USA > Illinois > Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers > Part 16
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take it, if it was possible. The advance moved on. Silently the Regiment followed. Soon there was a volley, then a shout; the two companies dashed gallantly forward. The enemy were not prepared for so sudden and brave an attack, and, although they had partially destroyed the bridge, it was saved. The flooring had been removed, and preparations for firing the balance made; but the fire was extinguished. The Regiment soon came up. Plunging into Flint River, it crossed. A detail to repair the bridge set to work. Company B, a gallant company, under com- mand of as gallant an officer as ever mounted, Captain Horace J. Smith, was sent toward Lovejoy's Station, on a road to the left, and the balance of the Regiment moved forward on the direct road, and, after marching about two miles, the Regiment halted to feed animals; but the men had scarcely dismounted, when word came that Captain Smith had struck the enemy in heavy force; in fact, he had run into the camps of the Rebel cavalry guarding that flank of the Rebel army ; he was hotly pushed back. the enemy being in overwhelming force; and the Ninety-Second must rapidly return, to be able to keep from being cut off from Glass's Bridge. " Boot and saddle" was sounded from Regiment head-quarters; the Ninety-Second men vaulted into their saddles. and it was a dead race to get back to Glass's Bridge and cross before the enemy held the road. Company B fought like Tro- jans: they apparently appreciated the stake they were fighting for : and falling back, inch by inch, from barricade to barricade, they held the overwhelming forces opposing them. The bridge had been repaired, and Companies A and E, as soon as over the bridge. were dismounted, and sent on the road towards Lovejoy's, to relieve Company B, that had so gallantly held the road for the Regiment to make good its escape by recrossing Flint River. As soon as across the Flint, the Regiment dismounted, and sent its horse- to the rear. Company B, under the command of Cap- tain Smith, passed through Companies A and E, and dismounted. and, sending their horses to the rear, joined the line of battle of the Regiment. The bridge was at an elbow in Flint River. The Regiment threw up a barricade, or breastwork, of rails, old logs, anything to stop a rifle-ball: and the Regiment, in elbow shape, laid down behind their temporary breastwork, in line of battle. The enemy came up in strong force, and attempted to dislodge the Regiment with musketry; they brought up their artillery. Two Yankee batteries fired over the Regiment, and the shell. from Yankee and Rebel artillery, screaming over them, made the
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men hug the ground. The Rebel artillery was silenced. An attempt by the Rebels was made to cross the river, on the left of the Ninety-Second, but it was repulsed. Five horses were killed by the Rebel artillery. After dark, leaving a company on duty at the bridge, the Regiment moved back beyond the hill, and bivouaced for the night. Lieutenant Frost, of Company A, a faithful and brave officer, was wounded. The next day, the Di- vision lay still, listening to the infantry firing, which was con- tinuous and heavy. At ten P. M., the Division marched, the Ninety-Second covering the rear. It crossed the bridge, and silently moved along the sandy road, skirting the left of the Rebel infantry, and joined the blue-coats on the right of Sherman's army. After the command had crossed, the Ninety-Second destroyed the bridge, and followed the command. It was a dan- gerous march. Had the Rebel infantry discovered the movement, it could not have been made. It was so quietly accomplished, in the middle of the night, that it was not discovered, and the whole Cavalry Division was placed on the east side of Flint River, and safely in rear of Sherman's right. The next day, the Regiment lay all day saddled up, and expecting orders, but none came. The rain poured down. On the night of September first, the enemy abandoned Atlanta, and, on the morning of the second, General Slocum, commanding the Twentieth corps, entered that city. On the fifth, General Sherman directed his army to cease the pursuit of the Confederate army, and return to Atlanta, to recuperate and rest, after its incessant campaign of four months. The object of the summer's campaign had been attained. At night, fires were kindled as usual; but as soon as darkness had settled down, the infantry silently withdrew, and took the road to Atlanta, the cavalry remaining some hours afterward, when it also withdrew, the Ninety-Second bringing up the rear. The ' night was pitchy dark. After marching a few miles, it was found that about half the Regiment had become separated from the advance, and was marching alone, on a road leading to Flint River. It was overtaken, came to an about face, pushed back to the cross-roads, where it had taken the wrong direction. The enemy had now discovered the movement, and his skirmishers had just reached the road. A few volleys held him until the Ninety-Second passed, and joined the advance. About three .A. M., of September sixth, the Regiment crossed Flint River, two miles west of Jonesboro, where it bivouaced, guarding the bridge all dav. The Rebel infantry showed themselves in light force, but
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made no attempt to take the bridge. On the morning of the seventh, a few shells were tossed towards Jonesboro, occupied by the Rebels. The bridge across Flint River was destroyed, and the Division marched to a point, on the Montgomery and West Point Railroad, south-west ot Atlanta, the enemy following, lightly skirmishing, with the Ninety-Second holding the rear. Camped at night, with no rations for the men, and no forage for the animals. Marched, early on the eighth, to Mt. Gilead Church, ten miles south-west of Atlanta, and camped. One day's rations were issued. A soldier, in his diary, writes: " We were all very hungry ; some of us have not had a mouthful of food for the last three days." The next day, the ninth of September, three days' rations were issued; the Regimental wagon-train came up; permanent camp was established; the summer's cam - paign was ended, and the army was at rest.
