Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V2 by Jacob Dolson Cox

J >> Jacob Dolson Cox >> Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V2

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49

I need not repeat here the details of the October campaign, which I
have given elsewhere. [Footnote: See "Atlanta," chap. xvii.; and for
the growth and completion of the plan of the March to the Sea,
reference is made to the Life of General Sherman (Great Commanders
Series), chap. x.] On the 2d Sherman was aware that the enemy was
advancing on Marietta; but far from hurrying to anticipate him
there, we were held back yet another day that Hood might be lured
far enough to let us strike him in rear. General Corse at Rome was
ordered to reinforce Allatoona pass and hold stubbornly there,
[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 8.] and then,
on the 3d and 4th, Sherman was in motion, trying to catch the enemy
in that rough country on the border of the Etowah. On the 2d I had
sent a division to make a strong reconnoissance eastward to Flat
Rock, and a brigade to Stone Mountain to make sure that no enemy was
near us in that direction, [Footnote: _Id_., p. 33.] and on its
return we followed the rest of the army northward, Slocum's corps
remaining in garrison at Atlanta, as before mentioned.

There had been continuous heavy rains, and all the rivers were
swollen, which retarded Hood's movements as well as ours; but he
showed commendable prudence, did not advance with his main body
beyond Dallas, and operated by detachments on the railway, which he
broke near Ackworth, but did no serious damage. On the 5th Corse and
Tourtelotte made their fine defence of the position at Allatoona
against French's division, and on the 6th my reconnoissance proved
that Hood had concentrated again in the neighborhood of Dallas. The
two most important bridges on the railroad were now safe, those
crossing the Chattahoochee and the Etowah; and as Forrest had failed
to reach the line from Chattanooga to Nashville, Hood's plan of
campaign had failed and Sherman's communications were unbroken.
Unwilling to confess defeat, Hood now determined to make a
considerable circuit westward, cross the Coosa below Rome and march
by the Chattooga valley upon Resaca, where the bridge over the
Oostanaula was next in importance to that at Allatoona. [Footnote:
Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 804.] As the enemy's first
movement from Dallas was westward, Sherman had to look for
information as to his further course. Strengthening the garrison at
Rome, he waited at Allatoona for news, discussing with General Grant
by telegraph his own plan of marching upon Savannah if Hood moved
far westward. The latter repeated to his government his purpose to
follow Sherman if he did so. [Footnote: _Ibid_.] The storms and
floods had done much more damage than Hood, several of the large
bridges being injured and smaller ones carried away.

At Allatoona Sherman's headquarters were close to my own, and he
opened to me his views of the situation. He did not propose to leave
the railway line to follow Hood far; but if the opportunity offered
to fight him near the line, he would seize it. If Hood entered
Tennessee near the Georgia line, he would follow and destroy him;
but he was already confident that his enemy would not dare do this,
and pointed to Muscle Shoals as the nearest point at which he was
likely to cross the Tennessee River. He hoped that General Grant
would consent, in this case, to his own march on Savannah, and
promised to lead Hood a lively chase if the latter turned back to
follow him. Once a new base on the sea was reached, he would turn
upon and crush his opponent.

His plan had a personal interest for myself, for as we were out of
communication with General Schofield and might march southward any
day, he thought it probable that he should separate the Twenty-third
Corps from the Department of the Ohio and take it with him, making
my command of it permanent. He assumed that Schofield would prefer
to remain in the higher position of department commander, rather
than leave it for the field command of the corps, which was a good
deal weakened by the hard service of the summer.

From the 10th to the 13th of October the army moved in echelon by
short marches to Rome, and on the date last named I was ordered to
push a reconnoissance with the corps and General Kenner Garrard's
division of cavalry down the Coosa far enough to settle the question
where Hood had gone. [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt.
iii. p. 230.] We started early and made thirteen miles in the
forenoon, routing the enemy's cavalry holding that road and
capturing two cannon. It was definitely learned that Hood had taken
up the pontoon bridge and gone north. [Footnote: _Id_., p. 250.]
Meantime the enemy had appeared at Resaca, and as soon as it was
certain that they were in force Sherman put everything in rapid
motion in that direction. He had warned Thomas on the 11th, and
directed him to reinforce Chattanooga and Bridgeport. [Footnote:
_Id_., p. 251.] There was again a chance that Hood might be caught
between the forces. He had approached Resaca from the west, by the
north bank of the Oostanaula, on the 12th, but his summons of the
place being defied, he did not assault, but after some threatening
demonstrations marched north to Dalton. He plainly felt that he had
no time to spare, but it was just as plain that in his haste he was
accomplishing nothing.

