THE CAROLINA CAMPAIGN.
IN THE CRADLE OF SECESSION--THE OCCUPATION AND DESTRUCTION OF
COLUMBIA--REPRISALS AGAINST WADE HAMPTON: MEN--ARRIVAL AT
GOLDSBORO--SUMMING UP THE RESULTS OF THE NORTHWARD MARCH--WORK
ACCOMPLISHED BY THE ENGINEERS.
Sherman always contended that the war should have closed on July 4,
1863. The fall of Vicksburg and the battle of Gettysburg sealed the
doom of the rebellion, and the Southern leaders should have recognized
that fact and accepted the situation. But even now, with Atlanta and
Savannah captured, Hood's army destroyed, and a pathway driven by the
Union army through the heart of the South, they were still stubborn
and resolved, as they expressed it, to hold out till the last man
died in the last ditch. It was inevitable that this attitude should
be exasperating to the National leaders. Sherman himself doubtless
felt a certain grim determination, since the South wanted more war,
to give it war to its heart's content, and to carry the war through
South Carolina, the cradle of the rebellion. His army at Savannah was
in good condition. In twenty-seven days it had marched more than three
hundred miles, with losses of five officers and fifty-eight men killed,
thirteen officers and two hundred and thirty-two men wounded, and one
officer and two hundred and fifty-eight men missing. Seven thousand
slaves had joined the march to the coast.
Twenty thousand bales of cotton had been burned and three hundred
and twenty miles of railroad destroyed, including all the stations,
engine-houses, turn-tables, etc. Ten million pounds of corn had been
captured and an equal amount of fodder; more than 1,200,000 rations
of meat, 919,000 of bread, 483,000 of coffee, 581,000 of sugar, and
137,000 of salt.
Nor had the demoralization of the enemy been less than the material
loss inflicted upon him. Not only had the army swept the pathway
thirty miles wide through the heart of Georgia, but it had sent out
detachments in this direction and that, menacing many points which it
did not actually strike. For four weeks, therefore, all of Georgia,
Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina suffered painful suspense, not
knowing whither the army would march next. For this reason, also, it
had been impracticable for the rebels to mass any considerable force
against Sherman, even had such a force been at their command, for they
did not know where to meet him.
It is not to be wondered at that universal rejoicing was caused at the
North by the results of this campaign, nor that those who had once
distrusted Sherman as a man of erratic judgment, now lavished upon
him exuberant confidence and praise. Not even Grant himself was more
applauded. It was from the depths of an appreciative heart that the
President wrote to Sherman as follows:
"EXECUTIVE MANSION,
"WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 26, 1864.
"_My Dear General Sherman_
"Many, many thanks for your Christmas gift--the capture of
Savannah.
"When you were about to leave Atlanta for the Atlantic coast,
I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling you were the better
judge, and remembering that 'nothing risked nothing gained,' I
did not interfere. Now, the undertaking being a success, the
honor is all yours, for I believe none of us went further than to
acquiesce. And taking the work of General Thomas into the count,
as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success.
"Not only does it afford the obvious and immediate military
advantages, but in showing to the world that your army could be
divided, putting the stronger part to an important new service,
and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing forces of the
whole--Hood's army--it brings those who sat in darkness to see a
great light.
"But what next? I suppose it will be safe if I leave General
Grant and yourself to decide.
"Please make my grateful acknowledgments to your whole army,
officers and men.
"Yours very truly,
"A. LINCOLN."
With characteristic generosity Sherman, in his official report on the
campaign, gave due credit to his subordinates for their work. He said:
"Generals Howard and Slocum are gentlemen of singular capacity and
intelligence, thorough soldiers and patriots, working day and night,
not for themselves, but for their country and their men. General
Kilpatrick, who commanded the cavalry of this army, has handled it with
spirit and dash to my entire satisfaction, and kept a superior force
of the enemy's cavalry from even approaching our infantry columns or
wagon trains. All the division and brigade commanders merit my personal
and official thanks, and I shall spare no efforts to secure them
commissions equal to the rank they have exercised so well.
"As to the rank and file, they seem so full of confidence in themselves
that I doubt if they want a compliment from me; but I must do them the
justice to say that, whether called on to fight, to march, to wade
streams, to make roads, clear out obstructions, build bridges, make
'corduroy,' or tear up railroads, they have done it with alacrity and
a degree of cheerfulness unsurpassed. A little loose in foraging, they
'did some things they ought not to have done,' yet, on the whole, they
have supplied the wants of the army with as little violence as could be
expected, and as little loss as I calculated. Some of these foraging
parties had encounters with the enemy which would, in ordinary times,
rank as respectable battles."
Concerning the general situation of affairs in the South, or in that
part of it, Sherman wrote:
"Delegations of the people of Georgia continue to come in, and I am
satisfied that, by judicious handling and by a little respect shown to
their prejudices, we can create a schism in Jeff. Davis's dominions.
