Departure from Baltimore—Arrival at Savannah—Desolation
of the City—Sherman begins his March through the
Carolinas—Conflagration—Gen. Grover in Command of the Post—Music
in the Park—Marching Orders.
The third brigade left Camp Carroll, Jan. 13th, and, marching through
the streets of Baltimore,—its citizens not scowling at the troops as
they did two years before,—took transports at the wharves, the Thirty
Eighth embarking on the Oriental, in company with the One Hundred and
Seventy Fifth and One Hundred and Seventy Sixth New York.
As usual, there were no cooking facilities; but the men had brought
excellent appetites from the Shenandoah Valley, and two men found no
difficulty in eating a raw ham in the eight days’ passage. Stores
were taken on board at Fortress Monroe, and, at three o’clock, P. M.,
of the 15th, the steamer took her departure for the South, arriving
at the mouth of the Savannah River on the 19th, where she remained
waiting for a pilot until the 23d.
No large ship had been up the main channel, through the
obstructions, since the occupation of Savannah by Gen. Sherman; and
the undertaking was a delicate one. The men of the three regiments
crowded the rigging and the deck, barely giving the pilot a chance
to see his course; but had it been generally known that there were
seventeen torpedoes still in the harbor, between the anchorage and
the city, curiosity might not have been so active.
The passage of the obstructions was successfully made, and the
city reached before dark. The warehouses, the wharves, and the few
citizens seen, all had a decayed, broken-down look; and the fog
hanging over the river added to the gloominess of the scene. On the
Mississippi and in the Shenandoah Valley, the men of the Thirty
Eighth had seen the destruction produced by actual conflict, where
the shot and shell had whirled through the air, and plunged into
storehouse and dwelling: here, they saw the effects of war on the
prosperity of a thriving commercial city, which had seen no battle
horrors, but which had been shut up within itself, to live on its own
resources.
The regiment remained on board until morning, and then went into
quarters in a warehouse on Bay Street, where it remained until the
26th, the weather still being cool enough to make ice at night. At
this time, Savannah presented a scene of desolation sad to behold,
even in an enemy’s country. Pools of green, stagnant water stood in
the principal streets; the beautiful squares had been stripped of
their railings and fences to build the shanties of Sherman’s troops,
who were encamped all through the city; the houses, as well as the
stores, were shut up, and apparently tenantless; the broad avenues
were deserted, except by passing soldiers, who vainly tried to fathom
the mystery of the closed blinds, wondering if this were not one of
the charmed cities pictured by Eastern story-tellers; and a green
mould, beginning at the basement, seemed to be creeping up the sides
of the houses.
Early Thursday morning, the 26th, the regiment left its quarters in
Bay Street, and marched to the outskirts of the town, halting on
the edge of a swamp, where the collection of dead mules and horses
only awaited the rays of the summer sun to breed pestilence and
death. At first, it was supposed that the halt in this, the most
dismal-looking place to be found in the vicinity of Savannah, was to
be only a temporary one; but, to the intense disgust of officers and
men, orders were received to lay out a camp. However, as Sherman’s
troops were breaking camp to begin their famous march through the
Carolinas, boards were plenty; and, in a few days, the regiment was
more comfortably housed than it had yet been; while the mules and
horses were buried, the company streets graded, and every precaution
taken to make the camp healthy.
Sherman’s army, after leaving Savannah, were obstructed in their
march by the flooding of the low lands; and it was still uncertain
whether Hardee and Beauregard would permit him to sweep through
the country unopposed. Consequently, some commotion existed in the
camps of the second division of the Nineteenth Corps, when a sudden
explosion of shells took place at midnight on the 27th. At first,
it was thought by some, that Sherman had been forced back; but the
church-bells beginning to ring, and the explosions becoming more
rapid, the fact soon became apparent that the arsenal in which the
rebel ammunition had been stored was on fire. A detachment from the
regiment was sent for, and, under direction of Lieut. Copeland, who
took charge of the engines, did efficient service in checking the
progress of the fire, not, however, before it had destroyed a great
many blocks of brick and stone buildings. The negroes worked manfully
at the engines, some of them being struck by the fragments of falling
shells, which were thrown at a great distance over the city; but
those of the inhabitants who were not immediately affected by the
catastrophe, stood idly on the corners of the streets, with their
hands in their pockets.
Afterward, another call was made, for all who were in camp to go on
guard in the streets to prevent pillaging; and the entire regiment
remained until daylight, when, returning to camp, in an hour or two,
the greater part were detailed for picket or fatigue. The fatigue
duty consisted in unloading stores sent from Boston and New York to
the “suffering poor,” who were too lazy to unload it themselves. The
duty of the regiment in Savannah consisted in unloading commissary
stores, furnishing guards and pickets, and building breastworks; the
men being on duty nearly every other night.
Gradually, the people began to steal out of their houses, and
business, which always followed in the track of the Union armies,
became better; but there was no loyalty yet. While the citizens
condescended to take the supplies of food furnished by government
and by the North, their sympathies were with Lee behind the
breastworks of Richmond, and with Johnson in Carolina. As soon as
Gen. Grover took command of the post, he set all the unemployed
people, black and white, at work cleaning up the city, and, in a
short time, the streets were drained, the squares put in order, and
the dead animals buried. Concerts were given in the Park several
times a week by the bands of the Ninth Connecticut and the Fourteenth
New Hampshire, and special guards appointed to preserve order; but,
in spite of all the general could do for the comfort and pleasure of
the citizens, they remained sulky.
The clergymen, especially, clung to the fortunes of the falling
Confederacy; and notwithstanding a large portion of their audience
on Sunday consisted of Union officers and soldiers, not a word of
sympathy was expressed for the government, nor a word of reprobation
for the cruelties of Andersonville, which were casting a blot on the
fair fame of Georgia never to be forgotten while one victim of that
prison-pen survives.
On Sunday the 19th, news was received of the evacuation of
Charleston, and the guns of Fort Pulaski announced the fact to
the unwilling ears of the citizens. The birthday of Washington
was celebrated by the firing of salutes, ringing of bells, and a
cessation from all unnecessary labor. Good news now began to pour in
fast. The fall of Charleston was soon followed by that of Wilmington;
and the men began to lay plans, which they had never done before, of
what they would do “when the war was over.” But the journeyings of
the Thirty Eighth were not yet at an end. By the time the “shebangs”
were made comfortable, and the camp-ground in good condition,
marching orders were received, and the brigade was notified to pack
up preparatory to taking transports.
On the 4th of March, the Twenty Fourth Iowa and the One Hundred and
Seventy Sixth New York broke camp; and the next day, the Thirty
Eighth, the One Hundred and Twenty Eighth, and the One Hundred
and Fifty Sixth, accompanied by the band of the latter regiment,
marched through the city, treating the citizens who were returning
from church to a taste of Union music, and embarked on the steamer
Ashland. Not one of the six regiments composing the brigade having a
colonel present, the command was conferred upon Col. Day, of the One
Hundred and Thirty First New York.