Diary of Captain Joseph Stockton, December 2, 1862

Left camp at Lumpkins Mills at six o'clock this morning, the 72d in the advance. General Grant passed us while we were at a halt. I was sitting in a fence corner keeping myself warm with a splendid fire of fence rails. Nell Towner was with the escort; it did me good to see him. Encamped for the night on a cotton plantation. Fence rails, straw, chickens, etc., disappeared as suddenly as if they had been swept off by a hurricane. The men believe in making themselves comfortable. Skirmishing ahead, our forces cross the Tallahatchie river, having to take the artillery apart to get it across on a small flat boat that was found.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 5

Diary of Captain Joseph Stockton, December 4, 1862

Did not march today. Got permission to go on to Sherman's army which was marching on our right flank to get in Price's rear, and compel him to evacuate the fort he had thrown up on the Tallahatchie and which was in Grant's front. Saw Will Stockton who was in Battery "A" Chicago Light Artillery. Saw a number of my Chicago acquaintances in batteries A and B. Took dinner with Will, spent an hour very pleasantly. Started home in a rain storm, got lost and would have gone I don't know where had I not met some of Sherman's bummers returning to camp with spoils. Had a very disagreeable ride back—did not see a soul for five miles, raining hard, got to be dark before I reached our camp. Very glad to get back safe—rained hard all night.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 5

Diary of Captain Joseph Stockton, December 5, 1862

Left camp at 6 o'clock. Roads in a terrible condition, mud knee deep, marching almost impossible; artillery stuck in the road, wagons in every conceivable condition. Crossed the Tallahatchie on a pontoon bridge of a very primitive build, being composed of trees cut down fastened together with ropes and tied to the shore with the ropes, small trees were laid crosswise and on this we crossed. The rebels had quite a strong fort here which would have given us a great deal of trouble, but Sherman's march on our flank forced Price to abandon it. The roads on the south side were much better and after a wearisome march of sixteen miles reached Oxford, Mississippi, at 8 o'clock p. m. I never was so tired and never saw the men so worn out and fatigued as they were on this day's march. We were kept over an hour before our camp was located and it seemed as if all dropped to sleep at once. I could not but think of those at home who are all the time condemning our generals and armies for not moving with greater rapidity, for not making forced marches and following up the enemy, when they know nothing about it. We made quite a parade going through Oxford as it is a place of considerable importance. Flags were unfurled, bands struck up, bugles sounded, and men for the time being forgot their fatigue and marched in good order. Nothing like music to cheer up the men.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 5-6

Major-General Stephen A. Hurlbut to Lieutenant-Colonel John A. Rawlins, June 10, 1863

MEMPHIS, TENN., June 10, 1863.

Lieut. Col. JOHN A. RAWLINS, Assistant Adjutant-General:

COLONEL: I have received to-day one letter from Captain Lyford, chief of ordnance, in relation to sending down 32 pounder guns and carriages for 10-inch columbiads. Colonel [Ignatz G.] Kappner, First Tennessee Heavy A.D. Artillery, proceeded at once to Columbus and Island No. 10 to fill this order.

In the other, from yourself, of the 8th, you direct the infantry find artillery of this command held ready for still further reduction at short notice.

The command is ready to be moved as rapidly as can be done and to any extent required by orders from headquarters. It now covers the main line of road from Memphis to Corinth, and covers this very lightly. Had I any disposable infantry force, I should move down the Panola road.

Scout in at La Grange; left Jackson the 7th. Says they claim 50,000 men with Johnston; he thinks not more than 30,000. Breckinridge is there with 10,000. Forces constantly arriving from Charleston, Savannah, and Tennessee. The railroad was fully repaired on Saturday. Forage and supplies being forced down from all parts of Mississippi.

[W. H.] Jackson and [J. W.] Whitfield, with cavalry, reached Jackson on Friday. Hatch has just returned from an expedition along the Tallahatchee. Met nothing but pickets and light squads. I shall send the whole of my cavalry down as far as they can go, to destroy crops and break up roads and means of transportation.

