USA > Ohio > History of the Seventieth Ohio Regiment : from its organization to its mustering out > Part 11
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Behind us we leave a track of smoke and flame. Marietta is burned ; from Kingston to Atlanta the rails have been taken up on the road, fires built about them, and the iron twisted into all sorts of curves ; thus they are left never to be straightened again.
Atlanta is almost deserted by human beings, excepting a few soldiers here and there. The houses are vacant; the streets are empty. In our peaceful homes in the North little is known of how these people suffered for their crimes.
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On the night of November 15th a grand spectacle was presented to the beholder. This beautiful city was now in flames; the heavens were one expanse of lurid fire ; the air is filled with flying, burning cinders . buildings covering two hundred acres of ground were in ruins ; the sparks and flames shot away up into the black and red riff, scattering cinders far and wide. As I said before, Sherman's army was divided into two armies, called the right and left wings, each of which had a separate army commander-General O. O. Howard of the right wing, and General Slocum of the left. Each of these armies was composed of two Corps, which were divided into Divisions and Brigades, with their proper com- manding officers. In the long marches, where the army covers a vast extent of country, these army organizations prove to be of the highest practical use. Each column marches within supporting distance of each other. In addition to these organizations mention there was the Cavalry Corps, commanded by General Judson Kilpatrick, who received his orders direct from General Sherman. This Corps is the curtain behind whose gleaming foids our Chief marched with one or another column as circumstances dictate.
The Signal Corps was also represented by Captain Bachtal, who was identified with the Army of the West during its entire history. It was he whose flag signaled over fifteen miles of hill and dale the order for Corse to fly to the defense of Allatoona. General Sherman had a personal staff of five officers, but none above the rank of Major.
The right wing of the army was called the Army of the Tennessee ; the left wing was called the Army of Georgia. By this time General John A. Logan returned from the North and assumed command of the Fifteenth Army Corps, thus relieving General P. J. Osterhaus. Among the most characteristic features of the soldier's life is the important step of break- ing camp, which at once closes a season of monotonous inactivity, and the preliminary stage of a phase of exciting adventure. The order of march is issued by the army commanders the preceding night ; from them to the Corps commanders: and then passed along the line until every soldier, teamster and camp follower knows that an early start is to be made.
At three o'clock the watch fires are burning dimly, and but for the occasional neighing of horses, all is so silent that it is difficult to imagine that an army of seventy thousand men were within a radius of a few miles. The ripple of the brook can be distinctly heard as it breaks over the pebbles, or winds petulantly about the gnarled roots. The wind
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sweeping gently through the tall pines overhead only serves to lull to deeper repose the slumbering soldier, who in his tent is dreaming of his far-off Northern home. But in an instant all is changed. From some commanding elevation the clear-toned bugle sounds out the reveille, and another and another responds, until the startled echoes double and treble the clarion calls. Intermingled with this comes the beating of drums, often rattling and jarring on unwilling ears. In a few moments the peaceful quiet is replaced by noise and tumult, arising from hill and dale. fron field and forest. Campfires, hitherto extinct or smouldering in dull gray ashes, awaken to new life and brilliancy, and send forth their sparks high into the morning air. Although no gleam of sunrise blushes in the east, the harmless flames on every side light up the scene so that there is no disorder or confusion.
The aspects of this sudden change do not, however, occupy much of the soldier's time. He is more practically engaged in getting his break- fast ready. The potatoes are frying nicely in the well larded pan; the chicken is roasting delicately on the redhot coals, and grateful fumes from steaming coffee pots delight the nostrils. The animals are not less busy. An ample supply of corn and huge piles of fodder are greedily devoured by these faithful friends of the boys in blue, and any neglect is quickly made known by the pawing and neighing horses, and the fearful braving of the mules. Amid all is the busy clatter of tongues and tools. Then the animals are hitched into the traces, and the droves of cattle relieved from the night's confinement in the corral ; knapsacks are strap- ped; the men seize their trusty weapons, and as again the bugles sound the note of command, the soldiers fall into line and file out upon the road to make another stage of their journey-it may be to win fresh laurels in another victory, or perhaps to find rest which shall only be broken by the reveille of the last tramp. A day's march varied according to the country to be traveled, or the opposition encountered. If the map indicates a stream crossing the path, probably the strong party of mounted infantry or of cavalry which has been sent forward the day before, has found the bridges burned, and then the pontoons are pushed to the front. If a battle is anticipated, the trains are shifted to the rear of the center. Under any circumstances the Divisions having the lead move unincum- bered by wagons, and in close fighting trim. The ambulances following in the rear of the Division are in such close proximity as to be available if needed. In the rear of each Regiment follow the pack mules laden with every kind of camp baggage, including blankets, pots, pans, kettles, and
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all the kitchenware needed for cooking. Here will be found the led horses, and with them the negro servants, who form an important feature of the march.