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CHAPTER VI.
NO REST-OFF AGAIN, AFTER HOOD-POWDER SPRINGS- DRAWING THE ENEMY'S FIRE-PICKING OUT A FARM- VAN WERT-WASHING FOR GOLD IN THE GOLD MINES- MARIETTA-GETTING READY FOR THE GREAT MARCH- THE START-BEAR CREEK-PONTOONS DESCRIBED-FEINT. ING ON FORSYTH AND MACON-CREWS'S REBEL BRIGADE SCATTERED-REPULSING THE ENEMY NEAR MACON-SHER. MAN'S BUMMERS-MILLEDGEVILLE-" BLOWED UP"-HOLD- ING THE REAR AGAINST WHEELER AND HAMPTON-RE- PULSING THE REBEL CAVALRY NEAR BUCKHEAD CREEK- RESTING AT LOUISVILLE, GEORGIA-DESTROYING RAIL- ROADS -- THE BATTLE OF WAYNESBORO -- CAPTURING A REBEL MAJOR-A NEGRO BOY'S GRAVE-COVERING THE REAR OF THE 14TH A. C .- OUR FRIENDS CRUELLY LEFT BEHIND-COVERING THE REAR OF THE 17TH A. C .- FALL OF FORT MCALLISTER-MIDWAY CHURCH-DOWN TO THE OCEAN'S EDGE-LOCKRIDGE'S CAPTURE AND ESCAPE-FALL OF SAVANNAH-SHERMAN'S LETTER TO KILPATRICK.
The rest that the cavalry expected to enjoy was immediately broken. Seven men belonging to the Cavalry Division were captured on the tenth of September, IS64, by the enemy, who commenced feeling our lines. Foraging parties were compelled to go several miles for corn for the animals, and to fight for it when found. A few wagon loads of corn sometimes cost the lives of many men. On Sunday, the eleventh, the bodies of the seven Union soldiers were found, lying together, shot by the Rebels, after they had surrendered! Their bodies were brought to camp and buried. On the thirteenth, a foraging party, with eighty wagons and four hundred men, went ten miles south-west after corn, skirmishing all the way out and back. On the four- teenth, the Ninety-Second once more turned out for dress-parade. On the sixteenth, there was light picket firing; at night, the Smith D. Atkins Lodge of Free Masons met in an unoccupied house,
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and worked on the first, second and third degrees. On the nine- teenth, the Rebels showed themselves in considerable force on the Montgomery and West Point Railroad, near Fairburn's Station, and also on the Chattahoochee, below Sandtown and Campbell- town. On the fourteenth, there was a Brigade Review and In. spection on horseback : at twelve o'clock P. M., the pickets were , smartly attacked, and the bugles blew " boot and saddle," but the enemy did not push the attack. At one P. M., on the twenty- first, the Regiment was ordered to send wagon trains, sick men, and debris to Marietta, and march light, at three P. M .; but the enemy were farther and farther off, apparently moving around our right flank on Rome. On the twenty-third, a soldier writes in his diary: " Nothing stirring in camp to-day until evening, when we gathered around Colonel Atkins's quarters and called for a speech. He responded, and the best of feeling prevailed, and loud cheers the result. His speech was divided into two parts-the re- lation and standing of the Ninety-Second Regiment, and politics generally. The latter, as well as the former, was handled in a patriotic manner." On the twenty-sixth, there was Brigade In- spection and Review. The two ways of drilling, cavalry on horseback, and infantry on foot, was bothersome. and Colonel Atkins decided to drill the same on horseback and on foot, and this evening, for the first time, dress-parade was held in a single line. The boys did all they could to make the time pass cheer- fully; one writes in his diary : " It has been cheerful in Company B to-night. Frank Crowell is a natural clown, and his presence is always welcome. He soon makes everything merry in a com. pany." On the twenty-seventh, there was Regimental drill on horseback ; the pickets were driven in, and one man in Company A was captured. The twenty-eighth was spent in horse-racing, at Division head-quarters. On the twenty-ninth, the Colonel was detailed as President of a Court Martial, at Division head-quar- ters, and Major Woodcock commanded the Regiment. On the thirtieth, a soldier writes in his diary : " A beautiful day-but no mail. The Rebels are superintending the railroad north of At. lanta, and it begins to looks as if we must soon pull out after the gray-coats again." At one o'clock, in the morning of October first, 1864, the tents were struck, the sick and baggage moved to Mari- etta, and at three A. M., the Regiment moved out, under cominand of Captain Lyman Preston, Major Woodcock being ill, and Colo. nel Atkins in command of the Brigade. The Division crossed the Chattahoochee, on pontoons, at Sandtown, and marched thirty
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miles north-west, to Sweetwater. Charles T. Freeguard, of Com - pany G, was transferred to Regimental Adjutant, vice Lawver, re- signed, and Harry G. Fowler, First Sergeant Company G, was promoted to First Lieutenant.
