When
Sherman decided to march south from
Atlanta, he ordered to
Thomas a,
Nashville Schofield with the Twenty-third Corps,
Stanley with the Fourth Corps, all the cavalry, except
Kilpatrick's division, all the detachments drawn back from the railway line, and such other troops, including
A. J. Smith's, as
Sherman's military division could furnish.
Sherman reserved for his right wing my two corps, the Fifteenth and Seventeenth; and for his left wing the Fourteenth and Twentieth under
Slocum.
Mine, the Army of the Tennessee, numbered 33,000;
Slocum's, the “Army of Georgia,” 30,000;
Kilpatrick's division of cavalry, 5000; so that the aggregate of all arms was 68,000 men. All surplus stores and trains were sent back to
Tennessee.
The railway south of the
Etowah was next completely demolished.
Un er the efficient management of
Colonel O. M. Poe,
Sherman's chief engineer, all that was of a public nature in
Atlanta which could aid the enemy was destroyed.
Wrecked engines, bent and twisted iron rails, blackened ruins and lonesome chimneys saddened the hearts of the few peaceful citizens who remained there.
Behold now this veteran army thus reorganized and equipped, with moderate baggage a d a few days' supply of small rations, but with plenty of ammunition, re dy to march anywhere
Sherman might lead.
Just before starting,
Sherman had a muscular lameness in one arm that gave him great trouble.
On a visit to him I found.
his servant bathing and continuously rubbing the arm. As I understood the generals ruling, I would command next to
him, because I had from the
President an assignment to an army and a department.
I was therefore especially anxious to know fully his plans, and plainly told him so. While the rubbing went on he explained in detail
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what he proposed and pointed significantly to
Goldsboro‘,
North Carolina, on his map, saying, “I hope to get there.”
On November 15th we set forth in good earnest.
Slocum,
Sherman accompanying him, went by the Augusta Railroad, and passed on through
Milledgeville.
I followed the Macon Railroad, and for the first seven days had
Kilpatrick with me.
Notwithstanding our reduction of the impedimenta, our wagon trains were still long, and always a source of anxiety.
Pushing toward
Macon, I found some resistance from
General G. W. Smith's new levies.
The crossing of the
Ocmulgee, with its steep and muddy banks, was hard enough for the trains.
I protected them by a second demonstration from the left bank against
Macon.
Smith crossed the river and gave us battle at
Griswoldville.
It was an affair of one division,--that of
Charles R. Woods,--using mainly
Walcutt's brigade.
 |
|
Hook used by General Sherman's Army for twisting and destroying Railroad iron. |
Smith was badly defeated, and during the melee our trains were hurried off to
Gordon and parked there in safety,
1 Here, at
Gordon,
Sherman, from
Milledgeville, came across to me.
Slocum had enjoyed a fine march, having had but little resistance.
The stories of the mock Legislature at the
State capital, of the luxurious supplies enjoyed all along, and of the constant fun and pranks of “
Sherman's bummers” , rather belonged to that route than ours.
Possibly we had more of the throngs of escaping slaves, from the baby in arms to the old negro hobbling painfully along the line of march — negroes of all sizes, in all sorts of patched costumes, with carts and broken-down horses and mules to match.
We brought along our wounded (over 200, I believe) in ambulances, and though
they were jolted over corduroy roads and were much exposed to hardship, and participated in the excitements of the march, they all reached
Savannah without the loss of a life.
Our system of foraging was sufficiently good for the army, but the few citizens, women and children, who remained at home,
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 |
|
General Sherman sending his last telegram before cutting the wires and abandoning all communication with the North.
From a sketch made at the time. |
suffered greatly.
We marched our divisions on parallel roads when we could find them; but sometimes, using rails or newly cut poles, made our roads through swamps and soft ground, employing thousands of men. Arriving at the
Oconee,
Osterhaus found a wooded valley, with lagune bridges and a narrow causeway, on his road.
A division of
Hardee's, who himself had left
Hood and gone to
Savannah to command what Confederates he could hastily gather, had marched out to meet us and was intrenched on the east bank.
Artillery and infantry fire swept our road.
Osterhaus, excited by the shots, came to me shaking his head and asking how we would get any further.
“Deploy your skirmishers more and more till there is no reply,” 7 I said.
He did so. A half mile above he was able to send over among the cypresses a brigade in boats.
The Confederate division gave way and fled.
Then shortly our bridge was laid on the main road and we marched on.
Blair, who had returned from his furlough before we left
Atlanta, crossed and kept the left bank of the
Ogeechee, and
Sherman usually accompanied him.
Blair's knowledge and hospitality attracted him. So the armies went on meeting an increased resistance, but were not much delayed till we got to the
Savannah
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Canal.
Captain Duncan from my cavalry escort had carried
Sherman's messages down the
Ogeechee in a boat past Confederate guards and topedoes, and gone out to sea. He was picked up by a
United States vessel and his message taken to the admiral.
Hence navy and provision ships were waiting off the headlands, uncertain just where
Sherman would secure a harbor.
Owing to swamps and obstructed roads and
Hardee's force behind them, we could not enter
Savannah.
Our food was getting low. True,
Sherman had sent
Kilpatrick to try and take
Fort McAllister, a strong fort which held the mouth of the
Ogeechee.
But as its capture was too much for the cavalry, I asked
Sherman to allow me to take that fort with infantry.
Hazen's division was selected.
My
chief engineer,
Reese, with engineers and pioneers and plenty of men to help him, in three days repaired the burnt bridge, over 1000 feet long, near King's house.
Hazen, ready at the bridge, then marched over and took
Fort McAllister by assault,
2 which
Sherman and I witnessed from the rice mill, some miles away on the other bank of the
Ogeechee.
Now we connected with the navy, and our supplies flowed in abundantly,
Slocum soon put a force beyond the
Savannah.
Hardee, fearing to be penned up, abandoned his works and fled during the night before
Slocum had seized his last road to the east.
On December 23d the campaign culminated as
Sherman entered
Savannah.
He sent the following dispatch to
President Lincoln, which he received Christmas Eve: “I beg to present to you, as a Christmas gift, the city of
Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.”
