s there to protect that flank, for he
knew that if Bragg endeavored to break that line we would stay; so you see
he still had faith in his old Division. From Corinth we marched with
Sherman in his celebrated trip from Memphis to Chattanooga. We wintered on
the line, and rebuilt the Nashville and Decatur Road, and in his Memoirs
General Grant, after describing the condition of the Army, and the
necessity for rebuilding the railway from Nashville to Decatur, speaks
thus of the work of the Sixteenth Army Corps:

General Dodge had no tools to work with except those of the
pioneer--axes, picks, and spades. With these he was enabled to
intrench his men, and protect them against surprise from small parties
of the enemy, and, as he had no base of supplies until the road could
be completed back to Nashville, the first matter to consider, after
protecting his men, was the getting in of food and forage from the
surrounding country. He had his men and teams bring in all the grain
they could find, or all they needed, and all the cattle for beef, and
such other food as could be found. Millers were detailed from the
ranks to run the mills along the line of the army. Where they were not
near enough to the troops for protection they were taken down and
moved up to the line of the road. Blacksmith shops, with all the iron
and steel found in them, were used up in like manner. Blacksmiths
were detailed and set to work making the tools necessary in railroad
and bridge building. Axemen were at work getting out timber for
bridges, and cutting fuel for locomotives and cars. Thus every branch
of railroad building, making tools to work with, and supplying the
workmen with food, was all going on at once, and without the aid of a
mechanic or workman except what the command itself furnished. General
Dodge had the work assigned to him finished within forty days after
receiving his orders. The number of bridges to rebuild was 182, many
of them over deep and wide chasms. The length of road repaired was 102
miles.

I only quote a small part of what General Grant says in this connection,
to show you that while the Sixteenth Corps had its share of fighting, and
praise for it, still it was a Corps that Grant called upon in an
emergency, and when he wanted great deeds done; and proves not only what
they could turn their hands to when necessary, but is also a sample