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005 - Chapter 21 The March To The Sea From Atlanta To Savannah November And December 1864 Part 3 · Shermans Memoirs March to the Sea and Columbia Burning

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  Speaker 1: Section four 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 Comsa Sherman. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Section four, Chapter twenty one, Part three. Having seen General
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  Speaker 1: Hazen fairly off, accompanied by General Howard, I rode with
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  Speaker 1: my staff down the left bank of the Ogeechee ten
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  Speaker 1: miles to the rice plantation of a Mister Chievia, where
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  Speaker 1: General Howard had established a signal station to overlook the
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  Speaker 1: lower river and to watch for any vessel of the
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  Speaker 1: blockading squadron, which the Negroes reported to be expecting us,
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  Speaker 1: because they nightly sent up rockets and daily dispatched a
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  Speaker 1: steamboat up the Ogeechee as near to Fort mc allister
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  Speaker 1: as it was safe. On reaching the rice mill at Chivia's,
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  Speaker 1: I found a guard and a couple of twenty pound
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  Speaker 1: parrot gone of De Gres's battery, which fired an occasional
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  Speaker 1: shot toward Fort McAllister, plainly seen over the salt marsh
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  Speaker 1: about three miles distant. Fort McAllister had the rebel flag
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  Speaker 1: flying and occasionally sent a heavy shot back across the marsh.
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  Speaker 1: To where we were, but otherwise everything about the place
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  Speaker 1: looked as peaceable and quiet as on the sabbath. The
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  Speaker 1: signal officer had built a platform on the ridgepole of
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  Speaker 1: the rice mill, leaving our horses behind the stacks of
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  Speaker 1: rice straw. We all got on the roof of a
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  Speaker 1: shed attached to the mill, wherefrom I could communicate with
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  Speaker 1: the signal officer above, and at the same time look
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  Speaker 1: out toward Osaba Sound and across the Ogeechee River at
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  Speaker 1: Fort McAllister. About two p m. We observed signs of
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  Speaker 1: commotion in the fort and noticed one or two guns
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  Speaker 1: fired inland, and some musket skirmishing in the woods close by.
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  Speaker 1: This betokened the approach of Hazen's division, which had been
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  Speaker 1: anxiously expected, and soon thereafter the signal officer discovered, about
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  Speaker 1: three miles above the fort a signal flag, with which
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  Speaker 1: he conversed and found it to belong to General Hazen,
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  Speaker 1: who was preparing to assault the fort, and wanted to
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  Speaker 1: know if I were there. On being assured of this
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  Speaker 1: fact and that I expected the fort to be carried
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  Speaker 1: before night, I received by signal the assurance of General
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  Speaker 1: Hazen that he was making his preparations and would soon
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  Speaker 1: attempt the assault. The sun was rapidly declining, and I
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  Speaker 1: was dreadfully impatient. At that very moment, some one discovered
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  Speaker 1: a faint cloud of smoke and an object gliding as
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  Speaker 1: it were, along the horizon above the tops of the
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  Speaker 1: sedge toward the sea, which little by little grew till
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  Speaker 1: it was pronounced to be the smoke stack of a
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  Speaker 1: steamer coming up the river. It must be one of
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  Speaker 1: our squadron. Soon the flag of the United States was
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  Speaker 1: plainly visible, and our attention was divided between this approaching
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  Speaker 1: steamer and the expected assault. When the sun was about
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  Speaker 1: an hour high, another signal message came from General Hazen
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  Speaker 1: that he was all ready, and I replied to go ahead,
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  Speaker 1: as a friendly steamer was approaching from below. Soon we
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  Speaker 1: made out a group of officers on the deck of
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  Speaker 1: the vessel, signaling with a flag. Who are you? The
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  Speaker 1: answer went back promptly. General Sherman then followed the question,
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  Speaker 1: is Fort mc allister taken? Not yet, but it will
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  Speaker 1: be in a minute. Almost at that instant of time,
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  Speaker 1: we saw Hazen's troop come out of the dark fringe
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  Speaker 1: of woods that encompassed the fort, the lines dressed as
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  Speaker 1: on parade, with colors flying and moving forward with a quick,
