USA > Georgia > Floyd County > Rome > A history of Rome and Floyd County, State of Georgia, United States of America; including numerous incidents of more than local interest, 1540-1922, Volume I > Part 24
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If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will an- swer that war is war, and not pop- ularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relatives must stop the war.
By date Sept. 28, 1864, Gen. Hal- leck wrote Gen. Sherman, "I would destroy every mill and fac- tory within reach that I did not want for my own use. This the rebels have done, not only in Ma- ryland and Pennsylvania, but also in Virginia and other rebel states, when compelled to fall back before our armies. In many sections of the country they have not left a mill to grind grain for their own suffering families, lest we might use them to supply our armies. We must do the same."*
Hearing that Gen. Joe Wheel- er's Confederate Cavalry was threatening the railroad commu- nications in Middle Tennessee and that Gen. Forrest was coming up from Mississippi to join him, Gen. Sherman ordered Newton's di- vision of the Fourth Army Corps back to Chattanooga, Corse's di- vision of the Seventeenth Corps back to Rome, and warned other commands to watch out.
"I take it for granted that Forrest will cut our road, but think we can prevent him from making a serious
*This message was received at Rome.
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SHERMAN'S MOVEMENTS AS TOLD BY HIMSELF
lodgment," wired Gen. Sherman Sept. 29, 1864, to Gen. Halleck. "His cav- alry will travel a hundred miles where ours will ten. I have sent two divis- ions up to Chattanooga and one to Rome. Our roads should be watched from the rear. I prefer for the fu- ture to make the movement on Mil- len, Milledgeville and Savannah. Hood now rests 24 miles south, on the Chat- tahoochee, with his right on the West Point road. I can whip his infantry, but his cavalry is to be feared."
The Union army under com- mand of Gen. Sherman had been radically reconstituted, and he claimed 60,000 infantry and artil- lery, with two small divisions of cavalry, in the pursuit after Gen. Hood, whose forces he estimated at 35,000 to 40,000 men, including about 3,000 of cavalry under Gen. Wheeler.
"We had strong railroad guards at Marietta and Kennesaw, Allatoona, Etowah Bridge, Kingston, Rome, Re- saca, Dalton, Ringgold and Chatta- nooga," continues the Sherman nar- rative. "All the important bridges were likewise protected by good block houses, admirably constructed, and capable of a strong defense against cavalry or infantry We crossed the Chattahoochee River during the 3rd and 4th of October, rendezvoused at the old battlefield of Smyrna Camp, and the next day reached Marietta and Kennesaw. On the 4th of Octo- ber I signalled from Vining's Station to Kennesaw, and from Kennesaw to Allatoona, over the heads of the enemy, a message to Gen. Corse at Rome, to hurry back to the assistance of the garrison at Allatoona, which was held by a small brigade commanded by Lieut. Col. Tourtelotte, my present aide de camp, who had two small re- doubts on either side of the railroad, overlooking the village of Allatoona and the warehouses, in which were stored over a million rations of bread."
Here he comes to the Big Shan- ty neighborhood :
Reaching Kennesaw Mountain about 8 a. m. of Oct. 5 (a beautiful day), I had a superb view of the vast pan- orama to the north and west. To the southwest, about Dallas, could be seen the smoke of camp-fires, indicating the presence of a large force of the enemy, and the whole line of railroad from Big Shanty up to Allatoona (full fifteen miles) was marked by the fires
of the burning railroad. We could plainly see the smoke of battle about Allatoona and hear the faint reverber- ation of the cannon.
The signal officer on Kennesaw re- ported that since daylight he had fail- ed to obtain any answer to his call for Allatoona; but while I was with him he caught a faint glimpse of the tell-tale flag through an embrasure and after much time he made out these letters: "C," "R," "S," "E," "H," "E," "R," and translated the mes- sage, "Corse is here."
