To the sea

With this chapter begins the narrative of the great raid through Georgia down to the sea. Now was begun a military feat which when accomplished astonished the world, and proved false the maxim laid down by military geniuses of every notoriety and age, that no army could subsist any length of time without a permanent base of supplies. The undertaking of a raid of so great magnitude and daring was an act bearing the tint of insanity and reckless daring beyond the comprehension of learned critics and wire-cutters.

For the purpose of this great march, Sherman had divided his army into two wings; the right commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard, comprising the 15th and 17th Corps; the left under Major General Henry W. Slocum, comprising the 14th and 20th Corps. The 14th Corps, to which the Eighty-sixth Illinois belonged, was composed of three divisions, led by Brigadier Generals William P. Carlin, James D. Morgan and Absalom Baird. The 3rd brigade of General Morgan’s division, to which the Eighty-sixth regiment more immediately belonged, was commanded on this great raid by Colonel Langley, of the 125th Illinois.

About 12 M., on the 16th of November, 1864, General Morgan’s command led out from Atlanta along the Augusta and Atlanta railroad, following and destroying it as far as Covington; here the division left it, marching through Shady Dale, near Edenton Factory, directly on to Milledgeville, the capital of the State, where it arrived late in the evening of the 22nd. Our march to the capital of Georgia was one of pleasure and plenty; plenty sat smiling on every hand, tauntingly inviting the Yankee boys on. The Eighty-sixth was now in the height of its glory, making itself free in every man’s potato patch, poultry yard and smoke house, thus assuring the inhabitants of its sincere regard and thankfulness for their unswerving devotion as enemies. Thus the command passed merrily on in its wild paroxysms of frantic joy, living as sumptuously as kings are wont to live in their marble palaces and wanton luxuries. Time did not drag heavily with us, nor did the ghost of hunger haunt us in our dreams. We laid down at night on a bed of pine boughs with as much composure as if feathers had been at our command. We dared famine to look us in the face, and treated discontent with contempt.

The commonest produce of the country so far was sweet potatoes or yams, and negro beans. These vegetables, with all kinds of meat, afforded high living, and in a plentiful manner. The boys were never under the necessity of carrying much provisions with them; in fact, they scarcely ever carried any in these parts, for when the column stopped for meals they would climb the fence for sweet potatoes, and shoot a shoat for meat. About half an hour before the troops went into camp, firing might be heard in every direction about the column, being caused by the boys shooting porkers and such, for their supper.

There was a great caravan of negroes hanging on the rear of our column when it arrived in Milledgeville, like a sable cloud in the sky before a thunder storm or tornado. They thought it was freedom now or never, and would follow whether or no. It was really a ludicrous sight to see them trudging on after the army in promiscuous style and divers manner. Some in buggies of the most costly and glittering manufacture; some on horseback, the horses old and blind, and others on foot; all following up in right jolly mood, bound for the Elysium of ease and freedom. Let those who choose to curse the negro curse him; but one thing is true, despite the unworthiness they bear on many minds, that they were the only friends on whom we could rely for the sacred truth in the sunny land of Dixie. What they said might be relied on so far as they knew; and one thing more, they knew more and could tell more than most of the poor white population. Milledgeville was occupied by our forces without the slightest opposition on the part of the enemy, there being no enemy of material consequence to contend with, all having gone to Nashville, there to get a complete drubbing.

On the morning of the 24th our division marched through Milledgeville, and passing on through Sandersville, crossed the Ogechee river and Rocky Comfort creek into Louisville, a county seat town, where it remained several days to let the right wing of the army come up on a line. Milledgeville is beautifully situated in the paradise portion of Georgia, the country around being rich, and on the whole, level and fertile. The city itself is laid off with much good taste, the streets being wide and handsome, and the buildings sparsely built along them. The private dwellings, for the most part, were framework, not costly and extravagant, but constructed in plain and wholesome style. The State House, however, was especially grand in its design and material. On leaving this place our forces destroyed many of the public buildings. The Oconee river, which flows along the east side of the capitol, is a narrow, deep stream, and very handsome. Over it was a good wagon bridge, left unhurt by the rebel fugitives. While crossing this bridge all pack animals over one to a company, were taken and appropriated to other use, for by general order only one was allowed to a company, but in spite of orders the boys would cling to their mules, one company having sometimes several span. These creatures were a great help to us in carrying our heavy plunder. On the march from Milledgeville to Sandersville the command was for the first time molested seriously by the cavalry of the enemy. About these times they captured many of our foragers, nineteen of whom it was said were hung on the spot.

