USA > Ohio > History of the Seventieth Ohio Regiment : from its organization to its mustering out > Part 10
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But the solution was mainly due to the forethought exercised by General Sherman himself, in successfully establishing secondary depots, strongly garrisoned, as at Chattanooga, Resaca, Rome and Allatoona, and by great exertions accumulating at each stores sufficient to render the army independent of the rear during any temporary interruption of the communications. The second danger ever present consisted in the rapid diminution of the army, not only by the heavy casualties incidental to offensive warfare, but also by the expiration of the terms of service of a large number of the Regiments. However this was prevented from becoming fatal by the bravery of the army in attacking, by the skill of its commander in turning obstacles too great to be surmounted by direct approach, by the patriotism of the veterans in re-enlisting, by the noble exertions of the Governors of the Western States in encouraging and expediting re-enlistments and pushing the veterans to the front, and by the folly of Hood in attacking our armies, in strong positions, protected by earthworks. instead of attempting to take them at a disadvantage, as in crossing Peach Tree Creek.
August 20th President Lincoln conferred upon General Sherman a commission as Major General in the regular army as a reward for his services during this campaign.
We remained in camp at East Point doing camp duty until October Ist, 1864. Our camp was a very pleasant one-healthy and dry. The boys enjoyed themselves in various ways. We had considerable fatigue duty to perform, as well as Company, Regimental and Division drills, with other camp duties as were required of us.
September 11th orders were passed between Generals Sherman and Hood, by a flag of truce, proposing a cessation of hostilities for ten days from September 12th; for the purpose of exchanging prisoners. The place selected to receive and exchange prisoners was Rough-and-Ready. Accordingly a detail for a guard from each Regiment was ordered. The zoth Ohio furnished one man from each Company, and as General Sher-
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man had now determined to make Atlanta exclusively a military post, quite a large number of the citizens were at the same time sent across the lines south. Those who were willing to take the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States were permitted to remain under the protection of the Union armies.
During the truce four hundred and forty-six families were moved south, comprising seven hundred and five adults, eight hundred and sixty children, and seventy-nine servants, with an average of sixteen hundred and fifty-one pounds of furniture and household goods of all kinds to each family.
By gathering up all the Confederate prisoners at Chattanooga and Atlanta, and all small squads in various quarters. General Sherman suc- ceeded in collecting about two thousand of them, and notwithstanding the difficulties raised in the correspondence between Generals Sherman and Hood, a special exchange of these Confederate prisoners for an equal number of Union prisoners in the hands of the enemy was agreed upon and carried into effect.
The condition of affairs in the several theaters of war in the month of September, 1864, may now be summed up as follows: General Grant held General Lee firmly at Richmond and Petersburg, with a large force under General Phil Sheridan stopping the debouches from the Valley of the Shenandoah, showing an evident purpose of persisting in his opera- tions until a decisive result should be reached. General Sherman was at Atlanta, with General Hood southwest of that place, watching each other and each preparing to take the initiative.
On the Ist day of October, 1864, General Hood began his fatal march to the north, sending his cavalry in advance to move rapidly against General Sherman's communications beyond Marietta. He crossed the Chattahoochee with his three Corps of infantry and pushed north by way of Dallas, and striking the railway at Big Shanty, effectually destroying it and the telegraph lines for a distance of twenty miles, and was now moving on Allatoona Pass, where were stored a million of rations, guarded by the 93d Illinois Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Tour- tellotte, behind the redoubts previously constructed.
CHAPTER X.
On October 3d, General Slocum being left with his Twentieth Corps to hold Atlanta and the railway bridge across the Chattahoochee, Gen- eral Sherman marched with the remainder of his army to Smyrna Camp G. ound, and on the following day, to a strong position at Kennesaw Moun- tain. The 70th Ohio Regiment marched to and crossed the Chattahoo- chee at the bridge, following the line of the railway toward Kennesaw Mountain, going into camp for the night near Marietta. On the follow- ing day we still continued our march along the railway to the right of Kennesaw Mountain to Big Shanty, where we camped for the night.
