got into campe before dark. Regoyced at our good luck. Went to bed early for the purpos of haveing a good nights sleep. But a little before 12 Oclock at night we were aroused by our major hallowing for us to get up and be ready to march at once. All necessary preperations were made and we moved out, leveing train with two regts. of our Second Brigade to come when they could. And our brigade and the first started out on a forced march in the direction of where we heared heavy cannon aiding yesterday and dureing the night. About 12 or One Oclock on the 20th, we joyned the 15 Corps and the other two divs. of our corps. After a march of 25 miles without a chance to eate breackfast. Nor was there a chance given us now. Here the Rebel army under Beauregard, Johnston, & Hood had concenterated all the forces they could gather together for the purpus of crushing Schofield before we arived to assist him. And then they calculated to gobbel up Sherman’s Army by detail, keep him from opening communication with the Yankee Army.24 Schofield was able to defend himself until we reached him. The 14th and 20th Corps on our extreem left were the first of Sherman’s Army to strike the Rebs and a desperit fight insued. The Rebs fearing there only chance of retreet being cut off by the 14th Corps takeing posession of the only bridge crossing the river, made a desperit charge in which they broke the center of the 14th corps and compeled them to fall back some two miles in order to ralley again. Here they formed and built as quick as they could a berracade of rails to protect them from any farther defeat. The old brigade to which we belonged when in that corps was badly used up. Their battrey was taken by the Rebs and the 10 Michigan lost their collors. Again the Rebs charged as if encuraged by their late victory but the 14th was not to be defeated this time. They held their works and repulced 5 charges made by the enemy. No dubt the Rebs would have made some other bold attemps but night closed the conflict. I am told the ground was litterly covered with dead Rebs. The 14th loss was also heavy as they charged the enemy in the evening after repulceing their 5th charge, and retook the ground they lost on the first charge. They also retook the 10th Michigan collors with two stands of Rebel collors, and retook the battrey with a Rebel battery in edeation. Tonight the Rebs are said to be hemed in on the river with no chance to escape. We advanced in line of battle all after noon in rear of the skirmish line. We have hooped them up pritty good all afternoon, driving them steadly back

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all the time. In the evening our division was relieved and sent to the rear for rest, as it was almost worn out. The men would sleep walking along. Some prisoners we took said their force is from 35,000 to 40,000 and says also that their loss yesterday was very great and they much lemented the loss of Lieut. Gen. Stewart killed in action yesterday.25 On the Battlefield at Bentonville 21st At the sound of the bugel we fell in. Our division moved off to the right to take pusition on the right of the 4th Division of our Corps. The division was formed in one single line of battle and moved forward close behinde the skirmish line. Soon we struck the Rebel pickets. The skirmish line charged and drove them back. Soon they incountered a heavy fire from the Rebel main works, and not being able to advance any farther, the line of battle was ordered to charge. Bayonets were fixed and we dashed forward like good fellows, lodeing and fireing as we went, and yelled our best at the same time. The Rebs soon ceased fireing and left their works, which we soon scaled and followed them up for some distance with very little resisitance. After they left their works we captured at the line of works 3 peices of artilery which the Rebs played on us with all the accuracy in their power so long as they dar stand by them, and about 60 head of horses. But on our forward movement, runing, hallowing, and shooting, we run against a Rebel line that would not flee from us as they did at first. Here a general ingagement took place from one end of our line to the other. The Rebels finding we would not be driven by a fair stand up and fight, made a charge on our line which we repulced very hansomly. But they learned in their charge that our left was intirly open and unprotected. In a short time afterwards, the enemy made another charge and came down in our front. We ingaged them with all the determination in our power to chack them, but to no use. Our regt. been on the left flank soon found the enemy comeing down on our left flank, swinging around in our rear. To delay another minute would not only have been the capture and distruction of our own regt., but the distruction of the whole division. And finding our line broken and confused in many places, and the Rebs within 20 yds. of us in massed column, firing their best, and hollowing to us to surrender, we about faced and made for the rear as fast as we could, but found in retreating to the rear that the enemy were sweeping around and was as heavy in our rear as the front. So our only chance was to break to our left. We got out and formed another line with what men we could rally and again chacked our enemy, althoug far superior in numbers. After some times fighting on this new line and our first bri-

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gade duble quicked to our left to guard against another flank movement, the enemy fell back to long range. Towards evening we moved to the right and joyned on the same line with the 4th Division and built strong breast works. If our company was all here and well to share their chances with us behinde them I would be glad, but I cannot help regreating seriously the loss we have sustained this day, although some other companies in our regt. have suffered much heavier then ours.26 Our loss is Corporal John Hungerford killed, Sergt. [George] Rausch wounded in thigh sovearly, [Americus] Wyatt Pr. wounded in side sovearly, Pr. [Fred] Mowee [also listed as Moore] wounded in neck slight, Pr. [David] Taylor on head slight. Some companies have lost as high as 14 and it almost seems a miracle that even one could escap death. I have not learned the exact number of killed and wounded in our regt. but I will not miss it far in puting it at 75. We lost the heavest of any regt. in the division. The others will average from 35 to 40. After compleeting our works and the darkness of the night, after a very rainey day, assured me that I would be safe to leave the company long enought to assign the body of John Hungerford to the grave, so I called for 4 volunteers to accompany me, and we went back to where I had a detail to carrie him too in the evening. It was a house used as a hospital for our division about half a mile to our rear. When his grave was dug we placed two boards the length of it in the bottom then put down two edge ways forming a box. Then placed his remains in it. Had 3 short peices placed one cross each end and one in the center, then placed 3 boards length ways covering the body, or rather in closing it as compleet as if it was in a coffin. The chapline of the 25 Wisconsin was present and made a prair over the grave. We then filled it up and covered it off as nice as we could by the light of a fire. Then we visited our wounded in the hospital and returned to our works where we found supper awateing, the first chance to eate since brackfast. Behinde our works on the morning of the 22ed day of March At early day light we could here the yell of our pickets. The enemy had evacuated in the night and just before day the pickets of our enemy left our front. Our pickets found it out and advanced to there evacuated works at day light. It was then they raised the cheer to asure us in camp that the enemy had flead. We had orders to fall in at once and marched after them 6 or 8 miles, recaptured our wounded left in their hands and a number of prisoners. We then returned to where we lay all night and remained the ballance of the day.

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23ed —Marched within 5 miles of Goldsboro and camped for the night. Here we met the 24th & 25th Corps comeing to reinforce us. These corps are mostly collored troops. 24th —We marched cross Neuse River. Met Brother James. He came out 2 miles from town to meet us and went with us to camp 2 miles east of town and returned to his detachment the same evening. 25th —Our regt. went out after forage with the Div. train. When we returned at night I found Brother James, [Hero S.] Siefken, [William] Horner, [ James] Russell, [George] Brantlinger, and [Herman] Ellenbrock awateing us. Had been dismissed to joyn their regt. In camp near Goldsboro, North Carolina April 4th, 1865 Since the previous date nothing of intrest has expired.27 As we have still remained in camp in the same place where we first took pusetion, we have fixed up in regular camping order. Has got a splended camp ground and our regular drill and dress parades have been ordered. Cap. Gillespie has been promoted to Lieut. Colonel, and Cap. Race to Major and a number of orderlys and sergts to lieutenants in our regt. I have been very buisey since we have been here makeing our muster rolls and a variety of other papers. Lieut. [Matthew H.] Jamison of Co. E takes command of Co. G from the first day of April and asumes responcable. Sunday, April 9th findes us still in camp as above stated, but marching orders is expected every minute and all prepairations have been made to move in the morning. Grant has sent an order to Sherman stating that he has taken Richmond, defeated and captured a great part of [the Rebel] army, and is determined to press him to the end. And orders that Sherman will press Johnston at the same time, and a short time will totaly destroy the Rebel Army. Orders have been officelly read throughout the army that Grant defeated Lee and his whole army, and drove him from his strong hold. Killed and wounded 15,000 and captured 25,000 prisoners. Rumor says that 1,200 Reb Cavalry has come in to our lines and gives them selves up.28 Our company has obtained 7 Henry Riffels. Brother James and Myself has one each at a cost of about 56 dollars each. Some pays as high as 65 including intrest. Co. K has 10 Henry Riffels. Each company in the regt. has less or more of them.29 I never see our army in better cheer then at the present. Each and all of them is anxious to press forward and crush the thing at once as they want to go home to see there little ducks or something of that nature.

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Lieut. Winsitt is going home. He starts tonight for the United States or as some says, God’s country. No. of my Henrie Riffel 470[1 or H] 4701. Camp at Raleigh, Capital of North Carolina Saturday, April 15th 1865 Thanks be to the Almighty God who rules all things! Through his goodness and tender mercies to us we have at last brought the Confederate powers to shrink at our feet and begg for mercy. This day [is] the happiest of our lives. I feel proud to be pirmited in trouth to enter on my record, the surrender of Gen. Johnston and his entire army. We left camp near Goldsboro on the morning of the 10th with 6 corps under Sherman, each corps marching as usuel on different roads, in supporting distance of each other. We found the roads very bad on account of heavy rains, but we pressed on, determined to overtake Johnston or at least to meet the concenterated armies of Lee and Johnston, [and] with Grant in their rear and Sherman in their front, make one finishing blow towards puting down this rebelion. But on the morning of the 12th the glorious news were read to us of Lee surrendering his entire army to our heroick Grant, including all his artilery, storage, and small arms, the army being all peroled and officers alowed to retain their side arms. After our troops received these glorious news, they liked to go mad from joy and excitment. They cheered long and loud and throwed their hats high in the air. It reminded me of as many crows diveing to the ground before an aprotching storm. We made rather slow headway on the 12th, the roads being almost impassable through what is called the Pine Flats, but we continued our march assisting our waggans all we could until 2 Oclock on the morning of the 13, at which time we had ganed 10 miles only. Yesterday the 14th we passed through the city of Raleigh. We all took our propper places. The music struck up at the head of each regt. and we passed through the Capital of North Carolina as in review. The cittizens seemed much delighted at the seen and the young ladies would come out to the street and look at our long and endless lines as they passed through, clap their hands together, and exlame, “O, how delightfull the Yankee soldiers looks!” “O, how pritty!” And “What fine looking men! I do declair!” We passed through the town about two miles and went into camp on the west of town. This morning the 15th we had orders to march at 8 a . m . . The morning being very rainy and seemed rather disegreable for marching, the boys were rather dull in spirit and seemed to despise the undertaking. We had just fell in and counted off when orders came for us to put up our tents and remain where we were for the present, as Johnston had surrendered his whole force, about 40 thousand, to

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Gen. Sherman. Men and officers yelled and shouted with joy, throwed up their hats, some tramping them in the mud. They were so rejoyced that they scarely new what to do with exceitment.30 As I have already said, we thank God that the Confederacy has at last plaid out. We hope to here of peace nixt, and then of our discharge. Camp near Raleigh, North Carolina April 20th, 1865 Since the last date we have been daily awateing with great anxiety the final agremant between Johnston and Sherman, as they have been daily commmunicating in person between our picket lines and the Rebs. Yesterday an order was sent around and read to each company that Sherman’s propositions to Johnston were all setisfacterly, and only needed the approvel of the athorities at Washington.31 We expect tomorow to hear the full particulers. The war is over as there is no longer an enemy for these great Armies to meet. The cittizens declair the war is over and seem to rejoyce more then we do. The editors of the differont papers published at Raleigh remianed in town when Johnston left and came out [with] strong Union papers. There is 3 papers published daily in this town. On the 17th the deploreable and heart rending news of President Lincoln’s death reached us. A strong guard had to be placed around the city of Raleigh to keep the soldiers from racking out their vengance on the cittizens of Raleigh.32 The weather has been very pleasent since our arivel here. Foraging of all kinds is stoped. The people all ask protection under the old flag and we have no wish to refuse it. 21st —The different corps have been reviewed in the city of Raleigh dureing the past few days. Yesterday the 10th Corps was reviewed and today the 23ed. Saturday 22ed —All quiet hear. No news of intrest. Great talk about when and what time we will get to go home. The 20th Corps was reviewed today. Some think we will leave this place in a few days. No one seemes to know where we will go next, but every one conjecters some reasonable place. We have a splended camp now; I hate to leave it on that account. It has cost a gret deal of work to make it so and is scarcly finised yet. A line guard has been placed around our brigade this morning to keep out boys from going out into the country and rubbing the cittizens of what little they have to subsist their famielys.

