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River Canal, which was the main dependence for the support of Richmond, and also of all railroads and other means of communication with the Southwest. Thus gradually was the metaphor, so often employed in the early history of the war, and so greatly ridiculed, of the Union armies pressing around the rebel capital, as the anaconda tightens its folds about the body of its victim, beginning to have force and signifi

cance.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

General Sherman at Savannah. The Advance Northward.-Pocotaligo.- Salkehatchie.-Movement on Columbia.-Conflagration in Columbia, and its OriginBeauregard at Charlotte.--Lee placed in Chief Command of the Rebel ArmiesJohnston Reinstated.-Fayetteville.-Rebel Strength.-Averysboro'.--Bentonville -Goldsboro'.- Junction of Three Union Armies.-Objective of the Campaign Gained.

Ar Savannah, General Sherman had not merely to recuperate his forces and prepare a new base for further operations into the interior, preparatory to a concentration upon Richmond, but he was also compelled to provide for the local government, and to arrange the means of feeding the people. To this end the following notice was issued:

"HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPL "IN THE FIELD, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, January 14. "It being represented that the Confederate army and armed bands of robbers, acting professedly under the authority of the Confederate government, are harassing the peo ple of Georgia, and endeavoring to intimidate them in the efforts they are making to secure to themselves provisions, clothing, security to life and property, and the restoration of law and good government in the State, it is hereby ordered and made public: "First.-That the farmers of Georgia may bring into Savannah, Fernandina, or Jacksonville, Fla., marketing, such as beef, pork, mutton, vegetables of any kind, fish, &c., as well as cotton in small quantities, and sell the same in open market, except the cotton, which must be sold by or through the Treasury agents, and may invest the proceeds in family stores, such as bacon and flour, in any reasonable quantities, groceries, shoes and clothing, and articles not contraband of war, and carry the same back to their families. No trade store will be attempted in the interior, or stocks of goods sold for them, but families may club together for mutual assistance and protection in coming and going.

"Second-The people are encouraged to meet together in peaceful assemblages, to discuss measures looking to their safety and good government, and the restoration of State and National authority, and will be protected by the National army, when so doing; and all peaceable inhabitants who satisfy the commanding officers that they are earnestly laboring to that end, must not only be left undisturbed in property and person, but must be protected as far as possible, consistent with the military operations. If any farmer or peaceable inhabitant is molested by the enemy-viz, the Confederate army of guerrillas-because of his friendship to the National Government, the perpetrator, if caught, will be summarily punished, or his family made to suffer for the outrage; but if the crime cannot be traced to the actual party, then retaliation will be made on the adherents to the cause of the rebellion. Should a Union man be murdered, then a rebel, selected by lot, will be shot; or if a Union family be persecuted on account of the cause, a rebel family will be banished to a foreign land. In aggravated cases, retaliation will extend as high as five for one. All commanding officers will act promptly in such cases, and report their action after the retaliation is done. "By order of Major-General W. T. Sherman.

"L. M. DAYTON, Assistant Adjutant-General”

In relation to the political status of people, the following letter was published by General Sherman, in which he states explicitly, in his customary clear and vigorous style, that the only condition of peace would be to lay down arms and submit to the authority of the General Gov

ernment:

"N. W.

Esq.,

"HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION, J TUE, 11, 1885. }

"IN THE FIELD, Savannah, Ga., January 8, 1865.
County, Ga.:

"DEAR SIR:-Yours of the 3d instant is received, and, in answer to your inquiries, I beg to state I am merely a military commander, and act only in that capacity; nor can I give any assurances or pledges affecting civil matters in the future. They will be adjusted by Congress when Georgia is again represented there as of old.

"Georgia is not out of the Union, and, therefore, the talk of 'reconstruction' appears to me inappropriate. Some of the people have been, and still are, in a state of revolt, and as long as they remain armed and organized, the United States must pursue them with armies, and deal with them according to military law. But as soon as they break up their armed organizations and return to their homes, I take it they will be dealt with by the civil courts. Some of the rebels in Georgia, in my judgment, deserve death, because they have committed murder, and other crimes, which are punished with death by all civilized governments on earth. I think this was the course indicated by General Washington, in reference to the Whiskey Insurrection, and a like principle seemed to be recognized at the time of the Burr conspiracy.

"As to the Union of the States under our Government, we have the high authority of General Washington, who bade us be jealous and careful of it, and the still more emphatic words of General Jackson, 'The Federal Union, it must and shall be preserved.' Certainly Georgians cannot question the authority of such men, and should not suspect our motives, who are simply fulfilling their commands. Wherever necessary, force has been used to carry out that end, and you may rest assured that the Union will be preserved, cost what it may. And if you are sensible men you will conform to this order of things or else migrate to some other country. There is no other alternative open to the people of Georgia.

