USA > Georgia > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 7
USA > Ohio > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 7
USA > Tennessee > The army reunion : with reports of the meetings of the societies of the Army of the Cumberland; the Army of the Tennessee; the Army of the Ohio: and the Army of Georgia > Part 7
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
I fear that my time is too nearly spent to permit me to say many things I desire to speak of. It has been impossible for me even to notice the many brilliant acts which characterized the career of the subordinate commands of our Army of the Ohio, much less to give the well-earned meed of praise to the individual officers and men who deserved it. I have tried to do no more than give a meagre sketch of what may be pro-
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perly regarded the distinguishing features of the Army as a whole. Before closing my remarks, however, I would like to suggest a few queries regarding the use which may be made of an Army Society to illustrate and perpetuate the details of many events which will otherwise be in danger of being forgotten and lost.
Social gatherings have a great charm of their own, yet there may be danger that we shall be reproached hereafter with having neglected to preserve for our posterity the facts and reminiscences which will be invaluable material for the ultimate history of the war, but which will be lost forever, unless put into permanent form within the lifetime of those who are here present. The late Rebellion was the first great war in which rifled ordnance was used on a large scale for general purposes of the field as well as of the siege. It was also significant for the unprecedented use of intrenchments and earthworks as a feature of modern campaigning. It came in one of the revolutionary epochs in scientific invention, when the intelligent discussion of the questions which arose, carried on by those who were the eye-witnesses of the events which suggest the problems in the art of war, can not fail to be pro- ductive of increased knowledge of the art itself. , Our nation may be so happy as never again to be involved in a warlike conflict, but the probabilities of peace will not be diminished by the spread of intelligence on the subject of military affairs.
The points in which a campaign in this country must neces- sarily differ from an European one, are extremely numerous. The features which marked this as a strife different from any other, either here or elsewhere, were scarcely less numerous. All of these deserve to be carefully and critically examined, and could we, in some permanent organization like those of the better historical societies of the country, meet for real busi- ness and discussion of such matters, or even, without frequent
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large meetings, have an executive committee calling out and publishing communications throwing light upon either the theories or the facts, the transactions of such an association could not fail to have lasting value to the world. Take only a few of the many questions which would crowd upon us, as examples of what I have referred to. To what extent is the face of the country in the states where our most active cam- paigning was carried on, one which would be regarded as impracticable for military operations in Europe ? Whether you consider the almost impenetrable thickets of pine which we constantly met in Georgia, where it was fre- quently impossible for a horse to make his way between the saplings, and where it was unsafe to neglect constant reference to the compass to keep one's course and direction ; or the immense swamps of the Carolinas, where deployment of a line was often a physical impossibility ; would not the ordinary rules of military science need a totally new construction and
application ? Again, look at the almost total absence of any roads better than a mere wagon track through a wilderness, and the consequent dependence upon long and exposed lines of railways for supplies, the country roads, even where only a few miles of them were used, soon becoming mere quag- mires; and was not this a new feature in war between immense armies, calling for entirely new combinations and expedients to surmount the difficulties? When you add to these things the fact that the theatre of war was of such enormous extent, and the movements of the later campaigns on so vast a scale, in distance as well as in armament, as to produce a combination of obstacles to be overcome, perhaps quite unprecedented, must there not of necessity be room for investigations abounding in interest, and details of the expe- dients invented, with their practical application, which would
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be of immense value if they could only be preserved in some tangible and permanent form?
There are practical questions, also, with regard to arms and equipment, which are not yet settled. Were we right in adhering to the extent we did to the brass twelves, known as the Napoleon gun? Were not the three-inch rifled pieces proven to be equally valuable for throwing canister at short range as they were for throwing shell at long distances? and did not our experience prove that we ought to have rejected all but titled artillery, even for light field work? With regard to small .ums, also, have we had any satisfactory summing up of our experience as bearing upon the question of the balance between waste of ammunition and useless firing when breech-loaders were used, and the lack of rapidity in a pinch when Spring- field or Enfield rifles were relied upon? We know that a wide divergence of opinion existed among us on this point, and the facts and theories ought to be brought face to face.
