Robert M. Rogers

“ The long day at last draws to a close, and night, welcome night, settles down upon us. To the weary and worn soldiers, night brought no repose, but like beavers we worked erecting breastworks to protect us on the morrow. The battle for the day is over. The cries of the wounded, and the desultory shot of a rifle, is all that is heard beyond the noise made by the soldiers in erecting their breast works. But there were deeds of heroism enacted on Kenesaw's rugged brow that day that have never been excelled on any battle field. ”

“ The United States does and must assert its authority, wherever it has power, if it relaxes one bit to pressure, it is gone, and I know that such is not the national feeling. This feeling assumes various shapes, but always comes back to that of Union. Once admit the Union, once more acknowledge the authority of the National Government, and instead of devoting your houses, and streets and roads, to the dread usages of war, I and this army become at once your protectors and supporters, shielding you from danger, let it come from what quarter it may. ”

“ Whether in the bright sunshine or under the storm cloud, in camp or on the weary march, on the defence, or in the deadly assault, on through to victory or defeat, they never swerved or faltered, but always stood true to their great trust, until the last hostile gun was fired, and these brave boys returned their battle and storm scarred emblems to the government they had so nobly served. ”

“ The streets daily resounded to the tramp of marching feet, and the hurrying hither and thither of General officers, members of their staff, and mounted orderlies bearing dispatches to the different headquarters through the city. The blare of the bugle, the braying of mules, the thundering of artillery wheels, from the earliest dawn, until far into the night, were reminders that the General of the Army was fully alive to his trust, and was endeavoring to organize the forces under his command into a shape that would render them manageable. ”

“ The rebels were in full retreat. Why it was that we were not allowed to follow up our victory and capture or destroy the enemy, was and always has been a mystery to us. The turnpike in our rear was filled with troops, who were laying there with their guns stacked, and never during the day did they move from that position. Not only infantry, but cavalry and artillery; yet we stood and saw the foe quietly march away, leaving in our hands the field of battle, and their wounded and dead to care for. ”

“ At last the long lines of the enemy, rank upon rank, charged from the wood. A sheet of flame burst from the union ranks, a crash rent the atmosphere, and the artillery shook the earth. The foremost line of the rebel host was literally swept away; and then both armies were enveloped in a vast cloud of smoke. For ten minutes the thunder of battle burst forth from the cloud, and when our battalions advanced, they found no rebels between the turnpike and woods, except the disabled, the dying and the dead. ”

“ They are inevitable, and the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop this war, which can alone be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride. We don't want your negroes, or your horses, or your houses, or your lands, or anything you have, but we do want and will have a just obedience to the laws of the United States. ”

“ A sickening feeling creeps over us as we stand in the presence of the dead, whom we had seen such a short time before in full health and vigor. Yes, there he lay, his life ended, his heart's blood given for his country's good. Colonel Harmon was a christian man; what more can we say? A strict disciplinarian, he had the solicitude of a father for his regiment, and he wanted his men to feel that in him they had a friend who would look after their welfare. With one sad, lingering look, we tore ourself from the spot, with our heart stirred with deep emotion. But yonder is the hospital tent. ”

“ But the ever watchful eye of Rosecrans had detected the rebel design, even before their first line of battle had emerged from among the trees. The union army was like a set of chess men in his hands, and its different brigades and divisions, were moved about with as much facility, as are pawns and pieces in that grand old game. The least exhausted troops of the left and centre, were hurried forward on the double quick to combat this new effort of the enemy, and even from the extreme left, where Van Cleve was posted, a brigade was brought over to take part in the defense. ”

“ Now, I want to say right here, that if ever I have to order a Regiment of men into the field, in the summer time, and that Regiment is bound for a southern climate, I will not think it necessary to provide them with overcoats, like we were, for we had them issued to us before we left Danville, and thought we had to take them. So there we stood in line, the hot sun pouring down his rays on our heads; our eyes sore from cinders and the loss of sleep; with our accoutrements upon us, and everybody as ill-natured, as might be expected, and no wonder. ”