"My opinion is that no negotiations are necessary, nor commissioners, nor conventions, nor any thing of the kind. Whenever the people of Georgia quit rebelling against their Government and elect members of Congress and Senators, and these go and take their seats, then the State of Georgia will have resumed her functions in the Union.

"These are merely my opinions, but in confirmation of them, as I think, the people of Georgia may well consider the following words, referring to the people of the rebellious States, which I quote from the recent annual message of President Lincoln to Congress at its present session:

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They can, at any moment, have peace simply by laying down their arms and submitting to the national authority under the Constitution. After so much, the Government could not, if it would, maintain war against them. The loyal people would not sustain or allow it. If questions should remain, we would adjust them by the peaceful means of legislation, conference, courts, and votes. Operating only in constitutional and lawful channels, some certain and other possible questions are and would be beyond the Executive power to adjust, as, for instance, the admission of members into Congress, and whatever might require the appropriation of money.'

"The President then alludes to the general pardon and amnesty offered for more than a year past, upon specified and more liberal terms, to all except certain designated classes, even these being still within contemplation of 'special clemency,' and adds: "It is still so open to all, but the time may come when public duty shall demand that it be closed, and that in lieu more vigorous measures than heretofore shall be adopted.'

"It seems to me that it is time for the people of Georgia to act for themselves, and return, in time, to their duty to the Government of their fathers.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

“W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.”

Having employed several weeks in refitting his army at Savannah, Sherman was, by the 15th of January, 1865, ready to resume operations. On that day Fort Fisher was captured and the road to Wimington opened. The Twenty-third Corps, Schofield, was also on its way from Tennessee to co-operate with Generals Terry and Palmer in North Carolina, and prepare the way for Sherman's coming, and to enable Sherman to move in full strength. Grant had sent Grover's Division of the Nineteenth Corps to garrison Savannah. As Sherman proposed to march directly upon Goldsboro', Colonel Wright was sent to Newbern to be ready by the middle of March to open the railroad to the former place. On the 18th January the command of Savannah was transferred to Foster, with instructions to co-operate on the coast, in conjunction with the fleet, with the interior movement.

On January 15th, Howard, commanding Sherman's right wing, composed of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, and other troops, num bering forty-five thousand in all, had effected a lodgment on the Charleston Railroad, near Pocotaligo, with the view of demonstrating against Charleston, and opening communications with Hilton Head The left wing, under Slocum, was ordered to rendezvous at Robertsville and Coosawattie, South Carolina, but was prevented for weeks by the flooded state of the adjoining country from moving. Finally, on the 29th January, finding that the roads were so far improved as to admit of the movement of the left wing, Sherman ordered the Seventeenth Corps to River's Bridge, on the Salkehatchie, and the Fifteenth Corps to Beaufort's Bridge. On the 2d February the two corps reached their destinations. Here General Sherman admonished Siocum, still struggling with the floods of the Savannah River, to hurry his crossing at Sister's Ferry and overtake the right wing on the South Carolina Railroad at or near Midway. The enemy held the line of the Salkehatchie in force, with artillery, at River's and Beaufort's Bridges. The Seventeenth Corps was ordered to carry the former, which was promptly done by Mower's and Smith's Divisions on the 3d February. The weather was bitter cold, and Generals Mower and Smith led their di visions in person, on foot, waded the swamp, made a lodgment below the bridge, and turned on the brigade which guarded it, driving it in confusion and disorder towards Branchville. Our casualties were one officer and seventeen men killed, and seven men wounded, who were sent to Pocotaligo. The line of the Salkehatchie being thus broken, the enemy retreated at once behind the Edisto, at Branchville, and the whole army was pushed rapidly to the South Carolina Railroad at Midway, Hamburg (or Lowry's Station), and Graham's Station. The Seventeenth Corps, by threatening Branchville, forced the enemy to burn the railroad bridge, and Walker's bridge below, across the Edisto.

General Kilpatrick * had, meanwhile, come up with his cavalry, and

Judson Kilpatrick was born in New Jersey | about 1840, and graduated at West Point in 1561. He was immediately commissioned as captain in the Fifth New York Volunteers (Duryea's Zouaves), and, during the summer of 1861, became colonel of a New York cavalry regiment. In the

succeeding year he was appointed to ora: 1
a cavalry brigade, and in June, 1568, was a zse
sioned a brigadier-general of volunteers, in La
year he became noted as one of the most
cavalry officers of the army, distinguishing Lim
self in the campaign of Gettysburg, and in te

HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION.

