CHAPTER
XC
Matters looked a little blue, the new men looked
determined and talked defiantly, whilst those of us who knew the officer, Col.
Pardee, whom they had to deal with, felt apprehensive of the result.
The men of the new company were ordered out in line,
whilst at the same time Company G, was ordered out armed, and moved up to where
the men were quartered.
Colonel Pardee spoke to the men, telling them that it
was by no fault of his that they had enlisted or were assigned to his regiment,
but it was his duty to see that his command, as the orders of his superior
officers, were obeyed, and in conclusion stated that five minutes time would
be allowed them to take the arms which had been drawn for them, and if they
wo’d not comply with that order, the result with its consequences would be upon
their own heads.
Our company was given the command, “load at will,”
“prime,” after which we were brought to a “parade rest.”
The new men, evidently not relishing the turn affairs
were taking, concluded that discretion was the better part of valor, concluded
to take their arms and thus saved our company from being compelled to perform a
very unpleasant piece of duty.
The company was known as company K, and remained with
the regiment until it was mustered out of service at the close of the war. Serg’t. Fred. H. Knight one of our boys had
charge of the command for a long time.
We noticed that the company is not reported in Bate’s history of the
Pennsylvania Volunteers, we do not know why the omission.
The city of Atlanta
contained a large cemetery, in which a great number of Confederates as well as
Union soldiers were buried. We spent
several days in visiting it and reading the inscriptions on the head
boards. Most of the union boys graves
were marked as follows:
FEDERAL SOLDIER
Name and Regiment Unknown
Here and there we would find one with the name and
regiment to which the deceased had been attached.
About the middle part of September an order was issued
by General Sherman allowing application to be made for furloughs, by men having
served about two years, and who had not been absent from their respective
commands, with or without leave, at the rate of five per cent. Several applications were made by members of
our company, but owing to the fact that the enemy threatened to cut our
communications, they were not granted, and thus a number of beautiful air
castles were suddenly ruined.
On the 5th of October, we changed camp,
moving near the Macon road, about one-and-a-half
miles from our old camp. Here we
proceeded to put up quarters and soon had ourselves comfortably fixed.
On Thursday afternoon, October 20, we received orders
to be ready to go out on a reconnaissance on the following day.
At daylight on the 21st, everything in the
Division was animation and we were again reminded of the many similar scenes
we had witnessed during the past two years.
Aides and orderlies were galloping backwards and
forwards, carrying orders from Division, Brigade and Regimental Head-quarters.
The camp fires were burning brightly and the men were busily engaged in
preparing their morning repast. The
bugles sounded the fall in, and then the various commands formed and moved out
into line in the various positions assigned them by their respective Brigade
commanders.
By 7 o’clock, a. m., the column was well on the road
with its head turned in the direction of Stone Mountain, a cone like shaped
elevation, which was visible some eight or nine miles in the distance.
At about 9 o’clock we
passed over part of the battle-field on which Gen. M’Pherson had been killed,
and which notwithstanding the fact that almost three months had passed since
the battle, the ground bore unmistakable trances of the manner in which the
field was contested.
We moved to the right leaving Stone
Mountain several miles to our left.
We passed through the town of Decatur ,
which we found almost deserted by its inhabitants, save a few old people of
both sexes; we also crossed the South River a
small stream, and went into camp, having traveled about 13 miles. The wagon train, which consisted of 54 wagons
and 17 ambulances did not get into park until long after dark.
On the following day it became apparent that the
Division had come on a foraging expedition.
The teams were sent out in every direction under the escort of the
regiments, and returned to the camp they had left in the morning, pretty well
loaded down with forage for the teams, whilst the men also came back loaded
down with all manner of supplies, having captured everything in the provision
line that they could lay their hands on.
This was the first general foraging expedition that
we ever were out on and we enjoyed it very much, and after we got into camp we
soon prepared a general thanksgiving supper in which, chickens, geese, pork,
sweet potatoes, honey, &c., formed the principal part of the fare, and the
amount of provision that was stored away in a very short time, was really
astonishing.
On the following day we broke camp and moved
homeward. Encamping near Decatur over night.
On the following morning early we again started on the move, and reached
camp about one o’clock .
On the 5th of November the regiment broke
camp and moved about two miles South of Atlanta, on the Macon Pike and went
into camp.
On the following day, Sunday the 6th, we
returned to our old camp.
On the 8th, Tuesday, was election day being
the first time that the soldiers were permitted to vote.
The election passed off very quietly and was concluded
in a spirit of justice and fairness that was greatly at variance with the
assertion of the enemies of the measure.
On the day after the election the enemy made an attack
upon our line of works, planting a battery of artillery on a knoll, about three
hundred yards from our works, and the first indication we had of their presence
was several shots fired by our pickets and immediately thereafter several
ten-pound shells came crashing into our camp.
The boys hastily fell into line, and at once took
possession or the breast-works and awaited the advance of the enemy.
Company C, had a Lincoln
flag floating from a pole in its quarters, and as the Johnnies never liked
anything with the name of Lincoln attached to
it, appeared to direct their shells towards it.
One of the boys of company ran back to
his quarters and pulled down the flag.
The McClellan men, of which there were not a few in
the regiment, greeted this act with a cheer, singing out:
“And that’s the way we will make you take down your
flag by electing “Little Mack” President.
We presume that it is needless to state that they did
not make us take down the flag in that way.
The enemy were easily repulsed and after firing a
number of shot and shell into our works, retired with their battery, allowing
us to recover from our surprise.
On the 11th of November, we were cheered by
the presence of the pay-master, who proceeded to deal out greenbacks with a
liberal hand, it being the first pay we had received for a period of eight
mouths. The suttlers reaped a rich
harvest and everybody was extremely happy.
About this time, orders having been issued by General
Sherman demand the removal from the city of all inhabitants, allowing them to
select which way they would go, either north or south. Transportation north as far as the Ohio
River, and about twenty miles south, which was made with the Government mule
teams, each family was allowed to take a few necessary articles of wearing
apparel and furniture. At the place
agreed upon between the commanders of the two officers, a rebel cavalry escort
and wagon train met ours and they loaded up the goods of the Southern refugees,
and moved them further Dixie-ward.
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