Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
September 11, 1897



26th Wisconsin
Chapter 13

On the 15th of November, 1864, the Twenty-sixth Wisconsin left Atlanta with the forces of Gen. Sherman, on the march to the sea. The army, numbering 60,000 men in round numbers, was divided into two wings; the Right Wing, Gen. Howard, commanding, consisted of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth army corps, and the Left Wing, Gen. Slocum commanding, consisted of the Fourteenth and Twentieth corps. Each corps usually followed a separate road on this march, their routes being about ten miles apart. When leaving Atlanta, the Twentieth Corps, being on the extreme left of the army, followed a road leading directly east from the city, passing over the battlefield of July 22nd, and just south of Decatur and Stone Mountain. This route being along the line of the Atlanta and Augusta railroad, that line was thoroughly destroyed by the Corps to a point some distance south of Stone Mountain, where the Fourteenth Corps took up the work of destruction, and the Twentieth continued on toward the east, marching via Rockbridge, and striking the railroad again at Social Circle, where it resumed the work.

The Fourteenth Corps left Atlanta on the 16th of November, and in the start, was accompanied by Gen. Sherman and staff. "Uncle Billy" halted for a few moments when he reached the summit of "Bald Hill", where the Twelfth and Sixteenth Wisconsin regiments won glory in the battles fought on the 21st and 22nd of the previous July, to look around and soliloquize. We will quote what he says of that halt in his Memoirs.

"About 7 A.M. of November 16th we rode out of Atlanta by the Decatur road, filed by the marching troops and wagons of the Fourteenth Corps; and reaching the hill just outside of the old rebel works, we naturally paused to look back upon the scenes of our past battles. We stood upon the very ground whereon was fought the bloody battle of July 22nd, and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind us lay Atlanta, smoldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in the air and hanging like a pall over the ruined city. Away off in the distance, on the McDonough road, was the rear of Howard's column, the gun-barrels glistening in the sun, the white-topped wagons stretching away to the south; and right before us the Fourteen Corps, marching steadily and rapidly, with a cheery look and swinging pace that made light of the thousands of miles that lay between us and Richmond. Some band struck up the anthem of 'John Brown's soul goes marching on,' the men caught up the strain, and never before or since have I heard the chorus of 'Glory, glory, hallelujah!' done in more spirit or in better harmony of time and place."

"Then we turned our horsesí heads to the east; Atlanta was soon lost behind the screen of trees, and became a thing of the past. Around it clings many a thought of desperate battle, of hope and fear, that now seem like the memory of a dream; and I have never seen the place since. The day was extremely beautiful, clear sunlight, with bracing air, and an unusual feeling of exhilaration seemed to pervade all minds -- a feeling of something to come, vague and undefined, still full of adventure and intense interest. Even the common soldiers caught the inspiration and many a group called out to me as I worked my way past them, 'Uncle Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond!' Indeed, the general sentiment was that we were marching for Richmond, and that there we should end the war, but how and when they seemed to care not; nor did they measure the distance, or count the loss of life, or bother their heads about the great rivers to be crossed, and the food required for man and beast that had to be gathered by the way. There was a 'devil-may-care' feeling pervading officers and men, that made me feel the full load of responsibility, for success would be accepted as a matter of course, whereas, should we fail this 'march' would be adjudged the wild adventure of a crazy fool. I had no purpose to march direct for Richmond by way of Augusta and Charlotte, but always designed to reach the sea-coast first at Savannah or Port Royal, S.C., and even kept in mind the alternative of Pensacola, Fla."

In the history of the Ozaukee Rifles (Co. K, Sixteenth Wis.), I have told of how the army had been purged of all unserviceable men, beasts, wagons and arms until it was virtually a picked army of 60,000 men and boys, who were the representatives of 250,000 that had marched to the front in the organizations of which the army was composed. Therein was also given a description of those who had been thus picked up by the hand of Providence for the great work still before them; and of how fearlessly and willingly they performed the duties of that great campaign. In that history, considerable was said about how the boys secured a living on this march, but a few words in regard to the matter will not be out of place here.