“ You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war on our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to day than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot have, peace and a division of our country. If the United States submits to a division now, it will not 105stop, but will go on until we reap the fate of Mexico, which is, eternal war. ”

“ We believe that our comrades of former days, feel with us an intense loyalty to William Tecumseh Sherman, a true patriot whom the tinsel, and the glare, of worldly intrigues, could not swerve from the path of duty. Excuse us, dear reader, for this little variation, this view that we may have given you to the secret chamber of our heart, we can not help it, we love the man of whom we have been writing, and the honor of having been a soldier under his command, will be one which our children's children, as they come after us, can reflect upon with pride and glory. ”

“ So, with fifes and drums playing the old tune to which so many have marched to their graves, "The Girl I left behind me," and with our banners gaily floating on the breeze, we started for the seat of war. A train of cattle cars was to be our conveyance, and on them we clambered. The usual scenes, incident to the departure of a Regiment from home, took place: wives parting from their husbands, children from their fathers and fathers from their children; all phases of the human heart were to be seen there. ”

“ In Memphis, Vicksburg and Mississippi, we fed thousands upon thousands of the families of rebel soldiers left on our hands, and when we could not see them starve. Now that war comes home to you, you feel very different; you deprecate its horrors, but did not feel them when you sent car loads of soldiers and ammunition, and moulded shell and shot to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, and desolate the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people, who only asked to live in peace at their old homes, and under the government of their inheritance. ”

“ But why prolong the tale, the ground is soaked with blood; but with that love for the old flag which has floated so gallantly at our head over so many bloody fields, and under whose stars and stripes the weary and oppressed of every land have found a shelter, under whose protecting folds we have lived in peace and security, until driven by its enemies to war; with that love kindling in our breasts we stand ready to die, if need be, but never to dishonor its beauty and its grandeur. ”

“ Savannah lay at the feet of its conquerors. The fruits of this almost bloodless campaign, a campaign that would have been creditable to the genius of a Napoleon, or a Wellington, were Savannah, a city of twenty thousand inhabitants, and of great importance to us as a harbor; more than 1000 prisoners, 150 guns, 13 locomotives in good order, 190 cars, a very large quantity of ammunition and material of war, 3 steamers, and 3,200 bales of cotton. All this General Sherman offered to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift. ”

“ To stop war, we must defeat the rebel armies that are arrayed against the laws and constitution, which all must respect and obey. To defeat these armies we must prepare the way to reach them in their recesses, provided with the arms and instruments which enable us to accomplish our purpose. Now I know the vindictive nature of our enemy, and that we may have many years of military operations from this quarter, and therefore deem it wise and prudent to prepare in time. The use of Atlanta for warlike purposes is inconsistent with its character as a home for families. ”

“ I have witnessed the conduct of many regiments in perilous situations, but I never saw a body of troops act with greater coolness, or more heroic daring, than the 125th Ills, manifested on the eventful 19th instant. When the enemy's firing was hottest, my men were most earnest. Not one man left the ground until ordered to do so. Every man seemed to appreciate that the efforts of the regiment were being bent towards the safety of the brigade, and every man was determined to do all in his power for that object. ”

“ It was a hard day on us, encumbered as we were with so much clothing, for each man was provided with two suits of underwear, and overcoat, and nothing is more tiresome than the perpetual halting, and advancing, halting and advancing, which we were compelled to do that day, owing to the crowded and jammed condition of the streets, filled as they were with regiments of infantry, cavalry, batteries of artillery, baggage, and supply trains, and all and singular that goes to make up the force of a large army about to take the field. ”

“ We are firm in the opinion that no army, either in the fighting nations of Europe, or in any other land, ever had a medical corps that could surpass our own in skill, dexterity, genuine humanity, and a desire to do their whole duty, but it did seem to us that quinine was the sheet anchor of their faith, and so it came to be a standing joke, that quinine would cure all diseases to which our bodies might be subject. ”

