Chapter 18, History of the 85th Illinois Regiment Volunteer Infantry

History of the 85th Illinois Regiment
Illinois Volunteer Infantry
by
Henry J. Aten

CHAPTER XVIII
page 218-230

August & September, 1864

ATLANTA CAMPAIGN

     On the 22nd General Jefferson C. Davis was assigned to the command of the Fourteenth corps and General James D. Morgan was assigned to the command of the Second division. Both were promoted for meritorious conduct, and their advancement was alike satisfactory to officers and men. General Morgan had been an officer in the War with Mexico, and had entered the service in 1861, as colonel of the Tenth Illinois. He proved to be an able and worthy division commander, and held the position until the close of ihe war.
     It appears that General Sherman thought it impossible for the enemy to extend his line far enough to protect the railway junction at East Point. But General Morgan's expedition found the enemy in force at that place on the 20th, and it was finally found that the enemy's line, well fortified and firmly held, extended from the Decatur road on the east of Atlanta to East Point, a distance of fully fifteen miles. It soon became apparent that a change of plans was to be made by the commanding general, but what the movement contemplated could be no one assumed to know. The sick and those not able to mako a long and rapid march were sent to the rear, and an air of mystery enveloped all in authority. All efforts to take Atlanta or to reach and occupy the Macon railroad had failed, but soldiers and officers felt no fear that the attempt was to be abandoned.
     Unable to reach the left flank of the rebel army and maintain his line of communications, General Sherman decided to throw his army upon the Macon railroad. The Twentieth corps, with the surplus trains of the army, were placed in an entrenched camp at the Chattahoochee river, and on the morning of the 26th the grand movement to the rear of Atlanta began. The Fourteenth corps held on to the Utoy creek line until all the other corps passed to its rear and on toward the coveted railroad. At three o'clock on the morning of the 27th the Second division retired from the line at Willis Mills on Utoy creek, and marched some two miles southwest, where it was massed, and the Eighty-fifth was sent to the picket line. In the afternoon the enemy's pickets came in sight, but as they maintained an attitude of observation at a safe distance they were not molested. The next morning we moved to Mount Gilead church, where we passed the Fourth corps, and the division again became the right flank of the entire army. The enemy was found on the south side of Camp creek, but he was quickly dispersed by the skirmishers of the Second brigade. A bridge was built, over which we crossed, and the division arrived on the Montgomery railroad, one-half mile east of Red Oak, that evening. During the 29th the command was engaged in destroying the railroad, and on the next morning we marched to Shoal Creek church, where we rested for several hours, the division being massed as if an attack was anticipated. In the afternoon the command moved to within six miles of Jonesboro, on the Macon railroad, and camped for the night.
     Orders were issued to be ready to march at daylight on the 31st, but no movement was made until afternoon. About three o'clock the noise of battle was heard in the direction of Jonesboro, and the First and Third brigades moved rapidly in the direction of the righting. But the firing soon ceased, and the division camped at Renfroes cross roads. The enemy had been found in strong force at Jonesboro, a small town on the Macon railroad, twenty-two miles south of Atlanta, behind heavy earthworks. West of the town his line ran nearly north and south, but north of the village it made an abrupt turn, ran east to the railroad, and beyond that extended some distance to the southeast. His entire line was well fortified with artillery at the angles, in position to sweep his front, making a very difficult line to carry by direct assault. During the afternoon the Army of the Tennessee had closed down on the enemy from the west, developed his line to the angle north of the town and entrenched a position facing that of the enemy.
     On Thursday morning, September 1st, the Fourteenth army corps wheeled to the right, using our division as a pivot, with the intention of storming the rebel right. The Second division was to keep in touch with the left of the Army of the Tennessee. About noon the movement brought the corps in line parallel to the enemy's works north of the town, and it was formed into an assaulting column in an old open cotton field. As we emerged from the woods just beyond Flint river a shell from a rebel battery revealed to us the position of the enemy's line. The first shot was succeeded by others in quick succession, and as our column formed in full view it made an attractive mark for the rebel gunners. Their first shots passed over our heads or struck the ground in front, but they soon got the range and their shells burst around and among us at a lively rate. Our division was formed with the Second and Third brigades in front, each in two lines, with the batteries in the interval between the brigades, while the First brigade was held in reserve. The Third brigade had the right of the line and was formed in the following order: First line, Twenty-second Indiana on the right, the Fifty-second Ohio on the left, and the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois in the center, the Eighty-fifth, Eighty-sixth and One Hundred and Tenth Illinois forming the second line.
     From our line it was about one thousand yards to the rebel batteries in the angle, with a swamp and several deep ditches intervening. As soon as our batteries could get into position they opened fire and a furious cannonade ensued. To the left as far as we could see brigades were massed for a charge, with batteries thundering from the intervals between them, flags waving and flashing in the sunlight, staff officers dashing here and there, all made a martial scene grand and inspiring in the highest degree. At the command the men moved forward with bayonets fixed and their empty guns at the right shoulder-shift.
     The swamp and ditches encountered were so difficult to cross that the Second and Third brigades had to move by the right flank some distance, and then cross in regimental column. The crossing was accomplished as rapidly as possible, and the First brigade was brought up and placed in the front line on the left of the division. All this time the troops were under fire from the rebel batteries, and many were killed and wounded by shells. The assaulting column was reformed on the slope of a hill beyond the swamp, within about two hundred yards of the enemy's position. Here the ground offered a slight protection, a brief halt was made, and the line rectified. Soon the bugles sounded the charge, and the whole line rushed forward. The enemy, self-confident and exultant at our audacity in attacking lines so strong, held his musketry fire until we were in short range, when his first volley killed and wounded at least one-half the men lost in the assault. The fight was short and bloody, but his entire line of works was carried. Eight hundred and sixty-five officers and men, including one brigade commander, were captured in the works. About one thousand more were picked up during the night which should be credited to the assault. The Second division captured two four-gun batteries, one thousand stand of small arms and six battle flags. These trophies were won at the point of the sword and bayonet, under a furious fire of musketry, on ground swept by grape and can-nister, from men whose fighting qualities have never been excelled, posted behind breast-works as strong as men long trained in the art of constructing defensive works could make them.
     While gallantly leading the brigade near the enemy's works Colonel Dilworth received a severe wound, a musket ball passing through his neck, and he was carried from the field. Lieutenant Colonel J. W. Langley, of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois, being next in rank, assumed command of the brigade. The Eighty-fifth was now on the right of the front line, and under a heavy fire from a force seeking to penetrate between our right and the left of the Army of the Tennessee. Here Major Robert G. Rider, commanding the Eighty-fifth, received a gunshot wound in the head, and the command of the regiment devolved upon Captain James R. Griffith, of Company B. Other regiments were brought up in line with the Eighty-fifth, and heavy firing was kept up until long after dark, checking the advance of the enemy, who was then no doubt preparing to retreat.
     The assault was the only entirely successful one of the campaign, and decided the fate of Atlanta. The troops slept on their arms, and were startled during the night by what appeared to be terrific artillery firing in the direction of Atlanta. All supposed there had been a night assault by the Twentieth corps, but we learned next day that the noise proceeded from the explosion of ammunition, the rear guard of the enemy having destroyed his abandoned ordnance stores as his army retreated from the city. The Twentieth corps moved forward at daylight, occupying the city and taking charge of the property not yet destroyed. The morning of the 2nd found nothing in our front save the wreck of a defeated enemy, who had retreated during the night, leaving his dead unburied and his wounded uncared for.
     It is the most trying moment in the experience of a soldier, when a charging column is preparing for the final dash against the enemy's works. The pressure on brain and nerve is intense, and under the strain some become panic stricken, while others perform the most valorous deeds. Just as the line was being adjusted for the supreme effort three men broke from the ranks of a certain regiment and ran back into the fields. While running up the side of a hill seemingly beyond the danger line an avenging Confederate shell passed over the heads of hundreds at the front and, as if directed by fate, tore two of the fleeing fugitives to fragments.
     On ho {tho} other occasion was the use of the bayonet so general or so well authenticated. Three brothers named Noe, of the Tenth Kentucky, went over the rebel parapet together, and two of them pinned their adversaries to the ground with the bayonet.*

