97                                  HISTORY OF THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT O.V.V.I.

THE MOVEMENT INTO MISSISSIPPI.
BY GENERAL GRANT, WITH SEVENTY-FIVE THOUSAND MEN – GENERAL PRICE EVACUATES ALL HIS STRONG POSITIONS AND RETREATS TO JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI – GENERAL GRANT'S COMMUNICATIONS CUT AT HOLLY SPRINGS, AND HIS SUPPLIES DESTROYED – HE RETREATS WITH HIS ARMY TO MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

           General Logan takes command of the Third Division, who remains in command till after the siege of Vicksburg, when he was appointed to the command of the Fifteenth Army Corps, and before the close of the war assumed command of the Army of Tennessee.

           Before the war he was a member of Congress from Southern Illinois, and one of the most influential leaders of the Democratic party in that part of the State. Upon the adjournment of Congress in 1861, Hon. John A. Logan returned home and immediately volunteered in the service of his country. After he had done all that human power could honorably do by was of compromising and settling the difficulties, in order to stay the rising rebellion, he told his Southern comrades in Congress, that since they had determined to settle the matter with the sword, he accepted the challenge and would meet them on the battle-field. This declaration he truly and nobly sustained.

           His name was a host upon the battle-field. He had a facility of inspiring his troops with a courage and energy unsurpassed. No General has done better fighting, nor engaged in heavier or severer battles. He was always victorious. He would always be seen in the thickest of the fight on horseback, hat in hand, leading his Division forward.

           When he returned to his home from the halls of Congress he told his friends: "I will never sheath my sword for courtly halls or civil honors, until my country is saved from the bloody tornado that is desolating the fairest land on earth – never until the old flag floats in triumph from every hill top on Columbia's soil."

           When the party opposed to the war made every effort to have him takes sides with them and against the war, he tells them:

           "Party lines and partisan feelings should be swallowed up in patriotism. I must say that I deeply regret to see men in Illinois forget their country for their party. While your brothers are falling in your country's service like leaves of autumn before the wintry blast; while their bodies lay bleaching beneath the summer sun; while the nation is suffering throes of agony and crying for help, you are wrangling over conventions and candidates.

           "In the name of God, fellow-citizens, cease this clamor. Turn politics over to old men and women, and rally like true soldiers to the standard of your country. I was once a politician, but so help me God, I will never sheath my sword till my country is saved and the rebellion ended. These are my politics, and indeed I am surprised to find men talking of anything else.

           "Your country calls for aid, and it needs it now. It will accept voluntary assistance if it can get it. If not, men will be forced into the ranks. There are many reasons why men do not go to war, and very few reasons why some men should not go.

           "But there are some who say, 'I can't go; this is a war to free the niggers.' This charge is not worth attention; but, although no such object is contemplated in the prosecution of the war, yet the negroes are getting free pretty fast. It is not done by the

Intro Previous Next ToC Index