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OneTellsofShermanGeorgiaMenMarchTHE EAU ttAfRE lEADEtEau Clair*. WisconsinThursday, Dec. 3, 1964By MERTON T. AKERS United Press InternationalThis is what Sherman's March Through Georgia was ike as reported by a uniontoldier who made it:A tornado 60 miles injvidth from Chattanooga(Tenn.l to this place (Savannah, Ga.) 290 miles could not have done half the damage we did“All the R. Roads in t h e state are torn up and the whole tract of country o v e r *\hich we passed is little better than a wilderness.“I can’t for the life of me think what the people that are left thorp are to live on.WE HAVE all their cattle.hens, mules, sheen. hogs, sweet potatoes and molasses and nearly everything else,We burnt all the cotton we met which was millionsof pounds.Our teams with all their hard driving are bettor t o-day by 200 per cent than thev were when we started because we have more than2-9 new mules besides all the old ones we could bring with us. Those that couldn’t *rav el were killed and the road is lined with those that died.Those are excerpts from a letter written on Dee. IS 1864 by William F Saylor, leader of the Third Division of t h e First Brigade band of the XX Corps, one of the four corps which made the historic march. The letter was written to Savior’s father, the Rev Jacob Saylor of Naperville, 111. A copy of the letter was made available to United Press Internationa! by Mrs. L. C. Derrick of Green Bay, Wis., a niece of W i 1 liam Saylor. The original is in the Wisconsin State Historical Society.Before Saylor’s out tit started the march they destroyed a railroad bridge across theChattahoochie River eight miles north of Atlanta. The bridge was 360 feet long and 100 feet above the water, built of trestle work.On Saturday Nov. 12th our forces commenced destroying the bridge. On Sunday the 13th we pulled down the bridge, Saylor wrote. “This was done by cutting all the braces and digging away about 20 feet of track from the ends, then fastening a long rope to it and five or six hundred men pulling on it endwise. After two or three pulls it commenced swaying to and fro and soon about one-half of this massive structure went clashing to the bottom of the stream. The workmen now went to the other side and went through the sameoperation and in one from the time they com moneed cutting the braces the whole structure that had cost us months to build was a pile of ruins.Saylor’s unit began the march toward the sea on the 14th.Wo had on our backs in our haversacks each.tent. 1 wool hlanket, 1 r u liber poncho, an extra pair of shoes. 1 pair of drawers, 1 shirt and other little t r i n -kets. and three days rations of hardtack and sow belly eaeh and ten davs rations of coffee sugar and a little nepper and salt, a knife, fork. 1 spoon, 1 tin plate and our horns. . .d a y| The officer in charge of!we had pork, yams, geese.fresh beef, syrup and plumbutter and Indian corn. I satup until 11 !* p. m. boilingbeef for Ihe next day, . . ,ON DEC. 10 Saylor’s outfitthe party persuaded an aged darkey by threatening to hang him up (rather persuasive argument) to tell him where the stuff was. The FxGov. had worked it prcttvFlorida Acts to Control SharksTALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) —The Florida Board of Conservation is pitting sharkagainst shark in an effort to steer them away from commercial fishing 'ets in the Florida keys.weweI was allowed to send out two foragers eaeh day for the hands. These would go ahead some distance and gf i what they could and bring it to the road and th^n wait untilcame up and from therewould carry what they h a d got to camp. Today (Nov. 17) they got fresh pork and vams hut we had to carry t h e m about 3’z miles . . . The way we managed the pork was to catch a hog. kill him and cut off what we wanted probably the hams, hair and all. let the balance lay. When we got to ramp, we skinned and divided it. . .”sharp. He took up a bed of cabbage in his garden, then and dug holes and deposited his 1 (goods in boxes and barrels in said hole, and then set the cabbages out nicely again but it wouldn’t work. The boys unearthed the stuff and foun 1lots of silverware, two nicegold head canes, rings andother jewelry and any amountof dry goods