During the morning, just after passing Marietta, an incident occurred that caused considerable fun and laughter for the boys. Some mis- chievous soldier began to sing "Hardtack, Hardtack Shall Come Again no More"; coming to the chorus the rank and file all joined in singing that. This did not altogether correspond with General Hazen's views about that kind of music, so he sent the order along the line that he would arrest the first man, Company or Regiment he heard singing Hardtack again. In a little while after sending out this order General Hazen and staff came riding up toward the front, when all at once the boys struck up the same old, familiar song, "Hardtack, Hardtack, Hard- tack and Sowbelly." The entire Division joined in the chorus this time. When night came on, and we went into camp for the night, the hardtack and sowbelly . were duly issued to the boys, but there were no arrests made.
The telegraph wires being broken by the enemy, and the intermediate country occupied by his troops, General Sherman sent a message by signals to Brigadier John M. Corse, who was at Rome, Georgia, with his Division of our Fifteenth Corps, directing him to reinforce the threatened post without delay. General Corse, as we afterwards learned, started immediately by rail with the 4th Minnesota and 7th Illinois, reaching Allatoona at one o'clock A.M. of the 5th day of October, but owing to an accident to the train, it was so late in returning that no more troops arrived, and an hour after General Corse's arrival General French, of the Confederate force, with his Division, appeared before the place and opened a brisk skirmish fire. By daylight the works at Allatoona, manned by one thousand nine hundred and forty-four men, were com- pletely invested by General French's entire Division of the Confederate army. It is said that at half past eight, on the 5th day of October, after
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a sharp cannonade of two hours' duration, General French sent a note to General Corse, of the Union army, under flag of truce, intimating that he would give the garrison just five minutes to surrender and thus spare the unnecessary effusion of blood. General Corse instantly replied that he would not surrender, and that he was fully prepared and ready for this unnecessary effusion of blood just as soon as his assailant saw proper to begin it. Immediately, it is said, the enemy assaulted with great fury. Again and again, it is said, his columns surged madly against the para- pets, only to be as often hurled back, with great slaughter, by the intrepid little garrison standing as grim and immovable as the rock itself. until at night the shattered remnants of the enemy were driven from every position, and the possession of Allatoona was secure.
At ten o'clock in the morning General Sherman in person reached Kennesaw Mountain, eighteen miles distant, and thence saw and faintly heard, only to fully comprehend what was transpiring at his depot.
The distance was too great to offer any hopes of being able to render direct assistance before the struggle should be decided, but General Sherman at once sent the Twenty-third Corps, under General Cox, out on the Burnt Hickory road, toward Dallas, to move against the flank and rear of the forces threatening Allatoona. From mountain to moun- tain the little signal flags, spelling their message in quiet defiance of hostile force, waved from Sherman to Corse the words few and simple, but of thrilling import, which announced the presence of the Com- mander-in-Chief, on the overlooking heights of Kennesaw, the movement of troops for his relief, and exhorted liim to hold out to the last. Quickly the flags moved again with General Corse's brave reply: "I will fight to the death for Allatoona and the safety of the army." No sooner did the flags speak General Corse's name than General Sherman exclaimed: "If Corse is there he will hold out ; I know the man."
In this stubborn defense against apparently overwhelming odds the garrison, numbering less than two thousand, lost seven hundred and seven officers and men killed and wounded, among the latter Colonel Corse himself; though he was struck in the face by a bullet about noon. he declined to leave the field, and by his own energy and spirit imbued his command with the strength that gave the victory. The garrison captured eight hundred muskets, three stands of colors, and four hundred and eleven prisoners ; and after the enemy retired, buried two hundred and thirty-one Rebels who were killed outright.
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The arrival of the Fourth and Fourteenth Corps at Pine Moun- tain, and the movement of the Twenty-third Corps on Dallas. hastened General French's withdrawal towards the latter place, after his severe defeat. General Hood now moved rapidly to the northwest, aiming to reach the railway at Resaca.
