107

"They shot our brave men down like dogs, even after they had surrendered."

Thomas F. Elliott.

A sergeant's diary on the Chattanooga and Atlanta campaigns.

Various places, 1 November 1863 to 30 April 1864
[113] manuscript diary pages. 12mo, 5½ x 3½ inches, original limp cloth, worn and nearly disbound; minor wear to contents. 

Thomas Frank Elliott (1836-1927) was born in Ireland, and was a butcher in the small Mississippi River town of Savanna, IL when he enlisted in the 92nd Illinois Infantry, rising to the rank of sergeant as they transitioned to a mounted infantry unit.

This diary begins in the midst of the Chattanooga campaign. Sergeant Elliott was stationed in Chattanooga, commanding six men in a courier post under General Gordon Granger of IV Corps. The Union troops in Chattanooga had been starving, but reinforcements had just punched through with supplies, the famous "Cracker Line." Food was still scarce. On 2 November, he reported "We only draw quarter rations, & very little forage for horses." He discusses the formation of a new courier line to Bridgeport, Alabama on 3 November: "The road over the mountains is the roughest I ever saw, nothing but a small bridal path. If it was any worse, a man could not go on foot." He spent the next month relaying messages along this route. While camping at a courier post north of Bridgeport, "some rascal stole my horse"; it was recaptured the next day from some Rebel raiders.

On 5 December, Elliott's detachment was relieved of courier duty, received new Spencer rifles, and rejoined their regiment south of Bridgeport. On 20 December they were happily preparing log cabins for winter quarters, when they received "marching orders, destination not known." On the march, Elliott sometimes was able to practice his old trade as a butcher: "Confiscated three beef cattle, which I killed for the company" (2 January 1864). They marched southwest to Huntsville, AL, then northwest to Pulaski, TN, then back to Huntsville. He enjoyed a nice patriotic moment on 21 January 1864: "Whilest I sit & listen to our band playing the Star Spangled Banner for guard mounting, I feel that this war will soon play out."

On 23 January 1864, he received a sad letter from his wife Naomi: "Brother David had been taken prisoner near Nashville by the Rebels, tied to a tree & shot." It was a false report: Elliott received his photograph on 27 January. Records show that Elliott's brother-in-law David Grant Cooke served as a lieutenant in the 12th U.S.C.T., and was executed by Nathan Bedford Forrest, but not until December 1864.

A minor skirmish is recounted on 25 January, in which Elliott's regiment held off an attack from a larger body of Confederate cavalry: "The Rebs soon found that our Spencers were a hard thing to charge upon. . . . Our horses took a stampeed, running over those who were holding them." He also describes the aftermath of the nearby similar Battle of Athens the next day.

Settling down to winter quarters near Huntsville, the biggest excitement over the next two months was a 6-inch snowfall on 23 March 1864, which inspired a massive snowball battle among the regiment: "Before we could get time to form in line, they came charging onto us, flinging snowballs thick & fast. By this time we were reinforced by Co. K. We then soon handsomely repulsed & drove them back."

The regiment marched out on 3 April, heading east to launch the Atlanta campaign. They crossed into Georgia on 11 April. Before the proper fighting began, Elliott reported on a surprise attack on his regiment on 23 April: "About daybreak, an overwhelming force of Rebels made an attack on our pickets numbering only about 65 men, and the Rebs 2 reg'ts of infantry & one of cavalry. It seemed they got in our rear during the night, barricaded the roads leading to camp, which enabled them to capture more than half our men, and it is feared they have taken none off as prisoners, but like savages they shot our brave men down like dogs, even after they had surrendered." However, three days later, a Confederate deserter reported that he had seen the 92nd men "brought in as prisoners, and that they were being treated as such." Another skirmish took place on 29 April in Ringgold, GA, which "give us a chance to use our Spencers quite effectually, killing 10 & wounding three times this number." 

With--Letter from Sergeant Elliott to his wife Naomi, Franklin, TN, 15 April 1863; 1922 family wedding invitation; and Elliott's 1918-1919 diary kept in Preston, Iowa.

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