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004 - Chapter 21 The March To The Sea From Atlanta To Savannah November And December 1864 Part 2 · Shermans Memoirs March to the Sea and Columbia Burning

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Speaker 1: Section three of Sherman's March to the Sea and the
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Speaker 1: Burning of Columbia, South Carolina, from his Memoirs by William
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Speaker 1: Tacumpsa Sherman. This liverribox recording is in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: Section three, Chapter twenty one, Part two. On the twentieth
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Speaker 1: of November, I was still with the fourteenth Corps near
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Speaker 1: Eatonton Factory, waiting to hear of the twentieth Corps, and
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Speaker 1: on the twenty first we camped near the house of
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Speaker 1: a man named Man. The next day, about four p m.
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Speaker 1: General Davis had halted his head of column on a
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Speaker 1: wooded ridge overlooking an extensive slope of cultivated country, about
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Speaker 1: ten miles short of Millageville, and was deploying his troops
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Speaker 1: for camp. When I got up, there was a high
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Speaker 1: raw wind blowing, and I asked him why he had
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Speaker 1: chosen so cold and bleak a position. He explained that
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Speaker 1: he had accomplished his full distance for the day and
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Speaker 1: had there an abundance of wood and water. He explained
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Speaker 1: further that his ad vans guard was a mile or
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Speaker 1: so ahead, so I rode on, asking him to let
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Speaker 1: his rear division as it came up, move some distance
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Speaker 1: ahead into the depression or valley beyond. Riding on some
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Speaker 1: distance to the border of a plantation, I turned out
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Speaker 1: of the main road into a cluster of wild plum
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Speaker 1: bushes that broke the force of the cold November wind.
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Speaker 1: Dismounted and instructed the staff to pick out the place
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Speaker 1: for our camp. The afternoon was unusually raw and cold.
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Speaker 1: My orderly was at hand with his invariable saddle bags,
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Speaker 1: which contained a change of underclothing, my maps, a flask
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Speaker 1: of whisky, and a bunch of cigars. Taking a drink
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Speaker 1: and lighting a cigar, I walked to a row of
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Speaker 1: Negro huts close by, entered one, and found a soldier
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Speaker 1: or two warming themselves by a wood fire. I took
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Speaker 1: their place by the fire, intending to wait there till
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Speaker 1: our wagons had got up and a camp made for
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Speaker 1: the night. I was talking to the old Negro woman
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Speaker 1: when some one came and explained to me that if
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Speaker 1: I would come farther down the road, I could find
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Speaker 1: a better place. So I started on foot and found
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Speaker 1: on the main road a good double hued log house,
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Speaker 1: in one room of which Colonel Poe, Doctor Moore and
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Speaker 1: others had started a fire. I sent back orders to
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Speaker 1: the plum bushes to bring our horses and saddles up
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Speaker 1: to this house, and an orderly to conduct our headquarter
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Speaker 1: wagons to the same place. In looking around the room,
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Speaker 1: I saw a small box like a candle box marked
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Speaker 1: Howell Cobb, and on inquiring of a negro, found that
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Speaker 1: we were at the plantation of General Howell Cobb of Georgia,
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Speaker 1: one of the leading rebels of the South, then a
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Speaker 1: general in the Southern Army, and who had been Secretary
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Speaker 1: of the United States Treasury in mister Buchanan's time. Of course,
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Speaker 1: we confiscated his property and found it rich in corn, beans, peanuts,
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Speaker 1: and salgram molasses. Extensive fields were all around the house.
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Speaker 1: I sent word back to General David to explain whose
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Speaker 1: plantation it was, and instructed him to spare nothing. That night,
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Speaker 1: huge bonfires consumed the fence rails kept our soldiers warm,
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Speaker 1: and the teamsters and men, as well as the slaves,
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Speaker 1: carried off an immense quantity of corn and provisions of
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Speaker 1: all sorts. In due season. The headquarter wagons came up
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Speaker 1: and we got supper. After supper, I sat on a
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Speaker 1: chair astride with my back to a good fire musing,
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Speaker 1: and became conscious that an old Negro with a tallow
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Speaker 1: candle in his hand, was scanning my face closely. I inquired,
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Speaker 1: what do you want, old man? He answered, des say
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Speaker 1: you is massa sherman. I answered that such was the case,
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Speaker 1: and inquired what he wanted. He only wanted to look
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Speaker 1: at me, and kept muttering, dis nigga, can't sleep this night.
