Sept. 2, 1864. |
 |
| Herman's Headquarters in Atlanta. |
Sept. 4. |
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was in the field, and Sherman saw clearly that a difficult problem lay before him, all unsolved.
When General Slocum was satisfied.
that Hood had abandoned.
Atlanta, he sent out, at dawn,
a strong reconnoitering column in that direction.
It encountered no opposition, and entered the city — much of which was reduced to a smoking ruin by Hood's incendiary fires — at 9 o'clock, when it was met by Mayor Calhoun, who formally surrendered the place.
General Ward's division then marched in, with drums beating and colors
flying, and the National flag was unfurled over the Court-house.1 Two days afterward, General Sherman, satisfied that the demands of the service required that the city should, for awhile, be appropriated exclusively for military purposes, issued all order
for the removal of all citizens, excepting those in the employment of the Government.2 He proposed to General Hood, then encamped at Lovejoy's, a truce of ten days, for the purpose of executing the. order.
The latter acceded to the proposition, and offered to give all the assistance in his power for expediting the business, at the same time protesting against the measure “in the name of God and of humanity.”
3 The civil
1 On the day of the evacuation of Atlanta [September 2], the telegraph gave information of the fact to the. Government, whereupon the President, on the same day, publicly tendered the thanks of the nation to General. Sherman, “and the gallant officers and soldiers under his command.” Orders were issued for the firing of National salutes at the principal arsenals, and the 11th day of September was designated as one for offering solemn national thanksgiving “for the signal success of General Sherman in Georgia, and of Admiral Farragut. at Mobile.” The services of the latter will be narrated presently. On the 8th General Sherman issued a stirring congratulatory address to his army, telling them of the thanks they had received from the nation, recounting their exploits, and assuring them that if they continued faithful, it required “no prophet to foretell that our country will, in time, emerge from this war, purified by the fires of war, and worthy its great founder, Washington.”
2 This order directed the families, whose representatives were in the Confederate service, or who had gone-south, to leave the city within five days. The citizens from the North, not having permission to remain, were ordered to leave within the same period, under penalty of imprisonment. And all masculine residents of the city were required to register their names with the Provost-Marshal within five days, and receive authority to remain, under penalty of imprisonment.
3 “And now, sir,” said Hood, “permit me to say that the unprecedented measure you propose transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention in the dark history of war. In the name of God and humanity I protest, believing that you will find you are expelling from their homes and firesides the wives and children of a brave people.” .
To this Sherman replied. He mentioned the fact that General Johnston had removed families all the way from Dalton down. “You, yourself,” he said, “burned dwelling-houses along your parapet; and I have seen. to-day fifty houses that you have rendered uninhabitable because they stood in the way of your forts and men.” After declaring that it was a kindness to remove women and children from a vortex of war, and that a “brave people” should have scorned to leave them there to the mercy of such “rude barbarians” as Hood represented, the Patriot army to be, Sherman said:-- “In the name of common sense I ask you not to appeal to a just God in such a sacrilegious manner — you, who. in the midst of peace and prosperity, have plunged a nation into civil war — dark and cruel war; who dared us to battle; who insulted our flag; seized our arsenals and forts that were left in the honorable custody of a peaceful ordnance sergeant: seized and made prisoners of war the very garrisons sent to protect your people against negroes and Indians, long before any overt act by the (to you) ‘ hateful Lincoln Government;’ tried to force Kentucky and Missouri into rebellion in spite of themselves; falsified the vote of Louisiana; turned loose your privateers to plunder unarmed ships; expelled Union families by the thousand; burned their houses, and declared by act of ‘Congress’ the confiscation of all debts due Northern men for goods had and received. Do not talk thus to one who has seen these things, and will this day make as much sacrifice for the peace and honor of the South, as the best born Southerner among you. If we must be enemies, let us be men, and fight it out as we propose to-day, and not deal in such hypocritical appeals to God and humanity. God will judge me in good time, and he will pronounce whether it be more humane to fight with a town full of women. and the families of a ‘ brave people’ at our backs, or to remove them in time to places of safety among their own friends and people.” Hood received this terrible rebuke in silence.
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