the 4th of September, issued an order to the effect that the city of
Atlanta being exclusively required for warlike purposes, all citizens
must remove from it; and to expedite such removal, he entered into a
truce with General Hood, and made arrangements with him for forwarding
the citizens and their effects beyond the Federal lines. In connection
with this event the following correspondence took place between the
authorities of Atlanta and General Sherman.
“ATLANTA, GA., Sept. 11, 1864.
“Major-General WILLIAM T. SHERMAN:
“SIR: The undersigned, Mayor and two members of Council for the city
of Atlanta, for the time being the only legal organ of the people of
the said city to express their wants and wishes, ask leave most
earnestly but respectfully to petition you to reconsider the order
requiring them to leave Atlanta. At first view it struck us that the
measure would involve extraordinary hardship and loss, but since we
have seen the practical execution of it, so far as it has progressed,
and the individual condition of many of the people, and heard the
statements as to the inconvenience, loss and suffering attending it,
we are satisfied that the amount of it will involve in the aggregate
consequences appalling and heart-rending.
“Many poor women are in an advanced state of pregnancy; others have
young children, whose husbands, for the greater part, are either in
the army, prisoners, or dead. Some say: ‘I have such a one sick at my
house; who will wait on them when I am gone?’ Others say: ‘What are we
to do? we have no houses to go to, and no means to buy, build, or rent
any; no parents, relatives, or friends to go to.’ Another says: ‘I
will try and take this or that article of property; but such and such
things I must leave behind, though I need them much.’ We reply to
them: ‘General Sherman will carry your property to Rough and Ready,
and then General Hood will take it thence on:’ and they will reply to
that: ‘But I want to leave the railroad at such a place, and cannot
get conveyance from thence on.’
“We only refer to a few facts to illustrate, in part, how this measure
will operate in practice. As you advanced, the people north of us fell
back, and before your arrival here a large portion of the people here
had retired south; so that the country south of this is already
crowded, and without sufficient houses to accommodate the people, and
we are informed that many are now staying in churches and other
outbuildings. This being so, how is it possible for the people still
here (mostly women and children) to find shelter, and how can they
live through the winter in the woods? no shelter or subsistence; in
the midst of strangers who know them not, and without the power to
assist them much if they were willing to do so.
“This is but a feeble picture of the consequences of this measure. You
know the woe, the horror, and the suffering cannot be described by
words. Imagination can only conceive of it, and we ask you to take
these things into consideration. We know your mind and time are
continually occupied with the duties of your command, which almost
deters us from asking your attention to the matter, but we thought it
might be that you had not considered the subject in all of its awful
consequences, and that, on reflection, you, we hope, would not make
this people an exception to mankind, for we know of no such instance
ever having occurred—surely not in the United States. And what has
this helpless people done, that they should be driven from their
homes, to wander as strangers, outcasts, and exiles, and to subsist on
charity?
“We do not know as yet the number of people still here. Of those who
are here, a respectable number, if allowed to remain at home, could
subsist for several months without assistance; and a respectable
number for a much longer time, and who might not need assistance at
any time.
“In conclusion, we most earnestly and solemnly petition you to
reconsider this order, or modify it, and suffer this unfortunate
people to remain at home and enjoy what little means they have.
“Respectfully submitted, JAMES M. CALHOUN, Mayor.
“E. E. RAWSON, }
S. C. WELLS, } Councilmen.”
GENERAL SHERMAN’S REPLY.
“HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, }
ATLANTA, GA., September 12, 1864. }
“JAMES M. CALHOUN, Mayor, E. E. RAWSON, and S. C. WELLS, representing
City Council of Atlanta:
“GENTLEMEN: I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of a
petition, to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants from
Atlanta. I have read it carefully, and give full credit to your
statements of the distress that will be occasioned by it, and yet
shall not revoke my order, simply because my orders are not designed
to meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for the future
struggles in which millions, yea, hundreds of millions of good people
outside of Atlanta have a deep interest. We must have Peace, not only
at Atlanta, but in all America. To secure this we must stop the war
that now desolates our once happy and favored country. To stop war we
must defeat the rebel armies that are arrayed against the laws and
Constitution, which all must respect and obey. To defeat these armies
we must prepare the way to reach them in their recesses provided with
the arms and instruments which enable us to accomplish our purpose.
