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History of the 85th Illinois Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry by Henry J. Aten |  |
General Sherman divided his army into two grand divisions or wings, the
right wing composed of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth corps, commanded
by Major General O. O. Howard, and the left wing consisting of the
Fourteenth and Twentieth corps, commanded by Major General Henry W.
Slocum; and, in addition, there was a cavalry division, commanded by
Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick, making in round numbers an army of
about sixty-five thousand men.
The regiments composing this veteran army had
been reduced by the casualties of constant service to one-third their
original number. The space occupied by a brigade at this time was
no longer than that filled by a regiment when first mustered. A
regiment that could parade three hundred men out of the thousand it
entered the service with, was considered lucky, and thirty men made
more than the average company. Such had been the loss ratio that the
files of four at the outset had been reduced, in many instances, to a
single soldier. This veteran army was an army of boys and very many of
them, while veterans in the service, were yet too young to vote.
Commanders of regiments were often less than thirty years of age, while
the company and staff officers were generally much younger. Their long
hard service had made them fertile in resources, and inspired them with
unbounded self-confidence. Glorying in their strength, they waded
streams flushed with recent rains; built corduroy roads through dismal
swamps; pulled wagons and cannon out of bottomless mudholes and stormed
the enemy's entrenched lines, with as little concern as they resumed
the march in the morning.
Through the return of those recovering from
wounds, the exchange of prisoners, and a small number of recruits, the
aggregate present for duty had been materially increased. When the
march to the sea began, the Second division had an aggregate present
for duty of 5,542, of which number 1,721 belonged to the Third brigade.
But for the reason given below the number present for duty in the
Eighty-fifth cannot be given.
Up to the time of the arrival of the
Eighty-fifth at Atlanta, each company had been allowed room in the
wagon train for a box containing its books and papers, which box, when
opened, answered the purpose of a desk. But in September orders were
received to pack the records and turn the boxes in to the
quartermaster. The understanding at the time was that at the end of the
campaign they would be returned. Accordingly morning reports,
order books, and retained copies of all papers were packed in company
desks and delivered to the quartermaster. It was afterwards reported
that all had been shipped to Chattanooga for safe keeping and later
that they had been accidentally destroyed by fire. That they were
destroyed by fire the writer has no reason to doubt, and whether
the burning was accidental or intentional, the result was the same -
all were lost. This was most unfortunate, as the loss of the morning
reports renders it impossible to give the strength of the regiment at
important periods, and that of the order books makes it equally
impossible to give credit to individuals and detachments detailed
for special duty.
The march to the sea began on the morning of
November 15th, by the two corps of the right wing moving directly
toward Macon. And bright and early on the 16th, the Twentieth corps
began to march past our camp, but it was near noon before the Second
division moved in the rear of the left wing toward Augusta. It will be
observed that the two corps of each wing moved on sharply diverging
lines, threatening both Macon and Augusta, but the general plan
contemplated a concentration of the entire army at Milledgeville,
the capital of the state, about one hundred miles southeast of Atlanta.
