Personal Recollections of Sherman's Campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas

by George W Pepper

  Weeks passed away after the burial of Leary, and time began as usual to blunt the grief which his family entertained for his loss. Even the remorse in which Shea indulged for some time after the fatal occurrence, was perceptibly yielding to its influence. It made one remarkable change in his general conduct. From the day of the fatal conflict, he studiously shunned the society of his former associates, and gave up the rebel depredations in which he before so much delighted. To the frequent remonstrances, on his inactivity and cowardice, of those who had adopted him as a leader, he turned a deaf ear, and always met their solicitations with a calm, but decided negative, always accompanying the refusal with a recommendation to them to give up such pursuits, as likely to end in no good. Wearied with his perseverance, they at length discontinued further persuasion, and went in search of a more amenable comrade. Left to himself, he turned his whole attention to the care of his father's property, and attended to it with such diligence, that the gratified parent thought himself too happy in the possession of such a son. In this state of uninterrupted tranquility, the Shea's remained during the summer, but the catastrophe was approaching.

  It happened late one night in harvest time, when the family were, as usual, collected around the kitchen fire, that young Shea suddenly recollected having left open a gate leading from the fields where the cows were pastured, into a large tract of unreaped corn. Fear lest they should get in and trample down the corn, made him start up and signify his intention to go immediately and close it. Some indefinable presentiment of evil had been hanging over his mother during the whole day. She earnestly conjured him to forego his intentions, telling him at the same time, of the fears that oppressed her. At first her words made a perceptible impression on her son, and his face whitened at her earnestness of action. But speedily recovering himself, he called to mind the serious loss which would accrue, were the cattle to be left ranging through the corn during the night, and endeavored to impress the consequences upon her, but in vain; she still remained inexorable, and refused to agree to his going out. At length the anxious father, who was fully alive to the loss which he might sustain, if the apprehensions of his son should prove true, advanced from the arm chair which he occupied at the fire-side, and signified his determination to end the dispute by going himself. This movement at once decided the controversy, and the mother agreed to her son's departure without further opposition, being well aware that when the deed was to be done, the son was the fittest messenger; as age and its accompanying infirmities were already fast rendering her husband unfit for active service.

  She accordingly attended him to the door, and dismissed him with a trembling prayer for his safety. As soon as young Shea had departed, his sisters endeavored, by renewing the conversation, to draw away their mother's attention from the fears which alarmed her, but their endeavors were without success. Still she listened in breathless terror to the sigh of the night breeze as it fitfully moaned by the log cabin, as if she thought its voice was about to herald the arrival of misfortune. At length, when sufficient time had elapsed to allow her son’s return, without his having made his appearance, her fears began to be shared by rest of her family, and every ear was anxiously bent to catch the first sounds of his approach, but still no step rewarded their watchfulness. Half an hour more passed on this silent and sorrowful suspense, without the wished-for sound saluting their ears. It was then that poor Mrs, thinking her worst fears realized, burst a passionate fit of lamentation, and paced the floor of her humble kitchen, wringing her hands in the most intense grief. Her husband, more surprised than alarmed at his son's stay, affectionately demanded why she troubled herself so much, at a very natural occurrence, reminding her of the shortness of the distance he had to go, and the little likelihood there was of any accident happening to him on the way. To this she only answered

  “Oh! Tom's last words—they are always before me, ever since heard them told." Another half hour having elapsed without tidings of the absent son, the old man became himself greatly alarmed, and set out despite of every remonstrance, to explore the way and make out the cause of his delay. In about twenty minutes he returned in a dreadful state of agitation, bearing in his hand the straw hat of his son, which he found in the field where the cattle were grazing. Nothing further, however had he learned of him, notwithstanding all his search. But though so much alarmed himself, he strove to comfort the listeners with the hope that the young man had met with some friends on the way, who had carried him off to a rebel camp, which was only a short distance. Whilst the rest of the family were consoling themselves with this conclusion, the mother remained uncomforted. In this state of uncertainty they remained for an hour longer, when suddenly the approach of footsteps gave new life to all. But their joy was of short duration, for on a nearer approach, the tread appeared far too slow and too heavy to belong to the light and active young. They looked at each other as the noise approached, and a strange mixture of fear and dread, prevented any movement, until a heavy push at the door, as if the stranger had thrown himself against it, accompanied by a deep groan, roused the unhappy mother to action, and she hastily arose from the chair on which she was sitting, and turned the key. The moment the door was opened, a man rushed in, gave a loud cry, and fell senseless near the fire. It was young. It would be needless to relate all the measures taken by the agonized mother, assisted by the rest of the family, to restore animation to the lifeless body of her son. Let it suffice, that he was shortly borne to bed, where, in the course of a short time, their endeavors were crowned with success. On first opening his eyes, the patient gave a deep groan, and, "Tom — , he exclaimed, with a convulsive start of horror, "You have had your revenge at last," Then perceiving his mother, who watched over him with breathless solicitude, he concluded, "Mother, I am dying; send for the Deacon." He was a corpse before morning.