Later in the afternoon the signal flag announced that the attack at Al- latoona had been fairly repulsed. The next day my aide, Col. L. M. Dayton, received this characteristic despatch from Gen. Corse at Allatoona: "I am short a cheekbone and an ear, but anı able to whip all hell yet! My losses are very heavy. A force moving from Stilesboro to Kingston gives me some anxiety. Tell me where Sherman is."
Inasmuch as the enemy had retreat- ed southwest and would probably next appear at Rome, I ordered Gen. Corse to get back to Rome with his troops as quickly as possible. Gen. Corse's report of his fight at Allatoona is very full and graphic. It is dated Rome, Oct. 27, 1864; recites the fact that he received his orders by signal to go to the assistance of Allatoona on the 4th, when he telegraphed to Kings- ton for cars, and a train of 30 empty cars was started for him, but about ten of them got off the track and caused delay. By 7 p. m. he had at Rome a train of 20 cars, which he loaded up with Col. Rowett's Brigade and part of the Twelfth Illinois In- fantry; started at 8 p. m., reached Allatoona (35 miles) at 1 a. m. of the 5th and sent the train back for more men; but the road was in bad order and no more came in time.
The gallant Major Gen. S. G. French, commanding some 4,000 Confederates, surrounded the 2,000 Federals under Gen. Corse and Col. Tourtelotte, and sent in a demand for surrender "to avoid a needless effusion of blood." Gen. Corse re- fused to surrender ; he was badly wounded; Gen. French withdrew at the approach of a superior force from Sherman's army. A bullet cut across Gen. Corse's face and punctured one of his ears ; Col. Tourtelotte was shot through the
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A HISTORY OF ROME AND FLOYD COUNTY
hips, but continued to command ; Col. Redfield, of the 39th Iowa regiment, was killed, and Col. Rowett, also of the Union army, was wounded. Corse's casualties were 707, or more than one-third of his command. Gen. Sherman's account continues :
In person I reached Allatoona on the 9th of October, still in doubt as to Hood's immediate intentions. Our cavalry could do little against his in- fantry in the rough and wooded coun- try about Dallas, which masked the enemy's movements; but Gen. Corse, at Rome, with Spencer's First Ala- bama Cavalry and a mounted regi- ment of Illinois Infantry, could feel the country south of Rome about Cedartown and Villa Rica, and report- ed the enemy to be in force at both places. On the 9th I telegraphed to Gen. Thomas at Nashville, as follows:
"I came up here to relieve our road. The Twentieth Corps remains at At- lanta. Hood reached the road and broke it up between Big Shanty and Acworth. He attacked Allatoona, but was repulsed. We have plenty of bread and meat, but forage is scarce. I want to destroy all the road below Chatta- nooga, including Atlanta, and to make for the seacoast. We can not defend this long line of road.
And on the same day I telegraphed to Gen. Grant at City Point, Va .:
"It will be a physical impossibility to protect the roads, now that Hood, Forrest, Wheeler and the whole patch of devils are turned loose without home or habitation. I think Hood's movements indicate a diversion to the end of the Selma & Talladega road, at Blue Mountain, about 60 miles south- west of Rome, from which he will threaten Kingston, Bridgeport and De- catur, Ala. I propose that we break up the railroad from Chattanooga for- ward, and that we strike out with our wagons for Milledgeville, Millen and Savannah. Until we can repopu- late Georgia, it is useless for us to oc- cupy it; but the utter destruction of its roads, houses and people will crip- ple their military resources. By at- tempting to hold the roads we will lose a thousand men each month, and will gain no result. I can make this march and make Georgia howl! We have on hand over 8,000 head of cattle, and 3,000,000 rations of bread, but no corn. We can find plenty of forage in the interior of the state."
Meantime, the rebel Gen. Forrest had made a bold circuit in Mid- dle Tennessee, avoiding all forti- fied points, and breaking up the rail- road at several places; but as usual, he did his work so hastily and care- lessly that our engineers soon repair- ed the damage-then retreating before Gen. Rousseau, he left the State of Tennessee, crossing the river near Florence, Ala., and got off. unharmed.