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Camp Near Raleigh, North Carolina Sunday, April 23ed Our division was reviewed today by General [Manning Ferguson] Force our Division Commander. We are to have a grand review tomorrow in the city and every means is put forth to beat the 20th Corps, as it has taken the praize so far. Liewt. Anderson has returned to company today. Also Alfred E. McDaniel returned —been lately exchanged. Was a prisoner since July ’64. Monday, 24th —Our Corps, the 17th was reviewed by Generals Grant, Sherman, Meade, and a large number of other major generals and brigidears without end. We made a fine appearance with our palised boots and harnis all shining bright as new. Every man dun his best. The Generals present all agreed that our corps made the best appearance both in drill and cleaneliness of any others reviewed. 25th —Marched at 7 Oclock went out on the Charlotte Railroad about 12 miles and went into camp. We have been puting off time ever since we came here wating for Johnston to surrender, but now since Grant has came, he has come to terms at once or we will move right unto him. Grant and Sherman will both visit Johnston tomorrow. Camp on the Railroad 12 miles west of Raleigh April 26th 1865 Seen General Grant and Sherman pass out to the front on the cars about 10 Oclock. The boys cheered him good as he passed. We have buissed ourselvs cleening up camp all day. Tonight we have a fine camp and well fixed up for comfort. About 8 Oclock tonight the train on which Grant & Sherman, [Major General Frank P.] Blair and some others were on returned from the front where they have been holding a enterview with Johnston. Blair, our corps commander, came off the train at Corps Head Qrts. The boys crouded around so numerous and cheered so loudely that Blair was oblidged to stop before entering his tent and make a few remarks to the boys in regard to the proceedings of the day. The few words were this. “Fellow soldiers. We have held an enterview with Gen. Johnston today and he has surrendered everything this side of the Mississippi, but was pirmitted to retain 8,000 men with arms to subdue all raiding parties in this department, as some had refused to surrender as he commanded. And we would return to Raleigh tomorrow, and make prepairations to march to Washington at once to be mustered out.” The boys cheered long and loud, fired their guns, and sky rockets wer shot high in the air until a late houre.

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27th —Marched at 7 Oclock and arived in our old quarters near Raleigh at 11 Oclock. Everything being nearly as we left them, it did not take long to fix up again. Tonight looks rainy. 28th —Today has been a day of rejoycing throughout the army, circuling around the pleasent and much admired city of Raleigh. Since dark the skyes have been aluminated with sky rockets, turpintine balls, &C, and the cheers and shouts of the overjoyed soldiers is beyond any thing I have ever witnessed. A desperit yell will arize in a regt. and extend from regt. to brigade, then to the division, from division to corps, and so on, until our whole army have joyned in one continuel yell so tremendious as almost to make the earth trimble. And while I am writing the mules joyn in the coras, and aid metariely to the din and racket of the evening. We all expect to march in the morning for Petersburg, and from there to Washington by the way of Richmond, where we expect to be mustered out of the service in a few weeks. And the boys feels inclined to pass this night as mirrily as passable as it is supposed to be their last here. I have spent this day very pleasently. In the forenoon I wrot a short letter to Father and one to Brother Thomas. After dinner went up town with Brother James and some others, Went to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum which opened up three Oclock p . m . and had the pleasure of seing the deaf and dumb take lessons and converce by sines.33 And by their edicuated language of propperly spelling their words, they told several love tails by sines. The teacher explained the meaning as they laid it off. It was very intresting. Then a deaf and dumb teacher preached or recited a portion of scripture by sign. Then the blinde were brought in about 10 in number. The teacher told the audance to call for any portion of scripture in the Old or New Testament, and his bline students would finde the verce and chapter and reed from it enough to sattisfy all present that they realy had that powerful sence of feeling. They were tryed in various parts and read correctly. The teacher then dubled a linnon handkerchief and spread over the book and a young lady of about 20 read correctly by feeling through it. Some rought sums in multiplycation by useing raised figgers and setting them in as type. The young lady above mensioned about 20 years of age was a splended singer of music and played on the piano with a masterly hand. But the most intresting part of all was at the close where the teacher wished to show us how the deaf and blinde converced together. The blinde would make signes by spelling their words as they would to each other. But when the deaf was makeing signs to the blinde, the blinde would take hold of the hand of the deaf and read by feeling the move-

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ments of the fingers. I sit and admired the proceedings from 3 Oclock to 5 and would have been highly pleased to have sit hours longer had the school not been dismised. After the school broke up I went up and exemined the books from which the blinde read. They were all raised letters though little larger then our common print. One lady teacher brought in a number of articles rought by the blinde in the shape of purces, creem pots, sugar boles, baskets, &C, wrought with beeds and fine wiar. It would put the most skilful workman to the test to equel it with all the eye sight that man could have. After reaching camp I found orders had been given for dress parade. At the call of the drum we fell in and formed on the callor line. We were then formed in close column of company and a splended flag was presented to our regt. by the cittizens of Alton. It cost two hundered dallors and was sent to us by Gen. Tillson who presented it in there name with a very entertaining address. April 29th 1865 Marched from camp at 9 Oclock, but oweing to bad places in the road and our div. in rear of the Corps, it was 9 Oclock at night before we got to camp. The day was warm but rained heavely from about sundown til midnight. After today our marches will be more regular as the army is only taking pusition to be in readness to begin their regular marching on Monday morning. The order of march is that each division will keep its regular pusition on the march, and that each div. will camp within two miles of the one in advance every night, and that each division commander will see that his division begins camping as near the hour of 3 p . m . as possable each day so that the rear of each div. will get into camp before dark, as it is the intension of the general commanding to make this march as easie as possable. And all pilliging and morading must be stoped. An officer will be sent in advance of each division with a sufficent guard to place one or more at each house to remain here until the division have all passed, to provent any one from molesting anything about the primises. No forage will be taken from the cittizens. Quarter masters only will have the right to precure forage and they must be prepaired to pay cash for it, bonds for the same, so as to enable the cittizens to get their pay from goverment. The orderly of each company is ordered to call the company roll every time the command halts to provent any one from leaving the road to pillage in the country, and all such pillagers when caught will be instantly and sovearly dealt with.

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A national salute of 37 guns is fired at Raleigh every evening at sun down. Sunday 30th We have had a very pleasent day laying in camp on the north side of the Neuse River, about 13 miles north of Raleigh. We mustered today at two p . m . for the months of March and April. We also made out our monthly returns, so on the first day of May we will be ready to strike out on a more peaceable campaign then any we have yet had the pleasure of going through. Thank God we will be as it were on our way home through once a rebelious, now a peaceable country, and beg our protection. May 8th In camp north of Petersburg Being somewhat tired after a very sovear march to this place I do not feel inclined to coat many particulers. Our line of march was taken up on the morning of the first of May at the Neuse River. Each corps taking its own road. The Corps commanders had each full power to march as they could or as they wished until they arived at this place, as General Howard went to Petersburg by watter. Instead of having a easie march as we expected, each Corps commander rushed his command to their utmost exertions in order to be the first to Petersburg. Our Corps the [17th] followed the rail road until between Gaston and Manson, where we left it to our right and took a more direct rought to Petersburg. On the second day’s march we crossed the Pamlock River. The bridges were yet good so we were not delayed in crossing them. On the evening of the 3ed we arived within two miles of the Roanoke River where we had to lay over all day on Thursday for the 15th Corps to cross the pontoon bridge. As our roads came in together at or near the river and as the 15 Corps had 10 or 15 miles the start of us, and also had the direct road, they headed us to the river about 10 minutes. On Friday morning we up and started out at 3 Oclock without wating for brakefast. Crossed the Roanoke River, marched 15 miles before we halted for brakefast. The day was very hot yet we marched 33 miles before we camped for the night. On Saturday the 6, we marched at day light, crossed the Chawn and Herring Rivers, and after a march of 25 miles we camped for the [night], haveing previously cut off two divisions of the 15th Corps and nearly all their train. Notwithstanding they had one day’s march the start of us from the Roanoke R. as they comenced crossing on Thursday morning and occupied the ballance of the day crossing their train. These last two day’s marching will be layed down as amongest the hardest and most trying of our experance. Some 14 within the last two days fell dead on the road and many others were

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sun struck that will not recover soon. The number above mensioned was only from our devision. Other divisions in our corps lost in preportion, and no doubt the others lost as meny as ours. On the morning of the 7th we marched at daylight and after a march of 17 miles we camped for the night within 3 miles of Petersburg. We crossed the Rebel works 11 miles from town. They were not very strong of themselvs, but 4 rows of pickited limbs were placed along in front of them so as to make [it] perfectly secure from storm. Today, Monday the 8th, we took up our march at 8 Oclock, passed through the City of Petersburg, much admired by cittizens and soldiers of the Easteran army. Our boys would hallow out as they passed them by in emense crowds, “No wounder we have not been payed lately. They are useing up our pay rolls for shirt collers.” Camp Near Richmond, Virginia May 11th 1865 On the morning of the 9th we took up our line of march from camp 2 miles north of Petersburg and arived at our present camp about 7 oclock p . m . the same day, a distance of 17 miles. As we neared this city about 9 miles from town, we crossed two lines of Rebel works and one line built by our men under Sheridan. At the same lines Sheridan was routed by the Rebs as they were falling back from Richmond. So far as I have eximened the works around these much talked of strong holds, I have not yet seen any works to compair with those of our enemy around Atlanta and Marietta. Yet we have not seen as yet where any hard fighting was dun, although the trees shows marks of cannonaiding and some musketry, but not enough to give evidance of a battle. On our ariveing at this place on the 9th, an order was ussued by Gen. Halleck now commanding the department of the James, that no man of Sherman’s Army will be alowed to visit the citty until such times as they are marched through. This had rather a bad effect, as Sherman’s boys were not going to be deprived of all priveliges, and the more they talked over the matter the worse they got. So yesterday the boys crowded down to Manchester, a town on the south side of the James River opisit Richmond. The guards had orders to drive them all out of town but soon found it impossable to obay orders as Sherman’s boys would go just where they pleased in defiance of them. The Provost Marshal, determined to have his orders obayed, got about 50 Guards with fixed bayonets and went to work to drive Sherman’s boys from town. But the boys soon gathered a large crowd together and made a determined stand armed with brick bats, rocks, chunks of wood, &C. The provost marshal formed his men in line cross the street and ordered them to fire, our boys daring them at the same time. Some 3 or 4 obayed the orders and

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fired, but was carefull to eather fire too high or into the ground. One man I believe was slightly wounded. Our boys then raised the yell and went in, rocks and bricks bats flying like hail. The provost marshal and his little army with white gloves & glittering bayonets flead in great disorder. The boys hurried them along through several streets and cleer cross the ponton bridge into the city of Richmond. The boys then took pusession of the town of Manchester, went into suttler stores and bakeries, and demanded what ever they wanted. And where they were refused they lost no time in cleening out the estabelishment. Along in the evening Gen. Mower, now commanding the 20 corps but lately commanded our division, came wriding along, and seeing the boys of his old command standing at the end of the pontoon bridge he asked why they did not go over to the city. They told him the Army of the James held the Richmond side and they were determined to hold Manchester. Mower told them if they wished to see the city of Richmond to follow him —he would take them over. So they marched onto the pontoon bridge and crossed over. A strong guard stood on the Richmond end of the bridge. They looked very sower as the boys rushed past them but said nothing. They looked on all sides for the provost marshal but never got their eyes on him more. After they had went where they pleased and seen all that they wanted, they returned over the pontoon bridge, hooping and hollowing that they had repulced the Army of the James and took pusession of Manchester and Richmond. Another order was ussued immediently by Gen. Halleck stating that passes should be given to 4 men a day from each company to visit the city of Richmond while they stayed here. 4 men from our company visited Richmond on pass today, and the greatest part of the company has went the same rounds without passes. The guard in the city says they will not enterfear with Sherman’s men any more, and says, “The d—— d fools has got no edication. That’s why they have not sence to be afraid, or see the danger they would plunge themselves into.” Our boys told them if learning made men cowerds, it was evident the Army of the Potomac had all received an extravagant education. May 12th —Near Richmond, Virginia At 7 Oclock this a . m . all been in readness, we renewed our march for the city of Washington. Although it is much dreaded by many of us, yet we ar anxious to put it through, believeing it our last march under arms. We passed through the City of Manchester, crossed on the pontoon bridge layed across the James River, and entered the city of Richmond. Passed by Libby Prison and another cald Fort Thunder. Both close on the bank of the James River. All the upper end of town was burned on

