USA > Georgia > Jones County > History of Jones County, Georgia, for one hundred years, specifically 1807-1907 > Part 12
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"The command started from the left on July 27th to carry out its part of the program. At the last moment Stoneman got per- mission from General Sherman to go below Lovejoy to Macon, and thence to Andersonville, for the purpose of releasing the
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Union prisoners there confined. Stoneman proposed this and Sherman only consented on condition that he should join Mc- Cook, and with the united force defeat Wheeler, and then send Gen. Garrards' division back to the main army. Stoneman detached Garrard's Division and with about three thousand men proceeded southward on hazardous and as it proved a dis- astrous expedition.
"Although the start was made under favorable circumstances, Stoneman finally succeeded in eluding General Wheeler and crossed the Ocmulgee river high up near Covington, and follow- ed the river down the east bank. Reaching Clinton, detachments were sent out, which struck the railroad leading from Macon to Savannah, at Griswold station, and destroyed seventeen loco- motives and more than one hundred cars. One of the detach- ments burned the railroad bridge across the Oconee river, and all reunited in front of Macon. Stoneman shelled the town but the river lay between and he could not cross the bridge, which was strongly guarded with cannon in such a position that they effectively covered the approaches. The railroad bridge in like manner, was defended by 12-pounders placed on flat cars, which were run out on the bridge and discharged, and then drawn back for re-loading. This artillery duel was kept up for two hours, when Stoneman returned to Clinton, where his retreat was ob- structed by Generals Wheeler and Iverson."
Matters soon assumed a very critical aspect. Confronted by a largely superior force, as Stoneman supposed, further progress in carrying out the plan of the expedition seemed impossible. The only alternative was for him to attempt to cut through the enemy's line and endeavor to make his way, back to the army at Marietta.
About sundown on the 30th of July, Colonel Adams' Brigade met the advance of Wheeler's command, and skirmishing was kept up most of the night. Just at daybreak Colonels Capron's Brigade, being temporarily attached to the 14th Ohio Cavalry, came up. As we marched forward everything was quiet, not a shot was fired on either side, but we all seemed to realize the crucial trial was at hand.
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On the 31st hard fighting began soon after dawn. That the enemy's force was considerably larger than that of Stoneman was apparent. The Union troops were attacked in front, flank and rear. They made stout resistance but there seemed little hope of a successful issue. At one time the rebels were pushed back some two miles. At this point was the severest fighting of the day. (R.O.) The Union force was overwhelmed and com- pelled to fall back.
About two o'clock it became evident that it would be impos- sible to get the command through the rebel lines. Stoneman was not disposed to lose his entire force, dispatched Col. Adams with a thousand men and Col. Capron with eight hundred to make their way back to the lines. With seven hundred men, including the Squadron he made a stand on the right of the road in the woods. He was determined if necessary, to sacrifice this force and himself in order to save the others.
Ordered to dismount and charge the rebels, the men did so with the greatest spirit, creating much confusion in the hostile ranks. It was soon learned however that the enemy was in Stone- man's rear, among the horses, with a strong force. It was then that the little band remaining with Stoneman was broken and the General was captured, together with the small guns in the road, from which the Squadron had deployed as skirmishers. Stone- man surrendered to General Alfred Iverson. His organization of course went to pieces, and it was every man for himself, to get away if he could.
At the foot of the hill on which this fight occurred ran a small creek which formed a quicksand bog. It was in trying to cross the stream at this point that about half the Squadron was cap- tured. They eventually reached Andersonville, but not in the high feather they expected at the inception of the raid. About two hundred of this devoted band which remained with Stone- man succeeded in making good their escape, and at eight o'clock that evening endeavored to take a rest, by going into camp. Cap- tain Skeegs of Company A, was in command of the remnant of the Squadron. Sergeant Albert A. Pomeroy and fifteen men were detailed for picket duty. There was no disturbance at the picket post during the night, but when they returned to camp at day-
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break they found that the tired soldiers they had been guarding had been carried off by Wheeler. Sergeant Pomeroy and his fifteen men made the best of their way back to Marietta in good order. The force that had been dispersed straggled in for two weeks afterward. Captain Skeggs was among the last that reach- ed our lines.
