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."