The column having been placed upon the road, let us now follow that long line of muskets gleaming in the rays of the morning sunlight, and ride or march heedless of the crack of the musket, at the head of the column. The advance are driving a squad of Rebel cavalry before them so fast that our march is not in the least impeded, the flankers spread out on a line parallel to the leading troops, for several hundred yards, more or less, as the occasion may require, search through swamps and forests, ready for any concealed foe, and anxiously looking out for any line of works which may have been thrown up by the enemy to check our progress. Here the General of the Division, if a fighting man. is most likely to be found; his experience noting that there is no serious opposition, he orders up a Brigade or another Regiment, which, in soldiers' phraseology, send the Rebel rascals "kiting," and the column moves on.
A large plantation appears by the roadside. If the "bummers" have been ahead the chances are that it has been visited, in which event the interior is apt to show evidences of confusion; but the barns are full of corn and fodder, and parties are at once detailed to secure and convey the prize to the roadside. As the wagons pass along they are not allowed to halt, but the grain or fodder is stuffed into the front and rear of the vehicles as they pass, the unhandy operation affording much amusement to the soldiers, and not unfrequently giving them a poor excuse for swearing as well as laughing.
When the treasure-trove of grain, and poultry, and vegetables has been secured, one man was detailed to guard it until the proper wagon came along. Numbers of these details will be met, who with proper authority have started off early in the morning, and have struck out miles away from the flank of the column. They sit upon some crossroad, surrounded with their spoils-chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, pigs, hogs, sheep, calves, nicely dressed hams, buckets full of honey and pots of fresh lard.
A Roman consul returning with victorious eagles could not wear a more triumphant air than this solitary guard. The soldiers see it and gibe him as they pass: "Say, you thar; where did you steal them pigs?" "Steal," is the indignant response, "Steal; perhaps you would like to have one of them pigs yourself." An officer who is riding along gazes upon the
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appetizing show. He has recently joined, never has been on one of Sher- man's raids, and does not know that a soldier will not sell his chickens for any price. "Ah' a nice pair of ducks you have there, soldier ; what will you take for them?" Firmly, but respectfully, the forager makes answer, touching his cap the while: "They are not in the market. We never sell our stuff, sir ; couldn't think of it."
There is a halt in the column. The officer in charge of the pioneer Corps, which follows the advance guard, has discovered an ugly place in the road, which must be "corduroyed" at once before the wagons can pass. The pioneers quickly tear down the fence near by, and bridge over the treacherous place, perhaps at the rate of a quarter of a mile in fifteen minutes. If rails are not near, pine saplings and split logs supply their place. Meanwhile the bugles have sounded, and the column has halted. The soldiers. during the temporary halt, drop out of line on the roadside, lying upon their backs, supported by their still unstrapped knapsacks. If the halt is a long one the different Regiments march by file right. or left, one behind the other, into the fields or woods, stacking their muskets and taking their rest at ease-released from their knapsacks.
These short halts were of great benefit to the soldier. He gains a breathing spell, has a chance to wipe the perspiration from his brow, and the dust out of his eyes, or pulls off his shoes and stockings to cool his swollen, heated feet, though old campaigners do not feel the need of this. He munches his bit of hard bread, or pulls out a book from his pocket, or oftener a pipe, to indulge in that greatest of luxuries to the soldier-a soothing, refreshing smoke. Here may be seen one group at a brookside bathing their heads and drinking; and another crowded round an old song book, are making very fair music. One venturesome fellow has kindled a fire, and is brewing a cup of coffee ; all are happy and jolly ; but when the bugle sounds "fall in," "attention," and "forward," in an instant every temporary occupation is dropped and they are on the road again. This massing of Brigades and wagons during a halt is a proper and most admirable arrangement. It keeps the column well closed up, and if a Brigade or Division has by some means been delayed, it has the oppor- tunity to overtake the others.
