RE: Civil War 150th (Full Version)

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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (11/22/2014 4:20:48 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In south-western Tennessee, the Northerners soon learned that the Rebel Army of Tennessee was on the move. Surprisingly, although the move had been expected for weeks, the Union forces were not well-placed to meet it. George Thomas already had at least as many troops as the Confederates' 40,000, but they were spread out. Some were in garrisons protecting key bridges or depots, at least a quarter were in Nashville still being organized and trained, and the largest number were in a group under Major-General John Schofield at Pulaski.

Belatedly, the Federals realized what the Southerners were aiming for: to cut off this body and destroy it, and then wipe out the remaining obstacles and take Nashville. Schofield gave the orders for the outlying garrisons to fall back to the north, and then started his own forces on the retreat.


The day before, Union cavalry had "demonstrated" on the outskirts of Macon, Georgia, to fool the Confederates into thinking Sherman was moving south-west towards Andersonville. (At this point, the Northern prisoners had been removed from Andersonville and shipped east, to prevent just such an attempt.) Hoping to strike a blow at the Yankee troopers, the Southerners scraped together a force of militia and pursued. They met at a place called Griswoldville, for the Federal horsemen had stopped to link up with a brigade of friendly infantry.

The odds still seemed in favor of the Confederates, for their combined force of 4,500 men outnumbered the Union troops by three to one. But most of the militia had been assembled by "robbing the cradle and the grave", putting old men and young teenagers into the ranks. The Yankees, on the other hand, were by this time among the most experienced soldiers in the world, and they were equipped with Spencer and Henry repeating rifles. And they had not neglected to put up defenses, so they fought behind a barricade of logs and fence rails. There was nothing wrong with the Rebels' courage, though their tactics were poor; they formed up and charged the Northerners straight on three times, each time being stopped by withering fire. The Confederate general would later claim he had been fighting an entire division instead of a brigade. At last, after taking over 600 casualties, the Southerners retreated. The Union had lost only a tenth as many.

As was customary, the Northerners advanced onto the battlefield to gather up arms, equipment, and battle-flags. Their elation at their victory turned to shock when they realized the ages of their enemies, now fallen on the field. An Illinois infantryman would later write in a letter to home, "I was never so affected at the sight of dead and wounded before. I hope we will never have to shoot at such men again. They knew nothing at all about fighting and I think their officers knew as little." The man's wish was fulfilled, for it would be the only substantial infantry clash of the campaign.

[image]local://upfiles/4250/AB99EB199200415C86459987D7165BB3.jpg[/image]
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com

Sherman himself would not learn of the battle for at least another day, for he was closing on the state capital:

...about 4 p.m., General Davis had halted his head of column on a wooded ridge, overlooking an extensive slope of cultivated country, about ten miles short of Milledgeville, and was deploying his troops for camp when I got up. There was a high, raw wind blowing, and I asked him why he had chosen so cold and bleak a position. He explained that he had accomplished his full distance for the day, and had there an abundance of wood and water. He explained further that his advance-guard was a mile or so ahead; so I rode on, asking him to let his rear division, as it came up, move some distance ahead into the depression or valley beyond. Riding on some distance to the border of a plantation, I turned out of the main road into a cluster of wild-plum bushes, that broke the force of the cold November wind, dismounted, and instructed the staff to pick out the place for our camp.

The afternoon was unusually raw and cold. My orderly was at hand with his invariable saddle-bags, which contained a change of under-clothing, my maps, a flask of whiskey, and bunch of cigars. Taking a drink and lighting a cigar, I walked to a row of negro-huts close by, entered one and found a soldier or two warming themselves by a wood-fire. I took their place by the fire, intending to wait there till our wagons had got up, and a camp made for the night. I was talking to the old negro woman, when some one came and explained to me that, if I would come farther down the road, could find a better place. So I started on foot, and found on the main road a good double-hewed-log house, in one room of which Colonel Poe, Dr. Moore, and others, had started a fire. I sent back orders to the "plum-bushes" to bring our horses and saddles up to this house, and an orderly to conduct our headquarter wagons to the same place. In looking around the room, I saw a small box, like a candle-box, marked "Howell Cobb," and, on inquiring of a negro, found that we were at the plantation of General Howell Cobb, of Georgia, one of the leading rebels of the South, then a general in the Southern army, and who had been Secretary of the United States Treasury in Mr. Buchanan's time. Of course, we confiscated his property, and found it rich in corn, beans, peanuts, and sorghum-molasses. Extensive fields were all round the house; I sent word back to General Davis to explain whose plantation it was, and instructed him to spare nothing. That night huge bonfires consumed the fence-rails, kept our soldiers warm, and the teamsters and men, as well as the slaves, carried off an immense quantity of corn and provisions of all sorts.

In due season the headquarter wagons came up, and we got supper. After supper I sat on a chair astride, with my back to a good fire, musing, and became conscious that an old negro, with a tallow- candle in his hand, was scanning my face closely . . . I asked him why he trembled so, and he said that he wanted to be sure that we were in fact "Yankees," for on a former occasion some rebel cavalry had put on light-blue overcoats, personating Yankee troops, and many of the negroes were deceived thereby, himself among the number had shown them sympathy, and had in consequence been unmercifully beaten therefor. This time he wanted to be certain before committing himself; so I told him to go out on the porch, from which he could see the whole horizon lit up with camp-fires, and he could then judge whether he had ever seen any thing like it before. The old man became convinced that the "Yankees" had come at last, about whom he had been dreaming his whole life . . .

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman




Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (11/23/2014 4:44:56 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

On this date, a fifth Confederate state capital was overrun by Union forces:

The next morning, November 23d, we rode into Milledgeville, the capital of the State, whither the Twentieth Corps had preceded us; and during that day the left wing was all united, in and around Milledgeville. From the inhabitants we learned that some of Kilpatrick's cavalry had preceded us by a couple of days, and that all of the right wing was at and near Gordon, twelve miles off, viz., the place where the branch railroad came to Milledgeville from the Mason & Savannah road. The first stage of the journey was, therefore, complete, and absolutely successful.

[...]

The people of Milledgeville remained at home, except the Governor (Brown), the State officers, and Legislature, who had ignominiously fled, in the utmost disorder and confusion; standing not on the order of their going, but going at once--some by rail, some by carriages, and many on foot. Some of the citizens who remained behind described this flight of the "brave and patriotic" Governor Brown. He had occupied a public building known as the "Governor's Mansion," and had hastily stripped it of carpets, curtains, and furniture of all sorts, which were removed to a train of freight- cars, which carried away these things--even the cabbages and vegetables from his kitchen and cellar--leaving behind muskets, ammunition, and the public archives. On arrival at Milledgeville I occupied the same public mansion, and was soon overwhelmed with appeals for protection.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

The protection was generally granted. The Yankees dealt lightly with Milledgeville, in contrast to Jackson, Mississippi, or Atlanta. The railroad deport was burned, as was the arsenal, and the records of the public archives were thrown out into the street or even the river. Otherwise, there was very little looting or vandalism. There was an indignity done in the state capitol building: a group of officers and men went into the main chamber, organised themselves into an impromptu legislature, and after a surprisingly spirited debate, voted to repeal Georgia's ordinance of secession.

Here also the Northerners got a little news of the reaction to their march:

At Milledgeville we found newspapers from all the South, and learned the consternation which had filled the Southern mind at our temerity; many charging that we were actually fleeing for our lives and seeking safety at the hands of our fleet on the sea-coast. All demanded that we should be assailed, "front, flank, and rear;" that provisions should be destroyed in advance, so that we would starve; that bridges should be burned, roads obstructed, and no mercy shown us. Judging from the tone of the Southern press of that day, the outside world must have supposed us ruined and lost.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

In fact, the War Department in Washington was very worried about the fate of Sherman's force. But U. S. Grant did not share these fears, having faith that Sherman had with him "sixty thousand of as fine soldiers as ever trod the earth." Grant reassured Lincoln, pointing out that if Sherman did not come out at one "rabbit hole" he could always find another. The President, born in Kentucky and raised in rural Illinois, appreciated the metaphor.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (11/25/2014 4:17:19 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The Confederate plot to cause a major fire in New York on election day had been called off because of the large numbers of soldiers on the streets keeping order. On this date, with most of the Union troops transferred back to the Richmond-Petersburg lines, the plot was put into action. Eight Southern agents (styling themselves "The Confederate Army of Manhattan") rented rooms in over a dozen hotels, including the 5th Avenue Hotel, Lovejoys Hotel, Astor House, and the Belmont Hotel. Once alone, they piled the wooden furniture in the center room along with bedding and drapes, and then poured "greek fire" over the combustibles. Closing the door behind them, they moved on to the next target.
[image]local://upfiles/4250/2B92A734CA6A4AA18BFD8582D7E6EA0A.jpg[/image]

The "greek fire", a specially prepared mixture of incendiary chemicals, started the fires well enough. But in order to prevent the smoke from being noticed until the blaze was big enough so that it could not be put out easily, the Rebel arsonists had also closed the room windows. This ended up starving the flames of oxygen, and the fires were then quickly put out when spotted. One man also started a fire in the stairwell of P. T. Barnum's museum, which caused a stampede for the exits, but that fire also was doused before it could spread to the rest of the building.

