USA > Indiana > Memorabilia of the marches and battles in which the One Hundredth Regiment of Indiana Infantry Volunteers took an active part : War of the Rebellion, 1861-5 > Part 7
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On the 5th we got up at I A. M. and marched back to Jonesboro and encamped on the spot, where we fought on the 31st. We arrived there in the mud at I o'clock A. M., having marched only six miles and a half in 24 hours and went into camp tired, wet and hungry.
On the 6th we took a stroll over the battle- field of the 3Ist of August at Jonesboro. One house in the town contained 250 Confederate wounded. The effects of our shot, shell and minnie balls were to be seen everywhere. On the 8th we reached East Point, and went into camp, where we remained, drawing some supplies and going through the routine of camp life for two or three weeks.
In Camp at East Point.
On the same day we arrived from Love. joy and went into camp at East Point, General Hood sent in a flag of truce to General Sherman's headquarters, to arrange for an exchange of pris- oners, to which the latter acceded, with a specific understanding that Major R. M. Johnson of the Tooth Indiana was to be brought from Charles- ton, South Carolina, where he was confined in a position which was exposed to the fire of our own batteries.
On the 19th, Col. Heath left for the North
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and the command of the Regiment devolved upon Captain Headington, of Company "H," who performed that duty with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the officers and soldiers of the Regiment.
September 2Ist our scouts reported great activity in Hood's army. On the 22d the truce for the exchange of prisoners expired and the de- tails from the 100th to attend the exchange re- turned to camp.
September 24th scouts reported that Jeffer- son Davis was at Macon, Georgia, on his way to pay a visit to Hood's Army.
September 25th Jefferson Davis, accom- panied by two of his aides-de-camp, arrived at General Hood's headquarters about 3 P. M. He made a speech to Hardee's soldiers, in which he detailed the plans of General Hood. Our scouts were present and heard the speech. They then stole through the Rebel lines and on the morning of the 26th were at General Sherman's head- quarters and gave him the details of the speech. Davis was enthusiastically received by the Con- federate soldiers. At 8 P. M. on the 26th, he made a short speech. He told the Kentucky and Tennessee troops in Hood's Army that they were going to march around Sherman's Army, and that they would soon be at their old homes in Tennessee and Kentucky.
September 27th, at 6 P. M., Davis and his attendants left Hood's camp for Montgomery, Alabama. On the 29th, Hood moved his head- quarters from Palmetto to Pray's Church, and his Army crossed the Chattahoochee, moving to the northwest. (Vol. 77, page 803.)
On the 29th, Major R. M. Johnson, having
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Major R. M. Johnson, After his exchange as a prisoner. (From an old war times picture.)
been exchanged by request of General Sherman, returned to the Regiment and assumed com- mand, he having been under fire at Charleston, South Carolina, with other Union officers, who were placed in a certain position in that city, which was made known to the Union forces, so as to prevent them from throwing shot or shell into that part of the city. The Major related some terrible experiences which he had had while he was a prisoner in the hands of the
enemy. His return was the occasion of a demon- stration by the officers and men of the command, for we all liked Major Johnson. Under Confed- erate prison life and rations, his flesh had rapidly disappeared. He looked as if he had suffered greatly while in Rebel prisons, but reduced as he was in flesh, he was as haughty, brave and proud in spirit as before his capture.
Retrospective View of the 120 Days' Fighting.
Let us now review the ground we have passed over so hastily, for the purpose of obtain- ing a more comprehensive notion of the vastness of the work we had performed from the '5th of May until the 5th of September, 1864. At the latter date we had driven the Rebel Army out of its innumerable fortifications in Northern Geor- gia, and more than a hundred miles over and across a mountainous and hilly country, through gorges, gaps and passes in the mountains, deemed by the enemy to be impassable for any army, and over and across several large rivers and into the fastnesses beyond, assaulting their
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many almost impregnable positions at every op- portunity. We had just taken Atlanta and had pressed the retreating army forty miles beyond that place.
