The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1908-05-30

URlNG the latter part OF the
war, In 1864. and until its
close. in 1865. l was cor
~ nected with the armies under
Gen. Sherman, usually desig-
mated the Army of the Ten
nessee, the Army of the Cumberland
and the Army of the Ohio. wrote MAJ
Gen. o. o. Howard. The campaigns
were exceedingly active. From Chat
tanooga to Atlanta Sherman's soldiers
were under fire every day, except the
three just before crossing the Etowah,
for 1l3 days. There was not a day or
night in which there were no soldiers
slain. The screeching shells burst
over our heads while We were sleep
ing, but. wonderful to tell. the sol
diers had become SO used to this con
fict that they lost very little sleep in
consequence OF the fitful and random
firing at night.
In that period of 113 days there were
10 sizable battles fought. In one at
tack l made at Picketts Mill l lost
500 killed and three times as many
wounded within the space Of Is min
utes. At night l sat among the
wounded and realized something Of
the horrors Of war. 1t seems to me to-
day as I think OF 1t like terrible
nightmare, but 1t was a more terrible
reality. which will not attempt to de-
scribe.
When come to think Of the March
TO the Sea" and later the March
Through the Carolinas," what occurs
to my memory first is the exceeding
Aardihood of the soldiers. They re-
covered quickly from their wounds, l
mean from those that were not too
severe, and there was scarcely any
illness. But when Columbia was on
-nre an untold number perished In the
flames. Still more perished from &C.
cidental explosion Of confederate
shells at Columbia and Cheraw. We
like to turn away from the mangled
corpses and distorted faces OF the
wounded that cannot be described. l
feel the same horror and depression
In view OF these things az I did at
Gettysburg. where on both sides up
ward of $4,000 men were placed hors
Dc combat. For several days poor fel-
lows, union and confederate soldiers,
waited in patience, unattended by sur
geons, simply because there were not
enough Of them.
Without further detail, imagine the
Joy that came over the armies of Sher-
man as they gathered about Raleigh,
N. c., in 1866. and were told that Lee
had surrendered and that Grant had
sent Lees soldiers home to begin life
anew; that Johnston had surrendered
on the same terms as Lee and all that
belonged to Slocum's, Schofield's and
Howard's armies were to march on
the morrow toward Washington, the
capital of the nation, soon to be mus
tered out OF service and then to go
home. l remember the sudden depres-
sion at the news Of Lincoln's death;
but still this going home produced too
great a Joy to keep ever this catas-
trophe OF their heavy loss very long
before their minds. They marched
habitually at 20 miles a day from
Raleigh to Richmond, and never
seemed weary at the close of any
days march-the camp fire was bright,
the old songs were sung over and over
again and the comradeship knitted
during the war would never cease-it
was at its best when the word peace"
filed all the air
I know that we were proud when
we marched past the president Of the
United States in our last great re-
view; but, as I remember 1t. It was .
fearful pride even then. A regiment