The engagement which ended so disastrously to the Squadron is best known to its members as the battle of Sunshine Church Officially it is designated as the Battle of Hillsboro (nearest town). The loss in killed and wounded was not as large as might have been expected, but these and the captured, reduced the strength of the Squadron by one-half. Several died in captivity, and a number lost their lives by the explosion of the steamer, Sultana. An account of this appalling disaster is given elsewhere in this volume, the action took place about one hundred miles from Sherman's army. Those of the Squadron who finally reach- ed the Union lines endured great privation and suffering from hunger, and exposure and fatigue. Nearly all had very narrow escapes from capture. The Negroes gave them food and directed them on their way. Much of the time they traveled only by night, keeping in concealment by day.
There is an interesting incident connecting this engagement with an engagement of a different kind, combining grim-visaged war and the tender passion which had a happy sequel. Sergeant Barzillah F. Morris and Israel W. Miller rode into action side by side. The first rebel bullet struck Morris, inflicting a severe wound, which completely disabled him, resulting in his capture by the enemy. A short time afterward a ball pierced Miller's body from right to left passing through his blouse pocket. In this pocket he carried a photograph of a young lady to whom he was warmly attached-, or so to speak in the phrase of the time, "his girl" ... The bullet left behind a round hole directly through that picture. Miller wholly unable to leave the field, soon found himself a prisoner. That he recovered from his wound is a marvel, but he did, and spent months of captivity, suffering the horrors of Andersonville and other Southern pris- ons. It goes without saying that he prized that photograph above all his other earthly possessions. Twice the rebels, with no fellow
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feeling in their Confederate souls in a spirit of meanness took it from him and flung it away. Each time when the eyes of the guards were not upon him, he managed to recover it and conceal it. (p. 893.)
A Church for a Hospital-The end came at last, the prison gates were thrown wide open, and Miller returned home. The pleasant melody of wedding bells were soon heard, and the lady whose photograph had been through such a strange experience became Mrs. Miller. The picture here reproduced was taken a short time before the happy event last mentioned. The narrative is embellished with the joint picture, and Miss Catherine Sonnan- stine enjoys the distinction of being the only lady who appears among the warriors of the Sherman Brigade story.
Early in the day of the battle, a field hospital for the wounded had been established at the house of a citizen named Frank Has- call (near Round Oak), in charge of Assistant Surgeon John L. Wilkins, Fourteenth Illinois Cavalry. When the break came this hospital was taken by the enemy, with the wounded. A place of worship called Sunshine Church, from which the action took one of its names, was fitted up for hospital purposes, and a week after the battle the wounded were removed thither. As soon as sufficiently recovered to permit their transfer, they were taken to military prison at Macon or Andersonville.
The wounding of Sergeant B. F. Morris, at the beginning of the action, has been mentioned. He was taken prisoner at the Hascall house. While there, before his removal to the Sunshine Church, he was most kindly cared for by the wife and daughter of a Confederate Colonel, named Hunt. They visited him often while he was a patient in the church and did much to relieve his suffering, Morris writes :
"Twenty-five years later I visited the battlefield of the Sun- shine Church accompanied by my wife and youngest daughter. We went to visit the Southern lady, Mrs. Jessie Hunt, who had done so much for my comfort while I was there a wounded prisoner. We spent three weeks with the family, and while there I preached to the people in a meeting house built since the war, on the spot of ground where the hardest fighting was done, and where most of the dead and wounded on both sides had lain.
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Some of the shells thrown during the battle, were lying under the house where I spoke. While we were there Mr. Frank Has- call made a barbecue for us. It was in his house that I passed my first night a prisoner. While lying there on the floor, wound- ed and bleeding, I put in most of the night in meditation. I won- dered if I would ever live through the prison life, and meet her whom I hoped to make my wife when the war was over. While we were seated at the table, on the exact spot where I had lain that night twenty-five years before, my feelings were indescrib- able. I looked at the floor and then at my wife, and it was with difficulty that I could control my emotions."
Morris has this little item in his diary, under the date of Octo- ber the fifteenth: "Got my boots half-soled today, cost me ten dollars." Whether it was in greenbacks or Confederate money, he does not say.
