Following the American Civil War Sesquicentennial with day by day writings of the time, currently 1863.

Post image for Downing’s Civil War Diary.–Alexander G. Downing.

Downing’s Civil War Diary.–Alexander G. Downing.

October 14, 2014

Diary of Alexander G. Downing; Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry

Friday, 14th—At Adairsville we took a train composed of box cars and left for Resaca, where we arrived about 4 o’clock this morning. We at once left the cars and formed a line of battle. Here we lay all day. The remainder of our corps soon arrived, and later the Fourteenth Army Corps came up. The first division of our corps was sent out after the rebels. They found them on the railroad about six miles out between Resaca and Dalton, where they already had destroyed about fifteen miles of track. Our troops engaged in a skirmish there in which the Seventeenth Iowa were taken prisoners, but were at once paroled. It is reported that the commander of the post at Dalton surrendered the place without firing a gun. It is thought that the rebels are making for the mountains, and if they succeed in getting there before we do, it will be hard to trap them, as they are in their own country and among friends.

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