Resource Center OLLibrary
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355. Sherman's March from Atlanta to the
Sea. After the fall of Atlanta, Jefferson Davis ordered the
Confederate army to abandon the state of Georgia, his intention
being to strike General Thomas, who held Nashville. He hoped in
this way to compel Sherman to turn back to help Thomas. But
Sherman believed that "the Rock of Chickamauga" (§ 345) was
quite able to take care of himself; he therefore resolved to push
forward. About the middle of November (1864) Sherman cut the
telegraph and railway lines which connected him with the North.
Thus
SHERMAN'S MARCH
Chattanooga to Atlanta; Atlanta to Savannah; Savannah to Raleigh.
"detached from all friends, dependent on its own resources and
supplies," his army set out on its great march to the sea. For
four weeks Sherman and his men disappeared. The North knew nothing
of his movements. But Grant had faith that his friend would not
get lost, and that sometime the country would hear from him.
Meanwhile, Sherman was going forward with 60,000
veterans, plenty of provisions, and practically no force to resist
him. He cut a clean swath sixty miles wide1 from
Atlanta to Savannah
1 "So we made a thoroughfare for
Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in
latitude, three hundred to the main,"
"Marching
through Georgia."
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(Map, p. 320), destroying railways and stripping the
plantations and towns bare of everything, -- cows, pigs, chickens,
hay, whatever, in fact, man or horse could devour, vanished before
the advancing army. Along this broad track of desolation several
thousand negroes followed in the wake of "Massa Sherman," shouting
and singing as they trudged on.
356. Thomas destroys Hood's Army. While
Sherman was pressing forward, the Confederate General Hood -- one
of the best fighters in the South -- moved from the vicinity of
Atlanta into Tennessee to attack Thomas (§ 355). A battle was
fought at Franklin (November 30, 1864), in which Hood was severely
repulsed. Then Hood advanced and besieged Thomas in Nashville.
Thomas was slow, but when he did strike, it was with sledge-hammer
force.
He attacked Hood (December 15-16, 1864) and cut
his army all to pieces. The miserable remnant, ragged, barefooted,
wet to the skin by incessant winter rains, shivering and starving,
escaped, as best they could, leaving their sick and wounded to die
along the roadside. This ended the war in Tennessee. The
Confederacy had now practically shrunk from eleven states to
three, -- Virginia, and North and South Carolina; the rest were
either inactive, or they were under the control of the military
power of the United States.
357. Sherman takes Savannah and moves
Northward. In a little less than a month from the day when he
left Atlanta, Sherman reached Savannah. He stormed and took Fort
McAllister on the south of the city (December 13, 1864); he
entered Savannah eight days later (December 21) and the next day
he sent the following message to the President:
"SAVANNAH,
GEORGIA, Dec. 22, 1864.
To his Excellency, President Lincoln, Washington, D. C.:
"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the
City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty
of ammunition; also about twenty-five thousand bales of
cotton.
"W.
T. SHERMAN, Major General."1
1 General
Sherman sent this message by a vessel to Fort Monroe. It reached
the President on Christmas eve.
SHERMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENT OF LEE'S SURRENDER
[Special Field Orders, No. 54]
Headquarters
Military Division of the
Mississippi, in the Field, Smithfield,
North Carolina, April 12, 1865.
The General commanding announces to the army
that he has official notice from General Grant that General Lee
surrendered to him his entire army, on the 9th inst., at
Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia.
Glory to God and our country, and all honor to
our comrades in arms, toward whom we are marching!
A little more labor, a little more toil on our
part, the great race is won, and our government stands
regenerated, after four long years of war.
W.
T. SHERMAN, Major General commanding.
(See
Sherman's "Memoirs")
The above order was issued while the Union
army was marching from Goldsboro, North Carolina, in pursuit of
Johnston's army. Johnston did not make a stand, but surrendered
near Durham Station, about twenty-five miles northwest of Raleigh,
North Carolina, April 26, 1865.