“Now, I know the vindictive nature of our enemy, and that we may have
many years of military operations from this quarter, and therefore
deem it wise and prudent to prepare in time. The use of Atlanta for
warlike purposes is inconsistent with its character as a home for
families. There will be no manufactures, commerce, or agriculture here
for the maintenance of families, and sooner or later want will compel
the inhabitants to go. Why not go now, when all the arrangements are
completed for the transfer, instead of waiting till the plunging shot
of contending armies will renew the scene of the past month? Of
course, I do not apprehend any such thing at this moment, but you do
not suppose that this army will be here till the war is over. I cannot
discuss this subject with you fairly, because I cannot impart to you
what I propose to do, but I assert that my military plans make it
necessary for the inhabitants to go away, and I can only renew my
offer of services to make their exodus in any direction as easy and
comfortable as possible. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than
I will.
“War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war
on our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can
pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will
make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace. But you
cannot have peace and a division of our country. If the United States
submits to a division now, it will not stop, but go on till we reap
the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war. The United States does and
must assert its authority wherever it has the power; if it relaxes one
bit to pressure it is gone, and I know that such is not the national
feeling. This feeling assumes various shapes, but always comes back to
that of Union. Once admit the Union, once more acknowledge the
authority of the National Government, and instead of devoting your
houses, and streets, and roads, to the dread uses of war, I, and this
army become at once your protectors and supporters, shielding you from
danger, let it come from what quarter it may. I know that a few
individuals cannot resist a torrent of error and passion such as has
swept the South into rebellion; but you can point out, so that we may
know those who desire a Government and those who insist on war and its
desolation.
“You might as well appeal against the thunderstorm as against these
terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only way the
people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at
home is to stop this war, which can alone be done by admitting that it
began in error, and is perpetuated in pride. We don’t want your
negroes, or your horses, or your land, or anything you have, but we do
want and will have a just obedience to the laws of the United States.
That we will have, and if it involves the destruction of your
improvements, we cannot help it. You have heretofore read public
sentiment in your newspapers, that live by falsehood and excitement,
and the quicker you seek for truth in other quarters, the better for
you.
“I repeat, then, that, by the original compact of government, the
United States had certain rights in Georgia which have never been
relinquished and never will be; that the South began war by seizing
forts, arsenals, mints, custom-houses, &c., &c., long before Mr.
Lincoln was installed, and before the South had one jot or tittle of
provocation. I myself have seen in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and
Mississippi hundreds and thousands of women and children fleeing from
your armies and desperadoes, hungry and with bleeding feet. In
Memphis, Vicksburg, and Mississippi, we fed thousands upon thousands
of the families of rebel soldiers left on our hands, and whom we could
not see starve. Now that war comes home to you, you feel very
different; you deprecate its horrors, but did not feel them when you
sent car-loads of soldiers and ammunition, and molded shell and shot,
to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, and desolate the homes of
hundreds and thousands of good people, who only asked to live in peace
at their old homes, and under the Government of their inheritance.
“But these comparisons are idle. I want peace, and believe it can only
be reached through Union and war; and I will ever conduct war purely
with a view to perfect and early success.
“But, my dear sirs, when that peace does come, you may call on me for
anything. Then I will share with you the last cracker, and watch with
you to shield your homes and families against danger from every
quarter. Now you must go, and take with you the old and feeble, feed
and nurse them, and build for them in more quiet places proper
habitations to shield them against the weather until the mad passions
of men cool down, and allow the Union and peace once more to settle on
your old homes at Atlanta.