On the 6th and 7th days of October, holding us about Kennesaw, Big Shanty and Kennesaw Mountain, General Sherman sent his cavalry toward Burnt Hickory and Dallas, and discovered this movement of the enemy. Accordingly on the afternoon of October Ioth he put all of his troops in motion through Allatoona Pass on Kingston. By a forced march of thirty-eight miles we reached Kingston on the IIth of October. On the 12th of October our march was continued on to Rome, Georgia, a Brigade of our Division being sent in advance by railway from Alla- toona to occupy the place in anticipation of Hood's movement against it. General Sherman rushed General Garrard's Division of cavalry and the Twenty-third Corps across the Oostanaula to menace the enemy's flanks, and General Garrard succeeded in driving a Brigade of the enemy through the narrow entrance of the Valley of the Chattanooga, capturing two guns, while at the same time General Corse crossed the Etowah with his Division, while a Brigade of our Division had come forward by rail and made a reconnoissance with a view to develop the force of the enemy guarding their pontoon bridge sixteen miles below. Having then ascer- tained that Hood's movement upon Rome had been merely a feint, and that in fact he had crossed the Coosa with his entire army, and was hastening with all speed toward Resaca and Dalton, General Sherman put his command, except General Corse's Division, left to hold Rome, in motion, on the 13th day of October, towards the former place, and ordered General Howard to send forward General Belknap's Division of General Ransome's Seventeenth Corps, by rail, to the relief of the garri- son, arriving at midnight. From Kingston General Sherman had sent two Regiments of General Howard's army, under Colonel Weaver, to occupy Resaca, and had afterwards caused them to be reinforced by Gen- eral Baum's Brigade of General John E. Smith's Division of our Fifteenth Corps. General Hood appeared before the small garrison with his entire army, but General Baum showed so bold and extended a front that prob- ably retaining a vivid recollection of Allatoona. and knowing the con- tagious effects of such an example, both upon besieged and besiegers, General Hood contented himself with an attack by a skirmish line and a
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summons to surrender, coupled with a threat that no prisoners would be taken in case he was compelled to carry the place by assault.
During the parley, portions of Hood's army were engaged in effectu- ally destroying the railway for twenty miles to the northward, and in capturing the small and unresisting garrisons at Tilton and Dalton.
On the evening of October 14th we arrived at Resaca, and on the 15th day of October we moved to Snake Creek Gap, with orders to hold the enemy, while General Stanley, with the Fourth and Fourteenth Corps, would move to Tilton across the mountains towards Villanow, in order to strike General Hood in the flank, or force him to fight. But Hood evidently considered it his policy at this time to avoid a battle, for his lines gave way about noon, before the advance of our skirmishers, and followed by General Howard, he escaped through Snake Creek Gap before General Stanley had time to reach the other end of the pass. and rapidly retreated in a southwesterly direction down the Valley of the Coosa to the vicinity of Gadsden, and occupied the narrow gorge formed by the Lookout Mountain abutting against the river.
On the 16th day of October we moved toward Lafayette, with a view of cutting off Hood's retreat, and found him intrenched at Ship's Gap ; but General Wood's Division of General Osterhaus's Fifteenth Corps, having the advance, rapidly carried the advanced posts, capturing two Companies of a South Carolina Regiment, and driving the remainder back on the main body at Lafayette. That night we went into camp at Taylor's Ridge, where Ship's Gap divides it.
On the 17th day of October the Army of the Tennessee was ordered to move to Lafayette, while the other Corps were ordered to remain in camp at Taylor's Ridge. October 18th we crossed the Chattanooga River at Trayon's Factory, and went into camp near Summerville, while General Stanley moved through Mattock's Gap in Taylor's Ridge, cross- ing the river at Penn's Ford, and went into camp four miles beyond.
October 19th we marched to Alpine, and the Army of the Cumber- land, after a short march, went into camp at Summerville. We marched to Gaylesville, and at the same time General Cox, with the Twenty-third Corps and Garrard's Division of cavalry, marched by Villanow and Dirt Town to Gover's Gap. General Thomas had so disposed of his small force as to enable him to oppose the greatest resistance in his power to General Hood's movement against either Bridgeport or Chattanooga, as both of these places were seriously menaced by the direction of his advance. Leaving Decatur, Huntsville, Stevenson and the rest of
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northern Alabama to the care of their ordinary garrisons, General Thomas ordered .General Rousseau to recall ail of his mounted troops from the pursuit of General Forrest for the purpose of concentrating at Athens.
General Craxton's Brigade of cavalry was detailed to protect the crossings of the Tennessee River from Decatur to Eastport, while Gen- eral Morgan's Division of the Fourteenth Corps would move by rail to Chattanooga; General Steedman was to follow General Morgan to Bridgeport. Our Division of the Fifteenth Corps, Army of the Tennes- see, had now moved up and was posted near Little River; the 70th Ohio camping in an open field near the bank of the river, with orders to support the cavalry engaged in watching the movements of General Hood.
