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CH. VII.]

1864.

SEYMOUR'S DISASTER AT OULSTEE.

a few miles above Jacksonville. About 100 prisoners and eight pieces of artillery were captured, together with other valuable property, to a large amount. On the 10th, a portion of the force was sent forward to Sanderson, twenty miles further on the railroad, where a quantity, of commissary stores were found in flames, the enemy having just withdrawn to a further station at Lake City, where the rebel commander, Finnegan, had gathered the fragment of his command. On the 14th, the main body of Seymour's command was concentrated at Baldwin, having suffered very few casualties, and taken consider able spoils.

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miles, over a road of loose sand or hog and mud, weary and hungry, they were in an ill condition to enter into battle. Nevertheless, the batteries were placed in position as speedily as possible, under the adverse circumstances, and the men entered, with their usual spirit, into the fight. The rebel force was much larger in number than Seymour's, and having the advantage of choice of position and previous preparation, made sad havoc with our men. The battle lasted over three hours, when Seymour retired, leaving the dead and severely wounded on the field. By slow marches, without molestation from the rebels, the troops were brought back to the camping-ground near Jacksonville, on Monday afternoon, February 22d. Our loss in killed, wounded and missing, was very heavy, numbering between 1,200 and 1,500; the rebel loss was put down at about 800. Jacksonville was held by our troops, and various minor

portant military operations took place, and the proposed effort, as noted above, to reconstruct the state government, was abandoned after the disaster at Olustee.*

Gillmore, on the 16th of February, returned to Port Royal, leaving Seymour in command of the expedition, with a clear understanding, on Gillmore's part, that no forward movement was to be made without further instructions, and until certain important defences were well advanced. Seymour, how-raids were made from thence; but no imever, desirous of pushing on, left camp, on the 18th of February, advanced on the line of railroad sixteen miles, and the next day reached Barber's Station, about forty-five miles from Jacksonville. Early on the morning of Saturday, the 20th, the troops were in motion, the light cavalry in advance, and reached Sanderson at noon, from whence, without halting, they advanced toward Olused of two corps, under McPherson and tee, a station on the railroad, ten miles beyond, where it was expected the rebels would be found; but skirmishing began about two o'clock, P.M., be fore reaching Olustee. Unfortunately the troops had no opportunity of rest, and after a tedious march of sixteen

At the close of January, 1864, Gen. Sherman was ordered to take command of an important expedition into the interior of Mississippi. His force sonsist

"Few disasters were encountered during the war so utterly inexcusable. It was Braddock's defeat repeated after the lapse of a century. Our soldiers fought able to have routed the enemy; they were simply as well as men ought to fight; they were abundantly sacrificed by a leader brave to rashness, and possessing every soldierly quality but the ability to plan and

direct the movements of an independent force."-Greeley's "American Conflict," vol. ii., p. 532.

*

kinds were found for the use of the army.

Meanwhile, Gen. W. S. Smith, who had been ordered to report to Sherman at Meridian, and was expected to reach that point by the 14th of February, did not leave Memphis till the 11th, in con sequence of delay in the arrival of part of his force. Having with him some 7,000 men, he advanced southerly on

Hurlbut, estimated at 30,000 men, with sixty pieces of artillery. On the 3d of February, Sherman set out from Vicksburg in light marching order, and moved westwardly. On the 1864. 5th, the advance came up with a body of rebel cavalry, in the vicinity of Canton, putting them to flight with slight loss. The next day the command entered Jackson, and the rebels were driven across Pearl River. After the Mobile Railroad by Okolona to that, the expedition encountered little or no opposition of any moment. Sherman pushed rapidly forward through Brandon to Morton, where two divisions of Polk's corps had made disposition for battle. They, however, retreated before our force, which reached Meridian, or the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, 150 miles from Vicksburg, on the 14th of February, the rebels continuing their retreat in an easterly direction. Here Sherman remained for a week, waiting the arrival of Gen. Smith's cavalry force, making, during the time, to use his own words, "the most complete destruction of the railroad ever beheld, south below Quitman; east to Cuba Station; twenty miles north to Lauderdale Springs, and west all the way back to Jackson." The state arsenal at Meridian was destroyed, with its valuable machines for repairs of arms, and its ordnance stores; also several military buildings and grist mills. Provisions of various

*Under date of January 31st, Gen. Sherman addressed a long and interesting letter to Major Sawyer, assistant adjutant-general of the Army of the Tennes

see, in which he spoke at large of the condition of the inhabitants in rebellion, and how they were to be treated. The letter is marked by Gen. Sherman's straightforward common sense, and clearness of expression.

