Chapter XXIII: Sherman's Army

[Sidenote: Dec., 1864.]

The army under General Sherman fought its way from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and then marched to the sea, capturing Fort McAllister, and opening communication with the fleet under Dupont on the 13th of December, and a few days later made its grand _entree_ into Savannah. A brief review of Sherman's campaign is necessary to a clear understanding of what afterward transpired in his department.

While the Army of the Potomac was pushing through to the south side of the James, the Army of the West was moving upon Atlanta, having driven the Rebels under Johnston from Tunnel Hill, Buzzards' Roost, Resaca, Kingston, Allatoona, and Kenesaw. Johnston fought only on the defensive, and was constantly beaten, abandoning stronghold after stronghold that the Rebels had declared impregnable, and whose surrender they felt was humiliating and disgraceful.

There was a clamor throughout the South for his removal, and the appointment of a general who would take the offensive. Jeff Davis disliked Johnston on personal grounds, and appointed Hood his successor. That officer hurled his troops against Sherman's breastworks, and suffered a damaging defeat. Sherman in turn made a flank movement, and compelled Hood to evacuate Atlanta, which Sherman occupied on the 2d of September. Jeff Davis hastened West. He conceived the idea of forcing Sherman to retreat from Atlanta to Nashville, by invading Tennessee. As Hood's army had been driven from Chattanooga to Dalton, losing all its strong positions, this plan is one of the most remarkable in military history. It is hardly within the sphere of sober criticism, but appropriately belongs to the comic page. "Your feet shall again press the soil of Tennessee, within thirty days," said Davis to the soldiers. "The invader shall be driven from your territory. The retreat of Sherman from Atlanta shall be like Napoleon's from Moscow."

Sherman had already contemplated a movement to Savannah, and had opened correspondence with Grant.

"Until we can repopulate Georgia it is useless to occupy it; but
the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people will
cripple their military resources. By attempting to hold the roads
we will lose a thousand men monthly, and will gain no result. I
can make the march and make Georgia howl.... Hood may turn into
Tennessee and Kentucky, but I believe he will be forced to follow
me. Instead of being on the defensive, I would be on the
offensive. Instead of guessing at what he means, he would have to
guess at my plans. The difference in war is fully twenty-five per
cent. I can make Savannah, Charleston, or the mouth of the
Chattahoochee, and prefer to march through Georgia, smashing
things to the sea."

Grant authorized the movement. Hood was preparing to move north.

Sherman's right wing, commanded by Howard, was composed of Osterhaus's Fifteenth Corps and the Seventeenth, under Blair; Slocum had his left wing, containing the Fourteenth Corps under Jeff. C. Davis, and the Twentieth with Williams.

The Twentieth was consolidated from the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, which had fought at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.

Sherman sent his last despatch to Washington on the 11th of November. On the 17th, the day on which Sherman left Atlanta, Hood crossed the Tennessee River, to make the movement which was to compel Sherman to evacuate Georgia!

Sherman's southward march was a surprise to the Rebels. They affected joy, and predicted his destruction.

Said the Augusta _Constitutionalist_:--

"The hand of God is in it. The blow, if we can give it as it
should be given, may end the war. We urge our friends in the
track of the advance to remove forage and provisions, horses,
mules, and negroes, and stock, and burn the balance. Let the
invader find the desolation he would leave behind him staring him
in the face.... Cut trees across all roads in front of the enemy,
burn the bridges, remove everything possible in time, and, before
the enemy arrives, burn and destroy what cannot be
removed,--leave nothing on which he can subsist; and hide the
millstone and machinery of the mills.... The Russians destroyed
the grand army of Napoleon, of five hundred thousand men, by
destroying their country, by the fulness of fire applied to their
own cities, houses, and granaries. Let Georgians imitate their
unselfishness and love of country for a few weeks, and the army
of Sherman will have the fate of the army of Napoleon."[72]

[Footnote 72: Augusta _Constitutionalist_, November 22,
1864.]

Said the Savannah _News_:--

"We have only to arouse our whole arms-bearing people,--hover on
his front, his flanks, and rear,--remove from his reach or
destroy every thing that will subsist man or beast,--retard his
progress by every means in our power,--and, when the proper time
comes, fall upon him with the relentless vengeance of an insulted
and outraged people, and there need be no doubt of the
result."[73]

[Footnote 73: _News_, November 22, 1864.]

If it be true," said the _Examiner_ of Richmond, "that Sherman is now attempting this prodigious design, we may safely predict that his march will lead him to the Paradise of Fools, and that his magnificent scheme will hereafter be reckoned

'With all the good deeds that never were done.'"

