Author Description

Letters From the Front: Three Years in the Civil War is the true story of Sergeant Chester W. Shaw, a soldier in the Union Army’s 101st Illinois Infantry Volunteers. For three years, Chester Wesley Shaw fought the Confederate forces, beginning his adventure at Jacksonville, Illinois where he was enrolled in the service. He was captured by the rebels at Holly Springs, Georgia in 1862. Paroled in 1863, he fought at the Battle of Chattanooga. In 1864, Shaw was involved in a series of skirmishes at Bridgeport, Alabama. He then proceeded south with General Sherman to participate in the great Battle for Atlanta. As they approached the city, Shaw wrote: “But our men are still throwing shells into the city every five minutes from a large 64-pounder that is planted on a hill near our camp. We can hear them burst in the city very plain. We can see the city very plain from where our Brigade lays, but as a general thing, it is mostly all timber around, outside the city. And it is generally hilly also. We lay within one mile and a half of the city and the rebels have got two strong lines of breast works between us and there. And I think there would be a poor chance of trying to take them by assault. And I think that it ain’t Sherman’s plan to try and do that way. His object is now to get the Atlanta and Macon R.R. cut so that they can’t get supplies to their army. And when we succeed in that and get possession of that, then they will obliged to fall back and give up the great city that we have been trying so long to get possession of. Our men did cut it in one place. And then the rebels went to work and made a track out around the place that was cut. But they will not hold it long, for we are getting nearer & nearer to it every day.” Ironically, Shaw’s 101st Illinois Infantry Volunteers were in charge of the fire department when the city accidentally caught fire and burned. Shaw continued his service under Sherman as the general resumed his famous March to the