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Speaker 1: I asked him why he trembled so, and he said
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Speaker 1: that he wanted to be sure that we were in
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Speaker 1: fact Yankees. For on a former occasion, some rebel cavalry
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Speaker 1: had put on light blue overcoats personating Yankee troops, and
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Speaker 1: many of the negroes were deceived thereby himself among the number,
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Speaker 1: had shown them sympathy, and had in consequence been unmercifully beaten. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: this time he wanted to be certain before committing himself,
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Speaker 1: so I told him to go out on the porch,
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Speaker 1: from which he could see the whole horizon lit up
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Speaker 1: with camp fires, and he could then judge whether he
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Speaker 1: had ever seen anything like it before. The old man
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Speaker 1: became convinced that the Yankees had come at last, about
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Speaker 1: whom he had been dreaming all his life, and some
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Speaker 1: of the staff officers gave him a strong drink of whiskey,
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Speaker 1: which set his tongue going. Lieutenant Spelling, who commanded my escort,
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Speaker 1: was a Georgian and recognized in this old negro a
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Speaker 1: favorite slave of his uncle, who resided about six miles off.
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Speaker 1: But the old slave did not at first recognize his
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Speaker 1: young master in in our uniform. One of my staff
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Speaker 1: officers asked him what had become of his young master, George.
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Speaker 1: He did not know, only that he had gone off
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Speaker 1: to the war, and he supposed him killed as a
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Speaker 1: matter of course. His attention was then drawn to Spelling's
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Speaker 1: face when he fell on his knees and thanked God
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Speaker 1: that he had found his young master alive, and along
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Speaker 1: with the Yankees, Spelling inquired all about his uncle and
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Speaker 1: the family asked my permission to go and pay his
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Speaker 1: uncle a visit, which I granted, of course, and the
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Speaker 1: next morning he described to me his visit. The uncle
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Speaker 1: was not cordial by any means to find his nephew
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Speaker 1: in the ranks of the host that was desolating the land.
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Speaker 1: And Spelling came back, having exchanged his tired horse for
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Speaker 1: a fresher one out of his uncle's stables, explaining that
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Speaker 1: surely some of the bummers would have got the horse
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Speaker 1: had he not. The next morning, November twenty third, we
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Speaker 1: rode into Milledgeville, the capital of the state, where the
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Speaker 1: twentieth Corps had preceded us, and during that day the
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Speaker 1: left wing was all united in and around Milledgeville. From
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Speaker 1: the inhabitants, we learned that some of Kilpatrick's cavalry had
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Speaker 1: preceded us by a couple of days, and that all
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Speaker 1: of the right wing was at and near Gordon, twelve
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Speaker 1: miles off viz. The place where the Branch railroad came
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Speaker 1: to Milledgeville from the Mason and Savannah Road. The first
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Speaker 1: stage of the journey was therefore complete and absolutely successful.
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Speaker 1: General Howard soon reported by letter the operations of his
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Speaker 1: right wing, which, on leaving Atlanta, had substantially followed the
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Speaker 1: two roads toward Mason by Jonesboro and McDonough, and reached
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Speaker 1: the Oukmulgee at Planter's Factory, which they crossed by the
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Speaker 1: aid of the Pontoon train during the eighteenth and nineteenth
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Speaker 1: of November. Thence with the seventeenth Corps General Blairs, he
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Speaker 1: General Howard had marched via Monticello toward Gordon, having dispatched
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Speaker 1: Kilpatrick's cavalry, supported by the fifteenth Corps oster Houses, to
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Speaker 1: feign on Mason. Kilpatrick met the enemy's cavalry about four
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Speaker 1: miles out of Mason and drove them rapidly back into
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Speaker 1: the bridge defenses held by infantry. Kilpatrick charged these, got
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Speaker 1: inside the parapet, but could not hold it, and retired
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Speaker 1: to his infantry supports near Griswold Station. The fifteenth Corps
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Speaker 1: tore up the railroad track eastward from Griswold, leaving Charles R.
