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the street somewhere, why, it would have met their expectation; but the idea that they could move right forward in a solid body, and keep step to the music, and not drop out, and every man minding his own business, was astonishing. I don't suppose that there was a better drilled army in the country than the Army of the Tennessee. They were good foragers, I admit that. And they lived on the country very often. But our generals had to be taught that the army could be drilled in that. In reference to the place where General Grant learned that lesson. My brigade-I commanded a brigade at that time-happened to be down on the line of that railroad, and we were further back, and when we went back to the rear, I was halted on the south side of the Chattahoochee river, and was told that I must remain there and guard the crossing until our cavalry could form further south, and as they had artillery with them, to guard the bridge to cross back. After having been there a short time, we had nothing to eat. We hadn't done much foraging. General Grant and General Logan came over one day from the other side of the river to see how things were, and they took dinner with me. It was on Christmas day, too, and a nice Christmas dinner it was. such as we fed the mules, and it was browned, so that it was tender enough to chew. We didn't even have salt to put on it.

General Sherman:-Horse corn?

It consisted of corn,

General Leggett:-Yes, sir; horse corn. Only we had to make it different from what the horses ate it, so we browned it, so that our teeth could masticate it. I said to General Grant that there were provisions throughout the country, and not far from us there were mills. If I could have permission, I knew I could get my soldiers enough to eat. He says, "General, I wouldn't stay here, and keep troops without anything to eat, and let them starve with enough around them." Well, we didn't. From that time out our soldiers grew fat. We had an abundance to eat. We had five mills in operation in less than twenty-four hours. We hauled the corn in from around the country, and we had plenty of meal, and the hogs would come frequently near enough to shoot, and sheep, in some way, had formed a liking for us, and would come right towards camp, and they all ended their days there. We had an abundance. And from that time out the Army of the Tennessee never suffered very much for something to eat. Occasionally the enemy would hover so near us, we couldn't send our foragers out

far. But when General Sherman gave us orders to march to the sea, it was a long march, and we all knew there was danger of running against the enemy. We couldn't forage very much. We took some nine or ten days' rations in our wagons. I took ten days' with my division in the wagons, in accordance with orders, and I took the ten days' rations into Savannah; never broke the boxes; never broke a package from the time we started from Atlanta until we landed in Savannah. Our troops didn't starve, either. No question about that. We had enough to eat. That 7 was a part of the education we got.

I have often thought that was the correct mode of warfare. It was a mode of warfare that would be felt in the future. General Sherman, in his correspondence with Hood, after the taking of Atlanta, said, when they were pleading for mercy, that there was no mercy in war; that war was not a merciful institution; war was for destruction; war was for killing; war was for tearing things to pieces, not building them up; that was not the business of war. He said there was no mercy in war. He was correct in that. The more terrible war can be made, the sooner it is brought to an end. We all understand that. That is one of the ways to do it. When we live upon the country, the country feels it.

When we went down through to Savannah, we took a swath about sixty-five miles wide, the most of it pretty rich in everything that would subsist an army; and there was not enough left to keep a rat alive. Some of them used to inquire: "What will our families and children do-nothing for them?" General Sherman said: "Your papers all say you are going to fight as long as you have a hog and a mess of potatoes. We are going after the hogs and whatever else we can get all over the country. All you have got to do is to take your family and go outside of that." That was not much consolation, but still it was war.

There were some very amusing incidents in the line of that march and in the method of foraging. The foraging was systematic. Every regiment and every company had its detail of good, orderly men and good soldiers-men that would obey orders anywhere-and they were sent out, and charged with the duty of bringing in provisions enough at night to last their company the next day. They knew they must do that-they always did it. And we marched, you know, just as far as was necessary to find country enough to forage from. If it was a rich country, plenty

to find, we didn't have to march more than four or five miles a day, some days; but if it was very poor, as it was in some places, we had to go twenty miles a day. We went far enough to get enough to eat. We had enough, and an abundance. We had bread enough, we had meat enough; we had good meat. The hog meat was good. Those Georgia hogs, the old soldiers remember how they looked. You never could get them except by shooting them. They would out-run a soldier and out-run a horse. They tested to see if the hog was fit to cook-punched a hole through the points of the ears, and stuck a stick through, and lifted him up, and if the snout tipped the body down he wasn't fit to eat; but if the body tipped the head down, why, it was edible. You remember how the hogs were made there. I know by actual measurement. From the end of the snout up to a point between the ears was just a little longer than from that point to the root of the tail. That was a Georgia hog during the war. So we had work to catch that class of hogs, but still we got them.

