USA > New York > Memories of the 149th Regt. N. Y. Vol. Inft., 3d Brig., 2 Div., 12th and 20th A. C > Part 23
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Before dawn of day the brigade which is to lead the column takes the road, preceded by the pioneers, piekets and skirmishers, and a section of artillery. In the 20th Corps the division second in line the day before is first to-day, followed by the third, the first being now in rear and wagon guard ; the brigades in the division, and the regiments in the brigades, regulating the order of march in their respective commands in a similar man- ner. On the march the artillery and wagon train have the right of way, and not infrequently the infantry are seen march-
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ing through the adjacent fields, especially brigades or divisions acting as wagon guard. When the corps wagons are together, as is occasionally the case, they extend over a distance of five miles.
The roads being frequently poor, need constant repairing, especially in wet weather, and when too bad are corduroyed with fence rails or young saplings growing along the roadside. The weather during the Georgia Campaign was unusually good for the season of the year, not many rainy days occurring, and the largest share of the corduroying was done in the vicinity of Savannah.
The head of the column is on the road before sunrise and meets the previous night's pickets standing along the roadside ready to rejoin their respective commands as the column moves by. Not infrequently the pickets are accompanied by large numbers of colored refugees anxious to join the column of Uncle Sam's soldiers in their march to the sea. The novelty of their appearance attracts attention, and their innocence and abiding faith in the "Linkum Men" obtains for them the warmest sympathy of the soldiers. The men of the Union army are regarded by these simple people as their deliverers, and it is impossible to refuse their simple request to accompany the army to freedom. Every effort is made to discourage the old and infirm, still many even of these join the moving column and are not deterred by the difficulties of the way. Many refugees are on foot, while others are provided with means of transportation, generally of a grotesque character.
Frequently during the day short halts are made to repair bridges or bad places in the road, and the soldiers then throw themselves on the ground to obtain rest ; when there is no necessity for these stops they are ordered by the general com- manding, it being the practice in the 20th Corps to make a halt of five or ten minutes for rest once in every three miles.
If the head of the column meets opposition from the enemy the picket are deployed as skirmishers and move on supported by a section of artillery and the infantry column ; but if op-
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position is too strong, a regiment or brigade is deployed to re- move the obstruction ; the command, however, is seldom de- layed by these interruptions, and generally makes its day's. march of fifteen or twenty miles.
A little after noon the head of column goes into camp in the woods and fields where water and fuel are convenient, each succeeding brigade and division retiring beyond those in ad- vance ready for the new order of march the following day. The pickets are deployed so that when the rear comes into camp, which not infrequently occurs several hours after dark, everything is secure for the night.
The men make themselves comfortable, and a man is con- sidered fortunate who has a little straw or evergreen boughs for a bed and an armful of rails for a fire. With a little stiek the soldier puts up his shelter tent, then starts a fire, and home is established for the night. A march of fifteen or twenty miles, with more or less fatigue duty. would be deemed a hard- ship to those unaccustomed to the work, but to Sherman's vet- erans it is a light task, and after supper they are ready for amusement. An old fiddle or banjo is drawn from its hiding- place in the wagon train and members of the refugee column are made to dance a jig or plantation breakdown to the tune of Yankee music. While some are engaged in these higher pastimes, others take part in the lower one of coek-fighting be -; tween game fowls secured by the foragers. The more stu- diously inclined read from books or note the occurrences of the day in a diary, and not a few take a hand in a friendly -game of euchre.
At an early hour the bugle sounds taps, and then the sweet refrain of tattoo, and again silence possesses the land. Thus ends the ordinary experience of the day. When an encounter is had with the enemy, a large river is crossed or a railroad is destroyed, the incidents of the day are modified accordingly.