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Speaker 1: Wood's division behind as a rear guard, one brigade of
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Speaker 1: which was entrenched across the road with some of Kilpatrick's
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Speaker 1: cavalry on the flanks. On the twenty second of November,
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Speaker 1: General G. W. Smith, with a division of troops came
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Speaker 1: out of Mason, attacked this brigade Walcutt's in position, and
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Speaker 1: was handsomely repulsed and driven back into Mason. This brigade
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Speaker 1: was in part armed with spencer repeating rifles, and its
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Speaker 1: fire was so rapid that General Smith insists to this
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Speaker 1: day that he encountered a whole division, but he is mistaken.
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Speaker 1: He was beaten by one brigade Walcuts, and made no
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Speaker 1: further effort to molest our operations from that direction. General
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Speaker 1: Walcut was wounded in the leg and had to ride
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Speaker 1: the rest of the distance to Savannah in a carriage. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: by the twenty third I was in Milledgeville with the
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Speaker 1: left wing, and was in full communication with the right
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Speaker 1: wing at Gordon. The people of Milledgeville remained at home,
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Speaker 1: except the Governor Brown, the state officers and legislature, who
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Speaker 1: had ignominiously fled in the utmost disorder and confusion, standing
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Speaker 1: not on the order of their going, but going at once,
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Speaker 1: some by rail, some by carriages, and many on foot.
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Speaker 1: Some of the citizens who remained behind described this flight
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Speaker 1: of the brave and patriotic Governor Brown. He had occupied
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Speaker 1: a public building known as the Governor's Mansion, and had
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Speaker 1: hastily stripped of carpet, curtains, and furniture of all sorts,
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Speaker 1: which were removed to a train of freight cars, which
9:05
Speaker 1: carried away these things, even the cabbages and vegetables from
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Speaker 1: the kitchen and cellar, leaving behind muskets, ammunition, and the
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Speaker 1: public archives. On arrival at Milledgeville, I occupied the same
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Speaker 1: public mansion, and was soon overwhelmed with appeals for protection.
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Speaker 1: General Slocum, had previously arrived with the twentieth Corps, had
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Speaker 1: taken up his quarters at the Millageville Hotel, established a
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Speaker 1: good provost guard, and excellent order was maintained. The most
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Speaker 1: frantic appeals had been made by the governor and legislature
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Speaker 1: for help from every quarter, and the people of the
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Speaker 1: state had been called out en mass to resist and
9:44
Speaker 1: destroy the invaders of their homes and firesides. Even the
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Speaker 1: prisoners and convicts of the penitentiary were released on condition
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Speaker 1: of serving as soldiers, and the cadets were taken from
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Speaker 1: their military college for the same purpose. These constituted a
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Speaker 1: small all battalion under General Harry Wayne, a former officer
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Speaker 1: of the United States Army and son of the then
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Speaker 1: Justice Wayne of the Supreme Court. But these hastily retreated
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Speaker 1: east across the Okeney River, leaving us a good bridge,
10:14
Speaker 1: which we promptly secured. At Millageville, we found newspapers from
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Speaker 1: all the South and learned the consternation which had filled
10:22
Speaker 1: the Southern mind at our temerity, many charging that we
10:26
Speaker 1: were actually fleeing for our lives and seeking safety at
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Speaker 1: the hands of our fleet on the sea coast. All
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Speaker 1: demanded that we should be assailed front, flank and rear,
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Speaker 1: that provisions should be destroyed in advance, so that we
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Speaker 1: should starve. That bridges should be burned, roads obstructed, and
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Speaker 1: no mercy shown us. Judging from the tone of the
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Speaker 1: Southern press of that day, the outside world must have
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Speaker 1: supposed us ruined and lost. I give a few of
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Speaker 1: these appeals as samples, which today must sound strange to
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Speaker 1: the parties who made them. Corinth, Mississippi, November eighteen, eighteen
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Speaker 1: eighty four. To the people of Georgia, arise for the
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Speaker 1: defense of your native soil. Rally around your patriotic governor
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Speaker 1: and gallant soldiers. Obstruct and destroy all the roads in
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Speaker 1: Sherman's front, flank and rear, and his army will soon
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Speaker 1: starve in your midst. Be confident, be resolute, trust in
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Speaker 1: an overruling providence, and success will soon ground your efforts.