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  Speaker 1: steady pace. Fort mc allister was then all alive, its
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  Speaker 1: big guns belching forth dense clouds of smoke, which soon
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  Speaker 1: enveloped our assaulting lines. One color went down, but was
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  Speaker 1: up in a moment on the lines advanced, faintly seen
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  Speaker 1: in the white sulfurous smoke, There was a pause, a
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  Speaker 1: sensation of fire. The smoke cleared away, and the parapets
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  Speaker 1: were blue with our men, who fired their muskets in
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  Speaker 1: the air and shouted so that we actually heard them,
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  Speaker 1: or felt that we did. Fort mc allister was taken,
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  Speaker 1: and the good news was instantly sent by the signal
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  Speaker 1: officer to our navy friends on the approaching gunboat. For
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  Speaker 1: a point of timber had shut out Fort mc allister
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  Speaker 1: from their view, and they had not seen the action
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  Speaker 1: at all, but must have heard the cannonading during the
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  Speaker 1: progress of the assault. Our little group on Chieve's Mill
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  Speaker 1: hardly breathed, But no sooner did we see our flags
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  Speaker 1: on the parapet than I exclaimed in the language of
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  Speaker 1: the poor negro at Cobb's plantation. This nigger will have
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  Speaker 1: no sleep this night. I was resolved to communicate with
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  Speaker 1: our fleet that night, which happened to be a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: moonlit one. At the wharf belonging to Chieve's mill was
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  Speaker 1: a smaller skiff that had been used by our men
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  Speaker 1: in fishing or in gathering oysters. I it was there
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  Speaker 1: in a minute called for a volunteer crew, when several
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  Speaker 1: young officers, Nichols and Merit among the number, said they
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  Speaker 1: were good oarsmen and volunteered to pull the boat down
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  Speaker 1: to Fort McCallister. General Howard asked to accompany me. So
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  Speaker 1: we took seats in the stern of the boat, and
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  Speaker 1: our crew of officers pulled out with a will. The
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  Speaker 1: tide was setting in strong and they had a hard pull.
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  Speaker 1: For though the distance was but three miles in an airline,
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  Speaker 1: the river was so crooked that the actual distance was
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  Speaker 1: fully six miles. On the way down we passed the
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  Speaker 1: wreck of a steamer which had been sunk some years
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  Speaker 1: before during a naval attack on Fort McAllister knight had
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  Speaker 1: fairly set in when we discovered a soldier on the beach.
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  Speaker 1: I hailed him and inquired if he knew where General
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  Speaker 1: Hazen was. He answered that the General was at the
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  Speaker 1: house of the overseer of the plantation, McAllister's, and that
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  Speaker 1: he could guide me to it. We accordingly landed, tied
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  Speaker 1: our boat to a drift log followed our guide through
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  Speaker 1: bushes to a frame house standing in a grove of
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  Speaker 1: live oaks near a row of negro quarters. General Hazen
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  Speaker 1: was there with his staff in the act of getting supper.
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  Speaker 1: He invited us to join them, which we accepted promptly,
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  Speaker 1: for we were really very hungry. Of course, I congratulated
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  Speaker 1: Hazen most heartily on his brilliant success, and praised its
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  Speaker 1: execution very highly, as it deserved, and he explained to
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  Speaker 1: me more in detail the exact results. The fort was
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  Speaker 1: an enclosed work, and its land front was in the
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  Speaker 1: nature of a bastion and curtains with a good parapet ditch,
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  Speaker 1: fraise and cheveau de fries made out of the large
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  Speaker 1: branches of live oaks. Luckily, the rebels had left the
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  Speaker 1: larger and unwieldy trunks on the ground, which served as
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  Speaker 1: good cover for the skirmish line, which crept behind these
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  Speaker 1: logs and from them kept the artillerists from loading and
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  Speaker 1: firing their guns. Accurately. The assault had been made by
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  Speaker 1: three parties in line, one from below, one from above
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  Speaker 1: the fort, and the third directly in rear along the capital.