My march down the Coosa had put me in the rear on the movement north
from Rome. I reached Resaca on the 15th, in the early afternoon,
having received authority from Sherman to pass the trains and push
forward. [Footnote: _Id_., p. 294.] The Army of the Cumberland had
followed Hood to Dalton and Buzzard Roost, the Army of the Tennessee
had driven his cavalry out of Snake Creek Gap and occupied it, and
we were halted at Resaca to support either. General Schofield had
reached Chattanooga on the 13th, and was given command of all troops
in that vicinity by General Thomas, who was at Nashville. [Footnote:
Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 253.] Schofield had in
hand the two divisions which had been sent back from Atlanta a
fortnight before, besides the garrison; and other troops were on the
way to him from Nashville. But communication with Sherman was
interrupted, and Hood had better knowledge of the full situation.
Learning that Chattanooga was held strongly, Hood marched from
Buzzard Roost by way of Villanow over Taylor's Ridge into the
Chattooga valley, up which he had just come. Prisoners told us that
his army was out of provisions, as they had failed in the hope of
capturing depots of stores. [Footnote: _Id._, pt. i. p. 791.] He
must get back within reach of his own depots. Gadsden had been made
a temporary base, and he made haste to reach the valley of the
Coosa, in which it lay.

Sherman had wished that the rumor would turn out to be true which
gave the neighborhood of Bridgeport as the place at which Hood would
enter Tennessee; [Footnote: _Id._, pt. iii. pp. 296, 312.] but if he
did so anywhere from Guntersville to Chattanooga, it would be
possible to head him off by General Thomas's forces whilst our
principal army closed in upon him from the rear. During the 16th
Snake Creek Gap was cleared of the timber blockade which Hood had
made to delay our chase, and my corps reached Villanow. The Army of
the Tennessee was at Ships Gap, and that of the Cumberland in close
support. We here learned definitely that Stewart's corps of Hood's
army had marched southward from Villanow to Subligna on the east
side of Taylor's Ridge, and the main body from Lafayette to
Summerville on the west side. [Footnote: _Id._, pp. 310, 311.]

After a day spent in reconnoissances and renewal of communications
with Chattanooga and Nashville, we marched again on the 18th,
Sherman leading the main army from Lafayette southward, whilst he
ordered me to march from Villanow by way of Subligna to Gover's (or
Mattox's) Gap, and thence to Summerville, following the enemy's
corps which had gone that way. [Footnote: Official Records, vol.
xxxix. pt. iii. p. 325.] We reached Subligna at noon, driving
vedettes and patrols of the enemy's cavalry as we advanced. From
Subligna I sent Major Wells of my staff with a regiment over the
mountain by a bridle path, to inform General Sherman of our
progress. He had an unexpectedly long and rough march, but reported
as ordered. [Footnote: _Id._, p. 351.] We continued the march to
Gover's Gap, drove away a cavalry rear-guard, and repaired the road
which ran along a bench cut in the precipitous hillside. An easy way
of communication with Sherman in the Chattooga valley was thus
opened, after a day's march of twenty-two miles. General Kenner
Garrard with his cavalry had followed a parallel valley further
east, toward Dirt-town, and joined me at Gover's Gap soon after my
arrival there. We now marched through Melville to Gaylesville, where
the army was concentrated on the 20th. The Twenty-third Corps was
placed in advance, near Blue Pond, where a bridge over the Chattooga
was to be rebuilt, and one division was sent to Cedar Bluff, a
pretty village on the Coosa, where it covered the main road down the
valley from Rome to Gadsden. I made a reconnoissance to Center, over
the Gadsden road, and learned definitely that the whole army of Hood
was at Gadsden. [Footnote: _Id._, pp. 346, 357, 359, 361, 364, 369.
376, 399, 423.]