When Sherman's men learned that Lee had
surrendered they went wild with excitement. They shouted, they
flung up their caps, they turned somersaults in their delight.
The whole land seemed full of rejoicing that the
long, terrible struggle was practically over. Confederate as well
as Union soldiers were glad to see peace at hand; and a Southern
woman, who heard the hurrahs of Sherman's "boys in blue" as they
marched past her house, looked upon her wondering children and
said, while tears streamed down her checks, "Now father will come
home."
-- See General Jacob D. Cox's "The March to the Sea."
LEE'S LETTER TO
GRANT RESPECTING THE
SURRENDER OF THE
CONFEDERATE ARMY OF
NORTHERN
VIRGINIA
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Long before they reached Savannah, Sherman's
men had come to the conclusion that the seacoast was not their
final destination, and they would call out to the General as he
rode past, "Uncle Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us at
Richmond!"1
They were right, for early in the new year
(1865) Sherman set out with his army northward. It was a seven
weeks' march through mud, rain, and swamps. He reached Columbia,
the capital of South Carolina, about the middle of February, and
ordered the destruction of all buildings which might be of use to
the Confederates in prolonging the war. Unfortunately the town
caught fire, and in spite of all the efforts of the Union army to
extinguish the flames, the greater part of the place was burned to
the ground. On his advance Sherman had to fight General J. E.
Johnston with a strong Confederate force near Goldsboro, North
Carolina (March 19, 1865). Meanwhile, Charleston and Wilmington
had been captured by Union forces: the Confederacy had lost its
last seaports.
About a week later (March 27, 1865) General
Sherman, leaving his victorious army at Goldsboro (Map, p. 320),
went to City Point,2 on the James River, Virginia, to
consult with Grant. A month later (April 26, 1865) Johnston
surrendered to Sherman near Raleigh, North Carolina.
358. The End of the War; Assassination of
President Lincoln. Sheridan now made a raid south through the
Shenandoah valley, in which he destroyed the railway and canal
from Lynchburg, on the west of Richmond, nearly up to the
Confederate capital. This had the effect of cutting off a large
part of the provisions for Lee's army. Sheridan next (March 29,
1865) made a similar raid to the south of Richmond. Lee had now
only 40,000 men to Grant's 100,000. While the Confederate general
was trying to guard against Sheridan, Grant threw his whole force
on Petersburg (§§ 349, 352) and captured it (April 2,
1865). Lee retreated from Richmond, and the next day (April 3,
1865) Grant's forces entered the capital of the Southern
Confederacy and raised the Stars and Stripes over the city.
Jefferson Davis escaped to North Carolina,
1 See Sherman's
"Memoirs," II, 179.
2 City Point is 40 miles below
Richmond.
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but was captured in May and sent as a prisoner to Fort Monroe.
He was released two years later.1 Lee's forces were
completely broken up; many of his men were so weak from want of
food that they could not shoulder a musket. Lee surrendered to
Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, a little place about seventy-five
miles west of Richmond (April 9, 1865). Nothing could be more
nobly generous than the terms given by General Grant to the
defeated Confederates. The only conditions he demanded were that
the men should lay down their arms and return to their homes.
Those who had horses were permitted to take them with them; for,
as Grant remarked, they "would need them for the plowing."
Finally, General Grant issued an order to serve
out 25,000 rations of food to Lee's half-starved men. That meant
that the strife was over, and that peace and brotherhood were
restored.
Five days afterward (April 14, 1865) General
Anderson hoisted over Fort Sumter the identical flag under whose
starry folds he had fought against Beauregard (§ 320). It was
exactly four years to a day since the Confederates had won their
first victory in the Civil War.
