Foraging For Sherman's Army
Often Dangerous and Exciting Work Done by Fearless Men.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: Any old soldier who served three or
four years will call to mind that he felt more secure from danger
when with the main body of the army than when on any detached
service. When on picket-guard a mile or more from camp, or on the
skirmish-line in advance of the line-of-battle, or with a detail of
foragers when on the march, he felt that his life was in greater
peril than when in the ranks with his company and regiment. The
love of adventure, however, made it desirable for the more
reckless.
The day after Sherman's army left Atlanta on the march to the
sea, the Colonel's Orderly came to my quarters in the early morning
and informed me that I had been detailed to take command of a
brigade foraging party of 50 men, and that I should turn over the
command of my company to my First Lieutenant.
I felt that it would be a position attended with great risk of
being captured by the enemy, and a chance between Andersonville
Prison and death, as there was an intense hatred of foragers; but
I did not hesitate to accept it, as any officer should who cared
for his reputation and "sand."
The men of my command were selected with a view to their
daring and fearlessness, and every one of them was the true blue.
Of the four corps marching in parallel columns, about 10 to 15
miles apart, the Fifteenth, to which I belonged, was on the right
flank, and therefore more exposed to the rebel cavalry that raided
on our flanks.
In order to procure the needed supplies for our brigade, such
as cattle, hogs, sheep, mules, and horses and also bacon, sweet
potatoes, chickens, turkeys, geese, etc., the foragers had to
strike off on by-roads leading to plantations, and sometimes found
themselves five or six miles from the marching column. Small squads
would frequently be sent to houses away from the road across the
fields, so that in the course of the day the foraging party would
be reduced to half the number it started out with in the morning.
Before many days all the detail was mounted on mules and
horses, with a scant supply of saddles and bridles, and when they
joined the column at night, loaded with what they had foraged
during the day, and driving horses and cattle and sheep, and
sometimes with a carriage or two well loaded, it was an amusing
sight. But they were always welcomed by the Quartermaster, and when
dealt out to the boys, the sweet potatoes, fowls and hams were
highly appreciated, the officers also coming in for a share of the
spoils.
Sometimes we would reach a plantation just at night, and so
far away that we could not reach the column, and would have to
bivouac and place men on guard to avoid surprise and possible
capture. It was risky, but fortunately the enemy never found out
our exposed situation at night. When near Macon, Ga., they came
very near surprising us when taking dinner at a plantation only
about a quarter of a mile from where our wagon-train was passing,
but the woman who was cooking the dinner, and who professed to be
a good friend of the Union cause, made an unguarded remark that led
us to suspect that the rebel cavalry were not far away. So we made
short work of our dinner, and hastened to the other side of the
moving wagon-train.
They came pell-mell, making a dash at the train, discharging
their carbines; but with the help of the train-guard and the
teamsters, and sheltered by the wagons, we soon drove them away,
suffering little harm; but they took one of our men, who tarried
too long at his dinner. We never heard from him afterward, and very
likely he was killed. Another man who was with him made his escape
and joined us. When Gen. Sherman learned that the rebels killed all
the foragers whom they captured, he informed the rebel Generals
that he would have as many rebel prisoners in our hands shot as
they killed foragers, and that had the desired effect.
When foraging in the Carolinas near the Revolutionary
battlefield of Camden, we had the curiosity to see the old
battlefield, and took a road that we learned led to it. We had not
followed it over a mile when we met a negro who recognized us as
Union soldiers. Approaching me he excitedly exclaimed:
"Marse Cap'n, yo'uns go two miles furder on dis road an' you
go right inter de rebel camp."
It is needless to say that we took another road, as our negro
friend directed, and kept a sharp lookout behind us until we joined
the column.
When near Cheraw, S.C., we discovered a freight-car standing
on the track, loaded with ammunition that the rebels had run out of
Cheraw to prevent it falling into our hands. We blew up the car,
causing a terrible explosion, that soon made our scattered foragers
rally on the main body. We expected to reach Cheraw that night, but
came to a creek where the bridge had been destroyed, so were
compelled to bivouc on a peninsula formed by a bend of the creek.
Placing a guard at the neck of it, we slept soundly, feeling pretty
secure, and the next morning followed the creek to a ford and
joined the column in camp at Cheraw about noon, and reported the
explosion to Gen. Logan.
When near Bentonville I was directed by Gen. Logan to aim for
Elliotsville with my foragers, and told that the corps would
probably reach there that night. About noon, however, the battle of
Bentonville commenced, and the Fifteenth Corps changed its
direction and went to Bentonville.
Not being aware of this move we went on to Elliotsville and
remained there that night. Thinking the corps would arrive there
that day, I concluded to forage further on, and near night we met
Gen. Terry's army coming up from Wilmington, and my forage party
was the first of Sherman's army to meet them. We turned back the
next morning and stopped that night at Elliotsville, and from a
Union man residing there heard the first news of the battle of
Bentonville, and that our corps was there.
We reached there the second day from Elliotsville, being
absent from the column three and a-half days. We soon went into
camp at Goldsboro, and that ended my foraging, and I was glad to
return to my company.
R.W. BURT, CAPTAIN, CO.H, 76th OHIO, Peoria, Ill.
From:The National Tribune, November 3, 1898
Copyright © 1995-2000 Larry Stevens