September 5, 1864. News of the capture of Fort Morgan. Orders to march at 8 p.m. I was detailed to bring off the pickets, which was accomplished without trouble. Rebels did not know when we left, as we heard them shooting after we got back in our old works at Jonesboro. The whole army moved [...]
September 4, 1864. Received a half official notification to-day that the campaign and fighting are over. Orders to clean up arms came also, and the boys, showing their contempt of the enemy’s power to do harm, took their guns all to pieces and set to polishing the should-be bright parts, right in view of the [...]
September 3, 1864. Rebels still here. Congratulatory order from Sherman commences, “Slocum occupied Atlanta yesterday at 11 a.m.” We can see nothing of our position here. I don’t know where the 23d and 14th are. Our line here is very crooked, but generally faces southeast. Commencing at our right our line runs 17th, 15th, 16th [...]
Six miles south of Jonesboro, September 2, 1864. At daylight our skirmish line moved forward and found the Rebels gone. When our boys reached the railroad a train of cars was just loading some wounded; the boys made for it, but it outran them. They left a number of their wounded, and when the 14th [...]
September 1st, ’64. A real autumn morning. We were aroused at 3 a.m. and the air was then almost crisp. A breath of cold air is a luxury we can appreciate. A fresh, cool breeze is now stirring and I can almost hear the leaves falling. It is a real yellow fall and does me [...]
Near Jonesboro, August 31, 1864. We were afraid we would have no battle this month, but our fears were disappointed in a very summary manner this p.m. Hardee, in command of his own and Hood’s old corps, attacked the Army of the Tennessee again, the weight of the assault being on our corps. The second [...]
August 29, 1864. I would much like to know what the Chicago Convention is doing to-day. We hear there is a possibility they may nominate Sherman. How we wish they would. He would hardly accept the nomination from such a party, but I would cheerfully live under Copperhead rule if they would give us such [...]
August 24, 1864. The Johnnies in our front are either tired out or short of ammunition or inclination, or else, like the quiet swine, “studying devilment.” Certain it is, that they shoot but little lately. Five Rebel batteries which have thrown shell into our division line did not on the 20th or 21st fire a [...]
August 20, 1864. During the last few days cavalry has been operating on the right against the enemy’s communications. We have been making demonstrations, as they call it, or diversions in favor of the cavalries; that is, one, two or three times a day we raise a yell along our corps line, and open on [...]
August 11, 1864. We have lost 35 men since Colonel Wright left us. There has been a tall artillery fight this p.m. right here, but as usual no one hurt.
August 10, 1864. Our “color” that has floated over the 103d for nearly two years has become much worn and torn. One shell and bullets innumerable have passed through it. It is entitled to be inscribed with the following battles: Vicksburg, Black River, Jackson, Miss., Mission Ridge, Dalton, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope, Big Shanty, Kenesaw [...]
August 8, 1864. Never was army better cared for than this. No part of it has been on short rations during the campaign. Extra issues of dessicated potatoes, mixed vegetables, etc., have bundled the advance guard of General Scurvy neck and heels outside the pickets. Extraordinary dreams of green corn, blackberries, new potatoes, etc., have [...]
August 5, 1864. After the fight of the 28th July, we advanced on the 30th, 31st and April 1st 1, when we came to a strong line of Rebel rifle pits, densely populated, and their main works about 400 yards behind the pits. On the 2d details from each brigade in the corps were ordered [...]
August 1, 1864. Since the glorious battle of the 28th, everything has been quiet in our immediate front, though the heavy artillery firing continues to the left. I think it is between the 14th and 20th Corps and some Rebel forts. Prisoners say that our shells have hurt the city very much. We all think [...]
One and three-quarter miles southwest of Atlanta, July 29, 1864. On the evening of the 26th, Adj. Frank Lermond sent me word that the Army of the Tennessee was going to evacuate its position, the movement to commence at 12 p.m. When the lines are so close together the skirmish line is a ticklish place. [...]
July 25, 1864. We moved up to the rear of the corps on the 21, and had just got comfortably fixed for the night when orders came that we should report back to the brigade on the front line. Just as we started a heavy rain set in, and continued while we marched one and [...]
July 23, 1864. The fight came off the 22d, and a glorious one it was for us. Lieutenant Blair of our regiment was killed, also Charles Buck, of Company F, and John Smith of my company. There were seven wounded only. Our brigade gets credit for 400 prisoners. They took us in rear and every [...]
July 20, 1864. Assembly has just sounded. In a few hours we will know if it is to be a fight. Frank says we are detailed for train guard. If the army marches right into Atlanta, I’ll think it d—d mean, but if there is a fight will not feel so badly, unless we can [...]
Decatur, Ga., July 19, 1864. To-night we are in Decatur, six miles from Atlanta. The Rebels were yet in Atlanta this morning, for they ran a train to this burg this morning, but they may now be gone. Our line of battle crosses the railroad nearly at right angles, facing Atlanta. I think the 23d [...]
Near Stone Mountain, July 18, 1864. Osterhaus (or his division, for I hear that he resigned and yesterday started for the North, en route for Mexico, where he formerly resided, and that he intends entering the Mexican Army to fight “Johnny Crapeau”) was ahead to-day, and only lost a dozen or 50 men. Our brigade [...]
June 17, 1864. After erecting some good works at Roswell (the best we have yet built), capable of holding at least 25,000 men, we were provided with three days’ rations and cartridges “ad libitum,” for another of what an Augusta paper calls “Sherman leap-frog-like advance.” Our corps is the extreme left of the army. We [...]
July 16, 1864, 76th of the Campaign. I can hear no firing to-day, but we are so far from the right or center that we could hear nothing less than a 13-inch mortar. I will tell you all I know of the situation just to let you know how little a soldier knows of what [...]
July 15, 1864. This is a glorious place. The current in the river is very swift, and it is the nicest stream to bathe in imaginable. I’ve a mind to stay here and have my meals brought to me. Expect we will catch some nice fish after they get over being scared at having so [...]
July 14, 1864. Another hot day. We marched down to the river at Roswell and crossed it, and have gone into camp on the bank a mile above town. This Roswell is a beautiful little town, such splendid trees all through it. Our cavalry four or five days ago destroyed some very large factories here. [...]
July 13, 1864. We passed through Marietta this morning at 9; rested in a cool, nice, woody place from 11 to 2, and made this place in the cool of the evening. We marched about 14 miles today. I would rather be in a fight than endure such a day’s march, and I think fighting [...]