Diary of Orrin Brown, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Saturday–Oct. 29th
It was quite cool last night but it has come of warm and pleasant there has about 400 new troops come in this morning from Ind. and Mich. wee were ordered to pack up and be ready to go to the front this morning. We packed up and were marched up to head quarters and set there till 3 1/2 Oclock PM when we were ordered beck to our quarters drew our rations fixed our tent and went to bed to sleep here another night. The 4th army Corpe is coming in tonight, they were in sight about 3 Oclock. I read 4 Chapt. in the Testament today and that finished the book of St. Mark.
Who were the IV Corp of the Army of the Cumberland?
The 4th Corp was formed in October 1863 from the remnants of the XX and XXI Corp after heavy casualties at Chickamauga (there was previously a 4th corp in the Army of the Potomoc, disbanded August 1863). Wiki says:
[The IV Corp] was initially commanded by Gordon Granger and its division commanders were Philip Sheridan, Charles Cruft, and Thomas J. Wood. It served with distinction in the famous unordered attack on Missionary Ridge at Chattanooga, and served in the Knoxville and Atlanta Campaigns. During John B. Hood’s Franklin-Nashville Campaign, General William T. Sherman left the IV (and XXIII Corps), under the overall command of General George H. Thomas, to defend Tennessee, and the corps was heavily engaged in the battles at Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. When the force Thomas commanded at Nashville was divided, he was left in command only of the IV Corps and cavalry under James H. Wilson and George Stoneman. The IV Corps was ordered to block the mountain passes and prevent a potential retreat by Lee’s army into the mountains.
So the war-weary soldiers of the 4th who marched by Orrin Brown’s encampment were returning from Georgia where they had served along side his 14th Regiment Michigan Volunteers in the 14th Corp. Yet as Orrin and his comrades were heading south, they were heading north to Thomas’ rear guard in Nashville. At this time it was under command of Major General David S. Stanley, who would be wounded at Franklin and relieved by Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood. It was they whom Sherman was willing to sacrifice to Hood, so the Federals might march unimpeded through Georgia and break the back of the Confederacy.
(map from wikipedia user Hoodinski.)
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STrib
The Economist