Civil War, Western Theater, 1864

At sunrise on the day after the battle at Pickett's Mill, several enemy shells were lobbed into the Union ranks. Two or three men in Gibson's brigade (the 89th Illinois's brigade) were wounded.  Pickets fired at one another continuously, although by now most of the men were so used to it that those not on duty had little trouble sleeping through it.

During the night of May 28th, the men of the brigade were awakened by the deep voice of Colonel Gibson calling it to arms.  A general panic ensued that was punctuated by much shouting and confused rushing to and fro (although very little discharging of weapons apparently took place).  The men later learned that the alarm had been a false one, and that it had been the result of a nightmare which had afflicted Colonel Gibson.  The men were certainly able to understand Colonel Gibson's frame of mind.  Alexis Cope of the 15th Ohio later recalled that Colonel Gibson's was not the only mind in a

      "wrought up condition after passing through such a hell as we did when we were led into such a slaughter pen [Pickett's Mill]."

During the afternoon of May 29th there was a tense moment when the sound of small arms and artillery fire was heard to the right of the Union line.  No advance occurred, but both sides fired intermittently all that evening and night.  Picket firing on May 30th was unusually light.  It was a sunny day, and men to the right of Gibson's brigade had a clear view of the Pickett's Mill battle site.  Some of the men got permission to move even further to the right to get a better view.  The men wanted to ascertain if all the brigade's dead had been buried.  Since the battleground was still in rebel hands, however, it would have been dangerous to take a closer look.

At sunset on the 30th Gibson's brigade was marched to the left about a quarter mile, then formed up to the right of Hazen's brigade.  Brigade members quickly threw up a log and dirt breastworks.  By this point in the war, Sherman's men could erect a makeshift yet effective barricade in five minutes.  Part of the men kept watch while the others collected rocks, logs, or other materials strong enough to stop or deflect a Minie bullet.  Pickets at the new position traded little fire with enemy counterparts, for the "woods were so dense there our pickets could not see the enemy's pickets and the enemy could not see ours."

At this point in the war, Confederate fortifications normally consisted of heavy logs stacked to a height of about four feet and heavily backed with dirt.  The top log was raised with sticks so that it stood 10 to 12 inches above the log beneath it.  This top log was known as the head-log (because it protected the defender's head), and was the invention of rebel general Joseph Johnston.  The men poked their musket barrels through the gap between the head-log and the log beneath it and fired at oncoming Yankees.  One ironic consequence of extensive use of head-logs was that wounds to rebel defenders in such fortifications usually involved the head.

Entrenchment with head logs
(photo from Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes, 1911)

On May 31st, the men continued to reinforce the brigade's breastworks.  Word had come down that brigade headquarters expected a rebel attack.  Work on the breastworks was barely completed when pickets began firing all along the line.  Soon Union pickets came back to the Union line on the fly, bullets whizzing past them all the while.  The rebels of General Loring's division were on the way.

The attack appeared to be concentrated at a point to the right of Gibson's brigade.  The attack petered out after an hour or so, although rebel sharpshooters took up positions where Union pickets should have been, and proceeded to "annoy" the Union front line.  Some men from the 89th Illinois who had recently acquired Spencer repeating rifles were detached to deal with rebel sharpshooters, and did so in short order.

Once the rebel sharpshooters were all dead or driven back, Union pickets were ordered back into place.  There was some speculation that the rebels might try a night attack, and nervous pickets at one point let loose with a startled volley, but no further rebel movements in fact took place that night.

The rebels were alternately fearful of and fascinated by the Union repeating rifles.  One of Sherman's men made this entry in his journal in May 1864:

"I think the Johnnies are getting rattled.  They are afraid of our repeating rifles.  They say we are not fair, that we load up on Sunday and shoot all the rest of the week."

During the push on Atlanta one Union division was issued the new repeating rifles.  They also received waterproof cartridges and took good advantage of them.  As they crossed the Chattahoochie River they would fire, duck beneath the water while the rebels returned fire, then rise up and fire again.  Many of the rebels were dumbfounded by the spectacle.  Nearly two hundred rebels surrendered rather than retreat, then begged their captors for a closer look at the Yankee guns that could be loaded and fired underwater.