Bugler Thomas Everly of Company B tells this experience of a party of wanderers. "After the breakup a great many were un- able to get their horses and were captured. The writer with three others, secured horses, and taking on one comrade each, which made eight of us all told, we started to hunt a way out. We succeeded although we had but a slim chance. After six days riding, with scarcely any sleep and very little to eat, we came to the Chattahoochee river, about twenty-five miles south of At- lanta. We crossed the river and finally struck the line at Mari- etta. During our march for freedom we were mainly guided by the sound of General Sherman's artillery at Atlanta. The closest call that we had was at Athens, Ga. Here some rebel home guards lay in wait for us, but we had just received from some Negroes a fresh horse a piece and using our spurs freely we were soon out of sight."
Before leaving the subject of Sunshine Church, it may be of interest to say that our war historians who have written of Stoneman's raid agree that the opposing Confederate force was not near so large as General Stoneman believed. General Sher- man expressed the opinion that Stoneman could have eluded the enemy or cut his way through and saved practically all of his command. One writer says: "His sacrificing himself to enable his subordinates to make good a retreat was personally honor-
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able to him, but the facts as afterwards discovered, showed that he had been deceived as to the enemy's force, and thus his posi- tion was by no means desperate."
Shortly after this event Lieut. Jacob O. Stout of Company B, was detailed with sixteen men to picket duty. Sometime in the afternoon a girl came to the post and told him that a small force of rebel cavalry was getting ready to surprise it. The Lieutenant sent out part of his men to learn the truth as to this report. While these were absent the rebels came and captured the entire squad remaining at the post. When the scouting party returned they were also captured, with the exception of Corporal John Kope and Darius Robinson, who succeeded in cutting their way out and returning to camp. Isaac Wayne was mortally wounded in this affair.
During the remainder of the month of August Sherman's army was lying in the trenches, engaged in the siege of Atlanta. The Squadron now had scarcely fifty men left for duty. Before the evacuation of Atlanta it had little to do except to recuperate from the Stoneman raid. During the last days of August, Sher- man planted the body of his army squarely in the rear of the army of the Confederates and during the night of September 1st Hood's army evacuated Atlanta. The following day the city was occupied by the Union troops of General Slocum. The Squadron participated in the movement of Sherman which com- pelled Hood to let go of Atlanta. Cavalry was constantly in motion upon the front, flank and rear of the enemy and had some heavy skirmishing with the enemy. In company with other horsemen, the Squadron rode into the city, amidst great rejoicing and demonstrations on the part of the Yankees.
During the Atlanta campaign, the cavalry division to which the Squadron belonged was ostensibly attached to the Twenty- Third Corps. There was always more or less good-natured chaff- ing between the two arms of the service. The infantryman would sing out when the opportunity offered. "Whoever saw a dead cavalryman ?" To which the cavalryman promptly replied : "Did an infantryman ever move fast enough to see a LIVE rebel?" The record shows that the losses of the Twenty-Third Corps and the cavalry were about equal, proportionate to their num- bers."
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Copied from The Macon Telegraph of Thursday, August 4th, 1864 Clinton, August 2, 1864.
Mr. Clisby :
Stoneman and his band of thieves and robbers as you are aware, have been through our village and county, and have de- spoiled our people of many valuable goods.
I was absent from my home when they came to our town, Friday last, July 29th. At my home were no whites but my two small sons. They cut into with heavy axes, my bureaus and sec- retary, and destroyed and carried off everything valuable, all of my silverware, table cutlery, bed cothes of every kind, all of my wearing apparel, notes, titles, deeds, money, shoes, hat, gun, pistol, bacon and every horse and mule I had and took an ambro- type of my wife now dead two years.
My servants begged them not to take that as well as every- thing else but they plundered on even to the underwear and dresses my wife left at her death, and thus they treated our people. Now these are to be the people who will be our task- masters if we fail in this war.
It has been thought by my friends that it was not only proper but might conduce to the good of our cause by placing this be- fore the public, for the truth and correctness of which I refer to my neighbors.
Very respectfully, (Signed) R. W. Bonner.
The following is an extract from a private letter, published in The Telegraph and Confederate, and dated Clinton,
Nov. 26, 1864.