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the south side nixt to the river. The Rebs fired it themselves when burning some storeage when they wer evacuating the place. We marched through different streets leeding through the princaple parts of the city. Owing to the 14th and 20th Corps been on the same road a head of us, we were obliged to camp 6 miles north of Richmond. I have just today learned the reason why we did not pass through the city of Richmond on review as we expected to do. General Halleck accused Sherman as a trater for not pushing unto Johnston after he had proposed terms of surrender, and used all the influence in his power to have Sherman dismissed from his command.34 On our arivel at Richmond, Halleck’s Head Qrs. was in the city and he was commanding the department of the James. General Sherman also estabelished his Hd. Qrs. in the city but did not call on his superior officer Gen. Halleck. Gen. Halleck sent Sherman an order stating that he desired him to be ready to march his troops through the city on their way to Washington by the 13th or 14th and that he wished to review them as they passed through. Sherman wrote him a reply stating that if he would avoid any farther trouble, he would advise him to keep quiet and within doars while himself and troops were passing throug, as his presance would not add to the respect he had for himself and men.35 And as for the day and order of march, he would conduct at his one pleasure and that as early as he thought his wearied troops were sufficently recruited to reniew the march, and that it was his intension to pass his army through the city on their way to Washington when he pleased and throug what portions of the city he pleased. “And in what shape I please, and you, Gen. Halleck, cannot review my troops, nor impede my way and as I have already stated, you will do well to keep out of my way and that of my brave followers.” 36 Although meny of our boys were through the city and passed Halleck’s Head. Qrs., no one ever got to see him. I believe he was affraid to show himself at a window, fearing some of Sherman’s Swamp Lizzerds might plug him befor he could have time to bat his eyes. May 13th in Camp Near Hanover Court House Hanover Court House is one mile south of Chickahominy River and 17 miles north of Richmond. There is no town here. I seen two or 3 hotells and a blacksmiths shop but no stores of any kinde. The cowert house is small and resembles a church more then a cowert house. It is well finised with a stair way leeding up to the second story on the out side. The gail stands about 200 yds. north of the cowert house in a pleasent little grove. The gail is very small but very beautifull being built of blue rock, all dressed in squair blocks. The windows are long and ner-

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row with heavy iron bars. The roads are very bad oweing to late rains and the Army of Georgia is on the same road in advance of us and has detained us much yesterday and today. Their heavy wagon trains leaves the road in a horrable condeation. 14th —Lay in camp until 12 Oclock for the other two divisions of our corps to pass as it comes our turn to take the rear. We crossed the Chicahominy about one mile from camp. Was surprised to finde it such a small streem. Sherman’s Army has crossed a great deal worse places in line of battle. Here Sheridan injaged the enemy and was repulced. The country shows no marks of battle to what I expected to see. What little works I have seen built by the enemy could have been stormed with assurance of victory. I have seen nothing to hold a large army in chack and the country is favorable for opperation, being level and but little timber in the way. I cannot see as our army built any works atall. This accounts for their many defeats. This afternoon was very warm yet we marched 16 miles and camped one houre before sundown. May 15th —On the march towards Washington Marched at 4 Oclock. Found the roads good. Marched 18 miles and got into camp at 12 Oclock after a march of 18 miles. 16th —Marched at half past 4 a . m . and after a march of 12 miles we arived at the city of Fredericksburg about 10 Oclock a . m . . Here we rested about half an houre by a creek on the south of town, filled our canteens, and got cooled off for it was getting very warm. Then we reniewed our march, passing through the city in good order, led by the different bands of music, fifes & drums, &C. Passed General Sherman’s Hd. Qrs. He was sitting on a chair out side of the doar surrounded by various officers of high rank, but all strangers to [us] excepting our Hero Sherman. He seemed well pleased at the rough appearance and good order of his war worn veterans as they passed by the head of column at a sholder arms, keeping time with the music. After passing through the main part of the city we filed to the right, crossed the Rappahannock on a pontoon bridge, and rested again on the top of a high hill wher we had a fine view of the city and country around as far as the eye could see. The timber has been all cut within 8 and 10 miles of the town. This is the prittiest place for field opperation I have ever seen. Fredericksburg is situated in a nerrow velly between to ranges of hills called the Virginia Heights. Here Burnside fought a hard battle. Had 150 peacis of artillery planted on the top of the hills

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and opened a cannonaiding on the city. There is not a house in town but what is riddled with cannon balls and many of them shot down. I never seen greater distruction dun to a city by cannon then this. Frame houses are totally riddled with musket balls. Burnside took his pusition on the range of hills already mensioned and opened the engagement without puting up any works for his infantry and rather worthless constructions wer put up for their artilery. The enemy held a line of works on the highest bank of the Rappahannock on the south side and close along the rear of the city, or I might rather say, the front. The shower of iron powered down upon the city and Rebel works from 150 peacies of artilery well managed compelled them to abandon their works and the city dureing the quiet hours of night. On the morning after the evacuation Burnside had a pontoon bridge laid and crossed his army and advanced to gain the ridge on the south side of town. But the enemy had not went far away. They had taken up their pusition on this high rige and could see the whole proceedings of Burnside. Dureing the day Jackson had his army massed behinde a stone fence and as Burnside’s army drew near to this wall, Jackson sounded his bugle and the massed army of the enemy arose from their concealment, raised the yell, and rushed down on Burnside, totally demoralising his army. The enemy opened masked battires and powered into them with their muskets. There was no time for such an army to recross a pontoon bridge. Consequantly, they dashed in the river at the nearest point and many got drowned in trying to sweem cross and many got shot in the water. This turned out a great victory for the enemy and a total rout, with a heavy loss both in killed, wounded, and taken prisoner, as all fell into the hands of the enemy. This battle was lost through bad generalship that every private in Sherman’s army can see at the first glance over the ground where the battle was fought, and where our army was defeated. Had Burnside formed a single line on the most favorable ground south of the city as they crossed the pontoon bridge and marched into pusition, and there went to work at once with picks, spaids, and shovels, and built a line of works such as Sherman’s army is in the habit of puting up on such ocation, and after this line was compleeted, man it strongly with a good line of his best and most trusty troops when that was compleated, and all ready to move forward, throw forward a strong skirmish line, and fallow up with a single line of battle. And then should they meet with any such disasters as they might have expected from this range of high hills, this line of battle and skirmish line could have dubble quicked back crossed over the line of works. By this time, our artilery propperly placed and the infantry behinde the works, would be in readness to sweep the earth and hurrell to distruction the massed forces of the enemy as they rushed

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forward. They would have been compelled to retreat, and in doing so their loss would have been even greater then Burnsides, as our front line could have charged their broken ranks as they turned to retreat, and drove them till night would have closed the conflict.37 Burnside fought 7 day’s battle at this place and the 7th the worst and most desperit of all. He lost 10,000 men. From this hill where we rested after passing through town, we had the pleasure of seeing the large brick building where General Washington was raised from a boy to manhood. He was born 8 miles from town on the Rappahannock, and lived there until his father’s death, when his mother moved to this house in the suburbs of town. A naphew of George Washington’s lives there now. Today the hottest of any on this march. On account of wood and water we had to continue our march 12 miles north of Fredericksburg, making a march of 24 miles today. 17th —Lay in camp until 11 Oclock a . m . at which time we marched — went 10 miles and camped for the night. Today extreemly warm. One man was sun struck and died on the road side. Several others were sun struck. 18th —Marched at 7 Oclock and after a march of 16 miles went into camp on a high hill on the north side of Aquia Creek. 6 miles above this place is where the Battle of Bull Run was fought, and these hills where we have camped for the night is the first place [Irwin] McDowell rallied his forces and built works the same night in order to chack the enemy that they imegened was pursueing them closly. But the enemy did not fallow them, consequently they were of no use to them.38 May 19th —In Camp 5 miles south of Alexandria Marched at 7 Oclock a . m . and after a march of 18 miles went into camp within 5 miles of town. Although this is not a perminent campe we will be likely to remain here for several days. Previous to our arivel at this place, every one was in great cheer about going home. Infact it was the cause of making a great many hold out as well as they did. But rumors here ar rather discuraging. The papers say a larg fleet is in wating to convey 60,000 veteran troops to New Orleans to be marched in Texas. Monday —22ed day of May finds us still in camp where we went in on the night of the 19th. Nothing of intrest has occured since. Only our prospects of going home soon is better then it was then.

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My commission as second lieut. was sent for today but should we be mustered out as soon as we expect, it will be of no use to me. Tuesday 23ed —We drawed clothing, caps, &C, prepairing for the great review that is to come off tomorow. The Army of the Potomac is being reviewed in the City of Washington today, and the Army of Sherman will be reviewed tomorrow to the admiaration of the thousands of spectators that is crowding to the city to witness that the like has never before been seen in Washington. We marched from our camp 5 miles south west of Alexandria. At 8 oclock marched through the princapel streets. Found the town in a flurishing condeation. Business of all kinds going on. The side walks lined with stands and every thing in the line of eateables lay open to the view to induce soldiers to buy. And the streets were crowded with weman, boys, and girls with baskets filled with light bread, bisquets, ginger bread, cakes, pies, peenuts, oranges. Infact every thing that soldiers were likely to purchais. We marched up the Potomac on the Virginia shore and camped for the night within 3 miles of Washington City. We arived here about one oclock and all preparations have been made in the way of cleening up in order to smooth down our rather rough apearance for tomorrow. As we are far behinde the Army of the Potomac in the way of finery, they may make a much gayer appearance with their pallised boots, paper collers, and fancy neck ties. But we do not fear them in the way of drill. We hope to beat them enough in that to make up for our deficency of Pomp & Grander.39 It cannot well be expected that the rough and weather beaten Army of Sherman just arived from a march of 300 miles in the schorching sun from Raleigh, the capitol of N.C. and from a series of campaigns throug the emence swamps of Georgia, South & North Carolina, could compeet in looks or out side show with an army that never has been more then 50 miles from their base of suppllys, and always furnished with the best of tents, plenty of rations at all times, besides over run with sanatory stores until half of them has lost their teeth, and the other half made sick by over eating the sweetmeats of the Sanitery Commission, and lay in the hospital until they are as white as the sheets that covered them. They will no doubt appear gay. Camp near the city of Washington In the District of Columbia May 24th 1865 The Grand Review of General Sherman’s Army At an early hour this morning all being packed up and knapsacks stacked to be halled in waggans, the head of our column moved out

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and was followed by the different corps, divisions, brigades, &C, as their turn came. We soon found ourselves treading cross the long bridge that spaned the Potomac from the Virginia shore to the city of Washington. As I marched on the end of the bridge and observing the emence wideth of the river, I had quite an anxiety to learn its length so as to be able to settel any farther dispute here after in regard to it. Its length is just 1,825 yds. of my measurement, but I expect I over reached the yd. part of the time as we marched very fast and dubble quicked part of the way in order to close up.40 As we left the bridge and marched up the street we found all prepairations had been made for our reception. On both sides of the street bbls. were placed along filled with water for the soldiers to drink and guards were stationed along to provent any ill disposed person from puting poison in them. The bbls. were not more then 5 paises a part and placed thickly along on each side. The streets or rather side walks were crowded with people of all ages and sex with buckets filled with ice water or cold spring water, inviting the soldiers to drink. And the little girls gaily dressed scipped along with their hands full of roses, presenting the soldiers with bowquets and would say as they would hand them out, “The private soldiers are the ones that dun the hard fighting, and they are the ones that needs the prais.” We marched by the head of column, passed the rear of the State Capital, and marched out to a sort of common in the suburbs of town where we stacked arms and rested on the grass until all was in readness for the review. Generals Sherman, Howard, and others lead the review followed by their staffs, then the cavalry, then the 15th Corps, then our corps. The 17th followed closed in mass at company front and as we neared the U.S. Capital we were hailed by long and loud cheering from the multituds of people that thronged the side walks. Generals and many other officers were presented with large reaths which was placed around their horses necks. Large and lofty banners were floting high on all sides and all draped in morning for the lemented President Abraham Lincoln. Also the windows of every house as we passed, high and logh was draped in the same stile. Each window was raised in every house and apartment, and presented a duzin heads from each and as many white handkerchiefs fluttered over our heads and in many cases flowers were thrown down among amongst us from the windows and the house tops at every place. For two miles on each side of the streets, side walks, windows, and house tops were crouded wherever a humin form could stow themselves to get a view of Sherman’s Veterans as they tramped along, keeping time to the bands of music that guided our foot steps. Large banners were suspended in many places from the house tops extending cross