June 1st, 1864 saw the usual exchanges of picket fire, as well as some artillery fire to the right of Gibson's brigade.  One of the 89th Illinois's brother regiments, the 32nd Indiana, suffered a mishap while felling trees to make a road for Union artillery.  They misjudged the fall of a large tree they'd been felling, and it fell "on a row of stacked guns, knocking them to pieces."

On June 2nd it rained for the first time since May 26th.  Just before noon on the 2nd, there was a violent thunderstorm, the passage of which was punctuated by "vivid lightning and loud peals of thunder."  Later that afternoon, a report came through that a damaged bridge over the Etowah River had been repaired.  The repair of the bridge meant that the men would probably be back on full rations soon (at the time, they were on 3/4s rations due to slight shortages).

That night the brigade was awakened abruptly around midnight.  After some sharp picket firing, the colonels of the 15th Ohio and the 32nd Indiana regiments (two of the 89th's brother regiments) began shouting, "To arms!" and "Fix bayonets!"  The picket firing soon subsided, however, and the men had a good laugh at their officers' expense.

On June 3rd, the Union high command decided to try and play a trick on the Johnnies.  Shortly after 9 AM, the brigade's tents were struck and the pickets recalled.  Instead of withdrawing, however, the men were told to quietly conceal themselves behind the Union main line.  The high command hoped that curiosity might draw the rebels out of their fortified positions.  After four hours of waiting, however, it was obvious to everyone that the rebels had not been fooled.  Union pickets were sent back out to their posts and the Union main line reoccupied.  That evening, it rained again.

After a quiet June 4th, there was a sporadic exchange of picket fire on June 5th.  A probe of the rebel lines at 8 AM, however, revealed that the enemy had pulled up stakes during the night.  Details were sent from each company of the brigade to the Pickett's Mill battleground for traces of the dead, wounded, and missing.  It was quickly discovered, however, that the rebels had buried all the Union dead.  The search parties returned to Union lines, and mail from home was distributed to the men.

The brigade set out on the march with the rest of the army on June 6th.  The march began about an hour after sunrise.  The column was halted about 10 AM to await the completion of a pontoon bridge across Altoona Creek.  After the bridge was completed, the division crossed the creek and was placed in camp along Big Shanty Road.  The army was about six miles from Ackworth, Georgia.

The men were allowed to sleep until after sunrise on the morning of June 7th.  Many men were running low  on rations, and some of the men objected to performing further housekeeping duties until they had further rations.  Luckily supply trains showed up later that day, bringing fresh beef and whiskey (among other items).  Some of the men freely partook of their whiskey ration, including most of the regimental band.  That evening band members engaged in an impromptu serenade for Colonel Gibson that was continued for some time. 

General Sherman (they called William Tecumseh Sherman "Uncle Billy") took great pains during the Atlanta Campaign to ensure that the men under his command were well-equipped.  He accomplished this in large part by issuing an edict that simply stated that all railroads in the area controlled by the Union Army would be used first for transport of soldiers and military supplies, then for civilian travel and supply (if any cars were available that had not been commandeered for military use).  Sherman's move provoked howls of outrage, but in this manner he was able to transport 120 ten-ton carloads of men and supplies every day.  While on campaign, his men normally had three days' rations on their persons, and regimental wagons normally carried 20 days' reserve.  Mail was also distributed on a regular basis.

William Tecumseh Sherman
(photo from Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes, 1911)

On June 10th, the brigade set out (in company with its division) at 8 AM.  After marching about a half-mile a hard rain began to fall.  The march was halted and the men allowed to rest until about 2 PM.  At that time the march was resumed (although the rain was still coming down).  The march followed the main road to Marietta.  The men finally halted and made camp in an open field.  They had marched a total of only about three miles.

On June 11th, the men were shifted from one position to another on the Union line.  Rebel guns probed the Union line as pickets exchanged fire intermittently throughout the day.  The day was warm and rainy.  The rain continued on June 12th and 13th.  The men were allowed to pitch their tents, then had to labor in the rain helping to strengthen the Union line.

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On the morning of June 14th, the brigade was ordered to be ready to march early.  They then waited until almost noon before the order came to move out.  Skirmishers began exchanging fire almost immediately after the march began (some men from the 32nd Indiana were out front as skirmishers).  That afternoon the brigade occupied a line of works that had originally been built to shelter artillery gun crews.  Men from the 15th Ohio were sent out to relieve the skirmishers from the 32nd Indiana.  They were given orders to advance and clear out rebel skirmishers, but encountered such heavy fire that they took cover and refused to budge.