Sherman's wish that Hood would cross the Tennessee near Stevenson
was very sincere. He approved the movement by Schofield to occupy
Trenton with the two divisions still under his command, but he
disapproved the directions given by Thomas to place troops at
Caperton's Ferry, which was on the direct road to Stevenson. He
wanted that door left open till Hood should have part, at least, of
his army over the Tennessee River. [Footnote: _Id._, p. 335.] He
felt so sure, however, that Hood would not fall into such a trap,
that his dispatches reiterate the opinion that if the enemy crossed
the river at all, it would be west of Huntsville or at Muscle
Shoals. [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 333,
357, 395.] He was turning his whole mind to the March to the Sea,
and studying the contingencies which it involved. In a long dispatch
to Halleck on the 19th [Footnote: _Id._, pp. 357-358.] he had mapped
out his general scheme, and gave his reasons why he must have
alternates in his choice of objectives, though his real aim would be
Savannah. He therefore named, as the points where the Navy should
watch for him, Charleston, Savannah, Pensacola, and Mobile, saying,
"I will turn up somewhere." On the 22d, writing to General Grant, he
reviewed the ground and the effect which it would have on the
Confederacy when the Georgia railroads were destroyed and he should
"bring up with 60,000 men on the seashore about Savannah or
Charleston," concluding, "I think this far better than defending a
long line of railroad." [Footnote: _Id._, p. 395.] At the outset
Thomas had advised Sherman, in view of the fact that General Grant
had not yet been able to carry out his plan to take southern
seaports as a preliminary to an advance beyond Atlanta, to "adopt
Grant's idea of turning Wilson loose rather than undertake the plan
of a march with the whole force through Georgia to the sea."
[Footnote: Id., p. 334.] General James H. Wilson had been sent from
Grant's army to be chief of cavalry with Sherman, and Thomas's
suggestion was that until Grant's part of the general plan should be
accomplished, activity should be limited to the defence of the
territory already occupied, except as cavalry raids might harry the
Confederate country. But Sherman answered, "To pursue Hood is folly,
for he can twist and turn like a fox and wear out any army in
pursuit. To continue to occupy long lines of railroad simply exposes
our small detachments to be picked up in detail and forces me to
make countermarches to protect lines of communication. I know I am
right in this, and shall proceed to its maturity." [Footnote:
Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 378.] He set to work to
organize the two armies in such force that Thomas should feel
content with his means of meeting Hood if the latter should not turn
back after the Georgia column.

General Schofield had been feeling his way southward with Wagner's
and Morgan's divisions, and on the 19th Sherman ordered him to move
by the most direct route to Alpine, overtaking the column which was
marching on the west side of the Chattooga valley, as I was doing on
the east. Sherman added the direction to keep the command as it was
till they should meet in person. [Footnote: _Id._, p. 366.] This had
reference to his purposes in regard to myself and the Twenty-third
Corps, which have been mentioned.

On the 21st Schofield's column reached Alpine, and he rode forward
to Sherman's headquarters at Gaylesville. I had gone up from my own
headquarters to make some report to Sherman, and was with him when
Schofield arrived. Our greeting was a warm one. The present
situation and what had occurred since the parting at Atlanta was of
course the first topic of conversation, and I had the keen pleasure
of hearing Sherman praise the handling of the corps during the past
months in much stronger terms than he had used to me alone. Then
followed the forecast of the future. Sherman put strongly his belief
that Hood would not cross the Tennessee above the Shoals, and his
purpose to march to Savannah as soon as the enemy should be
definitely committed to a movement across Alabama. He then touched
upon the details of organization, and referring to the fact that the
corps was weak in numbers and that it would be perhaps unpleasant
for Schofield to leave the command of his department for an
indefinite period, suggested that he should consent to the temporary
absence of the corps. Schofield very promptly replied that he should
prefer almost any alternative to the mere administrative work of the
department and its garrisons in East Tennessee and Kentucky. He said
that if Hood should not follow the southern movement, but should
turn his whole force upon Thomas with desperate purpose to drive him
out of Tennessee, another veteran corps, though a small one, might
make all the difference between defeat and victory. Sherman replied
that he would consider the whole matter carefully and adjourned the
discussion, requesting that Schofield should confer fully with me.

We continued the conference at the corps headquarters, and I agreed
with General Schofield that no military duty was so little
attractive as the perplexing semi-political administration at the
rear, adding that till the war ended I desired to be with the
biggest and most active column in the west. I frankly said that it
was this consideration that made with me the great attraction of the
arrangement Sherman had suggested. Schofield expressed the strong
conviction that Hood would not follow Sherman, and that in middle
Tennessee the real fighting must be done. He had no idea of putting
the corps in garrison anywhere, but felt sure that Thomas must
concentrate everything he might have for most active field work, and
that in strictest military sense our task, if we were there, would
be not less important or less honorable than that of our comrades
who marched eastward. It would, besides, give us the opportunity to
fill up the corps with the new regiments that were coming forward,
when otherwise, with the expiration of the term of some we had and
the casualties of a new campaign, we should probably find it reduced
to a single division. Schofield's clearly expressed purpose to seek
the most active field work with Thomas in a campaign against Hood's
army if we went back to middle Tennessee brought me to agreement
with his views, and I promised to support them in my next interview
with General Sherman, as I did. I still look back with pleasure to
this incident as proof of the hearty comradeship between Sherman and
his subordinates, which continued to be shown toward me by both him
and Schofield to the end. [Footnote: My memory is supported, in this
matter, by home letters written at the time.]

