It was a factor in the Meridian Campaign during Sherman`s raid through central Mississippi from 4 Feb-3 Mar 1864, especially through Scott County, MS. Since it was still winter, with the days and nights being quite cold, Sherman`s pioneer and engineer corps were having to corduroy the roads and rebuild burnt bridges to get across the swamps and bottom lands of the county. The soldiers of Hurlbut`s XVI U.S. Army corps, at the head of the fifteen-mile train, would light the standing dead pine trees on fire to give them warmth as they labored and passed through. This work was slow going and by the time that McPherson`s XVII U.S. Army Corps pulled up the rear, those burning dead trees had spread to the rest of the forest resulting in a wildfire which was consuming everything in sight. This resulted in numerous burning trees falling across the road, leaving the soldiers in the rear of the train to have to try and dodge those falling burning trees as they were trying to drag those trees off the road with teams of mules, just so they could pass. It was a nightmare for these soldiers because they were being made to perform this work as they were simultaneously being fired on by Confederate cavalry who were attacking Sherman`s train at different points along a single road. Some of the soldiers who wrote of the incident in their daily journals compared the scene to that of "the infernal region," basically what Hell must look like. In areas where there was no fire, angered residents of the towns who had just been burned out of house and home were sniping at them from the tree line of the dense wooded areas along the roads.
To substantiate the fires of the wooded areas along the road and the falling trees from that fire, 1st Lt. Alonzo Nichols Reece of the 124th Illinois Infantry, U.S. Vols. wrote in his memoirs recalling the night of 11 Feb 1864, near the Tuscalameta swamp, coming from Hontackalo creek, in Scott County, MS:
"I consider this the most unpleasant night I ever spent in the service. The road was the poorest kind of corduroy and was built as we moved. Great care had to be taken to keep in the track, for if once off, no bottom would be the cry. Then to add to our other troubles, the fires had gotten under good headway, and the dead, dry trees were burning very rapidly, lighting up the heavens with a lurid light, while they were falling in every direction, across the road and elsewhere, with a continual crash, often impeding our progress, and the noise made by the workmen, the crack of whips and the yells of the drivers as the train would close up, made one almost think he was approaching the infernal regions. The scenes of that night are indelibly impressed upon my memory, and as I write it seems as if it was only last night that I had passed through them. We had several very narrow escapes from falling trees, and before reaching the corduroy road had frequently to remove them before we could proceed."
The day before this, on 10 Feb 1864, at the Scott County Seat of Justice, Hillsboro, MS, Federal troops entered the town and were made to skirmish with elements of Ferguson`s cavalry brigade, who was opposing their march, in addition to some residents shooting at them from their homes, out buildings and fences, as the Federals made their approach into town. This drew a hasty and angered response which resulted in the entire town being burned to the ground. The heat from the fire was so hot, with ambers blowing around in every direction catching some of the Federal wagons on fire and spooking the horses and mules, that it prevented the rear of Sherman`s train from passing through for some hours.
Job H. Yaggy of the 124th Illinois Infantry, U.S. Vols. gave the following account of this incident:
"The following day (10th) we moved to Hillsborough, passing through it in the evening, and going into camp about two miles east of the town (Tallabogue Swamp). This was a day of excitement and apprehension. The 16th Army Corps was in the advance, and did considerable skirmishing in the forenoon, which it was expected might lead to an engagement at any moment. Upon reaching Hillsborough they were fired upon from the houses, which led to the burning of the town. Our regiment was center, train guard, and we were annoyed a great deal by the heat from burning buildings, which sometimes put our wagons and mules in jeopardy. Before getting into camp we had to cross a creek where the enemy had just burnt a bridge and did not stack arms till ten o clock at night, having come about fifteen miles. Some of our 2d brigade, we learned, were captured at Morton, in the morning after we left, so we were between two fires: rebels in front and rebels in the rear, and nearly everything on fire by the way, besides."
In the book: "An Iowa Doctor in Blue, The Letters of Seneca B. Thrall, 1862-1864," who served with the 13th Iowa Infantry, the following account was given on pages 177-181 regarding this regiment`s participation during the Meridian Campaign, to include the raid on Lake Station:
"The country is the poorest I ever saw, one immense pine forest, and on our line of march has been entirely destroyed, all houses not inhabited being burned, and all provisions and corn being taken to feed the army. All business and public houses, and very many private houses in Jackson, Brandon, Hillsboro, Decatur, Lake Station, and all along the road were burned. Burning houses, fences, and forests marked our line of march, and the country behind us is now a desolate uninhabitable wilderness. I do not approve of the indiscriminate destruction and its horrors can only be realized by witnessing them. We have taken many prisoners and many deserters have come to us. I have seen a number of small boys 14 to 17 years of age, who were captured with arms, most of them had become tired out and laid down to rest and were found sleeping by the side of the road. Here at Meridian were immense depot buildings, warehouse... Destruction marked our progress until yesterday (26 Feb 1864) when we crossed to the west bank of Pearl River; then Genl. Sherman issued an order, "No more pillaging, foraging, or burning" and it would be impossible to find a more quiet and polite army than ours has been since. You have no idea how pleasant the change is, to me at least, now, no soldier enters a house on the road. Pigs, chickens and turkeys run by unmolested, all is quiet and orderly."
Lucius W. Barber, Company "D", 15th Illinois volunteer infantry, wrote the following regarding what he witnessed as part of Sherman`s army during the Meridian Campaign:
"Sherman's army left fire and famine in its track. The country was one lurid blaze of fire; burning cotton gins and deserted dwellings were seen on every hand. I regret to say it, but oft-times habitations were burned down over the heads of occupants, but not by orders. Those gangs of ruffians, who always follow in the wake of armies to pillage and destroy, seemed on the march to give loose reins to their passions. I have seen the cabin of the poor entered and the last mouthful taken from almost starving children. No one, who has a heart that beats in sympathy for the sorrows of others, can look on these things without the strongest feelings of compassion for the victims. The wretches who caused this suffering were brought to punishment as often as (they were) caught, but the most vigorous measures could not always stop it."
There were other incidents of campfires that grew out of control setting the wooded areas on fire, which became obstacles for both armies to navigate during the Meridian Campaign. The weapon of choice, regarding the Meridian Campaign, was without a doubt the Federal torch. Numerous towns, villages and people`s homes along the roads were consumed by it leaving a wide path of destruction and destitution for 300 miles from Vicksburg to Meridian and back.
Bringing the