We marched ten miles the first day, and camped for the night on
Snapfinger creek. The next day we marched sixteen miles, passing
through Lithonia, destroying four miles of railroad, and camped for the
night at Conyers, thirty miles east of Atlanta by rail. As the
destruction of railroad communications between Richmond, the
Confederate capital, and the gulf states was an important part of
General Sherman's plan, he spared no effort to accomplish that end. And
as the method finally adopted for this purpose was both novel and
thorough, a brief description is here inserted. A brigade would halt in
its march along a railroad line, stack arms and the men scatter along
one side of the track Then each man would take hold of a tie, and at
the word of command, all lifting together, would throw the ties end
over end, the fall breaking the rail loose from the ties. Then the ties
would be piled up like cob-houses, and these with other fuel would be
set on fire, and the rails thrown across them. In a short time the
rails would be red hot in the middle, when the soldiers would seize the
rail by the two ends, and wrap it around a tree like a necktie or
interlace and twine a pile of them together in great iron knots, while
others with cant-hooks would twist the hot rails into corkscrew
patterns, which it was impossible to straighten, and rendering them
useless for any purpose other than old iron. In this way an army corps
marching along a railroad could easily destroy ten to fifteen miles in
a day. Moreover, to complete the destruction of the enemy's
communications, the railway culverts were blown up, the bridges burned
and the machine shops were leveled to the ground. The extent of line
destroyed was enormous. More than a hundred miles of the road from
Chattanoga {Chattanooga} running through Atlanta to Macon; from Atlanta
east toward Augusta another hundred miles, and almost the entire length
of the Georgia Central was ruined to the suburbs of Savannah. On the
18th, we marched sixteen miles, passing through Covington and Oxford,
and destroyed three miles of railroad, camping beyond the Ulcofauchee
river. On the next day we marched twenty miles, passing through
Sandtown and camping near Shady Grove. We inarched twenty miles on
Sunday, the 20th, and camped near Eatonton factories, which we
burned. The next day we turned south, marched twelve miles toward
Milledgeville, through a heavy rain and over bad roads, and camped
south of Cedar creek. We remained in camp the 22nd and the First and
Third divisions with the pontoon train passed to the front. Weather
cleared up cold after a slight flurry of snow. On the next day, we
marched fourteen miles, camping on the plantation of Howell Cobb, who
had been secretary of the treasury under Buchanan, and was then a
general in the Southern army. This plantation abounded in corn,
beans, peanuts and sorghum molasses, all of which, together with the
fences and buildings, were appropriated by General Davis to the use and
comfort of his men. Near our camp wras a stack of peanuts, containing
probably more than a thousand bushels. That night the men roasted
and ate of them until many have never cared for peanuts since, and when
we left in the morning, the stack caught fire and the remainder was
consumed. Indeed the fire consumed about all found on this
traitor's plantation that hungry men and animals could not eat.
We passed through Milledgeville about ten
o'clock on the 24th, crossed the Oconee river, and moved in the
direction of Louisville. Up to this time there had been no organized
force to resist our progress, or to even seriously interfere with our
rollicking foragers. Appeals as fervid as they were futile had been
made by both Confederate and state authorities, calling upon the
people to rise and expel the invaders from the state, but the utter
helplessness of the situation was so apparent to all that the people,
paralyzed with fear, paid little or no heed to the noisy but impotent
proclamations. But when near Saundersville, on the 26th, our old time
enemy. General Wheeler, with his cavalry appeared on the scene and
drove our foragers in on the main column. The Second brigade being in
advance deployed, and, after a sharp skirmish, drove the enemy through
the town, with the loss of one killed and two wounded. We crossed the
Ogeechee river on the next day and arrived at Louisville on the evening
of the 28th, where we remained for two days.
On the next day a foraging party was suddenly
surrounded and captured. They were disarmed and hurried a short
distance into the woods, where they were stood in line by their inhuman
captors, and deliberately shot down in cold blood. Several were
instantly killed, and the wounded shammed death until their captors
left the scene. Soon after the camp was aroused by one of the slightly
wounded, and a strong skirmish line advanced and recovered the dead and
relieved the wounded. In this affair the loss of the Eighty-fifth was
as follows:
KILLED - William Earp, sergeant of Company F; Simon Heaton, of Company H.
WOUNDED - Sergeant P. M. McColgan, of Company F; Corporal Perry W. Clupper, of Company G.
Warned by this experience, our foraging party
was strongly reinforced the next morning, which was very fortunate as
the events of the day proved. The foraging party of the 30th,
found abundant forage some eight miles from camp and had filled their
wagons by noon. But whiie eating their dinner previous to the return
trip, the rebel cavalry suddenly appeared between them and camp and
opened fire. The men quickly rallied, however, and charged through the
enemy's line, but by the time they had routed the foe and closed up
their forage train, the enemy was found again in their front. The news
of the peril surrounding the foragers soon reached camp and the
Eighty-fifth started on the double quick to their assistance, reaching
them none too soon, as they had charged and scattered the rebel cavalry
eight times that afternoon and were well nigh exhausted. They had,
however, pluckily held on to their forage train. About the time the
regiment started to the relief of the sorely-pressed foragers the other
regiments were advanced against the enemy, who were boldly threatening
the camp, and after a sharp skirmish drove him out of a line of
earthworks and a mile or more beyond. A cotton gin containing forty or
fifty bales of cotton, from behind which the enemy had fired on our
men, was burned.