The next day, the command struck the trail of Hood's army. moving northward. It was evident that he was moving in force, and had protected his armny the night previous, by heavy lines of rifle pits. At noon, the Second Brigade, commanded by Colonel Atkins, struck the enemy at a small creek; and the Ninety- Second, dismounting, crossed the creek on fallen trees, and drove a regiment of Rebel cavalry out of its camp, and captured one Rebel infantryman, a straggler, but furnishing positive proof that the Rebel infantry was on the march northward. At noon, a ford over a creek was found heavily guarded, and the stream swollen. A bridge was constructed, by felling trees in the stream from both banks, lodging the tops on an old fish rack in the middle of the stream, and staking them fast, and piling on rails for a floor. ing. The Third Kentucky and Third Indiana crossed with horses, and the Ninety-Second crossed dismounted. When the hill beyond the stream was reached, a heavy volley greeted the Third Kentucky, which was ordered to charge, and it did it splendidly, driving the Rebels about two miles, where they were found behind strong barricades. The Ninety-Second was held in reserve. The Third Kentucky and Third Indiana were dis- mounted, and the enemy driven from the barricades. Several dead infantrymen were found. Two of the Rebel infantry were captured. Finding the enemy in force, that portion of the Bri- gade which had crossed the stream recrossed, the movement being covered by the Ninety-Second, and the enemy following in strong force. The bridge became insecure, and the skirmishers of the Ninety-Second barely crossed it before it gave way, and the rails floated off down the stream. The Division marched three miles towards Marietta, and bivouaced. Moved at daylight, Atkins' Brigade leading, and the Ninety-Second in the advance, and ran into the enemy at Knowles' Creek, a branch of the Sweetwater; drove them, and pushed on to Powder River, near . the village of Powder Springs. The bridge was gone, and the Rebels opposite were stubborn. The Ninety-Second men, with their Spencer Rifles, deployed along the river, and moved to its edge. giving the enemy as good as he sent; and it was not long until the men of the Ninety-Second had crossed above and below the bridge, and drove the gray.coats away. A bridge was hastily con-
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- structed, and the Ninety-Second, with two cavalry regiments and two pieces of rifled artillery, were crossed. The enemy was pushed from the brow of the hill beyond the stream, when the terrific rain, that fell in sheets, absolutely put a stop to fighting. Beyond an open field, in plain sight, in the edge of a timber belt, was the Rebel line; but both parties quietly waited for a slack in the torrent of rain. The Ninety-Second, dismounted, was or- dered to wait until two shots from the artillery were fired, then charge across the field. Colonel Atkins put the artillery into position near a house, and again tried his hand at sighting the guns. The Lieutenant of artillery told him that the shot would hit the ground in front of the enemy, and the Colonel replied : " That is just what I wish to do." Around this house, a squad of Rebels had been stationed, firing at our men on the other side of the stream, and Kilpatrick ordered Lieutenant Stetson to let off his guns at the house. Stetson had done so, and his shell went through and through it. The enemy retreated. When Stetson came up to the house with his guns, he went in, and there sat a woman, wounded in the head with a splinter, and in her lap her little child, wounded in the head, also with a piece of a shell; the poor woman was so frightened that she was speechless. The brave Lieutenant was unnerved, and declared that never again should a shell from his section be aimed at a house, unless he first knew that there were no women or children in the house.