A portion of the Second Division, of Ninth Army Corps, arrived this afternoon; the balance will be here in a few hours from Cairo. The division is in command of Major-General Parke. Everything is being pressed forward as fast as possible, but there is terrible scarcity of boats, and it seems as if boats that go down to your parts never return. It is impossible to send anything down until some of the boats below are returned. Every boat from Saint Louis is in service. They should not be kept an hour after they are discharged of their cargoes.

I am fully satisfied that Johnston cannot bring more than 35,000 men, of all arms, within the next ten days.

Bragg is removing his stores to Atlanta, but Rosecrans will not believe any reports from this quarter, and I have ceased communicating with him, except through Washington. He could now easily clear Middle Tennessee and open communication with Dodge at Hamburg.

I have the honor to be, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. A. HURLBUT.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 3 (Serial No. 38), p. 397

Captain Charles Wright Wills: April 24, 1863

Camp 103d Illinois Infantry, Lagrange, Tenn.,

April 24, '63.

We have just returned from the hardest and yet by far the most pleasant scout in which I have up to this time participated. We started from here one week ago to-day, Friday, and my birthday (how old I am getting) on the cars. We were four and a half regiments of infantry, one six-gun battery and no cavalry. At 3 o'clock p. m. we were within seven miles of Holly Springs and found two bridges destroyed. We worked that p. m. and night and finished rebuilding the bridges by daylight the 18th. We had only moved two miles further when we reached another bridge which we found lying around loose in the bed of the stream. The general concluded to abandon the railroad at this point, so we took up the line of march. We passed through Holly Springs at 12 m. I don't believe that I saw a human face in the town. A more complete scene of desolation cannot be imagined. We bivouacked at dark, at Lumpkin's mill, only one mile from Waterford. At 9 p. m. a dreadful wind and rain storm commenced and continued until 1. We were on cleared ground, without tents, and well fixed to take a good large share of both the wind and water. I'm positive that I got my full portion. 'Twas dark as dark could be, but by the lightning flashes, we could see the sticks and brush with which we fed our fire, and then we would feel through the mud in the right direction. Nearly half the time we had to hold our rubber blankets over the fire to keep the rain from pelting it out. After the storm had subsided I laid down on a log with my face to the stars, bracing myself with one foot on each side of my bed. I awoke within an hour to find that a little extra rain on which I had not counted, had wet me to the skin. That ended my sleeping for that night.