We started out, I suppose, on that march with the poorest teams that were ever started in a march anywhere. Atlanta had been a hard campaign. We had one line of railroad reaching clear back to Louisville, over which we brought supplies-brought the forage for our horses, brought the provisions for our men, ammunition and clothing-everything needed by a great army must be brought over that one line, with rebel guerillas at all points where they could strike and burn a bridge. They hindered us a great deal, notwithstanding all the precautions taken. The rebels said General Sherman went to work to make bridges beforehand, for he had bridges ready to take the places of the bridges that were burned off, and they said he took tunnels along with him also to put in whenever they filled up the tunnels on the road. I don't know as he did that. Probably he didn't, but the rebels said he did. The consequence was that our supplies were short, and our horses were poor-as poor as poverty-and our mules were poor when we got to Atlanta. But, strange to say, there never was a finer set of teams in the world went into any city than went into Savannah. There wasn't a mule that was poor. Did we swap any? Yes; we swapped a great many of them. That was one thing our Western soldiers were schooled in-they were all good jockeys. They got good ones for poor ones. I don't know how Inuch difference was paid; probably that has to be settled. They

got good mules. We didn't leave the poor mules to get well to use in the rebel army. When we started eastward we wouldn't leave the poor worn-out mules. They were shot. A mule, it makes no difference how badly he is broken down, if he is turned out, in a few months he is as good as he ever was.

The President:-Mrs. Ainsworth has kindly consented to sing another song, and will lead in singing " Bring the Good Old Bugle, Boys."

At this point the Oratorical Society began singing "Marching Through Georgia."

The President:—Oh, yes.

At the conclusion of the singing the President said: Now, ladies and gentlemen, the camp-fire is ended, and the Society will take notice that we adjourned to-day to meet to-morrow in the same room we did this morning, at 11 o'clock. We want to dispatch our business so as to have leisure in the afternoon. In the evening I understand there is to be a banquet.

I thank the people of Toledo again for their presence to-night, and their encouragement. We thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts. We say to you, Good-night. We are adjourned.

MEMORIAL HALL, Septembor 6, 1888.

At eleven o'clock the Society had convened and was called to order by the President, who said: The Society will come to order, and I request you to give close attention and we will soon transact what business we have. I request the Secretary to read the proceedings of yesterday's meeting.

On motion of Major Towne:

Resolved, That the reading of the proceedings of yesterday's meeting be dispensed with.

The President:-The first thing is the report of our committees. We have three stated committees. The first is the committee for the nomination of officers for the ensuing year. I think General Belknap is the chairman of that committee. He will report.

General Belknap in behalf of the committee reported as follows:

TOLEDO, O., September 6, 1888.

The Committee on Officers for the Society for the ensuing year present the following names:

FOR PRESIDENT,

General William T. Sherman.

FOR VICE-PRESIDENTS,

Colonel Gilbert A. Pierce,

Major Charles H. Smith,

Major L. H. Everts,

Captain Wells W. Leggett,

Captain John O. Pullen,

General R. V. Ankeny,

Major A. H. Fabrique,

Colonel Thomas Reynolds,

Lieutenant A. N. Reece,

Captain C. Riebsame,
Lieutenant H. L. Gray,
Captain Charles A. Steismeier.

FOR RECORDING SECRETARY,

Colonel L. M. Dayton.

FOR CORRESPONDING SECRETARY,

General A. Hickenlooper.

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