[image]local://upfiles/4250/9F4C5C6018814829B8999F6349FED779.jpg[/image]
The disappointed Confederates wisely left the city as quickly as possible, knowing there would soon be a manhunt, and they would be hung as spies if caught. All eight eluded the search and escaped over the border into Canada. There was no safety there, however, for the Canadian government was entirely willing to extradite them as fugitive criminals. They made their way back to the South by various routes, but one, Robert C. Kennedy, was caught in Cleveland, Ohio. He was sent to Fort Lafayette (in current day Brooklyn) for trial, and hanged in March 1865.




Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (11/26/2014 4:10:42 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

After Atlanta and Milledgeville, the most tempting prizes for the Union army were the cities of Augusta and Savannah. Sherman meant to take Savannah, but he wisely left the Confederates guessing. The Yankees marched to the east, leaving open the possibility of going northeast to Augusta, while the cavalry switched from the left wing to the right wing to screen the marchers from Rebel scouts.

The Confederate government was urging any Georgia farmers in Sherman's path to burn their crops, depriving the Northerners of food. But while burning cotton was hard enough, burning the harvest that was supposed to get them through the winter was too much for the Southern farmers. Therefore, the Confederate military made one attempt to do it themselves.

... I accompanied the Twentieth Corps, which took the direct road to Sandersville, which we reached simultaneously with the Fourteenth Corps, on the 26th. A brigade of rebel cavalry was deployed before the town, and was driven in and through it by our skirmish line. I myself saw the rebel cavalry apply fire to stacks of fodder standing in the fields at Sandersville, and gave orders to burn some unoccupied dwellings close by. On entering the town, I told certain citizens (who would be sure to spread the report) that, if the enemy attempted to carry out their threat to burn their food, corn, and fodder, in our route, I would most undoubtedly execute to the letter the general orders of devastation made at the outset of the campaign. With this exception, and one or two minor cases near Savannah, the people did not destroy food, for they saw clearly that it would be ruin to themselves.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com


[image]local://upfiles/4250/4C209138ED784404B82534BBBFD88F21.jpg[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (11/28/2014 5:01:54 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The commerce raider CSS Florida had been captured in a Brazilian port, and brought to the Union naval base at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Brazil had strongly protested the violation of its sovereignty, and Britain and France had joined in. It was necessary to court-martial Captain Napoleon Collins, and refer the matter of the Florida to a prize court. The Union Navy, and many a Northern merchant, were unhappy about the results, but the evidence and the law were clear. Collins was found guilty, and it was determined that the Florida must be returned to Brazil and then to her Confederate crew.

But the verdict against Collins was set aside by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and he would continue to serve, eventually becoming an admiral. As for the Florida, during a shifting of anchorage she somehow collided with the troop transport Alliance. Shortly thereafter, on this date, the Rebel cruiser sank. The United States gave Brazil a handsome apology for the incident, but pointed out that it could no longer return the ship.


At Columbia, Tennessee, the position of John Schofield and the Union army had become perilous. The Rebel Army of Tennessee under John Bell Hood had arrived in their front, and Southern cavalry under Nathan Bedford Forrest was now engaging the Northern horsemen in the area. It was clearly time to fall back towards Nashville, and Federal cavalry leader James Wilson sent that message to Schofield, all but ordering his commander to move the army.

But the Confederates were at least as familiar with the area as the Northerners -- not for nothing was Hood's army named the Army of Tennessee. And though Hood had been described as "All lion and no fox" by Robert E. Lee, on this occasion he actually worked out an excellent strategy:

I was confident that after Schofield had crossed the river and placed that obstruction between our respective Armies, he would feel in security, and would remain in his position at least a sufficient length of time to allow me to throw pontoons across the river about three miles above his left flank, and, by a bold and rapid march together with Heavy demonstrations in his front, gain his rear before he was fully apprised of my object.
The situation presented an occasion for one of those interesting and beautiful moves upon the chess-board of war, to perform which I had often desired an opportunity.

-- John Bell Hood, Advance and Retreat, Personal Experiences in the United States and Confederate States Armies

Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com

[image]local://upfiles/4250/C99B904456A24149BF26248898ACE319.gif[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (11/29/2014 4:09:32 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In western Tennessee, the Northerners were aware that the Confederates were in pursuit, but not just how close they were. Getting a measure of revenge for his check at Columbia, Nathan Bedford Forrest had fooled the Federal cavalry into believing that he intended to cut off the Union retreat at Franklin. Actually the target was further south, at a place called Spring Hill, but the Northern horsemen rode hastily to secured the road to Franklin, leaving the rest of the Union army without the ability to discover where their enemies were.

The Rebel cavalry moved in to attack the train of Union supply wagons. For a time, it looked as if the Northerners were in serious trouble, but an infantry division managed to hold off Forrest's troopers. The benefit to the Confederates was that the rest of their army was able to march around to a position where it could command the road that the Federals were using to retreat. John Bell Hood's plan to trap the Union force had almost succeeded. But only "almost".

For while this was going on, night fell early, as it does less than a month from the winter solstice. From Hood on down, fatigue overtook the Confederates. They failed to block the road, encamping instead, and Hood went to bed rather than riding to the front to make sure his trap had been sprung. The still-marching Northerners were able to see the Rebel campfires as they passed. There were a few shots exchanged between sentries and flank marchers, but the reports never reached the Southern commanders. The Union army slipped past, and kept marching through the night until they reached Franklin -- which would be the point of contact after all.

("Franklin-Nashville campaign" by User:Andrei nacu at en.wikipedia - Own work.)

[image]local://upfiles/4250/8C8D176EC2B04A1EAC026BD5DA1FAC0B.gif[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (11/30/2014 2:49:02 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

John Bell Hood was greatly angered by the escape of the Union army at Spring Hill, and ordered a pursuit. He knew that if John Schofield's roughly 27,000 Federals could link up with George Thomas and an additional 15,000 men at Nashville (and more reinforcements on the way), there would be virtually no chance for a Confederate victory.

A little after noon, the advance units of the Army of Tennessee came in sight of the Northerners at Franklin. But it was a decidedly unfriendly view: the Yankees had used the morning hours to put up strong earthworks, with plenty of artillery commanding the approach. There was little chance for a flanking move, for the Union lines were anchored on the Harpeth river. Though Hood's subordinates knew that a frontal attack was essentially suicidal, the Confederate commander ordered it. (He was smart enough to also direct a turning move by cavalry, who could cross a river that infantry could not.) It was almost sunset by the time enough Southern troops had arrived on the scene and could be formed up.
[image]local://upfiles/4250/F10E044C481F48FBB3E55753123CB4C4.gif[/image]
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com

The assault had many resemblances to the famous Pickett's Charge, but with even less chance of success. There was no time for preliminary bombardment by artillery, the defenses were stronger, and the men were already fatigued from the morning's march. Nonetheless, the Confederates went forward in a massive wave:

As they marched on down through an open field toward the rampart of blood and death, the Federal batteries began to open and mow down and gather into the garner of death, as brave, and good, and pure spirits as the world ever saw. The twilight of evening had begun to gather as a precursor of the coming blackness of midnight darkness that was to envelop a scene so sickening and horrible that it is impossible for me to describe it. "Forward, men," is repeated all along the line. A sheet of fire was poured into our very faces, and for a moment we halted as if in despair, as the terrible avalanche of shot and shell laid low those brave and gallant heroes, whose bleeding wounds attested that the struggle would be desperate. Forward, men! The air loaded with death-dealing missiles. Never on this earth did men fight against such terrible odds. It seemed that the very elements of heaven and earth were in one mighty uproar.

