But September marks the beginning of the end of the war for the Army of the Cumberland and my ancestors. We'll start with a letter from Shep at Fort Pillow.
Shep tells his brother and sister in a letter dated in September (the exact date is not legible) that his visit home did him good, "for I have been hearty since I left home as ever I was." there has been a "good deal" of sickness in the Regiment however., mostly ache or chills and fever. He hopes to get another month at home before long. Shep believes they will be able to "use up" the Rebs this fall and winter. Black men, women and children have been "coming in so fast as ever." Shep moved a group of 58 of them to Island Tennessee. Shep took another group of black men, soldiers, to Columbus, Kentucky, also on the Mississippi River.
The 52nd Regiment left Fort Pillow on September 6th, 1863, to march to Missouri to pursue Confederate Major General Sterling Price's forces.
Meanwhile, a long way to the east of the Mississippi, September, 1863 provided the moment for John, Billy and the 82nd Indiana to prove themselves.
The 82nd finished their crossing of the Tennessee River on September 2nd. They used make-shift rafts, which could not carry fully loaded wagons so it was slow going. They set up camp to wait for more provisions, then marched through Hog Jaw Valley to Raccoon Mountain. They kept moving, south to Trenton, then turned east.
Billy wrote to his sister from camp in Lookout Valley Georgia, near Chattanooga on September 9th. He doesn't have time to tell the full history of the march from Tennessee but he "came through alright. Enjoyed myself fine all the way through and am fat and hearty now, ready to go ahead." He is anxious to meet up with the Rebels but interrupts this train of thought to talk about a dream in which he was at home on a furlough of two days - a great aggravation as the time would be over before he could see all of the family.
On September 11th, the 82nd moved to cross Lookout Moutain in support of General Negley's Division at McLemore's Cove. It was slow but they arrived on the 13th and advanced two miles to Chickamauga Creek, camping east of Lee's mill. On the 17th, they guarded the four fords between Gower's and Pond Spring. From there, the entire Corps moved to Crawfish Spring, then Chattanooga and La Fayette Road, marching all night to reach Kelly's Farm by daylight on the 19th. The Northern and Southern armies were trying to beat each other to Chattanooga, and came together where the main roads meet at Chickamauga Creek.
The 82nd's role at the Battle of Chickamauga was extensive, so I'll save it for another post later in the month.
1 comment:
Nice block, of course. But I continue to be amazed by the insights in these letters and documents from 150 years ago. So many interesting details that are still fascinating today.
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