Chapter 21, History of the 85th Illinois Regiment Volunteer Infantry

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

CHAPTER XXI
Page 257-268

November & December, 1864, January, 1865

THE MARCH TO THE SEA

     When General Sherman determined to abandon Atlanta, march quickly across three hundred miles of hostile country and seize one of the harbors on the sea coast, the subsistence of the army upon the country became a necessary part of his plan. An army can live on the country while on the march, but it must have the ordinary means of supply within a very few days after it halts, or it will starve. All the ports on the southern coast were known to be fortified, and presumably strong enough to render abortive any attempt to carry them by storm. Ordinary prudence, therefore, demanded that sufficient provisions be carried in the wagon trains to supply the army while engaged in gaining possession of a harbor on the coast suitable for a new base of supplies. To meet such an emergency twenty days' rations were taken in the wagon trains from Atlanta, but these were not to be issued while the army was moving into new fields each day.
     In an elaborate general order issued at the beginning of the campaign, General Sherman said, "The army will forage liberally on the country during the march," and provided for daily details from each brigade, whose duty it should be to gather from the country along the line of march food for the men and forage for the animals. The order also provided that the details for foraging should be under the command of discreet officers, and the supplies gathered should be issued by the commissary department. The result proved unsatisfactory; the forage detail lived on the fat of the land, while the troops claimed that they did not get a fair share of the hams and honey, the turkeys and chickens, the pigs, potatoes and molasses. So the plan was modified by authorizing a detail of four men from each company, making a detachment of forty men, under the command of a bold and enterprising officer, to forage for each regiment, tfie provisions gathered to be issued independent of the commissary department. This plan proved entirely satisfactory.
     Having been advised of the intended line of march and the probable location of the next camp, the foragers would start before daylight and visit during the day every farm and plantation within five or six miles of the marching column. Wagons, ox-carts and family carriages were pressed into service and loaded with provisions and forage, in short, everything that could be used as food for man or beast was taken, and brought to the road on which the column was marching, if possible, in advance of the trains. Then as we drew near camp in the evening the strange and varied collection, not only of food and forage, but of ingeniously contrived makeshifts of transportation, made a mirth provoking cavalcade. A wagon loaded with corn and cornfodder, drawn by a thoroughbred horse and a scrawny mule, a silver mounted family carriage loaded with hams and bacon drawn by a jackass and a cow in rope harness, and an ox-cart loaded with animals dead and alive, drawn by a cow and mule hitched tandem. Oxen and cows, as well as horses and mules, were used by the foragers as pack animals, and these would appear loaded down with turkeys, chickens, corn meal, sweet potatoes and other vegetables.
     The extravagant militia uniforms of past generations were occasionally found, and foragers dressed in them added to the comical side of the fantastic procession, as they escorted their improvised trains of booty to the camp. Even the regimentals of the revolutionary period would sometimes appear in the forager's masquerade. At one time a forager dressed in a continental uniform indicating high rank, with chapeau and waving plume, mounted on a fine horse with a strip of carpet for a saddle, appeared at the roadside and with mock gravity reviewed the column at it passed.
     In a country of dense population, where the distance between towns and cities is not great, a requisition for food and forage is practical and far preferable to seizure. But in a region so sparsely settled as that through which our army marched, where towns were few and small, and where supplies were generally found on scattered farms and plantations, there was no way by which provisions could be obtained except by direct seizure. Foraging, therefore, became a vital necessity and the foragers, commonly known as "Sherman's Bummers," performed a service without which the march to the sea would have been an impossibility. But the aptitude of the forager for his task, and the originality of his methods, was a revelation alike to all, from the commanding general down to the rank and file.
     At first the foragers went on foot, but first one and then another secured a horse and very soon all were mounted. Moving in advance or on the flanks, they formed a body of ideal rangers. Their long range rifles gave them a decided advantage over the carbines of the enemy's cavalry, and none of his troopers were ever able to break through the foragers' line far enough to feel the marching column. In seeking out hidden stock and stores, and in finding their way about the country, they seemed to be guided by an unerring instinct. In many instances, fearing the rapacity of the "vandal Yankees," the inhabitants had fled, taking with them what they could. Where the premises were abandoned, the foragers made a clean sweep, but where the citizens were found at home they made a fair divide, leaving enough to support the family. In other cases it was found that the planters had buried their provisions in the ground, and driven their horses, mules and cattle into the swamps for safety, for the Federal and Confederate armies were alike dependent upon foraging for their subsistence. But the men soon became skillful experts in discovering stores that had been buried. From the general appearance of the barns and smoke-houses on the plantation, they quickly decided whether provisions had been buried or stock sent to the swamp. By indications they would probably have found hard to describe they would determine the vicinity in which the stores would likely be found. Then they would advance in line, in open order, driving their ramrods into the ground, and very soon the hidden treasure, whether of bacon and hams or sweet potatoes, would be discovered. Usually a hint from some darkey would indicate the particular swamp where the animals had been concealed, when the horses, mules and beeves   would speedily change owners.