When we turn to the problems which were peculiar to the circumstances under which this war arose, we find queries arising of even greater interest than those I have referred to. What shall we say of the manner in which our great army was raised? Were we right or wrong in depending so long upon volunteering? Was the single battalion regiment the proper unit of organization? Was it wisdom or folly to try to preserve the old regular army organization, instead of scat- tering it at once to be used in leavening and instructing the whole volunteer force? What was the effect of allowing the regimental officers to be commissioned by the several states, and the pro- motion of the officers of the line to depend upon the state executives? How much more did the war cost us in lives and money, by reason of our system of constantly organizing new regiments, instead of filling up the skeleton battalions
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that were already doing duty in the field? The questions that troop up before us, when we reflect upon the subject, are legion, and I doubt whether we can say we have done our full duty by our generation, if we do not make some systematic effort to answer them.
In IS63, as Burnside was preparing his movement into East Tennessee, a friend put into my hands Kinglake's first volume on the Crimean war, then just published. Like many of you, probably, I was then pondering the problem whether the standing armies of Europe would not have been saved by their traditionary knowledge from many of the blunders through which we all had to learn our duty, when our vast army was so suddenly called into existence. I had been inclined to think that perhaps we were feeling our way bunglingly toward skill in arms, and paying dearly for our experience, by reason of lack of special education for our work. I think scarce any thing else could have so greatly increased my confidence and hope as the perusal of that single volume. It was not such a military history as a soldier would have written, and, as every body knows, the author seemed often to tell as if it were praiseworthy the very things a military man would have chosen to keep in the background. Perhaps that very thing constituted the value of the work. It showed that the traditions of standing armies do not and can not save the soldier from the necessity of learning his business by experience in the field, and that systems of administration based upon wars in Flanders will not do for an army landed upon the desert shores of the Crimea. It was a photograph of the daily life of the camp, in which our experience would enable us to discern at once that we had been at least as free from glaring blunders of administration, of strategy, or of tactics, as the com- bined army under Lord Raglan. I admit this is not saying much, and no one will mistake it for bragging; but it was to
Oration of General Cox.
me a great comfort and ground of hope to find, by good testimony, that the inevitable imperfections and shortcomings of new troops, put suddenly in the field for the first time in their lives, were incident to all the armies of the great military powers of Europe, and were not peculiar to our own condition or system of organization.
The difficulties we had at the outset, and our modes of overcoming them, will, if fairly and faithfully told, benefit all who may come after us. It may save our posterity, some day, from paying quite so dearly for the lessons of wyperience as we were forced to pay. A near view dimin- ishes something, it is true, of the general glitter which gilds a great campaign as it is narrated in ordinary history, but what is added in real human sympathy and interest more than makes up for the proverbial belittling effect of familiarity. We ought to be willing to be known and estimated for exactly what we were, and to be the first to criticise, calmly, our own part in a great event. We may thus render it a truly intelligible thing, instead of a marvelous romance, in which the general outline may be filled up according to each reader's fancy.
A full knowledge of all the circumstances of war will only make a civilized nation strive more wisely for peace : and as the improvements in the efficiency of arms make nations more careful how they invoke the judgment of the God of battles, so an acquaintance with all the cost and all the horrors which follow in the train of great military expeditions, may make a people more and more averse to strife, unless the cause be one as holy as that which called upon us in 1861-the preser- vation of the Nation itself! With all our sad experience of comrades fallen, of a country desolated, of homes destroyed, of labors and sufferings of all kinds endured, and of unexam-
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pled burdens to be borne, I believe there is no one here who would hesitate one instant to draw the sword again to avert a like peril from our land. And should any emergency arise, (which God forbid,) that would call us again to enter upon a great conflict for national existence, I believe I speak the sentiments of all when I say that we would wish no better leaders, and could find no stauncher comrades, than we had in our old organization of the Grand Army of the West.
ORATION OF GENERAL COGSWELL.
