The Virginia Death March

After the surrender of Lee and Johnston, the two armies of the north prepared to march to the capital for one last "grand review" before being discharged. This is the disgraceful story of Sherman's army as it made its way through Virginia.

"Who was responsible for the severity of that march, I don't know. General Joseph A. Mower had been placed in command of our corps and it was said that he and other corps commanders had laid wagers as to who would reach Washington first.

The first half of the march was not hard, but then began the race. By then, it was very hot in the South. The march we were on wore out the best of us. Men fell out by the roadside and lay there completely eshausted. Sometimes the captain, or if the captain fell out, some other officer who would be leading the company, would find he had only three of four men following him and would draw them to one side and all lay down to rest. Some nights when going into camp the colonel would not have fifty men in this regiment.

We had made many forced marches on our long, roundabout route from Lousiville, Kentucky, through Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas, but this march after the war was over always makes me mad to think of, even now.

I have seen men dying from exhaustion, lying in fence corners, whose deaths were simply murder. No one had time to time to wait on anyone, especially if the was a stranger. When our own boys fell down, we would pull them into the shade, pour water on their heads, and go on and leave them. We lost no men by death on this march, but we saw dead men lying in fence corners or under trees every day. After the first few days the boys got mad and fell out when they got tired. They came on when rested, and no rear guard meddled with them."

These words by Robert Strong, 105th Ill., are especially disturbing because of the fact that the war was over. I have no evidence to believe that a "race" was the cause for the march, or that the officers had placed wagers on it. What I do know is that an officer's duty is not only to lead and command, but to also look out for the well being of their men. It is shameful to think of men being treated this way, after marching so far, fighting so long, and enduring so much. How hard it must have been to bring even the hardest veterans of Sherman's army to fall out.