After a while, the rain slackened-the guns flashed, and the Ninety-Second sprang forward to the charge; the enemy fled. By the barricade lay several of the enemy, badly wounded by the artillery, the shots having struck the ground, richocheted, and crashed through the rails of which the barricade was constructed. spreading death in their path. On the Regiment pushed, the enemy falling back, but keeping up a continuous fire. The Rebel artillery sent its shell screaming down the road. The cavalry regiments were ordered up. Close up to the town the Ninety- Second pushed, when word came back that they were close onto long lines of earthworks, filled with gray-coats. The Colonel or. . dered the Regiment to halt, and himself dismounted, and advanced to the skirmish line, where he could see the Rebel line of earth. works around the town, stretching far off on both flanks. Private Edward S. Rowe, of Company K, being on the skirmish line, dashed forward, calling out, " Come on, Ninety-Second boys, we can whip them." But the brave fellow was killed a few rods in front of the enemy's line. The Regiment was ordered to main.
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tain a strong line, and steadily fall back. The troops slowly re- tired to the crossing over Powder River, but the flood had carried the bridge away. A dozen pieces of Rebel artillery were drop- ping their shell where the bridge had been. The Ninety-Second, holding the rear, was skirmishing heavily with the enemy. The little command could not cross, and it could not whip all of Hood's army, and it could not long remain near that bridge, for the enemy had practiced on it before, and knew the range, and were dropping their shell in the midst of the command at every fire. Above the noise of the bursting shell, the screeching voice of Kilpatrick, on a hill on the other side of the stream, was heard, as he shouted : " Atkins, oh Atkins! put your guns on the hill beyond your right flank, and draw their fire." It was a shrewd Yankee trick, and proved successful. Stetson was ordered to take up position on a hill beyond the right flank of the command, and throw shell at the enemy as fast as he could work his guns. He did so; and soon the enemy, as Kilpatrick expected and hoped they would, turned their guns upon Stetson, and there the brave fellow kept up his fire, drawing the enemy's fire, while the bridge was rebuilt, and the command recrossed Powder River. We had demon- strated in such strong force-the Ninety-Second, on foot, which the enemy undoubtedly took for a portion of Sherman's infantry, two regiments of cavalry, and a section of artillery-that it is likely that the enemy had no thought that we were recrossing Powder River, but presumed we were still deploying our troops to attack them ; Stetson moving out beyond our right flank, and keeping up his artillery fire, was an evidence of it to them. It was fortunate for us, for had the enemy moved out in force from Pow. der Springs before the bridge was rebuilt, they must have crushed all on that side of the streamn. Eight men in the Ninety-Second were killed, and many wounded. Among the killed in the Nine- ty-Second were: William F. Campbell, Company B; George Austin, Company D, Thomas J. Aurand, Company F; James P. Bloss and Edward S. Rowe, of Company K. A large house was occupied for a Brigade hospital, and a detail made to bury the dead. As was the custom, the Doctor examined the dead before burial, and found that private Haggart, of Company G, who had been shot in the head by a musket ball, that went in on one side of his head and out on the other, was still alive. There was no room for him in the hospital, and he was taken into the Colonel's head-quarters, in one of the negro cabins, and a handkerchief drawn through the wound, under the skull. His limbs were
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rubbed, and, shortly, he opened his eyes. Brandy was adminis- tered, and in an hour he talked. Within a month he was again on duty with his company. But the wound cost him his life long after the close of the war. His brain became inactive, and he gradually sank into the grave. Marched at nine A. M., the Nine- ty-Second in rear of the Division, on the Marietta Road; when within a mile of Marietta, the command turned west, and marched beyond Stone Mountain and toward Altoona Pass; at three P. M., countermarched, and camped south of Marietta. Marched early, eight or ten miles to a cross-road, west of Kenesaw Mountain, and found Ross's brigade of Confederate cavalry had just passed; the command scouted the roads in all directions. Marched toward Powder Springs, and bivouaced, the enemy near us. Lay in camp on the sixth of October. Marched at daylight, next day, and found the Rebel rear guard at Powder Springs vil- lage; skirmished all day, and bivouaced twenty-two miles south- west of Marietta. Marched at midnight, toward Lost Mountain, eighteen miles. October ninth, drew three days' rations, turned out weak animals, and sent them, with all dismounted men, back to the wagon trains. On the tenth, marched at daylight, for Van Wert, and ten miles out ran into Rebel cavalry, and easily drove them to Van Wert, Atkins's Brigade leading. At the edge of the village of Van Wert, the enemy had taken up a strong position, with a long stretch of open, level country in their front. As the leading regiment debouched from the hills, the enemy opened with artillery. Our battery, stationed on a knoll, replied. The Ninety-Second was dismounted, and placed in line of battle on foot. A regiment of cavalry, mounted, was on the right flank. and another on the left. At a walk, the three regiments in linc. moved out; then the cavalry regiments began to trot, and soon the charge was sounded, and away the regiments of cavalry went. the Ninety-Second moving forward on foot, in line of battle, at quick time. The enemy limbered up his artillery and fled. Ten prisoners were captured, and several of the cavalrymen killed and wounded, but the Ninety-Second lost none.