Several sanguinary battles had been fought, in nearly all of which we were victorious, al- though our enemy occupied his earthworks in chosen strongholds. Prior to and at Resaca he fought us from the mountain tops; such as Rocky Face, Buzzard Roost, Tunnel Hill and Taylor's Ridge, and from such fortified places as Ships, Dug and Snake Gaps and other fastnesses. Yet his losses were as great as ours. At Resaca his losses were 2, Soo and ours 2,600. On the 20th of July, at Peach Tree Creek, our loss was 1, 710 killed, wounded and missing, while that of the enemy was 4, 796. On the 22d of July General Hood, who had succeeded General Johnston, on the 17th made a sortie upon the Union army of the Tennessee, in which the total Union loss was 3,641, of which 1,000 were prisoners, making the total killed and wounded 2, 641. The total loss of the enemy was 8, 499, of which 3,220 were killed on the field. On the 28th of July General Hood made another sortie on the Army of the Tennessee at Ezra church, on the Union right, in which the total Union loss was 50 killed, 439 wounded and 73 missing, total 562; while the enemy's loss was "6,000 or 7,000"' (Logan's Official Report, Serial 74, p. 105 ); or as taken from the enemy's own reports, their loss was 4,642. Thus in the three engagements of July 20th, 22d and 28th the total Union loss was 5,913, while the total loss of the enemy in the same engagements was 19,295, a difference of 13, 382, or more than three to one in favor of the
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Union soldiers, where the battles were fought, mainly without works, or very temporary works, as was the case with those three battles around Atlanta. In nearly all the others the enemy oc-
cupied the mountains, hills and gaps. The loss of the enemy cannot be known accurately, as in many cases official reports of their casualties were designedly never made. The following estimates are from the most reliable sources ob- tainable. From May 5th to May 9th the enemy lost 600 men, from May 9th to May 16th we have no complete official report but he lost at and about Resaca 2,Soo killed, wounded and missing. At and about Dallas, Georgia, he lost 3,000 killed, wounded and missing, from
May 25th to June 4th. From June 9th to June 30th, about Kenesaw, Pine Mountain, Pine Knob, Golgotha, McAfee's Cross Roads, Lattimore's Mills, Culp's House, Powder Springs, and the en- gagements at and about Kenesaw, 4,600 killed, wounded and missing, and from July 6th to July roth he lost 600 at Vinings and the Chattahoo- chee River, and at Jonesboro he lost 2, 000 killed, wounded and missing. These losses make a to-
tal of 30,937. But these do not include many small engagements, nor do they include the enemy's loss from the 28th of July to the 26th of August, during the siege of Atlanta, which if es- timated inside of all reason was at least 5,000. During the month which the siege lasted the artillery and musketry firing was incessant, mak- ing the total loss within all reason 40,000, from Dalton to Lovejoy. During this time our cav- alry had several engagements, where the losses were heavy. These estimates are from Sher- man's and Logan's official reports and "Johns-
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ton's Narrative" and Hood's "Advance and Retreat.'' This loss of 40,000 deducted from the 86,000 which the Confederates had at Kene- saw, less their losses, would leave Hood about 45,000 after the evacuation of Atlanta, which is just about what he actually had. The losses in the Rebel army for August and to September 5th
were 7,443 killed, wounded and missing. The Union loss during the same time was 5, 139, and the total Union loss from Dalton to Lovejoy was 27, 245 killed and wounded and 4,442 missing, total 31,687, being a difference of 8,313 in favor of the Union army. The Rebels took 4,442 prisoners, while the Union army took 12,983. Their names, rank and Regiments are on the official rolls ( Sherman Memoirs, p. 132), so that the army under Sherman, during the 120 days fighting had destroyed several arsenals and de- pots, had taken one-half of the state of Georgia, 100 miles of the enemy's country, had consumed all that could be found in that territory, and had destroyed one-half of the whole Rebel army in its front, and was yet strong, defiant and eager for a battle. Courageous, well disciplined, proud of its achievements, flushed with victory and com- manded by generals who, like the men in the ranks, were patriots and acted together harmo- niously and for the good of their country; so that upon the whole the net results of the summer's fighting was greatly in favor of the Union army from every point of view.
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The tooth Indiana in the Pursuit of Hood's Army- 1864.
As soon as the Union Army had withdrawn from Lovejoy to the vicinity of Atlanta, General Hood began to recruit and increase his army from every available source. His encampment was at and about Lovejoy, Newman and Pal- metto, only a few miles southwest of ours. He began to move his forces to his left gradually be- fore Jefferson Davis visited his camp. After that event, however, increased activity was no- ticeable in his camp, and he moved to the west of Atlanta, so that by the Ist of October his army had all crossed the Chattahoochee River, about twenty miles southwest of that place, and his headquarters were at Dark Corners, about ten miles northwest of East Point. He had evi- dently begun the march around our left and to the north, as detailed by Jefferson Davis. There was no other proper course open to General Sher- man than to follow him. We had spies in his camp every day, and our General knew every movement that he made. The 4th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 20th and 23d Corps of the Union Army lay quietly in camp. Girard's cavalry was at Deca- tur, six miles east of Atlanta, and Kilpatrick's near Sandtown, eight miles west. October 2d the 4th Corps was ordered to prepare to march. The Rebel Army was at Powder Springs. Oc- tober 3d, the 17th Corps was ordered to march to Smyrna Church on the 4th, and the 4th Corps was ordered to be in line at that place on that date. Stewart's Rebel Corps arrived at Big Shanty, and tore up and destroyed several miles of railroad, working all night for that purpose.