FILLOW-SOLDIERS : Four years ago, last Thursday, many of us here present, after a delightful and unmolested trip across the country from Atlanta, reached the rice swamps of Southern Georgia, and the outer gates of the city of Savannah, and there, dieting upon rice, after the luxurious chickens and sweet potatoes of Middle Georgia, we awaited the order to advance and take that city. But when, three days afterward, Hazen had foreshadowed, at McAlister, what would be the fate of Savannah, if Hardee should wait, that rebel com- mander, either not believing that this was the "last ditch" of the Confederacy, or else too much of a gentleman to wel- come us to those "hospitable graves" we used to hear of, soon lett our front, and Savannah gave up to us its keys. The Atlantic coast was reached at last, Sherman's great march to the sea was accomplished, and to military history was added a brilliant and most famous page. The begin- ning of the end of a wicked Rebellion had come, and the bright morning of peace was breaking in upon us.
More than three years and a half have now passed since we laid down our arms and were finally disbanded ; since turning from the arts of war, we took up the better arts of peace. And although now "neither wars nor rumors of wars" disturb us, but peace, rather, is every where assured, and the old flag, more than ever now, the emblem of true nationality, liberty and valor, floats under every sky, respected and unassailed, yet are we, the former members of Sherman's
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armies, once more assembled at the call of our commanders. But it is to meet as citizens, quietly, and in peace, in a loyal city, with no clank of the sabre, no sound of the musket, no rumbling of the artillery, no wagons blocking up the roads, and with neither war nor panoply of war. We meet not because we are soldiers, but because we have been soldiers, and because here, and at this time, we want to revive the associations of our past; to recall to memory the experiences of the camp, the bivouac, and the field; to strengthen those friendships which are friendships only known to those who have fought by each other's sides, and which are not broken by every breeze that blows. We meet to refresh our memory of those deeds which go to make up the brilliant record of our countrymen in arms on so many fields of battle-in fine, we meet to bring again to mind that communion of exposure, of hardship, of daring, of pleasure and of pain, of glory and of victory, which has already made us, present and absent, brothers forever more. And as one of that fortunate and "goodly company," I am asked to speak for the Army of Georgia, for the left wing of Sherman's army, in its march through Georgia and the Carolinas.
My friends, it would be difficult for the ablest and most gifted to do justice to the merits of any army, or corps, or even organi- zation of the great Union army of our country. Much more difficult, then, will it be for me, unused to such labors, to speak in fitting and satisfactory terms of that army, one part of which dates its record of service back to the glories of " Mill Spring," and the other to those "seven days" of heroic fighting on the peninsula. Each of the two corps of that army, having a record complete and independent of its own-both contemplated with pride and pleasure, both pregnant with glorious memories, both illumined by its illustrious and heroic dead, and both blended only to be made brighter, by participation together in the great military
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achievement of the age- Sherman's march -I feel as if mine was a double duty, and, for that reason, that I should be entitled to your charity and forbearance. If I should simply say, for the Army of Georgia, that it had tried to do its duty, wherever put, and that it was more properly for others to say how well that duty had been performed, perhaps I should then have said all that would become a member of that army in its behalf. Should 1 point you to its deeds, which are written in the war records of both the East and West of our country, it would be sufficient, and there its fame could rest, I think, safely and forever. But if I should conclude by saying that this organiza- tion had the honor to form the left wing of Sherman's army, and with its gallant comrade, the Army of the Tennessee, as the right wing, to march to the sea, and through the Carolinas ; that at Raleigh it witnessed and stood ready to help enforce the surrender of the last army of the enemy this side of the Mississippi, that it marched thence to Washington, and was soon after disbanded only because there were no "new worlds to conquer "-it would seem as though then I should have said enough in its glory and in its praise. But when to this is added that the names of Thomas, Rosecrans and Buell, of Hooker, of Slocum and Howard, of Palmer and Williams, and Davis, and Mower adorn the rolls of that army, and that under such leaders, no troops could be but brave and serviceable, surely then I might stop, my task completed.
