Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment - Stanley's Corps - Newton's Division - Wagner's Brigade
Atlanta Campaign
Sherman is growing impatient for progress and is frustrated that the Confederate lines cannot be broken or flanked. By the 13th, he has made a plan to take nearly his whole army in a circle around Atlanta, fairly far out from the city (a radius of about 15 miles) and cut the railroads that supply the city. As the Confederate General Hood has sent his cavalry north to break the Union supply lines, Sherman will first try one more cavalry raid to try to break the railroad links. Preparations continue for both these actions on the 14th.
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John Baer Diary Entries - text in white, comments in blue. Entries for August 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th.
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DIARY ENTRY - Thursday, August 11th, 1864
No rations yesterday, and only half rations of bread this morning, but happening to have a few beans on hand we had a pretty good mess of bean soup for dinner. Did not get it cooked as well as we might have had it not been for the rain - it seems to have a knack of raining once a day, sometimes that once lasts all day. Well, since the shower, the atmosphere is very pleasant, but I fear another shower before night.
Nothing new or interesting, 10th Indiana and 7th Kentucky regiments represented in the bunk, conversation turned on old times, home and incidents. Last night, low miserable language cannot express the misery witnessed during the rain and afterwards. Death would be preferable to being compelled to witness such scenes, yet there is a hope which buoys me up under all trials - the hope of reaching home and family - I ought to write, but friends cannot help knowing our condition, and for them to think me dead would be a pleasure to knowing the truth.
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DIARY ENTRY - Friday, August 12th, 1864
Very pretty weather, but exceedingly hot - so very hot that it is even uncomfortable in the shade, which for the most part is very deficient both for shade and shelter. A gloomy thought lingers around us - one of our men is sick, and it is an utter impossibility to get a doctor to prescribe for him. I would attempt it myself, but it is as much impossible to get the medicine, so that the disease will have to run its course - and if the constitution and nature is not sufficient to wear it out and throw it off, there is no alternative but death - and it takes a constitution and courage stronger than most men have to endure under the circumstances, and if a man settles down to the conviction that he is going to die, his time is near at hand.
“It is appointed unto man: one, to die, and after death the judgement; man’s days are numbered”, and it is true that all men must die, and that there is but one time to die - but the thoughts of having to bury a comrade so far from home and friends is productive of very unpleasant feelings. The mortality here is greater by disease than by the missiles of death in the front rank of Sherman’s army. This will throw light to some degree on the kind of treatment received by prisoners when there are more men dying of disease out of 35,000 than die of disease and get killed in action in constant skirmishing with an army of 150,000 - and with this to give light, the real clue to the real truth of the circumstances will be so small that the thread will be almost entirely lost.
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DIARY ENTRY - Saturday, August 13th, 1864
The most comprehensive stretch of the imagination based on facts that can be reproduced in language will fail to convey in an adequate form the most faint idea of all that has to be suffered and endured in a prisoners’ camp. I have read of the horrors of the Bastille and the tower, but prisoners suffered little in comparison to what is suffered here. When I say suffered I mean from confinement and exposure, besides, their suffering and punishment was for crime. When they were taken to the rack or wheel, their suffering for the time was most severe and sometimes unto death, but during confinement they had a palace in comparison with Camp Sumpter. The rations that are issued are barely enough to keep body and soul together, even if it was very palatable and if every man got his full share - but by the time the men get it, it is generally one-fourth exhausted and the manner of cooking is miserable beyond description.
How long, oh how long will Father Abraham let us endure this? The Jersey prison ship would not have been harder to escape from, and the mortality among the prisoners could not have been much greater. In six months over five thousand Federal soldiers have found a resting place beneath the sod of Georgia in the vicinity of Andersonville.
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DIARY ENTRY - Sunday, August 14th, 1864
How exceedingly and oppressively hot is the sun of Georgia - a few white clouds are floating along the horizon, the leaves of the tall pines are scarcely stirred by the breeze. The pine smoke moves close to the ground. The sound of many voices is born in our ears. Some are engaged in conversation of loved objects far away. Others are engaged in riotous disputes and others are engaged in cursing - some without object curse from habit, others have various objects of hatred on which to vent their spleen, but in all the employments there is nothing to indicate that this is the Sabbath day.
Although I do many things that are not in accordance with Divine Law, I cannot so far forget myself as to cast off all feelings of regard for the Sabbath day. My mind reverts to the days that I used to meet the Brethren at Wild Cat and enjoy such seasons of pleasure and happiness. How long it seems since I met with them. What changes have taken place since then? Almost four years have passed since I used to attend the Saturday evening meetings and they are fresh in my memory as if it had been but yesterday. Brothers Fuller, Bowers, and Huffer are in Illinois, Sammy Webb at Nashville. Brothers Osburn also W. H. Manary and Jos. L. Ashly I fear have entirely fallen away, and Bald Ellis* when I last saw him was rioting in wickedness and sin. Many whose faces were familiar have cast off this mortal coil and have been called up higher to take a seat in the mansion of bliss. Pestilence has gone through the land, nipping many fair flowers in the bud. Truly war and pestilence go hand in hand and sin and riotous living are the results of war.
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The long weeks of imprisonment are taking their toll on John. Rations are scarce and cannot be cooked properly. Water is only available from capturing the rain, as the small branch that runs through the camp has no potable water. A Georgia summer is not only hot but extremely humid. Dozens of prisoners die each day, and many more are sick. There is no formal agreement for prisoner exchanges and so exchanges are made only sporadically if at all. With all these concerns, it enters the mind that one may not escape the camp at all, and perish far from home and family.
Sunday Entry: The church at Wild Cat was one of the first churches established in Wea Township, in Tippecanoe County south of Lafayette. Once the first church became overcrowded, three more were built, and Wild Cat was one of those.
Wea Township
The first church erected was that built by members of the United Brethren denomination and was known as the "Otterbein church". It was located near the Black schoolhouse, and for several years was the only house of public worship within the township. While it really belonged to the United Brethren people, Presbyterians and Methodists also occupied it. Later on other church buildings were found necessary and the Spring Grove Union church, Wild Cat church, and the Methodist Episcopal church were all liberally supported by the citizens of the township.
Past and present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, DeHart, R.P. 1832-1918, page 182
I am uncertain as to the original location of the church. Given its name, we might expect it on or near the local Wildcat Creek; however, neither branch of the creek goes through Wea Township.
*The name of 'Bald Ellis' is given for a church member. I think this may be a copy error in transcribing the diary, as that would be an odd name, even for a nickname.
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More Information:
- Link: War Operations, see Volume XXXVIII, Chapter L, Part V, Correspondence, pp. 455-505.
- 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. 492-520.
- 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, 466-469.
- Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, pp. 613-620.
- Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, pp. 572-577.
- Events: 1864
NEXT POST: AUGUST 18TH
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