At that point General Howard rode up, accompanied by several members of his staff.  The general leapt off his horse and rushed forward toward the reluctant skirmishers.  He told them that they were overestimating the enemy's strength, and that they could easily clear the front with a determined rush.  The men dutifully started started forward, and found resistance to be as light as General Howard had predicted.  There was still a price to be paid for progress, however: two men dead and three wounded.

On the morning of June 15th, the rebels were found to have abandoned their works.  The order came down for a general advance on Pine Mountain at 2 PM.  The brigade was part of Wood's division of the Fourth Corps at this time, and as such was the reserve division during this advance.  The advance proceeded slowly, both because of spirited resistance on the part of the enemy and because of the forbidding nature of the northern Georgia terrain.  By evening, the Union line had been advanced to within 75 yards of the rebel main lines.  General Thomas ordered a halt, and the Union men hastily threw up a line of entrenchments.

June 16th was a welcome day of rest for the men.  Some of them climbed Pine Mountain and took advantage of the view it afforded them of Kennesaw Mountain and Marietta. They could see the spot where rebel General Polk had been killed by a Union artillery solid shot that had pierced his chest as he stood talking with several other rebel generals.

The next morning the men stood for inspection, then packed up their tents and were marched to the left for some distance.  After Generals Sherman, Thomas, and Howard rode up to examine the enemy's position, an advance on the rebel line was ordered.  The brigade went forward with men from the 89th Illinois out front as skirmishers.  After advancing about half a mile, the skirmishers from the 89th came under a galling fire from rebels in the woods at the rear of an open field.  The advance was halted for about an hour while a number of guns were brought forward to try and soften up the enemy position.  After an hour's barrage, two Union divisions (including the 89th's) were sent forward and rather easily swept the enemy's position.

George Thomas, the Rock of Chickamauga
(photo from Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes, 1911)

The men were instructed to settle in for the night in the enemy's well-constructed fortifications.  Some of the men put up their tents, while others elected to sleep under the stars.  Those who slept exposed to the heavens were in for a rude awakening: a hard rain early on the morning of the 18th had them scrambling to get their tents up.

The Union line was ordered forward the next morning.  Men of the 32nd Indiana were out front as skirmishers.  After a short advance the men of the brigade were put to work preparing positions for Union artillery.  While the artillery softened up the enemy position, the men built fires to dry their wet tents and blankets.  At 6 PM that evening, the brigade was sent by the right flank to a bridge that crossed a slough.  Seven companies from the 15th Ohio were sent forward as skirmishers.  The Union skirmishers traded fire with their rebel counterparts for several hours, after which time the firing died down to a near halt.  The men slept in their places in line, while a steady rain fell nearly all night.

At 6 PM on June 19th, the Corps was ordered to make for Marietta, Georgia.  General Wood's division (the 89th Illinois's division) was second in line, behind the division of General Stanley.  Shortly thereafter (at approximately 7 AM), the leading division encountered enemy pickets on a line of ridges just west of Marietta.  General Stanley was ordered to form his division in line of battle, with General Wood in support.  The 15th Ohio of the 89th Illinois's brigade went ahead with Wood's division, while the rest of the regiments in the brigade remained behind to draw rations.

After the newly supplied regiments rejoined the brigade, the men settled in as Union artillery traded potshots with their rebel counterparts.  A steady rain fell all afternoon.  That night the men were ordered to spend another soggy evening in line.  The men were awakened the next morning at 4 AM.  After a hasty breakfast the division moved out, advancing down a road about a mile, at which point it relieved part of General Hooker's corps.  The men they relieved had only partially constructed a works in which to reside: Wood's men were put to work finishing the job.

In the afternoon, a battery of heavy guns was brought forward and placed on the division's right flank.  No sooner had the guns opened fire when rebel guns barked a reply.  Skirmishers all the while traded small arms fire: a man from the 15th Ohio was wounded on the skirmish line.  The Union works were quite close to the rebel forward position, a string of rifle pits on a rounded hill known as Bald Knob.  An open space stood between the Union line and Bald Knob, allowing the rebels a clear field of fire.