The day on which the command entered Sandersville it had its first encounter with the enemy’s cavalry, under rebel General Wheeler, which had gotten in our front and attempted to arrest our progress.

But there was no halting on Wheeler’s account, for our troops made their way on, he and his getting out of the way. While the division was at Sandersville it gave the country around a healthy forage. A certain wealthy planter living near had five or six score of French or Spanish negroes, with a dwarfish stature and a gabble like so many geese. This planter lived in Savannah in high life, as most wealthy planters do. His possessions would seem changed when next he saw them; his cotton and out-houses, his presses and gins were burned up, his productions taken and plantation gleaned; but he is not alone in his misery, his neighbors are as bad off as himself.

It was amusing to see the slouchy negroes obey the soldiers’ orders, for they had to be obeyed. Twenty or thirty of them would run after the same chicken, heading and tripping each other as they went. These, like all negroes, were delighted to see the Yankees waltz in and make old massa “shell out.” They would point out where things were concealed, and then! Oh, then! take a regular nigger laugh when the Yanks “went in.” However, about noon on the 28th, the command having left Sandersville, arrived on the west bank of Rocky Comfort creek. The bridge over this stream being burnt, it was obliged to wait till late in the evening before a crossing could be effected into Louisville, where it went into camp one mile east of the town.

At this camp, on the evening of the 29th, Colonel Fahnestock took his regiment on picket, and on the next day fought a force of the enemy’s cavalry which was making a demonstration on our lines in several places, keeping the pickets on the maneuver most of the day.

At the first alarm of the enemy on the lines of the Eighty-sixth, the Colonel ordered his men to advance to a line two hundred yards to his front and throw up a line of barricades for protection.

While this was being done a constant fire was kept up on the rebels, whose course was soon turned, being compelled to withdraw in confusion across a large cornfield. When they reached the farther side of this field they formed their lines, and also threw up a line of barricades which they held until late in the afternoon, when the regiment charged them away and took possession, and following them up for more than a mile, returned. Though the casualties of the regiment in this day’s skirmish were not great, the excitement, nevertheless, ran high. Its loss was four missing or captured. The company loss was as follows: Co. A, two; Co. F, one; Co. K, one.

The foragers from our division on this occasion were made to suffer severely. The enemy came upon them so suddenly that they were unable to get back to the lines; not a few of them were killed and captured, and many of them, being overbalanced with wines, were shot in cold blood.

On the first of December, the division moved from Louisville in the direction of Millen, and crossing on its route, Big, Dry and Spring creeks, camped a short distance to the east of the latter. It had the corps train in charge, while the other two divisions moved on the right and left to protect it.

The next day a deflection was made in the line of march of our division, caused by the change of direction of the 20th Corps, its course being turned northward, crossing Buckhead and Rocky creeks, on pontoons laid for that purpose, and camping on the night of the 3rd at Lumpkin’s on the railroad. On the next day Carlin’s and Morgan’s divisions, with the three corps trains, after destroying three miles of railway, moved in the direction of Jacksonboro, and camped thirteen miles beyond Lumpkin’s Station. On this same day, Baird and Kilpatrick, after some fighting with Wheeler’s cavalry, drove the enemy from Waynesboro and across Brier creek.

The march was continued on the morning of the 5th, passing through Jacksonboro into the north-eastern edge of Effingham county, thence down the Savannah river, arriving in the vicinity of the city of Savannah on the 11th of December.

Many new and exciting incidents occurred on the march from Louisville to Savannah. Larger caravans of negroes than before followed our war-path, frequently being cut off by the enemy’s cavalry, but by circuitous routes and much hard marching, would make their appearance again.