Almost without opposition Sherman reached the sea, and forced Hardee to evacuate Savannah.

General Sherman is regarded by many people in the Southern States as the Attila of the nineteenth century, because his path from Atlanta to the Roanoke is a widespread scene of devastation. Yet he did only that which the leaders of the Rebellion and the newspapers of the South urged the people to do. They proposed to make the country a ruin in self-defence. Sherman did it to shorten the war. He says:--

"We consumed the corn and fodder in the region of country for
thirty miles on either side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah;
also the sweet potatoes, hogs, sheep, and poultry, and carried
off more than ten thousand horses and mules. I estimate the
damage done to the State of Georgia as one hundred million
dollars; at least twenty million dollars of which enured to our
advantage, and the remainder was simple waste and
destruction."[74]

[Footnote 74: Sherman's Report.]

This is a frank avowal. It is the official utterance of the commander who was instrumental in causing such wholesale destruction. To what end? What was gained by it? Was such destruction warranted? What will be the verdict of history? These are questions which force themselves upon every thinking mind.

General Sherman's vindication of himself is found in his correspondence with the Mayor of Atlanta and with General Hood concerning the expulsion of the non-combatants from that city.

As he could not subsist his army and the citizens also, he ordered that every person not connected with the army should leave the place. The people of that town had done what they could to overthrow the government of the United States. They had given great material aid to the Rebellion. They hated the Union as bitterly as ever, but were willing to be consumers of the food dispensed by a government which they were not willing to recognize as holding rightful authority over them. The Mayor set forth the suffering which would be entailed upon women and children, the poor and sick, by the enforcement of the order.

"You know the woe, the horror, and the suffering cannot be
described in words," said the Mayor. "Imagination can only
conceive of it, and we ask you to take these things into
consideration.... We solemnly petition you to reconsider this
order, or modify it, and suffer this unfortunate people to remain
at home and enjoy what little means they have."

The reply of General Sherman was clear and decisive.

"GENTLEMEN: I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of a
petition to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants from
Atlanta. I have read it carefully, and give full credit to your
statements of the distress that will be occasioned by it, and yet
shall not revoke my order, simply because my orders are not
designed to meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for
the future struggles in which millions, yea, hundreds of millions
of good people outside of Atlanta, have a deep interest. We must
have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in all America. To secure
this we must stop the war that now desolates our once happy and
favored country. To stop the war, we must defeat the Rebel armies
that are arrayed against the laws and Constitution, which all
must respect and obey. To defeat the armies, we must prepare the
way to reach them in their recesses, provided with the arms and
instruments which enable us to accomplish our purpose.

"Now, I know the vindictive nature of our enemy, and that we may
have many years of military operations from this quarter, and
therefore deem it wise and prudent to prepare in time. The use of
Atlanta for warlike purposes is inconsistent with its character
as a home for families. There will be no manufactures, commerce,
or agriculture here for the maintenance of families, and sooner
or later want will compel the inhabitants to go....

"War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought
war on our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a
people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and
I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to
secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our
country....

"You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against
these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the
only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in
peace and quiet at home, is to stop this war, which can alone be
done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in
pride. We don't want your negroes or your horses, or your houses
or your land, or anything you have; but we do want, and will
have, a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That we
will have, and if it involves the destruction of your
improvements, we cannot help it.

"You have heretofore read public sentiment in your newspapers,
that live by falsehood and excitement, and the quicker you seek
for truth in other quarters the better for you. I repeat, then,
that by the original compact of government, the United States had
certain rights in Georgia which have never been relinquished, and
never will be; that the South began the war by seizing forts,
arsenals, mints, custom-houses, etc., etc., long before Mr.
Lincoln was installed, and before the South had one jot or tittle
of provocation. I myself have seen, in Missouri, Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Mississippi, hundreds and thousands of women and
children fleeing from your armies and desperadoes, hungry and
with bleeding feet. In Memphis, Vicksburg, and Mississippi, we
fed thousands upon thousands of the families of Rebel soldiers
left on our hands, and whom we could not see starve. Now that war
comes home to you, you feel very differently, you deprecate its
horrors, but did not feel them when you sent car-loads of
soldiers and ammunition, and moulded shells and shot to carry war
into Kentucky and Tennessee, and desolate the homes of hundreds
and thousands of good people, who only asked to live in peace at
their old homes, and under the government of their inheritance.
But these comparisons are idle. I want peace, and believe it can
only be reached through Union and war; and I will ever conduct
war purely with a view to perfect an early success.