We learned that the town of Van Wert had been full of Rebel infantry all day, Hood's troops passing through. At dusk, while the Ninety-Second Band was playing, a Rebel band struck up " Dixie," and it sounded as if not half a mile distant. It was in the Rebel infantry camp, west of Van Wert, on the Cedartown Road. From the hill near Van Wert, the camp-fires of the enemy, stretching miles away, could be seer .. Our troops set up
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a cheer, and it was promptly answered in the Rebel camps. During the night, the enemy were feeling our pickets, on all the roads, and it was rumored that we were surrounded, and an attack was expected at daylight. At three A. M., of the eleventh, the whole Division was in line behind barricades, but no attack was made on us. About noon, Companies A, E, and I, dis- mounted, charged the Rebel picket, about a mile west of Van Wert, at Raccoon Creek, and drove them easily, and mounted men followed them several miles, on the Cedartown Road. Marched at eleven A. M., on the twelfth, on the road toward Rome. There was some skirmishing by the Division, but the Ninety-Second was not engaged, being in the advance, and the skirmishing taking place in rear and on the left of the columnn. It is more disagreeable to march and hear occasional skirmishing, and not be near enough to see and know what is going on, than to be right under the enemy's fire. Marched twelve miles. Company A, on picket, was ordered to send a squad of men around the Rebel picket post, and two miles in its rear, to the house of an old man whom General Kilpatrick wished to talk with, to obtain information of the enemy's movements. The boys of Company A moved around the Rebel picket, and on to the house; found, the old man at home, and brought him around the Rebel picket, and took him to Kilpatrick's head-quarters. Marched at daylight, on the thirteenth, toward Rome. Soon struck the Rebel picket; and the Eighth Indiana, under command of Colonel Jones, a dashing officer, and he had a dashing regi- ment, charged them, and drove them handsomely, capturing several prisoners, and many carbines that the enemy had thrown away in their flight. Halted two miles south of Rome, Georgia, on Silver Creek, and fed; had horses inspected, and weak ones sent to Rome; when the Ninety-Second returned to the Alabama Road, and followed the enemy, over the range of hills, to the Cave Spring Road, where Sherman's infantry was found in con- siderable force, when the Ninety-Second returned to Silver Creek, and camped. Forage in abundance. The country imme- diately south of Rome is very beautiful. A large mansion stood by the road-side, near the creek; and a Yankee wag, who man. aged to get into conversation with the Southern ladies living there, complimented the country highly, and especially that par- ticular farm; inquired how many acres there were in it, and had them point out the corners, and where the lines ran around the farm ; then the Yankee sedately drove a stake into the ground.
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Of course, the ladies inquired what he was doing that for, when the Yankee said: "Every Yankee soldier is to have a farm in the South after the war is over, and can pick it out himself; and I have concluded to take this one for mine, and am driving iny stake as the evidence of my having decided to take it." The lively manner in which those ladies went for that sedate Yankee with their sharp tongues, was amusing, and was just what the Yankee enjoyed hearing. The boys would stir up the female Rebels, just to hear them talk, like the boys at the menagerie stir up the lions to hear them roar. Marched early on the fourteenth, turning our faces back toward Atlanta. We did not know what it meant to let Hood go marching north, and ourselves turn around and march away from him ; but we had confidence that Sherman knew what it meant, and we cheerfully obeyed orders. The Regi- ment passed for miles through the finest pine timber seen in the South, and camped on the Euharlie Creek, a clear, sparkling, swift, rocky-bottom stream, where the Regiment lay in camp the next day, sending scouting parties to Van Wert and Villa Rica.
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