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the street with the following inscripions largely stamped on them as follows. “All hail to you Westeran Heros. Campions of 1 Belmont, 2 Donaldson, 3 New Madrid, 4 Tiptonville & Island No. 10, 5 Shiloh, 6 Bonesville, 7 Corinth, 8 Nashville, 9 Murfreesboro, 10 Vicksburg, 11 Chickamauga, 12 Lookout Mountain, 13 Resaca, 14 Dallas, 15 Kenesaw Mt., 16 Altanta, 17 Jonesboro, 18 Savannah, 19 Rivers Bridges, 20 Charleston, 21 Columbia, 22 Cheraw, 23 Fayetteville, 24 Bentonville, 25 Goldsboro, 26 Kingston, 27 Raleigh, 28 Greensboro, And many other well fought Battle Fields. We welcom you to our City. We welcom you to our Capital, You great Westeran Heros. The pride and defenders of our Nation.” And over the great Capital of the U.S. streemed another banner of jijantic length, and I was going to say famenine beauty, with the following subscription as follows: “The only National Debt we owe, That we cannot pay, Is the debt we owe our Union Defenors.” After a march of some 3 miles under a scorching sun over the hard pavements and through a pressing crowd of upewards of 100,000 spectators, we reached the suburbs of town on the north side where we halted for 10 minutes to rest and get water. Among the numerous ones that was buisieing themselvs carrying water to the soldiers, I became some intrested in rather an old lady. She was of the right sort. A great friend to the soldiers. It happened so that our company halted right in front of hir house, a very fine and rather costly building and every thing went to show that perfect neatness was the order of the day, and the real dispesition of the old lady. She was prepaired with 6 or 7 buckets of water in front of the house, and not less then two duzin China cups of large size, a number of little muggs, cream pichars, &C for the soldiers to drink with. Hir self and 8 or 10 little Negros, the smartest of there race I ever saw, stood around the buckets receiving the empty cups as they were returned and dipping them full again and again, and so kept them in circulation. Hir son, a young man of fine appearance, and a few of the stoutest Negros, were kept dubbel quicking through the hall to where the well or pump was at the rear of the house, carry watter and keeping the buckets full. The old lady would hurry them up, fearing a bucket would be empty befor another was there to take its place. In this way she kep on until she had watered hundereds of soldiers, exercising hirself to the utmest of [her] exertions, the swet roling of hir in streems, which she frequently wiped away with a handkercheif she held in one hand for that purpus. When all had what watter they wanted, they went and lay down on the green swarth under the shade trees. She would fill hir muggs and carry them around inquiring if any other wanted water and kept the little darkies fleeing around in the same manner. We would tell hir she was exerting

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hirself two much, and bestowing more kindness then we deserved or expected any where. But she would contend not and say, “You poor soldiers you have dun so much and indured so much, O, it is not in my power to serve you half enough. O, that it was in my power to reward you poor fellows for your services but it is not in the power of woralds to reward you, And I feel it is the least I can do for you to cool your parching tungs with a drink of cold water as you pass my doar. And it is as much as I am able to do to such an army as this. I wish I could do more, but you have my prairs, and I trust they may benefit you.” The bugel sounded the fall in call and marched off. Went into camp in the first timber we came to, nearly 4 miles from the city. Here we expect to remain for some time. We will probably be payed off before we leave this camp. Then we expect to go eather to Illinois or Texas. 26th —Since the presious date nothing of intrest has occured, only the paper speaks very highly of our review and acknoladges that we have far surpassed any thing that they expected in the way of drill, and that Sherman’s Army went far a head of the Army of the Potomac. Camp Near Washington —May 27th Today dark and cloudy with a light rain. Myself and Brother James precured a pass dated yesterday the 26th, but soon scratched out the 6 by means of a sharp pointed knife and placed a figer 7 instead. The pass was then good for today. So we started out for the City of Washington. Took a street car about one mile from camp. I handed the conducter 50 cts. to take his pay for 3 passangers which was 6 cts each from where we got on to the State Capital, a distance of nearly 3 miles. On receiving the 50 cts. he stoed it into a side pocket and payed me 82 cts. back which I stuck out of sight about as quick as he did the half dollar. On ariving at the State Capital we left the car to go on its corse, and we climbed the marble steps and entered the gallaries of this emence United States building. On entering the second story, we soon found ourselvs in a very larg circuler room seated around with sofas and fine cussioned chares of the most costly demetions. This was the appartment where the President and Senitors meet and where all national buisness is discussed and transacted. Here stood the statue or image of Washington in full form and life like apearance. Also the head and shoulders of our late and much lemented President Abraham Lincoln, and on one side in the same department lay the dying Tecumseh. He lay on his back with his left shoulder leaning against a stump, and his head hang down with a seemingly fresh bullet hole through his forehead. A fine white sheet appearnatly cut out of marble covered his legs. His head, shoulders, and

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body was uncovered showing the powerful form and life like appearance of the monster Indian Chief. In his right hand he held a long handled battle ax on which he was supporting his dying form. His left hand lay on the ground with an emence Bowie Knife grasped tightly in it. This Indian Chief was nothing short of 8 feet in length. His head and feet were small, not any larger then that of a common man, yet his arms, neck, and body showed his powerfull muscular and emence form. The fallowing engraving was cut in his marble bed: Tecumseh the great Westeran chief killed in the westeran Indian wars in the year 1813. I might go on and coat objects of wounder and admeration from the beautifull seenaries of this building until I would fill a book with the particulers, but as I went from camp without paper or pincel to take notes, I am not able to bear in memory the particulers of the numerous objects that attracted my attension. After wandering throug this enormous house, one story after another, until we had reached as high as we could or wanted to go, we began to decend and with some difficulty found our way to the bottom, where we again walked out in the street. Hunted the pattent office. About 1/2 a mile from the state house, north east stands the pattent office on one side of the street and the war department & General Post office on the other. They are both very large and beautifull buildings. We climbed the marble stares and soon found ourselves in the pattent office department, surrounded with such wounders of querosity that we were entiarly at a loss to know what to look at first. Here again stood the statue of Washington in uniform. Also that of Lincoln as before stated. In a large glass case, in hang several sutes of Washington’s uniforms. His soward and belt was placed so as to be seen by all spectators. Also his mess chist containing the commonest of copper plates, knives, forks of the commonest and cheapest kinde. His tents were carefully folded and piled up. Also the tent poles and riggen poles were tied up and standing by the tents and the little pins with which the tents had been staked down were carefully placed together there to remain until the end of time. Together with all the above named artiles, becides these things which General Washington had used as necessaries in the field of action, stood many other artiles of greator value. There were various articles of furnature, plates of the finest material, and dishes of all kinds sizes and demensions. Silver knives and forks, and many other articls that were presented to Washington or his Lady, with libales stating when and where and by whome they were presented. After exemining these items we followed along to view other seeneries of intrest but casement after casement presented it self and each one filled, and containing more then a thousand different pat-

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ents. Here we looked around for several hours until we were compleetly tiared out. After peeping into the cases up one side then down the other, we ubserved a large stareway leeding to another floor above. I went to the head of the stare, and behold another appartment of just such seeneries presented its self, and the soldiers and cittizens, both ladies and gentleman, were yet ascending and decending another stareway yet above. I had seen enough. There was entiarly too much to look at to see or admiar any thing. No man living could go into that department and exemin every artical seperat in 5 years. There is a patent of every thing and every adeational aprovement that ever was invented in the worald. Tiared again with the seeneries of the place, we took our leave, went to a saloon, had some beer with the extra change given me by the conductor, then took a street car and returned to campe. Today, Sunday the 28th day of May, very cool and pleasent Tonight raining moderatly and will be a fine night for sleeping. Had two letters with last night mail. Wrote two long letters today. One to Cap. Wilson, now a cittizen in Ohio. Since the 15th of this month, but as the war is about over, no promotions will be given. Our desk containing our co. books and papers arived last night. So we expect to buizy ourselves with them for the nixt two weeks. Camp at Washington —May 31, 1865 Since the previous date nothing of intrest has occured. Various rumors are a flot in regard to where we are going and what they are going to do with us. Preparations are being made to muster out all drafted men. The 15th Corps have started for Louisville. One division will be sent daily. Our turn will come nixt as we are the nixt on record. Besides we are ordered to the same place. June 3ed —Findes us still in camp but under orders to be ready to move tomorrow to take the cars for Louisville, Ky. with 4 day’s cooked rations. The rations have already been drawn for the trip on the 1st. Been tiared, writing all day. I walked out, went to the cristle springs about one mile North east of camp. Above the spring on the hill stands a hotel. This is a great place for youngesters in the city to pass the sumer evenings. They will leave town in there buggies with their fair partners and as the spring is just about 4 miles from the city it comes very convenient to wride out there, hitch the horse, and go down to the spring. It is well fixed and calculated for sporting place. June 2ed —Went out to Division Head Qrs. to hear a temperance lecture.41 Found no gathering there. Every one was going a little farther to

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a horse race so I went with the crowd. Went in side of the circle. It was half a mile around it. 3 horses came in at the gate with a light gumper behinde and the driver in there seats. Each one struck around the cource a few times for exercise, then the gudges took there stands and called the horses up. The race was began and looked very intresting. A brown horse belonging to General Blair took the lead the first mile heat. A gray horse belonging to some one in the city took the leed the second heat, but I could see the brown was bothered and lost that heat a purpos. The bets were heavy on the gray, giving plenty of chances for the friends of the brown to put up their money, and it was put up by the thousands all around. A third heat was called and the brown hors lead the round and came out some 25 yds. a head. After 5 minute’s rests they started again. The gray had the start, but the brown swept past him and on the first round distened him some 50 yds. On the second round the driver let a few yells at the horse and he struck out faster then ever and beat the gray nearly 200 yds. The race was then over and the brown had win every thing staked up. I understand Gen. Blair win some $20,000. He had put up all the money he had and made a good thing of it. Camp at Louisville, Kentucky —June 10th 1865 Monday morning the 5th day of June we packed up and marched down through the city of Washington to the Rail Road Depot. Was soon placed on board the cars, 35 to 40 men in each, and soon found ourselves rolling along at a very slow reat on our way towards Parkersburg on the Ohio River, a distance of 450 miles. As our trains were very large and the roads crowded, passing and repassing at every station, we did not get to Parkersburg until late on the night of the 7th, when we slung knapsacks and discended from the high doars of a second class hogg train, where it stoped on top of a very high and rather narrow graid. From there we marched down into a field and camped until day light on a river bank that empies into the Ohio at this place. The name I have not learned. Our route from Washington to Petersburg was by the way of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, and through a very broken, worthless, & mountainous country. At many places we run under ground in total darkness for one or two miles. Towards the upper end of the road nearing the Ohio River, we run through 8 tunnals in 30 miles. It seemed to be just out of one into another all the time. For a stranger passing through and viewing the surfice of the county, he would wounder how and where so many people living along these barren riges and in the little villages mintained a living. And still they live and seem to be happy. But every country has its products for which it is noted, and this has its

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oil springs & coal mines from which the inhabitance makes welth and makes home happy amidest these wiles. The Rail Road furnishes them a market for their oil and coal and in return they are supplyed with means of [rest of page missing]

Notes d i a r y iv 1. Ferguson’s report of extreme cold was accurate. Temperatures were below zero. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 452. 2. What Ferguson observes is the beginning of a year-long wave of Confederate deserters coming into the Union lines. Under the Union desertion policy, such men, if they proved to be deserters, could swear the oath of allegiance to the Union and return home. As Sherman invaded Georgia en route to Atlanta, Confederate soldiers whose homes were nearby in the mountains and upper Piedmont took advantage of the Union Army’s presence, deserted, and went home after swearing allegiance to the Union. Weitz, A Higher Duty. 3. Ferguson is referring to the Veteran Volunteer Act, passed by the U.S. Congress. Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War, 240. The Union’s ability to secure the reenlistment of the majority of its three-year veterans proved crucial to its war effort. Although it could have replaced in numbers the loss of those unwilling to stay, there was no substitute for the military experience these men would have taken away had they refused to reenlist when the North stood poised to invade the South in both the eastern and western theaters. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 719 –20. 4. Ferguson is referring to the recent engagements at Seminary Ridge and Lookout Mountain that followed the lifting of the Confederate siege at Chattanooga. Joseph Hooker, who had commanded the Army of the Potomac until his defeat at Chancellorsville, had been transferred with the Union Tenth and Twelfth Corps (twenty-three thousand men) from the east and did most of the fighting at Lookout Mountain. Woodworth, Six Armies, 137–38, 185 – 89. 5. Maggie Mitchell was a famous stage actress of the day. For a portrait and brief biography of Mitchell, see http://portraits.npg.si.edu. 6. Despite Union occupation of much of Tennessee, portions of the middle and western parts of the state remained subject to Confederate cavalry that still roamed the area. In addition, Confederate deserters unable to return home, and unwilling to trust that the Union would not incarcerate them in a prisoner-of-war camp, remained armed, posing a serious security risk to both civilians and Union forces. William Rosecrans to William Hoffman, 16 August 1863, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1:23, pt. 2, 184. 7. Pinkham Hall was a theater, meetinghall, and later a stable. Landrum, Quincy in the Civil War, 52.

