Augustus Yenner Diary, Civil War, University of Michigan (Link)

Link to

Diary of Augustus L. Yenner

This is a wonderful Civil War Diary--it's like strange modern poetry!

He was with the Union army as it came through Ringgold, crossed Conasauga "Creek," and other places relevant to my research.

Augustus L. Yenner Diary
in the United States Civil War Collection
Bentley Library
University of Michigan

http://name.umdl.umich.edu/USCW002.0001.001



Long URL: 

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=civilwar1;cc=civilwar1;q1=REG%3DConasauga%20Creek%20%20Tenn.;rgn=div1;view=toc;idno=USCW002.0001.001;node=USCW002.0001.001%3A323

Sacks of Wheat Marked C.S.A.

Civil War, Minor Event in Murray County
Georgia, March 1864 (Just for Reference)

Murray County, Georgia, mid-March 1864
Callaway's Mill: U.S. troops find sacks of wheat marked "C.S.A." They considered burning the wheat--not sure if they followed through.

Callaway's Mill, Sacks of Wheat
O.R. I, Vol. 32, Pt. 3, page 101
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152650/m1/110/

Nearby areas: Conasauga River. Waterhouse's house, 4 miles from Callaway's Mill. Related correspondence is on the preceding page and perhaps subsequent pages.

Located in a rural area of Crandall, Georgia (modern postal route), just west of modern-day GA Hwy. 225, east of the segment of GA Hwy. 2 that runs to Beaverdale community, and on toward the town of Varnell. Local roads in area: Sugar Creek Road, Weber Road, Carlton Petty Road, Colvard Road, Halls Chapel Road (where it intersects Hwy. 225). For example: Colvard Road, Crandall, GA, is one I often use to get my bearings; then view the fields west of there. There were several old mills in the area, and they are long gone, so I can't get more specific than that right now. Besides, most of these sites are on private property.

Research Notes for Reference
(not specified in the linked source):

Cohutta Springs, as a town, is no longer extant. Cohutta Springs, as a place name, designated several different sites, including the area where these old mills were located.

Nearby Modern Cities and Towns, Creeks:

Cleveland, Bradley Co., Tennessee (11-15 miles north; Cleveland was extant in C.W. times. U.S. Army occupied it from about Dec. 1863 to May 1864, then marched out to fight at Dalton, Resaca, etcetera); site of some demonstrations and skirmishes.

Red Clay Station (or) Red Clay, Georgia (Tennessee border,  well northwest). Occupied by U.S. troops, late 1863 to at least 1864.

Varnell's Station (or) Varnell, Georgia (well west of area); some skirmishes; part of area of battles for Daltin, GA.

Tunnell Hill, Georgia (well northwest); site of several battles and skirmishes, related to Battles for Dalto, GA.

Dalton, Georgia (well west). Confederate Army headquartered there, late 1863 to May 1864. Later occupied by Federal Troops. Had battles and skirmishes.

Spring Place, Georgia (few miles south; is in Murray County). Occupied by Confederates in 1863 and 1864. Some skirmishing, guerrilla activity, 1864 to 1865. Cite of Chief Vann House, now part of the Georgia State Park system.

Some Modern References:

Cisco, Murray Co., Georgia, unincorporated town (northeast of mill area; appears on some old maps, but usually not referenced in old documents).

Chatsworth, Murray Co., Georgia; (few miles south of area: but the postal area of Chatsworth now encompasses a very large portion of Murray County, overlapping other "town" and GPS areas, such as Eton).

Crandall, Murray Co., Georgia. For locating certain sites by GPS, this place name encompasses an area all the way from GA Hwy. 225 to U.S. Hwy. 411 and a bit further east. The town of Crandall (such as it is/was) was just east of U.S. Hwy. 411. Crandall's Post Office, near the old historic mineral spring, is currently located on U.S. Hwy. 411, due south of Ocoee, Tennessee. Crandall Post Office is five miles east of the Civil War places in the above-cited O.R. I, Vol. 32, Pt. 3 (such as Callaway's Mill and Waterhouse's); nevertheless, the roads there will come up in GPS as "Crandall" addresses.