There was at once a laughable and pitiful sight occurred respecting these poor unfortunates, while the command was crossing the country in the vicinity of Buckhead and Rocky creeks. As soon as the troops crossed these streams the pontoons were taken up and the Africans left behind. This, however, did not have the effect to discourage them, for, after wandering up and down the banks for a time, in mad excitement, some sturdy fellow among the rest, ventured in and swam across. This was a signal for the rest, who followed like sheep in a drove. Many of the women, with the darling calamity of their bosom in their arms, were washed under by the swift current to rise no more.

The inhabitants of Georgia, on this unexpected raid through their country, used many devices in the effort to hide their household affairs, horses, mules, wagons and all kinds of provisions from the invading Yankee army, but to no material purpose. The foragers would first go to the houses and inquire of the families where they kept their provisions, horses, mules and such, the answer invariably being that “we’ens have none, are poor people,” etc. The boys could not be fooled out of a good thing by such talk as that, but proceeded immediately to an investigation of the matter. Drawing the rammers from their guns they would insert them in the ground at every suspicious place where fresh dirt might be seen, and if they should strike anything hard with them, the process of digging would be the next thing on the programme, and behold! various things of consecutive kinds would appear, probably the whole contents of a smoke-house or dwelling. The soldier, making this discovery, would take of the treasure what he wanted, and tell the next fellow he met, who, after satisfying his desires would do unto another as he was done by, fulfilling the moral rules. In this manner, the whole treasure would soon be absorbed in an arithmetical decreasing progression.

While some soldiers were pursuing this plan for finding things, others were pursuing other plans. Calling a negro, they would inquire where his massa or missus had hid their mules, the reply being, “I don’t know, massa.” “But you do know, you black rascal, now out with it, or you’ll hear a dead nigger fall,” at the same time presenting a gun. It works like a charm, the negro begs and agrees to tell. A Yankee can’t be foiled, for he has more ways than a centipede has legs.

No sooner had our army reached the Savannah river than many of the foragers crossed it into South Carolina, on large flat-boats which they captured going down the river towards Savannah laden with the choicest treasures. There was also a small stern-wheel gun-boat plying along the river above Savannah, watching the movements of our forces, which General Morgan allowed his foragers would gobble before his command reached Savannah.

In going down the Savannah river, the division passed near old Ebenezer church which was built in 1739, nearly one hundred and twenty-seven years ago. It is the remains of the oldest church in the United States, and bears with it much of historical interest.

On the afternoon of the 9th of December, when our column was within fourteen miles of Savannah, our passage was disputed by a rebel battery planted at the crossing of two roads.

Two regiments of our brigade, the Eighty-sixth and 125th Illinois, were deployed as skirmishers, with orders to advance until they found the enemy’s works. By the time these orders were executed, night drew on, and under its cover the rebels retreated. This battery was captured, however, having mistaken the roads and running into other of our forces.

The Eighty-sixth regiment, in this skirmish, lost two men wounded. One from Company A, the other from H.

After the skirmish, our division marched to the Ten-mile House and went into camp, giving the road to the 20th Corps.

The next day, the command moved on to within three or four miles of Savannah, taking up position around it. The siege of this place may be said to have begun on the 11th of December.

The forces under rebel General Hardee in the works around Savannah numbered about fifteen thousand men.

The face of the country in this vicinity, was level and swampy, so that a large force well handled would make a formidable resistance.

Our works were built close up to the enemy’s, and constant skirmishing went on.

On the 13th, two days after the siege began, the 2nd division of the 15th Corps, charged on Fort McAllister and took it. This gained us communication with our fleet, and a short time after we eat hard tack from the great sea.

During the siege, the Eighty-sixth did not go on the front lines, but remained in camp in the rear, spending most of its time pounding rice or seeing it well done by the natives.

In the siege of Savannah, the 20th Corps held the left of our lines, resting on the Savannah river; the 14th Corps was on its right; the 17th Corps next, and the 15th Corps on the extreme right, with its flank resting on the Gulf railway, at station N. The army remained in this position until the 21st, ten days from the commencement of the siege. In the meantime there was a deal of foraging done, as the country began to fail to supply the demands made upon it.

The last few days of the siege, the foragers were compelled to go a long distance to the rear in order to procure the necessary quota of rice, for this was eminently a rice country. The soldiers always had regular meals of rice and pork for breakfast, pork and rice for dinner, and vice versa for supper.