We moved from Louisville on December 1st, our
division guarding the corps train and reserve artillery, while the
other two divisions marched on parallel roads to our left. We marched
in this way for several days until we reached the Savannah river. The
roads ran through swamps that had to be corduroyed before the train
could pass, the country was generally flat and sparsely settled, and
while the foragers found a fair supply of meat and sweet potatoes,
flour and meal were very scarce. On Sunday, the 4th, we destroyed three
miles of railroad at Lumpkins station, and the next evening, after a
hard day's march over difficult roads, we camped at Jacksonboro, near
the point where Brier creek falls into the Savannah river. On the 6th,
we marched twenty miles, moving not far from and parallel with the
river. Our route led us through dismal swamps and deep loose sand,
through which the train moved with great difficulty. We camped after
dark near Hudson's Ferry.
An amusing incident occurred at this camp,
which delayed the supper of a hungry mess. Near Milledgeville a colored
man came to a certain mess and offered to cook meals and carry its
outfit on the march, in return for permission to go along with the
army. He was the blackest man the writer ever saw; of powerful build
and gigantic stature. But his speech was a kind of jargon and
very difficult to understand, and from the disconnected story he told
around our camp fire, it appeared that he was a native of Africa; that
he had been brought over by a slave trader from the African coast but a
short time before the war began, and sold to a Georgia planter living
in the vicinity of the state capital. He proved to be a good cook, a
noble forager and provided the best the country afforded for the mess.
As soon as fires had been kindled on that occasion for cooking supper,
and as the colored man, with a camp kettle in each hand, was starting
for a supply of water, a rebel gun-boat over in the river opened fire,
sending a monstrous sixty-four-pounder shell screaming over our heads.
In passing, it tore branches from the trees, which added to the
infernal noise made in its flight. At the moment of its passage, the
writer was looking at the cook, perhaps somewhat anxiously, as he was
very hungry, and saw him bound into the air, give an unearthly scream,
fling his camp kettles to the wind and go bounding end over end through
the brush, to disappear in the darkness. He vanished as completely
as if he had been translated, and we never saw him afterward.
Fortunately the gunboat, which was probably patrolling the river, only
fired one shot, but it was observed that the men were content to cook
on low fires and eat in the dark.
On the 7th, we marched fifteen miles, passing
through two swamps that were badly obstructed by trees felled by the
enemy to delay the advance, and camped near Ebenezer Creek. The next
day we had to wait until pontoons were brought up and bridges built
before we could cross the two streams known as Big and Little Ebenezer.
This was historic ground, Ebenezer church, standing at the roadside,
having been a rallying point for General Marion and his men in the War
of the Revolution. It was dark when we camped that evening, the
rain was falling steadily, and everything in the shape of fuel was
soaked with water. Finally, when with much effort the men had succeeded
in starting their fires, and had just put their coffee on to boil,
orders were received to fall in and return to Ebenezer creek. Wheeler's
cavalry was pressing the rear guard and threatening the pontoon
train with capture. The wet, tired, and hungry men, while taking
their places in the ranks, made many forcible if not elegant remarks
descriptive of their feelings, and expressive of their forlorn
condition. But perhaps no one came nearer expressing the sentiment of
the entire brigade than did a soldier who was observed to linger to the
last, over a coffee can that refused to boil. At the last moment, he
kicked his can over and his fire out, and as he slung his musket across
his back and started to take his place in his company, his strong,
clear voice rang out in perfect time, as he sang a profane parody of
the line in that familiar song,
The return of the Third brigade to Ebenezer creek promptly checked the
enemy and we camped about midnight on the north bank of that stream. On
the 9th, we marched eight miles, built bridges over two creeks, and ran
up against a line of rebel earthworks, with a battery planted at the
point where the works crossed the road.
