Diary of Orrin Brown, outside Decatur, Georgia
Wednesday–Nov. 16th
Received orders to march at 11 AM to make an extensive rade through Ga. our destination supposed to be Savannah. We marched about 14 miles passing through the town of Decatur about 4 PM and went into Camp about 7 PM. Cooked our supper pitched our tents and went to bed to rest our weary legs.
Today, Decatur is a modest suburb of Atlanta. The crossroads town had been set for the original terminal of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, but rejected the prospect of sprawl and in 1870, only 400 people called it home. I’m not surprised that Orrin spelled the name of the town correctly, since there’s a village of Decatur near his home in Michigan. Both were named after Commodore Stephen Decatur, a hero of the War of 1812.
Thanks again for following along with the Diary of Pvt. Orrin Brown as he makes his way with Sherman’s March to the Sea. We’re a long way from home, with a long way to go.
Read More:
- Southern Storm: Sherman’s March to the Sea by Noah Andre Trudeau (Harper, 2008)
- Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman by Robert L. O’Connell (Random House, 2014)
- The Memoirs Of General William T. Sherman by W.T. Sherman (Library of America, 1990)
- Michigan and the Civil War: A Great and Bloody Sacrifice (Civil War Series) by Jack Dempsey (The History Press, 2011)
- Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring by Spencer C. Tucker (Naval Institute Press, 2013)
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