"I snatch a moment to advise you of the destruction com- mitted by the enemy here. Many of us are utterly ruined. Hun- dreds of our people are without anything to eat. Their stock of cattle, hogs, are killed; horses and mules with wagon taken off; all through our streets are to be seen dead horses and mules, entrails of hogs and cattle killed, and in many instances, the hams only taken; oxen and carts even taken away so that we are not able to remove this offensive matter; our schoolhouses and most of the churches burned.
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"Cap. Bonner's beautiful residence in ashes, together with everything of his that could be found, destroyed. He was away from home.
"Atrocities most heinous were committed. Morgan's Tannery with a quantity of government leather destroyed, and his family, like many others, deprived of all food. Clothes were taken off the backs of some of the contrabands; and female servants taken and violated without mercy by their officers, and in some in- stances they were reared as tenderly as whites.
"But I cannot recapitulate in detail the many outrages. The residences of Y. J. McGray, Dr. Blount, J. H. Blount, and others, burned.
(The second unsuccessful raid on Macon was on Sunday, Nov. 20, 1964, at 3 :30 p.m. )
(The residence of J. H. Blount which was burned was the old home of his boyhood on the road to Gordon and Irwinton, called the "Estate Place." Soon after the war, in 1865, Col. Blount lived for a time at Lowther Hall before occupying the house on the Monticello Road, recently the home of the late Bartlett Ross. )
Sherman's Army at Clinton
From Saturday, Nov. 19, until Friday, Nov. 25, 1864. Copied from The Telegraph and Confederate (Macon, Ga.) of Nov. 26th.
To the Refugees From Jones County
The advance of the Federal column reached Clinton about 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon and encamped around the vil- lage. This consisted mainly of Kilpatrick's cavalry. The infantry consisting of the 15th and the 17th army corps under Gen. How- ard followed from Sunday morning until Wednesday afternoon, and encamped during the whole time within a few miles of Clin- ton. The rear of the column did not leave the county until Friday morning of the 25th.
It will thus be seen that they remained in the county about a week. Our condition can scarcely be imagined. To say that the cruel enemy has left universal ruin and desolation in their tract would but imperfectly convey the truth. Everything has been swept away, as with a storm of fire and the "besom of destruc-
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tion." One-third of Clinton is in ashes. The Courthouse is left, but the records destroyed. The whole country around is one wide waste of destruction. Corn cribs, gin houses, mills, barns, and many residences are all for the most part gone. Those who re- mained at home had most of their clothing and furniture spared, but everything out of doors was given up to indiscriminate plun- der. Hogs cattle, horse, mules, milch cows, and poultry of every kind were slaughtered or driven off without exception. Nearly all the bacon, corn, fodder, wheat, flour, syrup, etc. was taken and destroyed. All the farms in their tract are desolated, fences torn down, rails burned, wagons, carriages, buggies, outhouses, and all dwellings not occupied at the time sharing the same fate.
The enemy has gone at last, but he has left desolation in his track. We invite you back to your homes, but you will find them to a great extent in ruins. There is but one spirit left in the breasts of the people, as far as we can learn, and that is an undying hatred of the Yankees and eternal resistance to their ty- rannical sway.
(Signed) E. P. Birch N. Kingman
Clinton, Ga., Nov. 26th.
Headquarters Rapid Ann, River, Virginia, April 1, 1864. Burlesque Ball Grand Ball
The undersigned committee of invitation respectfully solicit the company of Col. W. A. Lofton, George T. Bartlett, Esq., W. R. Smith, M. D. Fleming, Jordan, Jr., F. W. Swanson, Edward Pritchett, W. F. Jordan, Wm. R. Powell, Alfred Gools- by, R. F. Ezell, J. W. Henderson, James B. Goolsby, Crawford H. Greer, A. C. Standifer, Wiley Peddy (if not too blind) , C. R. Goolsby (if not driving cattle), John R. Godkin, M.D. (if re covered from the last fit), John R. Shropshire (will please bring a little salt), Lucian L. Reese, Russell I. Brown, A. S. Franklin, H. B. Jordan, G. Y. Shockley, P. M., E. L. White (if found), John W. Burney (we have made a special requisition for this gentleman upon his excellency, Joseph E. Brown, Bartley Walker (if not a candidate for Bailiff ), T. Pope (if not too deaf to hear
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the music) , Jonas H. Holland (if not officially engaged in driv- ing off veteran crippled soldiers), Lucius W. Pou (if not en- gaged in making barrels)-other gentlemen engaged in distilling whiskey and not caring for the soldiers' families at home will attend as they as especially invited. This grand entertainment is given for the benefit of the Confederate States of America by Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln.