Shermanís army started from Atlanta with but fifteen days' rations in its wagons, and as it was some forty days before it drew many rations again, it had to gather upwards of twenty daysí food in the country through which it marched. To do this, it organized a perfect system of foraging for gathering supplies. Two men from each company, making twenty men from each regiment were detailed, under the command of a commissioned officer each day, to find and bring to the next bivouac supplies for men and beasts. The foragers, or "bummers," as they were soon dubbed, scoured the country on each side of the columns for five miles or more, and in the high lands of Georgia, picked up plenty of food for men and beasts, that part of the state teeming with corn, corn-meal, pork, sweet-potatoes and honey, besides quite a number of cows and beef cattle. But when the low, swampy region near the sea-coast was reached, the forage became very scarce, and had not many of the wagons been refilled before leaving the high lands, the boys would have suffered much more than they did for want of food. Sherman, in his orders governing the march, had told his subordinates to "forage liberally on the country." A few days after leaving Atlanta, and after a halt had been made for the night, Sherman had the first occasion to reprimand a "Bogus Bummer," or unofficial forager. Sherman thus writes of the incident:

"It was at this plantation that a soldier passed me with a ham on his musket and a jug of sorghum-mollasses under his arm, and a big piece of comb-honey in his hand, from which he was eating, and, catching my eye, he remarked sotto voce and carelessly to a comrade, 'Forage liberally on the country,' quoting from my general orders. On this occasion, as on many others that fell under my personal observation, I reproved the man, explained that foraging must be limited to the regular parties properly detailed, and that all provisions thus obtained must be delivered to the regular commissaries, to be fairly distributed to the men who kept their ranks."

From Social Circle, the Twentieth Corps marched along the railroad and wrecked it to and beyond Madison, Ga., and having sent a division east as far as the Oconee river, to burn the bridges across that stream, the corps turned south and marched straight for Milledgeville, the then capital of the state. The Twentieth corps reached Milledgeville on the 22nd of November, seven days from Atlanta, and on the next day was joined there by the Fourteenth Corps, with which Gen. Sherman was still marching. The march of these two corps along the railroad and in the direction of Augusta, Ga., had led the enemy to believe that that was Sherman's route to Richmond, while the southerly course at first followed by the Right Wing caused some of them to think that Macon was in the line of a route which the Yanks would follow, and they divided their forces between Augusta and Macon, leaving Milledgeville almost without protection, and thither the wily Yankee marched, leaving the two former places undisturbed upon his flanks.

The Right Wing had reached Gordon, Ga., twelve miles from Milledgeville, and at the junction of the Milledgeville with the Macon and Savannah railroad, and remained there wrecking both roads, during the time the Left wing was in Milledgeville. It was at the latter place that our ìBummersî captured a large amount of so-called Confederate money -- wagon loads of it, and nearly all new, but a large amount of it had not been signed and was therefore worthless. But some of the boys carried thousands of dollars of it to their bivouacs, and had a high old time gambling with it. A number of Yankee officers gathered in the legislature chamber of the state capitol, from which the rebel legislature had fled a few days previous, organized a mock legislature and had lots of fun passing laws, etc. The people of Milledgeville had nearly all remained at home, but Governor Brown, the other state officers and the legislature fled when they heard that the Yankees were coming. Some of the citizens who remained described the flight of Gov. Brown. He had occupied a public building known as the "Governor's Mansion," and had hastily stripped it of carpets, curtains and furniture of all kinds, which was removed to a train of freight-cars, which carried away everything belonging to him -- even to the vegetables from the kitchen and cellar -- leaving behind muskets, ammunition, and public archives, and other state property. Great were such patriots! During his stay in the city, Gen. Sherman occupied the ìGovernor's Mansionî as his headquarters.