Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-01
The Origin of Bliss Famous Gospel
Hymn.
SHERMAN'S MESSAGE TO GEN. CORSE
RecoIIections of a Soldier Who
Marched Through Georgia.
SOME LATE CRITICISMS
Written for The Ey ening Star.

A Gospel hymn, written by P. P. Bliss.
begins, Hold the fort, for I am coming"
The foundation of the song was dispatch
from Gen. w. T. Sherman to Gen. John NJ.
Corse.
Within few weeks a denial Of such
dispatch has been put in circulation, de-
nouncing the current statements regarding
it as having absolutely nothing in them.
1t purports to come from the signal officer
who was at Allatoona. If it really came
from him. it is only to be accepted for the
extent Of his personal knowledge, and 1t
cannot stand against the official record.
Gen. Sherman's operations during Octo-
Der, 1864, are usually imperfectly under
stood. To make history short enough for
school books, matters Of much importance
are omitted. Many people think of Gen.
Sherman as pressing down through Georgia
till ne took Atlanta, then resting little,
and pushing on to the sea. For very gen.
eral outline that might suffice. Told more
In detail, Gen. Sherman left the vicinity OF
Chattanooga, Tenn, on or about May 3,
1864. He had possession of Atlanta the
first week of September. with the railroad
rebuilt. He spent September at Atlanta.
In October. till the 10th, he was in pursuit
of the confederate army along the line of
his communications to the north, past Ma
riett1 and kenesaw mountain. about
twenty miles; Allatoona, forty miles; the
farther; Rome, eighty miles: through Snake
Greek gap and down the Chatooga valley
to Gaylesville, Alabama, hundred miles
more from Atlanta. He found that the
confederate army was strong enough to
give him great trouble, but not strong
enough to meet HIM in open battle. He
therefore left to Gen. George II. Ihomas
at Chattanooga the further watch Of HOODS
army and made ready to return to At
lanta. On October 26 he detached Stanley.
with the fourth corps, to Thomas. On Oc-
tober 80 he sent also Schofeld, with the
twenty-third corps. November ne was
back at Kingston, and November ID he left
Atlanta on the well-known expedition sea-
ward.
In the diversion to the rear there was one
sharp battle. 1t was at Allatoona, the con-
federate Gen. French attacking and Gen.
John NJ. Corse defending. At Allatoona the
railroad passed through very deep cut
A great store of provisions was there, with
a guard of only a few hundred men. At
Rome. on a branch railroad, Gen. Corse had
been in command, with several regiments.
About 1900 cattle for the army were
farther north along the main road, and va
rious attachments of troops.
"Hold Fast"
On October General Sherman telegraphed
General Corse regarding General j. Il.
Hoods movements and his own purposes.
He directed Corse to hold fast" at Rome,
with the alternative that he should reinforce
and defend Allatoona if Hood.attacked the
railroad farther south. On October 3
General Sherman assigned General Slocum
to hold Atlanta, and sent Generals Stanley
and Davis northward. On October he sent
Generals Cox and Howard also after Hood,
and went himself to the camp at Smyrna,
not far from Marietta. That day General
Vandever, in General Sherman's name. sig
nailed to all the commands northward. in
Guiding dispatch to Corse at p In, Hold
out; Sherman is moving in force" repeated
at hug ia w a n g
The rain and fog interrupted signaling very
seriously. Meantime Hood had attacked
the railroad south of Allatoona, ard on Oc-
tober Corse in accordance with his instruc-
tons of October /, was crowding to the aid
of Allatoona, which he reached in the night
Gen. French demanded his surrender early
on the morning of the ath. Corse returned
a defiant reply, and about $50 the attack
came. Corse had only about 1.50O muskets
available, besides cannon. A railroad ac-
cident detained part of his force till after
the battle. Sherman heard the noise of
firing and interpreted 1t as an attack and
a repulse. but he did not have clear knowl-
edge of the safety Of Allatoona till the after
noon of the 9th, when he received a dispatch
direct from Corse. Corse, though wounded,
was asked to remain in command at Rome,
as Sherman counted his head worth more
than that of anybody whom he could spare
for the place" In general order General
Sherman emphasized the virtue of holding
posts. Corse was promptly promoted
Foundation for the Song.
The current foundation for the song is
correct even If we had only General Sher-
mans order to General Corse at Rome on
October 1. Why was Corse at Allatoona
on October ), except to "hold the fort" while
Sherman was coming up behind Hood?
Sherman sent later dispatches almost in
the words of the song, which would justify
their use whether the dispatches reached
Corse or not. Erroneous variations have
sometimes been added 20 the story, but it
rests on facts.
The song attracted my interest on It's
original publication. 1 knew the writer. I
saw something of the circumstances that
inspired the song, though not at the time
able to interpret their relation to the gen.
eral campaign. The seventy-fifth regiment
Illinois volunteer infantry, in which 1 serv-
ed, was i'll the fourth corps. On the re-
turn march after Hood we were at times
on spots very familiar to US on the original
journey. Pine mountain, just west of Ken
esaw, was actively used for signaling in
those days of interrupted communication.
Sherman in the Field.
There 1 saw General Sherman for some
hours. The regiment had arms stacked so
near that the soldiers could gather about
and hear the conversation of General
Sherman with others. He seemed to en-
joy the amusement of the boys over his
remarks. A brave brigadier. we'll known
10 us, asked many questions, ana the
great commander was very talkative, but
not so communicative He stood by a
stump beside which Gen. Leonidas Polk
was standing to reconnoiter us a few
weeks earlier when struck by shot from
Simonsons battery. From this elevation
Sherman explained some of the movements
of the earlier campaign. Pointing to a
junction CT roads in the distance he said,
1.-The others beat US there half an hour and
it detained us here two weeks" In an
other direction he pointed out that GER
tain confederate brigade ought to have
been captured. General, why didn't you
give the orders, why didn't you give us
the orders? We'd a captured them," Was
the >impulsive query. Cad, it's easy
enough to give the orders,it's another thing
to get them executed was the generals
reply. Then he explained the circumstances
more deliberately and how the confederate
brigade had been broken into such scatter
ed retreat as took it two days to gather in
Marietta. All this time the flags of the
signal men were waving their messages
unknown to some, at least, of the very
men who made the necessary motions
What the signal corps dcing?" was q
question designed to get some news The
general, swinging his hand over and back
after the fashion of signal flag replied:
They're coming this There was an