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Speaker 1: I hasten to join you in the defense of your
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Speaker 1: home and firesides. G. T. Beauregard, Richmond, November eighteen, eighteen
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Speaker 1: eighty four to the people of Georgia, you have now
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Speaker 1: the best opportunity ever yet presented to destroy the enemy.
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Speaker 1: Put everything at the disposal of our generals. Remove all
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Speaker 1: provisions from the path of the invader, and put all
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Speaker 1: obstructions in his path. Every citizen with his gun, and
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Speaker 1: every negro with his spade and axe, can do the
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Speaker 1: work of a soldier. You can destroy the enemy by
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Speaker 1: retarding his march. Be firm, act promptly, and fear not. B. H. Hill,
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Speaker 1: Senator I most cordially approve the above. James A. Seddon,
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Speaker 1: Secretary of War, Richmond, November nineteenth, eighteen sixty four. To
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Speaker 1: the people of Georgia. We have had a special conference
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Speaker 1: with President Davis and the Secretary of War, and are
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Speaker 1: able to assure you that they have done and are
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Speaker 1: still doing, all that can be done to meet the
12:27
Speaker 1: emergency that presses upon you. Let every man fly to arms,
12:32
Speaker 1: remove your negroes, horses, cattle and provisions from Sherman's army,
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Speaker 1: and burn what you cannot carry. Burn all bridges and
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Speaker 1: block up the roads in his route. Assail the invader
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Speaker 1: in front, flank and rear by night and by day.
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Speaker 1: Let him have no rest. Julian Hartridge, Mark Blandford, J. H. Eccles,
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Speaker 1: George and Lester, John T. Shoemaker, James M. Smith, members
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Speaker 1: of Congress. Of course, we were rather amused than alarmed
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Speaker 1: at these threats, and made light of the feeble opposition
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Speaker 1: offered to our progress. Some of the officers, in the
13:11
Speaker 1: spirit of mischief, gathered together in the vacant Hall of Representatives,
13:15
Speaker 1: elected a speaker, and constituted themselves the legislature of the
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Speaker 1: State of Georgia. A proposition was made to repeal the
13:23
Speaker 1: Ordinance of Secession, which was well debated and resulted in
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Speaker 1: his repeal by a fair vote. I was not present
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Speaker 1: at these frolics, but heard of them at the time
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Speaker 1: and enjoyed the joke. Meantime, orders were made for the
13:37
Speaker 1: total destruction of the arsenal and its contents, and of
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Speaker 1: such public buildings as could be easily converted to hostile uses,
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Speaker 1: but little or no damage was done to private property
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Speaker 1: and general Slocum, with my approval, spared several mills and
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Speaker 1: many thousands of bales of cotton, taking what he knew
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Speaker 1: to be worthless bonds that the cotton should not be
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Speaker 1: used for the care federcy. Meantime, the right wing continued
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Speaker 1: its movement along the railroad towards Savannah, tearing up the
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Speaker 1: track and destroying its iron at the Okene was met
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Speaker 1: a feeble resistance from Harry Wayne's troops, but soon the
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Speaker 1: Pontoon bridge was laid and that wing crossed over. Gilpatrick's
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Speaker 1: cavalry was brought into Milledgeville and crossed the Okane by
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Speaker 1: the bridge near the town, and on the twenty third
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Speaker 1: I made the general orders for the next stage of
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Speaker 1: the march as far as Milan. They were substantially for
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Speaker 1: the right wing to follow the Savannah railroad by roads
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Speaker 1: on its south. The left wing was to move to
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Speaker 1: Sandersville by Davisboro and Louisville, while the cavalry was ordered
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Speaker 1: by a circuit to the north and to march rapidly
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Speaker 1: for Millan to rescue our prisoners of Wark and find there.
