The good citizens of Georgia

[PetePaolillo]

I thought this was interesting........."During Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's March through Georgia, Wood was appalled by the ignorance of the population: "It might seem that there was some hope for a Union feeling among these poorer people, that would inure in time to our great advantage, but their ignorance is so profound, & so hopeless, that there is very little ground for encouragement. Through a great portion of the State which we traversed, not one family in ten can read or write"


The above was cited on pp. (217-218),from the book
Stephen E. Towne, ed. "A Fierce, Wild Joy": The Civil War Letters of Colonel Edward J. Wood, 48th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007. xxviii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-57233-599-8.
This is a good read for anybody looking for info on the 48th indiana for bummers,

[Tom Dodson]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

We can read, write and shoot. Y'all come on down.
Tom Dodson
47th Ga
Bummers 2009

[Eric Tipton]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

Well, as if the natives needed any more incentive to defend the red clay of Jawja against the vile Yankee horde... :D

[PogueMahone]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

We can read, write and shoot. Y'all come on down.
Tom Dodson
47th Ga
Bummers 2009

Tom,

Making an "X" is not the same as writing.

:p

[Michael Comer]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

What's an "X"? Is that sumpin a good cracker oughtta know?

[Tom Dodson]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

An "X" is the thang that we'll pretend is painted on youins for us to aim at.
Tom Dodson
47th Ga
11th Georgia Militia

[Ross L. Lamoreaux]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

We can read, write and shoot. Y'all come on down.
Tom Dodson
47th Ga
Bummers 2009

Actually, Pete and I have to travel up. We're from Florida, the only state in the Union where you have to drive north to get to the south....

[Tom Dodson]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

Y'all sure Florida is a state? :D
Up, down, front, rear, the direction does not matter. We'll fight you from whatever direction you slither.
Tom Dodson
47th Ga
11th Georgia Militia

[Mtn.Guerilla]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

Sounds like an interesting book. I like the cover image with Moccassin Bend in the background, and I'm assuming that's Craven's House in the corner? Granted (and this is purely speculative from my end) but I would imagine the "majority" of the folks that Sherman's men encountered were of the "poorer less educated source", because they maybe didn't have the means or the funds to leave, or anywhere else to go, for that matter. Unlike the more educated,who would potentially have had a chance at a higher income,they possibly would have had more expendable income, that would allow them to relocate.Also the larger portion of the men were either pressed into Confederate or Militia service. ( Like I said those are just my brain thinkins')

[PetePaolillo]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

Colonel Wood was also born in the great State of Florida.... Here is another excerpt from the book.

Confronted with irregular guerilla warfare in Georgia and the devastation of his mother's property, Wood confessed to mixed feelings: "I feel there is no other way to subdue these rebels, but by extermination & depopulation, but when this theory runs into practice against Mother & birthplace, natural ties claim to be heard on the defence, and the conflict is no easy one" (p. 209)

[Coatsy]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

After studying the census records of Butts, Henry, Webster, Sumter, Newton, and Jones County it show that many of the people living in Middle Georgia in 1860 were what we can classify as Yeoman or Subsistence Farmers. These people may have had rudimentary education, but beyond the simple basics their education did not continue. Basically they need all of their time to plant food, hunt, and keep their lives running rather than get their “Book Learn’n on”

Fact: Outside of the towns such as Macon, Gray, Clinton, Griffen, etc you would not have seen “Gone With the Wind” plantation homes at every farm. This is was more in the Coastal Plane, while this portion of Georgia is the Piedmont. This is what we are trying to recreate at the event.

Pete, do you know if this is from Wood’s wartime journal/diary, or is this later at the end of the 19th Century when embellishment, accidental because a large portion of time had passed or Purposeful for a bigger “Bang” could have occurred? I’m not trying to knock the diary, but as a quasi historian (hey I went to school for this) looking at other sources such as Henry Hitchcock or Rice Bull can help draw a better picture of what was occurring.

[PetePaolillo]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

After studying the census records of Butts, Henry, Webster, Sumter, Newton, and Jones County it show that many of the people living in Middle Georgia in 1860 were what we can classify as Yeoman or Subsistence Farmers. These people may have had rudimentary education, but beyond the simple basics their education did not continue. Basically they need all of their time to plant food, hunt, and keep their lives running rather than get their “Book Learn’n on”

Fact: Outside of the towns such as Macon, Gray, Clinton, Griffen, etc you would not have seen “Gone With the Wind” plantation homes at every farm. This is was more in the Coastal Plane, while this portion of Georgia is the Piedmont. This is what we are trying to recreate at the event.

