Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea

  “Signals, shots and fires”: National Tribune, 1/30/1902.

  “The officers and sailors”: Ibid.

  “I was extremely weary”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:202.

  “He may have been a lion”: Hight and Stormont, Fifty-eighth Regiment, 442.

  “the most American looking”: Gray and Ropes, War Letters, 427.

  “strongly intrenched”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:202.

  “ample supplies”: OR 44:708.

  “perfectly sure of capturing”: OR 44:713.

  “says the city is his sure game”: Gray and Ropes, War Letters, 427.

  “indispensable”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:202.

  “Anchored immediately”: ORN, 16:361.

  “I was not personally acquainted”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:203.

  “that navy officers”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 188.

  “Not liking to rejoice”: OR 44:611–12.

  “News came about 10 o’clock”: Hickman, Diary and Letters, UMB.

  “have been cheering”: Angle, Three Years, 363.

  “Now we are knocking”: Jones, “For My Country,” 173.

  “They would make a mark”: National Tribune, 3/7/1907.

  “to be employed”: Beauregard clipping, in Sherman, Papers, LOC.

  “We will soon have rations”: Cruikshank, “Civil War Letters.”

  “must soon end our season”: Champlin, Diary, WRS.

  “Our food line”: Buerstatte, “Civil War Diary.”

  “Almost every tree”: Parker, Papers, HL.

  “We captured a yawl”: Kittinger, Diary, MHI.

  “If Hood’s Battalion”: Quoted in Rogers and Saunders, “Scourge of Sherman’s Men,” 358.

  Mary Jones Jones: Incident recounted in Jones and Mallard, Yankees A’Coming, 33–37.

  “No change from yesterday”: Morrow, Diary, MHI.

  “The frogs are peeping”: Boies, Record, 104.

  “This morning”: Hancock, Diary.

  “We were stationed”: Allspaugh, Diaries, UIA.

  “a heavy detail”: National Tribune, 6/13/1901.

  “lost three men”: Bush, “Civil War Letters and Diary,” ISL.

  “Rations getting scarce”: Armstrong, Diary, IHS.

  “Living on rice”: Burt, Diary.

  “We are now living”: Bircher, Drummer-Boy’s Diary, 152.

  “The story they tell”: Lancaster Daily Evening Express, 1/3/1865.

  “There is much diversity”: Reeve, Papers, WHS.

  “The boys waded”: Calkins, One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, 270.

  “boats enough”: Carmen, “General Hardee’s Escape,” 194.

  “Damn it!”: Ibid.

  “seal up that side”: OR 44:719–20.

  “The citizens of Savannah”: Augusta Daily Chronicle & Sentinel, 12/15/1864.

  “I desire being informed”/“I shall be compelled”: OR 44:959–60.

  “I feel uneasy”: OR 44:962.

  “come here”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 192.

  “services [were] not being longer needed”: Quoted in Hallock, Braxton Bragg, 227.

  “the part of chronicler”: Miers, Rebel War Clerk’s Diary, 474.

  “a truly formidable work”/“still there cooking”: ORN, 16:361.

  “How on earth”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 189.

  “very busy pulling”: ORN, 16:362.

  “about noon”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:203.

  “group of twenty-five”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 193.

  “For the present”: OR 44:720–21.

  “thinking of various things”: Woodhull, “Glimpse of Sherman,” 457–58.

  “the most important operation”: OR 44:636.

  “The contents”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:206.

  “He now stood”: Woodhull, “Glimpse of Sherman,” 458.

  CHAPTER 21. “I BEG TO PRESENT YOU AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT THE CITY OF SAVANNAH”

  “initiated measures”: Sherman-Grant message in OR 44:726–28; Sherman, Memoirs, 2:207.

  “I had no idea”: Grant-Sherman message in Grant, Personal Memoirs, 2:401; OR 44:728–29.

  “Attack Hood at once”: Quoted in Sword, Embrace an Angry Wind, 291.

  “They all scampered”: Ibid., 387.

  “the worst broke”: Ibid., 406.

  “was slow, deliberate”: Quoted in Hirshson, White Tecumseh, 357.

  “Our company”: Lovrien, Diary, KNP.

  “hereby placed in charge”: OR 44:732.

  “a total force”: Hickenlooper, Collection, CIN.

  “Johnnies have thrown”: Parmater, Diary, OHS.

  “make us lay”: Brown, Papers, DU.