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Speaker 1: The distance was about one hundred miles. General Wheeler, with
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Speaker 1: his division of Rebel Cavalry, had succeeded in getting ahead
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Speaker 1: of us between Millageville and Augusta, and General p. J. A.
15:00
Speaker 1: Hardye had to been dispatched by General Beauregard from Hood's
15:03
Speaker 1: army to oppose our progress directly in front. He had however,
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Speaker 1: brought with him no troops, but relied on his influence
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Speaker 1: with the Georgians, of whose state he was a native
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Speaker 1: to arouse the people and with them to annihilate Sherman's army.
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Speaker 1: On the twenty fourth we renewed the march, and I
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Speaker 1: accompanied the twentieth Corps, which took the direct road to Sandersville,
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Speaker 1: which we reached simultaneously with the fourteenth Corps on the
15:29
Speaker 1: twenty sixth. A brigade of rebel cavalry was deployed before
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Speaker 1: the town and was driven in and through it by
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Speaker 1: our skirmish line. I myself saw the rebel cavalry apply
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Speaker 1: fire to stacks of fodder standing in the fields at Sandersville,
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Speaker 1: and gave orders to burn some unoccupied dwellings close by.
15:49
Speaker 1: On entering the town, I told certain citizens who would
15:52
Speaker 1: be sure to spread the report that if the enemy
15:55
Speaker 1: attempted to carry out their threat to burn their food,
15:58
Speaker 1: corn and fodder in our room, I would most undoubtedly
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Speaker 1: execute the letter. The general orders of devastation made at
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Speaker 1: the outset of the campaign. With this exception and one
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Speaker 1: or two minor cases near Savannah, the people did not
16:13
Speaker 1: destroy food, for they clearly saw that it would be
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Speaker 1: ruined to themselves. At Sandersville, I halted the left wing
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Speaker 1: until I heard that the right wing was abreast of
16:22
Speaker 1: us on the railroad. During the evening, a negro was
16:26
Speaker 1: brought to me, who had that day been to the
16:28
Speaker 1: station to kneel, about six miles south of the town.
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Speaker 1: I inquired of him if there were any Yankees there,
16:35
Speaker 1: and he answered yes. He described in his own way
16:39
Speaker 1: what he had seen. First, there come along some cavalrymen,
16:43
Speaker 1: and they burned the depot. Then come along some infantrymen,
16:46
Speaker 1: and they tore up the track and burned it. And
16:49
Speaker 1: just before he left, they had sought fire to the well.
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Speaker 1: The next morning viz. The twenty seventh, I rode down
16:56
Speaker 1: to the station and found General Corse's division of the
16:59
Speaker 1: fifteenth Corps engaged in destroying the railroad, and saw the
17:03
Speaker 1: well which my negro informant had seen burnt. It was
17:07
Speaker 1: a square pit about twenty five feet deep, boarded up
17:11
Speaker 1: with wooden steps leading to the bottom, wherein was a
17:14
Speaker 1: fine copper pump to lift the water to a tank above.
17:17
Speaker 1: The soldiers had broken up the pump, heaved in the
17:20
Speaker 1: steps and lining, and set fire to the mass of
17:23
Speaker 1: lumber in the bottom of the well, which co operated
17:26
Speaker 1: the Negro's description. From this point Blair's Corps the seventeenth
17:31
Speaker 1: took up the work of destroying the railroad, the fifteenth
17:34
Speaker 1: Corps following another road leading eastward farther to the south
17:38
Speaker 1: of the railroad. While the Left Wing was marching toward Louisville.
