Dec., 1864. |
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| Sherman's Headquarters. |
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he fled in such haste that he did not spike his guns, nor destroy a vast amount of cotton belonging to the Confederacy, stored in the city.
He was beyond pursuit when his flight was discovered.
Our troops immediately took possession, the Twentieth Corps marching first into the city, and on the morning of the 22d,
General Sherman, who had hastened back, rode into the town, and made his Headquarters at the fine residence of Charles Green, on Macon Street, opposite St. John's Church.1 On the 26th he sent a dispatch to President Lincoln, saying: “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.”
The President replied, thanking Sherman for his gift, and giving to him all the honor.
The
Government, he said, was “anxious, if not fearful,” when he was about to leave Atlanta for the coast.
“I believe none of us,” said Mr. Lincoln, “went further than to acquiesce.”
So ended in perfect success, and vast advantage to the National cause, Sherman's autumn campaign in Georgia--his marvelous march to the sea. In that march, of two hundred and fifty-five miles in the space of six weeks, during which he made a substantial conquest of Georgia, he lost only five hundred and sixty-seven men.2 His entire army, of over sixty-five thousand men and ten thousand horses, had lived generously off the country, having appropriated to their use thirteen thousand beeves, one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn, more than five thousand tons of fodder, besides a large number of sheep, swine, fowls, potatoes and rice.
He forced into the service five thousand horses and four thousand mules.
He captured thirteen hundred and twenty-eight prisoners, and one hundred and sixty-seven guns; burned twenty thousand bales of cotton, and .captured and secured to the Government twenty-five thousand bales. Full ten thousand negroes followed the flag to Savannah, and many thousand others, mostly women and children, had been driven back at the crossings of rivers, and denied the privilege.
The pathway of Sherman's march averaged about forty miles in width, and by his admirable strategy in bewildering his foe, he made that march with ease and with abundant success.3
Let us leave the victorious army in repose at Savannah, while we consider
1 General Howard's quarters were at the house of Mr. Molyneaux, late British consul at Savannah. Slocum's were at the residence of John E. Ward; and General Geary, who was appointed commander of the post, had his effice in the bank building next door to the Custom House.
2 Of these, 63 were killed, 245 wounded, and 159 missing.
3 In his report, Sherman said: “I estimate the damage done to the State of Georgia and its military resources, at $100,000,000 at least--$20,000,000 of which has inured to our advantage, and the remainder is simple waste and destruction. This may seem a hard species of warfare, but it brings the sad realities of war home to those who have been directly or indirectly instrumental in involving us in its attendant calamities.” In Sherman's estimate of destruction above given, must be included over two hundred miles of railroads destroyed.
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