Beschreibung:

Lot of 7 war-date letters written by David W. Poak (1842-1879) of Millersburg, IL. Poak corresponds with his sister Sadie from May 1862 through December 1864, describing preparations for the Siege of Corinth, camp life in the Cotton Belt, and Sherman's March to the Sea. Shortly after his enlistment as a sergeant on August 12, 1861, Poak mustered into Co. A, 30th Illinois Infantry. His regiment had duty at Cairo, Illinois until February 1862, when it began to move south through Kentucky and Tennessee. After the capture of Fort Donelson in February, Poak and his fellow soldiers moved to Pittsburg Landing before advancing on and besieging Corinth, Mississippi. On May 9, Poak writes to his sister from a field camp "about 9 miles from Corinth," noting that "the whole army is advancing daily. . . I don't know how near the advance is to the enemy but it cannot be far distant." He relates that on a recent review day, General John McClernand "thanked the men for the unflinching bravery they had shown in battle and asked them if they were willing to follow him in the next great battle to be fought at Corinth, [and] every soldier answered that they would follow him wherever he would lead." From Corinth, the 30th Illinois moved through Tennessee and returned to Mississippi by the summer of 1863 for the Siege of Vicksburg. While encamped near Estanaula, Tennessee, Poak describes the oppressive climate and its effects on his regiment's strategic operations: "Our camp is situated in Hatchee Bottom and about 1 mile east of a river of the same name. The ground for miles around us is flat and swampy, part of the time entirely covered with water and in consequence of the thickness of the timber you cannot see more than the length of one company. To add to the pleasures of the place, something less than a thousand musical Bull Frogs keep up an almost incessant croaking. . . I am afraid that if we remain here long that we will have a great many sick in our Reg’t. as this place cannot help but be unhealthy. . . Night before last our Co. was called out about 12 o’clk to go down to a ford about 4 miles below this. News having come into camp that 50 rebel cavalry were going down to cross over the river there that night. We had a most doleful time of it getting to the river as our way lay through the swamps and it had rained the night before. Sometimes we would be falling over logs, the next moment running into a mudhole about knee deep, or perhaps find yourself lying in some hole with half a dozen more of the boys on top of you." Despite these conditions, Poak expects that they "will remain here for some time as this is a very important point to guard to keep the rebels from outflanking our forces at Bolivar. The road we are on is the only road through this swamp for a good many miles either up or down on which the rebels can bring infantry or artillery. . . We have two Reg’ts. of Infantry, the 20th and 30th Ill’s, two pieces of Artillery and 3 companies of cavalry, so that we can make quite a little fight if we are attacked.” Later, on Christmas Eve in 1864, Poak writes to his sister with the good news of a peaceful seizure of Savannah, Georgia following the success of Sherman's March to the Sea: "This time, I write from Savannah. The Rebels evacuated on the night of Dec. 20 and we moved in and took possession on the morning of the 21st. . . We had been busily engaged for several days building portable bridges upon which to cross the canal which lay immediately in front of [the enemy's] works. Our bridges were completed and we were just awaiting orders to make the assault when we found out they had evacuated.” As an added bonus to the ease of their takeover, Union soldiers also gained valuable assets abandoned by the fleeing Confederates: “The substantial fruits of our victory here will sum up something as follows: 100 siege guns, some field artillery…do not know the number, 25 locomotives, 300 cars, a large amount of ammunition, cotton and rice. Cap