Alpine, Chatuga Valley,
October 20, 1864.
Got here at dark last night, eight miles from Summerville.
We seemed to be headed southwest. I have the sorest feet I have enjoyed for two
years. Do you notice how accurately I miss it in every prediction I venture? I
am a fair sample of the ignorance “Pap” keeps this army of his movements. He
has shown his ability to keep us from divining his purposes, but he or any
other general cannot keep us from guessing. Fine country here, for Georgia. An
officer and 20 men are detailed daily for foragers.
They start ahead in the morning, and shoot hogs, sheep,
gather sweet potatoes, apples, etc., and bring all out to the roadside. The
hogs and sheep are cut into pieces of about 20 or 25 pounds. When the regiment
comes along every man makes a grab as he passes at the pile, throws his chunk
over his shoulder, and all without breaking ranks. You can imagine the
appearance a battalion would make at nightfall.
SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an
Illinois Soldier, p. 314
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