All that I have conversed with realized the truth that slavery as
an institution is defunct, and the only questions that remain are
what disposition shall be made of the negroes themselves. I confess
myself unable to offer a complete solution for these questions, and
prefer to leave it to the slower operations of time. We have given the
initiative, and can afford to await the working of the experiment.
"As to trade matters, I also think it is to our interest to keep the
Southern people somewhat dependent on the articles of commerce to
which they have hitherto been accustomed. General Grover is now here,
and will, I think, be able to handle this matter judiciously, and may
gradually relax, and invite cotton to come in in large quantities. But
at first we should manifest no undue anxiety on that score, for the
rebels would at once make use of it as a power against us. We should
assume a tone of perfect contempt for cotton and everything else in
comparison with the great object of the war--the restoration of the
Union, with all its right and power. If the rebels burn cotton as a
war measure, they simply play into our hands by taking away the only
product of value they have to exchange in foreign ports for war-ships
and munition. By such a course, also, they alienate the feelings of
a large class of small farmers, who look to their little parcels of
cotton to exchange for food and clothing for their families."
Early in January the Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, visited Sherman
at Savannah and spent several days with him there. They discussed
together many important topics, such as the disposition of the cotton,
treatment of the negroes, etc. The future of the war was also carefully
considered, and Sherman had much correspondence with Grant and Halleck
on the same subject. Sherman's own idea was that the rebels should
be thoroughly whipped and their pride broken. He would march to the
innermost recesses of their country and strike terror to every disloyal
heart. Toward the negroes his attitude was kindly, and he favored
enlisting them in the army and forming black regiments and brigades.
And now the march Northward, to effect a junction with the army of the
Potomac and end of the war by capturing both Lee and Johnston, was
begun. It was Sherman himself who planned this Northward march through
the Carolinas, and it was not without opposition that he did so. Grant
wanted him to come on at once to Virginia by sea, and Sherman at first
desired it. But a few days later he wrote to Grant that he wanted to
march thither by land, by the way of Columbia, S. C., and Raleigh, N.
C. "You know," he said, "how much better troops arrive by a land march
than when carried by transports.... This march is necessary to the war.
It must be made sooner or later, and I am in the proper position for
it. I ask no re-enforcement, but simply with the utmost activity at
all other points, so that the enemy may not concentrate too powerfully
against me. I expect Davis will move heaven and earth to resist me, for
the success of my army is fatal to his dream of empire." Grant finally
consented to the march, to Sherman's delight, and by January 15 the
army was ready to move Northward.
First, Howard led the right wing, all but Corse's Division, by water
to Beaufort and thence to Pocataligo, half way to Charleston, and
after a sharp engagement, established a sub-depot there, with easy
water connection with Beaufort and Hilton Head. Slocum, with the left
wing, Corse's Division, and Kilpatrick, with the cavalry, went up
the Savannah and via Sistus Ferry to Robertsville, S. C., some miles
further inland. On January 18 Sherman turned the command at Savannah
over to General Foster, and then went up to join Howard.
Floods delayed Slocum and his army, but on February 1 Howard moved
forward. On February 3 he crossed the Salkehatchie, marching for three
miles in bitter cold weather through water from two to three feet deep,
while rain was falling in torrents. The Edisto was next crossed and the
whole army pushed on rapidly. Kilpatrick's cavalry, meanwhile, made
various raids and had some skirmishing with Wheeler. Sherman pursued
his old policy of directing no wilful damage to private property,
but the rumor got abroad that he was pillaging and burning houses
everywhere. So Wheeler presently wrote to him saying that unless he
stopped burning houses, he, Wheeler, would burn all the cotton in the
country. Sherman replied:
"I hope you will burn all the cotton, and save us the trouble. We don't
want it. It has been a curse to our country. All you don't burn I will.
As to private houses occupied by peaceful families my orders are not
to molest or disturb them, and I think my orders are obeyed. Vacant
houses, being of no use to anybody, I care little about, as the owners
have thought them of little use to themselves; I don't wish to have
them destroyed, but do not take much care to preserve them."
Sherman was as familiar with this country as he had been with Northern
Georgia, since he had often, years before, come up here on hunting
excursions while he was stationed near Charleston. The march was made
with great difficulty, however, as floods prevailed in the lowlands and
the weather was most inclement. By the middle of February they reached
Columbia, and Sherman issued the following orders for the occupation of
that city:
"General Howard will cross the Saluda and Broad Rivers as near their
mouths as possible, occupy Columbia, destroy the public buildings,
railroad property, manufacturing and machine shops, but will spare
libraries, asylums, and private dwellings. He will then move to
Winnsborough, destroying utterly that section of the railroad. He
will also cause all bridges, trestles, water-tanks, and depots on the
railroad back to the Wateree to be burned, switches broken, and such
other destruction as he can find time to accomplish consistent with
proper celerity."