--Sam R. Watkins, "Co. Aytch" Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment

On the Union left, the Confederates under Patrick Cleburne and John C. Brown actually achieved a brief breakthrough. Aided by the major road running through the Northern lines, they drove the Federals defenders fell back. For a time it seemed that Hood's gamble had succeeded, and a victory such as the one at Chickamauga was at hand. But the Northerners reinforced faster than the Southerners; a reserve brigade was thrown into the fight, and the survivors of other Yankee units rallied and joined in. There were two large houses in the area, which also helped the defense. Cleburne's men had justly earned the reputation of being the hardest fighters in the Army of Tennessee, and the most desperate hand-to-hand fighting since Spotsylvania erupted. But the Spencer and Henry rifles in Union hands gave them the edge. Brown was wounded and Cleburne was killed outright, and the Rebels were finally driven back.

Even further to the east, Nathan Bedford Forrest attempted to cross the river and deliver a powerful flank attack. This time, however, James Wilson and his horsemen were in the right place, and the Southern troopers were blocked. Both sides fought dismounted, and though the Rebels had the advantage in numbers, again the Northern repeating carbines made the difference. The Confederates were driven back across the river, and for the first time in the war, Forrest had been defeated by a numerically inferior force.

On the Union right and center, the defeat of the Confederate assault was complete. Artillery and musket fire brought the Rebel attackers down in slaughter:

...we advanced on toward the breastworks, on and on. I had made up my mind to die—felt glorious. We pressed forward until I heard the terrific roar of battle open on our right. Cleburne's division was charging their works. I passed on until I got to their works, and got over on their (the Yankees') side. But in fifty yards of where I was the scene was lit up by fires that seemed like hell itself. It appeared to be but one line of streaming fire. Our troops were upon one side of the breastworks, and the Federals on the other. I ran up on the line of works, where our men were engaged. Dead soldiers filled the entrenchments. The firing was kept up until after midnight, and gradually died out. We passed the night where we were.

--Sam R. Watkins, "Co. Aytch" Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment

In the final tragic irony, the Northerners did not stay. It can be argued that they were in a fine position to counter-attack the devastated Rebels the next day. However, Union commander Schofield decided to interpret his orders to rejoin the other Federal force at Nashville strictly, and pulled his troops out during the night.

It was true that the Union had taken serious losses: 189 killed, 1,033 wounded, and 1,104 missing or captured. But the Confederates had suffered over two and a half times as many casualties: 1,750 killed, 3,800 wounded, and 702 missing or captured, about 23% of the engaged force. They had also lost no less than 14 generals (six dead, seven wounded, one captured). Hood had essentially torn the heart out of his army.


[image]local://upfiles/4250/F19D5ABD8F504600B3E85AC802307B8D.jpg[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/1/2014 1:55:21 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At Franklin, dawn revealed that the Union army under Schofield had slipped away during the night. It also revealed one of the bloodiest aftermaths of the war:

...what did we see! It was a grand holocaust of death. Death had held high carnival there that night. The dead were piled the one on the other all over the ground. I never was so horrified and appalled in my life. Horses, like men, had died game on the gory breastworks. General Adams' horse had his fore feet on one side of the works and his hind feet on the other, dead. The general seems to have been caught so that he was held to the horse's back, sitting almost as if living, riddled, and mangled, and torn with balls. General Cleburne's mare had her fore feet on top of the works, dead in that position. General Cleburne's body was pierced with forty-nine bullets, through and through. General Strahl's horse lay by the roadside and the general by his side, both dead, and all his staff. General Gist, a noble and brave cavalier from South Carolina, was lying with his sword reaching across the breastworks still grasped in his hand. He was lying there dead. All dead!

--Sam R. Watkins, "Co. Aytch" Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment

John Bell Hood knew that his weakened army had no chance of catching the Yankees before they linked up with the force at Nashville, and got inside the even more impressive fortifications there. There were many dead to bury, and wounded to recover, and the Northerners had hours on the march already. (In fact, the advance units of the Union army reached Nashville at noon on this date.) Nonetheless, Hood ordered his troops forward. The best guess is that he considered it the lesser of the evils. A retreat would likely have lead to wholesale desertions; there were many families in Tennessee willing to shelter their sons who dropped out of the ranks.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/3/2014 7:40:12 PM)

The combined Union army in Nashville, Tennessee, was in a good position. Supplies and reinforcements were arriving regularly, and Union commander George Thomas knew that the Rebels under John Bell Hood had no chance of breaching the fortifications around the city. Unlike the situation at Chattanooga the year before, the Federal gunboats had full control of the river, and so there was no fear of being surrounded.

Hood understood this as well. He could not advance, and he would not retreat. His only real hope was that Thomas and his army would come out to fight, and suffer a defeat as great as the Confederates had suffered at Franklin. And so, gave orders for his army to entrench as best they could; not easy, because the weather had turned cold and much of the ground was frozen. Meanwhile, there were many general and colonel positions to fill. His strategy was not unwise, for he knew that Thomas would be urged by the War Department in Washington to fight.

And exactly that was happening. Lincoln, Grant, and the entire War Department were united in wanting Thomas to strike a blow as early as possible. Telegrams flew, requesting action. But Thomas, unsurpassed as a defensive general, was slow and cautious on the offensive. He wanted to make everything ready before he moved. Whether this was a good idea is not easy to say, for while he received more men, the Southerners also grew in strength, re-organizing their battered ranks and replenishing their ammunition, which had almost been exhausted at Franklin.


While the cold was making itself felt at Nashville, Sherman's march to the southeast was enjoying a much more pleasant climate:

The weather was fine, the roads good, and every thing seemed to favor us. Never do I recall a more agreeable sensation than the sight of our camps by night, lit up by the fires of fragrant pine-knots. The trains were all in good order, and the men seemed to march their fifteen miles a day as though it were nothing. No enemy opposed us, and we could only occasionally hear the faint reverberation of a gun to our left rear, where we knew that General Kilpatrick was skirmishing with Wheeler's cavalry, which persistently followed him. But the infantry columns had met with no opposition whatsoever. McLaw's division was falling back before us, and we occasionally picked up a few of his men as prisoners, who insisted that we would meet with strong opposition at Savannah.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

On the fringes of the army, the situation was more savage. The Confederate cavalry under "Little Joe" Wheeler was also trying to catch the foragers taking food for the Yankees, and by this time they were disposed to show no mercy. The foragers were shot or hanged, and sometimes the bodies were mutilated. This angered the Northerners more than frightening them, and Southern cavalrymen were served the same way on occasion. Sherman decided to do something more about this state of affairs, and instructed his cavalry commander Judson Kilpatrick to "to engage Wheeler and give him all the fighting he wanted". This would also keep up the impression he was aiming for Augusta, when actually his next objective was the town and railroad hub of Millen, where the was also a prisoner-of-war camp.

Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com

[image]local://upfiles/4250/A15B2B60EC314B399FAA00CE31B718FE.jpg[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/4/2014 7:39:50 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At Waynesboro, Georgia, Judson Kilpatrick attacked the Confederate cavalry. He had wisely brought a number of Union infantry along with him, and so outnumbered the Rebels under Joe Wheeler by 6,000 to 4,000. Nonetheless, the Southerners put up a stiff fight, slowly giving ground from barricade to barricade. Finally, after hard fighting, the Union forces broke through the last defensive line, and the Confederates withdrew. Kilpatrick had the bridges in the area burned, and then moved to rejoin Sherman and the bulk of the Union army. Total casualties were about 190 for the Union and 250 for the Confederates. Wheeler's force was far from crippled, but had been blocked from interdfering with the Northern foragers for the time being.


At Millen, about 20 miles (32 km) away, much of the main body of Yankees was pausing. They had successfully taken the town and moved on to the prisoner-of-war camp, only to find the Confederates had evacuated it just as they had Andersonville. They had left a number of dead Union prisoners behind without burying them, which did not improve the Northerners' mood. They had seen for themselves there was plenty of food in Georgia, and the hunger that their comrades had experienced seemed inexcusable. The qualms that a number had felt about the pillaging and destruction during the march faded considerably.

. . . with little or no loss, we had traveled two-thirds of our distance, and I concluded to push on for Savannah. At Millen I learned that General Bragg was in Augusta, and that General Wade Hampton had been ordered there from Richmond, to organize a large cavalry force with which to resist our progress.
General Hardee was ahead, between us and Savannah, with McLaw's division, and other irregular troops, that could not, I felt assured, exceed ten thousand men. I caused the fine depot at Millen to be destroyed, and other damage done, and then resumed the march directly on Savannah, by the four main roads.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/6/2014 2:13:40 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At this time in history, it was the tradition for the President to send an "Annual Message to Congress" rather than deliver a State of the Union speech in person. On this date Abraham Lincoln dutifully sent his fourth such message. Among many other things, he touched on Sherman's march: "The most remarkable feature in the military operations of the year is General Sherman's attempted march of 300 miles directly through the insurgent region. It tends to show a great increase of our relative strength that our General in Chief should feel able to confront and hold in check every active force of the enemy, and yet to detach a well-appointed large army to move on such an expedition. The result not yet being known, conjecture in regard to it is not here indulged."

