[Note the reference to the men from the 27th Indiana who joined the 70th Indiana for the March to the Sea at the end of this excerpt.] *213 CHAPTER XII. THE MARCH TO THE SEA The feeling so vividly described by Dr. Reagan in the last chapter, stirred every soul as Shermans army moved away from the ill-fated city. Even now, the participants in the great events and greater results immediately following, have no language to describe their emotions,—they only say, the incident of my life worthy of mention is the March to the Sea. A conversation between two veterans of the Seventieth Indiana makes a revelation more luminous than any description. Would you part with your experience for a thousand dollars? The man addressed was poor. To him a hundred dollars was a large sum. Well-a-why no! For a hundred thousand? Why, no! For a million? No! Theres not enough money in the world to buy from me the consciousness that I had a part in driving the dagger into the heart of the Rebellion. Then as if he thought his manner had been too boastful, or that he might be plucking a leaf from General Shermans laurels, he added: God knows I could not do much, for I was only a private, but I did what I could in the death blow that made the Southern soldiers know their cause lost; Jeff Davis could not protect their homes. As to the envious rivals of Columbus, the discovery of America seemed an easy affair after its execution, so nowadays this expedition is sometimes belittled and spoken of as a holiday excursion. Lincoln feared. Grant doubted. None but the dauntless Sherman dared put fate to the *214 touch. The London Herald voiced the sentiment of the outside world, when it proclaimed : The name of the captor of Atlanta, if he fails now, will become the scoff of mankind, and the humiliation of the United States for all time. If he succeeds, it will be written on the tablet of fame side by side with that of Napoleon and Hannibal. It amazes one to see Americans who speak of Thomas noble qualities, turn aside to fling a stone at Sherman, or Grant, or Sheridan. The four were great. Why try to lift one hero at the expense of another illustrious reputation? Altogether Shermans army numbered 62,204, and consisted of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twentieth Corps, and two divisions of the Sixteenth which were assigned to the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps. The artillery trains had charge of sixty-five field guns. Each soldier carried forty rounds of ammunition, and in the wagons there were two hundred rounds for each man. The veterans and recruits of the Twenty-seventh Indiana, one hundred and nineteen in number, had their names transferred to the rolls of the Seventieth on November fifth, but they did not join the regiment until the morning after the start from Atlanta [November 16, 1864].
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 05:13:04 +0000
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