proceeded to threaten Augusta, skirmishing sharply with Wheeler's Cavalry. General Slocum reached Blackville on the 10th. The rebels at this time occupied Augusta, Aiken, Branchville, and Charleston. When, therefore, the army on the 11th was on the railroad from Midway to Johnson's Station, the enemy's forces were divided, and he could no longer hold Charleston. The Seventeenth Corps now pushed for Orangeburg, while the Fifteenth Corps, in support, proceeded to Poplar Springs. The left wing had orders to move to the Edgefield road, and there await the result of the movement upon Orangeburg. That point was occupied, with little opposition, at four o'clock on the 12th. Branchville, the point of junction of the South Carolina and Columbia Railroad, being turned, like Charleston, it fell of itself, and Sherman marched direct upon Columbia, which was held by Beauregard. The Seventeenth Corps moved by the State road, and the Fif teenth Corps by a road which united with the State road at Zeigler's. The enemy were encountered at Little Congaree Bridge on the 15th, but retired after a brief encounter, burning the bridge behind them, so that the column was delayed, and did not reach the Congaree Bridge, in front of Columbia, until early on the 16th, too late to save the fine structure which there spans the river. Howard was accordingly directed to cross the Saluda, which joins the Congaree at Columbia, three miles above, so as to approach Columbia from the north, while Slocum was ordered to march direct upon Winnsboro', twenty-five miles north of Columbia. On the 17th, while Howard was preparing to cross, the mayor of Columbia came out and made a formal surrender of the city.

In anticipation of the occupation of the city, orders had been given to Howard to destroy absolutely all arsenals and public property not needed for the use of the army, as well as all railroads, dépôts, and machinery useful in war to the enemy, but to spare all dwellings and harmless property, whether of a public or private character. General Wade Hampton, who commanded the rebel rear-guard, had, in anticipation of the capture of the place, ordered all the cotton to be moved into the streets and fired. A violent gale was blowing as the advance of the Union army entered Columbia, and, before a single building had been fired by Sherman's order, the smouldering fires, set by Hampton's order, and which soldiers and citizens had labored hard to extinguish, were rekindled by the wind, and communicated to the buildings around. A whole division of troops was called out to stay ress of the conflagration, but the flames had now become unmanage able, and, until four A. M. of the 18th, they pursued their devouring course, laying a large portion of the city in ashes. It was not until the wind began to subside that the fire could be controlled. Sherman, with many of his generals, was up all night laboring to save houses

operations in Virginia during the autumn. After
conducting a daring raid towards Richmond in the
early part of 1564, he was appointed, in the spring,
to command a cavalry division in Sherman's
army, and on May 13th was wounded in a skir-
In August he returned to
mish near Resaca.
duty, accompanied the army into Atlanta, and, du-

the

prog

ring Sherman's march to the coast, commanded the cavalry of the expeditionary force. He held a similar command in the succeeding campaign from Savannah to North Carolina; at the conclusion of which he was brevetted a major-general of vol

unteers.

and protect families thus suddenly deprived of shelter and home. “I disclaim," he says in his official report, "on the part of my army, any agency in the fire, but, on the contrary, claim that we saved what of Columbia remains unconsumed. And without hesitation I charge Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of Columbia, not with 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." This may be taken as a final and complete refutation of the many mendacious reports, originating chiefly in the South, that the city of Columbia was wantonly fired by Sherman's troops.

General Slocum reached Winnsboro' on the 21st, destroyed the railroad, and reached Rocky Mount on the 23d, on which day he was joined by the Twentieth Corps. Kilpatrick followed and demonstrated on Charlotte, to which point Beauregard had retreated from Columbia, and where he was expecting to be joined by Cheatham's Corps of Hood's old army. The rains continued very heavy until the 26th, when the Twentieth Corps was at Catawba waiting for the Fourteenth Corps to cross the Catawba. In the mean time the right wing had destroyed the railroad to Winnsboro', and thence moved upon Cheraw, whence a force was sent to burn the bridge over the Wateree, at Camden, and another to Florence, with a view of breaking up the railroad between that place and Charleston. The latter was beaten back by the enemy's horse. On the 3d of March the Seventeenth Corps entered, Cheraw, the enemy retreating across the Pedee.

While these events were occurring, the proceedings of the rebel Congress had begun to give signs of the speedy dissolution of the "Confederacy." The want of men was urgent, and the question of arming slaves was warmly discussed. Much dissatisfaction with the Government and the leading generals had sprung up, and the finances were in a deplorable condition. Continued disaster had at last brought the Executive into a degree of despair from which nothing seemed likely to rescue it. In accordance with a resolution of the rebel Congress, and as a last means of making head against the rapidly advancing armies of the Union, Jefferson Davis had appointed General Lee to the chief command of the entire military force. Lee's order announcing that he assumed this post is dated February 9th. General Joseph E. Johnston, between whom and Jefferson Davis a deep animosity had long existed, had been virtually retired from the army after the fall of Atlanta. Public opinion so strongly demanded his restoration that Davis was forced to yield, and he was reinstated, and placed in immediate command of the forces opposed to Sherman, in the place of Beauregard, who wrote to the rebel President that the general sentiment of the public, and particularly that of the Army of the Tennessee, was so urgent for Johnston's restoration to command that he was induced to join his wish to theirs; but he did not wish

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