Latest / Shermans Memoirs March to the Sea and Columbia Burning / 002 - Chapter 20 Partial Atlanta And After Pursuit of Hood September and October 1864

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002 - Chapter 20 Partial Atlanta And After Pursuit of Hood September and October 1864 · Shermans Memoirs March to the Sea and Columbia Burning

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  Speaker 1: Section one 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: to Counsa Sherman. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Section one, Chapter twenty partial Atlanta and after Pursuit of
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  Speaker 1: Hood September and October eighteen sixty four. By this date,
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  Speaker 1: under the intelligent and energetic action of Colonel W. W. Wright,
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  Speaker 1: and with the labor of fifteen hundred men, the railroad
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  Speaker 1: break of fifteen miles about Dalton was repaired so far
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  Speaker 1: as to admit of the passage of cars. And I
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  Speaker 1: transferred my headquarters to Kingston as more central, and from
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  Speaker 1: that place on the same day, November Tewond again telegraphed
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  Speaker 1: to General Grant, Kingston, Georgia, November two, eighteen eighty four,
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, City Point, Virginia. If I
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  Speaker 1: turn back, the whole effect of my campaign will be lost.
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  Speaker 1: By my movements, I have thrown Beauregard Hood well to
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  Speaker 1: the west, and Thomas will have ample time and sufficient
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  Speaker 1: troops to hold him until the reinforcements from Missouri reach him.
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  Speaker 1: We have now ample supplies at Chattanooga and Atlanta, and
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  Speaker 1: can stand a month's interruption to our communications. I do
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  Speaker 1: not believe the Confederate Army can reach our railroad lines
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  Speaker 1: except by cavalry raids, and Wilson will have cavalry enough
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  Speaker 1: to checkmate them. I am clearly of opinion that the
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  Speaker 1: best results will follow my contemplated movement through Georgia. W. T. Sherman,
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  Speaker 1: Major General. That same day I received, in answer to
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  Speaker 1: the Rome dispatch, the following city Point, Virginia, November two,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty four, eleven thirty a m. Major General, Sherman,
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  Speaker 1: your dispatch of nine a m. Yesterday is just received.
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  Speaker 1: I dispatched you the same date advising that Hood's army,
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  Speaker 1: now that it had worked so far North, ought to
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  Speaker 1: be looked upon now as the object. With the force, however,
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  Speaker 1: that you have left with General Thomas, he must be
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  Speaker 1: able to take care of Hood and destroy him. I
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  Speaker 1: do not see that you can withdraw from where you
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  Speaker 1: are to Followhood without giving up all we have gained
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  Speaker 1: in territory. I say, then, go on as you propose. U. S. Grant,
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant General. This was the first time that General Grant
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  Speaker 1: ordered the march to the sea and although many of
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  Speaker 1: his warm friends and admirers insist that he was the
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  Speaker 1: author and projector of that march, and that I simply
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  Speaker 1: executed his plans, General Grant has never, in my opinion,
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  Speaker 1: thought so or said so. The truth is fully given
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  Speaker 1: in an original letter of President Lincoln, which I received
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  Speaker 1: at Savannah, Georgia, and have at this instant before me,
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  Speaker 1: every word of which is in his own familiar handwriting.
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  Speaker 1: It is dated Washington, December twenty sixth, eighteen sixty four.
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  Speaker 1: When you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast,
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  Speaker 1: I was anxious, if not fearful, but feeling that you
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  Speaker 1: were the better judge, and remembering nothing risked, nothing gained,
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  Speaker 1: I did not interfere. Now, the undertaking being a success,
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  Speaker 1: the honor is all yours, for I believe none of
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  Speaker 1: us went further than to acquiesce, and taking the work
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  Speaker 1: of General Thomas into account as it should be taken,
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  Speaker 1: it is indeed a great success. Not only does it
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  Speaker 1: afford the obvious and immediate military advantages, but in showing
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  Speaker 1: to the world that your army could be divided, putting
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  Speaker 1: the stronger part to an important new service, and yet
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  Speaker 1: leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing force of the
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  Speaker 1: whole Hood's army. It brings those who sat in darkness
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  Speaker 1: to see a great light. But what next? I suppose
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  Speaker 1: it will be safer if I leave General Grant and
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  Speaker 1: yourself to decide a Lincoln. Of course, this judgment made
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  Speaker 1: after the event was extremely flattering, and was all I
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  Speaker 1: ever expected, a recognition of the truth and of its importance.