Prior to this Captains H. L. Phillips and N. W. Foster, of the 70th Ohio, had returned to Ohio on a leave of absence. Captain Foster by reason of his resignation as Captain of Company G, and Captain Phillips On legal business. Captain Foster, being the senior Captain of the Regiment, would have been promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel had he not received a severe wound July 22d, 1864, near Atlanta, Ga. From this cause Captain Foster was compelled to resign. After the acceptance of his resignation by Governor John Brough, Captain H. L. Phillips was promoted and commissioned by Governor Brough to be Colonel of the 70th Ohio Regiment. Captain Lewis Love, of Company A. at this time commanding the Regiment, resigned his position as Captain, which was accepted at once, while in our camp at Little River; after which, I think, if I remember correctly, Captain James Drenings, of Company F. assumed temporary command of the Regiment until relieved by Colonel Phillips. Captain Love took away with him the faithful horse formerly owned by Major W. B. Brown, deceased, from the 70th Ohio.
Our camp at this place was a very pleasant one, located in a rich. level country, the heart of the rich valley of the Chattanooga, abounding with food and raiment. General Sherman determined that, while living upon the country, to pause in his pursuit of his erratic enemy, and give him sufficient room wherewith to entangle himself, as well as to give our army a chance to enjoy a few days of much needed rest.
Communications were again established with Rome, and a large force put to work under Colonel W. W. Wright, Chief Engineer of the United States Military Railways, in this division, in repairing the damages inflicted by General Hood upon the railway. General Slocum, at Atlanta. was ordered to send out strong foraging parties for the purpose of col-
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lecting all the corn and fodder possible, also to put his trains in proper condition for actual service.
As early as October 21st telegraphic communication was restored between Chattanooga and Atlanta, and by October 28th, although thirty- four, miles of rails and ties had been destroyed, and several important bridges carried away by the floods, trains began running through on the railway.
General Hood had turned westward from Gadsden toward Decatur and taken a position threatening the Chattanooga & Atlantic Railway, at the same time menacing Tennessee. His movements and strategy had conclusively demonstrated that he had an army at all times capable of endangering General Sherman's communications, but at the same time unable to meet and cope with him in battle. To follow General Hood indefinitely towards the west and north, without much prospect of overtaking and overwhelming his army, would be for General Sherman equivalent to being decoyed out of Georgia. To remain on the defensive on the other hand, would be to lose the main effectiveness of the great army of the center. General Sherman had previously proposed to Gen- eral Grant, in the early stages of the pursuit, "to break up the railway from Chattanooga to Atlanta and then strike out for Milledgville, Millen and Savannah, until we can depopulate Georgia." General Sherman said "it was useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of its roads, houses and people will cripple their military resources. By attempting to hold the roads we will lose a thousand men monthly, and will gain no result." General Sherman further said: "I can make the march and make Georgia howl. I can make Savannah, Charleston, or the mouth of the Chatta- hoochee, but I prefer to march through Georgia, smashing things to the sea." General Grant promptly authorized the proposed movement.
The city of Savannah now being fixed as the point to be gained, and Dalton the northern limit for the destruction of the railway, prepara- tions were instantly undertaken and pressed forward for the consumma- tion of the plans. On the 26th day of October General Sherman detached the Fourth Corps, under Major General Stanley, and ordered it to pro- ceed to Chattanooga and report to General Thomas at Nashville. Octo- ber 30th the Twenty-third Corps, under Major General Schofield, was also detached and ordered to report to General Thomas, to whom was delegated full power over all the troops except the four Corps which General Sherman himself designed to move into Georgia.
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On the 2d day of November we broke camp at Little River and were ordered to march by slow and easy marches on the south of the Coosa, back to the neighborhood of the Smyrna Camp Ground, while the Seventeenth Corps marched in the same direction to the same place. The Fourteenth Corps moved to Kingston. From this point General Sherman directed that all. surplus artillery, all baggage not needed for the contemplated march, all the sick and wounded, refugees and other encumbrances to be sent back to Chattanooga, and the three Corps above mentioned, as well as Kilpatrick's Cavalry and the Twentieth Corps, then at Atlanta, to be put in the most efficient condition possible for the long and difficult march before them. This operation consumed the time until November 1Ith, when everything being ready, General Corse, who still remained at Rome, was directed to destroy all the bridges there. as well as the foundries, mills, shops, warehouses and other property that could be useful to the enemy, and to move his command to Kingston. At the same time the railway in and about Atlanta, and between the Etowah and the Chattahoochee was ordered to be utterly destroyed.