  “Now thinks I”: Fisher, Letters, NYL.

  “Rations are getting shorter”: Cruikshank, “Civil War Letters.” 465 “I manage to get”: Armstrong, Diary, IHS.

  “Received a large mail”: Johnson, “March to the Sea,” 333.

  “This last trip”: Putney, Papers, WHS.

  “three hundred dollars’”/“Some of us”: Calkins, One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, 272–73.

  “the highest honor”: in Simpson and Berlin, Sherman’s Civil War, 767–68.

  “I’ve brought you”: Quoted in Davis, Sherman’s March, 107–8.

  “thankful for his”: Simpson and Berlin, Sherman’s Civil War, 777.

  “A rice field”: Morgan, Diary, MHI.

  “any quantity of rice”: Historical Sketch of Co. D, 37.

  “knew enough”: Toombs, Reminiscences, 182.

  “annoying, stopping”: Quint, Record, 253.

  “They made excellent practice”: Storrow, Papers, MAS.

  “Even while lying”: Byrne, Diary and Journal, RU.

  “I was sent with my Company”: Hinkley, Narrative of Service, 161.

  “lads of the company”: Bryant, History, 295.

  “We blazed away”: Storrow, Papers, MAS.

  “Gen. Sherman does not seem”: Duncan, Papers, NJH.

  “only about one-third”: Chisolm, “Failure to Capture Hardee,” 680.

  “attack is of no importance”: OR 44:963.

  “and all persons”: Quoted in New York Herald, 12/22/1864.

  “My time”: OR 44:150.

  “Broke camp”: Jamison, Recollections, 289.

  “Saw Men”: Pratt, Diary, WHS.

  “We got some sweet”: McConnell, John D. Martin’s Journal, 26.

  “Leaving camp”: Fifty-fifth Regiment, 399–400.

  “man in Company B”: Saunier, History, 373.

  “a low level”: Champlin, Diary, WRS.

  “I shot a hog”: Miller, Diary, IHS.

  “there was plenty”: Parker, Papers, HL.

  “Card-playing”: Charlton, “From Atlanta to the Sea,” MHI.

  “the hearts of the men”: Aten, History, 254.

  “how glad we were”: Quoted in Schmidt, Civil War History, 1067.

  “The 29th presents”: Parmater, Diary, OHS.

  “Rebels shell”: McMillan, Papers, WHS.

  “We lie in a swampy”: Henney, Letters, MHI.

  “Our pickets are so close”: Cutter, Letters, MHS.

  “One of ours”: Storrow, Papers, MAS.

  “I rode from my headquarters”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:210.

  Sherman surrender demand: OR 44:737.

  “My rank”: Carmen, “General Hardee’s Escape,” 210.

  “was suddenly surrounded”: Jones, Siege of Savannah, 138.

  “the fullest possible defense”: OR 44:963.

  “make the dispositions”: OR 44:964.

  “after full consultation”: Roman, Military Operations, 2:316.

  “I have to acknowledge”: Hardee surrender response in OR 44:736–37.

  “both”: Harwell and Racine, Fiery Trail, 72.

  “on the successful”: OR 44:741.

  “more delay”: OR 44:741–43.

  “I…resolved”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:210.

  “Of course I must fight”: Quoted i
n Marszalek, Sherman, 309.

  “It is all important”: OR 44:750.

  “the enemy held the river”: OR 44:11.

  “to make a mistake”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:216.

  “commenced taring up”: Sebring, Diary, ISL.

  “went to work”: Saunier, History, 374.

  “a small aristocratic”: Jamison, Recollections, 289.

  “There we got some”: McConnell, John D. Martin’s Journal, 26.

  “found plenty of sweet”: Reed, “Civil War Diaries,” MHS.

  “glad after all to know”: Essington, Diary, ISL.

  “whether the joke”: Patrick and Willey, “‘We Have Surely,’” 234.

  “bombs, shells, and balls”: National Tribune, 6/17/1926.

  “It looks very romantic”: Hight and Stormont, Fifty-eighth Regiment, 436–37.

  “Our Division was drawn up”: Quoted in Schmidt, Civil War History, 1068.

  “informed me”: Carmen, “General Hardee’s Escape,” 198.

  “Active, urgent preparations”: Roman, Military Operations, 2:317.

  “prosecuted with…vigor”: Chisolm, “Failure to Capture Hardee,” 680.

