Thomas Washington Danner was born July 5, 1845, in Ohio. During the War Between the States, he served in Company G, 29th Illinois Infantry. Danner survived the War and went on to become a minister. He died in 1903.
Danner's poem gives a remarkably accurate accounting of the battle for Fort Blakely, including correct figures for the number of Confederate prisoners taken, the names of the commanders involved in the action on both sides, and the Confederate use of "torpedoes" (land mines), which captured Southern soldiers were forced to remove from their places of concealment. The poem has been reproduced excatly as Danner wrote it, spelling and punctuation included.
Thanks to LeVonda Smith, the great-great granddaughter of Thomas Washington Danner, for sharing this poem.
"Blakely"