Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Stanley's Corps - Newton's Division - Wagner's Brigade
Atlanta Campaign
Sherman has tired of attempting to flank the rebels out of their positions and has determined a different tactic; ordering large guns to be sent from the north, he orders as much of the city to be reduced as possible by firing over the lines and into the city proper, night and day.
Hood has sent his cavalry around the Union army to attack their supply lines north of the army. This is risky as it leaves the Confederate army without cavalry.
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John Baer Diary Entries - text in white, comments in blue. Entries for August 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th.
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DIARY ENTRY - Sunday, August 7th, 1864
Five weeks in prison and I have lost nothing by the experience so far as I can judge - true, I am not as stout as I was when I came in, but that is easily accounted for. The insufficiency of the food and the want of exercise are the causes of the weakness perhaps both physically and mentally, for there are mental weaknesses existing to an alarming extent - a great many men have lost all principles of manhood and become perfectly childish, and yet they are scarcely blameable. Many of them - their time has expired and their regiments have gone home; and yet they are left here in such a miserable condition. It takes men of fortitude and undoubted loyalty not to succumb under the circumstances.
More rumors of exchange. It is reported that General Winder has received orders for 10,000 prisoners to be delivered at Hilton Head this week. They are to start tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes here - and as long as the thing is to be done tomorrow, I will be like the lark was with the farmer when he depended on his neighbors and kinsmen to reap his wheat - I will rest easy - but when it comes today I will begin to think about moving.
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DIARY ENTRY - Monday, August 8th, 1864
Finished reading the Old Testament in the forenoon. Rained so in the afternoon that I could not write till late in the evening, and then had not time on account of having to issue rations.
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DIARY ENTRY - Tuesday, August 9th, 1864
The first incident of note was that of administering the Oath of Allegiance to a few characters of doubtful loyalty. There have been men going out from time to time on parole to do different kinds of work for the Confederacy. Some even volunteered to make shoes for the so-called Confederate government. This was looked upon as both dishonorable and disloyal; but as yet there were no steps taken to prevent it and no stringent measure used to warn or intermediate men that felt inclined to go. At length it came to such a pitch that some got so bold as to request the adjutant to administer the Oath of Allegiance to the Confederacy.
This caused the regulators to open their eyes and keep on the alert for other movements. Presently it was reported that they wanted men to work on the fortifications. One of the regulators disguised himself and started out as a Rebel Sergeant to get volunteers for that purpose, and was not long in getting a squad of five or six, and started with them as though he intended to take them out, but only took them to the headquarters of the regulators to administer the oath.
The process of administering it was very simple but altogether unpleasant to the recipient. When they got to headquarters, they were ordered to take off their pants - for which there was no alternative but obedience - this order being obeyed, they received a sever chastisement with a strap, after which they were dismissed but did not get away without black eyes.
I dislike miscreants, notwithstanding the stringent measures and the vigilance of the police to prevent crimes, there is a great deal of stealing done. The regulators and their laws resemble the regulators of Texas and the lynch law, and would bear a pretty good comparison. They are composed chiefly of the rounders of Brooklyn and New York, and in my opinion, it would be an impossibility to find an honest man among them. There are reasons for everything, and one reason for the vigilance of the regulators is that they exercise their power for gain, at present for making money and in hopes of gaining favor with government officials - but should the true history of their careers be ferreted out and presented to the authorities, it is more than probable that they would be involved in some difficulty.
Rained in torrents all afternoon, and just when it was raining the hardest, the rebel signal gun boomed forth the sound to arms and the poor Georgia militia had to roll out. The cause of the alarm was that the branch had raised so that it washed part of the stockade out, and the rebs anticipated a break, but the rain and the immense amount of water was enough to prevent anything of the kind.
I did not finish my remarks in regard to the regulators. I presume that under existing circumstances, they are a necessary evil used to prevent a greater, and in case of two existing evils, it is policy to choose the lesser.
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DIARY ENTRY - Wednesday, August 10th, 1864
Some arrivals yesterday of which I made no note owing to the long comment on the regulators and the lynch law. News unimportant except of an exchange of the officers at Charleston. The editor of a Macon paper in a long editorial urges an immediate exchange as a great saving to the Confederacy. Whether such an article would have any influence in the authorities is rather doubtful, but it is certainly the ardent desire of several thousand men that it will. Newspaper Generals in my opinion are not only a nuisance but an evil.
Rumors of exchange are still flying, they are favorable but not reliable. One of my acquaintances says that he had a conversation with a Quartermaster and he told him that the terms of exchange were agreed upon, that they were making preliminary arrangements for prisoners, and that General Winder had orders to have everything in readiness to forward the prisoners to the point of exchange at any time. This report is confirmed by a Yankee that has been clerking at Winder’s headquarters, but no reliance can be placed in such rumors, so I let them pass - not, however, without a desire that they may prove true at an early day.
Another flood in the afternoon and rain at night. How terrible to think that 5,000 men have to stand in the rain and storm, and after the tempest is stilled, lie down on the wet ground without covering or shelter, in wet clothes, frequently have to yield to nature, fatigue overcomes them and they are compelled to succumb.
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The mention of the lark in the Sunday diary entry seems to be a reference to an Aesop's fable:
This is a summary of the Regulator-Moderator War in Texas:
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More Information:
- Link: War Operations, see Volume XXXVIII, Chapter L, Part V, Correspondence, pp. 407-455.
- The Civil War Day by Day, John S. Bowman, Ed. p. 174.
- The Civil War, A Narrative, Vol 1II, Red River to Appomattox, Shelby Foote, pp. 492-519.
- Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Retreat With Honor, pp. 315-320.
- Decision In The West, The Atlanta Campaign of 1864, Albert Castel, pp, 455-466.
- Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, pp. 613-619.
- Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, pp. 572-576.
- Events: 1864
NEXT POST: AUGUST 14TH
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