Sherman postponed his decision till he was quite sure what course
Hood would take, for the latter was concentrating his army at
Gadsden and having a conference with Beauregard on the day of the
interviews on our side which I have narrated. After agreeing with
his immediate superior upon the plan of entering Tennessee at or
near Guntersville, Hood started on the morning of the 22d, but in
accordance with confidential directions he gave his corps
commanders, his column changed direction at Benettsville, taking the
Decatur road, which there branched to the left and forced the
marching westward. [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii.
pp. 831, 835, 81, 843.] The gloss which he afterward put on the
matter was that he changed his plan in consequence of information
that Forrest could not join him as he expected. [Footnote: Advance
and Retreat, p. 20.] This does not bear examination. Forrest was,
under the orders of General Taylor, preparing a raid into western
Tennessee to bring out all the supplies that country contained and
to break up the railway to Memphis, sending the iron to repair the
road in the vicinity of Tuscumbia, where the base for the new
operations in middle Tennessee would be. On the 20th Hood had
himself informed Taylor of his purpose to cross at Guntersville,
[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. p. 835.] and
Wheeler's cavalry was relied upon to cover the movement till middle
Tennessee should be reached. [Footnote: _Id._, p. 845.] On the 22d
Taylor was directed to have Forrest open communication with Hood "by
letter or otherwise," and act for the time under his orders,
[Footnote: _Ibid._] but no immediate interference with what Forrest
was doing in western Tennessee was indicated. The only reasonable
interpretation of Hood's conduct is that when he faced the
consequences of a movement to Guntersville with Sherman at
Gaylesville ready to close the _cul de sac_ behind him, even his
audacity shrunk from the plan, and he proved the truth of Sherman's
prediction that he would not dare to do it. Beauregard explicitly
says that the change in Hood's plan was made after leaving Gadsden,
where it had been definitely arranged. [Footnote: Official Records,
vol. xlv. pt. i. p. 662.]

On our side several days were spent in watchful observation. I
returned to my division, Schofield resumed the command of the Army
of the Ohio, and the divisions he had led from Chattanooga joined
the Fourth and Fourteenth Corps, to which they belonged. [Footnote:
_Id._, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 401, 402.] Thomas was informed that
the Fourth Corps would be sent back to him with about 5000 men from
other commands who were not quite in condition for the March to the
Sea, but who would be fit for post garrison. [Footnote: _Id._, p.
408.] Sherman's recommendations for promotions earned in the past
campaigns were made on the 24th, in urgent and explicit terms,
endorsing the approval expressed by the separate army commanders,
and saying that if the law did not allow the addition to the number
of general officers, he believed that "the exigencies of the country
would warrant the muster out of the same number of generals now on
the list that have not done service in the past year." We who were
thus recommended thought we had the right to feel that the terms of
approval used by such a commander gave a military standing hardly
less than the actual gift of a grade from the government. [Footnote:
_Id._, p. 413. See Appendix C for the language used by Sherman, and
for the recommendation of General Schofield.]

On the 25th reports came from the light-draft gunboats patrolling
the Tennessee River that the enemy was making demonstrations at
several points below Guntersville, [Footnote: Official Records, vol.
xxxix. pt. iii. p. 436.] and next day Sherman ordered the Fourth
Corps to march to Chattanooga and report to General Thomas. He also
issued his order that "in the event of military movements or the
accidents of war separating him from his military division," Thomas
should "exercise command over all troops and garrisons not
absolutely in the presence of the general-in-chief." [Footnote: Id.,
p. 442.] He pointed out to Thomas that Chattanooga and Decatur were
the points to be held "to the death;" that it would not be wise to
move into West Tennessee unless he knew that the enemy had followed
south, as he thought they would do when they found him starting from
Atlanta; and that when Thomas was ready for aggressive movements,
his line of operations should be against Selma. [Footnote: Id., pp.
448, 449.]