     Gathering subsistence was not the only sendee rendered by the bold and dashing foragers. They not only had an abiding faith in their own invincibility, but they held the cavalry of the enemy in utter contempt. So when attacked by the enemy, no matter what the numbers were, they gave fight. Others hearing the firing would hasten to take part, and if forced to retire they fell back fighting, and sooner or later the sound of battle would gather numbers sufficient to rout any cavalry force they ever encountered. In some instances they drove the enemy away, seized bridges before they could be destroyed, and held them until the main column appeared. Their duties called them to endure great hardships, and placed them in grave peril, but their love of fun caused them to give a rollicking turn to the most gloomy situation. When we reached Savannah the function of the forager ceased, they surrendered their horses to the provost marshals and returned to their duties in the ranks. No greater compliment can be paid to the so-called "Bummer," and no better proof of the high discipline maintained in our army, can be asked or given than the statement that this fact affords.
     The march to the sea afforded the troops a rare opportunity to look upon the homes of the south, and to learn how the war affected them. The picture in some instances was sad, in others it was simply ludicrous. In the midst of plenty there was apparent decay. The country was full of what were luxuries to us and no army ever lived better than we did. That an army of sixty-five thousand men could live sumptuously while it marched leisurely through a state in which thousands of Union soldiers had died of starvation in prison pens, was a demonstration of the utter untruthfulness of the claim of the rebel authorities, that they were unable to feed the famishing prisoners. In addition to the sheep, swine, fowls, corn meal, and sweet potatoes consumed by the troops while on the march, 13,000 beeves, 5,000 horses, and 4,000 mules were found suitable for army use and were pressed into the service.
     When the first mail reached the army in front of Savannah, the papers were eagerly searched for news from our comrades in war-wasted Tennessee. It will be remembered that we left General Hood in Northern Alabama, apparently intent upon invading the North. At the same time General Thomas was organizing an army at Nashville to repel the threatened invasion. By the newspaper reports it appeared that after crossing the Tennessee, Hood had been delayed at Pulaski and Columbia, by the defensive tactics resorted to by General Thomas, who was manoeuvering to gain time for the concentration of his army. Already impatient at what seemed to him uncalled for delay, when he found the Fourth and Twenty-third army corps entrenched across his path at Franklin, the fiery chief of the rebel army attacked them with rather more than his usual recklessness. The assault was made with the dash and impetuosity so characteristic of the southern soldier, and although the enemy met a bloody repulse, his attacks were continued until far in the night. But it also appeared that after repulsing the enemy with heavy loss at all points, our army had retired during the night to Nashville, leaving our dead on the field and followed by the Confederates.
     While we had no doubt the enemy had been roughly handled in his rash attempt to carry the entrenched lines at Franklin, defended as they were by such veteran soldiers as those of the Fourth and Twenty-third army corps, yet the fact that the retreat of our army had been continued to Nashville, where a great and decisive battle must soon be fought, caused much solicitude over the situation in Tennessee. But all anxiety was soon removed. Almost at the moment of our triumphant entry into Savannah came the news of a glorious victory at Nashville. Our comrades had stormed and carried the enemy's entrenched lines, captured fifteen thousand prisoners, seventy-two pieces of artillery, seventy stand of colors, a large quantity of small arms and other spoils of the battlefield, while the scattered fragments of the rebel army, impelled by the instinct of self-preservation, were flying in dismay and disorder, never to appear again as an organized force.
     Savannah was an old place, considered of such importance at the time of the War of the Revolution that it was besieged in turn by both the American and British armies. It was successfully defended against an attack of the British in 1776, but two years later it fell into their possession. In 1779 the American army, commanded by General Lincoln, with our French allies, attempted to recapture it, but was defeated. A monument erected to the memory of Count Pulaski stands on the spot where he fell while gallantly leading his men in the assault. Near the camp of the Eighty-fifth was a section of grass grown earthworks, but their outlines were well preserved, said to have been erected by General Lincoln. During our stay at that point this old embankment was much frequented by the players of "chuck-a-luck." In the city were many quaint old buildings, and its streets were lined with shade trees of rare beauty. At many of the street crossings were small parks adorned with the willow-leaf oak, a handsome evergreen, while in the large yards surrounding the homes of the well-to-do, were found magnolias, tropical shrubs and flowers that bloomed the year round. Bay street, the principal thoroughfare, was made beautiful by the rows of trees which divided its ample width into driveways.