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  Speaker 1: I have often been asked by well meaning friends. When
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  Speaker 1: the thought of that march first entered my mind, I
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  Speaker 1: knew that an army which had penetrated Georgia as far
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  Speaker 1: as Atlanta could not turn back. It must go ahead.
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  Speaker 1: But when, how and where depended on many considerations. As
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  Speaker 1: soon as Hood had shifted across from Lovejoy's to Palmetto,
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  Speaker 1: I saw the move in my mind's eye, And after
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Davis's speech at Palmetto of September twenty sixth, I
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  Speaker 1: was more positive in my conviction, but was in doubt
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  Speaker 1: as to the time and manner. When General Hood first
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  Speaker 1: struck our railroad above Marietta, we were not ready, and
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  Speaker 1: I was forced to watch his movements further till he
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  Speaker 1: had corombed off to the west of Decatur. Then I
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  Speaker 1: was perfectly convinced and had no longer a shadow of doubt.
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  Speaker 1: The only possible question was to Thomas's strength and ability
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  Speaker 1: to meet Hood in the open field. I did not
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  Speaker 1: suppose that General Hood, though rash, would venture to attack
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  Speaker 1: fortified places like Alatuna, Resaca, Decatur, and Nashville. But he
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  Speaker 1: did so, and in so doing he played into our
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  Speaker 1: hands perfectly. On the second of November, I was in Kingston, Georgia,
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  Speaker 1: and my four corps, the fifteenth, seventeenth, fourteenth, and twentieth
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  Speaker 1: with one division of cavalry were strung from Rome to Atlanta.
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  Speaker 1: Our railroads and telegraph had been repaired, and I deliberately
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  Speaker 1: prepared for the march to Savannah, distant three hundred miles
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  Speaker 1: from Atlanta. All the sick and wounded men had been
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  Speaker 1: sent back by rail to Chattanooga. All our wagon trains
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  Speaker 1: had been carefully overhauled and loaded so as to be
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  Speaker 1: ready to start on an hour's notice, and there was
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  Speaker 1: no serious enemy in our front. General Hood remained still
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  Speaker 1: at Florence, Alabama, occupying both banks of the Tennessee River,
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  Speaker 1: busy in collecting shoes and clothing for his men, and
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  Speaker 1: the necessary ammunition and stores with which to invade Tennessee,
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  Speaker 1: most of which had to come from Mobile, Selma and Montgomery, Alabama,
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  Speaker 1: over railroads that were still broken. Beauregard was at Corinth,
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  Speaker 1: hastening forward these necessary preparations. General Thomas was at Nashville
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  Speaker 1: with Wilson's dismounted cavalry and a mass of new troops
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  Speaker 1: and quartermaster's employees, amply sufficient to defend the place. The
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  Speaker 1: fourth and twenty third Corps under General Stanley and Schofield
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  Speaker 1: were posted at Pulaski, Tennessee, and the cavalry of Hatch, Croxton,
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  Speaker 1: and Capron were about Florence, watching hood Smith's A j
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  Speaker 1: two divisions of the sixteenth Corps were still in Missouri,
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  Speaker 1: but were reported as ready to embark at Lexington for
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  Speaker 1: the Cumberland River and Nashville. Of course, General Thomas saw
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  Speaker 1: that on him would likely fall the real blow, and
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  Speaker 1: was naturally anxious. He still kept Granger's division at Decatur,
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  Speaker 1: Rousseau's at Murphysboro, and Steedsmen at Chattanooga, with strong railroad
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  Speaker 1: guards at all the essential points intermediate, confident that by
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  Speaker 1: means of this very railroad he could make his concentration
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  Speaker 1: sooner than Hood could possibly march up from Florence. Meantime,
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  Speaker 1: General F. P. Blair had rejoined his Corps seventeenth, and
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  Speaker 1: we were receiving at Kingston recruits and returned furlough men,
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  Speaker 1: distributing them to their proper companies. Paymasters had come down
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  Speaker 1: to pay off our men before their departure to a
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  Speaker 1: new sphere of action, and commissioners were also on hand
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  Speaker 1: from the several states to take the vote of our
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  Speaker 1: men in the presidential election then agitating the country. On
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  Speaker 1: the sixth of November, at Kingston, I wrote and telegraphed
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  Speaker 1: to General Grant, reviewing the whole situation, gave him my
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  Speaker 1: full plan of action, stated that I was ready to
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  Speaker 1: march as soon as the election was over, and appointed
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  Speaker 1: November tenth as the day for starting. On the eighth,
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  Speaker 1: I received this dispatch, City Point, Virginia, November seven, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: sixty four, ten thirty p m. Major General Sherman, your
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  Speaker 1: dispatch of this evening received. I see no present reason
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  Speaker 1: for changing your plan. Should any arise, you will see it,
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  Speaker 1: or if I do, I will inform you. I think
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  Speaker 1: everything here is favorable now. Great good fortune attend you.
