MILITARY: Sabre Strokes of the Pennsylvania Dragoons in the War of 1861-1865 - Chapter 14
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SABRE STROKES
of the
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS
in the
WAR OF 1861-1865.
INTERSPERSED WITH PERSONAL REMINISCENCES
By T. F. DORNBLASER
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 155
CHAPTER XIV.
ATLANTA CAMPAIGN.
THE first night after joining Sherman's army on the right of Dalton, our
company was sent on picket duty on the road to Rome, Georgia. The enemy's
videttes were in sight, and they lost no opportunity to bore holes through
the "blue-coats" with their long rifles.
In the beginning of this memorable campaign, the army of Joe Johnston
consisted of fifty thousand fighting men, which was in a few weeks reinforced
by additions of cavalry and infantry, making an aggregate of sixty-four
thousand men.
To oppose this army, and to dislodge it from its entrenched positions, and
its mountain fastnesses, Sherman had an aggregate of ninety-eight thousand
men, and about forty-six gun batteries.
Sherman had three armies consolidated in one.
The army of the Cumberland under General Thomas, numbering sixty thousand,
constituted the centre; the army of the Tennessee, twenty-four thousand,
under command of McPherson, constituted the right wing; and the army of the
Ohio, thirteen thousand men, under Schofield, brought up the left wing.
156 SABRE STROKES.
The division commanders in the cavalry corps were Garrard, Stoneman, McCook,
and Kilpatrick.
On the tenth of May, 1864, Sherman began that series of flank movements which
resulted finally in the fall of Atlanta.
The first move made was to throw McPherson's army forward on the right,
supported by Hooker's corps, with a view of seizing the railroad at Resaca,
and compelling Johnston to abandon his fortified position at Dalton, or to
give battle in the open field.
On the night of the tenth, Johnston secretly withdrew his army to Resaca.
Sherman's columns moved in hot pursuit. McPherson gained a ridge on the right
of Resaca, where his artillery could shell the railroad bridge over the
Oostenaula. The enemy made several attempts to dislodge him; but each time
the charging column was hurled back with fearful loss. On the afternoon of
the fifteenth, Hooker's corps did some handsome fighting on the right,
capturing a four-gun battery, and all the gunners.
Our division of cavalry was vigorously pressing the enemy toward Rome.
We routed a company of rebel cavalry, wounding the captain and killing one of
his men. We pursued them to their reserves, four miles from Rome, where a
battery of artillery, well directed, opened on our advance, checking our
progress, but not driving us from our position. After a brisk
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 157
engagement of a few minutes, mainly with artillery, the enemy fell back, and
allowed us to go into camp near Holly Springs.
On the night of the fifteenth, Johnston retreated across the Oostenaula,
burning the bridges behind him, and established a new line of defense south
of Kingston. At daybreak Sherman's columns moved in hot pursuit.
Our cavalry division was divided, one brigade advancing on the right with
McPherson, and our brigade was ordered back to Resaca, and to bring up the
rear of Thomas' column.
We moved back on the north side of the Oostenaula, passed through Snake
Hollow, rode over the battle field of Resaca, and camped within one mile of
Calhoun.
On the eighteenth, the writer with a few others was detailed to carry a
dispatch from General Thomas to General Garrard. We rode out in the direction
of Rome twelve miles, and finding no trace of Garrard, we returned to camp. We
rode up to several houses and inquired of the women - "If they had seen any
Yankees?" The white women would answer sulkily - "We saw right smart of
them," but the colored women would exclaim - "Olaws, yes, we seed thousands
upon thousands of them."
They had seen McPherson's footmen and chariots, but they did not seem to know
anything of Garrard's horsemen.
158 SABRE STROKES.
On the nineteenth, our brigade marched south through Calhoun and Adairsville.
Saw two hundred rebel prisoners pass to the rear on the railroad.
Heavy skirmishing in Thomas' front. The enemy still falling back. Our brigade
encountered the enemy on the right of Kingston. The Fourth Michigan lost
heavily in a sabre charge. We went into camp five miles beyond Kingston.
