We remained in bivouac until 2 o'clock waiting for rations.
After getting our rations we crossed the Tennessee river by pontoon bridges and
started on our way for Rome, Georgia. The railroad bridge of the Memphis &
Ohio, here at Decatur, was destroyed by our gunboats soon after the battle of
Shiloh. It took seventy-two pontoon boats to make our bridge. Our road today
lay through a large swamp which it took some time for the artillery and
provision trains to cross; besides we had some very rough country to cross, and
did not get into bivouac until midnight.
Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B.,
Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 191
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