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. 258-9
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