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8. Ferguson is apparently referring to Gen. Benjamin Prentiss. Prentiss’s Sixth Division held the center of the Union Army on the first day at Shiloh, 6 April 1862. Known as the Hornet’s Nest, Prentiss’s men held out for over four hours, allowing Grant’s beleaguered army to regroup with its back to the Tennessee River and await reinforcements, which came that night. Prentiss was captured and paroled with the other survivors of his division and thereafter exchanged. He resigned his commission in October 1863. He had been commissioned as a captain in Ferguson’s unit, the Tenth Illinois, in April 1861, and must have felt some connection to the unit when some of its members returned home on furlough. Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 667– 68. 9. Susan and Maryann Ferguson were Ferguson’s sisters-in-law. Descriptive Inventory of the Archives of the State of Illinois. 10. Ferguson is referring to Jane Coryell Rogers. They will marry after the war. 11. I have been unable to decipher Ferguson’s handwriting here. It looks as though he wrote “gells,” which could be a reference to liquor. 12. This event is confirmed in the “City Matters” column for Friday evening, Quincy Whig and Republican, 26 February 1864. 13. The regiment “gave them a specimen of their drill which was edifying and some portions of it highly amusing.” Quincy Whig and Republican, 26 February 1864. 14. Knoxville was the largest urban area in eastern Tennessee and had finally been liberated in late 1863. James Longstreet tried unsuccessfully to retake the city in December 1863 and then went into winter camp south of the Holston River in Russellville, Morristown, and Rogersville. The prisoners Ferguson saw may have been taken just prior to Longstreet’s return to Lee’s army in April 1864. Wert, General James Longstreet, 357, 371–72. 15. This belief was only a rumor. Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War, 246. 16. Ferguson’s report of illness is consistent with the experience of all Civil War armies. Disease, not combat, claimed two-thirds of the 624,451 who died during the war. 17. Jesse R. Ingle’s death is recorded as 26 March 1864. Report of the Adjutant General, 498. 18. The Flag of the Union. This newspaper is published in Marshall, Illinois, in Clark County. Lewis B. Layton died 28 March 1864. Report of the Adjutant General, 499. 19. On 28 March 1864 about one hundred Copperheads “vented long pent-up feelings by attacking” federal soldiers on furlough. The result was five men dead and more than twenty wounded. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 479. Those in Sherman’s army were outraged. “It is a burning shame and an insult to her soldiers fighting for the country,” commented Lt. Charles Brush, Fifty-third Illinois. Chaplain James T. Ayers called them “Cowards, sneaks,

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Dirty, Slippery Slimy nasty Copperheads.” Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War, 263. 20. Ferguson was right. Sherman was preparing to launch his Atlanta campaign in early May 1864. This troop movement is a federal reconnaissance from Ringgold toward Tunnel Hill g a . Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 490. 21. Sherman later recalled, “I made the strictest possible orders in relation to wagons and all species of incumbrances and impedimenta whatever. Each officer and soldier was required to carry on his horse or person food and clothing enough for five days.” Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 15. 22. Catoosa Springs g a had been a “considerable resort” prior to the war. George H. Woodruff calls it the Saratoga of the South. See Woodruff, Fifteen Years Ago at http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/history/civil/cw100-11.html. 23. Thus begins the Atlanta campaign for Ferguson and his comrades in the Tenth Illinois Infantry. The Tenth was part of Gen. James D. Morgan’s First Brigade, in Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis’s Second Division, of Maj. Gen. John Palmer’s Fourteenth Army Corps. While Ferguson was on leave his unit was part of Palmer’s twenty-five-thousand-man forced reconnaissance into north Georgia in February. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 93–95, 625 –26; Castel, Decision in the West, 52. 24. General Morgan’s report confirms Ferguson’s recollection of events. The rocky face Ferguson mentions is Rocky Face Ridge, the first of many Confederate defensive positions that Sherman would in most cases find a way around. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 646. The gorge is called Buzzard Roost, which is where the Rebel troops were positioned. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 32. 25. Howard refers to Gen. O. O. Howard, commander of the Union Fourth Corps. While in command of the Union Eleventh Corps of the Army of the Potomac, Howard had the distinction of being routed by Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville and by Jubal Early at Gettysburg. Thomas is Gen. George H. Thomas, a Virginian who chose to fight for the North. Referred to by Lincoln as “our Virginian,” Thomas was also labeled “Old Slow Trot” for his lack of speed. However, it was his command that held at Chickamauga Creek when the rest of the Union Army broke, thereafter earning him the name “The Rock of Chickamauga.” Thomas commanded the Union Army of the Cumberland. Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 413, 836. 26. Sherman’s plan called for Thomas and Gen. John Schofield to press ostentatiously against Rocky Face Ridge while James McPherson slipped in through Snake Creek Gap to break the railroad at Resaca. This would force Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston to retreat while being attacked front and rear and threaten his supply lines. Catton, Never Call Retreat, 321. 27. Sherman’s plan seemed sound, but McPherson failed to cut the railroad at Resaca. As a result, an opportunity to trap Johnston’s army was missed. Castel, Decision in the West, 121–23, 150.

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28. How different is the perspective of one who is actually in the fighting. Ferguson’s descriptive account of heavy fighting was referred to in Morgan’s report as merely “a strong demonstration on the enemy’s position at Buzzard Roost.” Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 646. 29. Ferguson provides good detail of fighting on the sixteenth that is completely missing from the official report of the Tenth Illinois. On 17 September 1864 Capt. George C. Lusk filed the official report of the regiment’s activity between 1 May and 30 August 1864. His report refers only to the regiment returning so the men could pick up their knapsacks. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 657. On 15 May Johnston retreats. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 55. 30. Similar to Tennessee, north Georgia suffered at the hands of a variety of guerilla bands that roamed the area. Union soldiers were not the only ones that risked danger at night, as these bands preyed on civilians and Confederate deserters. Weitz, A Higher Duty, 65. 31. Gen. Jefferson Davis’s report seems to support Ferguson’s estimation. Although Davis does not indicate the extent of the Twenty-second’s losses, he does mention that the regiment lost both a Lieutenant Colonel Wiles and Major Shea to serious wounds. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 629. 32. Davis’s report indicates he was not aware of the numerical differences that Ferguson indicates. Davis saw his force as roughly equal. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 628. 33. The town is Rome, directly across the Etowah River. General Davis indicated that the town had considerable stores, to which Ferguson and his comrades helped themselves. However, in an effort to prevent any further looting, Davis posted a guard, the “provo” Ferguson refers to, and turned most of the contraband over to his successor, Colonel Bane, a brigade commander in the Sixteenth Army Corps. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 628. 34. This rumor is not true. Catton, Never Call Retreat, 325 –27. 35. Ferguson is referring to the Oostenaula River. 36. Thomas was near Cassville to secure roads along which the Confederate Army would travel. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 38. Cassville was a non-event because Gen. John Bell Hood, in position to strike the Union’s left flank, mistakenly believed that a few cavalry coming down the Canton Road was actually a Union force poised to strike his left flank. Hood withdrew, and Johnston’s chance to strike Sherman a severe blow disappeared. Castel, Decision in the West, 198–206. 37. Ferguson was correct in his assessment. Morgan’s brigade, of which the Tenth was a part, missed most of the fighting that day. General Hooker’s division had fought at New Hope Church on the twenty-fifth, which explains the cannon fire Ferguson heard as the Tenth marched toward Dallas. There

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was no heavy fighting on the twenty-sixth as both sides dug in and Sherman waited for James McPherson’s corps to come up. In less than a month Sherman had moved to within twenty-seven miles of Atlanta. However, the majority of the severe fighting still lay ahead. Castel, Decision in the West, 220–28. 38. What Ferguson describes as heavy fighting on the left all day was the Battle of Pickett’s Mill, which did occur off to the left of the Tenth toward New Hope Church and involved O. O. Howard’s division in a death struggle with Patrick Cleburne’s Confederate division. Gen. Hiram Bronson Granbury’s brigade of Cleburne’s division benefited from superior cover afforded by boulders, trees, and logs and with some assistance blunts the assault by the brigades of Gen. William Babcock Hazen and Gen. Randall Lee Gibson. A sergeant in one of Cleburne’s brigades wrote that he could walk two to three hundred yards on the “bodies of dead yanks.” Castel, Decision in the West, 238– 41. The Tenth had thrown up a defensive position outside Dallas and the action Ferguson describes cost the regiment five men. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 657. 39. James’s wound is a good example of the destructive power of the minié ball. 40. Ferguson’s diary describes the repeated Confederate assaults on the evening of 29 May, not 30 May. He seems to have written about it the next evening. Night assaults were rare during the war because it was hard to see at night and coordinate troop movements. This assault proved to be particularly brutal. Castel, Decision in the West, 250. 41. Ferguson was right; his unit’s move was part of an army-wide shift left, back to the railroad and Sherman’s supply line. Sherman confirms a general movement of the entire army to Big Shanty by 10 June. Sherman, Memoirs, 2:51. 42. A characteristic of Sherman’s march to Atlanta was the ability of both sides to master the art of digging in behind defensive breastworks. They became as good with the shovel as they were with the rifle. 43. Acworth put Sherman back on the railroad line. Ferguson’s description of the heavy fighting at Dallas, New Hope Church, and Pickett’s Mill actually saw Sherman shift not only left (east), but move north to get back to the railroad line. From Acworth the Union was only about twenty miles as the crow flies from the Chattahoochee River, the last major natural barrier between Sherman and Atlanta. Castel, Decision in the West, 210. 44. With men returning from furlough and other departments, Union forces “aggregated about one hundred thousand men” while Johnston’s Confederate forces were estimated at about sixty thousand. Sherman, Memoirs, 2:51. 45. The withdrawal was the result of Thomas’s move toward Kenesaw, combined with McPherson and Schofield’s pressing forward along the same line. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 523. Sherman recalled “a good many prisoners,” including the entire Fourteenth Alabama Infantry Regiment of three hundred twenty men. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 54.

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46. Leonidas Polk was actually killed atop Pine Mountain. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 52. A signal officer reported that Confederates sent messages from Pine Mountain to Marietta requesting an ambulance for Polk’s body. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 54. 47. Ferguson’s observations of Johnston’s propensity for retreat were not lost on the Atlanta civilian population or other Confederate soldiers. The Atlanta newspapers continued to spout propaganda that Sherman’s one-hundredmile advance was nothing to fear because it had been done by maneuvering, not fighting. Atlanta actually held a day of fasting and prayer to ask God to help Johnston beat back Sherman. However, it seemed as though Johnston was not inclined to fight Sherman. John A. Johnson, a soldier in Lee’s army in Virginia, complained in a letter to his fiancée that the “surgeon has lost his nerve,” referring to Johnston’s refusal to fight. Castel, Decision in the West, 270–71; Weitz, A Higher Duty, 77–78. 48. Both armies were dug in around Kenesaw Mountain, where Johnston defended the access to Marietta, Georgia. Kenesaw boasted some of the most formidable manmade obstacles of the war and forced Sherman to decide whether to move around the mountain as he had done thus far or attack the position. 49. Ferguson did not fully understand what had transpired that day. To the right of the Tenth, and south of its position, Hooker withstood a furious Confederate effort by Hood’s division that failed. The Battle of Kolb’s Farm cost Hood 1,500 men to only 250 for Hooker. This was more of a slaughter than a battle. Castel, Decision in the West, 290–95. 50. Although it was often discouraged by officers, fraternization frequently occurred among enlisted men and privates. The instance Ferguson describes of one of the Rebels actually staying was uncommon early in the war, but became more frequent during the Atlanta campaign as Sherman’s army liberated many of the north Georgia counties where these Confederate soldiers lived and left families when they went off to war. Weitz, A Higher Duty, chapter 3. 51. Ferguson’s diary entry is misnumbered; it should be the twenty-seventh, not the seventeenth. The engagement he describes is the Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, perhaps Sherman’s only real miscalculation during the Atlanta campaign, and it was a costly blunder. The light losses suffered by the Tenth were indicative of its reserve status in the battle. Others were not so lucky. With Morgan’s brigade watching, John C. Mitchell’s Second Brigade and Daniel McCook’s Third Brigade threw themselves at the strongest portion of Johnston’s formidable defenses at the extreme western end of the battlefield. Later dubbed the “Dead Angle” and “Devil’s Elbow,” the position was defended by Frank Cheatam’s and Patrick Cleburne’s divisions, seasoned veterans who took full advantage of their defensive position. The assault began at 8 a . m . and lasted barely two hours. Davis’s division, of

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which the Tenth was a part, suffered 824 casualties, the most that day, including the loss of Dan McCook, the Third Brigade commander. By the end of the day Sherman returned to flanking Johnston’s entrenched positions rather than assaulting them. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 3, 532, and pt. 1, 648; Castel, Decision in the West, 309 –19. 52. This cooperation while buring the dead is not the only example of fraternization, and it also reveals a morbid curiosity demonstrated by both sides. Not only did the two armies mingle but also each showed a fascination with the other’s defensive works. While Morgan may well have had military reasons for inspecting the Rebel position, often soldiers simply wanted to see if their artillery had made any impression or to get a vantage point from the perspective of their enemy. For other examples, see “Fortification and Siege of Port Hudson,” in Robertson, An Index-Guide to the Southern Historical Society Papers, 14 : 334 –35. 53. Most likely this is Harlan Brewer, a recruit rather than a general. Report of the Adjutant General, 498. 54. Johnston left Kenesaw Mountain and moved to a prepared line below Marietta because he realized that Sherman was in position to turn his flanks. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 531. 55. Other Union soldiers echoed Ferguson’s observation of the Confederate Army. M. B. Gray, of the First Ohio Artillery, wrote twelve days later from outside Atlanta that although Johnston still had a large army, “at least 1/3 of it will desert —if we can only get one fair fight out of them.” M. B. Gray to J. Q. Farmer, 15 July 1864, Civil War Miscellaneous Correspondence, Georgia Record Group 3-2728, drawer 283, box 28, Georgia Department of Archives and History, Atlanta. 56. Celebration was apparently not Sherman’s only motive. He claims to have done this mainly to hold the enemy until McPherson and Schofield could get into position below the enemy near the Chattahoochee crossing. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 65 – 66. 57. On 8 July, Friday, Schofield (on Sherman’s left) crossed the Chattahoochee near the mouth of Soap Creek with little opposition. McPherson (on Sherman’s right) feinted at Turner’s Ferry. The flanking made Johnston’s position on the northwest side of the Chattahoochee “untenable” and he had to pull back across the river closer to Atlanta. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 535. 58. Report of the Adjutant General, 482, 501. 59. Report of the Adjutant General, 497. 60. Report of the Adjutant General, 494. 61. Report of the Adjutant General, 505. 62. Report of the Adjutant General, 501. 63. This action is described by both Brigadier General Morgan (brigade commander), and Captain Lusk (regimental commander) as heavy skirmishing.