Tickets procurd at
Maj. Chas. H. Harris, Macon, Ga.
Principal Managers- Robert E. Lee and U. S. Grant. Floor Managers- A. P. Hill B. Hancock J. Sedwick.
Partners furnished by
Sergeant William Henry Reese of 44th Ga. Regiment- and James W. Burney, 4th Va.
A Letter Written by W'. T. Mccullough, Sr.
I hereby transcribe from memory some of the scenes which transpired at my home in Jones County, Ga. in 1864, when I was eight years old. When I was six years old in 1862 I visited for some weeks my grandmother Tufts who was then residing at Midway where Oglethorpe University was located, at which institution two of her sons were attending. Dr. James Woodrow, one of the Professors and an uncle of Pres. Woodrow Wilson, lived directly across the street and in front of my grandmother's house. Dr. James Woodrow's two children Jimmie and Alice and I played together at their home.
The war clouds having arisen, the storm gathered as I saw my two young uncles drilling in the street after they had joined companies to be sent away to fight. I also saw while on my visit there Sidney Lanier who boarded at Grandmother Tufts, and heard him play his flute on the porch at night for it was in May. The two years following were filled with dread, doubt and priva- tions by reason of the blockade, then in the fourth year I had my first intimate experience with war. About sun up on a Sunday
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morning in August I awoke to hear cannons firing, apparently close by and they continued to fire till near midday and in the afternoon we heard details of the battle at Sunshine Church near Round Oak. That night Col. Clews and his staff came to our house and spent the night. They had with them a Yankee pris- oner who slept on our front porch. Col. Clews was in command in that fight and captured General George Stoneman who was making a raid to try to destroy the Georgia railroad. In the fall we heard of much fighting around Jonesboro and Atlanta, and late in October we could see the red reflection of camp fires and buildings burning on the sky at night. Finally in Novem- ber the wave of destruction fell upon us. The evening before the arrival of Sherman's army, Mother had taken us and had gone to Blountsville to consult with Grandmother as whether to re- main in the line of Sherman's march or to refugee. After con- sultation she had decided to stay and we were preparing to return home the next morning when we heard shots being fired and in a few moments an officer came into the room where we were, loading his pistol and cursing. From then during the next four days which it took for them to pass the storm broke in all its fury and the morning of the fifth day we saw great volumes of smoke and flame arising where our house stood. On the next day Mother and I walked back two miles and saw the blackened chimneys and heaps of ashes where our beloved home had.stood.
All that we had left were the clothes we had on; no food, and no place to sleep. I have never seen such complete destruction and only those who saw it can realize what it was like. For days we ate our corn left on the ground by the Yankee's horses.
It took ten plagues and the death of all the first born to force the Egyptians to give up slavery. Such is history. What would we do without the precious promises, "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth."
The above facts are written from memory and subscribed to this day Feb. 5, 1940.
W. T. Mccullough, Sr.
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An Account of How the Fighting in Jones County Came About
"From Wizards of the Saddle" by Bennett Young, pp. 556- 565 by Boston Pub. Co. 1914.
Atlanta was evacuated on Sept. 1, 1864. Gen. Joseph E. John- ston has been relieved on July 17, 1864, Gen. Hood assuming command. The enemy was slowly but surely closing the cordon around Atlanta, and as the flanks of the Federal army stretched far out east and west of the doomed city, the Federals used their cavalry harassing the rear of the Confederates and destroying railroads south of Gen. Hood's position, rendering not only the occupancy difficult, but the feeding of the armies impossible.
The Federals never lacked for fresh horses, as they were taken from every farm. These were not the blooded horses which the Southern Cavalry had taken to war in 1861 but they could carry their riders at moderate speed a long distance in a day.
It required the Federals many months to learn successfully the plans under which the Confederate cavalry operated which had so often disturbed and destroyed communications, but now with Hood at bay in Atlanta, the Federals using their own and the experiences they had learned from the Confederates began their raids. Gen. Johnston had turned over to Hood 41,000 In- fantry and 10,000 Cavalry.
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