Huntsville, Thursday, March 17. Day very fine. Cold night. Heavy frost in the morning. Policed camp in the morning. Inspected in the afternoon by Captains Lee and Dillon. T. J. Hungerford none better. His brother detailed to nurse him and I to take care of Milton’s team. Michael Murphy died in post hospital last night at 3 A. M. No mail or papers. Reported capture of the train near Tullahoma with all on board, burning the cars and tearing up the track. Much anxiety is felt, as Generals Grant and MePherson were expected on it. If they should be captured it certainly would be a calamity.
Monday, March 17, 2014
17th. Stormy day. Played a little chess and read some. In the P. M. went to Thursday lecture. A stranger, an old graduate, occupied the pulpit—from a tent on Tappan Square. Columbian’s concert in the evening. Remained at home with Ma and baby Carrie.
17th. Stormy day. Played a little chess and read some. In the P. M. went to Thursday lecture. A stranger, an old graduate, occupied the pulpit—from a tent on Tappan Square. Columbian’s concert in the evening. Remained at home with Ma and baby Carrie.
Friday, 17th.—Congress passed an act requiring all persons not re-enlisted by the 20th to be held during the war under their present organizations, without having the benefit of furlough system. As I am in anyway, don’t expect to get out until killed or go out on my own hook. I will try my luck at drawing for furlough. Re-enlisted for the war. G. P. Harris drew the furlough; I drew 20 and he drew 21.
March 17—An order was read out at dress parade that all troops in the army would be held until the end of the war. This was nothing of importance to us, as we enlisted for that time. It is raining and snowing very hard, and almost every day. Our regiment is not in winter quarters, for we expect to move when the bad weather stops. We had a snowball fight—our regiment with the 43d North Carolina. Then our brigade with Battle’s Brigade. It was lots of fun. Nothing more until the 26th.
Thursday, 17th—Our boat has been running steadily since starting, it having stopped but once, and that was to take on wood for the boilers of the engine. The time has passed without incident.
March 17, Thursday. Sent a letter to Chase in reply to his rather captious communication concerning the Ann Hamilton and the Princeton. Shall not be surprised if he takes offense, for I think I have put him in the wrong, and this is to him very uncongenial. In this respect he differs greatly from Seward, who will receive correction very easily, provided others do not know it.
March 17.—Colonel William Stokes, in command of the Fifth Tennessee cavalry, surprised a party of rebel guerrillas under Champ Ferguson, at a point near Manchester, Tenn., and after a severe fight routed them, compelling them to leave behind twenty-one in killed and wounded.—This morning, at a little before three o’clock, an attempt was made on Seabrook Island by a large force of rebels, who came down the Chickhassee River in boats. They approached in two large flats, filled with men, evidently sent forward to reconnoitre, with a numerous reserve force further back, to cooperate in case any points were found to be exposed. One of the boats came down to the mouth of Skull Creek, where they attacked a picket-boat containing a corporal and four men of the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania. They first fired three shots and then a whole volley, and succeeded in capturing the boat and those in it, after a severe hand-to-hand fight. Whether there were any casualties could not be ascertained. Further on, meeting an unexpected resistance, they retreated.
—Lieutenant-general Grant formally assumed the command of the armies of the United States to-day. The following was his order on the subject:
Headquarters of the Armies of the United States,
Nashville, Tenn., March 17, 1864.
General Orders, No. 12.
In pursuance of the following order of the President:
“Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C,
March 10, 1864
“Under the authority of the Act of Congress to appoint the grade of Lieutenant-General in the army, of February 29, 1864, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, U. S. A., is appointed to the command of the armies of the United States.
“Abraham Lincoln.”
—I assume command of the armies of the United States. Headquarters will be in the field, and, until further orders, will be with the army of the Potomac. There will be an office headquarters in Washington, D. C, to which all official communications will be sent, except those from the army where the headquarters are at the date of their address.
by John Beauchamp Jones
MARCH 17TH.—Bright, clear, and pleasant; frosty in the morning.
Letters from Lieut.-Gen. Hood to the President, Gen Bragg, and the Secretary of War, give a cheering account of Gen. Johnston’s army at Dalton. The men are well fed and well clothed. They are in high spirits, “and eager for the fray.” The number is 40,000. Gen. H. urges, most eloquently, the junction of Polk’s and Loring’s troops with these, making some 60,000,—Grant having 50,000,—and then uniting with Longstreet’s army, perhaps 30,000 more, and getting in the rear of the enemy. He says this would be certain to drive Grant out of Tennessee and Kentucky, and probably end the war. But if we lie still, Grant will eventually accumulate overwhelming numbers, and penetrate farther; and if he beats us, it would be difficult to rally again for another stand, so despondent would become the people.
Gen. Hood deprecates another invasion of Pennsylvania, which would be sure to result in defeat. He is decided in his conviction that the best policy is to take the initiative, and drive the enemy out of Tennessee and Kentucky, which could be accomplished to a certainly.