Next morning we followed the rear-guard of Johnston's army to the banks of
the Etowah river. Here Sherman ordered a halt for a few days - until the
railroad could be repaired and supplies brought forward.
Garrard's division of cavalry moved down the Etowah to Rome. We found the
enemy's pickets stationed all along the south side of the river.
On the twenty-third, Sherman's army crossed the Etowah, and advanced upon
Johnston's new position at Dallas. Our division crossed the river at Rome and
led the advance of Logan's corps - through Van Wert, and thence toward Dallas.
On the afternoon of the twenty-fourth, our Division first attacked the enemy
two miles from Dallas. After a brisk fight, McPherson's Infantry came up and
established a line of breastworks.
On the twenty-fifth, we moved to the right of Dallas, passing the
head-quarters of McPherson and Logan.
On the twenty-sixth we took position on the right
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 159
of McPherson. We left our horses in the rear, and advanced on foot. The
ground was a dense wilderness. The enemy contested every inch of ground.
Eight of Wilder's brigade were killed and a number wounded. We established
our line well to the front, and during the night we built breast-works with
logs, rails, and brush. In this position, surrounded by a barren wilderness,
we lay in line of battle four days without a grain of horse feed. Several
attempts were made to send out forage trains, but the enemy drove them back
to camp, inflicting a loss of six or seven men in the third battalion of our
regiment.
On the twenty-eighth, the battle opened in front of McPherson. The enemy made
several fierce assaults, and were each time handsomely repulsed.
On Sunday night, the thirtieth, the enemy made several feints on our line
with skirmishers and artillery. The cannonading and musketry was terrific,
continuing from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.
In the darkness our brigade was ordered to take position three-quarters of a
mile farther to the rear, to avoid the enfilading fire of the enemy's
artillery. It was difficult to avoid confusion in changing position in a
dense forest at midnight. We fell back to our horses and mounted. Then we
followed our file-leader through the brush on the gallop. One of Company "E,"
Barney Metzgar, who was partially blind, requested the writer to lead his
horse,
160 SABRE STROKES.
and tell him when to juke, so as not to strike the limbs of trees. "Barney"
hugged close to the neck of his horse, and came out of the woods without a
scratch. We formed line in rear of a narrow open field, where we would have a
good view of the enemy should they advance upon us.
We sat on our horses until daybreak, then dismounted, and extemporized a line
of breastworks. Our horses were starving for want of feed. Five days without a
mouthful of grain or hay! They peeled the bark from the trees. They ate dry
leaves. They chewed at the bridle-reins and the picket lines.
On the first of June, we moved six miles to the left, in the direction of
Allatoona. That night we distributed one quart of corn to each horse in our
company. Two of our comrades, Else and Zimmerman, found this corn in a crib,
and carried it eight miles to bring it to camp.
Johnston, seeing that his right wing was threatened by a heavy force under
Thomas and Schofield, abandoned his position at New Hope Church, and fell
back to Kenesaw and Lost Mountain.
Our cavalry was ordered back to the Etowah river for feed and rations.
Over fifty horses dropped in the road from exhaustion, and were left to die,
or by chance to be nursed by some poor family who were glad to own a horse
that was so near dead that the soldiers did
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 161
not want him. Some of these families, we know, did "right smart" ploughing
with these broken-down chargers.
On the third of June, we grazed our horses in a beautiful clover-field on the
north side of the Etowah. The clover-tops and the fragrant air reminded us of
haying-time in Old Nittany. This multitude of hungry steeds swept the field
faster and cleaner than a dozen "Buckeye Mowers" could have done.
Cannonading was heard in front of Kenesaw: Sherman was feeling for Johnston's
new line of defence.
On the fifth of June, we were made glad by the familiar neigh of the iron
horse, whistling through his fiery nostrils on the banks of the Etowah, and
bringing us good tidings from home and friends.
