Orlando M. Poe by Paul Taylor

Author:Paul Taylor [Taylor, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Military, Science & Technology
ISBN: 9781606350409
Google: 9p5MAQAAMAAJ
Publisher: Kent State University Press
Published: 2009-01-15T00:31:47+00:00

General William T. Sherman and staff outside Atlanta, 1864. Poe is sitting on the retaining wall, facing camera, fourth from left. (Library of Congress)

Poe had felt that the continuous, round-the-clock shelling of Atlanta had been pure overkill as the town held no real military value, and he told Sherman as much. In his opinion, the bombardment only brought harm to “unoffending people” and did not help to get the Union army into Atlanta a single second sooner than they would have without it. Further, he mused that some of those buildings and warehouses destroyed by Yankee iron would have now been of valuable use for storing the various supplies an army needed to stockpile. He thought back to the campaign’s original mission. Was it not the destruction of the Rebel army rather than the capture of Atlanta? Even worse than the needless bombardment of Atlanta were the depredations set forth upon Georgia’s citizens by individual blue-clad soldiers. To Poe, such actions bordered on the criminal, and he would not abide by it. Opening his heart to Nell, he mourned, “It is perfectly pitiable to witness the distress of the people through here, and I pray God it may never be my duty to see the like again. A great many of our soldiers are acting very badly; robbing and plundering.” If he witnessed a civilian being abused by a Union soldier, his temper would often get the better of him and he would move in quickly to quell the matter, often letting his fists do the talking. Poe assured Nell that his physical strength always prevailed, “as more than one ‘bunged up’ face in the army can testify.” Sadly, as a Union officer his views were apparently in the minority, and he lamented that “my attempts to stop this thing are but a small & feeble effort, when we regard the great number of those who either wink at it, or openly encourage it.”102

Poe’s contributions to the just concluded Atlanta campaign were impressive, indeed. His department performed feats previously unheard of in the military. For instance, under his auspices, ten pontoon bridges had been built across the Chattahoochee River, each averaging 350 feet in length. Further, seven trestle bridges had been constructed from trees cut from the bank across that same river, of which five were double-tracked and two were single. He and his subordinates had laid out approximately fifty miles of infantry parapets, with a corresponding length for the artillery. Poe’s men built six bridges over Peachtree Creek, each averaging about eighty feet long, and five bridges over the Flint River. Numerous smaller bridges had been built, and untold miles of road had been repaired. Some of this work had even been undertaken at night once the infantry’s main body had gone to sleep. Then the engineer crews would often go to work by moonlight, having new bridges built or old ones rebuilt in time for the next day’s march. Such work further illustrated the professionalism obtained by the

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