The enemy had selected a strong position to
make a brief stand with a few men, at a point where a road passed
between two swamps. When the rebel battery opened on the head of the
column, the Third brigade was promptly deployed on both sides of the
road, and our battery was brought up and returned the enemy's fire. In
the artillery duel which followed, Lieutenant Coe, of Battery I, Second
Illinois artillery, was killed, and two men on the skirmish line were
wounded. The death of Lieutenant Coe cast a gloom over the entire
brigade, where he was well known for his courage and skill, and wThere
he was universally respected for his gentlemanly bearing. At this time
darkness intervened and the entire brigade remained as a picket line
for the night. We afterward learned that the enemy had intended to
defend the city, only fifteen miles distant, on the line of defenses
here encountered. This line of detached works extended from the
Savannah river on the east to the Ogeechee river on the west. But the
rapid advance of the right wing of the army down the right bank of the
Ogeechee turned the enemy under General Hardee out of this line of
works, and forced him to fall back to his interior line at the city.
The next morning we found the works in our front abandoned and we
advanced to the Ten-mile House, where we fell in with the Twentieth
corps, which had the right of way, and we camped at that point for the
night. On Sunday, the nth, we closed down on the enemy's defenses at
Savannah, which were found to be very formidable and armed with an
abundance of heavy artillery.
Savannah was then a city of some twenty-five
thousand people, is situated on the right bank of the
Savannah river and distant but fifteen miles from the ocean. It is
built upon an elevation about forty feet above tide water, as near the
harbor entrance as suitable ground on which to build a city could be
found. Just below the city the land sinks almost to the level of the
sea, and is cut into islands by canals or creeks. The Savannah and
Ogeechee rivers fall into the ocean near each other, and for about
fifty miles from the sea, a strip of land separates them not more
than ten to fifteen miles in width. As our army approached from the
north, down this narrow strip of land, it formed a compact line
from the Savannah river on the left to the Ogeechee near King's bridge
on the right. The skirmish line in front of the Second division was
near the three-mile post, the entrenched lines of the enemy being about
a quarter of a mile nearer the city.
On December 13th, a division of the Fifteenth
army corps, commanded by General William B. Hazen, stormed and carried
Fort McAllister, on the right bank of the Ogeechee, capturing the
entire garrison, together with the armament of the fort. This brilliant
feat of arms solved the question of a base of supplies on the sea
coast, by opening the Ogeechee river to light draught steamers, by the
use of which supplies could be brought up to King's bridge and landed
in the rear of the right of the army. The capture of this fort was of
vast importance. The foragers were no longer able to procure either
food or forage, in a country almost entirely devoted to rice farming,
and for several days the army had been living on short rations drawn
from the scant supply brought from Atlanta in the wagon trains. But the
successful issue of the assault on Fort McAllister not only
insured abundant food supplies, as soon as the river could be cleared
of obstructions, but the mails would be brought up and we would hear
from the loved ones at home.
Through the thoughtfulness of General Grant, a
fleet of vessels loaded with supplies for the army was waiting for the
arrival of Sherman's army on the coast. The mails which had accumulated
since his departure from Atlanta had with like care been forwarded by a
despatch boat, and on the 17th the hearts of the men were made glad by
the distribution of the mails that had piled up during their sojourn in
the tottering Confederacy.
In the meantime a heavy fire was maintained
along the skirmish lines and the enemy's workswere reconnoitered to
find, if possible, points where they might be carried by storm.
Several points in front of the Fourteenth corps were selected, where it
was thought the enemy's entrenched lines might be carried. Siege guns
were brought up from the fleet outside the harbor, and placed in
batteries to protect the assaulting columns. Light bridges were
constructed for the men to carry, with which to cross the canals and
ditches that might be encountered in the charge, which promised to be
sanguinary. But before arrangements for the assault had been
completed, the enemy withdrew from the city, crossed the river and
retired into South Carolina. The enemy retreated during the night of
the 20th, and before daylight the next morning our skirmishers entered
his abandoned works, thus ending a brilliant and successful campaign by
the capture of Savannah. Among the property abandoned by the fleeing
enemy were two hundred and fifty pieces of heavy artillery and
over thirty thousand bales of cotton.
The Third brigade arrived at Savannah with an
aggregate strength of 1,714, of which there were present for duty in
the Eighty-fifth 232.
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