On the 10th of October the enemy appeared south of the Etowah River at Rome, when I ordered all the arm- ies to march to Kingston, rode myself to Cartersville with the 23rd Corps (Gen. Cox) and telegraphed from there to Gen. Thomas at Nashville:
"It looks to me as though Hood was bound for Tuscumbia. He is now crossing the Coosa River below Rome, looking west. Let me know if you can hold him with your forces now in Ten- nessee and the expected re-enforce- ments, as, in that event, you know what I propose to do. I will be at Kingston tomorrow. I think Rome is strong enough to resist any attacks, and the rivers are all high. If he turns up by Summerville, I will get in behind him."
And on the same day to Gen. Grant at City Point:
"Hood is now crossing the Coosa, twelve miles below Rome, bound west. If he passes over to the Mobile & Ohio railroad, had I not better execute the plan of my letter sent you by Col- onel Porter, and leave Gen. Thomas, with the troops now in Tennessee, to defend the state? He will have an am- ple force when the re-enforcements or- dered reach Nashville."
I found Gen. John E. Smith at Car- tersville, and on the 11th rode on to Kingston, where I had telegraphic communications in all directions. From Gen. Corse, at Rome, I learned that Hood's army had disappeared, but in what direction he was still in doubt; and I was so strongly convinced of the wisdom of my proposition to change the whole tactics of the campaign, to leave Hood to Gen. Thomas, and to march across Georgia for Savannah or Charleston, that I again telegraph- ed Gen. Grant:
"We can not now remain on the de- fensive. With 25,999 infantry and the bold cavalry he has, Hood can con- stantly break my road. I would in- finitely prefer to make a wreck of the road and the country from Chatta- nooga to Atlanta, including the lat- ter city; send back all my wounded
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SHERMAN'S MOVEMENTS AS TOLD BY HIMSELF
. C IC IC
The hilly site of the old Shorter College, where thousands of daughters of the South received their educations. During the War of 1861-'65 here was the scene of a fort; now it is the home of the Rome High School, with 600 pupils.
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A HISTORY OF ROME AND FLOYD COUNTY
and unserviceable men, and with my effective army move through Georgia, smashing things to the sea. Hood may turn into Tennessee and Kentucky, but I believe he will be forced to follow me. Instead of being on the defensive, I will be on the offensive. Instead of my guessing at what he means to do, he will have to guess at my plans. The difference in war would be fully 25 per cent. I
can make Savannah, Charleston or the mouth of the Chat- tahoochee (Appalachicola). Answer quick, as I know we will not have the telegraph long."
I received no answer to this at the time, and the next day went on to Rome, where the news came that Hood had made his appearance at Resaca and had demanded the surrender of the place, which was commanded by Col. Weaver, reinforced by Brevet Brig .- Gen. Raum. Gen. Hood had ev- idently marched with rapidity up the Chattooga Valley by Summerville. La- Fayette, Ship's Gap and Snake Creek Gap, and had with him
his whole army, except a small force left behind to watch Rome. I ordered Resaca to be further reinforced by rail from Kingston, and ordered Gen. Corse to make a bold reconnoisance down the Coosa Valley, which captured and brought into Rome some cavalrymen and a couple of field guns, with their horses and men. At first I thought of interposing my whole army in the Chattooga Valley, so as to prevent Hood's escape south; but I saw at a glance that he did not mean to fight, and in that event, after damaging the road all he could, he would be likely to retreat eastward by Spring Place, which I did not want him to do; and hearing from Gen. Raum that he still held Resaca safe, and that Gen. Ed- ward McCook had also got there with some cavalry re-enforcements, I turn- ed all the heads of columns from Re- saca, viz., Gen. Cox's from Rome; Gen. Stanley's from McGuire's, and Gen. O. O. Howard's from Kingston. We all reached Resaca during that night, and the next morning (13th) learned that Hood's whole army had passed up the valley toward Dalton, burning the railroad and doing all the damage possible. On the 12th he had demand- ed the surrender of Resaca in the fol- lowing letter :
Headquarters Army of Tennessee, In the Field, Oct. 12, 1864.