     The plantations just beyond the city limits had been the homes of a wealthy and cultivated society. Generally the homes had been left in charge of colored servants, and were filled with rare books, pictures and other evidences of refined life. Around these plantation houses were giant live-oaks, whose great branches, as large as the trunks of trees in our own northland, spread out wide enough for a regiment to hold dress parade beneath them. From their boughs hung in graceful festoons the drooping tillandsia, the long moss of the south, and when glorified by the morning sun these trees presented a never-to-be-forgotten picture. The coast with its numerous bays, estuaries and inlets, was one continuous bed of oysters, furnishing food for the hungry and delicacies for the epicure. The mild climate, in which we saw neither ice nor snow, was a luxury not before enjoyed by our army. Moreover, it was obvious that the end of the war was near.
     The past year had been an eventful one, in which war had been waged upon a gigantic scale. At times the enemy, with the energy of despair, had carried the invader's banner far northward, to meet in every instance irretrievable defeat. In the east, General Early led his troops almost to the defenses around the National Capital, to be defeated, and later his army destroyed by General Sheridan. In the west we have seen tfie army under Hood ruined at Nashville by General Thomas, and beyond the Mississippi, when General Sterling Price assayed the role of invader, General Rosecrans captured his cannon, destroyed his wagon train and dispersed his followers. There was, therefore, but one army left for the defense of the Confederacy, and that was held at Petersburg in Grant's relentless, vice-like grip. Soldiers of all grades felt well assured that when our army moved from Savannah our colors would point toward the rebel capital.
     At Savannah one soldier was heard to say to another, "I hope our regiment will be among the first mustered out at the close of the war, before all the good jobs are taken." It is, perhaps, needless to add, this was said by an Irishman. This raised the question for the first time, what will become of the vast army of young men soon to be thrown upon their own resources, what can they do for a living when the United States ceases to provide for the "government people?" Previous to this, the uncertain duration of the war, and the chances for living through it, had held that question in abeyance. But now the spectre had been raised, "a ghost that would not down," and from that time to the end, it traveled with us by night as well as by day.
     During our stay in Atlanta the Ninety-second Ohio infantry occupied a camp near that of the Eighty-fifth, and as this period was devoted to almost unbroken rest throughout the army, the unusual activity observed in that regiment could not pass unnoticed. Each morning the camp was policed, after which there was guard mount and squad and company drill. In the afternoon there was batallion drill and in the evening dress parade. Indeed, the requirements of army regulations were strictly observed, as fully as if the regiment had then for the first time entered a camp of instruction. These things were recalled when just before leaving Savannah, Benjamin D. Fearing, colonel of that regiment, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, and assigned to the command of the Third brigade. General Fearing was a lineal descendant of General Israel Putnam, famous in the War of the Revolution, of whom it was said, "He dared to lead where any dared to follow."
     The troops enjoyed their short stay in Savannah to the utmost. Their duties were light; they were allowed the fullest liberty consistent with good order, and there was a continual round of sight-seeing and merry-making. But the soldiers soon tired of the monotony of the camp; they missed the pungent smell of the piney woods, and they longed for the excitement of the march. An active campaign promised a change of scenery, of duty and of diet. True this involved much marching - perhaps hard fighting, but it meant business, and they were not journeying through the South for their health. All knew that Savannah was but one stage in their journey to Richmond, and all were eager to pay their respects to the original secessionists - the people of South Carolina. They remembered that her people had been rebellious subjects for more than thirty years, and so far they had escaped the scourge of war. The birth-place of nullification and secession, her people had rocked the cradle of rebellion, and fanned the sparks of insurrection into the flames of civil war. And now, that the state was to be ravaged through its utmost length, and over an average breadth of forty miles, it appeared to them to be but a fair measure of justice.
     When the plan for the march north was conceived the rebel garrison at Charleston, to which place General Hardee and his command had fled when he evacuated Savannah, was capable of making a respectable defense, while the broken fragments of Hood's army, which had escaped from Tennessee, were being hurried across Georgia to assist in the defense of Augusta. But unless these widely scattered forces could be united, the enemy would be utterly unable to meet our veteran army in the open field. It was, therefore, the purpose of General Sherman to threaten both Augusta and Charleston, and when the widely diverging movement of the two wings of his army should leave the enemy divided and in doubt as to his real destination, he would march rapidly on Columbia; then with his army united proceed to Goldsboro, North Carolina, four hundred and twenty-five miles distant, thoroughly destroying the railway system of South Carolina on his way, as he had that of Georgia in the march to the sea.
     To accomplish his feint against Charleston, General Sherman transported the most of the right wing, under General Howard, by sea to Beaufort, where it arrived on the ioth. At the same time a part of one corps marched in that direction by the Union causeway.    On Sunday, the 15th, General Howard moved his troops forward, through mud and rain, and seized the Savannah and Charleston railroad at Pocotaligo, twenty-five miles inland. General Slocum crossed two divisions of the Twentieth corps over the Savannah river, above the city, and occupied Hardeeville, a station on the same line of railway. So by the middle of January our army had secured firm footing in South Carolina, and was ready to begin the march northward as soon as sufficient food and forage could be accumulated.

Chapter 20 Chapter 22

back to 85th Table of Contents