17:42
Speaker 1: North of the railroad, General Kilpatrick had with his cavalry
17:46
Speaker 1: division moved rapidly toward Waynesboro on the branch railroad leading
17:51
Speaker 1: from Millen to Augusta. He found Wheeler's division of Rebel
17:55
Speaker 1: Cavalry there and had considerable skirmishing with it, but learning
17:58
Speaker 1: that our prisoners had been removed two days before from Millan,
18:02
Speaker 1: he returned to Louisville on the twenty ninth, where he
18:05
Speaker 1: found the Left Wing. Here he remained a couple of
18:08
Speaker 1: days to rest his horses, and, receiving orders from Me
18:11
Speaker 1: to engage Wheeler and give him all the fighting he wanted,
18:15
Speaker 1: he procured from General Slocombe the assistance of the infantry
18:19
Speaker 1: division of General Baird, and moved back for Waynesboro on
18:22
Speaker 1: the second of December. The remainder of the Left Wing
18:25
Speaker 1: continuing its march on towards Miller's. Near Waynesboro, wheeler was
18:30
Speaker 1: again encountered and driven through the town and beyond Briar
18:34
Speaker 1: Creek toward Augusta, thus keeping up the delusion that the
18:37
Speaker 1: main army was moving toward Augusta. General Kilpatrick's fighting and
18:42
Speaker 1: movement about Waynesboro and Briar Creek were spirited and produced
18:47
Speaker 1: a good effect by relieving the infantry column and the
18:50
Speaker 1: wagon trains of all molestation during their march on Millan.
18:55
Speaker 1: Having thus covered that flank, he turned south and followed
18:58
Speaker 1: the movement of the fourteenth Courts to Buckhead Church, north
19:02
Speaker 1: of Millan and near it. On the third of December,
19:05
Speaker 1: I entered Milan with the seventeenth Corps General Frank P. Blair,
19:10
Speaker 1: and there paused one day to communicate with all parts
19:13
Speaker 1: of the army. General Howard was south of the Ogeechee
19:17
Speaker 1: River with the fifteenth Corps opposite Scarborough. General Slocombe was
19:22
Speaker 1: at Buckhead Church, four miles north of Millan with the
19:25
Speaker 1: twentieth Corps. The fourteenth. General Davis was at Lumpkin Station
19:30
Speaker 1: on the Augusta Road, about ten miles north of Millan,
19:33
Speaker 1: and the Cavalry Division was within easy support of this wing.
19:37
Speaker 1: Thus the whole army was in good position and in
19:40
Speaker 1: good condition. We had largely subsisted on the country. Our
19:44
Speaker 1: wagons were full of forage and provisions, but as we
19:47
Speaker 1: approached the sea coast, the country became more sandy and barren,
19:51
Speaker 1: and food became more scarce. Still, with little or no loss,
19:56
Speaker 1: we had traveled two thirds of our distance, and I
19:58
Speaker 1: concluded to push on for Savannah. At Millan, I learned
20:02
Speaker 1: that General Bragg was in Augusta, and that General Wade
20:06
Speaker 1: Hampton had been ordered there from Richmond to organize a
20:09
Speaker 1: large cavalry force with which to resist our progress. General
20:13
Speaker 1: Hardy was ahead between US and Savannah, with mc claw's
20:17
Speaker 1: division and other irregular troops that could not I felt
20:20
Speaker 1: assured exceed ten thousand men. I caused the fine depot
20:25
Speaker 1: at Milan to be destroyed and other damage done, and
20:28
Speaker 1: then resumed the march directly on Savannah by the four
20:32
Speaker 1: main roads the seventeenth Corps. General Blair followed substantially the
20:37
Speaker 1: railroad and along with it. On the fifth of December,
20:40
Speaker 1: I reached Ogeechee Church, about fifty miles from Savannah, and
20:44
Speaker 1: found there fresh earthworks which had been thrown up by
20:47
Speaker 1: mc claw's division, but he must have seen that both
20:50
Speaker 1: his flanks were being turned, and prudently retreated to Savannah
20:54
Speaker 1: without a fight. All the columns then pursued leisurely their
20:58
Speaker 1: march towards Savannah, corn and forage becoming more and more scarce,
21:02
Speaker 1: but rice fields beginning to occur along the Savannah, and
21:06
Speaker 1: a Geechee rivers, which proved a good substitute both as
21:09
Speaker 1: food and forage. The weather was fine, the road's good,
21:13
Speaker 1: and everything seemed to favor us. Never do I recall
21:17
Speaker 1: a more agreeable sensation than the sight of our camps
21:20
Speaker 1: by night, lit up by the fires of fragrant pine knots.
