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49 { 3 } Life on “One Cracker a Day” Major General Earl Van Dorn’s destruction of Major General Ulysses S. Grant’s supply base at Holly Springs, combined with Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s thorough wrecking of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad from Jackson, Tennessee , north into Kentucky, severed the communications of Grant’s army with the North for a week. Along with the rest of the Union army, the Irish Legion lived off the surrounding country for some two weeks before rations could be issued in anything approaching the normal way. Convinced of “the impossibility of maintaining so long a line of road over which to draw supplies for an army moving in an enemy’s territory,” Grant began a staged withdrawal back to La Grange and Grand Junction just over the border in Tennessee. During his subsequent campaign to capture Vicksburg, Grant made the Mississippi River his supply line, thereby assuring its virtually immunity to interruption by Confederate attacks.1 As part of the retreat, the seven companies of the 90th Illinois withdrew from their position at Coldwater Station on January 11, 1863, and on the next day made the twenty-mile march in pleasant weather back to Camp Yates, their old campground outside the once beautiful town of La Grange, Tennessee (see Map 2, in chapter 2). As the regiment closest to Holly Springs, the 90th held the post of honor as the rear guard of Major General James Birdseye McPherson’s XVII Corps. Company K of the 90th Illinois had already arrived at Camp Yates on January 9 after leaving Hudsonville on January 8. A “large Rebel force” rumored to be a few miles behind them and “approaching” minimized straggling in Company K. The march took its toll on the health of Second Lieutenant Thomas Larkin, who took sick on January 11 with sciatic rheumatism and remained unable to perform duty until May 1863. A sleet storm on January 14 turned into a three-inch snowfall 50 • Life on “One Cracker a Day” the next morning, making picket duty thoroughly unpleasant. Several days later, about the time the snow melted, the First Division, and thus the Legion, became part of the XVI Corps, headquartered in Memphis. The change meant that instead of heading downriver with Grant’s army, the 90th would remain in Tennessee guarding the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.2 In what one would not exactly call a sober homecoming, George Woodruff recounted that upon their arrival in La Grange, some of the Legion’s officers found the hotel full and secured lodging with considerable difficulty. However, their spirits rose when upon kindling a good fire, a local Irishman named Kelly appeared laden with two large bottles of gin. Aware that they were in enemy country, they prudently insisted their benefactor take the first drink. He did and survived without ill effects. After the officers and their new drinking companion finished his two bottles and several more like them, Woodruff wrote that they were convinced that “he was a true Irishman, and a good fellow besides.”3 A letter printed in the Chicago Post, dated March 6, described a day with the Irish Legion at their encampment in Camp Yates, located about half a mile from La Grange, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. According to the author, its location on two small “not very picturesque” hills provided the camp the advantage of being “free from dampness and puddles of mud in wintry weather.” After the noon meal, the Legion’s troops went to the nearby drill ground where the visitor observed their proficiency at drill. With the Legion drawn up in line of battle, Colonel Timothy O’Meara commenced battalion drill, making good use of his previous military experience as a sergeant in the Mounted Riflemen. The author described the scene: “He [O’Meara] rides in front of the line, and gracefully unsheathes his sword. A glance from the right to the left assures him that the men are in their proper places. For about two hours the regiment went through the various evolutions in a very creditable and excellent manner.” Before executing each “movement the colonel would explain how it was to be done, in a comprehensive and succinct style. The drill was a good one, and the drill master is well qualified for his position. He is a thorough tactician, a good swordsman, and the best equestrian that I have met with in this army.” O’Meara obviously impressed the visitor...

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