USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 1 > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
The version furnished by Judge Wright is a most important contribu- tion to this peace narrative. He spent two weeks in Washington, conferring daily with President Lincoln and his Cabinet, and finally brought back to Mr. Davis messages of his willingness to enter upon peace negotiations. The report of Mr. Lincoln's views is wholly new, and is of incalculable value historically. Some of his statements will be a revelation, and must do great honor to his memory. Among the remarkable statements were, that " the South was a part of liis country, and as dear to him as the North. He had never had an idea of inter- fering with her rights." Also, that "he then had his proclamation of amnesty written for the whole South, from Mr. Davis down to the humblest citizen, and though a part of his Cabinet was opposed to it, the day we laid down our arms it would be published, and the South restored to her rights iu the Union as far as was in his power." Also, that he was favorable to a gradual emancipation of the blacks in twenty- one years. Mr. Lincoln's message to Mr. Davis was a very earnest one. Judge Wright says that Mr. Lincoln "extracted from him a solemn promise that his friendly sentiments and his earnest desires for peace on the basis of the rights of the States should be truly, fully and earnestly impressed upon Mr. Davis."
Judge Wright never had the chance of seeing Mr. Davis until after the close of the war, and the message was, therefore, not delivered. Judge Wright, however, told Mr. Lincoln that the peace mission would be hopeless. There is little doubt, in the light of subsequent events, that Mr. Davis would have refused to act on these messages. His unquenchable faith in the ultimate success of the Confederate cause, and his unbending resolution to make no compromise, would have been an insuperable barrier to any peace based upon the only idea upon which Mr. Lincoln was willing to close the war, viz .: the submission of the South to the Union.
305
PUBLIC OPINION IN GEORGIA ON SHERMAN'S PEACE EFFORT.
Remembering that his peace effort was made in September, 1864, and that the celebrated Hampton Roads conference between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward, of the North, and Mr. Stephens, Mr. Hunter and Judge Campbell, of the South, took place in February, 1865, five months after, it will be seen that Gen. Sherman's attempt at peace was. the first that was made. The South, in 1864, was in a much better condition to nego- tiate peace than in 1865, and could have gained better terms. Mr. Stephens was engaged in both attempts. In his book, "The War between the States," he gives a full account of the Hampton Roads conference, and it is a matter of interesting significance that it is shown very clearly that Mr. Lincoln was governed by the same ideas of policy in both. The two peace efforts constitute a valuable and striking episode of the great struggle, and will form an important and suggestive chapter in the history of our civil war.
The matter at the time created a good deal of excitement in the public mind in Georgia. There was a varied comment upon it. Some claimed that it was the duty of Gov. Brown and Mr. Stephens to accept General Sherman's invitation, and make an effort to settle our troubles by negotiation. Others, though not many, in their flaming zeal, con- tended that it was the duty of the Governor to seize General Sherman's messenger and order him hung as a traitor. The prevailing opinion was that nothing would come of it. But the incident was another link in the chain of Georgia's governing influence in the great struggle, an influence that covered both the war-like and peaceful features of the revolution.
The final strategy of this ghastly Georgia campaign must look, far off in the cool, impartial future, like a terrible drama of tragic harle- quinade. Hood did the very folly that Sherman would have prayed for him to do, had he been a pious man. As it was, the wily Federal said, " If Hood will go to Tennessee, I will give him rations to go with." Mr. Davis had most unwisely blazoned in his speeches to the dejected public this Tennessee programme. And as it reached Sherman he had thus spoken. With Forrest banging and gashing at his long line of communication, hundreds of miles, and a stout, solid, fierce army before him, he would have had a tough time. Ilis fiat of exile for the city of Atlanta evidenced his seuse of danger. To have stayed in Atlanta was unspeakably perilous. To have gone back would have vielded the good of his victory. To go forward was to cut loose from his base into the atmosphere like an anchorless ship. Sherman was deeply anxious. As he took Atlanta he made with a part of his force
20
306
SHERMAN STARTS TO THE SEA.
a little tentative dash at Hood's entrenched line at Lovejoys, and recoiled, shivering. In this perplexing hour, Hood gayly bid adieu to Atlanta, and coquetting up the state road, capturing squads at Big Shanty, Acworth and Dalton, and destroying a respectable amount of railway track, skipped into Alabama, and thence into Tennessee. Sherman sent off Thomas to care for Hood, took a little scout himself in that direction, satisfied himself that Hood had really gone blunder- ing, and stripping himself to about 60,000 men, he started for the Atlantic Ocean.
