June 12, 1864.
It commenced raining before daylight, and has not ceased an
instant all day. We are lucky in the roads where it can't get very muddy, but
so much rain is confoundedly disagreeable. The only source of consolation is
the knowledge that the Rebels fare much worse than we do. They have neither
tents nor oilcloths. For once our corps is in reserve. The 16th and 17th united
their lines in front of us this morning. The 17th A. C. especially is using
ammunition with a looseness. They are just getting their hands in. The rain is
real cold. If it were not for hearing the musketry and artillery firing we
wouldn't know there was an enemy within 50 miles. This is said to be the
Georgia gold country. I could just pick up some beautiful specimens of quartz
and a flinty stone (maybe quartz also) in which the isinglass shines, and in
some places I have picked off sheets two inches square. No forage here. Four
deserters came in to-day.
They say that Johnston had an order read to his troops that
Wheeler had cut the railroad in our rear, and destroyed our supply trains. The
troops all cheered it heartily, but hardly had they got their mouths shut when
our locomotives came whistling into Big Shanty, one mile from their lines. The
deserters say it disgusted them so much they concluded they'd quit and go home.
I wish Sherman would attack them now, for we would be sure to get what trains
and artillery they have here.
SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an
Illinois Soldier, p. 258
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