Lincoln also gave another push to the 13th Amendment: "At the last session of Congress a proposed amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery throughout the United States passed the Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives. Although the present is the same Congress and nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session. Of course the abstract question is not changed; but in intervening election shows almost certainly that the next Congress will pass the measure if this does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the proposed amendment will go to the States for their action. And as it is to so go at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the better?"

For those who want full details, the entire text is available at:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29505

Also on this date, President Lincoln formally nominated Salmon P. Chase to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Though Lincoln had mentioned Chase's name for the position before, there were several other possibilities. (Secretary of War Stanton had made no secret of his desire for the post.) Many were caught by surprise, for Chase had schemed openly to replace Lincoln as President earlier in the year, telling the Radical Republicans that Lincoln was not keen enough for the abolition of slavery. But Lincoln reassured a friend of Chase's, "As to his talk about me, I do not mind that. Chase is, on the whole, a pretty good fellow and a very able man. His only trouble is that he has 'the White House Fever' a little too bad, but I hope this may cure him."

On his record, Chase was one of the least experienced men ever to be nominated for Chief Justice. He had never been a judge, though he had practiced law as a defense attorney. But his confirmation in the Senate may well be the speediest. Helped by the Radical Republicans, by the end of the day the Senate had voted to approve him.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/8/2014 3:02:46 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

A new addition to the soldiers' diet was in order as Sherman and his men neared the Georgia coast. The famous red clayey soil was giving way to sandier soil, and corn and other classic American crops became rare. But in the ground close to the rivers, rice-fields had been planted, and the rice grains fed the soldiers while the rice husks fed the draft animals.

The Yankees encountered another problem in the ground, but Sherman was quick to find a solution for that one as well:

On the 8th, as I rode along, I found the column turned out of the main road, marching through the fields. Close by, in the corner of a fence, was a group of men standing around a handsome young officer, whose foot had been blown to pieces by a torpedo planted in the road. He was waiting for a surgeon to amputate his leg, and told me that he was riding along with the rest of his brigade-staff of the Seventeenth Corps, when a torpedo trodden on by his horse had exploded, killing the horse and literally blowing off all the flesh from one of his legs. I saw the terrible wound, and made full inquiry into the facts. There had been no resistance at that point, nothing to give warning of danger, and the rebels had planted eight-inch shells in the road, with friction-matches to explode them by being trodden on. This was not war, but murder, and it made me very angry. I immediately ordered a lot of rebel prisoners to be brought from the provost-guard, armed with picks and spades, and made them march in close order along the road, so as to explode their own torpedoes, or to discover and dig them up. They begged hard, but I reiterated the order, and could hardly help laughing at their stepping so gingerly along the road, where it was supposed sunken torpedoes might explode at each step, but they found no other torpedoes till near Fort McAllister.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/9/2014 7:58:22 PM)

Probably 150 Years Ago Today:

Under the Emancipation Proclamation, all slaves were free as soon as the Union could exert control in the area. But in Georgia, Sherman's horde was not there to stay, and the blacks knew it well. Although Sherman tried to discourage it, many of them followed his army as it marched for the Atlantic coast. Of all Sherman's subordinates, the unhappiest about the followers was probably Major General Jefferson C. Davis, who was a Democrat and not in favor of abolishing slavery.

General Davis' XIV Corps was closest to the Savannah River, and frequently had to cross the streams feeding into it. The night before, they had bridged such a stream, called Ebenezer Creek. On the morn of this date, Davis ordered the pontoon bridge taken up when his troops had finished crossing. This left hundreds of black men, women, and children stuck on the other side of what was a substantial current, swollen by the autumn rains. And Joe Wheeler's Confederate cavalry was known to be returning after recovering from the drubbing administered by the Yankees on the 3rd. Desperate not to be recaptured by the Southerners, an number of blacks tried to swim across, and to the horror of the Northern troops, most of those drowned in the current.
[image]local://upfiles/4250/37E03DE7131244D98988E7F14068B620.jpg[/image]
by Hal Jespersen at en.wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia(Original text : own work). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution

News of this event spread to the north, causing anger among the abolitionists. Secretary of War Stanton himself would decide to investigate. General Davis claimed that he needed the pontoons without delay for other streams in the area, which is possible, but suspect. Sherman is not believed to have given any direct orders to do such a things, but he may well have instructed his subordinates to do what they could to reduce the number of "useless mouths" accompanying his army. Quite likely as a result, Sherman would issue a surprising order to help a number of the ex-slaves who made it all the way to the coast.

(There are different accounts of the date of the tragedy at Ebenezer Creek, but December 9th seems to be the best.)

[image]local://upfiles/4250/6C41BC229F7A481090A6C94921624F74.jpg[/image]




Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/10/2014 3:00:21 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

On this date, Sherman and his army arrived in front of their objective. But the campaign was not over yet; in fact, it had reached its most dangerous stage. Sherman discovered this for himself:

... the several corps reached the defenses of Savannah--the Fourteenth Corps on the left, touching the river; the Twentieth Corps next; then the Seventeenth; and the Fifteenth on the extreme right; thus completely investing the city. Wishing to reconnoitre the place in person, I rode forward by the Louisville road, into a dense wood of oak, pine, and cypress, left the horses, and walked down to the railroad-track, at a place where there was a side-track, and a cut about four feet deep. From that point the railroad was straight, leading into Savannah, and about eight hundred yards off were a rebel parapet and battery. I could see the cannoneers preparing to fire, and cautioned the officers near me to scatter, as we would likely attract a shot. Very soon I saw the white puff of smoke, and, watching close, caught sight of the ball as it rose in its flight, and, finding it coming pretty straight, I stepped a short distance to one side, but noticed a negro very near me in the act of crossing the track at right angles. Some one called to him to look out; but, before the poor fellow understood his danger, the ball (a thirty-two-pound round shot) struck the ground, and rose in its first ricochet, caught the negro under the right jaw, and literally carried away his head, scattering blood and brains about. A soldier close by spread an overcoat over the body, and we all concluded to get out of that railroad-cut.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

The March to the Sea had finally come up against an obstacle strong enough to stop it. The Federals needed to reach the coast and the supply ships waiting offshore, but the fortifications around Savannah were in the way. And now the clock was ticking, for the food in the wagons and in the immediate area would not feed over sixty thousand soldiers, plus thousands more refugees, for very long.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/12/2014 3:21:50 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At Nashville, Tennessee, the apparent stalemate between George Thomas' Union army and John Bell Hood's Confederate army had now lasted over a week:

Thomas was strongly fortified in his position, so that he would have been safe against the attack of Hood. He had troops enough even to annihilate him in the open field. To me his delay was unaccountable--sitting there and permitting himself to be invested, so that, in the end, to raise the siege he would have to fight the enemy strongly posted behind fortifications. It is true the weather was very bad. The rain was falling and freezing as it fell, so that the ground was covered with a sheet of ice, that made it very difficult to move. But I was afraid that the enemy would find means of moving, elude Thomas and manage to get north of the Cumberland River. If he did this, I apprehended most serious results from the campaign in the North, and was afraid we might even have to send troops from the East to head him off if he got there, General Thomas's movements being always so deliberate and so slow, though effective in defence.

I consequently urged Thomas in frequent dispatches sent from City Point to make the attack at once. The country was alarmed, the administration was alarmed, and I was alarmed lest the very thing would take place which I have just described that is, Hood would get north. It was all without avail further than to elicit dispatches from Thomas saying that he was getting ready to move as soon as he could, that he was making preparations, etc. At last I had to say to General Thomas that I should be obliged to remove him unless he acted promptly. He replied that he was very sorry, but he would move as soon as he could.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

The situation looked bad if one only studied the map, but in actuality the Confederates had been stuck. Unlike Sherman's force, they had to maintain their supply line. There was little chance of living off the land in the freezing weather, and if they moved beyond Nashville, it would be simple for the Yankees to get on their rear and cut off their supplies.