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  Speaker 1: All were simultaneous and had to pass a good abbatis
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  Speaker 1: and line of torpedoes, which actually killed more of the
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  Speaker 1: assailants than the heavy guns of the fort, which generally
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  Speaker 1: overshot the mark. Hazen's entire loss was reported killed and
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  Speaker 1: wounded ninety two. Each party reached the parapet about the
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  Speaker 1: same time, and the garrison inside of about two hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty men, about fifty of them killed or wounded,
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  Speaker 1: were in his power. The commanding officer, Major Anderson, was
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  Speaker 1: at that moment a prisoner, and General Hazen invited him
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  Speaker 1: in to take supper with us, which he did. Up
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  Speaker 1: to this time, General Hazen did not know that a
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  Speaker 1: gunboat was in the river below the fort, for it
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  Speaker 1: was shut off from sight by a point of timber,
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  Speaker 1: and I was determined to board her that night at
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  Speaker 1: whatever risk or cost, as I wanted some news of
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  Speaker 1: what was going on in the outer world. Accordingly, after supper,
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  Speaker 1: we all walked down to the fort, nearly a mile
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  Speaker 1: from the house where we had been entered Fort mc allister,
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  Speaker 1: held by a regiment of Hazen's troops, and the sentinel
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  Speaker 1: cautioned us to be very careful, as the ground outside
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  Speaker 1: the fort was full of torpedoes. Indeed, while we were there,
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  Speaker 1: a torpedo exploded, tearing to pieces a poor fellow who
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  Speaker 1: was hunting for a dead comrade. Inside the fort lay
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  Speaker 1: the dead as they had fallen, and they could hardly
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  Speaker 1: be distinguished from their living comrades, sleeping soundly side by
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  Speaker 1: side in the pale moonlight. In the river. Close by
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  Speaker 1: the fort was a good yawl tied to a stake,
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  Speaker 1: but the tide was high and it required some time
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  Speaker 1: to get it into the bank. The commanding officer, whose
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  Speaker 1: name I cannot recall, manned the boat with a good
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  Speaker 1: crew of his men, and with General Howard, I entered
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  Speaker 1: and pulled down stream, regardless of the warnings all about
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  Speaker 1: the torpedoes. The night was unusually bright, and we expected
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  Speaker 1: to find the gunboat within a mile or so. But
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  Speaker 1: after pulling down the river fully three miles and not
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  Speaker 1: seeing the gunboat, I began to think she had turned
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  Speaker 1: and gone back to the sound. But we kept on,
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  Speaker 1: following the bends of the river, and about six miles
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  Speaker 1: below McAllister, we saw her light and soon were hailed
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  Speaker 1: by the vessel at anchor pulling alongside. We announced ourselves
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  Speaker 1: and were received with great warmth and enthusiasm on deck
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  Speaker 1: by half a dozen naval officers, among them Captain Williamson,
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  Speaker 1: United States Navy. She proved to be the Dandelion, a
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  Speaker 1: tender of the regular gunboat flag posted at the mouth
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  Speaker 1: of the Ogeechee. All sorts of questions were made and answered,
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  Speaker 1: and we learned that Captain Duncan had safely reached the squadron,
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  Speaker 1: had communicated the good news of our approach, and they
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  Speaker 1: had been expecting us for some days. They explained that
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Admiral Dahlgren commanded the South Atlantic Squadron, which was then
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  Speaker 1: engaged in blockading the coast from Charleston South, and was
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  Speaker 1: on his flagship, the Harvest Moon, lying in Wassaw Sound,
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  Speaker 1: that General J. G. Foster was in command of the
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  Speaker 1: Department of the South, with his headquarters at Hilton Head,
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  Speaker 1: and that several ships loaded with stores for the army
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  Speaker 1: were lying at Tybee Roads and import Royal Sound. From
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  Speaker 1: these officers, I also learned that General Grant was still
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  Speaker 1: besieging Petersburg and Richmond, and that matters and things generally
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  Speaker 1: remained pretty much the same as when we had left Atlanta.
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  Speaker 1: All thoughts seemed to have been turned to us in Georgia,
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  Speaker 1: cut off from all communication with our friends, and the
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  Speaker 1: rebel papers had reported us to be harassed, defeated, starving,
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  Speaker 1: and fleeing for safety to the coast. I then asked
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  Speaker 1: for pen and paper and wrote several hasty notes to
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  Speaker 1: General Fees, Foster, Admiral Dahlgren, General Grant, and the Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of War, giving in general terms, the actual state of affairs,
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  Speaker 1: the fact of the capture of Fort mc allister, and
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  Speaker 1: of my desire that means should be taken to establish
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  Speaker 1: a line of supply from the vessels in port up
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  Speaker 1: the Ogeechee to the rear of the army. As a sample,
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  Speaker 1: I give one of these notes, addressed to the Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of War, intended for publication to relieve the anxiety of
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  Speaker 1: our friends at the north, generally on board Dandelion Ossibo Sound,
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  Speaker 1: December thirteenth, eighteen sixty four, eleven fifty p m. To
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  Speaker 1: Honorable Eam Stanton, Secretary of War, Washington, d C. To
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  Speaker 1: day at six p m. General Hazen's division of the
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  Speaker 1: fifteenth Corps carried Fort mc allister by assault, capturing its
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  Speaker 1: entire garrison and stores. This opened to us Osabo Sound,
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  Speaker 1: and I pushed down to this gunboat to communicate with
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  Speaker 1: the fleet. Before opening communication, we had completely destroyed all
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: the railroads leading into Savannah and invested the city. The
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  Speaker 1: left of the army was on the Savannah River three
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  Speaker 1: miles above the city, and the right on the Ogeechee
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  Speaker 1: at King's Bridge. The army is in splendid order and
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  Speaker 1: equal to anything. The weather has been fine and supplies
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  Speaker 1: were abundant. Our march was most agreeable, and we were
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  Speaker 1: not at all molested by gerrias. We reached Savannah three
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  Speaker 1: days ago, but owing to Fort mc allister, could not communicate.