On the eighth, we moved to the front through Allatoona, and went into camp a
few miles beyond Acworth. We saw several thousand wounded men in the
hospitals along the road. We passed the seventeenth army corps, under General
Blair, which had just arrived from Chattanooga, and was moving into position
on the left of Sherman's army.
On the ninth, Garrard's division moved out on the left, making a
reconnoissance toward Marietta. We drove the enemy two miles, losing several
killed and wounded. We returned to our former camp, Company "E" acting as
rear-guard.
162 SABRE STROKES.
On the tenth, Minty's and Wilder's brigades were ordered to advance on the
left, with three days rations for man and horse. The whole army moved forward
from Acworth to Big Shanty, a station on the railroad in front of Kenesaw
mountain. The rain was falling in copious showers all day. As Sherman says,
the roads were infamous.
On the eleventh, Garrard's cavalry advanced on the left, and threatened
Johnston's communications in rear of Kenesaw. The "Seventh" led the division,
and Company "E" on the skirmish line. At 10 a.m., we encountered the enemy.
The "Seventh" was ordered to dismount and drive the enemy out of the woods.
With a Yankee yell, and a few volleys from our "Spencers," we cleared the
timber, charged across an open field, and halted under cover of the timber, a
short distance from the enemy's entrenched lines. From our position we had an
excellent view of the enemy's fortifications. We could see the rebel cavalry
in line, supported by infantry and artillery. Our skirmish line was withdrawn
from the advanced position, to invite the enemy to come out of their
breastworks.
In the afternoon, the enemy pushed forward a strong line of skirmishers and
sharp shooters. The dismounted men of Company "E" deployed, and marched
forward through an orchard to a worm-fence fronting the open field over which
the enemy was advancing. One of the foremost of our com-
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 163
rades in the orchard was Robert Maurer. He had just reached the fence when he
was struck by a minie-ball. The bullet first struck his left wrist, then the
corner of his belt-plate, and lodged in the abdomen. Williamson Rishel was
wounded slightly in the shoulder by a spent ball. Sergeant Fleming of Company
"I," and several others, were among the killed on that field. We drove back
the enemy into their entrenchments, and then fell back to our first position.
Two deserters came in next day and reported that our skirmish line engaged
four regiments of Wheeler's cavalry. We remember that our "Spencers" became
quite hot from the rapid firing, and that we called for a new supply of
ammunition before the day closed.
At sunset we fell back a few miles, and encamped in rear of Wilder's brigade
of mounted infantry.
We called to see Robert Maurer in an ambulance. We found him suffering
intensely, and no hopes entertained by the surgeon for his recovery. He bore
his sufferings for twenty-four hours, with true soldierly fortitude.
On the twelfth of June, we lay in camp drenched by a disagreeable rain. In
the evening of this gloomy day, comrade Maurer died in the ambulance. At ten
p.m., we buried him. Comrades Hayes, Foster, Best, and others, prepared a
rough coffin, a
164 SABRE STROKES.
royal casket for a soldier. We gave him a princely burial. The common soldier
that fell in battle was thrown into a trench, with no winding sheet but his
blood-stained garments, and no covering but the cold clods thrown over him by
unsympathizing strangers, and oftentimes by a cruel enemy. Sadly and feelingly
we laid young "Robert" to rest in the edge of that memorable wood.
It became evident that Johnston was not disposed to let go his grip on the
three mountains, Lost, Pine, and Kenesaw, without the most determined
resistance. Sherman closed in his lines, and kept up a constant fire of
artillery and musketry, that frequently rose to the dignity of a battle. Our
division of cavalry occupied a line of breastworks on the left of the
Seventeenth corps. We lay in line of battle day and night. From our position
on the left of Kenesaw, we could hear distinctly the whistle of Johnston's
supply trains arriving from Atlanta and halting in the rear of Kenesaw, and
on the other side we could see Sherman's loaded trains steaming into Big
Shanty.
