Ai Moore Civil War Diary

IV Corps (Union Army)

There were two corps of the Union Army called IV Corps during the American Civil War. They were separate units, one serving with the Army of the Potomac and the Department of Virginia in the Eastern Theater, 1862–1863, the other with the Army of the Cumberland in the Western Theater, 1863–1865.

This corps [in the Western Theater] was created on October 10, 1863, from the remnants of XX and XXI Corps, both of which had suffered heavy casualties at Chickamauga. It was initially commanded by Gordon Granger and its division commanders were Philip Sheridan, Charles Cruft, and Thomas J. Wood. It served with distinction in the famous unordered attack on Missionary Ridge at Chattanooga, and served in the Knoxville and Atlanta Campaigns. During John B. Hood's Franklin-Nashville Campaign, General William T. Sherman left the IV (and XXIII Corps), under the overall command of General George H. Thomas, to defend Tennessee, and the corps was heavily engaged in the battles at Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville. When the force Thomas commanded at Nashville was divided, he was left in command only of the IV Corps and cavalry under James H. Wilson and George Stoneman. The IV Corps was ordered to block the mountain passes and prevent a potential retreat by Lee's army into the mountains.

Records differ regarding the further history of the corps. Two sources[2] report that it was deactivated on August 1, 1865. A third[3] reports that after the war it was sent to Texas as part of the U.S. Army detachment dispatched to persuade French Emperor Napoleon III to withdraw his troops from Mexico, and was not disbanded until December 1865.

per Wikipedia (concerning the IV Corps of the Union Army, emphasis mine)

It [4th Army Corps] moved through Tennessee during April, reaching Nashville on the 27th, and on June 16th, it moved for New Orleans, where it was joined by the detachment of the old 4th. On July 6 it took steamer for Texas, reached Green Lake on the 11th, and remained there in camp for two months, losing many men from the effect of poor water and very hot weather. On Sept. 11 it started for San Antonio, 170 miles, reached Salada creek on the 24th, remained there for two months on provost duty in the city and at various points until May 26, 1866, when it was mustered out at Houston. The total enrollment was 1,300. Loss by death, 148, of which 141 were of disease.

per The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States 1861-1865, page 392

Leaving Chandlersville, Ohio

4/11 • Tue	come to Newark to day and was mustered in heavy on the Johnson & Andy Vane trying times
4/12 • Wed	still we live all the come to Columbus Barfight heavy times
4/13 • Thu	answered to roll call liberty last night
4/14 • Fri	we went out in town Sat. night, a nice city [Columbus, OH]
4/19 • Wed	close confinement all the time dang the war anyhow
4/22 • Sat	went out to town and got our pay had a fight in our barracks [in Columbus, OH]
4/24 • Mon	we was called up this morning Cincinatti, got here after night
4/25 • Tue	we are on our way to leewisville [Louisville, KY] got here last night

Nashville, Tennessee

4/26 • Wed	leave here this morn come to Nashville
4/29 • Sat	Still hear in libby Prisson it is a shame to use men the way they do hear [Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions under which officer prisoners from the Union Army were kept. Prisoners suffered from disease, malnutrition and a high mortality rate. By 1863, one thousand prisoners were crowded into large open rooms on two floors, with open, barred windows leaving them exposed to weather and temperature extremes.] — per Wikipedia
4/30 • Sun	I came down to the Spring and washed my shirt drawers socks a nice day
5/3 • Wed	have beef for dinner full belly all nite
5/4 • Thu	taking things easy laying around in our tent
5/7 • Sun	had inspection this morning dress parade this evening detached to Company C
5/11 • Thu	it is raining I am settling in my tent quite pleasant
5/12 • Fri	very cold last night my feet nearly froze
5/13 • Sat	don nothing this forenoon washed this afternoon nasty woman's work had a dance last night made a new table every thing handy
5/15 • Mon	very hot to day not much relief down at the crick dance tonight heavy times
5/16 • Tue	I had to cut wood this morning I wrote a letter this afternoon we had dress parade this evening shoulder straps
5/17 • Wed	Out on picket Corporal decker and me
5/19 • Fri	out to help lode forage, rations tonight
5/20 • Sat	hie times charly is on a bender a good deal of drunkeness going on today
5/21 • Sun	I was at preaching to hear [Chaplain] Randel Ross
5/28 • Sun	kind of tiresome work I am about out General Willich was hear this evening and talked to the Pays bully
5/29 • Mon	we had good news to day we had dress parade
5/30 • Tue	This is a nice day we had no drill this morning This is worth soldiering got a letter from
5/31 • Wed	on guard post No 3 Nice day every thing looks beautiful I don't feel well to day News is go to New Orleans mustered out
6/1 • Thu	cleaned up my gun time runs slow had ice cream
6/2 • Fri	no drill today serenade General Willich to night
6/3 • Sat	we had Brigade drill by General Willich he was funny he is a funny man I washed my close [clothes] I wish it was over
6/4 • Sun	fixing for inspections all kind of grapevines church Charley Reader starts [?]
6/6 • Tue	This is a very hot day We had Brigade drill hot work dang the war
6/7 • Wed	had inspection of everything this morning my things past all rite very hot we had drill
6/9 • Fri	I am on pickett to day Jim Warn and John Forsythe was over today
6/10 • Sat	nothing to do to day John and me went to the spring a very hot day Get me out of the army
6/11 • Sun	very hot to day had a sleep feel kind of bad
6/12 • Mon	drill this morning watched Willichs make a speech to our Brigade I feel kind of bad
6/13 • Tue	Drill Today time runs slowly and I ain't well to day Jim & me went for water
6/15 • Thu	nice Morning the Boys was paid off to day we have orders to move to morrow morning at 4 o'clock

Heading to New Orleans

6/16 • Fri	we are ready to start to Johnsonville, Tennessee we got heer this evening [from Nashville] and got on the Boat Pontrack [?]
6/17 • Sat	still heer at Johnsonville I was out in town to fetch in men Capt Willison commanded
6/18 • Sun	we started this morning at day light and are on our way we got to Padnce [Paducah?] this after noon slipping around the guards and going up to town
6/19 • Mon	we got to Cairo this morning Silver Lake We served and cooked 1 days rations Start this evening for the [?] and of [?] pass Columbus Ky and still go
6/20 • Tue	we have been on the go all day we past Memphis this evening about 4 o'clock We stopped in Miss and got our grub
6/21 • Wed	One of our boats disabled [That boat was called Echo No. 2, per Wikipedia: In late June 1865, shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War, the sternwheel paddle steamer Echo No. 2 struck Oneida′s prow and sank in the Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois, while carrying 300 soldiers of the 13th and 41st Ohio Veteran Volunteer Regiments. The regiments lost rations and a combined 10 horses and 13 mules in the sinking. The soldiers blamed the pilot guiding Echo No. 2 for the accident and beat him.[6]]
6/22 • Thu	We come to Vicksburg this morning and stopped on the Louisiana Side of the river use us like dogs
6/23 • Fri	We past Red River this morning I am on Guard today had a big time on shore

New Orleans

6/24 • Sat	we came to New Orleans this morning and landed six miles below and went in to camp it is a hard looking place for to live but we will have to try and live
6/25 • Sun	up this morning bad smell of places I ever saw this beats all I rather be where I could get a drink of water my parching mouth
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