Chicago's Irish Legion: The 90th Illinois Volunteers in the Civil War

7. The Winter of Their Discontent

117 { 7 } The Winter of Their Discontent On Thursday, November 26, 1863, officially the first national Thanksgiving Day by presidential proclamation, the men of the Irish Legion received their rations at 5:30 a.m. while immersed in a river bottom fog so impenetrable that figures remained indiscernible at a distance of six feet. Thankful mainly to still be alive, they made no recorded comment on the irony of the situation. Following breakfast, the four regiments of Colonel John M. Loomis’s brigade, some 386 fewer than they had been twenty-four hours earlier, groped their way into line and at 6 a.m. backtracked through the fog to the mouth of Chickamauga Creek, where they crossed on a pontoon bridge. As they proceeded up its right (north) bank toward Chickamauga Station in pursuit of General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee, the fog suddenly ended, and the 90th Illinois literally stepped into bright sunshine. Bragg’s retreating army had attempted to destroy the large amount of abandoned supplies stored at the station to keep them out of Union hands. A Confederate soldier, Sam Watkins, a member of the 1st Tennessee Regiment charged with their destruction, commented on the immense stacks of flour barrels, corn, bacon, crackers, and other edibles “all now to be given to the flames.” In contrast, Major General William T. Sherman commented mainly on the nature of the abandoned Confederate military equipment destroyed at Chickamauga Station. The 90th Illinois marched past the station and continued in a southeasterly direction, reaching Graysville, Georgia, about 2 p.m. on November 27, where they waited for the supply train to deliver their rations (see Map 5, in chapter 5; Map 7). On the same day, Major General Patrick Cleburne bloodily repulsed Major General Joseph Hooker’s troops at Taylor’s Ridge near Ringgold, ending the Union’s pursuit of Bragg’s army.1 After two carloads of General Hooker’s wounded passed from Ringgold about 5 p.m. on November 28, Loomis’s brigade destroyed three miles of the Western 118 • The Winter of Their Discontent and Atlantic Railroad and burned two bridges over Chickamauga Creek before returning to Graysville and bivouacking for the night. Forage and food remained in short supply at Chattanooga, so Sherman sent back his artillery and wagons and marched his troops toward Cleveland and Charleston, Tennessee, where supplies could be obtained (see Map 7). After a twenty-five-mile march through Julien’s Gap over difficult roads, the 90th Illinois reached Cleveland late at night on November 29 and bivouacked near the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad. According to George Woodruff, the Irish Legion carried fence rails for more than a mile to build fires to “keep from freezing” in the bitter cold weather. The next day, after destroying part of the railroad, the 90th Illinois, along with the rest of Loomis’s brigade, marched at the front of the division to the Hiawassee River at Charleston, where Sherman expected to find additional food and forage.2 There would be no time to rest for the 90th Illinois. Soon after reaching Charleston, Sherman received an order from Major General Ulysses S. Grant giving him command of troops moving to the relief of Major General Ambrose Burnside at Knoxville, Tennessee, some eighty-four miles away. Grant initially ordered Major General Gordon Granger with his IV Corps to relieve Burnside at Knoxville, but Granger’s lack of progress caused Grant to place Sherman in charge of all troops moving to Burnside’s relief. These included two divisions of the XV Map 7. March of the 90th Illinois during relief of Major General Ambrose E. Burnside at Knoxville, Tennessee The Winter of Their Discontent • 119 Corps, Major General Oliver O. Howard’s XI Corps, and General Granger’s two divisions already underway toward Knoxville. The situation appeared critical as the Union forces under siege at Knoxville reportedly would run out of provisions on December 3.3 November 30 began what Woodruff called “that dreary march to the relief of General Burnside.” It would be a difficult march for the Legion due to the lack of proper clothing, shelter, and food, the winter weather, and the troops’ worn-out shoes. Only about half of the soldiers of the XV Corps had shoes. General Sherman admitted that his army was poorly prepared for the march to Knoxville. It had been a week since his troops left their...