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  Speaker 1: But now that we have mc allister, we can go ahead.
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  Speaker 1: We have already captured two boats on the Savannah River
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  Speaker 1: and prevented their gun boats from coming down. I estimate
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  Speaker 1: the population of Savannah at twenty five thousand and the
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  Speaker 1: garrison at fifteen thousand. General Hardy commands we have not
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  Speaker 1: lost a wagon on the trip, but have gathered a
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  Speaker 1: large supply of Negroes mules, horses, et cetera, and our
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  Speaker 1: teams are in far better condition than when we started.
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  Speaker 1: My first duty will be to clear the army of
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  Speaker 1: surplus negroes, mules and horses. We have utterly destroyed over
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  Speaker 1: two hundred miles of rails and consumed stores and provisions
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: that were essential to Lee's and Hood's armies. The quick
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: work made with mc allister, the opening of communication with
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  Speaker 1: our fleet, and our consequent independence as to supplies dissipate
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  Speaker 1: all their boasted threats to head us off and starve
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  Speaker 1: the army. I regard Savannah as already gained yours, truly W. T. Sherman,
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  Speaker 1: Major General. By this time, the night was well advanced
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  Speaker 1: and the tide was running ebb strong, So I asked
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  Speaker 1: Captain Williamson to tow us up as near Fort mc
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  Speaker 1: allister as he would venture for the torpedoes, of which
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the Navy officers had a wholesome dread. The Dandelion steamed
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: up three or four miles till the lights of Fort
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: mc allister could be seen. When she anchored, and we
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  Speaker 1: pulled to the fort in our own boat. General Howard
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  Speaker 1: and I then walked up to the McAllister house, where
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: we found General Hazen and his officers asleep on the
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: floor of one of the rooms. Lying down on the floor,
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  Speaker 1: I was soon fast asleep, but shortly became conscious that
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: someone in the room was inquiring for me. Among the sleepers,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: calling out, I was told that an officer of General
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Foster's staff had just arrived from a steamboat anchored below McAllister,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: that the General was extremely anxious to see me on
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: important business, but that he was lame from an old
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Mexican war wound and could not possibly come to me.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I was extremely weary from the incessant labour of the
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: day and night before, but got up and again walked
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: down the sandy road to McAllister, where I found a
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: boat awaiting us, which carried us some three miles down
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the river to the steamer W. W. Quoit I think,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: on board of which we found General Foster. He had
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: just come from Port Royal, expecting to find Admiral Dohlgren
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  Speaker 1: in Ossibo Sound, and hearing of the capture of Fort
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: mc allister, he had come to see me. He described
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: fully the condition of affairs with his own command in
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: South Carolina. He had made several serious efforts to effect
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: a lodgment on the railroad which connects Savannah with Charleston
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: near Poco Teleigo, but had not succeeded in reaching the
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: railroad itself, though he had a full division of troops
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  Speaker 1: strongly entrenched near Broad River, within Cannon range of the railroad.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: He explained moreover that there were at Port Royal abundant
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: supplies of bread and provisions, as well as of clothing
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: designed for our use. We still had in our wagons
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and in camp abundance of meat, but we needed bread, sugar,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and coffee, and it was all important that a root
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: of supply should at once be opened, for which purpose
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: the assistants of the navy were indispense. We accordingly steamed
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: down the Ogeechee River to Osibo Sound in hopes to
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: meet Admiral Dohlgren, but he was not there, and we
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: continued on by the inland channel to Warsaw Sound, where
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: we found the harvest Moon and Admiral Dahlgren. I was
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: not personally acquainted with him at the time, but he
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: was so extremely kind and courteous that I was at
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: once attracted to him. There was nothing in his power,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: he said, which he would not do to assist us
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: to make our campaign absolutely successful. He undertook at once
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: to find vessels of light draft to carry our supplies
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: from Port Royal to Chieve's Mill or to Grog's Bridge above,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: whence they could be hauled by wagons to our several camps.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: He offered to return with me to Fort mc allister
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  Speaker 1: to superintend the removal of the torpedoes, and to relieve
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: me of all the details of this most difficult work.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: General Foster then concluded to go to Port Royal to
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: send back to us six hundred thousand rations and all
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the rifled guns of heavy caliber and ammunition on hand,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: with which I thought we could reach the city of
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Savannah from the positions already secured. Admiral Dalgren then returned
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: with me in the harvest moon to Fort McAllister. This
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: consumed all of the fourteenth of December, and by the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: fifteenth I had again reached Cheeve's Mill, where my horse
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: awaited me, and rode on to General Howard's headquarters at
