TO THE REAR.
The casualties of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, on the long and arduous
campaign against Atlanta, was one hundred and seventy-nine men in
killed, wounded and missing.
Besides this number, there were many who were taken sick and sent back
to hospitals. Thus, when the campaign had ended, the regiment was
materially reduced in numbers. It was now not much larger than two full
companies; and then, the companies themselves were mere skeletons, some
of them not exceeding a corporal's squad. These were certainly trying
times with the soldiers, being attended with constant hardships,
privations and adventures, from the beginning of the campaign to its
end. But still, those who did pass the fiery ordeal, stood up to it
like men, with fine spirits and light hearts, doing all that men could
do.
After some changing about, the brigade took up permanent quarters in
the outskirts of the city on the south-west side near the railroad. The
regiment now fixed up its camp in a substantial manner, and for a long
time took the military world easy, spending most of its time in going
to and from the city in pursuit of pleasure, and such.
There was not a little trading going on about this time with those who
had a disposition that way; in fact, it seemed that Sherman's whole
army had been suddenly metamorphosed into tobacco traders and other
kinds of merchants.
Atlanta was overstocked with tobacco, held by private individuals,
which was bought by the soldiers at low rates and peddled out with
handsome profits. Thus passed the time right briskly, all seeming to
have forgotten the past and to be living for the present only.
Shortly after the occupation of Atlanta, General Sherman ordered all
non-combatants to leave the city, going north or south as their
inclinations and interests might lead them. This order fell on the ears
of the inhabitants of Atlanta like a thunderbolt. Though they had lent
all the moral and physical assistance in their power to the cause of
the rebellion, they had begun to dream of the advent of the Federal
troops as the commencement of an era of quiet. They had never imagined
the war would reach Atlanta. Now that it had come, and kept its rough,
hot hand upon them for so many days, they were beginning to look
forward to a long period when they might enjoy at once the advantages
of the protection of a just and powerful government, and the luxuries
it would thus afford them. It was indeed a pitiful sight to see these
reluctant people leave their homes and property, but such was the
necessity in the case that it must be done.
Such are the cruel mandates of war, and they were obliged to abide its
consequences, having waged and maintained it.
About the middle of September there was an armistice of some days to
provide an exit south for these unfortunate people, and for the
exchange of prisoners captured in the last campaign.
General James D. Morgan's division remained in Atlanta at its ease
until the 29th of September, when it boarded the cars and was
transported, via Chattanooga and Huntsville, to near Athens, Alabama.
From this place it was sent on an expedition against General Forrest,
who had been making demonstrations on our railroads, having destroyed
much of the Nashville and Decatur road.
When the division arrived at Athens, Forrest was crossing the Tennessee
at Florence, retreating out of our way as fast as possible. With rapid
marches General Morgan reached Florence in two days, distant from
Athens about forty-five miles. The creeks and rivers on the route were
swollen, but he never stopped for them, for wading through, we went
plodding on. The division arrived within a few miles of Florence on the
evening of the 5th of October, and entered it on the 6th without
opposition, the enemy having completed his crossing. The division could
follow no further, and on the morning of the 10th began its return
march, arriving back in Athens on the 12th, where it boarded the cars
on its return to Chattanooga. The command arrived at Chattanooga in the
night of the 14th, and went into camp where there was neither wood nor
water. The march from Athens to Florence and back again was, under the
circumstances, probably the severest the Eighty-sixth Regiment ever
made; at least, it stands among the hardest. The rains fell in
torrents, but notwithstanding, the command was rushed headlong on
through the mad waters of Flint and Duck rivers, in many places up to
the soldier's armpits.
While the division remained in Chattanooga there was a deal of
excitement and uncertainty respecting the movements of rebel General
Hood, who was making a demonstration on our rear, the command being in
readiness to march at a moment's notice.
General Sherman, however, soon changed his course, so that Hood was
obliged to take a circuitous route to the west and north. To follow
Hood indefinitely, without much prospect of overtaking and overwhelming
his army, would be for Sherman equivalent to being decoyed out of
Georgia. To remain on the defensive, on the other hand, would be to
lose the main effectiveness of his army. Sherman had previously
proposed to General Grant to destroy the railway from Atlanta to
Chattanooga, and strike out through Georgia.
"By attempting to hold the roads," he wrote, "we will lose a thousand
men monthly, and will gain no result." And again, "Hood may turn into
Tennessee and Kentucky, but I believe he will be forced to follow me.