But on this date the weather began to improve. Winter had not yet fully set in (in fact, officially it was still Autumn). Two divisions of Northern veterans had joined Thomas' force, bringing his advantage over Hood to nearly two to one, and there seemed no further excuse for him not to attack. But he would delay a few days more, giving the excuse that he needed more horses for his cavalry.

("Franklin-Nashville campaign" by User:Andrei nacu at en.wikipedia - Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

[image]local://upfiles/4250/96BF4F101A56404E971DBD6057D0D62C.gif[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/13/2014 2:14:47 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Near Savannah, it was time for the Northerners to make contact with the supply fleet. Union cavalry had scouted the area, and found the inlet of the Ogeechee a few miles to the southwest. It was protected by the well-built Fort McAllister, but there were less than 250 men garrisoning the place. Sherman had decided to make his breakthrough there.

by Hal Jespersen at en.wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia(Original text : own work). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
[image]local://upfiles/4250/3E873C28B4644A31B30EBC302A5E3FB6.jpg[/image]

I gave General Hazen, in person, his orders to march rapidly down the right bank of the Ogeechee, and without hesitation to assault and carry Fort McAllister by storm. I knew it to be strong in heavy artillery, as against an approach from the sea, but believed it open and weak to the rear. I explained to General Hazen, fully, that on his action depended the safety of the whole army, and the success of the campaign. Kilpatrick had already felt the fort, and had gone farther down the coast to Kilkenny Bluff, or St. Catharine's Sound, where, on the same day, he had communication with a vessel belonging to the blockading fleet; but, at the time, I was not aware of this fact, and trusted entirely to General Hazen and his division of infantry, the Second of the Fifteenth Corps, the same old division which I had commanded at Shiloh and Vicksburg, in which I felt a special pride and confidence.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

Sherman was not entirely correct about the fort being weak against a land approach. General William B. Hazen (below) and his men had no light task in front of them, for the Rebels had a good set of defenses in place. A number of cannon had been diverted from the seaward side and now covered the fort's rear. Numerous trees had been felled and set in pace as obstacles. And abouve all, the approach had been generously mined with "land torpedoes". But the Yankees had numbers and experience on their side.
[image]local://upfiles/4250/4D6A4F07CD7F40188C34BA0BB4D4C9F8.jpg[/image]

I rode with my staff down the left bank of the Ogeechee, ten miles to the rice-plantation of a Mr. Cheevea, where General Howard had established a signal-station to overlook the lower river, and to watch for any vessel of the blockading squadron, which the negroes reported to be expecting us, because they nightly sent up rockets, and daily dispatched a steamboat up the Ogeechee as near to Fort McAllister as it was safe.

On reaching the rice-mill at Cheevea's, I found a guard and a couple of twenty-pound Parrott guns, of De Gres's battery, which fired an occasional shot toward Fort McAllister, plainly seen over the salt-marsh, about three miles distant. Fort McAllister had the rebel flag flying, and occasionally sent a heavy shot back across the marsh to where we were, but otherwise every thing about the place looked as peaceable and quiet as on the Sabbath.

About 2 p.m. we observed signs of commotion in the fort, and noticed one or two guns fired inland, and some musket-skirmishing in the woods close by.

This betokened the approach of Hazen's division, which had been anxiously expected, and soon thereafter the signal-officer discovered about three miles above the fort a signal-flag, with which he conversed, and found it to belong to General Hazen, who was preparing to assault the fort, and wanted to know if I were there. On being assured of this fact, and that I expected the fort to be carried before night, I received by signal the assurance of General Hazen that he was making his preparations, and would soon attempt the assault. The sun was rapidly declining, and I was dreadfully impatient. At that very moment some one discovered a faint cloud of smoke, and an object gliding, as it were, along the horizon above the tops of the sedge toward the sea, which little by little grew till it was pronounced to be the smoke-stack of a steamer coming up the river. "It must be one of our squadron!" Soon the flag of the United States was plainly visible, and our attention was divided between this approaching steamer and the expected assault. When the sun was about an hour high, another signal-message came from General Hazen that he was all ready, and I replied to go ahead, as a friendly steamer was approaching from below.

Soon we made out a group of officers on the deck of this vessel, signaling with a flag, "Who are you!" The answer went back promptly, "General Sherman." Then followed the question, "Is Fort McAllister taken?" "Not yet, but it will be in a minute!" Almost at that instant of time, we saw Hazen's troops come out of the dark fringe of woods that encompassed the fort, the lines dressed as on parade, with colors flying, and moving forward with a quick, steady pace. Fort McAllister was then all alive, its big guns belching forth dense clouds of smoke, which soon enveloped our assaulting lines. One color went down, but was up in a moment. On the lines advanced, faintly seen in the white, sulphurous smoke; there was a pause, a cessation of fire; the smoke cleared away, and the parapets were blue with our men, who fired their muskets in the air, and shouted so that we actually heard them, or felt that we did. Fort McAllister was taken, and the good news was instantly sent by the signal-officer to our navy friends on the approaching gunboat...

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

The storming of the fort cost the Union 134 casualties, and the "land torpedoes" had taken as much of a toll as Rebel muskets and cannon. The Southerners had put up a stout defense, however, taking 71 casualties out of a 230-man garrison. Some of the ounumbered Confederates had continued fighting until their weapons were wrenched from their hands.

Sherman still had a great many things to do. He inspected the captured fort, careful to avoid the mines that were still being cleared, and then took a boat out to the Union vessel they had signaled to. On board, Sherman learned that the Southerners had been boasting that they had his army blocked and starving. He called for pen and paper, and wrote messages "giving the true state of affairs" to various people such as U. S. Grant, fleet commander John Dahlgren, and the Secretary of War.

ON BOARD DANDELION, OSSABAW SOUND, December 13, 1864--11.50 p.m.

To Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

To-day, at 6 p. m., General Hazen's division of the Fifteenth Corps carried Fort McAllister by assault, capturing its entire garrison and stores. This opened to us Ossabaw Sound, and I pushed down to this gunboat to communicate with the fleet. Before opening communication we had completely destroyed all the railroads leading into Savannah, and invested the city. The left of the army is on the Savannah River three miles above the city, and the right on the Ogeechee, at King's Bridge. The army is in splendid order, and equal to any thing. The weather has been fine, and supplies were abundant. Our march was most agreeable, and we were not at all molested by guerrillas.
We reached Savannah three days ago, but, owing to Fort McAllister, could not communicate; but, now that we have McAllister, we can go ahead.
We have already captured two boats on the Savannah river and prevented their gunboats from coming down.
I estimate the population of Savannah at twenty-five thousand, and the garrison at fifteen thousand. General Hardee commands.
We have not lost a wagon on the trip; but have gathered a large supply of negroes, mules, horses, etc., and our teams are in far better condition than when we started.
My first duty will be to clear the army of surplus negroes, mules, and horses. We have utterly destroyed over two hundred miles of rails, and consumed stores and provisions that were essential to Lee's and Hood's armies.
The quick work made with McAllister, the opening of communication with our fleet, and our consequent independence as to supplies, dissipate all their boasted threats to head us off and starve the army.
I regard Savannah as already gained. Yours truly,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/14/2014 3:26:06 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The weather had improved, and the icy ground had thawed at Nashville. But there was still no movement of the Union army under George Thomas. Ulysses S. Grant lost patience not just once, but twice:

[General] Logan happening to visit City Point about that time, and knowing him as a prompt, gallant and efficient officer, I gave him an order to proceed to Nashville to relieve Thomas. I directed him, however, not to deliver the order or publish it until he reached there, and if Thomas had moved, then not to deliver it at all, but communicate with me by telegraph. After Logan started, in thinking over the situation, I became restless, and concluded to go myself.

--The Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant

(John A. Logan was perhaps the most competent of the politician generals on the Northern side. He had been a Congressman from Illinois up until 1862, when he had given up his seat to become a colonel. By this time he had been promoted to major general, but had been granted a leave of absence to help campaign for the elections in Illinois.)

[image]local://upfiles/4250/04B3C3E61448499A9F951E9F6528ABD5.jpg[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/15/2014 1:52:37 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

In Nashville, George Thomas finally felt his troops were ready to move. He had requested an early wake-up call at his hotel (he had always disliked camping) and before sunrise he had checked out and was on his way to the front lines. Though his greatest skill was on the defense, he had laid out a workmanlike attack plan: a probing attack on the Confederate right to prevent any transfer of men, followed by the main assault on the left. The cavalry under James Wilson would sweep around even further, passing the Southerners' left, and with luck, cutting off their retreat and allowing the Yankees to destroy or capture the entire Army of Tennessee.