Yours in haste,
“W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.”
HOOD’S CAMPAIGN IN ALABAMA AND TENNESSEE.
The capture of Atlanta occasioned, as well it might, a panic among the
rebel chieftains at Richmond. They saw, and saw clearly, that unless
Sherman could be defeated, their confederacy would be shorn of half its
territory and more than half its strength. In this emergency, Mr.
Jefferson Davis left the rebel capital, on a tour of inspection in
Georgia. In the course of this tour Mr. Davis exerted his well-known
talents as an orator, to fire once more the Southern heart and to
strengthen the Southern cause. His most important speech was delivered
at Macon, on the twenty-third of September. But the only effect of his
eloquence was to disclose the increasing weakness of the Confederacy.
Yet it must be admitted that the expedient, undoubtedly suggested by Mr.
Davis’s military experience and ability, which the rebels now adopted to
recover their lost ground, was extremely ingenious. They determined that
Hood’s army should move rapidly to the rear of Atlanta, cut off all
communications between that city and Chattanooga, subsequently isolate
the latter city from Nashville, and thus leave Sherman’s army, destitute
of supplies, in an enemy’s country, from which it would, necessarily, be
compelled to retire with all expedient haste.
The prosecution of this scheme was not long delayed. On the second of
October General Hood was across the Chattahoochee, leading his forces
toward Dallas. This was to be the point of rebel concentration. On the
fourth the rebels captured Ackworth and Big Shanty, and destroyed the
railroad between the two places. Then they advanced on Allatoona Pass,
which is five miles north of Big Shanty, and about thirty miles from
Atlanta. That position was one of great strength, and its possession was
most important to Sherman. Moreover, it was a storehouse of Federal
supplies. The rebels were aware of its value, and confident of its
capture. But in this instance they were not dealing with a blind foe.
General Sherman had already divined the entire plan of the rebel
campaign, and had taken measures, not only to frustrate the designs of
the foe, but to turn their temerity to his own advantage. The work of
interrupting National communication between Chattanooga and Nashville
had been committed to the rebel General Forrest. It was arranged that
General Thomas, operating before Nashville, should oppose this movement.
General Corse, who was at Rome, was directed to reinforce the garrison
of Allatoona Pass, and to hold it until the arrival of the main body of
the Union army. In obedience to this command General Corse immediately
threw in a force of nine hundred men, increasing the garrison to
seventeen hundred.
[Illustration: GENERAL HOSPITAL AT SAVANNAH, GA.]
BATTLE OF ALLATOONA, GA.
On the morning of October 5th, the rebels, seven thousand strong, and
led by General French, attacked Allatoona. A stubborn fight ensued,
lasting about six hours. General Sherman, pushing on from Atlanta,
reached Kenesaw Mountain while the battle was in progress. The National
troops holding Allatoona, though largely outnumbered, fought with the
greatest desperation, and successfully maintained their position, until,
on the approach of reinforcements, the rebels fell back, entirely
discomfited. Their loss in this spirited engagement was upwards of one
thousand men, killed, wounded and prisoners. The Union loss was about
five hundred.
THE GREAT REBEL BLUNDER.
General Sherman occupied the Pass, after the battle, and from that point
kept watch upon Hood, secretly hoping—while pretending anxious
pursuit—that the rebel general would be lured away into Northern Alabama
and Tennessee. The sequel satisfied the hopes of the Union commander.
Passing by Rome and Kingston, the rebels moved north, and next
threatened Resaca, which was held by Colonel Weaver, with a garrison of
six hundred men. Colonel Weaver’s reply, on being summoned to surrender,
is memorable: “In my opinion,” he said, “I can hold the fort. If you
want it, come and take it.” But Hood was burning with bolder designs,
and the determined little garrison of Resaca was passed by unmolested.
On the fourteenth of October, General Sherman’s forces arrived there,
slowly pursuing Hood. On the same day Hood captured Dalton, continuing
there the work of destruction which had marked his entire advance.