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Anderson's Plantation on the Plank Road, about eight miles back
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: of Savannah. I reached this place about noon and immediately
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: sent orders by my own headquarters on the Louisville Road,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: to have them brought over to the Plank Road as
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: a place more central and convenient. Gave written notice to
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: General Slocum and Howard of all the steps taken, and
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: ordered them to get ready to receive the siege guns,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: to put them in position to bombard Savannah, and to
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: prepare for the general assault. The country back of Savannah
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: is very low and intersected with innumerable salt water creeks,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: swamps and rice fields. Fortunately the weather was good and
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: the roads were passable. But should the winter rain set in,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I knew that we would be much embarrassed. Therefore, heavy
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: details of men were at once put to work to
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: prepare a wharf and depot at Grog's Bridge, and the
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: roads leading there too were corduroyed in advance. The Ogechee
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Canal was also cleared out for use, and boats, such
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: as were common on the river. Plantations were collected in
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: which to float stores from our proposed base on the
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Ogeechee to the points most convenient to the several camps.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Slocum's wing extended from the Savannah River to the canal,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: and Howard's wing from the canal to the extreme right
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: along down the Little Ogeechee. The enemy occupied not only
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: the city itself with its long line of outer works,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: but the many forts which had been built to guard
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the approaches from the sea, such as Boiliere, Rosedew, White Bluff, Bonaventura, Thunderbolt,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Katstan's Bluff, Forts, Tatnall Bogs, et cetera, et cetera. I
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: knew that General Harder could not have a garrison strong
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: enough for all these purposes, and I was therefore anxious
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: to break his lines before he could receive reinforcements from
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Virginia or Augusta. General Slocumbe had already captured a couple
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: of steamboats trying to pass down the Savannah River from Augusta,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and had established some of his men on Argyle and
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Hutchinson Islands above the city, and wanted to transfer a
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: whole core to the South Carolina Bank. But as the
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: enemy had ironclad gunboats in the river, I did not
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: deem it prudent, because the same result could be better
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: accomplished from General Foster's position at Broad River. Fort. Callister
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: was captured as described late in the evening of December thirteen,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: and by the sixteenth many steamboats had passed up as
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: high as King's Bridge, among them one which General Grant
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: had dispatched with the mails for the Army which had
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: accumulated since our departure from Atlanta under charge of Colonel A. H. Markland.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: These males were most welcome to all the officers and
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: soldiers of the Army which had been cut off from
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: friends in the world for two months, and this prompt
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: receipt of letters from home had an excellent effect making
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: us feel that home was near by. This vessel also
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: came Lieutenant Doune, aide de camp, with the following letter
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: of December third from General Grant, and on the next
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: day Colonel Babcock, United States Engineers arrived with the letter
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of December sixth, both of which are in General Grant's
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: own handwriting and are given entire Headquarters Armies of the
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: United States, City Point, Virginia, December three, eighteen sixty four.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Major General W. T. Sherman, Commanding Armies near Savannah, Georgia. General,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the little information gleaned from the Southern press indicating no
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: great obstacle to your progress. I have directed your mails,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: which had been previously collected at Baltimore by Colonel Markland,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: special Agent of the Post Office Department, to be sent
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: as far as the blockading squadron off Savannah, to be
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: forwarded to you as soon as heard from on the coast.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Not liking to rejoice before the victory is assured, I
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: abstain from congratulating you and those under your command until
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: bottom has been struck. I have never had a fear, however,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: for the result. Since you left Atlanta, no very great
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: progress has been made here. The enemy has been closely watched, though,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: and prevented from detaching against you. I think not one
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: man has gone from here, except some time twelve or
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: fifteen hundred dismounted cavalry. Bragg has gone from Wilmington. I
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: am trying to take advantage of his absence to get
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: possession of that place. Owing to some preparations, Admiral Porter
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: and General Butler are making to blow up Fort Fisher, which,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: while hoping for the best, I do not believe a
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: particle in. There is a delay in getting this expedition off.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: I hope they will be ready to start by the seventh,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and that Bragg will not have started back by that time.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: In this letter, I do not intend to give you
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: anything like directions for future action, but will state a
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: general idea I have and will get your views after
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: you have established yourself on the sea coast with your
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: veteran army. I hope to get control of the only