*Rebellion Records, No. 72, page 753.

In this assault the fact was demonstrated that where men make an assault with empty guns the bayonet can be freely and effectively used.
Of the troops engaged in the assault at Jonesboro all belonged to the Fourteenth corps, and those composing the storming column consisted of the Second division entire, and one brigade of the Third division. The victory was rich in the spoil of the battlefield. Nearly two thousand prisoners, two batteries, one thousand stand of small arms and seven battle flags were among the trophies. No such capture of men and material had been made since the storming of Mission Ridge. In addition to being the only successful assault on the enemy's main line in the long campaign, more cannon, battle flags and munitions of war were captured by the Second division at Rome and Jonesboro than were captured by the entire army between Dalton and Atlanta. And the glory belongs in part to the officers and men of the Eighty-fifth, the living and the dead, who had a part in that trying campaign. For nearly four months they had been almost constantly under fire, at every moment liable to be picked off, while the sound of whistling bullet and bursting shell had seldom been out of their ears.
In the assault the Second division lost five hundred and forty in killed and wounded, of which one hundred and thirty-five were from the Third brigade. At Jonesboro the Eighty-fifth sustained the following:

CASUALTIES.

FIELD AND STAFF:
WOUNDED - Colonel Caleb J. Dilworth, commanding the brigade; Major Robert G. Rider, commanding the regiment.

COMPANY B:
KILLED - Corporal Lewis Boarnaster.