  CHAPTER V.

  Prospects of the new campaign in Northern Georgia — The Character of the Country and the People — Preparations for Battle — Sherman's Force — The Battles of Buzzard's Roost and Rocky-faced Ridge — Comparative importance of the disaster to the Rebels — A Touching Incident — A father burying his son — Brilliant Fighting of Geary's Division.

  Northern Georgia consists of a series of natural terraces, ascending by easy gradations from the level of the roads below, to summits of several hundred feet high, affording from every summit a splendid view of a wide and varied landscape. This region is threaded by mountain streams, pierced by picturesque ravines, rimmed and ribbed with rocks. The situation of these mountains exceeds in grandeur and commanding views, anything I have ever seen. The prospect from their summits is almost boundless, presenting to the eye, scenes of magnificent grandeur and beauty. On such heights, we see more of the earth below, and the splendor of the Heavens above. The stars shine brighter — the sun rises and sets with new glories. Whittier, the Quaker poet must have had such scenery in view when he wrote:

  “We had checked our steeds,

  Silent with wonder: where the mountain wall

  Is piled to Heaven; and through the narrow rift

  Of the vast rocks, against whose rugged feet

  Beats the mad turmoil with perpetual roar,

  Where noonday is as twilight, and the wind

  Comes burdened with the everlasting moan

  Of forests and of far-off waterfalls.

  We had looked upward, where the summer sky

  Tassoled with clouds, high woven by the sun,

  Sprung its blue arch above its abutting crags,

  O'er-roofing the vast portal of the land,

  Beyond the wall of mountains.

  The people of this section are loyal and patriotic, else God had not bestowed on them the gift of mountains.

  On April 27th, Grant notified Sherman to be ready to move about the 6th of May. The attainment of Atlanta, a great railroad center, they hoped would give them full possession of that part of rebeldom extending from New Orleans to Charleston, South Carolina. By rapid movements and str
ong combinations, they then expected to hold and possess the cities of Mobile, Montgomery, Columbus and Savannah. This is a gigantic and enormous campaign, and one which will be rewarded with complete success. Our Government, penetrating the designs of the enemy, has pursued the best policy. When Marius was reprimanded for not giving battle to the Cambrians and Teutons, who were over-running the country, he answered: "We have to fight not for trophies, but for existence; we will not give battle till victory is secure." When the battle did take place, the Teutonic host was annihilated, and Italy saved.

  The immense force under Sherman, was as follows:

  ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND, MAJOR GENERAL THOMAS

  Infantry: 568

  Artillery: 2,377

  Cavalry 2,828

  TOTAL:60,773

  Guns: 130

  ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE, MAJOR GENERAL MCPHERSON

  Infantry:22,437

  Artillery: 1,404

  Cavalry: 624

  TOTAL:24,465

  Guns: 96

  ARMY OF THE OHIO, MAJOR GENERAL SCHOFIELD

  Infantry: 11,183

  Artillery: 679

  Cavalry: 1,679

  TOTAL: 13,541

  Guns: 28

  Making an aggregate of eighty-eight thousand, one hundred and eighty-eight infantry, four thousand four hundred and sixty artillery, and six thousand one hundred and forty-nine cavalry, and two hundred and fifty-four guns.

  On the 6th of May the armies were cantoned at the following places: The Army of the Cumberland, comprising the Fourth Corps, General Howard; the Fourteenth Corps, General Palmer, and the Twentieth Corps, General Hooker, at Ringgold. The army of the Tennessee, the Fifteenth Corps, John A. Logan, and the Sixteenth Corps, Gen. Dodge, at Gordon's Mills. The Army of the Ohio, the Twenty-Third Corps, Major General Schofield, on the road North of Dalton. The rebel army, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, consisted of Hardee's, Polk's and Hood's Corps, and the Cavalry Division of Wheeler. The whole rebel army were supposed to number seventy thousand.

  It might be interesting, before proceeding with the narratives of battles and skirmishes, to take a glance, however cursory and imperfect, of Rocky-Faced Ridge and Buzzard Roost, where our brave soldiers raised the shout of exultation and triumph; and starting from which, they entered on the untried perils of a campaign remarkable for signal occurrences and extraordinary results.

  Rocky-Faced Ridge is a rugged mountain range, fifteen hundred feet high, and running in a South-westerly direction from Dalton.