Thence, closely pushed by Sherman, he passed, by way of Lafayette, into
Alabama, halting at last at Gadsdens, on the Coosa river, seventy-five
miles from the latter city. But the halt lasted only for a few days.
Early in November, having received reinforcements from Beauregard—then
at Charleston—Hood resumed his march, and entered Tennessee. The
pursuing army of Sherman was now at Gaylesville; and here the pursuit
ceased. The enemy had fallen into the snare, and it only now remained
for the invincible General Thomas to deal him his deathblow. That blow
was struck, within a very brief period of time, at Nashville. It will be
proper, however, before describing those memorable battles, to recount
the more immediate movements of General Sherman, and the destruction of
Atlanta.
PREPARATIONS FOR SHERMAN’S GRAND MARCH.
General Thomas, at the head of a considerable body of Union troops, was
at this time in readiness to confront the advancing rebels south of
Nashville. On hearing that Hood had started to invade Tennessee, General
Sherman immediately withdrew his army to Rome, and sent forward two
corps, the Fourth and the Twenty-third, one commanded by General
Stanley, the other by General Schofield, to reinforce Thomas. These
troops went by way of Chattanooga, and safely reached their destination.
General Sherman’s remaining force consisted of five corps—the
Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Twentieth—the latter
constituting the garrison of Atlanta. With this force, subsequently
condensed into four corps, and amply sufficient for the purpose, he was
prepared for his great march across the rebel territory, from Atlanta to
the sea. Full details of the plan had been given to General Thomas, who,
on his part, felt confident of being able to dispose of Hood.
To cut off all communication between Atlanta and Chattanooga, to destroy
every possible facility of transportation in that vicinity, which an
enemy might chance to find serviceable, and lastly, to render Atlanta
itself entirely useless, were now imperative incidents of Sherman’s
campaign. This work was accomplished within the first twelve days of the
month of November. In the course of that time, all the wounded and the
sick, together with all prisoners, stores and machinery, and surplus
artillery that had accumulated at Rome, Atlanta, and other neighboring
places were conveyed by railroad to Chattanooga. The road was then
destroyed. The hand of destruction was also laid, though lightly, upon
Rome, everything being demolished in that city which might chance to
become useful to the rebels in future. A contemporary correspondent
gives the following account of
THE BURNING OF ROME, GA.
NOVEMBER 11, 1864.
“Rome was evacuated at ten o’clock this forenoon by our (U. S.) forces;
but not until the Etowah House, a respectable three-story brick hotel
was consumed by fire. Stragglers managed to ignite a lot of straw in the
building, and, there being no engines in the town, it was impossible to
subdue the flames. A block of fine brick stores was also wantonly
destroyed by skulking stragglers. All the barracks were laid in ashes,
and a black veil of dark smoke hung over the war-desolated city all day,
arising from the smouldering ruins. Owing to the great lack of railroad
transportation, General Corse was obliged to destroy nearly a million of
dollars’ worth of property, among which was a few thousand dollars’
worth of condemned and unserviceable government stores. Nine rebel guns,
captured at Rome by our troops, were burst, it being deemed unsafe to
use them. One thousand bales of fine cotton, two flour mills, two
rolling mills, two tanneries, one salt mill, an extensive foundry,
several machine shops, together with the railroad depots and
storehouses, four pontoon bridges, built by General Corse’s pioneer
corps, for use on the Coosa and Etowah rivers, and a substantial trestle
bridge nearly completed for use, were completely destroyed. This
trestle, constructed by the engineer corps, I am told, would have cost
fifty thousand dollars north. Recollecting the outrages perpetrated upon
Colonel Streight by the ‘Romans,’ our troops, as soon as they learned
that the town was to be abandoned, and a portion of it burned, resolved
to lay Rome in ashes in revenge. The roaring of the flames, as they
leaped from window to window, their savage tongues of fire darting high
up into the heavens, and then licking the sides of the buildings,
presented an awful but grand spectacle, while then mounted patrol and
the infantry men glided along through the brilliant light, like the
ghostly spectres of horrid war.”
THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTA.
NOVEMBER, 1864.
Atlanta, popularly called the Gate City, is situated seven miles
southeast of the Chattahoochie river, and on the line of railroads
leading from Savannah to Chattanooga and Nashville, and to Macon,
Augusta, Milledgeville, Savannah, and Charleston, in the southeast
direction. It is one hundred and one miles from Macon, one hundred and
seventy-one miles from Augusta, three hundred and seven miles from
Charleston, and two hundred and ninety-two miles from Savannah. Four of
the principal railroads of the State terminate at this point. The
Georgia railroad extends from Atlanta to Augusta; the Western railroad
to Macon; the Atlantic and Western railroad to Chattanooga; and the
Lagrange railroad to West Point, seventy-two miles distant. Atlanta was
laid out in 1845, and has grown with great rapidity, its population
being, in 1850, two thousand five hundred and seventy; in 1853, four
thousand two hundred and eighty; and in 1860, nine thousand eight
hundred and seventy.
Its destruction by General Sherman has sometimes been condemned as an
act of vandalism, whereas it was—as subsequent events sufficiently
demonstrated—a timely and unavoidable military act, dictated by the most
imperative prudential reasons.
The following narrative of the burning of Atlanta is furnished by an
eye-witness:
“Atlanta was of strategic value only so long as it remained a great
railroad centre; it had now no longer any value to our troops, as every
railroad leading to it was destroyed—the railways gutted, torn up, and
the very iron of which they were composed, put beyond use. For miles the
country round about it had been made a complete waste, so that there was
no possibility of the rebels again occupying it. But had we remained
there all winter, Hood and the rebel cavalry would also have remained
hanging about the place, and whenever opportunity offered, harassing our
men, though they would have, at any time, fled before our army. The
ever-active mind of General Sherman scorned such petty warfare; he
therefore determined to render the city itself as unfit for rebel
habitation as he had already rendered the country around it unfit for
the movements of an army.
“In the month of November, the once proud Atlanta—the beautiful Gate
City, was laid in ashes. A harrowing scene of confusion and fright was
presented when the city was first set in flames. Those of the citizens
who had not left with the first exodus, were now afraid of being
abandoned to the tender mercy of the rebels. The depot presented a scene
of confusion and suffering impossible to describe. Women and children
were huddled together, with the sole remaining wealth they possessed in
the world clutched closely to their bosoms. The cry of young infants
rose upon the air, and mingled dismally with the roar and crackle of the
flames not a hundred yards distant—flames which licked up it their
devouring fury the last remaining property of hundreds, and gave in
return only a thick, but sickening smoke, and a blood-red glare
streaming up against the clear sky. From house to house the destroying
element sped, thrusting out forked tongues of fire in a thousand
different directions—from street to street the dread demon of flame
trailed his hideous and scorching length along, leaving in his wake
desolate, grimy, smoking ruin. Men who were millionaires but a few
months before, fled from their homes and the scene of their wealth,
roofless in the wide world, and without a dollar in their pockets. On,
on, on, always onward, till nothing more remained, spread the
fire-fiend, with still increasing appetite for plunder, till every
factory, railroad depot, hotel, mill, government buildings of all
descriptions—everything, in short, save a few churches and some private
dwellings, were reduced to blackened, ghastly, horrible ruin.
“The Tyre of southern trade was laid level with the dust; her grace,
splendor, wealth and beauty, were things of the past, and the mere
charred skeleton of Atlanta alone remained, to prove that ever she had
been—to prove, also, one more dreadful monument of the waste and
desolation that must ever follow in the footsteps of rebellion.”
THE BATTLE OF FRANKLIN, TENN.
NOVEMBER 30, 1864.