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notes to pages 66 – 72

Ferguson provides the details of fighting that are all but glossed over in the official reports. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 648, and pt. 3, 532. 64. Johnston was replaced by Gen. John Bell Hood on 17 July by President Jefferson Davis. From the inception of his new command, Hood began to attack and as a result sustained heavy losses. In the ten days after assuming command Hood attacked at Peachtree Creek (20 July), Atlanta (22 July), and Ezra Church (28 July). In each instance he failed to dislodge Sherman and suffered heavy casualties. Although Davis may have thought that Hood’s aggressiveness would be able to provide what Johnston’s cautiousness could not, the results were the same. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 540– 41. For a good discussion of Davis’s command options both before and after relieving Johnston, see Woodworth, No Band of Brothers, 81–93, 118–29. 65. The “large hill” is Leggett’s Hill. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 74. 66. The losses on 20 July at Peachtree Creek for the Union were 1,779 killed, wounded, or missing; Confederate losses were 4,796. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 542. This was the first of Hood’s attempts to drive Sherman away from Atlanta, and it failed miserably. 67. McPherson fell in the Battle of Atlanta on 22 July, Hood’s second ill-fated effort to drive the Union Army away from Atlanta. This time the action was east of the city. Sherman took the loss of McPherson hard. Despite McPherson’s shortcomings during the campaign, errors for which Sherman had rebuked him, he was a competent commander and Sherman knew he would be hard to replace. Castel, Decision in the West, 400. Sherman later recalled the story and affirmed a high opinion of McPherson. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 77–78. 68. Sherman had learned his lesson at Kenesaw Mountain and put the Tenth southwest of Atlanta. This was part of his effort to use his larger numbers to maneuver Hood out of Atlanta by constantly forcing him to shift forces to meet a new assault from a different direction. 69. On 28 July Hood’s third effort in ten days failed miserably at Ezra Church, west of Atlanta. The battle came in the aftermath of the movement north and east by the Tenth Illinois, which Ferguson describes. Hood believed he had found an exposed flank of Sherman’s army. The result was another terrible slaughter. Castel, Decision in the West, 424 –36. Although not all attributable to Hood, Confederate losses for July were 10,841, including 2,000 taken prisoner. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 93. 70. This rumor is not true. Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 38–39. 71. Ferguson may have exaggerated the extent to which he and his comrades “drove” the enemy out. Captain Lusk’s report indicates the Confederates actually withdrew to stronger positions. Lusk does confirm Ferguson’s recitation of the heavy fire his regiment took in building its own works. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 3, 533.

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72. Report of the Adjutant General, 506. 73. This is quite a bit of ammunition. The average Civil War company had between eighty-two and one hundred enlisted men. The general allotment of ammunition per man when going into battle was between 40 and 60 rounds per soldier. Based on Ferguson’s estimation, his company fired between 180 and 200 rounds per man. 74. With Sherman’s railroad line of supply as long as it had become, destruction of parts of the track were inevitable. This appears to have been the work of Joe Wheeler’s cavalry. However, the raiding proved to be only a nuisance. One of the more important aspects of Sherman’s Atlanta campaign was the large number of men devoted solely to the maintenance and repair of the rail line over which his army’s supplies flowed. Some estimates put Sherman’s railroad crew as high as 10 percent of his total force. 75. Some of the men Ferguson calls “prisoners” may have actually been deserters. With the Union and Confederate lines so close together, and the fall of Atlanta almost a foregone conclusion, Confederate soldiers, mostly from the northern counties of Georgia, took advantage of the opportunity and deserted to the Union. Many were among the South’s best soldiers, tired of fighting and anxious for those at home. One man even crawled on his stomach across no-man’s-land to the Union lines. Weitz, A Higher Duty, 75 –76. 76. The Tenth Illinois’s new home was now the Sixteenth Corps, Third Brigade, Fourth Division. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 1, 108. 77. Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 319 –20, 679. Gen. John Wallace Fuller is division commander and General T. E. G. Ransom is corps commander. 78. Ferguson is describing the opening phase of Sherman’s final swing southwest of Atlanta designed to finally drive Hood out of the city. Although it may have seemed like a mystery to Ferguson, the move made good sense. Ferguson’s unit went north with the extra wagons and baggage, back across the Chattahoochee River, and built strong defensive positions to protect what would shortly become Sherman’s rear. Castel, Decision in the West, 485. 79. The fight Ferguson saw coming would be at Jonesboro, southwest of Atlanta, on 31 August. 80. Clearly the roads proved both difficult and dangerous. Everything Ferguson described, plus the brush and earth, was “commingled with loaded shells, so arranged that they would explode on an attempt to haul out the bushes.” Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 105. 81. Jonesboro would be Hood’s last shot. With Ferguson’s unit in reserve on the north bank of the Flint River, Hood tried in vain to crush Sherman. By 2 September Atlanta would belong to the Union, and Hood would take his weary and depleted army north, out of Georgia, destined for destruction later that year in Tennessee. Castel, Decision in the West, 497–503.

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82. This “rail road” is the Macon and Western Railroad. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 563. 83. Sherman notes the explosion but was uncertain about the time of its origin. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 108. 84. The explosion was Hood’s effort to destroy goods and supplies he could not carry with him as he retreated from Atlanta. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 564. 85. Ferguson was right. Hood escaped north, into Alabama. Sherman’s next move would be southeast into the heart of Georgia’s plantation belt, a move designed to break the will of the South to continue fighting, as Ferguson suggests. Wheeler, Sherman’s March. 86. The term “ducks” refers to girlfriends and sweethearts. 87. Sherman ordered civilians to depart Atlanta for their own safety, and about 1,600 people (446 families) took his advice. Hood and others of the Confederacy were reported to be furious. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 567. 88. Thus ended the Atlanta campaign. The Tenth suffered losses, but in comparison to some of the other units, its casualties were light. The brigade commander, John Tillson, listed the Tenth’s losses at fourteen dead, seventy wounded, and ten missing. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 38, pt. 3, 530. diary v 1. Ferguson did not know it at the time, but Sherman wanted the same thing and had a clear idea how to accomplish such a goal. Writing to Henry Halleck on 31 December 1864, Sherman stated, “I do not think I can employ a better strategy than I have hitherto done, namely make a good ready and then move rapidly to my objective, avoiding a battle at points where I would be encumbered by wounded, but striking boldly and quickly when my objective is reached. I will give due heed and encouragement to all peace movements, but conduct war as though it could only terminate with the destruction of the enemy and the occupation of all of his strategic points.” Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 44, pt. 1, 842. 2. Civil War torpedoes were actually mines. They were set just below the surface with their nose above water and could be set off either by contact with a ship or by an electric current from the shore. Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 842. 3. The Tenth was now in Maj. Gen. Frank Blair’s Seventeenth Corps. It was part of a three-regiment brigade that also included the Twenty-fifth Indiana and the Thirty-second Wisconsin under the command of Col. John Tillson. The regimental commander was Lt. Col. McLaine/McLean F. Wood and later Lt. Col. David Gillespie. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 47, pt. 1, 49. 4. Although Ferguson does not complain, a number of the troops were sea-

notes to pages 96 –102

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sick after spending the night on ships. They later asked Sherman never to send them to sea again; they comment that they would rather march one thousand miles on bad roads than spend a night at sea. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 241. 5. Parts of coastal South Carolina had been free of Confederate control for years. The difference in prices reflected the effects of speculation and price gouging in many parts of the Confederacy during the war. Ferguson and his comrades had spent most of 1864 in Georgia, where speculation was a major problem. Weitz, A Higher Duty, 112–15. 6. Ferguson is referring to Lt. Col. McLean/McLaine F. Wood. Report of the Adjutant General, 278–79. 7. This river is the Coosawatchie River. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 254. 8. This incident reflects the difficulty of controlling a large army, particularly as it moved through South Carolina. The state was perceived as the instigator of the rebellion and even the common soldier felt a need to exact some form of retribution for the last four years. 9. Rivers in the area were all swollen, which seems to have contributed to this lack of movement. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 256. 10. This river is the Salkehatchie River, South Carolina. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 627. 11. Sherman claimed that this action —crossing the river —was to “keep up the delusion the city [Charleston] was our immediate objective.” Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 256. 12. Report of the Adjutant General, 505. 13. The place along the Salkehatchie River where Ferguson’s regiment assaulted no longer resembled a river. It had become a dense swamp, a mile and half wide with thirty-five smaller streams running throughout the swamp varying in depth from two to six feet. The main bridge that crossed through this morass of swamp ran seventy feet in length, but proved uncrossable because Confederate artillery on the other side commanded the entire length of the bridge. Ferguson’s regiment crossed the swamp below the main bridge with the other two regiments in Tillson’s Third Brigade. As Ferguson correctly recalled, the Tenth bore the brunt of the heaviest fighting, and although they were initially stopped, their efforts enabled the other elements of the Third to drive the Confederates back. The successful effort did not come without a price. Tillson’s brigade, of which Ferguson’s regiment was a part, lost eight men and had seventy-six wounded, some of whom later died. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 47, pt. 1, 376 –77, 388– 89, 400– 401. 14. Ferguson’s observations on the abundance of food found on plantations in South Carolina are consistent with what Sherman’s army found in Georgia on its march to the sea. One of the ironies of the Confederacy was that while

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notes to pages 104 –106

for some life became a daily struggle just to survive, others lived in abundance. Wheeler, Sherman’s March, 130–31. 15. Colonel Tillson’s report confirms Ferguson’s description of the river crossing. As Tillson put it, “I earnestly commend the behavior of my men. Scarcely anything could be more trying than their wading in the dark through the deep cold water, stumbling at every step and their clothing afterward frozen stiff. Their zeal and skill in obtaining the passage of the river and quiet and soldierly conduct after was eminently praiseworthy.” Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 47, pt. 1, 402. 16. As Ferguson points out, the reactions of women were mixed, but the diaries of some confirm the extent of the Union advance. Emma LeConte wrote in her diary, “First and Worst, the Yankees are skirmishing at Orangeburg.” Mary Chestnut, writing on 16 February, admitted, “I have passed through an age of suffering since I wrote in this poor little book before . . . I was at Mrs. McCords. Heard there from Miss Ellen LaBorde that the Yankees were at Orangeburg.” The reality of Union occupation proved much less onerous than most feared. However, Emma LeConte wrote, “Second and more encouraging, Gen. [Wade] Hampton says Sherman will not come to Columbia.” Sherman would prove Hampton wrong. Chestnut, The Private Diary of Mary Chestnut, 16 February 1865, 227; LeConte, When the World Ended, 12 and 13 February 1865, 29. 17. These “torpedos” were the forerunners of modern land mines. Both mines and booby traps first appeared during the Civil War. Confederate Gen. G. J. Rains is credited with this innovation at Yorktown in May 1862. A Civil War mine was an eight- or ten-inch Columbiad shell buried a few inches below the ground, arranged with an ordinary artillery shell friction primer that exploded when stepped on or moved. McClellan recalled the mines causing delay and even went so far as to order Confederate prisoners to minesweeping details. Both sides considered mines “unsporting” and Longstreet ordered Rains to stop using them. As evidenced by Ferguson’s diary entry, mines continued to be used by both sides. Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 470. 18. Unlike the burning of Atlanta, there is no official order from Sherman to burn Columbia. However, Ferguson’s sentiments reflect the predisposition of an entire army to make South Carolina pay for the war. Ultimately, a commander is responsible for the conduct of his men, and it is difficult to believe Sherman could not have anticipated what was about to occur. 19. In his memoir, Sherman claims his soldiers worked hard to control these fires, which he believed were ignited by cotton bales burned by Hampton’s retreating soldiers and spread by high winds. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 286 – 87. This recollection is consistent with his statements during the fires, but his official report clearly states that he gave orders to destroy all arsenals and public property (including many public buildings) as well as all railroads, machinery, and equipment. To attribute all of the blame for the destruc-