After a supporting artillery barrage around 4 PM, Kirby's brigade of Stanley's division was sent forward to clear Bald Knob.  After some spirited resistance, this was accomplished at approximately 5:40 PM.  The enemy seemed loathe to relinquish Bald Knob, however, and launched a counterattack not twenty minutes later.  Kirby's men had to scurry back to the Union line.

The 49th Ohio was detached from Gibson's brigade (the 89th Illinois's brigade) to support the battery on the division's right.  Some men were assigned to sleep in the works.  As an attack by the rebels was deemed a strong possibility, some of the men were assigned to sleep in place in the front line.  As it had again rained most of the day, for these men it was yet another unpleasant night in northern Georgia. 

June 21st was a cloudy, dismal day, made even less palatable by a cold drizzle that fell the entire day,  At 11 AM that morning, General Howard himself rode up to Colonel Askew, the commander of the 15th Ohio, and his adjutant, Captain Cope, and told them to assault, capture, and hold Bald Knob.  The two men thought this a curious order, as a full brigade had failed to hold the knob the previous day, and now General Howard was ordering a single regiment to accomplish the same task.  Colonel Askew, however, merely nodded and prepared to get underway.

Colonel Askew had noted the previous day that Kirby's attempt to hold Bald Knob had failed because no attempt had been made to clear the woods to the right of the knob.  Askew therefore decided to send four companies against the knob, and six companies in a sweep of the woods to the right of the knob.  Regimental cooks served coffee to the men in line, who drank it in silence.  Oliver Cope, brother of 15th Ohio Adjutant Alexis Cope, asked at this time to be excused from making the assault.  Questioning revealed that he had had a premonition that he was to die today.  Colonel Askew gently refused Cope's request.  It turned out that Cope's dream had been prophetic- he did die during the assault, his jaw shattered and breast pierced by rebel balls.

After a brief Union artillery barrage, the men of the 15th Ohio were sent forward.  The rebels in the rifle pits on Bald Knob poured a steady stream of lead at the advancing Union men, but most of the bullets were aimed high and did little damage.  One ball found Lieutenant William Harkness of the 89th, however.  As Isaac K. Young stated in a letter home:

"Lieutenant William Harkness of Company K, 89th Illinois, fell in this charge, pierced through by a Minie ball; he was brought back to the rear to the division hospital, and was conscious of the fatality of his wound, and set to work to write a letter to his wife at Platteville, Illinois."

The rebel skirmishers on Bald Knob were quickly overrun, and many surrendered.  One rebel shot a Union man after his pit mates had surrendered, and was himself shot dead.  The Union men on Bald Knob quickly set to work trying to establish a defensive position, while the six companies attempting to clear the woods to the right of the knob encountered two regiments of Confederate General Bates's division.

The adjutant of the 15th Ohio was sent to try and secure reinforcements.  He failed to locate brigade commander, Colonel Gibson, but did locate Lt. Colonel Gray, commander of the 49th Ohio.  Gray's men had pulled duty the night before, but Gray could plainly observe the perilous position of the 15th Ohio, and so agreed to help.  The 49th quickly rushed forward and helped secure the woods to the right of the knob. Thus the 15th Ohio (with the assistance of the 49th Ohio) was successful, and Bald Knob remained in Union hands that night.  Capturing the knob had cost the 15th dearly, however: 12 of its men had died in the assault, and 42 had been wounded.

On the morning of June 22, 1864, the men of the 89th Illinois relieved the 15th Ohio, which was in line in the works to the right of Bald Knob.  Part of the morning was spent reinforcing the works and digging rifle pits for the 89th's skirmishers.  This position was so close to the rebels that one-third of the men were on duty at all times.  There was a constant exchange of fire that day by skirmishers and artillery.

On June 23rd, the 89th was relieved of skirmish and first line duty by the 15th Ohio.  Orders came down that evening for the brigade to advance its skirmish line at the same time that General Hazen was to advance his skirmish line on the brigade's right.  Union artillery opened up on the rebels and poured down half an hour's worth of iron rain.  Then the brigade skirmishers (the 15th Ohio) moved out and managed to fairly quickly push back the rebel skirmishers.  But General Hazen's men had not advanced as planned, and brigade skirmishers were therefore subjected to a withering enfilading fire that killed one officer and three men, and wounded seventeen men.