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(See also Serial 39 p. 783.) On the 4th the 15th Corps received marching orders, and on the morning of the 5th broke camp early and marched northward from East Point. We left Atlanta to our right crossed the Chattahoochee at Vinings, then marched in deep mud until 10 P. M., and went into line five miles southwest of Marietta. We made twenty-five miles.
While Stewart's Corps was yet at Big Shanty destroying the railroad, an order from General Hood was received by him, directing that French's Division of his Corps should "Move up the railroad and fill up the deep cut at Allatoona with brush, rails, dirt, etc." In obe- dience to this order, French moved his Division from Big Shanty at 3:30 P. M., and arrived at Acworth, six miles distant, before sunset, having with him Major Myrith and twelve (12) pieces of artillery. There he was detained until II P. M. waiting for rations. As soon as these were drawn, the march was resumed. Citizens re- ported to French that there were about three and one-half Regiments in the garrison and about 100 men at the bridge. French arrived before Alla- toona at 3:30 A. M. on the 5th. ( Serial 77, page 14.)
The Battle of Allatoona.
Allatoona is about 18 miles northwest of Kenesaw and about 8 miles south of the Etowah river, and is the place where the railroad passes through the Allatoona range of hills. The rail- road cut is nearly 100 feet deep, and on each side of this cut the Union Army had erected a re- doubt. This is the cut which General French
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was ordered, by General Hood, to fill up with brush, dirt and rails. The place was garrisoned by Soo men. General Corse, in obedience to the orders of General Sherman, arrived at Allatoona at I A. M. on the morning of the 5th, with a total of 1, 054 re-enforcements, making with the garri- son, 1, 944 men. Soon after the re-enforcements were unloaded, the enemy fired on our picket line (3 A. M). The 18th Wisconsin was sent out to re-enforce the picket line, and just before break of day the enemy were pressing so hard on the pickets that a battalion of the 7th Illinois was sent out as an additional support.
As soon as it was light enough to see, Gen- eral Corse withdrew the men from the outer lines to the inner line of works on the summit of the hills on either side of the cut. At 6 A. M. the cannonading and musketry was brisk. At 8 1. M. a flag of truce came in, on the Cartersville road, bearing a summons from General French to surrender in these words:
"Commanding Officer U. S. Forces, "Allatoona.
"Sir: I have placed the forces under my command in such a position that you are sur- rounded, and to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I call on you to surrender your forces at once and unconditionally. Five minutes will be allowed you to decide. Should you accede to this, you will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisoners of war. I have the honor to be,
"Very respectfully yours, "S. G. French.
"Major General Commanding C. S. Forces."
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To this demand for a surrender, General Corse answered as follows:
"Major General S. G. French,
"C. S. Army, etc.
"Your communication demanding surrender of my command I acknowledge receipt of, and would respectfully reply, that we are prepared for the 'needless effusion of blood' whenever it is agreeable to you.
"I am very respectfully "Your Obedient Servant,
"Jno. M. Corse,
"Brigadier General Commanding U. S. Forces."
The men in the fort were notified by Gen- eral Corse to prepare for a hard fight. In a very short time Young's Brigade of 900 Texans made a furious assault on the 39th lowa and 7th Illi- nois. They moved along with great rapidity until they struck Rowitt's Brigade, and while the fighting was going on at that point, Sear's Rebel Brigade came in line of battle from the north and swept the Union line back until the 39th Iowa was flanked, but this also brought the enemy's flank within range of Tourtelotte's line, from which they suffered severely. The two Brigades of the enemy rallied and the fighting became sanguinary, and had it not been for the desperate resistance of the 39th Iowa, the battle might have been lost. The enemy recoiled, and what was left of the 7th and 93d Illinois and the 39th Iowa, fell back into the fort. These three Regiment's had fought Young's and a portion of Sears' and Cockrell's Brigades for two hours and a half. Col. Redfield of the 39th Iowa was
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killed-shot four times. The 12th Wisconsin battery did heroic work. The enemy kept closing in on the fort. General Corse was wounded at I P. M. At 2 P. M. the enemy massed behind a hill 150 yards northwest of the fort, but they were unable to do so successfully under the withering fire of the Union lines. Charge after charge was made by the Confeder- ates, and the battle raged incessantly until about 4 P. M., when the enemy withdrew, leaving his dead and wounded on the field. Our loss during this engagement was as follows:
ENG. KLD. WD. MSG. TOT
7th Ill., 9 Co's .. . 267
35
67
39 141
12th Ills. Detached.