Pete, do you know if this is from Wood’s wartime journal/diary, or is this later at the end of the 19th Century when embellishment, accidental because a large portion of time had passed or Purposeful for a bigger “Bang” could have occurred? I’m not trying to knock the diary, but as a quasi historian (hey I went to school for this) looking at other sources such as Henry Hitchcock or Rice Bull can help draw a better picture of what was occurring.

Herb, I will have to look through the book again and let you know. I want to say it was from his diary, but I will get back to you on that for sure, I dont have the book with me right now, left it at work I think..... It is funny you mention Hitchcock, because Marching with Sherman is what I am reading now, and his diary is very detailed about the citizens they meet along the way during the march and he more than once describes Smart Southern women etc etc.... Many people could not read and write back then from the North as well as the South, so if Wood was basing his opinions on just that info alone that could explain his entry. Maybe he was trying to create a reaction, much like I was when I posted it :D lol...Reading and writing alone then did not determine intelligence in my opinion.

[PetePaolillo]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

Herb, I found the above mentioned letter in the book. It was written by Col. Wood to his wife on Dec.17th 1864 while in Savannah, Ga. The letter refers to the time period after the corps left the Etowah River area on Nov 12- through Dec.14th , after the taking of Ft McAllister. Below is a telling excerpt about the possible inaccuracy of his accounts.

" I commensed to keep a diary, but having no book, it was written on scraps of paper, some of which are lost, and sometimes paper could not got at for days at a time, so I finally abandoned it, & I have nothing but my memory to depend upon, for dates & places which I shall name, but I think they are generally correct."

There is alot more info in this letter in particular regards to that timeframe. I will post more when I can.

[PetePaolillo]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

Here is another excerpt from that same letter as mentioned above.... setting while camped in McDonough.

....." Received my orders from him( Gen Howard) ,which were to quarter my Reg't in the court house & yard & to station two guards at each house, where families were residing-or rather where there were women and children, for men there were none, & I may as well remark here, that during the whole march, I have not seen a single able-bodied man at home- no male whites, except boys under 15, decrepid old men, & cripples-& very few of these. The stories told by the women of the impressments of tender youths and grey haired men, fully justify General grant's assertion that the rebels "have robbed the cradle & the grave" to fill their armies."

[Mike Nickerson]

Re: The good citizens of Georgia

Pete, maybe some of them Georgians couldn't read or write, but there was some Texas boys in the area who could!:

"Achievements of the Thirty Rangers
12 miles from Covington, Newton Co. Georgia, Dec 18th, 1864.
DEAR Parents:--I am still in the land of the living, and expect to be for some time to come.

Gen. Hood selected from the Rangers 30 picked men, to act as his special scouts, who were placed under the command of Capt. Shannon, of Co. C, of our Regiment. I, having the honor and pleasure of being one of the 30 selected for special duty, have in consequence, been absent from the command for some two months. Since I left, several of our brave comrades have fallen, among whom are Jno. S. Stewart, Jno. Fowler, and A. Moore, and John Ryan slightly wounded.

On the 14th of Nov., Gen. Sherman, who is in command of the Yankee Army, finding that Gen. Hood had flanked him, and that it was impossible for him to retreat from Atlanta through Tennessee, and being nearly starved, left the 14th, (after burning everything except the Churches,) with four corps--14th, 15th, 17th, and 20th-- moved down toward Augusta with the 14th and 20th, while the 15th and 17th went in the direction of Macon, but flanked the city and moved to Milledgeville. The 14th and 20th, after going down the Augusta Railroad to Madison, left the Railroad and went to Milledgeville also. The army then crossed the river and moved toward Savannah. They will also flank that place to the coast.

When the Yankees left Atlanta, we were twelve miles below the city, on South River. In the morning, in passing down the road about three miles from camp, found 3 Yanks driving off a lady's cows. We soon scattered their brains and moved on--crossed the R.R. in a cloud of smoke from the burning buildings of the little village of Synthiana, and moved down the enemy's flank, looking for more thieving rascals, but did find any, and camped in a thicket, within a half mile of the enemy--had potatoes and meat for supper. I will now give you a few extracts from my diary for a few days that we were on the lookout for some of Old Abraham's children.

...

We are all well known here and about Atlanta, and welcome guests wherever we stop; and, as yet, none of our command has been injured.


Your affectionate son,
E.D.J.
Terry's Texas Rangers"



"We soon scattered their brains and moved on..." You gotta love them Shannon's Scouts!

Mike Nickerson