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: two through roots from east to west possessed by the
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: enemy before the fall of Atlanta. The condition will be
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: filled by holding Savannah and Augusta, or by holding any
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: other port to the east of Savannah and Branchville. If
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Wilmington falls, a force from there can co operate with you.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Thomas has got back into the defenses of Nashville, with
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Hood close upon him. Decatur has been abandoned, and so
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: have all the roads except the main one leading to Chattanooga.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Part of this falling back was undoubtedly necessary, and all
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: of it may have been. It did not look so, however,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: to me. In my opinion, Thomas far out numbers Hood
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: in infantry and cavalry. Hood has the advantage in morale
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: and numbers. I hope yet that Hood will be badly crippled,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: if not destroyed. The general news you will learn from
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the papers better than I can give it. After all
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: becomes quiet, and roads become so bad up here that
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: there is likely to be a week or two when
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: nothing can be done. I will run down the coast
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: to see you if you desire it. I will ask
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Missus Sherman to go with me. Yours truly, U. S. Grant,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant General, Headquarters of the Armies of the United States,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: City Point, Virginia, December sixth, eighteen sixty four. Major General W. T. Sherman,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Commanding Military Division of the Mississippi General On reflection, since
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: sending my letter by the hands of Lieutenant Dunn, I
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: have concluded that the most important operation towards closing out
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the rebellion will be to close out Lee and his army.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: You have now destroyed the roads of the South, so
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: that it will probably take them three months without interruption,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: to re establish a through line from east to west.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: In that time, I think the job here will be
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: effectually completed. My idea now is that you establish a
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: base on the sea coast, fortify, and leave in it
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: all your artillery and cavalry, and enough infantry to protect them,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: and at the same time to threaten the interior that
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the militia of the South will have to be kept
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: at home. With the balance of your command, come here
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: by water with all dispatch. Select yourself the officer to
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: leave in command. But you I want in person unless
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: you see objections to this plan, which I cannot see.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Use every vessel going to you for purposes of transportation.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Hood has Thomas close in Nashville. I have said all
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I can to force him to attack without giving the
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: positive order until to day. To day, however, I could
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: stand it no longer and gave the order without any reserve.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: I think the battle will take place tomorrow. The result
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: will probably be known in New York before Colonel Babcock,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the bearer of this will leave it. Colonel Babcock will
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: give you full information of all operations now in progress.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Very respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. Grant, Lieutenant General.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: The contents of these letters gave me great uneasiness, for
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: I had set my heart on the capture of Savannah,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: which I believed to be practable and to be near
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: for me to embark for Virginia by sea. Was so
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: complete a change from what I had supposed would be
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: the course of events that I was very much concerned.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: I supposed, as a matter of course, that a fleet
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: of vessels would soon pour in ready to convey the
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: army to Virginia, and as General Grant's orders contemplated my
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: leaving the cavalry, trains and artillery behind, I judged Fort
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: mc allister to be the best place for the purpose,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: and sent my chief engineer, Colonel Poe, to that fort
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: to reconnoiter the ground and to prepare it so as
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to make a fortified camp large enough to accommodate the
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: vast herd of mules and horses that would thus be
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: left behind. And as some time might be required to
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: collect the necessary shipping, which I estimated at little less
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: than a hundred steamers and sailing vessels, I determined to
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: push operations in hopes to secure the city of Savannah
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: before the necessary fleet could be available. All these ideas
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: are given in my answer to General Grant's letters dated
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: December sixteenth, eighteen sixty four, herewith which is a little
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: more full than the one printed in the Report of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the Committee on the Conduct of the War, because in
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: that copy I omitted the matter concerning General Thomas, which
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: now need no longer be withheld. Headquarters, Military Division of
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the Mississippi in the Field near Savannah, December sixteenth, eighteen
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: sixty four, Lieutenant General U. S. Grant, Commander in Chief,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: City Point, Virginia. General I received day before yesterday at
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: the hands of Lieutenant Dunn, your letter of December eighth,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: and last night at the hands of Colonel Babcock that
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: of December sixth. I had previously made you a hasty
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: scrawl from the tugboat Dandelion in Ogeechee River, advising you
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: that the army had reached the sea coast, destroying all
