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Thanksgiving Day - 1864

Thursday, Nov. 24th

A year after Lincoln's declaration setting Thanksgiving day as the last Thursday in November, I find no mention of observation of the day in either the Confederate or Union troops battling in Georgia. Elsewhere the day is celebrated, but not in Georgia that terror-filled November.

This illustration appeared in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.


The Soldiers' Thanksgiving Dinner in Camp"
from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper New York: Frank Leslie, December 3, 1864

Harper's Weekly had this illustration.


Winslow Homer, "Thanksgiving Day in the Army—After Dinner: The Wish-Bone"
from Harper's Weekly New York: Harper's Magazine Co., December 3, 1864

From this account by Union Captain David Conyngham however, it is evident that Sherman's boys in Georgia were having a grand party.

There was considerable skirmishing and guerilla fighting along the way. This account from a southern perspective describes incidents around Milledgeville.