"...dam--able vile Yankee race."

Tuesday, March 28, 1865, Petersburg works.

Word has reached us, courtesy of the word of mouth telegraph, that the sounds of attack that we heard on the Saturday last, was an attack by Lee on some Yankee works to our north. Our officers will not speculate as to who emerged victorious but the expressions on their faces suggest that it was not us.

The Yankees that we saw crossing our front to the sounds of battle were reinforcements going to the threatened works. Those who attacked were trying to fix us in place so that we ourselves could not be sent to assist in the attack. We common soldiers do not know any of this from official sources; it is just our feelings. We have learned some time ago that news from official sources often cannot be trusted.

None of us could get much sleep Saturday night as we were anxious that we might be attacked again. The harassing fire leveled upon us by the  enemy kept us wary of showing our heads above our works. We were not idle, however. When we thought it safe to do so, one of us, including myself, popped up like a gopher to return the favor. There is something about being in a hard spot and yet still being able to return fire that warms a soldier's heart.

This is something that civilians do not and cannot understand.

There was not much rest on Sunday, the day normally reserved for that. We suffered no further attacks yesterday and we were disappointed. We have been improving our works since Friday and were hoping that our shovelwork would be tested by the Yankees but they did not accommodate
us. No matter, they will try us as some point.

Wade, Bruce, Thompson and Plyer are missing. Perhaps the Yankees got them.

Confederate prisoners of war at Camp Douglas, Chicago.

Confederate prisoners, Camp Elmira, New York.

Drawn by Edwin Forbes, these Confederates were taken at Woodstock, Virginia.

It was still raining on Sunday but not as hard as it has of late. We would dearly help us to retreat to the comfort of our cabin if it still existed. It will be noted sometime after this war is over that one of the great cruelties inflicted by the dam---able vile Yankee race upon us poor Southerners will be their destruction of the cabin of the Dandy Eights mess.

We who are left of the Eights performed a very dangerous act on Sunday. Hancock moved a resolution for us to consider. We regretted not having done this some time ago as it might have made a difference. There was very little discussion as it was quickly revealed that all of us were in agreement. It was passed without a dissenting vote. Taylor moved that this resolution be referred to a committee of the whole in order to be implemented. All agreed. We checked our muskets to ensure that they were loaded.

Vincent was in charge of seeing the resolution to fruition. At his signal, the seven of us Eights popped up and fired a volley then popped down. Any one of us could have been killed by some sharp Yank but we felt that our gesture was worth the risk.

Quite late on Sunday, the brigade's sharpshooter battalion was ordered to leave our lines and join with the other such battalions of the division. We thought that there would be some heavy fighting to come soon.

On Monday, it was foggy until well after sunrise. It was a bit too far away to be seen clearly by us in the trenches but what we heard was sharp. The combined sharpshooters were attacking the Yankees somewhere along the northern part of our brigade front. The rest of the day passed without incident.

Today, Tuesday, it has been very quiet in front of our lines. It is now eight of the clock at night and there have been no attacks by them or us. The weather has turned clear. We can see and hear that the Yankees are busy doing something. I wish they would come on.


I Send You These Few Lines.


The soldier's grapevine has gotten it right. What Tooms and his pads heard was the battle of Fort Stedman, discussed in the previous blog posting. After the war, they can all sit at home and read about all the charges and counter-charges concerning the battle. Their grandchildren will do the same.

The Dandy Eights mess is minus one with the desertion of Dennis Castles in February. The remaining members are Burrell Hancock, Wilson Crenshaw, Troy Crenshaw, William Terry, John White, Isaac Vincent, and this blog's diarist, David Tooms.

The four men in Tooms' Company I who are missing are George T. Wade, William B. Bruce, John B. Thompson, and Ransom Plyer. Wade was the company First Sergeant. All four have disappeared from the records. None of them show up on the Union prisoner of war rolls. None appear on the Appomattox surrender rolls. There is a strong likelihood that they have deserted. From January 10, to March 28, 1865, Lee's army lost 5,928 men through desertion. That's an average of 76 per day. This is more than were killed at Sharpsburg, Gettysburg and Fredericksburg combined .These losses cannot be sustained. Since I cannot prove that the four mentioned above have deserted, it is enough to state that they have disappeared. Readers may draw their own conclusions.

Execution of a deserter.

The action of the combined sharpshooter battalions on Monday the 27th was ordered by Lee himself. Union forces had taken McIlwaine Hill from Thomas's brigade of Georgians. attempts by the Georgians failed. The hill was a commanding position. Lee reasoned that this represented a danger to the army. The sharpshooters were ordered to move the enemy from the hill. The sharpshooters succeeded but at heavy cost.

Brigadier General Edward L. Thomas. His brigade consisted of the 14th, 35th, 45th and 49th Georgia regiments.

William Dunlop, in command of the sharpshooter battalion formed from McGowan's brigade of South Carolinians. Dunlop had been a company commander in the 12th South Carolina which is Tooms' regiment.

Be careful what you wish for, Private Tooms. You might get it.