155
9
49 63
. . 58
50th Ills., 8 Co's.
267 15
. . 78
57th Ills. Co's "A" "B"
61
8
I 13
93rd Ills. Infantry 290
2 I
52
IO
83
39th Iowa, S Co's
280
40
52
78 170
4th Minnesota,
450
II
33
44
18th Wisconsin.
150
2
1 2
84 98
12th Wisconsin Bat.
24
5
16
. .
21
Totals.
1944 142 352 212 706
Of the 706 casualties, 212 were missing; those were mainly on picket and were taken prisoners at the Block House. This fixes our loss in killed and wounded at 494. ( Official re- port General Corse, Serial 77, p. 766.)
The Confederate loss at Allatoona, will never be truly known, as their official reports are so notoriously unreliable that no credence can be given to them. In this instance, 231 Rebel dead were buried on the field at the time. We took 411 prisoners, three colors and Soo stand of arms.
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Brigadier-General Young, who was captured, said that their loss was 2,000. The assaulting forces consisted of the 4th, 35th, 36th, 39th, 16th and 7th Regiments of Mississippi (Sear's), the Ist, 4th, 2d, 6th, 3rd, 5th Missouri In- fantry, and the ist and 2d Missouri Cavalry; the 32d, roth, 14th and 9th Texas Regiments, and the 29th and 39th North Carolina, and 12 pieces of artillery, under Major Myrick. That is, 18 Regiments of Infantry, 2 of Cavalry and 12 cannon. During the week following the battle, the garrison found nearly a hundred dead bodies, in addition to those buried by General Corse. Those were men who had gone away from the line after being fatally wounded, and died. (Ser- ial 77, page 718, et seq. )
For the purpose of creating an Iron Brigade, to be used for assaulting and routing the enemy, and driving him from selected positions quickly, General Sherman caused the rooth Indiana, 97th Indiana, 6th Iowa, 46th Ohio, 26th, 40th and 103d Illinois, to be armed in part with Spencer repeating rifles. (See Sherman's Memoirs 2, p. 187.)
The Tooth Indiana camped in a field adjacent to the Allatoona battle ground. Some bodies were found in the brush by our men, which had not been found by the burying squad. The men of the Tooth slept two hours, had reveille at 4 A. M., crossed the Etowah river and went into camp at 5 P. M. four miles south of Kingston. The men were very tired, having marched 16 miles. Total from East Point, 69 miles.
On the roth the Tooth Indiana marched 15 miles, to within four miles of Rome, a total of S4 miles, and bivouacked for the night.
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On the 11th the Regiment reported early to department headquarters, and in obedience to orders, we were sent on a scouting expedition, directly towards the advance of the Confederate Army, to the north and west, our route was diagonally across the country. We marched 12 miles to Floyd, and halted at dark, prepared our meal without fire, then marched rapidly through a mountainous or hilly country 10 miles to get 2 miles, which, on account of the miserable roads we traveled, took nearly all night, making 25 miles, or a total of 109 miles. At daylight we lay down in a field to rest. We slept one hour, at a point 25 miles from Resaca. We then started on good roads and went into camp at Calhoun at sundown. We were all very tired, having marched 50 miles, with but one hour's sleep, and a total of 129 miles. The first place Ilood's Army struck north of Allatoona was Resaca. The 17th Iowa, Colonel Clark R. Wever, garrisoned the place. General Hood disposed his Army in front of Resaca, intending, perhaps, to assault the place. He demanded the surrender of the post upon such terms as have never been considered in line with civilized war- fare, in these words:
"Headquarters Army of the Tennessee. "In the field, October 12, 1864.
"To the officer commanding United States forces, "Resaca, Georgia.
"Sir: I demand the immediate and uncon- ditional 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
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few days. If the place is carried by assault, no prisoners will be taken.
"J. B. Hood, General."
At the time this unprecedented demand was made, Col. Clark R. Wever was in command of the garrison. Ilis answer to the demand was as follows:
"Headquarters, 2d Brigade, 3d Division, "15th Army Corps, Resaca, Georgia, "October 12, 1864. "To General J. B. Hood:
"Your communication of this day just re- ceived. In reply I have to state that I am some- what surprised at the concluding paragraph, to the effect, that if the place is carried by assault, no prisoners 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. Wever, Com'dg Officer."