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: the railroads across the state of Georgia, investing closely the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: city of Savannah, and had made connection with the fleet.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Since writing that note, I have in person met and
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: conferred with General Foster and Admiral Dahlgren, and made all
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: the arrangements which were deemed essential for reducing the city
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: of Savannah to our possession. But since the receipt of
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: yours of the sixth, I have initiated measures looking principally
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: to coming to you with fifty or sixty thousand infantry,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and incidentally to capture Savannah, if time will allow. At
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the time we carried Fort mc allister by assault so
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: handsomely with its twenty two guns and entire garrison, I
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: was hardly aware of its importance. But since passing down
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: the river with General Foster and up with Admiral Dahlgren,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I realize how admirably adapted are Osabo Sound and Ogeechee
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: River to supply an army operating against Savannah. Sea going
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: vessels can easily come to king Bridge, a point on
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Ogeechee River, fourteen and a half miles due west of Savannah,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: from which point we have roads leading to all our camps.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: The country is low and sandy and cut up with marshes,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: which in wet weather will be very bad, but we
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: have been so favored with weather that they are all
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: now comparatively good and heavy. Details are constantly employed in
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: double corduroying the marshes, so that I have no fears
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: even of bad weather. Fortunately, also by liberal and judicious foraging,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: we reached the sea coast abundantly supplied with forage and provisions,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: needing nothing on arrival except bread. Of this, we started
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: from Atlanta with from eight to twenty days supply per core,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: and some of the troops only had one day's issue
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: of bread during the trip of thirty days. Yet they
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: did not want for sweet potatoes were very abundant as
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: well as corn meal, and our soldiers took to them naturally.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: We started with about five thousand head of cattle and
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: arrived with over ten thousand, of course, consuming mostly turkeys, chickens, sheep, hogs,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: and the cattle of the country. As to our mules
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: and horses, we left Atlanta with about twenty five hundred wagons,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: many of which were drawn by mules which had not
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: recovered from the Chattanooga starvation, all of which were replaced
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the poor mules shot, and our transportation is now in
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: superb condition. I have no doubt the state of Georgia
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: has lost by our operations fifteen thousand first rate mules.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: As to horses, Kilpatrick collected all his remounts, and it
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: looks to me in riding along our columns as though
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: every officer had three or four lead horses, and each
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: regiment seems to be followed by at least fifteen negroes
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and foot sore soldiers riding on horses and mules. The
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: custom was for each brigade to send out daily a
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: foraging party of about fifty men on foot, who invariably
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: return mounted with several wagons loaded with poultry, potatoes, et cetera.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: And as the army is composed of about forty brigades,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: you can estimate approximately the number of horses collected. Great
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: numbers of these were shot by my order because of
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: the disorganizing effect on our infantry of having too many
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: idlers mounted. General Euston is now engaged in collecting statistics
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: on this subject, but I know the government will never
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: receive full accounts of our captures, although the result aimed
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: at was fully attained, viz. To deprive our enemy of them.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: All these animals I will have sent to Port Royal
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: or collected behind Fort McAllister, to be used by General
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Saxton in his farming operations, or by the Quartermaster's department,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: after they are systematically accounted for. While General Easton is
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: collecting transportation for my troops to James River, I will
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: throw to Port Royal Island all our means of transportation
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I can, and collect the rest near Fort mc allister,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: covered by the Ogeechee River and entrenchments to be erected,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: and for which Captain Poe, my chief engineer, is now
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: reconnoitering the ground. But in the meantime will act as
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I have begun as though the city of Savannah were
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: my objective. Namely, the troops will continue to invest Savannah closely,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: making attacks and feints wherever we have fair ground to
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: stand upon, and I will place some thirty pound parrots,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: which I have got from General Foster, in position near
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: enough to reach the center of the city, and then
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: will demand its surrender. If General Hardy is alarmed or
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: fear starvation, he may surrender. Otherwise, I will bombard the city,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: but not risk the lives of our men by assaults
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: across the narrow causeways by which alone I can now
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: reach it. If I had time, Savannah, with all its
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: dependent fortifications, would surely fall into our possession, for we
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: hold all its avenues of supply. The enemy has made
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: two desperate efforts to get boats from above to the city,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: in both of which he has been foiled. General Slocumb,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: whose left flank rests on the river, capturing and burning