notes to pages 107 –116

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tion of Columbia’s private property to Hampton ignores the predisposition of his troops to destroy Columbia and the fact that his own burning might have spread out of control. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 47, pt. 1, 21. 20. This is a fascinating incident Ferguson recounts, particularly his description of the Confederate deployment as his regiment came around the bend. There is no mention of this in any of the official reports. 21. This does not sound like the work of Confederate soldiers but of Confederate irregulars or guerillas. Ferguson had mentioned being afraid to travel at night in Georgia for fear of something like this happening. With only a little more than a month remaining in the war, the Confederacy struggled to keep its army intact and maintain discipline. By this time it was beyond the South’s ability to suppress isolated bands of deserters and rogues. 22. On 25 February in Charlotte, North Carolina, Johnston reported to Lee that he had twenty to twenty-five thousand men to oppose Sherman. Johnston wanted to merge his troops with Bragg’s. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 644. 23. This river is the Pee Dee River. Long, The Civil War Day by Day, 646. 24. Johnston’s forces were about one-third the size of Sherman’s. He told Lee that the most he could do was “annoy” Sherman. Catton, Never Call Retreat, 437. 25. This report is false. Confederate Lieutenant General Alexander Peter Stewart (1821–1908) was neither killed nor wounded at this time. Newman and Long, The Civil War Digest, 232–33. 26. As Ferguson indicates, this fight is the Battle of Bentonville, the last real engagement of the war for Sherman’s army. Ferguson’s company suffered heavy casualties, and Tillson observed that the Tenth was involved in the heaviest fighting. He feared the Tenth might be on the verge of breaking and took personal command of the portion of the line on the left of the Union position. Tillson’s brigade, including the Tenth Illinois, held its position, and the official reports reflected that the regiment “did its duty well.” The entire brigade, however, suffered eight killed, sixty-five wounded, and twenty-two missing, rather heavy losses for what seemed to Tillson to have been a brief engagement. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 1 : 47, pt. 1, 404. This is the last entry for the Tenth in the Official Records. While the Tenth was engaged on the Union left, the most important development of the day was an impromptu dash on Johnston’s extreme left flank by General Mower’s First Division of the Seventeenth Corps, in position on the federal right. Sherman ordered Mower back because he was uncertain of Johnston’s numbers. Sherman later admitted that he might have made a mistake in ordering his return and not following up on Mower’s charge, which would have brought on a general battle. Barrett, Sherman’s March through the Carolinas, 180; Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 304. Total casualties for both sides on 21 March were 1,500 Union and over 2,600 Confederate

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soldiers, many of whom were actually taken prisoner. Newman and Long, Civil War Digest, 655. 27. On 7 and 8 April Sherman met with Lincoln, Grant, and Admiral Porter to plan the final campaign. Newman and Long, Civil War Digest, 688–90. 28. These numbers are inflated and inaccurate. Newman and Long, Civil War Digest, 662– 67. 29. The Henry repeating rifle was a .44 caliber that could fire fifteen rounds before it needed to be reloaded. Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 397. 30. Sherman called this a “furore.” Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 344. 31. Johnston and Sherman met near Durham Station, North Carolina, to negotiate an armistice. Washington, however, wanted the same type of an agreement that Lee had signed. All the disagreement over Sherman’s authority to create the terms of armistice created ill will between Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Catton, Never Call Retreat, 463– 64. 32. Word was received on 17 April of President Lincoln’s death two days earlier. Sherman withheld the release of the news until after meeting with Johnston and obtaining his surrender. Both generals were concerned that the Union soldiers would react violently against Southern citizens and communities to avenge Lincoln’s murder. Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 350–51. 33. This asylum is the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylum in Raleigh. Barrett, Sherman’s March through the Carolinas, 247. 34. Halleck was influenced by Stanton. Marszalek, Sherman, 345 – 46. 35. Sherman responded, “I beg you to keep slightly perdu,” he warned, “for if noticed by some of my old command, I cannot undertake to maintain a model behavior, for their feelings have become aroused by what the world adjudges an insult to at least an honest commander.” Marszalek, Sherman, 352. 36. After arriving at Fortress Monroe, Sherman found a message from Halleck professing friendship and inviting Sherman to visit him at Richmond, to which Sherman responded by cipher-dispatch that he had seen the defamatory remarks that had passed between Halleck and Stanton, “which I regarded as insulting, declined his hospitality, and added that I preferred we should not meet as I passed through Richmond.” Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 374. 37. Ferguson is describing the Battle of Fredericksburg, 13 December 1862. 38. Ferguson is referring to the first Battle of Bull Run, 21 July 1861. 39. Matthew H. Jamison, Tenth Illinois, Company E stated, “In discipline, in drill, in physique, we are superior to the Eastern Army, but we shall not be so well dressed.” Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War, 367. 40. This bridge over the Potmomac River was simply called “Long Bridge.” Sherman, Memoirs, 2 : 376. 41. With slavery gone, alcohol would return to take its place as one of the most divisive social and political issues of the nineteenth century.

Bibliography Allen, Jeffrey E. “James Monroe Swales: Letters of a Union Soldier.” Master’s thesis, Emporia State University, 1981. Amann, William Frayne, ed. Personnel of the Civil War. 2 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1964. Barrett, John G. Sherman’s March through the Carolinas. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1956. Blanchard, Ira. I Marched with Sherman: Civil War Memoirs of the 20th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. San Francisco: J. D. Huff, 1992. Boatner, Mark M. III. The Civil War Dictionary. New York: David McKay Company, 1959. Boynton, H. V. Sherman’s Historical Raid: The Memoirs in the Light of the Record. Cincinnati: Wilstack, Baldwin, and Company, 1875. Castel, Albert. Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. Catton, Bruce. This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War. Garden City n y : Doubleday, 1956. ———. Never Call Retreat. Garden City n y: Doubleday, 1965. ———. Reflections on the Civil War. Garden City n y: Doubleday, 1981. Chestnut, Mary. The Private Diary of Mary Chestnut. Edited by C. Vann Woodward and Elisabeth Muhlenfeld. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. Civil War Miscellaneous Correspondence. Georgia Department of Archives and History. Atlanta. Connolly, James Austin. Three Years in the Army of the Cumberland. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1959. Davis, Charles W. “New Madrid and Island No. 10.” In Military Essays and Recollections, Illinois Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legions of the U.S. Vol. 1. Chicago: A. G. McClurg, 1891. Descriptive Inventory of the Archives of the State of Illinois. Springfield: Office of the Secretary of State, 1978–. Dornbusch, Charles Emil. Military Bibliography of the Civil War. New York: New York Public Library, 1961. Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Dayton o h: Morningside Bookshop, 1978. Eddy, Thomas Mears. The Patriotism of Illinois. Chicago: Clarke and Company, 1866. Hart, B. H. Liddell. Sherman—Soldier, Realist, American. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1929.

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Harwell, Richard B. The Civil War Reader. New York: Konecky and Konecky, 1957, 1958. Hicken, Victor. Illinois in the Civil War. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991. Hoehling, A. A. Last Train from Atlanta. New York: Bonanza Books, 1958. Hood, John Bell. Advance and Retreat. Secaucus n j: Blue and Grey Press, 1985. Illinois Infantry, 10th Regiment, 1861–1865. Tenth Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry. St. Louis, 1887. Jamison, Matthew H. Recollections of Pioneer and Army Life. Kansas City: Hudson Press, 1911. Johnson, W. Fletcher. The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman, Late Retired General, U.S.A. Philadelphia: Edgewood Publishing, 1891. Kennett, Lee B. Marching through Georgia: The Story of Soldiers and Civilians during Sherman’s Campaign. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. Lamers, William M. The Edge of Glory: A Biography of General William S. Rosecrans. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1961. Landrum, Carl A. Quincy in the Civil War. Quincy i l: Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County, 1966. LeConte, Emma. When the World Ended: The Diary of Emma LeConte. Edited by Earl Shenck Miers. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987. Lewis, Lloyd. Sherman: Fighting Prophet. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1932. Long, E. B., with Barbara Long. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861– 1865. Garden City n y: Doubleday, 1971. Marszalek, John F. Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order. New York: Free Press, 1993. “Mathew Brady’s National Portrait Gallery.” Smithsonian Institution: Washington d c . http://portraits.npg.si.edu. McDonough, James Lee. Stones River: Bloody Winter in Tennessee. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1980. McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Miller, Francis T., ed. The Photographic History of the Civil War. 10 vols. New York: The Review of Reviews, 1912. Newman, Ralph, and E. B. Long. The Civil War Digest. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1960. The Official Atlas of the Civil War. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1958. The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 70 vols. Washington d c: GPO, 1880–1910. Omer, John I. Campaigns of the 16th Illinois Volunteer Infantry and Memories of Civil War Days. Quincy i l, 1928. Parish, Peter J. The American Civil War. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1975. Reed, Rowena. Combined Operations in the Civil War. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1978.

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Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois. Springfield i l : H. W. Rokker, 1886. Robertson, James I. An Index-Guide to the Southern Historical Society Papers, 1876–1959. 52 vols. Millwood n y : Krause International Publications, 1980. Sherman, William T. Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. Vols. 1 and 2. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957. Tucker, Glenn. Chickamauga: Bloody Battle in the West. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961. Upson, Theodore F. With Sherman to the Sea: The Civil War Letters, Diaries, and Reminiscences of Theodore F. Upson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1934. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington d c : GPO, 1880. Weitz, Mark A. A Higher Duty: Desertion among Georgia Troops during the Civil War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Wert, Jeffry D. General James Longstreet: The Confederacy’s Most Controversial Soldier: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993. Wheeler, Richard. Sherman’s March. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. ———. We Knew William Tecumseh Sherman. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977. Wilson, Ephraim A. Memoirs of the War, Co. G, 10th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry. Cleveland: W. M. Bayne, 1893. Winther, Oscar Osburn. A Classified Bibiography of the Trans-Mississippi West. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1964. Woodruff, George H. Fifteen Years Ago: Or the Patriotism Of Will County by George H. Woodruff. On Illinois in the Civil War Web site. http://www.outfitters .com/illinois/history/civil/cw100-11.html. Woodworth, Steven E. No Band of Brothers: Problems of the Rebel High Command. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999. ———. Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Index Acworth ga, 45 – 47, 143 n.43 Alabama River, 37 Alexander, Dick, 46, 68 Alexandria va, 129 –30 Alton il, 122 Anderson, Byron, 6, 25, 87 Anderson, Lt. James W., 10, 22, 24, 25, 57, 78, 81, 87, 97, 120 Anderson, Willis, 87 Andrew, William, 87 Army of the Cumberland, 50, 70 Army of the Potomac, 130, 133 Atlanta ga, 38, 60– 62, 66 – 67, 87, 146 n.64, 147 n.78, 148 n.88 Bacon, Martin M., 87 Baird, Absalom, 72 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 136 Barber, Edwin M., 87 Barrett, Jackson, 87 Battle of Bull Run, 129 Beal, William S., 88 Beaufort sc, 95 –96 Belts, Henry, 87 Bentonville sc, 112, 115, 151 n.26 Besser, Nathan, 88 Bice, Arthur F., 88 Big Linch Creek, 108–9 Blair, Maj. Gen. Frank P., usa, 120, 136, 148 n.3 Blanchard, Guy W., 87 Blanchard, Justus C., 87 Blockson, Joseph, 10, 28, 87, 91 Blodgett, Dighton, 87 Bohn, Henry, 88 Bohn, John, 88 Booth, Owen K., 87 Boyers, Thomas C., 87 Bradley, Julius C., 87 Bragg, Maj. Gen. Braxton, csa, 3 Brantlinger, George, 88 Bremer, Henry, 88 Brewer, Harlan, 88, 145 n.53 Bridgeport al, 7, 26

Buck, David H., 88 Bullerd, Henry, 10 bummers, 109 Burnside, Gen. Ambrose Everett, usa, 127–29 Buzzard Roost ga, 30, 31–32, 141 n.24 Cairo il, 9 Carey, Caneil M., 88 Catoosa County ga, 21 Chancellor, William M., 88 Chapin, John G., 34, 88 Charleston Railroad, 103 Charleston il, 24, 149 n.11 Charleston sc, 112 Chattahoochee River, 46, 57, 59 – 62, 65, 68, 81, 84, 147 n.78 Chattanooga tn, 19 Chattanooga-Atlanta Railroad, 37 Chawn River, 123 Cheraw sc, 109, 112 Chesterfield sc, 109 Chickahominy River, 126 –27 Clark County il, 11 Clark, William, 11, 100 Cleyburne’s Division, 83 Columbia and Branchville Railroad, 103 Columbia sc, 106, 150 n.18 Congaree River, 106 Coosa River, 33, 36 –37 Coppage, William C., 40, 88, 91 Copperheads, 24, 140 n.19 Cumberland River, 8 Dagget, Simon, 88 Dallas ga, 39, 41– 43 Dalton ga, 29, 33, 75 Darwin il, 10–12 Davis, Gen. Jefferson C., usa, 36, 41, 141 n.23, 142 n.31 Dear Friend (poem), 78–79 Decatur il, 9 –10 Deck, William E., 88