and a large lot of very fine wine in bottles, put up in barrels. My foragers brought in pork, flour meal. chickens, molasses etc. We had pancakes made with flour, meal, water and saleratus. and stewed chicken for supper and the same* for breakfast. . .was within 41 a miles of Savannah. “There was now heavy firing in front and to the right and left of us. . . Got yams pork. This the last of our foraging vve are now surrounded Rebs. . Sharks are caught with heavy baited hooks and a flat board is attached to the line. The hoard slows the wounded shark and tires him. Other was sharks, smelling blood, at-asitaek their weakened comrade.by; Commercial fishermen on both the Atlantic and GulfOn Dee. 13 the Federals es-1t a b 1 i s h e d communication with the fleet lying o f f Savannah. That meant r a -tions and wagons were sent to the shore.sides of the keys have reported uncommonly b i g schools of sharks tearing into their nets in search of food.'Saylor went foraging himself on Nov. 30.WE WENT about 4 miles to the left of our camp and got a hog, a hag full of yams and a lot of molasses. I had a nigger and a horse with me and was just loading the stuff when some of the regimental foragers came running in and said the Rebels were after them.. . .But they did not bring rations alone.” Saylor wrote. “They brought also our mail,which is the next thing t ogrub for a soldier. You can not imagine how muchRoBrings BirdsSAN BRUNO. Calif. (UPD —Rainy weather brings birds flocking to San Ft an* cisco International Airport, j o y They think rain pools on thethere was in this army when runways are lakes, and haveit was found out that our mail to be chased away with exhad come. We are now read\a a ■■ —to operate against the rebs. vent danger to jet planesplosive charges to p r eOn Nov. 19 “my foragers did not find anything so wehad a supper of hardtack. . .It rained all night. I got drenched to the skin and had diarrhea. ...By Nov. 23 they were inMilledgeville, the Georgia capital.This is a very pretty place and contains some beautiful buildings. The Legislation (legislature» had been in session but on hearing ofour approach they adjournedjuP“I loaded the stuff onto the horse and told the darkey to put (run?) as fast as he could. I loaded my Spencer Rifle (7 shooter) and kept a good look out as I retreated towards camp as fast as possible. The Rebs followed usabout two miles and thenfell hack. I fei* quite uneasywhile they were after us as it is sure death to fall into their hands and I didn’t relish the idea of being hungto a tree. They capturedand fled in confusion to the four winds of the earth. A great many of the inhabitants had left when we g o t there and the town looked desolate enough. We burned the State Prison and the arsenal and other public buildings and pillaged and plundered the town generally. It was an awful looking place when we got through. . . .’’Saylor’s entry for Nov. 28 said this day the foraging party of the 105th 111. . found ex-Gov. Herschel V. Johnston’s house about 5 to 7 miles from the road we were on. The ex-gov. of course w a s gone, but had left some of his old darkies. The foragers got lots of stuff to eat here b u t not finding the usual amount of finery in the house they suspected that it was hid somewhere.J two boys from some Ohio Regt. Poor fellows. . .Dec. 2nd. . .Mv foragers got pork and yams at t h e house of Reb Gen. Hindman, now dead, (probably Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman who had been wounded t w o months earlier but lived on through the war) and I carried the forequarter of a hog about 40 lbs. from there to camp about 7 miles. I was almost dead when I there. . .They reached Millen, Ga on Dec. 3. This is the last place where the Rebs kept our prisoners but they were all gone. Near the place they were kept is one of the largest and most beautiful springs I ever saw. It would pay a man well to go 20 miles to see it. .g o tA FULL STRENGTH CHLORINE BLEACH:ial Blue Fabric Brightener Convenient Dry Formula Deodorizes, SanitizesPREMIUM PRODUCTi4 4Dec. 5th.This evening
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Eau Claire Leader
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Dec 03, 1964
Page 21
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