To the Officer Commanding the Unit- ed States Forces at Resaca, Ga .: Sir: I demand the immediate and unconditional surrender of the post
and garrison under your command, and, should this be acceded to, all white officers and soldiers will be paroled in a few days. If the place is carried by assault, no prisoners will be taken.
Most respectfully, your obedient ser- vant,
J. B. HOOD, General.
To this, Col. Weaver, then in com- mand, replied :
Headquarters Second Brigade, Third
Division, Fifteenth Corps, Resaca, Ga., Oct. 12, 1864.
To General J. B. Hood: Your com- munication of this date just received. In reply I have to state that I am somewhat surprised at the concluding paragraph, to the effect that if the place is carried by assault, no pris- oners will be taken. In my opinion, I can hold this post. If you want it, come and take it.
I am, general, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
CLARK R. WEAVER, Commanding Officer.
This brigade was very small, and as Hood's investment extended only from the Oostanaula, below the town, to the Connasauga, above, he left open the approach from the south, which enabled Gen. Raum and the cavalry of Gen. Edward McCook to re-enforce from Kingston. In fact, Hood, admon- ished by his losses at Allatoona, did not attempt an assault at all, but lim- ited his attack to the above threat and to some skirmishing, giving his atten- tion chiefly to the destruction of the railroad, which he accomplished all the way up to Tunnel Hill, nearly 20 miles, capturing en route the regiment of black troops at Dalton (Johnson's 44th United States, colored). On the 14th I turned Gen. Howard through Snake Creek Gap, and sent Gen. Stan- ley around by Tilton, with orders to cross the mountain to the west, so as to capture, if possible, the force left by the enemy in Snake Creek Gap. We found this gap very badly obstructed by fallen timber, but got through that night, and the next day the main army was at Villanow (Walker County). On the morning of the 16th, the leading division of Gen. Howard's column, com- manded by Gen. Chas. R. Woods, car- ried Ship's Gap, taking prisoners part of the 24th South Carolina Regiment, which had been left there to hold us in check.
The best information there obtained located Hood's army at LaFayette,
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SHERMAN'S MOVEMENTS AS TOLD BY HIMSELF
near which place I hoped to catch him and force him to battle; but by the time we had got enough troops across the mountain at Ship's Gap, Hood had escaped down the Valley of the Chattooga, and all we could do was to follow him as closely as pos- sible. From Ship's Gap I dispatched couriers to Chattanooga, and received word back that Gen. Schofield was there, endeavoring to co-operate with me, but Hood had broken up the tele- graph, and had thus prevented quick communication. Gen. Schofield did not reach me until the army had got down to Gaylesville, Ala., about the 21st of October. We quietly followed him down the Chattooga Valley to the neighborhood of Gadsden, but failed the main armies near the Coosa River, at the mouth of the Chattooga.
On Oct. 19 I telegraphed Gen. Amos · Beckwith, chief commissary in At- lanta :
"Hood will escape me. I want to prepare for my big raid. On the 1st of November I want nothing in At- lanta but what is necessary for war. Send all trash to the rear at once, and have on hand 30 days' food and but little forage. I propose to abandon Atlanta and the railroad back to Chat- tanooga, to sally forth to ruin Geor- gia, and bring up on the seashore. I will go down the Coosa until I am sure that Hood has gone to Blue Moun- tain."