A great many mounted officers would ride through the fields, on either side of the line of march, so as not to interfere with the troops. General Sherman would always take the fields, dashing through thickets or plunging into the swamps, and when forced to take the road, never
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breaks into a Regiment or Brigade, but waits until it passes, and then falls in. He says that they, and not he, have the right to the road. Some- times a little creek crosses the path, and at once a footbridge is made upon one side of the way for those who wish to keep dry shod; many, however, with a shout of derision, will dash through the water at a run ; and then all shout the more when some unsteady comrade misses his footing and tumbles in at full length. The unlucky soldier, however, would take the fun at his expense in the best of humor. Indeed, as a general rule, soldiers are good humored and kindhearted to the last degree. Our troops, by the way, kept their ranks admirably during our campaign through Georgia. Occasionally, however, some soldier would rush for a drink of water or for a beehive which he would despoil of its sweets with a total disregard of the swarm of bees buzzing about his ears, but which, strange to say, rarely stung. But the sun has long since passed the zenith, the droves of cattle which have been driven through the swamps and fields, are lowing and wandering in search of a corral, the soldiers are beginning tolag a little, the teamsters are obliged to apply the whip oftener, ten or fifteen miles have been marched and the designated halting place for the night is near.
The column must now be got into camp. Officers ride on in advance to select ground for each Brigade, giving the preference to slopes in the vicinity of wood and water. Soon the troops file out into the woods and fields, the leading Division pitching tents first, those in the rear marching on yet farther, ready to take their turn in the advance the next day.
As soon as the arms are stacked the boys attack the fences and rail piles, and with incredible swiftness their little sheiter tents spring up all over the ground. The fires are kindled with equal celerity, and the luxurious repast prepared, while good digestion waits on appetite, and health on both.
After this is heard the music of dancing or singing, the buzz of con- versation and the measured sound of reading. The wagons are mean- while parked and the animals fed. If there has been a fight during the day the incidents of success or failure are recounted ; the poor fellow who lies wounded in the anguish-laden ambulance is not forgotten, and the brave comrade who fell in the strife is remembered with words of loving praise.
By and by the tattoo rings out on the night air. Its familiar sound is understood. "Go to rest ; go to rest," it says plainly as organs of human speech.
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FIRST LIEUT. JOHN K. TRUITT.
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Shortly after follows the peremptorv command of taps-"Out lights ; out lights ; out lights !" The soldier gradually disappears from the camp- fire. Rolled snugly in his blanket the soldier dreams again of home, or revisits in imagination the battlefields he has trod. The animals, with dull instinct, lie down to rest, and with dim gropings of consciousness rumin- atc over fresh fields and pastures new. The fires, neglected by the sleep- ing men, go out gradually, flickering and smouldering, as if unwilling to die.
All is quiet. The army is asleep. Perhaps there is a brief interrup- tion to the silence as some trooper goes clattering down the road on an errand of speed, or some uneasy sleeper turns over to find an easier position. And around the slumbering host the picket guards keep quiet watch, while constant, faithful hearts in Northern and Western homes pray that the angels of the Lord may encamp around the sleeping army.
We are now in full possession of the capital of the State of Georgia. and without firing a gun. The Georgia Legislature, which had been in session, hearing of our approach, hastily decamped without an adjourn- ment ; the country was being depopulated, with here and there a few old gentlemen and ladies and the negroes; the latter would welcome our approach with ecstatic exclamations of joy-"Bress de Lord, tanks be to Almighty God, the Yanks is come; de day ob jubilee hab arribed."
We were continually meeting with comical incidents illustrative of the ignorance of the people, and more especially of the funny side of negro character. One old woman stood at her gate watching, with - wondering eyes, a drove of cattle as they passed. "Lor massy," she said, "whar did all them beef come from; never seed so many in all my life." "These cattle were driven all the way from Chicago ; more than one thous- and miles." "Goodness Lor, what a population you Yanks is."