"But, my dear sirs, when that peace does come, you may call upon
me for anything. Then will I share with you the last cracker,
and watch with you to shield your home and families against
danger from every quarter. Now, you must go, and take with you
the old and feeble; feed and nurse them, and build for them in
more quiet places proper habitations to shield them against the
weather, until the mad passions of men cool down, and allow the
Union and peace once more to settle on your old homes at
Atlanta."

General Hood protested against the order. By a flag of truce he sent a letter, saying:--

"Permit me to say, the unprecedented measure you propose
transcends in studied and iniquitous cruelty all acts ever before
brought to my attention in this dark history of the war. In the
name of God and humanity, I protest, believing you are expelling
from homes and firesides wives and children of a brave people."

To this Sherman answered on the same date:--

"You style the measures proposed, 'unprecedented,' and appeal to
the dark history of war for a parallel, as an act of 'studied and
iniquitous cruelty.' It is not unprecedented, for General
Johnston himself very wisely and properly removed the families
all the way from Dalton down, and I see no reason why Atlanta
should be excepted. Nor is it necessary to appeal to 'the dark
history of war,' when recent and modern examples are so handy.
You yourself burned dwelling-houses along your parapet; and I
have seen, to-day, fifty houses that you have rendered
uninhabitable because they stood in the way of your forts and
men. You defended Atlanta on a line so close to the town that
every cannon-shot and many musket-shots from our line of
investment, that overshot their mark, went into the habitations
of women and children. General Hardee did the same thing at
Jonesboro', and General Johnston did the same last summer at
Jackson, Mississippi.

"I have not accused you of heartless cruelty, but merely instance
these cases of very recent occurrence, and could go on and
enumerate hundreds of others, and challenge any fair man to judge
which of us has the heart of pity for the families of 'brave
people.' I say it is kindness to these families of Atlanta to
remove them at once from scenes that women and children should
not be exposed to; and the 'brave people' should scorn to commit
their wives and children to the rude barbarians who thus, as you
say, violate the rules of war as illustrated in the pages of its
'dark history.'

"In the name of common sense, I ask you not to 'appeal to a just
God' in such a sacrilegious manner,--you who in the midst of
peace and prosperity have plunged a nation into war, dark and
cruel war; who dared and badgered us into battle; insulted our
flag; seized our arsenals and forts that were left in the
honorable custody of a peaceful ordnance sergeant; seized and
made prisoners even the very first garrisons sent to protect your
people against negroes and Indians, long before any other act was
committed by the, to you, 'hateful Lincoln government,' tried to
force Missouri and Kentucky into rebellion, in spite of
themselves; falsified the vote of Louisiana; turned loose your
privateers to plunder unarmed ships; expelled Union families by
the thousands, burned their houses, and declared by acts of your
Congress the confiscation of all debts due Northern men for goods
had and received. Talk thus to the Marines, but not to me, who
have seen these things, and who will this day make as much
sacrifice for the peace and honor of the South as the best-born
Southerner among you. If we must be enemies, let us be men, and
fight it out as we propose to-day, and not deal in such
hypocritical appeals to God and humanity.

"God will judge us in due time, and he will pronounce whether it
will be humane to fight with a town full of women and the
families of 'a brave people' at our back, or to remove them in
time to places of safety among their own friends and people."

Notwithstanding the excesses which were committed by the foragers on Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea, his army maintained its discipline. The soldiers while in and around Savannah were orderly and quiet. No woman was insulted; there was no debauchery, no breaking open of houses. Citizens could walk the streets and engage in business without molestation. Life and property were respected. General Sherman in his official report thus spoke of the conduct of his soldiers:--

"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.

"The behavior of our troops in Savannah has been so manly, so
quiet, so perfect, that I take it as the best evidence of
discipline and true courage. Never was a hostile city, filled
with women and children, occupied by a large army with less
disorder, or more system, order, and good government. The same
general and generous spirit of confidence and good feeling
pervades the army which it has ever afforded me especial pleasure
to report on former occasions."

Although Sherman's army was composed of four corps, the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Twentieth, he had another made up from all of these, which, though unknown in the war office, was of much service to him and of great damage to the enemy. It was known as the "Bummer" Corps. The word is not to be found in either of the American unabridged dictionaries, though it has become historic. Who made it, or how it came into use, is not known. It may have been derived from the word _bum-bailiff_, which is a corruption of bound-bailiff, a subordinate civil officer appointed to serve writs and to make executions, and bound with sureties for a faithful discharge of his trust; or from _bum-boat_, a boat used for conveying provisions, fruit, and supplies from shore to ship. From the two words we get the full meaning of the term _Bummer_.