After the campaign of Atlanta, it became necessary for General Sherman to divide his army, sending one part back to Nashville, under General Thomas, to take care of Hood, and taking the rest with him to the sea, when the Fourteenth Corps, under Davis, and the Twentieth Corps, under Williams, in all about thirty-two thousand men, became known as the left wing of the Army of Georgia, and afterwards, at Goldsboro, as the Army of Georgia, under General Slocum. The
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Twentieth Corps, which had served from the beginning with the Army of the Potomac, where it had shared in all the varied experience of that noble army, from Bull Run to Gettysburg, came west to Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, and joined the Army of the Cumberland. The Fourteenth Corps was at Chattanooga, forming a part of this army, to which it had belonged since the army organization, and, indeed, was the nucleus from which the Army of the Cumberland was reorgan- ized in the early part of 1863. This corps had participated in all the battles of its army, from Stone River to Chickamauga, at which latter place, under a leader who never yet gave up a fight until he had thoroughly finished it, it had added to its record its brightest page. It had also shared largely in the victories of the West, aided in the pursuit to Corinth after Shiloh, and, in Kentucky, taking part in the battle of Perrys- ville, or Chaplin Hills. After the Fourteenth Corps at Chickamauga, after "Joe Hooker's fight above the clouds," after the efforts of both corps at Mission Ridge and Ringgold, after Resaca and Peach Tree Creek, after Jonesboro and the capture of Atlanta, it is needless to say that the "Acorn" and the "Star" became readily united in mutual sympathy and respect. If one could point to its Mill Spring, and Stone River, the other could point to its Antietam and Gettysburg. If one could mention its Thomas making his determined and successful stand at Chickamauga, the other could mention its Slocum performing the same good service at Chancellors- ville.
The Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps were prepared to be friends, when they were united in November, 1864, and then, on the left, with the Army of the Tennessee on the right, and Kilpatrick's cavalry, they commenced to marchi towards the sea; the left wing moving in two columns from Atlanta, via Stone Mountain and Social Circle, to Madison, also via
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Oration of General Cogswell.
Decatur, Covington and Shady Dale, and to Milledgeville via Eatonton ; thence across the Oconce to Sandersville; to Louis- ville by the Georgia Central, as far as the Ogeechee, and by Farris' Bridge; thence to the works of Savannah itself, via Birdsville, Millen, Springfield, and also by way of Jackson- boro, Waynesboro, and the Augusta and Savannah railroad, capturing two of the enemy's gunboats on the Savannah river, destroying, as it marched, every railroad as it came across or along its path (in all, over one hundred and nineteen miles), burning all the cotton (about fourteen thousand bales), all the bridges, and all the hay, grain and fodder that were not consumed or carried with it, and taking from the country subsistence enough for an army twice its size. I have here a statement, made up at the time, of subsistence taken on the Carolina campaign, by a single brigade of this army, which may be interesting to you, and perhaps may refresh your memory as to the contents of our larder at that time. It is as follows, estimated in pounds : 21,200 flour, 40,3SS corn meal, 52,426 salt meat, 15.900 bacon, 1,750 ham, 2.325 lard, 300 dried fruit, 1,10S sugar, 155 tobacco, 4,720 beans, 1,225 salt, 317,960 corn, 4 barrels of sorghum, 2,540 head of fowl, 531 head of cattle, 260 horses and mules, 2,409 bales of cotton destroyed, and 3 tons of fodder. I tell our friends at home that when they consider that this was but the col- lection of one brigade out of thirty-five other brigades in the whole army, they then can form some estimate of what was taken from the country on those two marches, as well as some estimate of what was left.