The roads each column was to follow were carefully designated, the number of miles each day to be traveled, and the points of rendezvous were given at a certain date. On the 23d day of November the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps arrived at Gordon, and began the destruction of the Georgia Central Railroad, the 70th Ohio doing her full share in these movements.
We had been told that the country was very poor east of the Oconee, but our experience has been a delightful gastronomic contradiction of the statement. The cattle trains are getting so large that we find diffi- culty in driving them along. Thanksgiving day was very generally observed in the army; the troops scorning chickens in the plentitude
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of turkeys with which they had supplied themselves. Vegetables of all kinds, and in unlimited quantities, were at hand, and the soldiers gave thanks as soldiers may, and were merry as only soldiers can be. In truth, so far as the gratification of the stomach goes, the troops are pursuing a continuous thanksgiving. In addition to fowls, vegetables and meats. many obtain a delicious syrup made from sorghum, which is cultivated on all the plantations, and stored away in large troughs and hogsheads. The mills here and there furnish fresh supplies of flour and meal, and we hear little or nothing of hardtack-that terror to weak mastication.
Over the sections of country lately traversed we found very little culti- vation of cotton. The commands of Davis appear to have been obeyed, and our large droves of cattle were turned nightly into the immense fields of ungathered corn to eat their fill, while the granaries are crowded to overflowing with both oats and corn. We have also reached the sand regions, so that the fall of rain has no terrors ; the roads are excellent, and would become firmer from a liberal wetting. The rise of the rivers did not trouble us much, for each Army Corps had its pontoon, and the launching of its boats was a matter of an hour. The destruction of rail- roads in this campaign has been most thorough. The work of demolition on such long lines of road necessarily requires time, but the process is performed as expeditiously as possible in order to prevent any serious delay of the movement of the army. The method of destruction is simple, but very effective. Two ingenious instruments were made for this pur- pose. One of them is a clasp which locks under the rail. It has a ring in the top, into which is inserted a long lever, and the rail is thus ripped from the ties. The ties are then piled in a heap and set on fire, the rails roasting in the flames until they bend by their own weight. When suffi- ciently heated each rail is taken off by wrenches fitting closely over the ends, and by turning in opposite directions, it is so twisted that even a rolling machine could not bring it back into shape.
Our movements have been through magnificent pine woods-the savannahs of the South, as they are termed. I have never seen, and I can not conceive a more picturesque sight than the army winding along through these grand old woods. The pines, destitute of branches, rise to a height of eighty fect. their tops being crowned with tufts of pure green. They are widely apart, so that frequently two trains of wagons and troops in double column are marching abreast. In the distance may be seen a troop of horsemen-some General and his staff-turning about here and there, their gay uniforms and red and white flags con-
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trasting harmoniously with the bright yellow grass underneath and the deep evergreen. War has its romance and its pleasures, and nothing could be more delightful, nor can there be more beautiful subjects for the artist's pencil than a thousand sights which have met the eye of the soldiers for days past, and which can never be seen outside of the army. The most pathetic scenes occur upon our line of march daily and hourly. Thousands of negro women join the column. some carrying household goods, and many of them carrying children in their arms, while oider boys and girls plod by their side. Most all of these women and children are ordered back, heart-rendering though it may be to refuse them liberty. One begs that she may go to see her husband and children at Savannah. Long years ago she was forced from them and sold. Another has heard that her boy was in Macon, and she is done gone with grief going on four years. But the majority accept the advent of the Yankees as the fulfill- ment of the millennial prophecies. The day of jubilee, the hope and prayer of a lifetime, has come. They can not be made to understand that they must remain behind, and they are satisfied only when General Sherman tells them, as he did nearly every day, that we shall come back for them some time, and that they must be patient until the proper hour of deliver- ance arrives. The other day a woman with a child in her arms was working her way along among the teams and crowds of cattle and horse- men. An officer called to her kindly: "Where are you going, aunty?" She looked up into his face with a hopeful, beseeching look, and replied: "I'se gy ine whar you'se gwine, Massa."
CHAPTER XII.