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Doherty, John, 88 Donaldson, Simeon, 25, 55 –56, 88, 91 East Point ga, 86 Edisto River, 103– 4 Eighty-fourth Ohio Regiment, 97 Ellenbrock, Herman, 117 Emma Floyd (steamboat), 8 Eno, Stephen H., 88 Entler, John, 100 Etowah River, 37, 142 n.33 Fancher, Nehemiah, 20, 23, 46, 86, 88 Fayetteville nc, 112–13 Ferguson, Andrew, 100 Ferguson, George, 52, 61, 75 Ferguson, James, 3– 6, 20, 23, 26, 28, 41, 44, 46, 48, 79, 88, 90, 117, 121, 133 Ferguson, John, 88 Ferguson, John (father), 87, 121 Ferguson, Maryann, 11–12 Ferguson, Susan, 11–12, 46, 79 Ferguson, Thomas, 11–13, 24, 71, 87, 100, 121 Fifteenth Corps, 33, 39, 53, 59, 66, 68– 69, 82, 103, 106, 113–14, 123, 131, 135 Fifty-second Ohio Regiment, 64 Flag of the Union, 23 Force, Gen. Manning Ferguson, usa, 120 Fort Donelson, 8 Fort Negley, 18 Fort Thunder, 125 Foster’s Colored Troops, 96, 102 Fourteenth Corps, 33, 44 – 45, 77, 82, 85, 103, 106, 114, 126, 131 Fourteenth Michigan Regiment, 48, 58, 71–73, 76 Fourth Corps, 28, 39, 45, 54, 61– 62, 72 Francis, Earnest, 7 Frank, Henry J., 88 Fredericksburg va, 127–29 Fuller, John Wallace, 78 Garner, James M., 88 Gaston nc, 123 Gillespie, David, 96, 101, 107, 117, 148 n.3 Goldsboro nc, 113–14, 117

Grand Review, 130–32 Grant, Gen. Ulysses S., 117–18, 120, 152 n.27 Grove, Martin, 88 guerrillas, 8, 36 Halleck, Gen. Henry, usa, 124 –26, 148 n.1, 152 n.34 Hanover Court House, 126 hardtack, 20, 47 Hardee, Gen. William Joseph, csa, 109 Harris, Meeker, 97 Hartman, William Sargent, 25, 81, 88 Harvey, Albert S., 88 Hawn, George W., 20, 23, 88 Henderson, Corp. John H., 25, 41, 88 Henry rifle, 117–18, 152 n.29 Hensley, James, 89 Herndon, Edward M., 88 Herring River, 123 Hilbert, Fred, 88 Hilton Head sc, 96 Hollenbeck, John Milton, 89 Hood, Gen. John Bell, csa, 67, 82– 83, 87, 114, 142 n.36, 146 n.64, 147 n.78 n.81 Hooker, Gen. Joseph, usa, 6, 33, 44, 53, 57, 65 – 66, 139 n.4 Horner, William, 28, 89, 117 Howard, Gen. O. O., usa, 29, 31, 33, 103, 123, 131, 141 n.25, 143 n.38 Howerton, Henry, 88 Hungerford, John, 40, 88, 90–91, 116 Husted, Nathan, 88 Hutchison, Robert, 88 Indianapolis in, 15 Ingle, Jesse, 18–19, 22–23, 89 Ingle, John, 23 Jacksonville il, 9 James River, 124 –25 Jamison, Matthew H., 117, 152 n.39 Jeffers, Francis, 89 Jeffers, James, 89 Jeffers, John A., 89 Jeffers, Thomas, 89 Johnson, Garrett V., 89 Johnson, William A., 89 Johnston, Gen. Joseph E., csa, 33, 37,

index 49, 67, 114, 117–18, 120, 144 n.47, 146 n.64, 151 n.24 Jonesboro Road, 85 Jonesboro ga, 82– 85, 147 n.79 n.81 Julfs, Jacob, 89 Kenesaw Mountain, 51–53, 144 n.48, 145 n.54 Kennedy, Lt. Thomas H., 101 Kenny, John M., 31, 51, 89 –90 Kerr, James R., 89 Kilpatrick, Gen. Hugh Judson, csa, 33, 82, 84 Kimball, Benjamin F. E., 73 Kingston ga, 37 Kingsville and Charlotte Railroad, 107 Kinney, David, 26, 51, 89 –90 Lacy, Robert, 28 Lafayette in, 15 lard candles, 56 Layton, Daniel, 46, 78 Layton, Joseph R., 89 Layton, Lewis B., 22–23, 89 Lee, Gen. Robert E., csa, 118 Lenex, George, 89 Libby Prison, 125 Liberty Hill sc, 108 Lincoln, Abraham, 119, 131, 152 n.27 n.32 Little Linch Creek, 108 Livingston, John, 89 Lloyd, Eli, 89 Lloyd, James, 89 Lookout Mountain ga, 6, 139 n.4 Lord, William E., 89 Louisiana Tigers, 69 Louisville ky, 17, 135 –36 Louisville sc, 106 Lusk, George C., 63, 142 n.29, 146 n.71 Manchester va, 124 –25 Manson nc, 123 Marietta ga, 41, 46, 48, 54 –56 Marshall il, 11 Marvin, William, 86 – 87, 89 Mason, Samuel T., 63, 73 McCarty, Curtis G., 89 McCook, Daniel, 37, 144 n.51 McDaniel, Alfred E., 3, 89, 120

159

McDowell, Irwin, 129 McEnally, Charles P., 61 McPherson, Gen. James B., usa, 33, 66, 145 n.56 n.57, 146 n.67 Meade, Gen. George G, usa, 120 Milam, Lafayette, 46, 68, 78 Miller, Eugene, 89 Mitchell, Maggie, 7– 8 Montgomery, John, 89 Moore, Charles W., 89 Moore (or Mowee), Fred, 116 Moore, Samuel R., 89 Morgan, Col. James D., 33, 55, 64, 76, 83, 141 n.23 Morgan, Jerome, 89 Morgan, Spencer D., 89 Mowee (or Moore), Fred, 116 Mower, Maj. Gen. Joseph A., usa, 100, 103, 106 –7, 111, 125, 151 n.26 Mulkins, Robert S., 89 Munson, Franklin A., 63– 64 Murfreesboro tn, 19 Nancy’s Creek, 66 Nashville tn, 6 – 8, 17 Nashville Union, 22 Neal, Rufus, 23, 89 Neuse River, 123 New Orleans la, 129 Nitchman, Benjamin, 89 Nitchman, James P., 89 O’Brien, Michael, 40, 42, 89 Ohio River, 8–9, 136 125th Illinois Regiment, 35 Orangeburg sc, 104 –5, 150 n.16 Overmire, Levi, 89 Pamlock River, 123 Peachtree Creek, 66 – 67, 146 n.64 Pease, John A., 90 Pee Dee River, 113, 151 n.23 Pendley, Elizabeth, 4, 71 Petersburg va, 123 Pickup, George W., 50, 90 pioneers, 31 Pocotaligo sc, 98–99 Polk, Gen. Leonidas, csa, 36, 48, 144 n.46 Poorman, Benny F., 90 Potomac River, 130–31, 152 n.40

160

index

Prentiss, Gen. Benjamin M., usa, 9, 14, 140 n.8 Preston, Alfred, 19, 90–91 Prevo, Henry, 90 Quincy il, 9, 13–15 Race, Capt. George A., 25, 62– 63, 75, 117 Raleigh nc, 118–21, 123, 152 n.33 Ransom, T. E. G., 78, 147 n.77 Rappahannock River, 127–28 refugees, 19 –20 Retherford, John, 90 Rice, Gen. William T., usa, 81 Richmond Railroad, 68 Richmond, Virginia, 117, 124 –25, 152 n.36 Ringgold, Georgia, 27, 32, 141 n.20 Ritchie, Dr. Robert L., 24 Roanoke River, 123 Rock, Elijah, 42, 90 Rockfish nc, 113 Roddey’s Cavalry, 56 Roderick, David F., 90 Rogers, Martin, 90 Rogers, William, 90 Rome ga, 35 –38, 142 n.33 Rosebrook, Freeman, 25, 90 Rossville ga, 3, 5 – 6, 21 Rouch, George E., 90, 116 Rough and Ready ga, 87 Russell, James, 90 Salkehatchie River, 98, 101, 149 n.10 n.13 Savannah ga, 95, 97 Savannah and Charleston Railroad, 97 Schofield, Gen. John M., usa, 114, 145 n.56 n.57 Scotland, 20, 26 Seventeenth Corps, 46, 56, 68, 81, 95, 108, 123–24, 131, 148 n.3 Seventeenth New York Zouaves, 77 Seventy-eighth Illinois Regiment, 30 Sheridan, Gen. John McAllister, usa, 124 Sherman, Gen. William T., 29, 31, 33, 37, 50, 57, 61, 67– 68, 70, 87, 101, 117, 119 –20, 124, 126 –27, 130–31, 143 n.41 n.42 n.45, 145 n.56, 148

n.83 n.87 n.1, 150 n.19, 152 n.27 n.30 n.35 Shorter, James B., 90 Siefken, Hero, 68, 90–91 Sixteenth Corps, 41–2, 46, 56, 66, 68– 69, 76 –78, 81 Sixteenth Illinois Regiment, 21–22, 30–31, 41– 42, 51, 62– 64, 70, 73, 76 Sixtieth Illinois Infantry, 29 –30, 50, 58, 64 – 65, 74 smallpox, 22 Smith, Japhet, 90 Snead, William, 90 sowbelly, 7 Spiker, Samuel R., 90 Springfield il, 4, 9, 15 Stanley, Gen. Davis Sloan, usa, 28, 31 Star Spangled Banner, 9 Stark, William R., 90 Starks, James B., 91 Stewart, Lt. Gen. Alexander Peter, csa, 115 Sullivan, Thomas, 90 suttlers, 74 Tacoosa County ga, 34 Taylor, David, 116 Taylor, William K., 90 Taylor, William M., 91 Tecumseh (statue), 133 Tennessee River, 8 Tenth Corps, 119 Tenth Illinois Regiment, 14, 18, 34 – 35, 38, 39 – 41, 48, 51, 62– 64, 73–75, 78– 80, 84, 95, 99, 101, 106, 115, 151 n.26, 152 n.39 Tenth Michigan Regiment, 5, 39 – 40, 49, 65 – 66, 74, 76, 114 Terre Haute in, 10, 12–13 Thirteenth Corps, 53 Thirtieth Illinois Regiment, 46, 68, 78 Thirty-fourth Illinois Regiment, 36 Thirty-second Wisconsin Regiment, 78, 95, 103, 148 n.3 Thomas, Gen. George Henry, usa, 29 Thornton, Edward, 100 Tillson, Col. John, 6, 14, 17, 62, 77– 78, 103, 122, 148 n.3, 150 n.15, 151 n.26 Tolono il, 13 Tomlinson, James A., 44, 90

index torpedos, 95, 105, 150 n.17 Tunnel Hill ga, 27 Twentieth Corps, 38, 57, 62, 69, 72, 83, 103, 107, 114, 120, 125 –26 Twenty-fifth Corps, 101, 117 Twenty-fifth Indiana Regiment, 78, 79, 85, 101, 105, 148 n.3 Twenty-first Illinois Regiment, 7, 46 Twenty-fourth Corps, 117 Twenty-second Indiana Regiment, 36, 64 Twenty-third Corps, 60, 71–72, 76 –77, 82, 119 Wabash River, 15 Walnut Prairie il, 10, 97 Warn, Henry W., 90 Warsaw River, 95 Washington dc, 119, 127–30, 133, 135 –36

161

Washington, George, 129, 133–34 Waters, Capt. John D., 24, 62 West Point Railroad, 82 Whitehead, Abe, 7, 28, 46 Willard, John, 90 Williams, Charles C., 90 Wilson, Capt. Ephraim A., 24 –25, 41, 57–59, 61– 62, 81, 90–91, 96, 101, 135 Winnsboro sc, 107– 8 Winsitt, Lt. John, 12, 61, 118 Wood, McLean (or McLaine F.), 21, 96 – 97, 148 n.3 Woods, Lt. Col. William Burnham, usa, 17 Wyatt, Americus, 90–91, 116 Yankee Doodle, 105 York il, 11