One day the engineer detached a locomotive, and ran forward to a water-tank
within range of the enemy's guns on Kenesaw. The enemy opened fire, but the
engineer deliberately watered his iron horse, and turning back answered the
harmless volleys by a triumphant snort, which brought forth cheers and shouts
from the Union lines.
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 165
The rains were so continuous, that it gave rise to the common expression
that, "Sherman thundered, and Providence rained;" but the rain was out of all
proportion to the thunder.
On the fourteenth of June, the rain slackened, and Sherman rode along his
lines to find a favorable point at which to assault Johnston's position. With
his field-glass he discovered a group of rebel officers on the crest of Pine
mountain, apparently taking observations.
As this was in front of Howard's position, Sherman ordered him immediately to
fire three volleys from the nearest battery. The rebel Generals Johnston,
Polk, and Hardee, were in the group against which Howard's guns were
directed. Polk was struck in the breast by a cannon ball and instantly killed
- as Johnston relates in his "narrative," he was killed by the third volley
from this battery.
On the fifteenth the enemy abandoned Pine and Lost mountains on the right,
but still held on more firmly to Kenesaw. For several days we lay behind our
breastworks under a fearful rain of shot and shell.
On the twentieth, Garrard's division crossed Pumpkin Vine creek on the left,
and at four p.m., the enemy made a sally on our extreme left and rear with
heavy force, aiming to cut off our retreat.
The enemy charged several times, but they re-
166 SABRE STROKES.
coiled each time from the sheet of flame that rolled forth from the line of
"Spencers." We fell back through a swamp, and recrossed the creek under the
destructive fire of the enemy's artillery.
A piece of shell struck the pommel of my saddle, and fell to the ground
without doing any one any hurt. Out of the "Seventh" there were killed,
wounded, and missing, seventeen men.
On the 27th of June, Sherman determined to assault the enemy's position on
Kenesaw. McPherson's attacking column fought up the face of Lesser Kenesaw;
but could not reach the summit. About one mile to the right of Kenesaw,
Thomas' assaulting column broke through the abatis, and mounted the enemy's
parapets, where Generals Harker and McCook were mortally wounded. The battle
lasted from nine a.m. until twelve o'clock noon. The charging columns failed
to make any permanent lodgment in the enemy's works.
In this battle, McPherson lost five hundred men, and Thomas nearly two
thousand.
On the 2d of July, Sherman again put his army in motion by the right flank.
McPherson was withdrawn from the left, leaving Garrard's division to occupy
the trenches in front of Kenesaw.
Johnston discovered the movement, and the same night withdrew his forces from
Kenesaw and Marietta. Next morning our pickets stood on the summit of Kenesaw.
The brow of the hill was scarred
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 167
and burnt by the artillery fire. Solid shot and pieces of shell could be
gathered up by the wagon load.
We celebrated the fourth of July by a noisy battle with Johnston's rear-guard.
News reached us at this time that Harvey Rishel, another schoolmate and
comrade, died on the fourteenth of June, in the hospital at Columbia,
Tennessee; that Solomon Maurer, also a comrade, died, on the seventeenth, at
Chattanooga.
The following sick and dismounted men of Company "E," were sent to the rear:
Lieut. E. F. Nixon, Zimmerman, Shaffer, Brilhart, Fite, and McGhee. Our
company had at this time only fifty mounted men for duty, and some companies
had only thirty.
On the fifth, Garrard's division was sent eighteen miles up the Chattahoochee
to destroy the woolen factories at Roswell, and to secure an important bridge
and ford at that place. The factories were destroyed by fire, and three
hundred women were thrown out of employment; a large number of the women were
sent to Marietta in wagons, and thence north by rail. Our company had the good
fortune to guard a train loaded with this precious freight to the rear, and
bring back supplies for our army.
On the 9th of July, Minty's brigade dismounted and waded the Chattahoochee at
Roswell. The river was about five hundred yards wide, the aver-
168 SABRE STROKES.
age depth three feet, the bottom rocky and uneven. We drove from the opposite
bank about three hundred of the enemy's cavalry. We advanced one mile south of
the river, and established a line of breastworks. One mounted regiment made a
bold reconnoissance toward Atlanta, and found the enemy in strong force. In
the evening we recrossed the river and encamped near Roswell.