A few days before reaching our camp ground near Atlanta, Colonel H. L. Phillips rejoined the 70th Ohio Regiment and assumed personal command of the Regiment ; he being welcomed by every member of his command; and no officer ever commanded greater respect than did Colonel H. L. Phillips. As the boys would say-"He's all right."
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CHAPTER XI.
After reaching Atlanta our army was divided into two wings-the right to be commanded by Major General O. O. Howard, comprising the Fifteenth Army Corps commanded by Major General P. J. Osterhaus, and the Seventeenth Corps commanded by .Major General Frank P. Blair, who had now rejoined the army. The left wing to be commanded by Major General H. W. Slocum, consisting of the Fourteenth Corps, under Major General Jeff C. Davis, and the Twentieth Corps under Gen- eral A. S. Williams. The aggregate force of infantry was sixty thousand. The cavalry division, under Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick, num- bered fifty-five hundred men, and there was one field gun to every thous- and men. The Fifteenth Corps consisted of the Divisions of Brigadier General Charles R. Wood, Major General W. B. Hazen, General John E. Smith and General John M. Corse. General Hazen's Second Division. to which the 70th Chio was attached, though greatly changed in all of its parts by time and hard service, was the same Division which General Sherman organized at Paducah, Kentucky, and commanded by himself through the terrible battle of Shiloh, and whose history we have followed from that period to the present.
The Seventeenth Corps comprised three Divisions, respectfully com- manded by Major General John A. Mower, Brigadier General Miles D. Liggett and Brigadier General Giles A. Smith, besides the detach- ments above mentioned.
The Fourteenth Corps was composed of three Divisions, led by Brigadier Generals William P. Carlin, James D. Morgan and Absalom Baird.
The Twentieth Corps, as we understand, was formed by consolidat- ing the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps from the Army of the Potomac. included the Divisions of Brigadier Generals Norman J. Jackson, John W. Geary and William T. Ward.
. General Kilpatrick's Division of cavalry consisted of two Brigades commanded by Colonel Eli H. Murray, of the Third Kentucky Cavalry, and Colonel Smith D. Adkins' 92d Illinois mounted infantry.
On the 11th day of November General Sherman sent his last dis- patch to General Halleck at Washington. On the 12th day of Novem- ber our army stood detached and cut off from all communication with the rear. Our regular order of march was by four roads, as nearly paral- lel as possible ; we had no general trains for supplies, but each Corps was 122
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supplied with an ammunition and provision train distributed habitually as follows: Behind each Regiment followed one wagon and one ambu- lance; behind each Brigade followed a due proportion of ammunition wagons, provision wagons and ambulances. In case of danger each Army Corps Commander was directed to change the order of march by having the advance and rear Brigades unencumbered by wheels.
Our time to start each morning was seven o'clock; the average march per day was fifteen miles, unless otherwise ordered.
November 12th the last train of cars whirled rapidly past the troops moving south, speeding over bridges and into the woods as if they feared they might be left helpless in the deserted land. At Cartersville the last communications with the north were severed with the telegraph wire. It bore the message to General Thomas-"All is well." And thus we have cut loose from our base of operations, from our line of communication, launching out into uncertainty at the best, on a journey whose projected end only a few in the command know. Its real fate and destiny they do not know, since that rests in the goodness of an overruling providence, and the brave hearts and strong limbs of the soldiers. It is a bold, haz- ardous undertaking. There is no backward step possible. Thirty days' rations and a new base-that time and those supplies will be exhausted in the most rapid march ere we can arrive at the nearest seaccast ; arrived there, what then? We never heard that manna grew on the sand beaches or in the marshes, though we were sure that we could obtain forage on the way. And we had every reason to know that General Sherman was in the highest degree sanguine and cheerful and sure of success. As for the soldiers, we did not stop to ask questions. General Sherman said come, and we came ; or go, and we went as he directed. A most chieer- ful feature of the situation was that the men were healthful and jolly as soldiers could be, always hoping for the best, and willing to dare the worst.
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