The National tribune., 1896-10-29
FIGHTING THEM OVER
What Our Veterans Have to Say About
Their Old Campaigns.
MARCHING TO THE SEA.
What Company Commander Saw on tha'
Memorable Campaign.

Memorable Campaign.
Fn1roR NATIONAL. TRIBUNE: Thirty-two
wears ago the Sd Wis. First DIVISION,
Twentieth Corps entered Atlanta, Ga. Inc
march to the sea was but continuation OF
the Atlanta campaign, and the story OF the
great march has been told so many tunes
and so well told by Generals and stan oflcers
that / shall attempt only description oil
what / saw of it as company commander,
being near enough to the ranks TO know now
the men lived, marched and fought leaving
a description of the grand strategy of the
campaign to historians. took part III all
the operations of the army in which the
regiment participated, from Chattanooga,
Tenn, to Raleigh, n. c.
The country between Chattanooga ana
Atlanta was a continuous battleheld, ana
there was almost continuous fighting over
This region for a period of four months.
Every defensive point was contested by the
Confederate army. Every day there was
skirnish, and on many days there were
battles which rank among the great battles
of the war.
Atlanta. the great railroad center of the
South. was taken and held, but Gen. HOODS
army was not destroyed. 1t displayed It's
power for mischief by destroying our only
railroad to the North. For nearly month
we were without supplies by rail and our
animals were on the point OF starSatlon.
There was little something for the men TO
eat. principally beef that had been driven
down from Louisville and killed just In
time to save them from starving to deatn,
known as beef dried on the hoof."
Occasionally there would be forage ex-
pedition into the country about Atlanta,
when there were choice additions to the bill
Of fare Nov. 2 it was announced to the
army that it was to prepare for campaign
OF so days without communications. All
coniectured that this march meant either to
Charleston or Savannah.
The final start was not made until the
18th. Notwithstanding this two weeks of
preparation, in which every man in the army
had some idea of where we were going, no
hint of it seemed 10 have reached the enemy,
as we found no place where they made prep
arations for our reception, unless the digging
of sweet potatoes and the making of sorghum
eirup might be considered as such.
Atlanta, before its occupation by our
army, was a city of about 10000 population.
1t was well built and prosperous, but when
we marched away from 1t on that bright
November morning a cloud of black smoke
was rolling up thousand feet high from its
burning ruins, and not a store, shop, factory
or any place of business was left TO be used
by the enemy.
The railroad track towards Chattanooga
was all taken up and carried back or de-
stroyed. and where destroyed the destruction
was made complete by piling the ties and
burning them. and on these burning piles
the rails were placed, heating them red hot,
and then. with an appliance similar to a
canthook applied to each end of the rail and
twisted iu opposite directions, corkscrew
twist was pat In the center, which made 1T
entirely useless, unless sent TO the mill and
rerolled AL of the stations, warehouses
and machine-shops were battered down and
destroyed.
This army of Gen. Sherman was, in many
respects, a remarkable one. 1t might pe
called an army OF picked men, for the orders
were TO take no men who could not march
80 miles per day. 1t was an army of vet
erans and it was also an army of boys
Very few regimental or company officers
were more han % years old, and an officer
80 years old would have been thought an
old man. The ranks were filled with boys
not yet old enough to vote.
The Fourteenth Corps was the corps o.
Gen. Thomas, Army Of the Cumberland; the
Fifteenth Corps had been Gen. Sherman's il
the Army OF the Tennessee; the Seventeenth
Corps was also OF the Army of the Tennes
see, from the Transmississppi Department
while the Twentieth Corps was composed
mostly of the old Eleventh and Twelfth
Corps of the Army of the Potomac, which
came west with Gen. Hooker; and. Will,
there had ben some jealousy between thes,
different armies, there was generous riyalr,
that stimulated the most sluggish to pu
forth their best efforts. The confidence il
Gen. Sherman was unbounded and the mos
inveterate grumb;er was never heard TO ex
press the least doubt of the result of th'
campaign wherever he might choose to 20
Each corps had about 600 wagons for thei
surplus Ammunition and ratlons. The Off
GERS OF each company were allowed on
small yaiise for their clothing and compan,
papers, and few pack mules were allowe
each regiment if they could capture ther
from the enemy, otherwise there was not
tent OF change OF clothing that was nc
carried by the men. Each corps marche
upon a separate road, and all were expecte
10 live upon the country through which the
passed, and the provisions in the wagon
were reserved for emergencies that migl
arise, if the enemy were able to concentrat
an army in our front sufficient TO seriousl
impede progress.