Thus ended the great contest, which had cost in
all probably over half a million of lives and thousands of
millions of dollars.2 But the triumphant joy of those
who had fought to save the Union was quenched in tears; for on the
evening following the celebration at Fort Sumter (April 14, 1865),
the President was shot by an assassin.3 Many of those
who had fought against him in the South wept at his death. He was
the friend of every
1 By the end of May
all the Confederate forces had surrendered and disbanded. None of
the leaders or men engaged in the War of Secession were brought to
trial for having taken up arms against the national government;
but Henry Wirz, the Swiss commandant at Andersonville, Georgia,
was charged with cruel treatment of Union prisoners, and was tried
and convicted by court-martial; he was hanged November 10,
1865.
2 The total war debt of the North was
nearly $3,000,000,000; this, however, represented but a part of
the expense. The greatest number of men engaged in the Union
armies at any one time was probably about 1,000,000. Colonel
Livermore thinks that the Confederate forces engaged during the
war (1861-1865) did not exceed 600,000. See Colonel T. L.
Livermore's "Numbers and Losses in the Civil War," p. 9.
3 President Lincoln was shot at the
theater by John Wilkes Booth, an obscure actor, who was the leader
of a conspiracy for the assassination of the President, Vice
President, the cabinet, and General Grant. Booth was pursued and
shot, four of the other conspirators were hanged, and four
imprisoned.
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American; none of us or of our children, North or South, will
ever know a more unselfish or a truer man than Abraham
Lincoln.
359. The North and the South in the War.
In the North there was sore anxiety for friends who might never
return; and sisters, wives, and mothers were mourning for those
who had fallen on the battlefield or died in prison. In the South
there was the same terrible loss of life, the same mourning for
those who had left their homes never to return. The material
privations and sufferings of the war fell mainly on the South.
Except at Gettysburg all the fighting was done on Southern soil.
No armies marched through the North. Two new states -- West
Virginia (1863) and Nevada (1864)-had been added to the Union. All
business went on as usual, or with increased activity. Every
seaport was open, and trade and commerce flourished. There were
many quiet homes not directly touched by the hardships and horrors
of the struggle, where the progress of the war was only known by
newspaper reports.
Thanks to the financial ability and the
unfailing energy of Secretary Chase, the government never lacked
means to carry on the contest. Whatever money could do for the
equipment and comfort of the Union forces was done without stint
or murmur, even when the expenses exceeded $3,500,000 a day.
In addition to all this care for the men by the
government, the Sanitary and the Christian Commissions were
unwearied in their great work of love and mercy among the wounded
and the sick. Once in hospital no one was ever asked on which side
he had fought; but tender hands ministered to his needs, and
soothed his sufferings, whether he wore the "blue" or the
"gray."
With the people of the South all was different.
Their ports were blockaded, their business ruined. The country had
no money, no manufactures; the negroes had been set free. In their
extremity Southern ladies cut up their carpets to make blankets
and clothes for the soldiers, and churches gave their bells to be
cast into cannon. Long before the final surrender there was
grievous want everywhere throughout the South, and everywhere the
people were suffering from the destruction necessarily caused by
invading
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armies or from the dread of such invasion. It is a noble
evidence of the fortitude of the American character that the
Southern people, however mistaken in their purpose, "fought," as
General Grant says, "so bravely, so gallantly, and so
long."1
360. Summary of the Fourth and Last Year of
the War (April, 1864-April, 1865). This year was marked by
Grant and Sherman's "hammering campaign," which ended in the
destruction of the Confederate power in the west and in the east,
and was followed by the surrender of Lee. President Lincoln was
assassinated a few days later. The surrender of General J. E.
Johnston,2 soon after, ended the war, and established
the Union on a solid foundation of freedom for all men.
1 See General
Grant's "Personal Memoirs," II, 426.
2 In his last orders to his troops,
General J. E. Johnston said: "I earnestly expect you to observe
faithfully the terms of pacification agreed upon, and to discharge
the obligations of good and peaceful citizens as well as you have
performed the duties of thorough soldiers in the field." Like a
brave officer, Johnston led the way in the execution of this order
by his own example. He died March 21, 1891, shortly after he had
acted as pallbearer at the funeral of his friend, General W. T.
Sherman.