Sherman could not start from Atlanta with sufficient supplies of bread, meat, and corn for his great march. He must live on the country. Hence he marched in four parallel columns, near enough to aid each other if attacked, yet far enough apart to mow a swath forty or fifty miles in width.

The foraging party, numbering over five thousand, always on the alert, ever in the advance, kept ahead of Kilpatrick with his cavalry.

"If I come to a town or village or plantation, and stop to obtain forage, I find that the infernal bummers have been there," said Kilpatrick.

Having authority to take provisions, the bummers were not tardy in executing their trust. They went in squads, fought the Rebel skirmishers, and defeated Wheeler's cavalry in several encounters. No matter how rich a prize there might be of poultry in a farm-yard, the appearance of a Rebel brought them into line for mutual defence.

Sometimes they came in with a dozen fresh horses loaded with chickens, turkeys, and pigs. In one instance a squad, with live fowls dangling at their saddles, was confronted by Rebel cavalry. They formed in line, fired a volley, and started upon a charge. The galloping of the horses, accompanied by the flapping of wings, the cackling of hens, gobbling of turkeys, and squealing of pigs, stampeded the horses of the enemy, and gave the bummers an easy victory.

Farm wagons were confiscated and filled with provisions,--jars of jelly, preserves, pickles, and honey, baskets of sweet potatoes and legs of bacon. They often rode grandly in family carriages, accompanied by crowds of grinning negroes, who had pointed out the places where the planters had secreted provisions, and who watched for Rebels while the bummer secured his plunder; and then, when the master was out of sight, bid good by forever to the old plantation, and with light hearts leaped the fences, on their way to freedom.

There were two classes of bummers,--the regular soldier of the corps, who kept his comrades well supplied with good things, and the irregular member, whose chief care was to provide for himself.

They were of great service, not only as foragers, but as flankers and scouts, keeping Sherman well informed of the whereabouts of the Rebels. Yet their lawlessness had a demoralizing tendency. Some were tender-hearted, and took only what was needed to eat, while others ransacked houses, ripped open feather-beds, smashed looking-glasses and crockery, and tumbled tables and chairs about unceremoniously, frightening women and children. But a bummer outraging a woman would have been hung by his fellows on the nearest tree, or if not by them he would have had short respite of life from the soldiers in the ranks.

While in Savannah they had no occasion to ply their vocation, as provisions were abundant. Noticing full-grown chickens picking up corn in the streets, I expressed my surprise to an officer of the Twentieth Corps.

"The fact is," he replied, "we have lived on chickens all the way from Atlanta. We have had roast chicken, fried chicken, and stewed chicken, till we are tired of it."

But when Sherman resumed his march through South Carolina, the bummers were keener than ever. The whole army was eager to begin the march. Each regiment, when it crossed the Savannah River, and set foot in South Carolina, gave a cheer. They were in the hot-bed of Secession.

"We'll make South Carolina howl!" they said.

I saw an unoccupied mansion, upon the floors of which were Brussels and tapestry carpeting, and mirrors of French plate-glass adorned the parlor. There was a library with well-filled shelves, and in the drawing-room a costly rosewood piano,--all of which in an hour were licked up by the flames.

Far away to the north, as far as the eye could reach, were pillars of smoke, ascending from other plantations.

"We'll purify their Secession hate by fire," said one.

The soldiers evidently felt that they were commissioned to administer justice in the premises, and commenced by firing the premises of the South Carolinians. They were avengers, and their path through that proud State was marked by fire and desolation. "South Carolina began the Rebellion, and she shall suffer for it. If it had not been for her there would have been no war. She is responsible for all the misery, woe, and bloodshed." Such was the universal sentiment.

Although Sherman's troops carried the torch in one hand and the sword in the other, and visited terrible retribution upon the Rebels, they were quick to relieve the wants of the truly loyal. A few days before reaching Savannah they came to a plantation owned by a man who through all the war had remained faithful to the Union. He had been hunted through the woods with bloodhounds by the Rebel conscript officers. Hearing the Yankees had arrived, he came out from his hiding-place, and joined the Twentieth Corps, with the intention of accompanying it to Savannah. The soldiers made up for him a purse of one hundred and thirty dollars. When it was presented he burst into tears. He could only say, so great was his emotion, "Gentlemen, I most heartily thank you. It is a kindness I never expected. I have been hunted through swamps month after month. My wife and children have been half starved, insulted, and abused, and all because we loved the old flag."

The stories which were told by those refugees, of Union men and conscripts hunted by bloodhounds, of imprisonment and murder by Rebels,--of the sufferings of the Union prisoners at Millen, Libby, Salisbury, and Andersonville,--wrought the soldiers of Sherman's army into a frenzy of wrath against South Carolina.