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  Speaker 1: I believe you will be eminently successful, and at worst
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  Speaker 1: can only make a march less fruitful of results than
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  Speaker 1: hoped for. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General. Meantime, trains of
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  Speaker 1: cars were whirling by, carrying to the rear an immense
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  Speaker 1: amount of stores which had accumulated at Atlanta and at
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  Speaker 1: the other stations along the railroad. And General Steadman had
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  Speaker 1: come down to Kingston to take charge of the final
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  Speaker 1: evacuation and withdrawal of the several garrisons below Chattanooga. On
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  Speaker 1: the tenth of November, the movement may be said to
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  Speaker 1: have fairly begun. All the troops designed for the campaign
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  Speaker 1: were ordered to march for Atlanta, and General Course, before
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  Speaker 1: evacuating his post at Rome, was ordered to burn all
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  Speaker 1: the mills, factories, et cetera, et cetera that could be
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  Speaker 1: useful to the enemy should he undertake to pursue us
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  Speaker 1: or resume military possession of the country. This was done
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  Speaker 1: on the night of the tenth and next day Course
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  Speaker 1: reached Kingston. On the eleventh. General Thomas and I interchanged
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  Speaker 1: full dispatches. He had heard of the arrival of General A. J.
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  Speaker 1: Smith's two divisions at Paducah, which would surely reach Nashville
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  Speaker 1: much sooner than General Hood could possibly do from Florence,
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  Speaker 1: so that he was perfectly satisfied with his share of
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  Speaker 1: the army. On the twelfth, with a full staff, I
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  Speaker 1: started from Kingston for Atlanta, and about noon of that
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  Speaker 1: day we reached Cartersville and sat on the edge of
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  Speaker 1: a porch to rest. When the telegraph operator mister van
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  Speaker 1: Valkenberg or Eddie, got the wire down from the poles
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  Speaker 1: to his lap, in which he held a small pocket instrument,
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  Speaker 1: calling Chattanooga, he received this message from General Thomas, dated Nashville,
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  Speaker 1: November twelve, eighteen eighty four, eight eighty a m. Major
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  Speaker 1: General Sherman, your dispatch of twelve o'clock last night is received.
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  Speaker 1: I have no fears that Beauregard can do us any
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  Speaker 1: harm now, and if he attempts to follow you, I
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  Speaker 1: will follow him as far as possible. If he does
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  Speaker 1: not follow you, I will then thoroughly organize my troops
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  Speaker 1: and believe I shall have enough men to ruin him
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  Speaker 1: unless he gets out of the way very rapidly. The
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  Speaker 1: country of Middle Alabama, I learn, is teeming with supplies
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  Speaker 1: this year which will be greatly to our advantage. I
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  Speaker 1: have no additional news to report from the direction of Florence.
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  Speaker 1: I am now convinced that the greater part of Beauregard's
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  Speaker 1: army is near Florence and Tuscumbia, and that you will
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  Speaker 1: have at least a clear road before you for several days,
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  Speaker 1: and that your success will fully equal your expectations. George H. Thomas,
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  Speaker 1: Major General, I answered simply, dispatch received all right. About
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  Speaker 1: that instant of time, some of our men burnt a
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  Speaker 1: bridge which severed the telegraph wire, and all communication with
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  Speaker 1: the Rear ceased thenceforth. As we rode on toward Atlanta
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  Speaker 1: that night, I remember the railroad trains going to the
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  Speaker 1: Rear with a furious speed, the engineers and the few
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  Speaker 1: men about the trains waiving us an affection at adieu.
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  Speaker 1: It surely was a strange event, two hostile armies marching
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  Speaker 1: in opposite directions, each in the full belief that it
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  Speaker 1: was achieving a final and conclusive result in a great war.
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  Speaker 1: And I was strongly inspired with the feeling that the
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  Speaker 1: movement on our part was a direct attack upon the
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  Speaker 1: rebel army and the rebel capital at Richmond. Though a
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  Speaker 1: full thousand miles of hostile country intervened, and that for
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  Speaker 1: better or worse, it would end the war. End of
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  Speaker 1: Section one