I wasn't underestimating...only telling you how the information I have was listed. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Dalton" <rnbill@centurytel.net> To: <ohbelmon@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 5:53 PM Subject: *** SPAM *** Re: [OHBELMON] The XI and XII Corps in Bellaire > Hi Sandra > > I think that you are underestimating the size of the unit that marched > through Bellaire. This was not simply a regiment or two. Let me quote > from my genealogy program what I have found and am asking about. > > "As a young man of about 16 he was a witness to one of the greatest > troop movements, to that time, by railroad, in the history of this > country pre World War I. After the Battle of Chickamauga the Army of > Tennessee, commanded by Braxton Bragg, was besieging the Army of the > Cumberland commanded by Major General William S. Rosecrans in the city > of Chantanooga. The situation was desperate. After a meeting in > Washington D.C. it was determined to shift troops by rail and steamer > from the Army of the Potomac to Rosecrans. In early September 1863, the > 11th and 12th Corps (20,000 men, 3,000 horses and 10 artillery batteries > with baggage and equipment) broke camp along the Rapidan River. "On the > morning of September 17 the lead trains rumbled to a stop at Benwood > where the tracks ended at the river's edge. Spanning the mighty > waterway was a pontoon bridge that had been fashioned from river scows > and coal barges. For hours the weary troops marched over the bridge and > up the west bank to Bellaire, Ohio, where more rail cars awaited." > Wrote Walt Whitman: "...They go through night and day. I hear the > whistle of the locomotive screaming away any time at night when I wake > up, and the rumbling of the trains..." "Never before had so many troops > been moved over such a long distance in so short a time." > > Just imagine the the feelings and sights of that vast movement of men > and implements of death, suffering and destruction! The campfires on > the hills surrounding Bellaire, the thunder of the drums and fifes of > each regiment sounding drummer's call and then reveille each morning > starting at 0545 (or even far earlier), the creak and clatter of the > batteries, the cursing of the teamsters (and artillery men) as they > moved their wagons of forage, food and ammunition (each of the > ammunition wagons would have the corps insignia on the canvas and the > caliber of the ammunition loaded in them), the commands of the officers, > the steady tramping of thousands of men marching through the streets, > the regimental ambulances with the blood soaked litters hanging on the > sides. What were the road conditions? If muddy, the local roads would > quickly have been essentially rendered impassable as the wheels of the > wagons and limbers sank into, what the men often spoke of as "mortar". > Perhaps the few remaining regimental bands might have played popular > tunes for the troops, "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood" or perhaps > "Home, Sweet Home", "Weeping Sad and Lonely". If the regiments marched > with their colors uncased the people along the route might have seen the > colors, worn by weather and torn in battle, the condition of the men and > their uniforms and come to the sobering conclusion that a military body, > bloodied and worn by battle and extended field duty, executing a > "movement to contact" is indeed a sobering sight, perhaps giving them a > ever so slight insight into what happens "on the Field of Honor". " > > My source for the first paragraph was the Civil War Times Illustrated, > Sep./Oct. 1992, Vol. 31, No. 4. > > I would wonder if there might be a historical society that would have > something. > > Bill > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OHBELMON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.26/750 - Release Date: 4/6/2007 > 9:30 PM >