Up the Savannah river from the city of Savannah, and bordering on it upon either bank, were large and nourishing rice plantations, cultivated by great numbers of negroes of every hue of the skin and brogue of the tongue, some of them direct from Liberia, some from New Guinea, and others from the swamps of Florida. It was amusing to see the soldiers act the place of master and overseer over these deplorable creatures. One soldier would crowd together thirty or forty of them, and march around them at right-shoulder-shift arms, keeping them at work pounding rice with mortar and pestle. Great ricks of this precious produce, in every way resembling oats, were stacked on each plantation, and from ten to twenty thousand bushels in a single stackyard. Our army made use of it in various ways, much of it being threshed and hulled, and then used by the soldiers, but a greater part fed to mules.

Thus, things passed merrily on, until the memorable 21st of December, when our forces marched proudly into the “Forest City,” Hardee having evacuated it on the night of the 20th. Now, the whole army went into camp in and about it, being once more in communication with the outer world.

Here ends the great raid to the sea.

Immediately after the capture of Savannah, General Sherman sent the following brief note to President Lincoln: “I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.”

On this raid, the army marched over three hundred miles directly through the heart of Georgia, living off the best of the land. No less than ten thousand negroes left the plantations of their former masters and accompanied the army when it reached Savannah, without taking note of thousands more who were left along the line of march. Over twenty thousand bales of cotton were burned, besides twenty-five thousand captured at Savannah. Thirteen thousand head of beef cattle, nine million five hundred thousand pounds of corn, and ten million five hundred thousand of fodder, were taken from the country and issued to the men and animals.

Besides the history of this great raid, there are many other historical incidents connected with this portion of the country. Savannah itself was the first settlement in the State, being laid off in the year 1733. It was here where the great John Wesley first officiated as minister. And it was the scene of many revolutionary incidents; where General Lincoln fought the British in October, 1779; where Pulaski fell, and where Nathaniel Greene lies buried.

Savannah is located in a low, level country, surrounded by almost impassable swamps of a very unhealthy nature. It has a canal running into it from the Ogechee, and three railroads radiating from it; and from its beautiful shade trees, it is appropriately called the “Forest City.”

Our great raid through Georgia, the Queen State of the Confederacy, was practically unobstructed by the enemy. True, they attempted to arrest our progress, but without the slightest success. Some of Wheeler’s men, would, at times, make a stand behind an intrenchment and contest our advance. Our skirmishers would push forward, reinforced by the reserve, a charge would be sounded by the bugle, a rush follow and amid the rattle of musketry and report of field pieces, the ground would be swept over by our boys, the works carried, and enemy routed. These little fights resulted in no check to our advancing columns. The head of the column would halt to let the rear close up, and before that was done, the advance guard would have cleared the way, and the column again set in motion.

Such too, was the case when fallen trees or destroyed bridges obstructed the road. The pioneers had usually cleared away the impediments before the column had closed up, and no stoppage on this account was experienced. Notwithstanding this arduous march down to the great sea, the soldiers were not in the least dispirited. They wanted for nothing to eat or wear, and it seemed to them more of a gala day than one of fatigue.

Before closing this chapter, we will give a summary of events from the time we left Lee and Gordon’s Mills until the close of the year 1864.

The total casualties of the Eighty-sixth Illinois, during this time, the most eventful period of its history, were:

The beginning of 1864 found us near Chattanooga with an army nearly equal to our own to contend with; the end of it found us in Savannah, snugly encamped near the great sea. The whole year had been resplendent with victory. Atlanta and Milledgeville and Savannah had fallen, and the anaconda of Yankee vengeance had almost extinguished the lights of rebellion. Success seemed mixed with doubt when the year began; when it closed, bright and buoyant was the hope of our armies on land and sea.

Sherman had pushed from the mountain districts of the north to the level lowlands of the south; no army having ever met with more signal success than his. No difficulties had been more successfully overcome, at any time or age, than by his exultant army. With determined zeal and firm tread it marched from one victory to another.

If it failed in driving the enemy at one or two or three trials, it was still fearless and determined. And he was a brave and mighty man who led this army through so many perils to lasting fame and achievements. It had been on an active campaign for eight long months, digging in the dirt and marching like the wind.