He began his easy but destructive march on the 15th day of Novem- ber, 1864. Spreading out his columns to a width of about forty miles, foraging his army as he went along, tearing up every mile of railroad track, gutting villages, cleaning up provisions, pillaging houses, destroy- ing furniture, gathering hordes of negroes to be dropped, the jaunty, massive column left a blistering devastation for three hundred miles upon the fair bosom of our noble state. In the writer's temporary home in Sandersville a piano was butchered to fragments, books and pictures destroyed, and for days the female inmates of the household lived upon corn gathered from where the horses of the Federal troop- ers had been fed. In his dispatches to Gen. Grant about this move- ment Sherman foreshadowed the desolation in such expressions as " utter destruction of roads, houses and people," "make Georgia howl," "make a wreck of the road.and of the country," "smashing things to the sea," "make the interior of Georgia feel the weight of war," and " ruin Georgia."
There was no opposition to speak of. The strange spectacle had been seen of two great armies in deadly tug, deliberately leaving each other, and marching in opposite directions to conquer the fight. A division of Wheeler's cavalry pegged away on the advancing column. At Macon, Gen. Cobb went out and rattled with a division of the Georgia militia at the huge serpent. At Griswoldville, ten miles below Macon, there was a bloody little fight between Sherman and our Georgia militia, in which these troops fought with the gallantry and skill of veterans, inflicting heavy loss and suffering severe punishment with steady nerve. In Burke county there was some sprightly but ineffect- ual brushing. But Sherman went on flipping off these attacks with unconcern. Our little force kept the thing lively in proportion to num- ·bers. Sherman reports 764 men lost on the marel, and 1,338 captures of Confederates.
The incidents of this march were dramatic in their destructiveness.
·
WHAT WAS DONE IN MILLEDGEVILLE. 307
Atlanta was fired, and Sherman marched out amid the crimson flames of the city and a volley of exploding ammunition that sounded like a des- perate battle, his men singing, "John Brown's soul goes marching on." Of about 5,000 houses all were destroyed except about 400. Eleven- twelfths of the place, shops, depots, mills, dwellings, stores, were burned. A few stores on Alabama street were left. The residences between Lloyd and Washington streets were left, and most of the churches, thanks to Father O'Riley of the Catholic church. Three thousand car- casses of animals lay in the streets. The very dead were taken from their vaults and the coffins stripped of silver tippings. Gen. Sherman had his headquarters one night on Howell Cobb's plantation, and on learning the fact ordered the soldiers to spare nothing.
On the 23d day of November, 1864, the legislature of Georgia, being in session, Gov. Brown received a telegram during the dinner hour that General Sherman had left Atlanta the day before and was on the march through the country for Savannah. As soon as this information was spread through the town, the people became greatly excited, and the members of the legislature, who had adjourned for dinner at the time, participated in the excitement, and began making preparation for a rapid transit from the Capital, as it was not known how soon the car- alry, who were supposed to be a good way in advance of the army, might reach Milledgeville. The bills and other matters before the Gen- eral Assembly at the time it adjourned for dinner, were left lying on the desks and no one returned to look after them. Fabulous prices were paid for conveyances of different sorts ; and the members during that afternoon had nearly all left the Capital on their way home with the best means of conveyance at their command, taking such routes as in their opinion could not be interfered with by the invading army. Some took the railroad trains; others got carriages, buggies, wagons or what- ever else came in their way. This left the city almost destitute of vehicles for transportation.