On the 21st of October I reached Gaylesville, had my bivouac in an open field back of the village, and remained there until the 28th. At Gaylesville the pursuit of Hood by the army un- der my immediate command may be said to have ceased. During the pur- suit the Fifteenth Corps was com- manded by its senior major general present, P. J. Osterhaus, in the ab- sence of Gen. John A. Logan; and the Seventeenth Corps was commanded by Brig. Gen. T. E. G. Ransom, the senior officer present, in the absence of Gen. Frank P. Blair. Gen. Ransom was a young, most gallant and promising of- ficer, son of the Col. Ransom who was killed at Chapultepec, in the Mexican War. He had served with the Army of the Tennessee in 1862 and 1863 at Vicksburg, where he was severely wounded. He was not well when we started from Atlanta, but he insisted on going along with his command. His symptoms became more aggravated on the march, and when we were encamp- ed near Gaylesville I visited him in company with Surgeon John Moore, who said the case was one of typhoid
fever, which would likely prove fatal. I few days later, viz., the 28th, he was being carried on a litter toward Rome; and as I rode from Gaylesville to Rome I passed him by the way, stop- ped and spoke to him, but did not then suppose he was so near his end. The next day, however, his escort reached Rome, bearing his dead body. The of- ficer in charge reported that shortly after I had passed, his symptoms be- came so much worse that they stopped at a farm-house by the roadside, where he died that evening. His body was at once sent to Chicago for burial, and a monument has been ordered by the Society of the Army of the Ten- nessee to be erected in his memory.
It had become almost an ob- session with Gen. Sherman that he should take up his proposed "March to the Sea," and now the opportunity was to be given him. Up to this time he had been kept pretty busy by Johnston, Hood, Wheeler and Forrest, and for them all had acquired a considerable ad- miration. He respected Johnston for his strategy and tenacious fighting against heavy odds; he
JAMES NOBLE, SR., head of the Noble fam- ily, which added to Rome's advancement and later established Anniston.
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A HISTORY OF ROME AND FLOYD COUNTY
gave left-handed praise to Hood for his elusiveness ; he worship- ped the boldness of Wheeler's cav- alry; and he took off his hat to Forrest May 3, 1863, when For- rest's handful of men captured Streight with a force three times as large and marched the captives into Rome.
Sherman reports that on Oct. 31, 1864, "Forrest made his appearance on the Tennessee River opposite John- sonville (whence a new railroad led to Nashville), and with his cavalry and field pieces actually crippled and cap- tured two gunboats with five of our transports, a feat of arms which I confess excited my admiration. There is no doubt that the month of October closed to us looking decidedly squally ; but somehow I was sustained in the belief that in a very few days the tide would turn."
Oct. 28, 1864, found Gen. Sher- man quartered in the comfortable two-story frame dwelling of Ma- jor Chas. H. Smith ("Bill Arp"), where the handsome modern home of Mrs. Chas. A. Hight now stands at 312 Fourth Avenue, Rome. The general was an exceedingly busy man. He did not have time for social entertainments, assuming that any of the "natives" felt in- clined to be sociable. He was busy writing some dispatches, de- livering others orally, penning tel- egrams to Grant, Halleck and Thomas, snatching a hasty meal here and there and dashing away on his trusty charger. Assuming that he arrived in Rome the night of Oct. 28 and that he remained until the morning of Nov. 2, when he left for Kingston, he spent three and a half days on this oc- casion in the City of Seven Hills. He had first visited Rome as a young army lieutenant in 1844, go- ing to Bellefonte, Ala., from Ma- rietta and back two months later by horseback, presumably follow- ing the same route both ways ; and again, Oct. 12, 1864, he mentions that he went to Rome from King- ston, and on the 14th was before
Resaca, hence on that visit proba- bly stayed several hours. Gen. Jef- ferson C. Davis, having been sent down the Oostanaula River from Resaca toward Rome, May 16, probably arrived at Rome May 17, and made his headquarters at the Smith home on Fourth Avenue until he executed orders issued May 20 by Sherman to March May 23 for Dallas via Van Wert, a dead town of Polk County. Per- haps 20,000 men and nearly 1,000 wagons in Davis' command marched on Rome, which was gar- risoned by a small Confederate force. After firing on the invaders from a fort on Myrtle Hill Ceme- tery, the Confederates evacuated the town, and the invaders crossed the Oostanaula River at the old Printup Wharf, midway between the present Second and Fifth Ave- nue bridges, on pontoons partly constructed of pews taken out of the churches of Rome.
