The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1903-03-26
VALLEY FORGE OF CIVIL WAR.
East Tennessee Campaign of the Winter
1S63-'64.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: l have
been very greatly interested in the remi-
niscences published in issue of March Il,
by Capt. Manius Buchanan, of Portland,
Ore, describing in some measure the eX-
periences of the famous "PersimmOn
Brigade" during the East Tennessee
Campaign in the Winter of 1S63-1S64. L
served throughout this entire campaign,
which may be truthfully called the Val
lev Forge Campaign of the Civil war.
and while have written great deal re-
gardng the civil war and have talked
very considerably on this subject. l have
never been able to bring myself to under
take to give description Of the East
Tennessee campaign from my point of
view But / have never seen descrip-
ton published by anybody that came as
near being satisfactory as tie sketch OF
the Pcrsimmon Brigade published in issue
of March ~ by Capt. Buchanan. l fancy
| that the sufferings of the boys of the Per
simmOn Brigade We're greater probably
than the sufferings of any other COM
mand in the East Tennessee Campaign
for the reason that these were new troops
composed of very young boys who had
not yet learned how to take care of them
selves under the difficulties we there en-
cOuntered.
The East Tennessee Campaign to me is
| always remembered as n sort of night
mare which rises before me full
of blackness ard horror. Dur
| ing the Winter of this campaign fam
inc and pestilence' locked arms with
every soldier and officer serving in East
Tennessee! Smallpox broke out in the
camps and was contracted by the citizens
throughout the mountain region we cam
| paigned in, and it was not an unusual
sight to see soldiers who were suffering
from smallpox or who had just come out
Of smallpox hospitals riding or marching
in the ranks. l had case of smallpox
right in my own tent, but fortunately
this victim of the lOathsome disease re-
covered, but there were great number
| Of the mountaineers who had not been
vaccnated, and smallpox played havoc
| in their homes.
The trials and sufferings Of our army
in the East Tennessee Campaign were
so great that it was only the strongest
who were able to stand this campaign.
The weak went down and many of them
died.
From my knowledge and acquaintance
with the boys of the PersimmOn Brigade
feel to say that Capt. Buchanan's vivid
description of their sufferings in East
! Tennessee is by no means Overdrawn,
| and, in fact, if there is any fault to be
found with this description, it is that he
does not draw the case as strongly as the
facts would warrant, but he comes nearer
| to telling Of the experiences of the troops
during the Valley Forge Campaign of
the Civil War than any other writer
whose accounts have come under my OBJ
servation.
There is one interesting feature of our
| starvation days in East Tennessee, and
this is that the Confederates were just
as hungry as we were and were having
just as much trouble to keep themselves
| alive. No one expected a full meal. but
each fellow struggled to get enough to
keep body and soul together, and in our
foraging through the country we went
down to the bottom of the -four
barrels Of every family who had
flour barrel, and We went down
to the last pound of meal in the
meal tub wherever we could find n meal
tub, and in foraging for corn we took the
last nubbin we could find. In taking
possession of the little mills along the
creeks in which to grind our corn into
meal we found the Confederates doing
exactly as we were doing. We had to
| fight for the possession of these mills,
and the result was that It was a see-saw
sort OF a game, the Confederates having
possession of the mills part of the time
and the Union troops the other part of
the time, or in other words, we ground
| our little grists on Mondays, Wednesdays,
and Fridays, while the Confederates
| ground their little grists on Tuesdays
| Thursdays and Saturdays, and the poor
devils of citizens Of that locality ground
their little grists when they could during
| the intervals when the Confederate and
| +. ALLEN, 7th Ohio Cav, Cincinnati o.