Soon after Gen. Sherman's movements were known, Gov. Brown gave orders to Gen. Ira R. Foster, the prompt and efficient Quartermaster- General of Georgia, to secure the removal of all the most valuable per- ishable property of the State then at the Capital, consisting of books of record in the State House, the more valuable furniture there, the furniture from the executive mansion and the property of the most value in the penitentiary, arsenal, armory, and in the Quartermaster and Com- missary departments. Herculean efforts were made by the Quarter- master-General to procure transportation and convey the public property
-
308
THE CONVICTS ORGANIZED.
to places of safety as rapidly as possible ; and no one was better quali- fied for the task than General Foster, as he had ability, promptness, de- cision and dispatch in such matters, that were very remarkable. Upon consultation with the Governor it was concluded that the more val- uable books of the library and other such property should be carried to the lunatic asylum and there stored. But as the asylum was located some three miles from the city, with the limited transportation at com- mand, it was impossible to carry there within the short time allowed all the other public property. It was known of course that General Sherman would not burn the lunatic asylum, and it was sup- posed that State property stored in it which could in no way be used for forwarding the purposes of the war would be safe. On further con- sultation it was concluded that it would be best to haul the bulk of the public property of the character above-mentioned, and all the more val- uable property of the State in the city to the railroad depot and try to get it to Macon, before the railroad should be cut, and shipped to south-west Georgia, as it was believed that neither the cavalry of the enemy nor the infantry would likely traverse that country. Part of a train of cars was detained at Milledgeville for that purpose, and other cars in reach were ordered to be sent there promptly. The property was then hauled rapidly to the railroad and loaded on the cars. But as very few wagons could be obtained, and there was great consternation in the city, it soon became next to impossible to procure labor.
Here the Quartermaster-General again consulted with the Governor, who was doing all in his power to aid in the removal, and the Governor informed him that he had determined to pardon the convicts in the penitentiary, and put them under command of the Quartermaster-Gen- eral for the time, to aid in removing the property of the State to a place of safety, and that he would pardon each who would enlist in the State service, and thus try to turn them to the advantage of our cause instead of leaving them for Sherman to use against us. As we were making guns in the penitentiary, it was expected that it would be burned; and if the convicts were in the walls when Gen. Sherman reached there they would either be turned loose for indiscriminate plunder or enlisted in the Federal army. To avoid this Gov. Brown determined promptly on the policy of enlisting them in the State service for the benefit of the Confederacy. He went immediately to the penitentiary, had the convicts drawn up in a line, delivered a short address to them, appealing to their patriotic pride, and offered pardon to each one who would aid in the re- moval of the State property, and then enlist for the defense of the Con-
.
309
THE DISPOSITION OF STATE PAPERS.
federacy. They responded almost unanimously. There were a few life- time men in for murder, who were not included in the offer, and they were sent through the country under guard to a point where they could be shipped on the railroad to South-west Georgia, where they were kept till after Sherman passed through and were then brought back and con- fined in Milledgeville. But the great body of the convicts were formed into a military company under the notorious Dr. Roberts, who was a very intelligent man, and who promptly volunteered, and in that capac- ity they did valuable service in aiding to remove the State property, and loading it upon the train. As soon as this service was done, a suit of soldier's clothing and a gun were furnished to each, and Captain Roberts was ordered to report to Gen. Wayne, who had command of the Georgia cadets, from the Military Institute, at Marietta, then in Mill- edgeville, and a small battalion of other militia. The company was ac- cepted by Gen. Wayne, and carried by him to Savannah, on his retreat in advance of the Federal army, and they were used in annoying it wherever Gen. Wayne saw an opportunity to strike a blow. A portion of the convicts deserted and left, but a large majority of them, including Capt. Roberts, remained at their post doing duty faithfully during the cam- paign; so that the discharge became honorable.
As already stated, the members of the legislature generally left the city on the afternoon of the 23rd day of November, 1864. Gov. Brown and family, and Gen. Foster, and Gen. Wayne, and some of the other heads of the departments remained in the city until the next afternoon. All the more valuable property of the State had been secured either in the asylum or sent to safe places or loaded upon the cars ready to be re- moved to South-west Georgia. In the State House the old files of doc- uments and letters for the last half a century or more, which were not regarded very valuable and could not be assorted and taken care of in the limited time, were left in their respective places of deposit. After Gen. Sherman had passed through Milledgeville, and the officers of the State were permitted to return, they found these papers scattered all over the floor of the State House; and as reported by the citizens, large quantities had been used by the soldiers in kindling their fires. In this way many of the old documents, and many of the papers that were filed were destroyed or lost, though they were generally of a character not deemed to be very valuable; and the time, and means of transporta- tion were not sufficient to enable the authorities to care better for them.