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the first boat, and in the second instance, driving back
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: two gunboats and capturing the steamer Resolute, with seven naval
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: officers and a crew of twenty five seamen. General Slocumb
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: occupies Argyle Island and the upper end of Hutchinson Island,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: and has a brigade on the South Carolina shore opposite,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: and is very urgent to pass one of his cores
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: over to that shore. But in view of the change
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: of plan made necessary by your odor of the sixth,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: I will maintain things in statue quo till I have
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: got all my transportation to the rear and out of
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: the way, and until I have sea transportation for the
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: troops you require at James River, which I will accompany
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: and command in person. Of course, I will leave Kilpatrick
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: with his cavalry, say five thousand, three hundred, and it
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: may be a division of the fifteenth Corps. But before
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: determining on this I must see General Foster, and may
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: arrange to shift his force now over above the Charlestown
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Railroad at the head of Broad River, to the Ogeechee, where,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: in cooperation with Kilpatrick's cavalry, he can better threaten the
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: state of Georgia than from the direction of Port Royal. Besides,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: I would much prefer not to detach from my regular
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Corps any of its veteran divisions, and would even prefer
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: that other less valuable troops should be sent to reinforce
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Foster from some other quarter, my four corps full of
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: experience and full of ardor coming to you en mass
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: equal to sixty thousand five men will be a reinforcement
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: that Lee cannot disregard. Indeed, with my present command, I
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: can expect, after reducing Savannah instantly to march to Columbia,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: South Carolina, thence to Raleigh, and thence to report to you.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: But this would consume it may be six weeks time
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: after the fall of Savannah, whereas by sea I can
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: probably reach you with my men in arms before the
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: middle of January. I myself am somewhat astonished at the
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: attitude of things in Tennessee. I purposely delayed at Kingston
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: until General Thomas assured me that he was already, and
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: my last dispatch from him of the twelfth of November
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: was full of confidence, in which he promised me that
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: he would ruin Hood if he dared to advance from Florence,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: urging me to go ahead and give myself no concern
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: about Hood's army in Tennessee. Why he did not turn
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: on him at Franklin after checking and discomfiting him surpasses
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: my unders standing. Indeed, I do not approve of his
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: evacuating Decatur, but think he should have assumed the offensive
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: against Hood from Pulaski in the direction of Waynesburg. I
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: know full well that General Thomas is slow in mind
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: and in action, but he is judicious and brave, and
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: the troops feel great confidence in him. I still hope
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: he will out maneuver and destroy Hood. As to matters
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: in the Southeast, I think Hardy in Savannah has good artillerists,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: some five or six thousand good infantry, and it may
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: be a mongrel mass of eight to ten thousand militia.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: In all our marching through Georgia, he has not forced
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: us to use anything but a skirmish line, though at
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: several points he had erected fortifications and tried to alarm
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: us by bombastic threats. In Savannah he has taken refuge
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: in a line constructed behind swamps and overflowed rice fields,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: extending from a point on the Savannah River for about
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: three miles above the city, around by a branch of
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: the Little Ogeechee, which stream is impassable from its salt
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: marshes and boggy swamps, crossed only by narrow causeways or
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: common corduroy roads. There must be twenty five thousand citizens, men,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: women and children in Savannah that must also be fed.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: And how he is to feed them beyond a few
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: days I cannot imagine. I know that his requisitions for
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: corn on the interior counties were not fulfilled, and we
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: are in possession of the rice fields and mills which
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: could alone be of service to him in this neighborhood.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: He can draw nothing from South Carolina save from a
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: small corner down in the southeast, and that by a
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: disused wagon road. I could easily get possession of this,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: but hardly deem it worth the risk of making a
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: detachment which would be in danger by its isolation from
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: the main army. Our whole army is in fine condition
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: as to health, and the weather is splendid. For that
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: reason alone, I feel a personal dislike to turning northward.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: I will keep Lieutenant Dunn here until I know the
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: result of my demand for the surrender of Savannah, but
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: whether successful or not, shall not delay my execution of
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: your Order of the sixth, which will depend alone upon
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: the time it will require to obtain transportation by sea.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: I am, with respect, et cetera, your obedient servant. W. T. Sherman,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Major General, United States Army. End of Section four,