21:24
Speaker 1: The trains were all in good order, and the men
21:26
Speaker 1: seemed to march their fifteen miles a day as though
21:29
Speaker 1: it were nothing. No enemy opposed us, and we could
21:32
Speaker 1: only occasionally hear the faint reverberation of a gun to
21:36
Speaker 1: our left rear, where we knew that General Kilpatrick was
21:40
Speaker 1: skirmishing with Wheeler's cavalry, which persistently followed him. But the
21:44
Speaker 1: infantry columns had met with no opposition whatsoever. Mcclaw's division
21:49
Speaker 1: was falling back before us, and we occasionally picked up
21:52
Speaker 1: a few of his men as prisoners, who insisted that
21:55
Speaker 1: we would meet with strong opposition at Savannah. On the eighth,
22:00
Speaker 1: as I rode along, I found the column turned out
22:02
Speaker 1: of the main road marching through the fields. Close by,
22:06
Speaker 1: in the corner of a fence was a group of
22:08
Speaker 1: men standing around a handsome young officer whose foot had
22:12
Speaker 1: been blown to pieces by a torpedo planted in the road.
22:16
Speaker 1: He was waiting for a surgeon to amputate his leg,
22:19
Speaker 1: and told me that he was riding along with the
22:21
Speaker 1: rest of his brigade staff of the seventeenth Corps when
22:24
Speaker 1: a torpedo trodden on by his horse had exploded, killing
22:28
Speaker 1: the horse and literally blowing off all the flesh from
22:31
Speaker 1: one of his legs. I saw the terrible wound and
22:35
Speaker 1: made full inquiry into the facts. There had been no
22:38
Speaker 1: resistance at that point, nothing to give warning of danger,
22:41
Speaker 1: and the rebels had planted eight inch shells in the
22:44
Speaker 1: road with friction matches to explode them by being trodden on.
22:49
Speaker 1: This was not war but murder, and it made me
22:52
Speaker 1: very angry. I immediately ordered a lot of rebel prisoners
22:56
Speaker 1: to be brought from the provost guard armed with picks
22:59
Speaker 1: and spades, and made them march in close order along
23:02
Speaker 1: the road, so as to explode their own torpedoes, or
23:06
Speaker 1: to discover and dig them up. They begged hard, but
23:09
Speaker 1: I reiterated the order and could hardly help laughing at
23:14
Speaker 1: their stepping so gingerly along the road, where it was
23:17
Speaker 1: supposed sunken torpedoes might explode at each step, but they
23:22
Speaker 1: found no other torpedoes till near Fort mc allister. That
23:27
Speaker 1: night we reached Pooler Station, eight miles from Savannah, and
23:30
Speaker 1: during the next two days, December ninth and tenth, the
23:34
Speaker 1: several corps reached the defenses of Savannah, the fourteenth Corps
23:38
Speaker 1: on the left, touching the river, the twentieth Corps next,
23:41
Speaker 1: then the seventeenth and the fifteenth on the extreme right,
23:46
Speaker 1: thus completely investing the city. Wishing to reconnoiter the place
23:50
Speaker 1: in person, I rode forward by the Louisville Road into
23:54
Speaker 1: a dense wood of oak, pine and cypress. Left the
23:57
Speaker 1: horses and walked down to the railroad track at a
24:00
Speaker 1: place where there was a side track and a cut
24:03
Speaker 1: about four feet deep. From that point the railroad was
24:07
Speaker 1: straight leading into Savannah, and about eight hundred yards off
24:11
Speaker 1: were a rebel parapet and pattery. I could see the
24:14
Speaker 1: cannoneers preparing to fire, and cautioned the officers near me
24:17
Speaker 1: to scatter, as we would likely attract a shot. Very
24:21
Speaker 1: soon I saw the white puff of smoke, and watching close,
24:25
Speaker 1: caught sight of the ball as it rose in its flight,
24:28
Speaker 1: and finding it coming pretty straight, I stepped a short
24:31
Speaker 1: distance to one side, but noticed a Negro very near
24:35
Speaker 1: me in the act of crossing the track at right angles.