On the 30th of November, with the exception of the Fifteenth Corps, our army is across the Ogeechee without fighting a battle. This river is a line of great strength to the Rebels, who might have made its passage a costly effort for us, but they have been outwitted and outmaneuvered. Our army had but very little difficulty in crossing the Ogeechee. The Ogeechee generally is about sixty yards in width. It is approached on the northern or western side through swamps, which would be impass- able but for the sandy soil. which packs solidly when the water covers the roads, although in places there are treacherous quicksands which we were obliged to corduroy. This evening I walked down to the river, while a striking and novel spectacle was visible. The fires of pitch pine were flaring up into the mist and darkness ; figures of men and horses, loomed out of the dense shadows in gigantic proportions ; torch-lights were blink- ing and flashing away off in the forests : and the still air echoed and re- echoed with the cries of teamsters and the wild shouts of the soldiers. A long line of the troops marched across the foot-bridge, each soldier bear- ing a torch, and as the column marched, the vivid light was reflected in quivering lines in the swift-running stream. Soon the fog, which here settles like a blanket over the swamps and forests of the river bottoms. shut down upon the scene, and so dense and dark was it that torches were of but little use, and cur men were directed here and there by the voice. "Jim, are you there?" shouted one. "Yes, I am here," was the impatient answer. "Well, then, go straight ahead." "Straight ahead! Where in thunder is 'straight ahead'?" And so the troops shuffled upon and. over each other, and finally blundered into their quarters for the night.
As we journey on from day to day it is curious to observe the atten- tions bestowed by our soldiers upon camp pets. With a care which almost deserves the name of tenderness, the men gather helpless, dumb animals around them ; sometimes an innocent kid, whose mother has been served up as an extra ration ; and again a raccoon, a little donkey, a dog, or a cat. One Regiment adopted a fine Newfoundland dog. which soon be- came so attached to its new home that it never straved. but became a part of the body, recognizing the face of every man in it. These pets were watched, fed, protected, and carried along with a faithfulness and affec- tion which constantly suggests the most interesting psychological queries. The favorite pet of the camp, however, was the hero of the barn-yard. There is not a Regiment nor a Company, not a teamster nor a Negro at
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headquarters, nor an orderly, but what had a "rooster" of one kind or another. When the column is moving these haughty roosters were seen mounted upon the breech of a cannon, tied to the pack-saddle of a mule, among pots and pans, or carried lovingly in the arms of a mounted orderly ; crowing with all his might from the interior of a wagon. or mak- ing the woods re-echo with triumphant notes as he rides perched upon the knapsack of a soldier.
December 3d the army has swung slowly around from its eastern course, and is now moving in six columns, upon parallel roads, south- ward. Kilpatrick had destroyed the bridge above Waynesboro, and after falling back, had again advanced, supported by the Fourteenth Corps under General Davis, south of this column; moving eastward through Birdsville was the Twentieth Corps, commanded by General Slocum ; vet farther south, the Seventeenth Corps, General Blair in command, followed the railroad, destroying the track as it advanced. West and south of the Ogeechee, the Fifteenth Corps, General Osterhaus in command, but under the eye of General Howard, moved in two columns. Until now Davis and Kilpatrick have been a cover and shield to the real movement of the army. At no time has it been possible for Hardee to interpose any serious obstacle to the advance of our main body. for our left wing has always been a strong arm, thrust out in advance, ready to encounter any force which might attempt to bar the way. It is possible that the curtain has been withdrawn, and as it may appear that we are marching straight for Savannah, that these Generals, with their ten thousand men, may attempt to harass our rear, but they can accomplish nothing more than the loss of a few lives. They can not check our progress. The work so admirably performed by our left wing, so far as it obliged the Rebels in our front constantly to retreat, by threatening their rear, now becomes the office of the Fifteenth Corps, to which the 70th Ohio Regiment was attached. The Fifteenth Corps was divided and operated on the right and left banks of the river. These two columns marched, one day in advance of the main body, down the peninsula formed by the Savannah and Ogee- chee Rivers, with a detachment thrown over to the south side of the stream. These flank movements were of the greatest necessity and value. A very small force of infantry or cavalry in position at a river crossing could delay a marching column half a day. or longer ; our flanking column prevented this. Besides our soldiers were tired of chickens, sweet pota- toes, sorghum, etc., and was promised oysters at the seaside-oysters. roasted, oysters fried, oysters stewed, oysters on the half-shell, oysters in
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