  The view from Rocky-Faced Ridge is inconceivable. To be imagined or felt, it must be seen and surveyed. Its sides are sparsely covered with trees and brushwood. The unmeasured extent of the view, the unbrokenness of the solitude, the majestic bleakness of the mountains, reaching as far as the eye can sweep, scattered as at random by the giant hand of God, darting their forked and rugged summits into the Heavens — these present a combination of physical features, in the survey of which, the feeling of terror or sublimity struggles for mastery, in the mind of the beholder, Nothing can exceed it in sublimity, accompanied with the feeling of rocky sterility and utter desolation.

  It is not to be supposed, however, that amid the general desolation, there are no patches of beauty, no points of interest. The region has its oases, its green and sunny spots. Under the shelter of it’s bold, precipitous crags, and at their feet, are sleeping in all their loveliness and fertility, verdant and smiling valleys. So far, however, from making the scene, in its general appearance or influence, more pleasing and bewitching, they throw a sort of unnaturalness over the entire view, bringing out, and into more striking impressiveness, the prevailing desolation. To make the lowering storm, the thunder's roar, or the lightning's gleam, altogether overwhelming, you require but to add to the picture the straggling beams of the sun, and thus even the beauty of the valleys, which exist in this wild waste, wrapped as if in the silence of death, only add an intensity of desolation to the stern and rugged appearance of the scenery.

  Buzzard Roost is a narrow defile, through which the railroad passes. In most parts, it is almost inaccessible, rendering it difficult of access, and equally difficult of egress. There is not a spot in all Georgia, which is more singular and wonderful. Its height is eighteen hundred feet. The name of Buzzard Roost is employed by the natives to signify the idea not only of utter solitude, but of boundless desolation, of untrodden dreariness. There has been much discussion why this place is so called. Like other instances of American nomenclature, it is not because buzzards roost there, but because they do not. There were once a few old grog-shops, and a railroad station, where the chivalry gamblers of the South did congregate to drink cheap toddy, and to cut each other's throats. What they did afterward, with the carcasses, the appellation of Buzzard Roost, with the people around this locality, is too suggestive to mention.

  In our walks over the bloody field, we saw a newly opened grave. It was for a Michigan boy of eighteen, who had been shot down at the side of his father, who was a private in the same company. The father sat beside the grave, carving the boy's name upon a rude head-board. It was his first-born. I took him by the hand and gave him all my heart. There was no coffin; but a few pieces of board were laid in the bottom of the grave, between the body and the bare ground. "Wrap him in his blanket," said the father, "it is one his sister sent him. Ah, me! How will they bear it at home? What will his poor mother do? She must have a lock of his hair!"

  I stooped to cut the lock with my pen knife, when a soldier came forward with a pair of scissors from his little housewife. My heart blessed the Sabbath School child who made that timely gift. And so having rendered the offices of faith and affection, we laid the brave boy in his grave, while the cannons were still roaring the doom of others, young and brave, whom we had just left on the battle-field.

  The following troops participated in the obstinate fighting which drove the rebels from Rocky-Faced Ridge and Buzzard Roost: The Divisions of Stanley, Woods and Harker, of Howard's Corps; the Divisions of Cox and Judah, of Schofield's Corps; the Divisions of John W. Geary, with the Brigades of Ross, Woods, Ireland, Candee and Jones, of Hooker's Corps. The Brigades of Colonels Mitchell and Morgan, of Palmer's Corps, were also engaged.

  The fighting of Geary's Division at Mill Creek Gap was splendid. This Division was selected to attempt the passage of the Gap, in order to flank Dalton, and never did soldiers move forward with more courageous bearing, to what was regarded as sure destruction. There was no shouting, no yelling, as they advanced with measured tread, falling in dull cadence on the panic-stricken ear. Suddenly the enemy's cannons belch forth volumes of flame and fire, and volleys of canister plowed bloody furrows through the ranks still pressing on, when the shrill order, "Close up, boys!" was heard above the fiery tempest. Standard and standard-bearer went down before each succeeding blast from the rebel cannon; but instantly the standard, wrenched from the nerveless hand of its bearer, was raised aloft by some other dauntless spirit.

  Against a palisade of cliffs and rocks, Geary's fighting fellows made five consecutive assaults. They stood their ground nobly. Many brave soldiers had gone down, pierced by Minnie balls, but still there was no stop, no check. But, alas! War is a game that two can play. The rebels, being reinforced, and having a capital view of our forces, from the hills and summits, they knew exactly our strength. Time and again, did our splendid soldiers rally, and charge the enemy's works. A brave New Jersey Sergeant, for a short time, with ten men, held the Ridge. A great thing had been done — but there were not troops enough to dislodge the rebel batteries, and Geary withdrew his Division. Still, the deed will live in history, as displaying the heroic valor of gallant men.