  “If Hoke and Johnson”: OR 44:966.

  “Of our weakness”: Graves, Letters, UDC.

  “Our works are very”: Swiggart, Shades of Gray, 77.

  “to push the preparations”: OR 44:756, 761.

  “great disappointment”: ORN, 16:362.

  “Still taring up”: Sebring, Diary, ISL.

  “loaded the [wagon]”: Judkins, Diary, ISL.

  “Moved out”: Pratt, Diary, WHS.

  “our teams all loaded”: Reed, “Civil War Diaries,” MHS.

  “would sing hymns”: Cryder and Stanley, “War for the Union,” 465.

  “It was a strange”: Angle, Three Years, 367–68.

  “and the men”: Cryder and Stanley, “War for the Union,” 465.

  “with view to the adoption”: OR 44:279.

  “make thorough”: OR 44:761.

  “the opposite shore”: Parrott, Letters, SHI.

  “some heavy cannonading”: Clark, Downing’s Civil War, 239.

  “We lay within 100 yds”: Noble, Papers, UMB.

  “upon one of the thread-like”: Force, Papers, UWA.

  “He was a fine officer”: Rood, Story of the Service, 376.

  “without opposition”: Bryant, History, 297.

  “If they had had their guns”: Storrow, Papers, MAS.

  “The rebs made but little”: Hinkley, Papers, WHS.

  “exceeded…[my] instructions”/“the contest became severe”: Carmen, “General Hardee’s Escape,” 202.

  “It was known”: Toombs, Reminiscences, 185.

  “We came right across”: Storrow, Papers, MAS.

  “had some severe work”: Kendall, Diary and Letters, CHS.

  “line nearly two”: OR 44:762.

  “I had not reached”: Carmen, “General Hardee’s Escape,” 203.

  “Gentlemen, this is not”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 198–99.

  “a general rush”: Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, 1/5/1906.

  “represented the matter”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:216–17.

  “off the only”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 198.

  “lines of army wagons”: Summerell, “General Hardee Evacuates Savannah,” 5.

  “Very few of the citizens”: Quoted in New York Herald, 1/7/1865.

  “became quite incensed”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, 11/21/1885.

  “Our batteries were awake”: Roe, Papers, KNX.

  “have kept up”: Unknown Diarist, SHI.

  “On account of getting so many”: Parmater, Diary, OHS.

  “Heavy cannonading”: Dunbar, Diary, BHS.

  “This intimation”: Kurtz, “War Diary,” 83–84.

  “opened on our positions”: Carmen, Papers, NJH.

  “From one portion of our line”: Hinkley, Papers, WHS.

  “could see wagons”: Carmen, “General Hardee’s Escape,” 205.

  “crowd of women”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, 11/21/1885.

  “busy burning”: Jones, When Sherman Came, 86.

  “Sherman had burned Atlanta”: Summerell, “General Hardee Evacuates Savannah,” 5.

  “Sick of war”: Anderson, Civil War Diary, 184.

  “There has been a rumor”: Bradley, Star Corps, 213–14.

  “that the enemy had completed”: OR 44:279.

  “lost considerable time”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 198.

  “light batteries will…be withdrawn”: OR 44:967.

  “It is feared”: McAdams, Every-day Soldier Life, 126–27.

  “I feel a cold shiver”: Otto, Civil War Memoirs, WHS.

  “When we came to think”: Rood, Story of the Service, 378.

  “I have no words”: Graves, Letters, UDC.

  “Men, women and children”: Savannah Morning News, 12/25/1932.

  “The shelling to-night”: Wagoner, “From Wauhatchie,” 125.

  “opened their batteries”: National Tribune, 2/11/1915.

  “a severe artillery fire”: Quoted in Schmidt, Civil War History, 1069.

  “By reason of the lack”: Jones, Siege of Savannah, 162.

  “Our camp fires”: Fort, “History,” MHI.

  “Since my father”: Mendel, “Sketch,” UDC.

  “lined by the great live oak”: Clark, Histories, 4:322.

  “I can’t describe”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 201.

  “The scene of our army”: Fort, “History,” MHI.

  “As we passed through”: Atlanta Journal, 8/16/1902.

  “night was exceedingly dark”: Kurtz, “War Diary,” 84.

  “the curses and yells”: Carmen, Papers, NJH.

  “to parts unknown”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 199–200.

  “fell into the long line”: Graves, Letters, UDC.