Nineteenth. — We went down to Waterford and then turned westward, which course we held until nearly to Chulahoma. When we again turned southward and reached the Tallahatchie river at "Wyatt," where we camped for the night. Our regiment was on picket that night and an awful cold night it was. We marched through deep, yellow mud the 19th nearly all day, but I don't know that I marched any harder for it. Up at 3 o'clock and started at 4, the 20th, and marched 25 miles southwest, along the right bank of the Tallahatchie. Our rations were out by this time and we were living off the "citizens." The quartermaster with a squad of men he had mounted on contraband horses and mules would visit the chivalric planters, take their wagons, load them with their hams, meal and flour, and when we would halt for dinner or supper, issue the chivalries' eatables to us poor miserable Yankees. While the quartermaster attended to these principal items the "boys" would levy on the chickens, etc., including milk and cornbread. Gen. W. S. Smith commanded and the butternuts failed to get much satisfaction from him. The first night out a "citizen" came to him and complained that the soldiers had killed nine of his hogs, and asked what he should do to get his pay. "My dear sir," said the general, "you'll have to go to the boys about this matter, they will arrange it satisfactorily to you, I have no doubt." “Citizen” didn't go to the boys though. Another one came to ask pay for his hams. "Your hams, why everything in this Mississippi belongs to these boys, a great mistake, that of your's, sir." The men soon found out what kind of a general they had and whenever a butternut would appear among us they would greet him with a perfect storm of shouts of, "here’s your ham, here's your chicken," etc., and often a shower of bones of hams or beef would accompany the salute. On the 20th the general decided to make some cavalry, and on the 21st at night we had nearly 400 men on "pressed" horses and mules. These soldiers would just mount anything that had four legs, from a ram to an elephant, and the falls that some of the wild mules gave the boys would have made any man laugh that had life enough in him to breathe. How the women would beg for a favorite horse! I saw as many as five women wringing their hands and crying around a little cream-colored mare on whose head a soldier was arranging a rope bridle as coolly as though he was only going to lead her to water. You could have heard those women a quarter of a mile begging that cuss of an icicle to leave the pony, and he paid no more attention to them than he would have done to so many little chickens. An officer made the man leave the animal and I think the women took her in the house. I saw two girls, one of them perfectly lovely, begging for a pair of mules and a wagon a quartermaster was taking from their place. They pushed themselves in the way so much that the men could hardly hitch the animals to the wagon. But we had to take that team to haul our provisions. The night of the 20th at 8 o'clock, the general called all the officers up to his quarters and told us that we would have a fight with General Chalmers before breakfast the next morning. He ordered all the fires put out immediately and gave us our instructions for defense in case we should be attacked during the night. After he was through I, with eight other officers, was notified that we should sit at once as a court martial to try the adjutant of the 99th Indiana, for straggling and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman in taking from a house sundry silver spoons, forks, etc. I'll tell you our sentence after it is approved. That kept us until 11 o'clock. At 1 o'clock a. m. we were wakened without bugles or drums, stood under arms, without fires until 3, and then marched northwest. At this point we were only eight or nine miles from Panola, Miss. We marched along through Sardis on the Grenada and Memphis R. R. and northwest about 15 miles to some cross roads, which we reached just 20 minutes after the Rebels had left. 'Twas useless for our infantry to follow their mounted men, so we turned homeward with 75 miles before us. Just look over and see how much sleep I got in the last four nights. We marched through the most delightful country from the time we left Wyatt. I think it will almost compare favorably with Illinois. We saw thousands of acres of wheat headed out which will be ready to harvest by the 15th or 20th of May. Some of the rye was as tall as I am. Peaches as large as filberts and other vegetation in proportion. There seemed to be a plenty of the necessaries of life, but I can assure you that eatables are not so plentiful now as they were before we visited the dear brethren. We reached the railroad at Colliersville last night. That is 26 miles west, making in all some 175 miles in eight days. The guerrillas fired on one column a number of times but hurt no one until yesterday, when they killed two of the 6th Iowa, which regiment was on another road from ours, the latter part of the trip. We took only some 20 prisoners but about 400 horses and mules. They captured about a dozen of stragglers from us and I am sorry to say two from my company, Wilson Gray and Stephen Hudson. The last three days we marched, every time that we would halt ten minutes one-fourth of the men would go to sleep. You should have seen the boys make bread after their crackers gave out; some lived on mush and meal, others baked cornbread in cornshucks, some would mix the dough and roll it on a knotty stick and bake it over the fire. It was altogether lots of fun and I wouldn't have missed the trip for anything.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 171-4

Captain Charles Wright Wills: December 12, 1862

Provost Marshal's Office, Waterford, Miss.,

December 12, '62.

