Thursday, 27th–Still lying in camp, and all is quiet.
Downing’s Civil War Diary.–Alexander G. Downing.
October 27, 2024 0 comments
Thursday, 27th–Still lying in camp, and all is quiet.
Wednesday, 26th–The weather is quite pleasant. Nothing of importance. Still in camp. Our work, outside of regular picket duty, is very light here.
Tuesday, 25th–Still lying in camp. The supply train of the Fifteenth Army Corps returned with rations late this evening, but the supply train of the Seventeenth Corps has not yet come in. It is reported that the army of the Tennessee is going on a march of four hundred miles. The route is supposed to [...]
Monday, 24th–Still lying in camp and all is quiet at the front. Large foraging parties are being sent out for food for the men and feed for the horses and mules. The valleys in this part of the country are thickly settled, but not more than half of the plantations have been cultivated this past [...]
Sunday, 23d–The weather is getting pretty cool mornings, but we have plenty of wood to build fires in front of our shacks. All is quiet in the front. I was relieved from picket this morning. We had company inspection this evening.
Saturday, 22d–We lay in camp all day for the purpose of resting. But it appears to the rank and file of the men that Sherman must have given up trying to catch Hood, or else we would not remain so long at one place. The supply trains were all sent back to the main railroad [...]
Friday, 21st–The Fourth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twenty-third Army Corps have concentrated here and are in bivouac. Foraging parties are sent out from the different corps, as there are some rich plantations in this section. Our corps moved camp today about four miles. All is quiet in the front. The report is that the rebels [...]
Thursday, 20th–The same as ever. We marched twelve miles and went into camp near Galesville, Alabama. All of the forces of General Sherman which have been after Hood, came together at this place by different roads, and are now in bivouac. General Hardie of Hood’s army is in front of us with his corps and [...]
Wednesday, 19th–We entered Summerville at 10 o’clock and remained there till noon, when we started for Galesville, Alabama. After marching fifteen miles, we went into bivouac on the banks of the Ogeechee river. All is quiet in front. The valleys through which we are marching are quite rich and there are some fine plantations which [...]
Tuesday, 18th–We started early this morning and reached Lafayette at 9 o’clock. We lay there for two hours when we took up our march for Summerville, Georgia, and went into bivouac within four miles of the town. The rebels are still moving to the north through the Blue mountains. We had two days’ rations left [...]
Monday, 17th–We lay in bivouac all day, but at dark moved on about four miles and again went into bivouac. The weather has been very pleasant for some days. The muster rolls of the non-veterans of our regiment were made out today. They received their discharge papers, as their three years’ service will be up [...]
Sunday, 16th–We left bivouac early this morning and marched eight miles. We passed through Gooseneck Gap, about four miles long and quite narrow. The rebels did not take time to block this gap. The Fifteenth Corps being in the advance, came upon the rebels and engaged them in some skirmishing. The rebels are still falling [...]
Saturday, 15th–We left Resaca early this morning, going out after the rebels whom we found at the south entrance of Snake Creek Gap. Here we formed a line of battle and skirmishing commenced. A small force of the rebels was behind some old works which our men had built last spring while advancing on Resaca. [...]
Friday, 14th–At Adairsville we took a train composed of box cars and left for Resaca, where we arrived about 4 o’clock this morning. We at once left the cars and formed a line of battle. Here we lay all day. The remainder of our corps soon arrived, and later the Fourteenth Army Corps came up. [...]
Thursday, 13th–We left our teams behind at Kingston and they did not catch up with us till this morning. We lay here in camp all day. About sundown we received marching orders and our division started for Adairsville, some fifteen miles distant from Rome. We left our teams and all artillery behind and marching through [...]
Wednesday, 12th–We started early this morning and marched to within five miles of Rome by midnight, when we went into bivouac for the rest of the night. We had to move very slowly on account of the teams giving out. Our horses and mules are getting very thin. This is because of the scarcity of [...]
Tuesday, 11th–The weather has been cool and pleasant for several days. Our entire corps started early this morning at 2 o’clock, going as we suppose, to Kingston. We marched through to Cartersville, where we went into camp for the night. We hear that there was a hard fight at Altoona yesterday with fearful loss of [...]
Monday, 10th–A large detail from our regiment was put to work on the railroad. Three of us, Hiram Frank, John D. Moore and I, took French leave this afternoon and climbed to the top of Kenesaw mountain. It is a grand view from the mountain, but we had to pay for our sightseeing, for when [...]
Sunday, 9th–We were routed early this morning and left for Big Shanty, and arriving there in the afternoon went into bivouac. The Fifteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps were sent here to put the railroad track in repair. The rebels tore up about nine miles of track, burning the ties and twisting the rails. The engineers [...]
Saturday, 8th–We started back early this morning for Marietta and arrived in camp about noon. I was sent out on picket duty this afternoon. The entire Fifteenth Corps left on an expedition this afternoon, but their destination is not known. The rebels left Lost mountain, retreating to Dallas, Georgia. Our men captured some of their [...]
Friday, 7th–Weather clear and pleasant. Our division, now the Fourth of the Seventeenth Army Corps, started out to reconnoiter. We went in light marching order without teams or artillery and marching out about twenty miles to the southwest of Marietta came upon the rebels’ pickets, at a place called Powder Springs. We drove them about [...]
Thursday, 6th–It rained nearly all day. We lay in bivouac all day, resting. We hear that Sherman with a part of his force is trying to surround the rebels in the vicinity of Lost mountain. The rebels left the railroad after tearing up about fifteen miles of track, burning the ties and twisting the rails. [...]
Wednesday, 5th–The weather is pleasant. We were on the move early this morning, the Seventeenth and Fifteenth Corps marched out to the south of Kenesaw mountain, where we went into camp about noon. We lay here the rest of the day. The rebels, it is reported, are in force on Lost mountain. All is quiet.
Tuesday, 4th–Rain early this morning. We stored away our tents in Atlanta and left in light marching order. The three corps started out on different roads, and the roads being muddy it made hard marching. We bivouacked for the night four miles west of Marietta, Georgia. The railroad bridge across the Tallahassee river here was [...]
Monday, 3d–A heavy rain last night. We started early this morning and arrived in camp about 9 o’clock. This afternoon we received orders to prepare to march early tomorrow morning with fifteen days’ rations. It is supposed that the expedition is going out towards Kenesaw mountain, as it is reported that Hood is moving north [...]