COMPANY D:
WOUNDED - Corporal William D. Close, Jacob S. Dew, Henry Howarth and Newton C. Patterson.

COMPANY E:
KILLED - Thomas Owens.

COMPANY F:
KILLED - Sergeant David Hamilton.

COMPANY H:
WOUNDED - Corporal Thomas B. Engle and William Frietley.

COMPANY I:
WOUNDED - Sergeant Neal P. Hughes and Ellis Moore.

COMPANY K:
KILLED - First Sergeant Smith B. Horsey.
WOUNDED - Sergeant Charles Pond.

   On Sunday morning, the 4th, the Third brigade was ordered to escort the prisoners and hospital train to Atlanta. The men enjoyed their two days of rest after the battle, and were prepared for a long and rapid march, and reached the city that evening. The prisoners able to march numbered some seventeen hundred men. and these marched two and two in the middle of the road, while the command marched in four ranks, two on either side of the captives. Arriving in the city the prisoners were turned over to the garrison, and the Third brigade went into camp on the west side. Within the next few days General Sherman's entire army returned to the vicinity of the city, and went into camps at the following points: The Army of the Tennessee at East Point, the Army of the Ohio at Decatur, and the Army of the Cumberland in and around Atlanta.
   During the campaign the following changes occurred among the commissioned officers: Adjutant Clark N. Andrus died on July 23rd of wounds received at Kennesaw mountain, and First Lieutenant Preston C. Hudson, of Company I, was commissioned to succeed him on that date. The position of first assistant surgeon had long been vacant, when Dr. Gilbert W. Southwick, of Arcadia, Ill., was appointed to that position under date of August 29th. First Sergeant John K. Milner, of Company A, died of wounds received at Peach Tree creek; he had been commissioned first lieutenant of his company on March 20th, 1863, but for lack of the required number of men he had never been mustered. He died on the twentieth of August in the hands of the enemy. On the 29th of August Captain James T. McNeil, of Company H, resigned and First Lieutenant Ira A. Mardis was promoted to be captain. Captain McNeil had never recovered from the hardships and exposure of the rebel prison.
   During the Atlanta campaign the following deaths occurred in the Eighty-fifth from diseases or wounds:

FIELD AND STAFF.
Adjutant Clark N. Andrus.

COMPANY A - Corporal Calvin W. Boon, John F. Anno, William Bortzfield and David Kratzer, of wounds.

COMPANY B - William Buffalow, of wounds; William H. Skiles, of disease.

COMPANY C - Corporal Thomas Stagg, Jeremiah Deiterich, Daniel Daugherty, William H. Neeley, James K. Young and Thomas M. Young, of wounds; and James {Joseph - see his bio} Moslander, of disease.

COMPANY D - John J. Murphy and Hugh Morgan, of wounds; and Willard Hicks, of disease in Andersonville prison.

COMPANY E - First Sergeant A. J. Taylor, Sergeant William F. Hohamer, Corporal Bowling Green, Corporal James N. Sheets and James E. Thomas, of wounds.

COMPANY G - Silas Dodge, of wounds.

COMPANY H - Charles A. Hughes, of disease; John A. Thompson, of wounds.

COMPANY I - Charles Cain, of disease.

COMPANY K - John Seibenborn, of disease.

The official reports at the close of the Atlanta campaign show that the aggregate loss of the Third brigade was one thousand and eighty-nine, distributed among the regiments as follows :*

*Rebellion Records, Serial No. 72, page 717.

Twenty-second Indiana 231

Fifty-second Ohio 253

Eighty-fifth Illinois 194

Eighty-sixth Illinois 178

One Hundred and Tenth Illinois 29

One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois 206

Total 1,089

The casualties in the Second division numbered twenty-four hundred and seventy-two, and the aggregate loss by each brigade was reported as follows:*

*Rebellion Records, Serial No. 72, page 643.

First brigade 536

Second brigade 847

Third brigade 1,089

Total 2,472

The Atlanta campaign had ended; a campaign destined to live in history as long as brilliant strategy is studied, and the history of stubborn, continuous fighting is read. And well had the Eighty-fifth borne its part, and sustained the record for heroism and gallantry won on the threshold of its career, at Perryville. The President, Congress, the press and the loyal people of the land gave unstinted praise to General Sherman and the gallant officers and soldiers who had forced their way over broad rivers and through mountain passes from Chattanooga to the "Gate City." But the rebel army had not been destroyed, and other arduous campaigns, much marching, and hard battles must yet be fought, and in them the Eighty-fifth was to have a conspicuous part. At this time the official reports show an aggregate present for duty in the regiment of two hundred and nineteen.

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Twenty-second Indiana	231
Fifty-second Ohio	253
Eighty-fifth Illinois	194
Eighty-sixth Illinois	178
One Hundred and Tenth Illinois	29
One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois	206
Total	1,089

First brigade	536
Second brigade	847
Third brigade	1,089
Total	2,472