Instead of being on the defensive I would be on the offensive. Instead
of guessing at what he means, he would have to guess at my plans. I
prefer to march through Georgia, smashing things, to the sea." And
again, "When you hear I am off, have lookouts at Morris' Island, S.C.;
Ossabaw Sound, Georgia; Pensacola and Mobile bays. I will turn up
somewhere, and believe me I can take Macon, Milledgeville, Augusta, and
Savannah, Georgia, and wind up with closing the neck back of
Charleston, so that they will starve out. This movement is not purely
military or strategic, but it will illustrate the vulnerability of the
South."
General Grant promptly authorized the proposed movement, indicating,
however, his preference for Savannah as the objective, and fixing
Dalton as the northern limit for the destruction of the railway.
Preparations were immediately made for the execution of these plans.
Early on the morning of the 18th, General Morgan marched his division
to rejoin the Army of the Cumberland, which at this time lay in reserve
at Galesville, Alabama, taking with him a large drove of cattle for
army consumption. The division reached the army and joined its corps at
11 A.M. on the 22nd.
Sherman had issued orders for his army to subsist off the country,
which it did with a good will, foragers being sent out from the
different commands daily. The country round Galesville was wild and
romantic, affording that beautiful scenery so peculiar to northern
Georgia and Alabama.
The army was soon again put on the move, part of it going with General
Thomas, and the remainder, the 14th, 20th, 15th and 17th Corps, going
with Sherman down the railway towards Atlanta.
Morgan's division marched to Rome, where it remained a few days, after
which it continued on to Kingston, where it arrived on the 1st of
November. At Kingston the army received eight months pay, and a partial
supply of clothing, having to wait until it arrived at Atlanta before a
complete supply would be issued.
While at Kingston, it will be remembered, the Eighty-sixth Regiment
camped on a piece of ground covered with all manner of stones, from the
minutest pebble to those that were large enough to make an uneven bed.
Again, on the 8th of the month, the division marched on, passing
through the ruined Cassville on to Cartersville, where it halted a few
days, at one time going to guard the railroad, which did not last long
enough to make it pay.
Cartersville is noted for the most remarkable of the monumental remains
in the United States. They are situated upon the right bank of the
Etowah river near the railroad, some two miles south of the town, in
the midst of a perfectly level alluvial bottom, towering above all
surrounding objects, changeless amid the revolutions of centuries. On
good testimony it has been urged that these mounds were built by a race
of people preceding the Indian race. Who they were, and how great that
population was, cannot now be determined. No historian has left the
record of their manners, government and laws; no voice save that silent
speaking testimony of these monuments, proclaims their past greatness.
No reply is heard in definite response by those who knock at their
tombs. The morning the Eighty-sixth left this place, Billy Longfellow
issued rations on the summit of one of these mounds, and the regiment
stacked arms along the road near them.
On the morning of the 13th, the 2nd division of the 14th Corps was set
in motion from Cartersville toward Atlanta, destroying the railway,
founderies, mills, etc., on its route. In not a few instances private
dwellings and private property were laid desolate. Previous to this,
General Sherman had directed all surplus artillery, all baggage not
needed for the contemplated march, all the sick and wounded, refugees
and other encumbrances, to be sent back to Chattanooga. On its march to
Atlanta the division passed over much of the old campaign ground, which
had lost none of its familiarity, seeming as if there had been no lapse
of time.
The Kenesaw was natural, and the dreadful battlefield of the 27th of
June, where so many of our slain comrades lie buried, and whose graves
were yet fresh, had undergone no change except that the leaves had
ripened and fallen to the ground. Even as the leaves wither and fall,
so must man, and we were made sad in contemplating the fearful, bloody
past.
The division crossed the Chattahoochie river in the forenoon of the
15th, and arrived in Atlanta in time to draw clothing, provisions,
etc., preparatory to the uncertain actions of the morrow. Atlanta on
this occasion seemed to be swallowed up in flames. Bright, lurid lights
were seen springing up in every quarter. It seemed that the once proud
and defiant city was bidding earth farewell! "But what is now to be
done?" every one asks. "Has Sherman gone crazy, sure enough?" Thus
people talked, the country over. They could not tell what Sherman was
up to now. He moved out from Atlanta on the 16th of November into the
darkness and wilderness of Dixie, leaving the good folks at home to
wonder where Sherman had gone. But several weeks elapsed before the
secret was divulged--before the lost hero rose up in the magic of his
might on the great seaboard.