From captain of the provost guard, I have been changed to provost marshal. I had charge of two companies, doing the guard duty for the provost of our division until yesterday; the division was ordered forward to Oxford, except our regiment, which was left to guard the railroad between this point and the Tallahatchie river. Headquarters being here, Colonel Dickerman appointed me provost and sent my company to guard a bridge one and one-half miles south of this place. My business is to attend to all prisoners, deal with citizens (administer oaths, take paroles, etc.), give all passes for citizens and soldiers leaving, have charge of all soldiers straggling from their regiments, issue permits to sutlers, etc., and overlook the cotton trade. Altogether, quite enough for any one man to attend to. The little advantage of having a comfortable house to live in, etc., is worth something; but I kind o' feel as if I would rather be with my company. Another regiment came in to-night, 12th Indiana, and we may possibly be relieved to-morrow. Shall be glad if we can only get with our division again. General Lauman has again taken command of our division, and although we know nothing against McKean, yet we know so much good of Lauman, that we're much pleased. Eight of our companies are guarding bridges, so we only have two here. Confound this railroad guarding; I'm down or. it. 'Tis more dangerous than regular soldiering, harder work, and no shadow of a chance for glory. There's a smart chance of fun in my present business, particularly in the citizens branch thereof. It would have furnished you with amusement enough for a month, could you have heard an old lady talk who visited me to-day. She was a F. F. and blooded, Oh, Lord! We let all come within the lines; but before they can pass out, an oath or parole is required of them. How they squirm! Rebels, though they are, 'tis shocking and enough to make one's blood boil to see the manner in which some of our folks have treated them. Trunks have been knocked to pieces with muskets when the women stood by, offering the keys, bureau drawers drawn out, the contents turned on the floor, and the drawer thrown through the window, bed clothing and ladies' clothing carried off and all manner of deviltry imaginable perpetrated. Of course the scoundrels who do this kind of work would be severely punished if caught, but the latter is almost impossible. Most of the mischief is done by the advance of the army, though, God knows, the infantry is bad enough. The d----d thieves even steal from the negroes (which is lower business than I ever thought it possible for a white man to be guilty of) and many of them are learning to hate the Yankees as much as our "Southern Brethren" do. The army is becoming awfully depraved. How the civilized home folks will ever be able to live with them after the war, is, I think, something of a question. If we don't degenerate into a nation of thieves, 'twill not be for lack of the example set by a fair sized portion of our army. Do you remember that I used to write that a man would no sooner lose his morality in the army than at home? I now respectfully beg to recall the remark, but I believe the sight of such devilish, pointless wickedness disgusts me, and that your brother's moral principles are strengthened by contact with these ungodly. Instance, in my present position, I know without danger of exposure, I could pocket at least $500 within five days; but for conscience sake and my self-respect, I sit back with my purity, and tumble my keys and comb round in my otherwise empty pockets and feel good. Well, it won't do to brag on such a subject, but my confidence in the honesty of man has waned so much since I entered the army that I can't help saying, there are few that would not, in my position, make a raise. Can't hear anything from the front. Know that part of Sherman's army has returned to Memphis to join the expedition down the Mississippi and that is all. This town only contains a dozen or 20 houses, but they are good ones. Great many here profess to have always been Union, and many are taking the oath willingly. Good joke on them when the guerrillas come in after we leave. Suspect they have most all been Rebels, so I don't pity them as much as I do out-spoken seceshers. I rode out in the country eight miles day before yesterday, and found three convalescent soldiers of Price's army at one place, A lieutenant of the 53d Illinois was with me, so we brought them into camp and put them with the other prisoners. We have now nearly 3,000 soldiers in the hospital at Lagrange and yet the army is very healthy. Don't be much surprised if you hear of us being gobbled up by the guerrillas, for these railroad guards are only baits for them; nothing more.

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 135-7

Diary of 4th Sergeant John S. Morgan: Saturday, March 7, 1863

Rained during the night. Passed quite a no. of good looking plantations, all haveing more or less cotton Run into Tallahalchee at 9.15 A. M. One very short bend where we landed and cooked. Rebel battery reported 6 mile below Run after night till 8.30 P. M.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 7, January 1923, p. 485

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, January 4, 1863

ON BOARD Forest Queen,

MILLIKEN'S BEND, January 4, 1863.