On the 15th, two divisions of Logan's corps crossed over and occupied our
temporary breastworks. Garrard's division crossed over by Magaffee's bridge,
three miles above Roswell. We went out five miles, made a charge on the
enemy's pickets, and captured the Confederate mail at Cross Keys Post-office.
The letters were freely distributed, and the boys were specially interested
in those addressed to "My dear Honie," "My Sweet Duckie," "My own dear
Lassie," and so on, "Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb."
Before going into camp we rode into a field of oats in the shock. Each man
packed from four to six bunches on his horse - clearing nicely, altogether, a
ten-acre field. With horses as with men, it was either a feast or a famine.
On the 17th, the general movement against Atlanta began. Thomas moved on the
direct road to Peach Tree Creek, Schofield on his left moved through Cross
Keys, and McPherson on the extreme left heading for Stone Mountain.
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 169
Our division drove back the enemy in front of McPherson, and first struck the
Augusta railroad, four miles west of Stone Mountain, on the 18th, and the same
day formed a junction with Schofield's troops at Decatur.
A Union spy escaped from Atlanta during the night previous, and reported to
Sherman the removal of Johnston and the appointment of Hood.
This change in Confederate commanders was taken as an indication that we
would have some desperate fighting to do. Schofield, McPherson, and others
who were classmates with Hood at West Point, knew him to be an intrepid,
daring fighter.
On the 20th, Hood attempted to break Thomas' line in front of Peach Tree
Creek. Thomas' army had just crossed to the south side of the creek, and Hood
supposed he would find his line uncovered, and without effective artillery -
but to his surprise the army of the Cumberland was already entrenched, and
the concentrated fire of Thomas' artillery, posted on the north side of the
creek, made fearful havoc in the advancing columns of the enemy. The blow
fell principally on Hooker's corps, and Johnston's and Newton's divisions of
the Fourteenth Corps.
Garrard's division was lying on the left of McPherson, during this terrific
battle, and waited in silence to hear the result of the conflict. The cheers
that rose from the Union lines soon told the story of successful resistance.
170 SABRE STROKES.
On the 21st, Garrard's division was detached from the left, and sent on a
raid to Covington, on the Augusta railroad, thirty-five miles east of
Atlanta. The raid was successful; we captured a large number of mules and
horses, destroyed four miles of railroad, burned a number of bridges,
destroyed several mills and factories, and brought back considerable forage
for our horses.
But on our return to Decatur we learned the sad death of McPherson, and the
particulars of the "battle of the 22d."
Hood took advantage of Garrard's absence from the left, and, by a circuitous
route, threw Hardee's corps into the rear of McPherson; and having no cavalry
feelers to report the presence and location of the enemy, the general of the
army rode against Hardee's pickets and was instantly killed. The riderless
horse, dashing to the rear, first reported the death of McPherson, and the
threatening danger on the left. The bloody battle which ensued, incurred,
according to Logan's report, a loss to the Union army of three thousand five
hundred, and to Hood's army, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, of ten
thousand men.
On the day after the battle we encamped in the rear of Logan's corps, and
leaving our horses out of artillery-range, we relieved the infantry in the
trenches on the left, and exchanged shots with the enemy in their rifle-pits.
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 171
One evening the enemy fired several volleys from a battery in our front. Some
of the balls struck the parapet, and bounded far to the rear. One solid shot,
after making several rebounds, struck Robert Bridgens, a member of Company
"E," on the knee, while he was sitting on the parapet, apparently out of
danger. His leg was completely shattered; he was immediately taken to the
field hospital. The surgeons proceeded to amputate his limb, but poor
"Robert" died under the operation.
From the top of a house on our skirmish line we could look over into the
enemy's works, and by the aid of a field glass we could see a portion of the
city of Atlanta.