The battle plan did not even wait until first contact to start falling off from what was intended. The freezing rain was gone, but there was still heavy fog, and the Union advance was delayed. This was serious, for the day was near the Winter solstice and daylight hours were precious. However, the Confederates had problems of their own. Much of the cavalry under Nathn Bedford Forrest was absent, having been sent to Murfreesboro. Even worse, morale was low:

The battle had begun. We were continually moving to our left. We would build little temporary breastworks, then we would be moved to another place. Our lines kept on widening out, and stretching further and further apart, until it was not more than a skeleton of a skirmish line from one end to the other. We started at a run. We cared for nothing. Not more than a thousand yards off, we could see the Yankee cavalry, artillery, and infantry, marching apparently still further to our left. We could see regiments advancing at double-quick across the fields, while, with our army, everything seemed confused. The private soldier could not see into things. It seemed to be somewhat like a flock of wild geese when they have lost their leader. We were willing to go anywhere, or to follow anyone who would lead us. We were anxious to flee, fight, or fortify. I have never seen an army so confused and demoralized. The whole thing seemed to be tottering and trembling. When, Halt! Front! Right dress! and Adjutant McKinney reads us the following order:

SOLDIERS:—The commanding general takes pleasure in announcing to his troops that victory and success are now within their grasp; and the commanding general feels proud and gratified that in every attack and assault the enemy have been repulsed; and the commanding general will further say to his noble and gallant troops, 'Be of good cheer—all is well.'
GENERAL JOHN B. HOOD, General Commanding.
KINLOCK FALCONER,  Acting Adjutant-General.

I remember how this order was received. Every soldier said, "O, shucks; that is all shenanigan," for we knew that we had never met the enemy or fired a gun outside of a little skirmishing. And I will further state that that battle order, announcing success and victory, was the cause of a greater demoralization than if our troops had been actually engaged in battle.

--Sam R. Watkins, "Co. Aytch" Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment

The preliminary attack achieved almost nothing. Well-posted Southern artillery disrupted the assault, and the defenders were even able to transfer troops to reinforce their left -- exactly what Thomas had hoped to prevent.

Nonetheless, on the left, the weight of Northern numbers began to tell. Redoubt after redoubt fell to the Yankees, and the losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners eventually forced the Confederates out of their lines. Darkness and some determined rear-guard fighting prevented a complete collapse, but the Rebels had been squeezed into a new position, and had to spend much of the night entrenching themselves against a renewed assault that was certain to come the next day. (Thomas, on the other hand, rode back into Nashville for his night's sleep.)



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/16/2014 3:33:39 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Near Nashville, the Federals renewed the attack. George Thomas did what might have seemed foolish: the same thing he had done the day before. First, there was a lesser attack on the Confederate right, and then, the main assault on the left. This time, however, the experience of the day before was more valuable to the Yankees than the loss of surprise cost them.

The initial attack on the right was more determined this time. Again the Union troops faced heavy artillery and musket fire, but finally the 13th United States Colored Troops charged and reached the Rebel parapet, though it cost them 220 officers and men. The Federals could not break through, but this time John Bell Hood had to send reinforcements to his right wing and weaken his left, exactly what Thomas wanted. Also, two divisions of Union cavalry had managed to go all around the left wing to the Confederate rear, where they dismounted. Their repeating carbines allowed them to deliver a powerful attack on foot:

There was no longer any uncertainty as to which flank we ought to be on, for all was now going well. Led and directed by their gallant officers, the men of the two divisions, skirmishing heavily, pressed the enemy steadily back from the start at every point.

In the midst of the heaviest fighting, one of our detachments captured a courier from Hood, carrying a dispatch to Chalmers, directing him "for God's sake to drive the Yankee cavalry from our left and rear or all is lost." Regarding this dispatch as of the first importance, I sent it at once to Thomas without even making a copy of it. Having already informed both Thomas and Schofield by courier of my success and of the steady progress my troopers were making, I sent three staff officers, one after the other, urging Schofield to attack the enemy in front and finish up the day's work with victory.

--James H. Wilson, Under the Old Flag

Late in the rainy afternoon the main Northern attack was delivered to the thinned and bloodied Confederate lines. And here the Rebels had made the same mistake they had made on the heights above Chattanooga a little over a year before. They had entrenched on the topographical crest of the line of hills, allowing a shoulder to block much of their fire until the attackers were very close. The Yankees drove right into the Southern defenses.

As Jubal Early would write, even the Confederate soldier, used to fighting against long odds with inferior equipment and inadequate food, had his limits. It was at this point that the limit of the Army of Tennessee was reached and passed:

When I got back to where I could see our lines, it was one scene of confusion and rout. Finney's Florida brigade had broken before a mere skirmish line, and soon the whole army had caught the infection, had broken, and were running in every direction. Such a scene I never saw. The army was panic-stricken. The woods everywhere were full of running soldiers. Our officers were crying, "Halt! halt!" and trying to rally and re-form their broken ranks. The Federals would dash their cavalry in amongst us, and even their cannon joined in the charge. One piece of Yankee artillery galloped past me, right on the road, unlimbered their gun, fired a few shots, and galloped ahead again. Hood's whole army was routed and in full retreat. Nearly every man in the entire army had thrown away his gun and accouterments. More than ten thousand had stopped and allowed themselves to be captured, while many, dreading the horrors of a Northern prison, kept on, and I saw many, yea, even thousands, broken down from sheer exhaustion, with despair and pity written on their features. Wagon trains, cannon, artillery, cavalry, and infantry were all blended in inextricable confusion. Broken down and jaded horses and mules refused to pull, and the badly-scared drivers looked like their eyes would pop out of their heads from fright. Wagon wheels, interlocking each other, soon clogged the road, and wagons, horses and provisions were left indiscriminately. The officers soon became effected with the demoralization of their troops, and rode on in dogged indifference. General Frank Cheatham and General Loring tried to form a line at Brentwood, but the line they formed was like trying to stop the current of Duck river with a fish net.

--Sam R. Watkins, "Co. Aytch" Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment

The two-day battle had cost the Union 3,061 men in total: 387 killed, 2,558 wounded, and 112 missing or captured. The Confederates likely lost nearly twice that many: roughly 1,500 killed and wounded, with 4,500 missing or captured. And the Northerners were not through yet. Much of their cavalry had dismounted during the battle, so it took them time to scramble back to their horses and mount up for pursuit. But pursue they did, picking up stragglers and preventing the Southerners from rallying and re-forming their units.

Eventually, about 18,000 Rebels would escape back to Tupelo, Mississippi. But they were a disorganized mass of men, without such things as artillery, supply wagons, and for about half of them, without even shoes. The army that had won the Battle of Chickamauga and matched move for move with Sherman during the Atlanta campaign had effectively ceased to exist.

by User:Andrei nacu at en.wikipedia - Own work. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

[image]local://upfiles/4250/7D8AA560421D4810A277E2200C4E5D4A.gif[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/17/2014 7:35:33 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At Savannah, Georgia, the Northerners were setting up a major base and receiving good quantities of supplies from Union cargo ships. They also welcomed several pieces of siege artillery (they had brought only field guns on their march from Atlanta). Lastly, they had mail: the War Department had thoughtfully had their letters and packages transferred. for most of the soldiers, this was welcome, and morale was all that W. T. Sherman could have desired. But he himself got unwelcome news from U. S. Grant; the General-in-Chief wanted Sherman to prepare his command for sea transport up to Virginia and the Richmond-Petersburg siege.

Sherman was dismayed. An ocean voyage would make many of his men, recruited from western farms, seasick, and the close confinement would allow disease to spread widely. Also, the landings would have to be to the east of Richmond, and he had hoped to to march up the coast and come in from the west, attacking Robert E. lee's force from the rear.. He hastily wrote a missive back to Grant, arguing for a continuation of his land march. In the meantime, since he now might not have the time for a lengthy siege of Savannah, he attempted to gain a quick surrender of the city and its garrison:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, NEAR SAVANNAH, December 17, 1864.

General WILLIAM J. HARDEE, commanding Confederate Forces in Savannah.