24:38
Speaker 1: Some one called to him to look out, but before
24:40
Speaker 1: the poor fellow understood his danger, the ball, a thirty
24:44
Speaker 1: two pound round shot, struck the ground and rose in
24:47
Speaker 1: its first ricochet caught the Negro under the right jaw
24:51
Speaker 1: and literally carried away his head, scattering blood and brains about.
24:56
Speaker 1: A soldier close by spread an overcoat over the body,
25:00
Speaker 1: and we all concluded to get out of that railroad cut. Meantime,
25:04
Speaker 1: General Mower's division of the seventeenth Corps had crossed the
25:08
Speaker 1: canal to the right of the Louisville Road and had
25:11
Speaker 1: found the line of parapet continuous. So at Savannah we
25:15
Speaker 1: had again run up against the old familiar parapet with
25:18
Speaker 1: its deep ditches, canals and bayous full of water, and
25:22
Speaker 1: it looked as though another siege was inevitable. I accordingly
25:26
Speaker 1: made a camp or bivouac near the Louisville Road, about
25:30
Speaker 1: five miles from Savannah, and proceeded to invest the place closely,
25:34
Speaker 1: pushing forward reconnaissances at every available point. As soon as
25:40
Speaker 1: it was demonstrated that Savannah was well fortified, with a
25:43
Speaker 1: good garrison commanded by General William J. Hardy, a competent soldier,
25:48
Speaker 1: I saw that the first step was to open communication
25:52
Speaker 1: with our fleet, supposed to be waiting for us with
25:54
Speaker 1: supplies and clothing in Ossabaw Sound. General Howard had some
26:00
Speaker 1: nights previously sent one of his best scouts, Captain Duncan,
26:04
Speaker 1: with two men in a canoe, to drift past Fort
26:07
Speaker 1: McAllister and to convey to the fleet a knowledge of
26:11
Speaker 1: our approach. General Kilpatrick's cavalry had also been transferred to
26:15
Speaker 1: the south bank of the Ogeechee with orders to open
26:18
Speaker 1: communication with the fleet. Leaving orders with General Slocum to
26:22
Speaker 1: press the siege, I instructed General Howard to send a
26:26
Speaker 1: division with all his engineers to Grogg's Bridge fourteen and
26:30
Speaker 1: a half miles southwest from Savannah to rebuild it. On
26:34
Speaker 1: the evening of the twelfth, I rode over myself and
26:37
Speaker 1: spent the night at mister King's house, where I found
26:41
Speaker 1: General Howard with General Hazen's division of the fifteenth Corps.
26:45
Speaker 1: His engineers were hard at work on the bridge, which
26:48
Speaker 1: they finished that night, and at sunrise Hazen's division crossed over.
26:53
Speaker 1: I gave General Hazen in person his orders to march
26:56
Speaker 1: rapidly down the right bank of the Ogeechee and without
27:00
Speaker 1: hesitation to assault and carry Fort mc allister by storm.
27:05
Speaker 1: I knew it to be strong in heavy artillery as
27:08
Speaker 1: against an approach from the sea, but believed it open
27:11
Speaker 1: and weak to the rear. I explained to General Hazen
27:15
Speaker 1: fully that on his action depended the safety of the
27:18
Speaker 1: whole army and the success of the campaign. Kilpatrick had
27:22
Speaker 1: already felt the fort and had gone farther down the
27:25
Speaker 1: coast to Kilkenny Bluff or Saint Catharine Sound, where on
27:29
Speaker 1: the same day he had communication with the vessel belonging
27:33
Speaker 1: to the blockading fleet. But at the time I was
27:36
Speaker 1: not aware of this fact, and trusted entirely to General
27:39
Speaker 1: Hazen and his Division of Infantry, the second of the
27:43
Speaker 1: fifteenth Corps, the same old division which I had commanded
27:47
Speaker 1: at Shiloh and Vicksburg, in which I felt a special
27:50
Speaker 1: pride and confidence. End of Section three.