The plan of Sherman's advance had been this: The Army of the Ohio (Gen. McPherson) made up the left wing, and marched south- ward from Resaca on the left-hand side of the Western & Atlantic (state) railroad; the Army of the Cumberland (Gen. Thomas) made up the center and marched along the track and right-of-way; the Army of the Tennessee (Gen. McPherson) made up the right wing, and took the right-hand side. Davis' Division and Garrard's Cav- alry, dispatched to Rome, evident- ly were a part of the right wing, or Army of the Tennessee. In view of the fact that Gen. Sherman was traveling with his center and left in the close pursuit of Johnston through Bartow County (Adairs- ville, Kingston, Cassville and Car- tersville) it is probable that dur- ing this period (May 18-20) the Federal commander did not come to Rome.
"On the first day of November, 1864," writes Gen. Sherman in his
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Memoirs, "I telegraphed very fully to Gen. Grant at City Point (who must have been disturbed by the wild ru- mors that filled the country), and on the second of November (at Rome) re- ceived this dispatch:
" 'City Point, Va., Nov. 1, 1864, 6 P. M. " 'Major-General Sherman :
"'Do you not think it advisable, now that Hood has gone so far north, to entirely ruin him before starting on your proposed campaign? With Hood's army destroyed, you can go where you please with impunity. I believed and still believe if you had started south while Hood was still in the neighbor- hood, he would have been forced to go after you. Now that he is far away he might look upon the chase as useless, and he will go in one direc- tion while you are pushing in another. If you can see a chance of destroying Hood's army, attend to that first, and make your other move secondary.
"'U. S. GRANT, Lieut .- Gen.'
"My answer is dated:
"Rome, Georgia, Nov. 2, 1864.
"Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, City Point, Virginia :
"Your dispatch is received. If I could hope to overhaul Hood, I would turn against him with my whole force; then he would retreat to the southwest, drawing me as a decoy away from Georgia, which is his chief object. If he ventures north of the Tennessee River, I may turn in that direction, and endeavor to get below him on his line of retreat; but thus far he has not gone above the Tennessee River. General Thomas will have a force strong enough to prevent his reaching any country in which we have an in- terest; and he has orders, if Hood turns to follow me, to push for Selma, Alabama. No single army can catch Hood and I am convinced the best re- sults will follow from our defeating Jeff Davis's cherished plan of making me leave Georgia by maneuvering. Thus far I have confined my efforts to thwart this plan, and have reduced baggage so that I can pick up and start in any direction; but I regard the pursuit of Hood as useless. Still, if he attempts to invade Middle Ten- nessee, I will hold Decatur and be pre- pared to move in that direction; but unless I let go of Atlanta, my force will not be equal to his.
"W. T. SHERMAN, Maj .- Gen."
By this date, under the intelligent and energetic action of Col. W. W.
Wright, and with the labor of some 1,500 men, the railroad break of fif- teen miles about Dalton was repaired so as to admit of the passage of cars, and I transferred my headquarters to Kingston as more central. (Note: By this last statement it is inevitable that his headquarters had been at Rome, and he was not there merely on one of his "rounds"). From that place (Kingston) on the same day (Nov. 2) I again telegraphed to Gen. Grant:
"Kingston, Ga., Nov. 2, 1864.
"Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, City Point, Virginia.
"If I turn back, the whole effect of my campaign will be lost. By my movements I have thrown Beauregard (Hood) well to the west, and Thomas will have ample time and sufficient troops at Chattanooga and Atlanta, and I can stand a month's interruption to our communications. I do not be- lieve the Confederate army can reach our railroad lines except by cavalry raids, and Wilson will have cavalry enough to checkmate them. I am clear- ly of the opinion that the best results will follow my contemplated movement through Georgia.
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