1964

West Point, where his further progress
was arrested by a combined rebel force
under Forrest, Chalmers, and others.
There was some heavy fighting in this
vicinity, the enemy charging both in
the rear and the advance, and five
howitzers were lost. Thus closely pres-
sed by superior numbers, Smith
resolved upon a retreat, crossed
the Tallahatchie in safety, by forced
marches, at New Albany, and reached
Memphis on the 25th of February,
having done much injury to the rail-
road, destroyed a large quantity of
rebel stores, a million bushels of corn,
cotton gins, etc., and brought away a
great number of negroes and some 300
prisoners. The expedition, however,
failed of one of its most important ob-
jects, viz., making a junction with
Sherman.

In consequence of this failure, Sherman was unable to follow up his successes, above noted, by extending his march farther, and accordingly retired slowly from Meridian, bringing his force, in excellent condition, to Canton, north of Jackson. On the 27th of February he reached Vicksburg.* It had been

*In a brief dispatch, sent by Gen. Butterfield to Washington, under date of March 11th, the 'esult of

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CH. VII.]

PALMER'S MOVEMENT ON DALTON.

supposed that Sherman had in view, in his expedition, the capture of Mobile. No official statement, however, was made on the subject; and whether so or not, the rebels sent a considerable force to strengthen the defences of Mobile. Admiral Farragut also, at the same date, February 23d, made threatening demonstrations against Fort Powell, at the entrance of Grant's Pass, and if he could have had the assistance of an iron-clad or two, and a few thousand troops, he would no doubt have gained full possession of the bay; as it was, his attack made but little impression on the rebel works, and further operations were deferred until July, 1864.

A movement of the rebels to reinforce Gen. Polk, induced Gen. Grant at Chattanooga to order Gen. Palmer to

1864.

make an advance upon Dalton, Georgia. The 14th corps, under Palmer's command, set out, February 22d, and Ringgold, twenty-three miles from Chattanooga, was occupied that night. The next morning, early, the column moved forward, constant skirmishing going on with the cavalry of the enemy. Tunnel Hill was reached by night, and the next morning the rebels were dislodged from their posi tion, and the town was occupied, 150

the expedition is thus summed up: "Gen. Sherman arrived yesterday at Memphis. His command is all safe. Our total loss in killed, wounded, and missing is 170 only. The general result of his expedition, in

cluding Smith's and the Yazoo River movements, are

about as follows: 150 miles of railroad, 67 bridges, 7,000 leet of trestle, twenty locomotives, twenty-eight cars,

10,000 bales of cotton, several steam mills, and over 2,000,000 bushels of corn were destroyed. The railroad destruction is complete and thorough. The captures of prisoners exceed all loss. Upwards of

8,000 contrabands and refugees came in with various columns."

405

prisoners being captured. The movement was immediately continued upon Dalton, seven miles distant; but, on ascertaining that the entire force of Johnston was waiting to receive him, Palmer deemed it prudent to fall back to Tunnel Hill, and avoid so unequal a struggle as that before him. Subsequently, by March 10th, he had fallen back to Ringgold, his loss being about 350 killed and wounded.

Early in February, a spirited movement was made in Eastern Virginia upon Richmond, with the intention of taking the seat of the rebel government by surprise, and releasing the Union prisoners who were held there in large numbers, and were experiencing in their own persons that "the tender mercies" of the rebels were "cruel" indeed. Gen. Butler, who, after his recall from New Orleans, had passed some time without a command, had, in October, 1863, been appointed the successor of Gen. Foster in the department of Virginia and North Carolina. His administration at Norfolk, Newport News, Newbern, and elsewhere in his department, had been signalized by his usual characteristics. He had taken in hand the trou blesome and difficult negotiation of the exchange of prisoners with the rebel authorities at Richmond, in which he had been, in a measure, successful, notwithstanding the sentence of outlawry hurled against him by Jeff. Davis (p. 157).

1864.

At the beginning of February, the garrison at Newbern, N. C., under Gen. I. N. Palmer, (Gen. Peck being absent), was threatened by the rebels ander

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