Reference to a Road Parallel to Federal Road. Mention of Waterhouse's Mill, Spring Place, and More. 1864

Official Records
Series 1, Volume 32, Part 3, page 342

April 13, 1864, Cleveland, Tennessee

Correspondence from Col. O. H. LaGrange to Capt. Robert Le Roy

Official Records
Series 1, Volume 32, Part 3, page 342

Note: This appears on the same page with correspondence about the captured rebel engineer, F.R.R. Smith: Short URL: http://bit.ly/I-32-3-FRR-Smith-captured

This letter references U.S. movement from Cleveland, Tennessee, into Murray County, Georgia, on April 13, 1864, referencing "the order to strike the Spring Place road." It mentions a road parallel to the Federal Road.

Officers and Units mentioned: 

Second Brigade (U.S.)

General Wheeler (Confederate)

Place names mentioned: 

Benton road
Cleveland, Tennessee
Spring Place road
Federal road
Road parallel to Federal road
King's Bridge
Connesauga River at Waterhouse's Mill
Barrett's Mills (26 miles from Cleveland)

Place names concluded or relevant, but not mentioned: 

Benton, Tennessee (nearby town, road to/from that town)
Bradley County, Georgia
Polk County, Tennessee
Murray County, Georgia
Tennga, Georgia (nearby town)
Cisco, Georgia (nearby town)
Cohutta Springs P.O. (nearby community and P.O.)
Crandall, Georgia (modern-day community/town reference)

Scouting, South of the Connesauga River - Murray County, Georgia, December 1863

(U.S. Scouting, Murray County, Georgia) "The country south of Connesauga River is infested by small parties driving off the stock and hunting conscripts."

15 Dec. 1863, Cleveland, Tenn., O.O. Howard to Major-General Sherman
Series 1, Vol. 31, Part 3 (Correspondence), p.416
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152608/m1/425/

_____________

Citation: 

United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 31, In Three Parts. Part 3, Correspondence, etc., book, 1891; Washington D.C.. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152608/m1/425/?q=Connesauga%20River%20is%20infested: accessed August 26, 2017), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
_____________

Note: The name of the river in modern times is Conasauga River.

Col. Eli Long enters west Cohutta Springs, Murray County, Georgia (North Georgia) - Feb. 1864

This bit of correspondence is significant to my very specific research project, but might be of interest to anyone who is studying the First Battle of Dalton, Georgia, or wanting to know more about North Georgia.

When Colonel Eli Long first entered Murray County, Georgia, en route to the Battle of Dalton, he seemed a bit confused about the location, or at least realized that the orders concerning his mission were ambiguous on a certain point: the location of the roads.

Colonel Eli Long camps at Waterhouse's Place Near a Burnt Mill
Long camps at Waterhouse's house about two miles from a burnt mill in old Cohutta Springs (west), Murray County, Georgia, February 1864. This old "Cohutta Springs" (site near 1860s P.O. of that name; not the mineral springs on Cohutta Springs Road; but the P.O. was named for the springs) was just west of modern-day GA Hwy. 225, north of GA Hwy. 2 intersection that goes west toward Vsrnell, and south of the GA 2 intersection that goes east to Cisco. Private land, now--commercial farms, etc.
http://bit.ly/OfficialRecords-I-32-1-Eli-Long-Rept-26

Citation: Reports of Col. Eli Long, Fourth Ohio Cavalry, commanding Second Brigade, Second Cavalry Division, Correspondence: Long to Whipple, 22 Feb. 1864, Near Burnt Mill, On Cleveland and Spring Place Road," Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 32, Pt. 1, Report 26.