  “constant tread”: Elliott, Letters, SHC.

  “after getting something to eat”: National Tribune, 7/18/1883.

  “answered their calls”: National Tribune, 7/8/1915.

  “crawled up to their works”: National Tribune, 7/21/1892.

  “forward rapidly”: OR 44:279.

  “Soon we met”: National Tribune, 7/21/1892.

  “Just outside”: OR 44:280.

  “Sir: The city of Savannah”: OR 44:772.

  “some were still linked”: Summerell, “General Hardee Evacuates Savannah,” 7.

  “We rushed”: National Tribune, 7/21/1892.

  “We entered the city”: Engle, Letters.

  “he took formal possession”: OR 44:319.

  “every flag”: Rey, Letters, NYH.

  “We passed through”: Parmater Diary, OHS.

  “Oh, Miss!”/“three very orderly”: King, “Fanny Cohen’s Journal,” 410.

  “By the fortunes of war”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 208.

  “the old flag”: National Tribune, 10/25/1900.

  “took position”: OR 44:355.

  “tried to behave ourselves”: Levings, Papers, WHS.

  “the white women”: McKee, Diary, SHI.

  “The people of Savannah seemed”: Lancaster Daily Evening Express, 1/3/1865.

  “the channel was so narrow”: ORN, 16:362.

  “My eventful career”: Blair, Politician Goes to War, 219.

  “protect all peaceable persons”: OR 44:782.

  “I saw some”: Merrill, Seventieth Indiana, 232.

  “Dear General”: OR 44:771.

  “A great danger”: Kaminsky, War to Petrify, 275.

  “the last man”: Carmen, Papers, NJH.

  “It lit the heavens”: Quoted in Smith, Civil War Savannah, 196.

  “it made a fearful”: Platter, “Civil War Diary,” UGA.

  “grocery cellars”: Wheeler, Letters and Journal, ALL.

  “The boys got plenty”: Stauffer, “Civil War Diary,” n.p.

  “
The rebels left everything”: Chicago Evening Journal, 1/10/1865.

  “Took dinner”: McLean, Family Papers, NYL.

  “heartily sick of the war”: Padgett, “With Sherman through Georgia,” 62.

  “There are eight”: Frances Howard incident in Jones, When Sherman Came, 87.

  “The navy-yard”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:217.

  “As I feared”: Lamar, Papers, GSA.

  “You can form no”: Anderson, Letter, EU.

  “When the morning light”: Quoted in Drago, “How Sherman’s March,” 364.

  “so the rising and falling”: Hight and Stormont, Fifty-eighth Regiment, 442.

  “The amount of property”: Mead Papers, LOC.

  “depots of the Savannah and Gulf”: New York Herald, 12/30/1864.

  “They looked tired”: Frances Howard incident in Jones, When Sherman Came, 87–88.

  “General Sherman, the bravest”: Chicago Evening Journal, 1/10/1865.

  “I…feel as if”: Roe, Papers, KNX.

  “Savannah has fallen!”: Hurlbut, Letters, KNP.

  “I beg to present you”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:231.

  CHAPTER 22. “BUT WHAT NEXT?”

  “All hands are working”: Hinkley, Papers, WHS.

  “Nails had been collected”: Grunert, History, 160.

  “The lovely square”/“noble Geary”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 213–14.

  “All of our Squares”: Quoted in Smith, Civil War Savannah, 219.

  “activated by no motives”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 213–14.

  “spectacle of humbled”: Blair, Politician Goes to War, 220.

  “In fact, 24 hours”: National Tribune, 9/12/1901.

  “On the street”: Cincinnati Daily Commercial, 1/1/1865.

  “things that seemed hard for us”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 224.

  “They are all astonished”: Hutchinson, Papers, LSU.

  “Where resistance is hopeless”: Quoted in Dyer, “Northern Relief for Savannah,” 460–61.

  “Do you think”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 229.

  “Oh it is a crying shame”: Ibid., 219.

  “The proceedings will be used”: Miers, Rebel War Clerk’s Diary, 476.

  “If there is one sink lower”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 219.

  “No provision has been made”: OR 44:800.

  “The city is beautifully laid out”: National Tribune, 9/12/1901.

  “Many of the parks”: National Tribune, 6/20/1901.

  “Every alternate square”: Baker, Memoir, ALL.

  “a place of somber beauty”: Willison, Reminiscences, 105.