The furniture in the Executive Mansion was the last thing attended to. During the afternoon the more valuable and portable portion of it
310
GENERAL IRA R. FOSTER'S ACCOUNT.
was removed as rapidly as possible to the railroad depot and placed on the trains. The scene was a busy and an exciting one. During the twenty-four hours the Governor and the Quartermaster-General re- mained in the discharge of their duty, in taking care of the public prop- erty; their efforts were untiring. A letter addressed by Gen. Foster to a friend in this city at a recent date draws the following picture of the scene:
" I have oftentimes thought of the scenes through which we passed in getting ready to leave Milledgeville on Sherman's descent on that ancient but memorable city of hills. In this drama, I see a man serving his fourth term as Governor of the Great Empire State of the South, after giving orders to his Quartermaster-General on the near ap- proach of the enemy, and putting him in charge of the public property with direction to see that it was taken care of and removed, reversing the order of things by laying hold with his own hands and working both day and night under the direction of his subordi- nate to secure a fulfillment of his general orders. And I see by his side a delicate but anxious wife, unceasingly laboring to accomplish the same end. Notwithstanding this, it has been printed in a book and published in newspapers, and reiterated by many mis- guided tongues, that Gov. Brown, while Sherman's army was descending on Milledge- ville, carried off his own property, including cows and cabbage, and left the State pro- perty behind unprotected. I was in command of the transportation of the property at the time, and I know whereof I speak and I know these statements are unfounded. I know they are untrue. I ought to know more about the taking care and the protection and the removal of the State property at Milledgeville than any one else, as I was there in person and had immediate supervision, with the entire control of the whole thing un- der my own command.
" It is true that some of the old papers were left in the State House, which, if I had had further time, would have all been removed. But the fates of war denied me the desired privilege. The removal of the furniture from the Executive Mansion was the last work. In looking around the mansion to see what ought to be taken along, I discovered in the garden a fine lot of coleworts, and I directed old Aunt Celia, the good old colored cook, without the knowledge or presence of her master or mistress, to cut down the coleworts and bring them near where the wagons were being loaded. I intended to take away the last one of them, as they would be lost where they were, and I had sufficient room in the car to carry them. And I knew the Governor's family would need some, and my own family, . then at Dawson, in South-west Georgia, as Refugees driven from their home in Atlanta before the fierce march of Sherman, would like to have part of them, as they were in a strange country and had no time to raise vegetables, and were much pressed for food of that character.
" I had also, at the Exile camp, near Dawson, seven hundred persons, composed of the widows, wives and children of Confederate soldiers, aged men and maimed and dis- charged soldiers, who had been expelled from Atlanta by Gen. Sherman, homeless and without food. Under Gov. Brown's orders they had been picked up from the line of railroad from Atlanta to Macon, and shipped to Dawson, where I had erected nearly one hundred honses in which they were sheltered and fed at the expense of the State, under the immediate supervision of Capt. Milton A. Candler, who did his whole anty in their behalf. To these homeless sufferers I intended to give most of the coleworts ; but in
31.1
GENERAL IRA R. FOSTER'S ACCOUNT.
this I was disappointed. As I was having the last load of furniture at the Executive Mansion placed on the wagons, a few moments after I had given the order to Aunt Celia to cut the cabbage, Gov. Brown received information by telegraph, that Sherman's cavalry were making rapid advances towards the Central railroad, between Milledgeville and Macon. This message admonished us that we should be up and off, else we might find ourselves prisoners of war. So I had only a few cabbage which were cut and car- ried to the gate by Aunt Celia, thrown on top of the load. Teams were hurried to the train, wagons quickly unloaded on cars, leaving, for want of time to save them, almost the entire lot of fine cabbage standing in the garden. Steain being up, orders were given the engineer to sound his whistle and press for Macon with all possible speed. It is presumable we probably made the trip quicker than it was ever done before by any engine on that particular road. At Gordon we stopped a moment to bid farewell to Gen. Wayne and his staff, who had transportation to carry them down the Central rail- road, with orders to do all in their power to protect the railroad bridge. The State Cadets, a noble band of boys, was uuder Wayne's command.