A few cannon shots were fired into Columbia to drive away the lingering
rebel troops. Before abandoning the city, the rebels burned the
railroad station and fired some long piles of cotton bales. When
Sherman and Howard rode into the city they found the ruins of the
buildings still smouldering and the cotton still burning. Howard and
his troops took possession of the city, and worked vigorously to put
out the fires which had been started by the rebels, and spread rapidly
by a high wind. At night the wind became furious, and the air was soon
filled with sparks and bits of burning cotton. The result was that,
despite the utmost efforts of the Union troops, the heart of the city
was burned, including several churches and schools and the old State
House. Sherman was afterward accused by several writers of having
himself deliberately ordered the burning of the city. The falsity
of this charge has been abundantly demonstrated. Sherman himself,
doubtless with entire justice, threw the responsibility upon the
rebel general, Wade Hampton, and his cavalrymen, who were the last to
evacuate the city. Said Sherman in his official report:
"I disclaim on the part of my army any agency in this fire, but, on
the contrary, claim that we saved what of Columbia remains unconsumed.
And, without hesitation, I charge General Wade Hampton with having
burned his own city of Columbia, not with a malicious intent, or as
the manifestation of a silly 'Roman stoicism,' but from folly and want
of sense, in filling it with lint, cotton, and tinder. Our officers
and men on duty worked well to extinguish the flames; but others not
on duty, including the officers who had long been imprisoned there,
rescued by us, may have assisted in spreading the fire after it had
once begun, and may have indulged in unconcealed joy to see the ruin of
the Capital of South Carolina."
Columbia, the political capital of the foremost secession State, fell
on February 17, and the next day Charleston, the commercial and social
capital, was captured. Sherman then pressed on toward North Carolina.
Kilpatrick reported on February 22 that Wade Hampton's cavalry had
murdered some of his men, and left their bodies by the wayside with
labels on them threatening a like fate to all foragers. Sherman
promptly ordered him to retaliate upon the rebels, and to Hampton he
wrote as follows:
"GENERAL--It is officially reported to me that our foraging parties are
murdered after being captured, and labelled, 'Death to All Foragers.'
One instance is that of a lieutenant and seven men near Chester, and
another of twenty, near a ravine eight rods from the main road, and
three miles from Easterville. I have ordered a similar number of
prisoners in our hands to be disposed of in like manner. I hold about
one thousand prisoners, captured in various ways, and can stand it as
long as you, but I hardly think these murders are committed with your
knowledge, and would suggest that you give notice to your people at
large that every life taken by them simply results in the death of one
of your Confederates."
Chesterfield was captured on March 2 and Cheraw on March 3. On
the 8th Sherman crossed the line into North Carolina, and now the
weather became as fair as it had formerly been foul. The troops
entered Fayetteville in high spirits on March 11 and remained there
several days. The army now numbered 65,000 fighting men, with 25,000
non-combatants, chiefly negro women and children, 40,000 horses and
cattle, and 3,000 wagons. On March 15, a stormy day, Slocum was at
Averysboro, and encountered the enemy, infantry and artillery, in
force, soon driving all before him. Near Bentonville, on the 18th,
there was another battle, with the same result, both wings, Slocum and
Howard, being engaged. Johnston was now in command of the rebel armies
ahead of Sherman and had gathered together all available troops from
all directions for a last struggle. Sherman occupied Goldsboro on March
21, and effected a junction with Terry and Scofield, who had after
Hood's defeat been brought hither, and thus had not less than 100,000
men between Goldsboro and Bentonville. This concluded the hostile part
of the march through the Carolinas. In reviewing the campaign, Sherman
said:
"I cannot, even with any degree of precision, recapitulate the vast
amount of injury done the enemy, or the quantity of guns and materials
of war captured and destroyed. In general terms, we have traversed
the country from Savannah to Goldsboro, with an average breadth of
forty miles, consuming all the forage, cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry,
cured meats, corn-meal, etc. The public enemy, instead of drawing
supplies from that region to feed his armies, will be compelled to send
provisions from other quarters to feed the inhabitants. A map herewith,
prepared by my chief engineer, Colonel Poe, with the routes of the four
corps and cavalry, will show at a glance the country traversed. Of
course the abandonment to us by the enemy"
Colonel Poe, the chief engineer of the army, said in his report of the
march:
"It involved an immense amount of bridging of every kind known in
active campaigning, and some four hundred miles of corduroying. The
latter was a very simple affair, where there were plenty of fence
rails, but, in their absence, involved the severest labor. It was
found that a fence on each side of the road furnished enough rails for
corduroying it so as to make it passable. I estimate the amount of
corduroying at fully one hundred miles for each army corps. This is a
moderate estimate, and would make for the four corps some four hundred
miles of corduroying. The cavalry did very little of this kind of
work, as their trains moved with the infantry columns.
"The right wing built fifteen pontoon bridges, having an aggregate
length of 3,720 feet; the left wing built about 4,000 feet, being a
total of one and one-half miles. There were no measurements of the
amount of trestle bridge built, but it was not so great."
[Illustration: CAMP OF THE SECOND MASSACHUSETTS, CITY HALL SQUARE,
ATLANTA]