On the 27th of October Schofield wrote to Sherman, giving details of
the reduction in numbers of the divisions of the corps now in the
field, and renewing his urgency for some arrangement to increase its
force. [Footnote: Id., p. 468.] The news from the west now made it
certain that Hood was before Decatur, and Sherman issued orders on
the 28th for the army to march to Rome. His purpose in this was
double. He would try the effect on the enemy of the apparent start
toward the east, whilst he concentrated his army on the railroad
which was now repaired and which gave him the means of rapidly
reinforcing General Thomas to any extent that might become
necessary. He informed Halleck that he had sent the Fourth Corps
back and that he might send ours also, though he still thought it
probable that his movement on Macon would make Hood "let go." He
urged the hastening of reinforcements to Thomas. Rosecrans promised
to send General A. J. Smith with his two divisions back from
Missouri, and Sherman only waited to get his sick and wounded to the
rear, and to accumulate at Atlanta the supplies he reckoned it
necessary to take with him. His determination to send us back to
join the Fourth Corps was shown by his confidential dispatch to
Colonel Beckwith, his chief commissary, that he might reduce his
estimates for rations to enough for 50,000 men to go south.
[Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 476, 477.]

Our orders to march came at noon, and we started at once, with the
information that from Rome we should go back to Tennessee.
[Footnote: Id., pt. i. p. 793.] In the evening of the same day
Sherman definitely advised Thomas of his decision to send Schofield
to him, and the outline of the arrangements for the new campaign was
completed. [Footnote: Id., pt. iii. p. 484.] General R. S. Granger
went with reinforcements to the aid of Colonel Doolittle, who
commanded the post at Decatur, and that place was held against Hood,
who was too short of supplies to delay long. He hastened on to
Tuscumbia, where his new base was established, and where he halted
to collect the means for the invasion of Tennessee, near the great
bend of the river. He first gave orders to lay his pontoons at
Bainbridge, at the foot of Muscle Shoals, the place named by Sherman
as his probable crossing; but the lack of supplies and the desire
for better preparation prevented, and he moved on, reaching
Tuscumbia on the 30th. [Footnote: Id., p. 866.]

Our march to Rome was lengthened by our taking the right, leaving
the more direct roads for other parts of the army. We crossed the
Coosa, following the road to Jacksonville for five miles, and then
turned east on the so-called river road. This, however, proved
impassable, and, next morning, we were obliged to retrace our steps
to the Jacksonville road, and going an hour's march on it reach the
road from Centre to Cave Spring, which we followed to the latter
place, which takes its name from a remarkable spring breaking out
beneath a mountain, a considerable brook at once. Some sixty feet up
the hill-side is the mouth of a cave at the bottom of which is the
underground stream, which finds its way out by another fissure. The
village was the rendezvous where Beauregard overtook Hood on the
evening of the 9th of October, and held their first consultation in
regard to the campaign. [Footnote: Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt.
i. p. 796.] It was a pretty place which had not suffered the ravages
of war; the situation was a lovely one, and there were there a
public Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and some other public buildings.
Our countermarch had lengthened the day's journey to twenty-two
miles.

On the 30th my division marched to Rome and encamped on the Calhoun
road, two or three miles northeast of the town. At Rome I made my
farewell visit to General Sherman at his headquarters. He talked
freely of his plans to the group of officers who were present, and
in the final hand-shaking with me said that Hood had now put so
large a space between them that the March to the Sea could not be
interfered with, and that whatever hard fighting was to come in the
campaign would fall to the lot of us who were going back to middle
Tennessee. [Footnote: The fullest resume of Sherman's views when on
the point of starting is found in his letter to Grant of November
eth. Official Records, vol. xxxix. pt. iii. pp. 658-661.] Our
movement northward was through Calhoun and Resaca to Tilton, where
we were to take railway trains for Nashville; but the rolling stock
was overtasked in the rush of work to complete Sherman's
preparations, and we marched on to Dalton. An autumnal rainstorm had
come on, and though we had good camping ground, our impatience at
the delay made our stay of three or four days at the ruined village
anything but pleasant. On the 3d of November I noted in my
pocket-diary that it was one of those rainy, gusty days "when the
smoke from the camp-fire fills your eyes whichever side of the fire
you get." As we had gone northward we met large numbers of officers
and men who had been on leave, and who were now hurrying to join
their commands. Two of my own staff rejoined us in this way, and a
brand-new brass band that had been recruited for Casement's brigade
came also, making that command proud as peacocks for a while.