Report of Brig. Gen. Charles Cruft, U. S. Army, commanding First
Division, Fourth Army Corps, Rept. No. 3., O.R. Series 1, Vol. 32, Pt. 1 (Reports), Ch. 44 ("Demonstration on Dalton, GA"), [Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1891], 423.
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152618/m1/442/

Link to a text file of the same communication. Caution! Has errors.
http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/m/moawar/text/waro0057.txt

THE FOLLOWING SECTION WAS UPDATED SEPT. 7, 2016, TO SHOW THAT F.R.R. SMITH WAS CAPTURED IN OR NEAR MURRAY COUNTY, NOT ATLANTA. HE HAD MAPS OF ATLANTA, BUT WAS, AT THE TIME OF CAPTURE, MAPPING AN AREA THAT DESCRIBES PART OF MURRAY COUNTY, GEORGIA.

Captain F.R.R. Smith, Confederate Engineer, Captured (probably near Conasauga River); and Captain Herman, almost captured while mapping near Conasauga River.
Two months after Eli Long entered North Georgia, two Confederate engineers were found mapping areas in northern Murray County, Georgia. One of them, F.R.R. Smith, was captured. "Captain Smith says he was ordered to make a survey of the country south of Sumac Creek, west of the Federal road, east of Connesauga Creek, and north of Spring Place" (341-342). He had also made maps of Atlanta. The other one, Captain Herman, who was almost captured, "was evidently making a survey of the country south of the Connesauga River, west of the Federal road, north of Sumac Creek" (341).

It makes me think that there may not have been any detailed maps of the area at the time Eli Long was there. There was a map in draft stages (Map: Mountain Region of North Carolina and Tennessee, which I've cropped to show details of Murray County, Georgia. It wasn't published until 1865, but had two earlier drafts, also on file at Library of Congress). Ref.:  O.R., s1, v32, pt3, 341-342 (McCook to Whipple, 13 April 1864, Cleveland, Tenn.).

Note: The area that the Rebels are mapping, from the description given in this correspondence, only makes sense if it is understood that the portion of the Federal Road mentioned therein refers to the north fork of the Federal Road. The road forked at Ramhurst and went north into Murray County. The other fork went on toward Dalton. Find a description of the route on Georgia USA website.

Eli Long's correspondence is from a Burnt Mill near the Conasauga River. He camped at a nearby house, which he later identified as Mr. Waterhouse's house. Other soldiers identify the camp site as Waterhouse's Mill, which seems more likely. None of the correspondence mentions Cohutta Springs, but a post office existed near that area as early as 1836. It was suspended during the war and re-opened later. Interestingly, it does not appear on the 1865 map that I've found, but does appear on earlier and some later maps of the area. On the 1865 map, Cohutta Springs (the mineral springs) near Summerour, east of Waterhouse's, is designated, but the Cohutta Springs P.O. is not designated. Very importantly, for anyone studying the area: these are really two separate communities, but they are both called Cohutta Springs (or Cohutta Springs P.O.) at various times, and sometimes actually appear in two spots on the same map. The old Waterhouse plantation is west of Sumac Ridge, in the Tenth District, 3rd Section, of Murray County (five miles west of the mineral springs), on modern-day Georgia Highway 225. The mineral springs were east of Sumac Ridge, north of Hickory Ridge, off of modern-day U.S. Highway 411. See my detailed description and maps.

Report: F.R.R. Smith captured. Captain Herman, almost captured mapping near Conasauga River.
Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 32, Pt. 3 (Correspondence, Etc.), [Washington: U.S. Govt. Printing Offc., 1891], 341-342 (McCook to Whipple, 13 April 1864, Cleveland, Tenn.).
http://bit.ly/I-32-3-FRR-Smith-captured

Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 32, Pt. 3
Title: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Compiled by: Calvin Duvall Cowles
Contribrs: United States. War Records Office, United States. Record and Pension Office, United States. Congress. House.
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1891
Original from the University of Virginia; digitized Feb 1, 2008

Also see:

1865 MAP - Detail of Northern Murray County, Georgia (Mountain Region Map of North Carolina and Tennessee (detail of N. Ga.), Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division).
The page above has my research and comments about Cohutta Springs, Waterhouse's Plantation, etc.


Full biblio: The War of the Rebellion: v.1-53 [serial no. 1-111] Formal reports, both Union and Confederate, of the first seizures of United States property in the southern states, and of all military operations in the field, with the correspondence, orders and returns relating specially thereto. 1880-1898. 111v.