GENERAL: You have doubtless observed, from your station at Rosedew that sea-going vessels now come through Ossabaw Sound and up the Ogeechee to the rear of my army, giving me abundant supplies of all kinds, and more especially heavy ordnance necessary for the reduction of Savannah. I have already received guns that can cast heavy and destructive shot as far as the heart of your city; also, I have for some days held and controlled every avenue by which the people and garrison of Savannah can be supplied, and I am therefore justified in demanding the surrender of the city of Savannah, and its dependent forts, and shall wait a reasonable time for your answer, before opening with heavy ordnance. Should you entertain the proposition, I am prepared to grant liberal terms to the inhabitants and garrison; but should I be forced to resort to assault, or the slower and surer process of starvation, I shall then feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and shall make little effort to restrain my army--burning to avenge the national wrong which they attach to Savannah and other large cities which have been so prominent in dragging our country into civil war. I inclose you a copy of General Hood's demand for the surrender of the town of Resaca, to be used by you for what it is worth.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

Back came the refusal:

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA AND FLORIDA SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, December 17, 1864

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Federal Forces near Savannah, Georgia.

GENERAL: I have to acknowledge the receipt of a communication from you of this date, in which you demand "the surrender of Savannah and its dependent forts," on the ground that you "have received guns that can cast heavy and destructive shot into the heart of the city," and for the further reason that you "have, for some days, held and controlled every avenue by which the people and garrison can be supplied." You add that, should you be "forced to resort to assault, or to the slower and surer process of starvation, you will then feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and will make little effort to restrain your army," etc., etc. The position of your forces (a half-mile beyond the outer line for the land- defense of Savannah) is, at the nearest point, at least four miles from the heart of the city. That and the interior line are both intact. Your statement that you have, for some days, held and controlled every avenue by which the people and garrison can be supplied, is incorrect. I am in free and constant communication with my department. Your demand for the surrender of Savannah and its dependent forts is refused. With respect to the threats conveyed in the closing paragraphs of your letter (of what may be expected in case your demand is not complied with), I have to say that I have hitherto conducted the military operations intrusted to my direction in strict accordance with the rules of civilized warfare, and I should deeply regret the adoption of any course by you that may force me to deviate from them in future.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. J. HARDEE, Lieutenant-General.

But it was Hardee rather than Sherman who was bluffing. The center of Savannah was in fact in range of the heavy guns now available to the Federals. More, though he did have a route from Savannah still open, it did not have the capacity to feed his men and the inhabitants of the city.

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Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/20/2014 4:10:56 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Resigning himself to a siege of Savannah, Sherman left his headquarters and took a ship along the coast to see what could be done about shutting off the last route into the city. However, the Confederates had learned the painful lesson of Vicksburg: when a city is surrounded, save the garrison and abandon the city rather than wait and lose both. On this date, Southern commander William Hardee began to evacuate his force across a quickly constructed pontoon bridge. The Southerners did not have time to destroy everything of value to the Yankees, but the military installations in Savannah were blown up, including at least two iron-clad warships under construction. Interestingly, they did not set fire to the large quantities of cotton in the city.

Sherman had the bad luck to be caught out of position:

During the night of the 20th we started back, the wind blowing strong, Admiral Dahlgren ordered the pilot of the Harvest Moon to run into Tybee, and to work his way through to Wassaw Sound and the Ogeechee River by the Romney Marshes. We were caught by a low tide and stuck in the mud.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

And while the Union commander was delayed, the Rebels completed their escape during the night. There was a cost, however: they had to abandon all their heavy artillery, which could not be risked on the pontoon bridge. It was a loss that Southern industry was no longer able to make good.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/21/2014 4:57:23 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The city fathers of Savannah had no intention of suffering the fate of Atlanta. As the Northerners entered the now-undefended city, they were met by a delegation headed by Mayor Richard D. Arnold offering their surrender in return for protection of the civilians and their private property. This time the offer would be more or less accepted (though the bales of cotton in the city's warehouses would be confiscated). The March to the Sea was now fully complete.

Sherman's force had left a trail of destruction behind them, but it had accomplished a major military objective. The Southern economy could do no more than partially repair the railroads and bridges. The Davis administration could now draw resources and manpower only from North and South Carolina, and most of Virginia (but no longer from the Shenandoah Valley).

Additionally, the taking of Savannah left the Confederacy only one major port east of the Mississippi: Wilmington, North Carolina. Blockade runners were already strained trying to bring in guns, ammunition, medicines, and other necessary items. In fact, the food situation around Richmond had become so bad that the ships were smuggling in meat rather than things like copper for percussion caps. (Meaning that eventually the Southerners would no longer be able to fire their muskets.) While not knowing these details, the Union was aware that the loss of both Savannah and Wilmington would be a shattering blow to the South. A major operation was already underway to deal with Wilmington.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/22/2014 4:26:13 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Savannah received relatively light treatment from the occupying Union soldiers. The bad news for the Southerners is that the Yankees were there to stay. W. T. Sherman lost little time in transitioning from a field headquarters to one suited to the administration of a city:

On the morning of December 22d I followed with my own headquarters, and rode down Bull Street to the custom-house, from the roof of which we had an extensive view over the city, the river, and the vast extent of marsh and rice-fields on the South Carolina side. The navy-yard, and the wreck of the iron-clad ram Savannah, were still smouldering, but all else looked quiet enough. Turning back, we rode to the Pulaski Hotel, which I had known in years long gone, and found it kept by a Vermont man with a lame leg, who used to be a clerk in the St. Louis Hotel, New Orleans, and I inquired about the capacity of his hotel for headquarters. He was very anxious to have us for boarders, but I soon explained to him that we had a full mess equipment along, and that we were not in the habit of paying board; that one wing of the building would suffice for our use, while I would allow him to keep an hotel for the accommodation of officers and gentlemen in the remainder. I then dispatched an officer to look around for a livery-stable that could accommodate our horses, and, while waiting there, an English gentleman, Mr. Charles Green, came and said that he had a fine house completely furnished, for which he had no use, and offered it as headquarters. He explained, moreover, that General Howard had informed him, the day before, that I would want his house for headquarters. At first I felt strongly disinclined to make use of any private dwelling, lest complaints should arise of damage and lose of furniture, and so expressed myself to Mr. Green; but, after riding about the city, and finding his house so spacious, so convenient, with large yard and stabling, I accepted his offer, and occupied that house during our stay in Savannah. He only reserved for himself the use of a couple of rooms above the dining-room, and we had all else, and a most excellent house it was in all respects.

... the blockade-runners that infested the coast, which were notoriously owned and managed by Englishmen, who used the island of New Providence (Nassau) as a sort of entrepot. One of these small blockade-runners came into Savannah after we were in full possession, and the master did not discover his mistake till he came ashore to visit the custom-house. Of course his vessel fell a prize to the navy. A heavy force was at once set to work to remove the torpedoes and obstructions in the main channel of the river, and, from that time forth, Savannah became the great depot of supply for the troops operating in that quarter.

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

Strictly speaking, Savannah was in the Department of the South, comprising the islands and coastal installations under Union control on the coasts of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. This was commanded by General John G. Foster. But with Sherman on the scene, there seems to have been no question about who was in charge, both militarily and administratively:

Within an hour of taking up my quarters in Mr. Green's house, Mr. A. G. Browne, of Salem, Massachusetts, United States Treasury agent for the Department of the South, made his appearance to claim possession, in the name of the Treasury Department, of all captured cotton, rice, buildings, etc. Having use for these articles ourselves, and having fairly earned them, I did not feel inclined to surrender possession, and explained to him that the quartermaster and commissary could manage them more to my liking than he; but I agreed, after the proper inventories had been prepared, if there remained any thing for which we had no special use, I would turn it over to him. It was then known that in the warehouses were stored at least twenty-five thousand bales of cotton, and in the forts one hundred and fifty large, heavy sea-coast guns: although afterward, on a more careful count, there proved to be more than two hundred and fifty sea-coast or siege guns, and thirty-one thousand bales of cotton. At that interview Mr. Browne, who was a shrewd, clever Yankee, told me that a vessel was on the point of starting for Old Point Comfort, and, if she had good weather off Cape Hatteras, would reach Fortress Monroe by Christmas-day, and he suggested that I might make it the occasion of sending a welcome Christmas gift to the President, Mr. Lincoln, who peculiarly enjoyed such pleasantry. I accordingly sat down and wrote on a slip of paper, to be left at the telegraph-office at Fortress Monroe for transmission, the following:

SAVANNAH GEORGIA, December 22, 1864.
To His Excellency President Lincoln, Washington, D. C.:

I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty five thousand bales of cotton.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

This message actually reached him on Christmas-eve, was extensively published in the newspapers, and made many a household unusually happy on that festive day...