This stern refusal to surrender probably led General Hood to believe that if he assaulted Col. Wever's forces he would meet with a repetition of French's experience at Allatoona, and he withdrew his forces and moved on to Snake Gap. We had reveile at 3 A. M., reached Resaca at 8:30 A. M., halted a short time for rations, then moved rapidly toward Snake Gap, where firing could be plainly heard. We entered the Gap at 5 P. M. The Confederates retreated from Resaca through this gap and they felled a great many trees across the narrow gulch to impede our pursuit. We passed over the field before the dead had been
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collected for burial. On the 16th we had rev- eille 4:30, marched at 7. We passed through Villainow twelve hours behind the Rebel Army; we crossed Taylor's Ridge through Ship's Gap. The Rebels had an intrenched line of battle on the crest of the pass to resist our approach. Our Brigade had the advance. We formed in two lines and assaulted the enemy in position; the rooth Indiana was in the second line. The 29th Missouri engaged the enemy in front; our Bri- gade passed to their right and the 26th Iowa was moved around their left, and when the attack was made most of the Rebel force fell into our hands, including two whole companies of the 24th South Carolina Infantry (Serial 77, p. 742). Quite a number were killed and wounded. The prisoners had parched corn in their haversacks. We encamped shortly after passing through Ship's Gap, and the army passed to the front and en- camped on the western slopes of Taylor's Ridge The long lines of camp fires made a beauti- ful scene at night. On the morning of the 17th our skirmishers could be seen for miles gradually driving the Confederates before them. We moved down the mountain slope at 10:30 A. M. and marched to Lafayette about five miles dis- tant and went into camp. On the 18th we marched at S A. M. from Lafayette almost di- rectly south, crossed the Chatooga River at Is- land Town and went into camp three miles north of Summerville. The Chatooga valley was very rich and we supplied ourselves well with forage. We had now marched 179 miles since we left East Point. On the 19th we marched rapidly in pur- suit of the enemy to a point near the Alabama state line, nine miles southwest of Summerville,
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Georgia, and went into camp at 7 P. M. Robert M. Steele, of Captain Dalbey's Company "I," died there. Forage was plenty, fine water and a good country. The Confederate army re- treated rapidly before us in the direction of Gads- den, Etowah county, Alabama.
The roads during this day's march (20th) were extremely hilly and mountainous. We pursued the enemy sixteen miles in zig-zag direc- tions. We crossed a very rough mountain after dark and went into camp near Gaylesville, Alaba - ma. The Rebel army was forty-eight hours ahead of us. They kept to the south of the mountains and went into camp at the town of Gadsden, Alabama. Our cavalry picked up a great many stragglers from their army. We had now marched 204 miles.
On the 21st we passed through Gaylesville and went into camp on Little River, Alabama, near its junction with the Chatooga. We marched nine miles. On the 22d and 23d we re- mained in camp at Little River. Our cavalry came in from the front and reported the enemy in force under General Wheeler in an intrenched position at Blount's place, near King's Hill. General Iloward ordered the strength of the Rebel position to be tested and our Division (Wood's) and Hazen's and Batteries "B," First Michigan and First Iowa were directed to per- form this service.
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The 100th Indiana Pursues Hood's Army to Gadsden, Alabama.
At 2 P. M. on the 24th we marched west- wardly nine miles and went into camp at sun- down near Leesburg, and on the 25th we had reveille at 3:30 and marched at 5 A . M. Wc soon struck the enemy's cavalry pickets and skirmishing began. "They fell back to their main line at Blount's place, where the cavalry had reported the Rebels in force. Our skirmish line drove the enemy away while our lines of battle were being formed. General Osterhaus having ascertained from citizens that there was a force of 2,000 Rebels at Turkeytown valley, on the Gadsden road, about five miles further on, we moved against them, and when our forces had got almost through the valley, the Rebels opened on them with artillery. Wood's Division formed in line on the left and two Brigades of Hazen's Division on the right. The Rebels were on high ground in our front, with about 2,000 men and two pieces of artillery. They were intrenched
so as to sweep the whole valley. We engaged their attention in front with our skirmishers and battery "B," Ist Michigan, so' closely that they never observed Hazen's two Brigades, which, as well as Jones' Cavalry Regiment, were ordered forward. The latter delivered his volleys right into the Rebel ranks, which threw them into the wildest confusion and they fled precipitately. Cornelius Coleman, of Company "D," was the only man of the 100th wounded. This was the parting salute to Hood's Army, the 100th being the last to deliver the parting blow. General Sherman had determined to march to the sea and
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