“ I believe a company commander should be the best disciplinarian in the service, and should feel that his position, so immediately connecting him with the rank and file, makes him the surest conservator of the peace and good order of the army. And an officer who from incompetency or other cause is not well adapted to teach and maintain a good system of discipline in his command, should be summarily dismissed from the service. ”

“ I did not wish to address you, but I believe there are no others here who desire to speak, and therefore I ask you to accept what is given in heartiness, a full, joyous welcome home to Chicago. I know it is genuine, for I myself have experienced it. Feel you are at home, and that there are no more rebels, no more raking fire, no more shot, but that you have done with them forever. ”

“ We enter; there lay our poor fellows, and as they see us they shout out a welcome. These fellows near the entrance, are not so badly wounded as those farther on, so, returning their greeting with an assumed show of glee, we pass into the tent. And now we are in the midst of desperately wounded boys who are lying here, some of them, without a vestige of clothing on them on account of the heat, slowly dying. We feel sorry that we have come to the hospital, but the wish to do something in some way to help the poor lads, is uppermost in our thoughts. ”

“ The night air was pinching cold, and in the midst of those gloomy forests of pine and cedars on the right, numbers of men lay freezing, bleeding, dying; whom no human hand would ever succor. The rebel pickets advanced at night to the edge of the woods skirting the open ground, which was the scene of Hardee's terrible repulse. The hostile lines of battle were probably a thousand yards apart. ”

“ The citizens, as far as I am able to learn, uniformly treated our sick soldiers with a great deal of kindness. Officers had no comforts or conveniences above those of enlisted men, and indulged only in such luxuries as they could transport by virtue of their own physical strength. In short I do not hesitate to say, that our trip from Atlanta to Florence, came nearer tasking to the utmost, the physical endurance of the American soldier, than any campaign I ever witnessed, and I cannot withhold the mead of praise so eminently due the brave officers and men who made it. ”

“ The objects we had seen the day before across the river had been rebels engaged in putting a battery in position in order to shell our camp, and as soon as daylight came, they opened up the entertainment. And a beautiful mark they had to shoot at, as the regiment lay on ground sloping to the river and nothing intervened between us and them but the broad bosom of the Tennessee. The pay-master and his clerk were with us at the time, and in his wake had come Charley Pratt, our sutler, to collect from the boys sundry bills they were owing him. ”

“ They are dropping as the leaves in the autumn, and oh! how that fire of hell beats in our faces. It is too much, the works cannot be carried by assault, and our line, mangled, torn and bleeding, falls back. ”

“ How long we slept we did not know, but we were suddenly awakened by a noise, and on rising up could see by the light of the moon that our supply train had come up, and that Sergeant Cole, who had command of it, was unloading the wagons on the ground. Giving our partner a punch, we told him it was time for breakfast, so up we got and made for the nearest pile of hardtack. We filled our haversacks, and taking a goodly number in our hands, beat a retreat to our blankets. Lying on the ground we munched our biscuits, and felt thankful that we were still alive. ”

“ A willing servant; too much so we often thought, ready at all times to do his part, whether in pulling in the collar, or packing on his back, strapped on so tight that it was as much as he could do to obtain his regular amount of air necessary for breathing purposes, an almost innumerable amount of blankets, tin pans, pots, roosters, niggers and all the paraphernalia of camp life, or of sending by a quick and powerful discharge of his hind feet a warrior to the hospital, or to the happy hunting grounds, the mule will ever bear an honorable name in the records of the great war. ”

“ There we sat munching our crackers and cheese, making remarks on the passers by, and occasionally enjoying a bit of chaff with some fellow, until we began to wonder how many men there could be coming, for by this time we had been there quite a while, and still the stream of humanity flowed by, still the same panorama of infantry, cavalry and artillery, passed before us, and we had come to the conclusion to stay there until they all went by, never once thinking of what a time we would have to catch up with our command. ”