--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/23/2014 4:24:49 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

Savannah was now permanently in Union hands, but the obstacle to seizing the last remaining open Confederate port on the Atlantic coast was a formidable one. Wilmington, North Carolina, was on the Cape Fear River, whose mouth was guarded by a remarkably strong fort named Fort Fisher. This was actually a complex of earthworks mounting numerous cannon, powerful enough to make a close blockade too risky for the Union Navy. Its construction also made it far more resistant to bombardment, for the ramparts absorbed much of the energy of a shell instead of shattering as brick and masonry did. As at Charleston and Mobile, Federal troops would have to be landed to capture the fortifications. The good news was that the Navy had been expanded to a level such that a great fleet could be assembled to go against Fort Fisher even while the blockade of the rest of the Southern coasts was being maintained. Since there was clearly going to be no further major action around Richmond and Petersburg until spring, a goodly number of troops could also be spared for the project.

However, this caused a second problem. Many of the troops had come from the Army of the James, commanded by the controversial and less-than-competent Benjamin Butler. And since Butler had to be involved, he demanded to be in command of the land part of the operation. He even came up with an idea that might eliminate the need for a costly bombardment and amphibious landing after all: take an old cargo ship, pack it full of gunpowder, and set it off close enough to Fort Fisher so that the tremendous blast would disable all of its guns. A number of people, including U. S. Grant, were highly skeptical of the project, so the invasion effort proceeded independently. The good news for W. T. Sherman was that the transport demands for the operation meant that his army would not be embarked for Virginia, but would have to continue its march -- just what Sherman wanted.

But both the invasion and the exploding ship were blocked by a powerful storm along the coast, raging for four days. On this date, the weather finally cleared. The USS Louisiana, packed with 200 tons (180 t) of gunpowder, was sailed as closed to Fort Fisher as her captain and crew dared. They set the timers for the explosion to take place around 1:00 A.M., but just to make sure, they also started a fire on board. Then officers and men hastily scrambled over the side into the boats, rowed to the waiting escort ship, which then steamed to a safe distance.

[image]local://upfiles/4250/FBAD391C283447EDA5795756E13EE194.jpg[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/24/2014 2:57:07 AM)

150 Years Ago Today:

The timer and fuses to set off the gunpowder on board USS Louisiana apparently did not work: the hour of 1:00 A.M. passed with no result. But the fire set as a back-up eventually reached the powder, and the ship was blasted to smithereens a little after 2:00 A.M.

I watched the burning vessel for half an hour . . . . Returning to my quarters, I laid down on my lounge to get a rest before the anticipated engagement next day [when] I felt a gentle rocking of the small brick house . . . which I would have attributed to imagination or vertigo, but it was instantly followed by an explosion, sounding very little louder than the report of a ten-inch Columbiad* . . .

— Col. William Lamb, commander of Fort Fisher

Besides the ship, nothing else took damage. Quite possibly the delay had allowed the ship to drift away from where the Northern sailors had evacuated her.

The Union was back to the original plan: a massive naval bombardment, followed by an amphibious landing. (This was the operation discussed in a scene in the Steven Spielberg movie "Lincoln".) The cannonade opened in the afternoon from the mightiest Federal fleet that had ever been assembled to that time. The USS Colorado alone, with 52 guns, had more than all of Fort Fisher (which mounted 47 heavy guns and mortars). All told, the Northerners had over 600 cannon, and at the fiercest phase of the bombarment were throwing over 100 shells a minute. It was spectacular, but not effective, for the earth walls of the fort absorbed the impacts without breaking apart. The Union troops would face a mostly intact fort the next day.


*A term used for a large cannon.


[image]local://upfiles/4250/6A8F350005DA43588E9F0ECC17814BCF.gif[/image]

[image]local://upfiles/4250/F115C87B8D3A49D093E98D6E3AF91510.gif[/image]



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/25/2014 4:36:27 PM)

Christmas, 1864:

"Oh, why did we go to Camden? The very dismalest Christmas overtook us there." Diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut would complain. "...Now, we feel that if we are to lose our negroes, we would as soon see Sherman free them as the Confederate Government; freeing negroes is the last Confederate Government craze. We are a little too slow about it; that is all."

The Rebel shortage of manpower had indeed reached the point where enlisting slaves as soldiers was now being seriously discussed. But the honor of Robert E. Lee and a number of other Southerners would not permit keeping them as slaves if they were to risk life and limb for the country. They would need to be freed if they joined the ranks. This proposal caused outrage among the more conservative Confederates. When the Union had started using black soldiers, the South had universally condemmed the move as unworthy of a civilized nation, and declared that blacks could not fight bravely or with discipline. But if they could? Howell Cobb, who had presided during the Montgomery Convention that had founded the Confederacy, wrote, "The day you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the revolution. If slaves will make good soldiers then our whole theory of slavery is wrong."

Mrs. Chesnut would probably not have had a better Christmas had she stayed in Richmond. Food was running short in the Confederate capital, and inflation was reaching jaw-dropping heights. The price of gold in the North had been considered frightening when it touched 285 during the summer, but in the South it was now 5,000. A barrel of flour now cost 700 Confederate dollars. Meat had disappeared from Richmond's shops; dinner for the troops was boiled cabbage and cornbread. And above all there was the ever-present threat of U. S. Grant and his massive force, only held back by the most extensive lines of fortifications of the war.

There was one bit of cheering news for the Confederacy on this date: the failure of the amphibious attack on Fort Fisher, North Carolina. At first, matters went well for the Northerners; they came ashore to the north of the fort, cutting off reinforcements from Wilmington. An outlying battery of Rebel artillery was captured, along with two "Junior Reserve" battalions. After consolidating their beachead, the Yankees sent a brigade forward to determine the situation of Fort Fisher. The fort was found to be lightly manned (much of the garrison had been pulled away for reinforcements elsewhere), but also remarkably little damaged from the thousands of shells fired by the Union fleet. Benjamin Butler, in charge of all Northern ground troops, focused on the second piece of news rather than the first. He not only called off the attack, but ordered all of his men to taken back off the beach.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/26/2014 6:13:21 PM)

150 Years Ago Today:

At Fort Fisher, the entire Union landing force was evacuated uder the cover of another bombardment from the fleet. Surprisingly, although considerably fewer shells were fired, this cannonade seems to have been more accurate than the 10,000 shells expended the day before. The guns of the fort were effectively suppressed, and the evacuation proceeded without serious incident. The entire Northern fleet, warships and transports, then set course back to the naval base at Hampton Roads, Virginia, leaving Fort Fisher still in Rebel hands and the port of Wilmington open for blockade runners.

For the Union, there was one silver lining to the debacle. General-in-Chief Grant had specifically ordered that if Fort Fisher proved too strong to carry, troops should still be kept in place and a beachhead established for further operations in the area. By ordering all his men to be evacuated, Benjamin Butler had disobeyed orders (and he had also failed to communicate them to either Admiral Porter or the leader on the beach). Now, Grant and Lincoln had the concrete reason they needed to remove the incompetent but politically connected Butler from further field command.



Capt. Harlock -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/31/2014 1:05:25 PM)

End of 1864:

The year of 1864 had come to its close, and it had been the deadliest year of the war. There had been no single battle the size of Gettysburg or Chickamauga, but Grant's Overland Campaign, with its near-constant action, dwarfed any other campaign of the conflict. And the death tolls at Andersonville and other prisoner of war camps had rivalled those on the battlefields. For the North, the losses had come close to breaking the public morale (and the Treasury as well). Now, however, the end of the war was clearly in sight: the South had only one effective army left, and it was stuck in the miles of trenches at Petersburg.

For many Southerners, it was not a matter of seeing the end, but that they could no longer see any hope. Though the Confederacy had lost proportionately even more than the Union, it was virtually unknown to talk aloud or even write privately of surrender. But "where is it all to end?" was a question that could be asked, and was. In some areas, such as Georgia or Texas, there was no longer an attempt to aid the Davis government, but only to hold on to what was left after three and a half years of war.

But two men evidently still believed that the South could preserve its independence: Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. Davis appears to have relied on the spirit and resolve of the Southern people not to be ruled by Yankees. Lee, on the other hand, saw the problems of supply and manpower clearly, but he believed those problems could be solved. Above all, there was still food in parts of the Confederacy; the issue was how to get it to his army.

Unfortunately for Lee, Grant and Sherman were also aware of the situation, and they determined to increase the difficulty to where it became impossible.



t001001001 -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/31/2014 3:23:17 PM)

I hope the war goes on a few more years b/c this thread is so interesting, and it's going to end [:(]

Next the captain will document the hundred years war [:)]



Gilmer -> RE: Civil War 150th (12/31/2014 3:28:36 PM)

This was an excellent thread, an AAR of the actual war.



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