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corps stronger than
Hardee's entire army, his desire would appear to have been most judicious.
General Sherman thus explains why he did not accede to
General Slocum's proposition to pass a sufficient force to the
South Carolina shore, to close
Hardee's only line of escape:
General Slocum had already captured a couple of steamboats trying to pass down the Savannah River from Augusta, and had established some of his men on Argyle and Hutchinson Islands above the city, and wanted to transfer a whole corps to the South Carolina bank; but, as the enemy had iron-clad gun-boats in the river, I did not deem it prudent, because the same result would be better accomplished from General Foster's position at Broad River.
The following extracts from
General Slocum's report of operations in the rear of
Savannah will illustrate the vacillating course his orders obliged him to pursue:
From the 13th to the 20th [December] several changes were made in the position of the troops. * * * * Two regiments from Geary occupied the upper end of Hutchinson's Island.
Carman's brigade, First Division, was sent to Argyle Island, and subsequently across to the South Carolina shore, with one section of Battery I, First New York Artillery. * * * * During the 20th the report from Carman's brigade indicated that large columns were crossing to the Carolina shore, either to cover their own line of communication or preparatory to the final evacuation of the city.
‘In the night General Geary reported to me that the movements across the river were still going on. The different commanders were instructed to keep on the alert and press their pickets close to the rebel works, but the enemy, intending to abandon his heavy guns, kept up a fire until the moment of quitting the works.’
The following orders from
General Slocum's headquarters to various officers under his command show the details of this movement threatening the rebel line of communication:
December 11.—To General Geary: The General commanding directs that, if you can find any boats in the river, you send fifty or sixty men to Hutchinson's Island to ascertain what they can.
December 13.—To General Geary: The General commanding directs that the forty-seven men of your command, under Major Hoyt, now on Hutchinson's Island, remain there until further orders.