Well, we have been to Vicksburg and it was too much for us, and we have backed out. I suppose the attack on Holly Springs and the railroad compelled Grant to fall behind the Tallahatchie, and consequently the Confederates were enabled to reinforce Vicksburg. Besides, its natural strength had been improved by a vast amount of labor, so that it was impossible for me to capture or even to penetrate to the road from which alone I could expect to take it. For five days we were thundering away, and when my main assault failed, and Admiral Porter deemed another requiring the cooperation of the gunboats “too hazardous,” I saw no alternative but to regain my steamboats and the main river, which I did unopposed and unmolested. To re-embark a large command in the face of an enterprising and successful enemy is no easy task, but I accomplished it. McClernand has arrived to supersede me by order of the President himself.¹ Of course I submit gracefully. The President is charged with maintaining the government and has a perfect right to choose his agents. My command is to be an army corps composed of Morgan L. Smith's old command (poor Morgan now lies wounded badly in the hip on board the Chancellor, and his division is commanded by Stuart), and the troops I got at Helena commanded by Fred Steele whom I know well. These are all new and strange to me but such is life and luck. Before I withdrew from the Yazoo I saw McClernand and told him that we had failed to carry the enemy's line of works before Vicksburg, but I could hold my ground at Yazoo — but it would be useless. He promptly confirmed my judgment that it was best to come out into the main river at Milliken's Bend. We did so day before yesterday, and it has rained hard two days and I am satisfied that we got out of the Swamp at Chickasaw Bayou in time, for now water and mud must be forty feet deep there. . . .  Regulars did well, of course, but they or no human beings could have crossed the bayou and live. People at a distance will ridicule our being unable to pass a narrow bayou, but nobody who was there will. Instead of lying idle I proposed we should come to the Arkansas and attack the Post of Arkansas, fifty miles up that river, from which the enemy has attacked the river capturing one of our boats, towing two barges of navy coal and capturing a mail, so I have no doubt some curious lieutenant has read your letters to me. We must make the river safe behind us before we push too far down. We are now on our way to the Post of Arkansas. McClernand assumed command to-day, so I will not be care-worn again by the duty of looking to supplies, plans, etc. . . .  It will in the end cost us at least ten thousand lives to take Vicksburg. I would have pushed the attack to the bitter end, but even had we reached the city unassisted we could not have held it if they are at liberty to reinforce from the interior. . . .

__________

¹ On January 2, Sherman had learned that McClernand had “orders from the War Department to command the expeditionary force on the Mississippi River” (Memoirs, I, 322). On January 24, Sherman wrote to his wife: “It was simply absurd to supersede me by McClernand, but Mr. Lincoln knows I am not anxious to command, and he knows McClernand is, and must gratify him. He will get his fill before he is done.”

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 235-7.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 1/150.

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Monday, December 15, 1862

The railroad bridge across the Tallahatchie river is repaired now, and the first train came through today. The cars can run as far as Oxford now. The quartermaster of our division has brought together at this place about $1,000,000.00 worth of cotton, which is to be shipped to the North.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 87

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, December 2, 1862

We marched ten miles last night and then went into bivouac for the rest of the night. The rebels are falling back without much resistance. We left our bivouac at 10 o’clock this morning, crossed the Tallahatchie river over the railroad bridge and after marching four miles, went into camp. We are near the town of Abbeville, where the rebels were strongly fortified. They deserted the place early yesterday morning after burning the station, but left large quantities of their supplies which they could not move before they had to flee. After they had crossed the bridge, which is a mile long, they set fire to it, but it failed to burn. Our cavalry is after them today and have taken several prisoners. It rained all day today.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 85-6

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Sunday, November 30, 1862

We lay in camp here at Waterford all day and I wrote a letter to John Moore. I was on picket last night, but was relieved this morning. There was some skirmishing and cannonading out on the Tallahatchie river today. Several troops passed here going out to the front. The land in this part of the country is very rough and very poor. The soil is sandy and is easily worked.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 85

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Saturday, October 11, 1862

We were routed out this morning at 1 o’clock and started for Corinth, seventy miles distant. It soon began raining, and after marching six miles in the rain we met our provision train. We stacked our arms by the roadside, drew some rations and had a good square meal again. The hard-tack and coffee, with the bacon broiled on our ramrods in the fire, tasted mighty good — better than any pound cake eaten at home. While resting here and feasting, a number of the boys who had gone into the negro huts, caught up with us. They were in the cabins, nice and dry, and thought when we were routed out in the night, that it was to form in line, but in the morning found out their mistake and hastened to catch up with the command. A few of them were taken prisoners by the rebel cavalry following us. After our meal we continued our march till we reached the Tallahatchie river, and bivouacked in heavy timber on the banks of the river. We traveled thirty-five miles today, the weather being quite cool.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 75-6