October 17, 1864.
I incline to think that the raid and pursuit are both over,
though we wish that Sherman would follow them until they get the punishment they
deserve for their impudence. They tore up some 20 miles of railroad, killed and
wounded not over 750 for us, and captured about 1,1OO. Their loss in wounded
and killed, whom we have buried, is 1,900; prisoners, that I know of, 600;
besides a lot of deserters who have come in. Eight hundred of the prisoners
captured by them were negroes, who could not have been taken but for the
cowardice of their Colonel, Johnson.
The tearing up of the railroad amounts to nothing. We have
not had our rations cut down an ounce in anything.
The man that run that raid ought to be ashamed of himself,
and I’ll venture he is.
In Snake Creek Gap, but for General Stanley's laziness, we
would have got enough prisoners to make Hood howl. He rested his corps three
hours, just as he did when entrusted with a critical piece of work at
Jonesboro.
We have been having a gay time this morning. It is cold
enough to make us sit close to the fire, and the negroes keep us in chestnuts.
SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an
Illinois Soldier, p. 312