"A very short time only was spent at Gordon, when the train conveying the Governor and family, the Quartermaster-General and his assistants, and a large amount of state property and furniture was on its way under a full head of steam for Macon, where we arrived just before dark. And on reaching Macon a telegram was handed Gov. Brown, stating that the Federalcavalry had just cut the road at Griswoldville, the next station below. The advanced cavalry must have been almost in sight of Griswoldville when the train passed.
" We remained in the cars that night at Macon. Next morning I went down to South-west Georgia with the train ; and as Sherman's infantry had not reached Macon, and it was understood they would not before that evening, Gov. Brown ran down with us as far as Montezuma, where his family were set off by the side of the road, and left to make their way to his plantation, thirty miles from that point in Dooly county. Ile took an engine and returned upon it rapidly, that evening, to Macon, and reached there, as I am informed, just as Sherman's column, passing by, fired upon the militia. The engagement amounted to very little. The militia were entrenched, and it was not Sherman's policy to attack localities on the lines of his march. His desire was to get through to the sea with as little delay and as little difficulty as possible.
" While we were switched off on a siding at Montezuma, a hurried dinner was pre- pared, and while eating dinner aboard the cars I said to Mrs. Brown, she ought to have had for dinner some of our Milledgeville greens. This was the first time I had named to Gov. Brown or to his wife that I had cut and put on the train any of the cole- worts from the garden in Milledgeville. I doubt that any member of the family knew up to that time that a small number of the coleworts which I had secured were on the train, as the family had left the mansion for the train before the last wagon left that carried the coleworts out and put them upon the cars. Aunt Celia knew that she had cut and loaded a small lot in the yard ; but as she had gone with the family into the train, she did not know that they had been transported to the train.
"I have been thus particular in giving the whole facts, as there was much merriment made over the cabbage story at the time, and much injustice done Gov. Brown, who was in no way responsible for the removal of the few that we carried, and knew nothing whatever about it until after it was done."
At Gordon the following incident occurred. Gov. Brown's eldest
-------
312
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MARCH TO THE SEA.
son, Julius, a lad sixteen years of age, was a member of the cadets, and got aboard to tell the family good-by. The Governor said to him that he must remain at Macon with the troops; that there was no one to go with his mother and little brothers and sisters to South-west Georgia, and he had better go with them. The youth said he would obey, but he would rather die than to do it, as he was unwilling, under any circumstances, to leave the cadets, or fail to share- with them the common danger. The governor told him to go and do his whole duty; some provision would be made for his mother and the children. He went forward with the cadets, and they were placed by Gen. Wayne to guard the Oconee bridge a day or two after, on the advance of the army, where they had a sharp engagement with the enemy; and one of the cadets was shot down by young Brown's side. They drifted down before Sherman to Savannah, and there reported to Gen. Hardee, and were carried across into Carolina. And this gallant little band of youths did good service as soldiers during the campaign. They were finally returned to Augusta, where they arrived almost naked and half starved. Major G. C. Connor, in charge of some state stores there, furnished them with a suit of clothes apiece; and after their arrival at Augusta they had the necessary rations. Among them were many of the best youths of the state, belonging to some of the most respecta- ble families. They were a gallant and faithful little band.
Gen. Beauregard, from Corinth, Ben Hill and our Confederate Con- gressmen in Richmond, sent dispatches to the people to destroy the enemy, to be firm, to fly to arms, to burn everything they could not re- move, which the Federal officers read in papers, captured at Milledge- ville and ridiculed unmercifully. In the old State house the Federals held a mock legislature, and in a grim spirit of fun repealed the ordinance of secession. Several well authenticated cases of rape occurred. The negroes gave a cordial greeting to the Federals, and many accompanied them to Savannah. Many colored women tramped after the soldiers.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.