The left wing reached the defences of the city of Savannah on the Ioth of December, where, with the Twentieth Corps resting its left upon the Savannah river, and the Fourteenth Corps on its right, it commenced its part of the investment of that city, and it is believed that during this march this
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army collected its share of subsistence (though it had not the experience in this line of the right wing), that it did its share of railroad and cotton destruction, its assigned part of march- ing and skirmishing, and at the end was ready for its part of the capture of Savannah. The Second Division of the Twen- tieth Corps occupied and guarded the captured city, and in regard to that occupation, and also in regard to the effect of this march upon the morale of the armies, General Sherman speaks as follows: "The behavior of our troops in Savannah has been so manly, so quiet, so perfect, that I take it as the best evidence of discipline and true courage. Never was a hostile city, filled with women and children, occupied by a large army with less disorder, or more system, order and good government." And 'twas here in Savannah that we learned of that victory, one of the most thorough and complete of the war, of which this day is the fourth anniversary- the great battle of Nashville-won by that indomitable soldier, who never yet lost a battle-that perfect master of his profes- sion-George H. Thomas, together with the brave Armies of the Cumberland and Ohio. And we of the Army of Georgia were glad to see that the organization from which we had been taken-the Army of the Cumberland-was able to meet and cope with the great responsibilities devolved upon it, and add new lustre to its name. On the 15th and 16th of January, 1865, the left wing pushed over Jackson and Ward, to the South Carolina shores, opposite Savannah, and afterwards, at Sister's Ferry, crossed the remainder of its army, and commenced its part of the campaign of the Car- olinas, moving to Pureysburg, Robertsville, Lawtonville and Allandale-and by Beaufort's bridge to Graham's Station, on the South Carolina railroad, which it destroyed as far as Johnston's Station ; thence across the North and South Edisto ; thence to the Santee river, opposite Columbia; from here
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northward, crossing the Saluda at Mount Zion's Church, and the Broad river, at Wateree Creek, to Winsboro, which it reached on the 20th of February, and here destroying the Charlotte and South Carolina railroad to Cornwall. We moved over the Catawba river at Rocky Mountain Ferry, and after a tedious march by way of Chesterfield, reached Sneeds- boro ; thence crossing the Great Pedee, this army moved to Fayetteville by way of Love's and McFarland's bridges, over the Lumber river. This Lumber river, as I remember it, was a stream, seeming, at the time, the widest and most vexatious we had ever crossed. Owing to heavy rains, it was impossible to tell where it began. and before we had reached the other shore we had about made up our minds that we had struck it length-wise instead of cross-wise -but, finally, the rains abated and the waters subsided, and landing at last on the other side of this Jordan, we reached Fay- etteville, March nth. On the 13th we crossed Cape Fear river, and on the 16th met the enemy in the battle of Ave- rasboro, in which action the Twentieth Corps was particularly engaged. It is, perhaps, sufficient to say of this fight that we did not turn from our course, and that the enemy did. . Our loss was twelve officers and sixty-five men killed, and four hundred and seventy-seven wounded - none missing ; while one hundred and twenty-eight of the enemy's dead were buried by us; and one hundred and seventy-five prisoners, three pieces of artillery, one caisson, and several ambulances were captured. And now, crossing South river, on the Goldsboro road, the whole of the enemy's force, once more under their ablest General, Joe Johnston, was encountered by the left wing, three days later, in the battle of Bentonville, in which the hardest fighting fell upon the Fourteenth Corps, the loss being nine officers and one hundred and forty-five men killed ; fifty-one officers and eight hundred and sixteen
7
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men wounded ; three officers and two hundred and twenty- three men missing ; rebel dead buried, one hundred and sixty- seven, and three hundred and thirty-eight prisoners captured. It may be said of this engagement, that the enemy, though considerably outnumbering us, was handsomely repulsed and severely punished, and that a well-conceived plan of the enemy to crush the left wing of the army was completely defeated, and when, next day, the Army of the Tennessee, always sure to turn up when it was wanted, swung in upon his left and rear, that the last obstacle between us all and the final sur- render was overcome.
From here, crossing the Neuse at Cox's bridge, this army moved to Goldsboro, where it rested a few days, meeting its old friends of the Army of the Ohio-with its well-earned laurels of the battle of Franklin-hearing of the good news of Richmond's fall, and then moving to Smithfield to learn of of the still better tidings of Lee's surrender, and the complete success of all military operations under General Grant; and thence to Raleigh, where came, on the 26th of April, that surrender of our enemy, which had been so fairly won, and the end of the war, which was so justly due. Starting on the Ist of May, the Army of Georgia marched up, by way of Richmond, to Washington, for the grand review, and then it disappeared to appear no more again, except in its appro- priate place in history ; living no more, save as it lives in the hearts and memories of those of whom it was composed ; who will, while life shall last, hold dear its associations, and ever cling fondly to its name, and fame, and record. And if, during this period, from Atlanta to Savannah, Raleigh, and Wash- ington, the two corps of this army achieved any thing that was glorious or victorious ; if they performed any deeds which they now remember with gladness, and with pride; if they added to their fame or record; if they did their full measure
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