Perhaps there was nothing connected with the march through Georgia which impressed the soldier more than that of foraging. The system was not one of unlicensed plunder, but one well
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regulated by army orders. In each brigade a detail of fifty men was made with a competent officer, and notwithstanding the additional hardships and dangers, the duty was one much sought after. These details set out at an early hour in the morning in advance of the command and roamed the country pretty much at will. When supplies were found they were brought to the road where the column was expected to pass. and when the proper commissary wagons appeared, they were loaded in. As the train could not be delayed the wagons had to be loaded while in motion, and the ingenuity shown by the commissaries and quarter-master in receiving and loading sup- plies successfully, and the mistakes made, were the occasion of many a ludicrous and laughable incident. The foragers more often, however, came in when the column was making camp, and frequently the return was marked with humorous incidents and farcical parades. On more than one occasion an old- fashioned family carriage filled with supplies was drawn to camp by assorted teams of mules and oxen, or by one or more family cows, while the foragers rode postilion fashion on the nondescript teams. The men never wearied of dressing them- selves in faney garbs, and seareely a day passed when one or more of the foragers did not return in dress suits which had been worn on state occasions by the people in days of yore : plug hats and continental uniforms were in particular favor with U'nele Sam's soldiers.
The 149th entered Milledgeville about six o'clock in the evenmg and immediately crossed the Oconee River on the ordinary bridge, which had not been destroyed, the wagon train crossing on pontoons laid down for the purpose. On the 23d the 3d Brigade spent part of the day in tearing up and destroy- ing a branch railroad connecting Milledgeville with the Georgia Central at Gordon.
Gen. Slocum's head-quarters were at the Milledgeville Hotel. while Gen. Sherman occupied the governor's mansion, recently evacuated by Governor Brown.
Among the humorous incidents which occurred at Milledge-
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ville was the gathering of a number of staff and field officers. in the halls of legislation in the Capitol building, organizing a mock legislature by electing a speaker and other officers, and then, after a good deal of humorous debate, repealing the Or- dinance of Secession and restoring the State of Georgia to its place in the Union.
Before departure all public buildings considered inimical to the United States were destroyed under the supervision of Gen. Slocum.
The 149th broke camp at Milledgeville at seven o'clock in the morning of the 24th and formed in line along the road, but did not march until several hours afterwards on account of the 14th Corps occupying the highway, taking the place of the 20th Corps on the extreme left, a position it maintained afterwards until just before arriving at Savannah. Gen. Sher- man and staff accompanied the 20th Corps from Milledgeville.
Owing to the above delay the first day's march was short, the regiment going into camp at dark on Town Creek on the road to Sandersville. The following day the command was delayed again for several hours at a swamp bordering Buffalo Creek while nine bridges destroyed by Wheeler's Cavalry were restored by the Pioneer Corps. The 2d Division camped on the east side of the creek at dark and moved to Sandersville about noon the next day. The advance was opposed by a de- tachment of Wheeler's Cavalry, but after a lively skirmish the opposition was driven through the town with some loss.
At Sandersville the ed Division turned to the right from the direct route, crossed over to the Georgia Central Railroad at "Tennille Station, arriving there about half-past three, and com- meneed tearing up the railroad track. The depot was burned and about two miles of track destroyed, and then the division bivouacked for the night along the railroad. About midnight the men were routed up and formed in line to resist a supposed attack of cavalry, but the alarm proving false, they soon re- turned to their slumbers. The next day four miles more of railroad was destroyed, the 149th in the mean time acting as pickets and skirmishers.
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About three o'clock in the afternoon the division left off work on the railroad, marched eight miles to Davisboro, and camped for the night. Early in the morning it returned to where it left off work the night before, and destroyed several miles more of track, to the wagon road leading to Davisboro. About four o'clock in the afternoon, while so engaged, the 3d Brigade was attacked by a small body of Wheeler's Cavalry, but the enemy was soon put to flight by a few well-directed shots from the skirmishers, the loss being one man wounded in the brigade and none in the 149th. Late in the afternoon the command again moved to Davisboro.
The 20th Corps reached Ogeechee River without serious op- position on the 30th of November, the 149th with the 3d Brig- ade erossing at five o'clock in the afternoon and going into camp at Louisville, two miles east, near the plantation of Her- schel V. Johnson. The crossing of the Ogeechee was con- sidered the critical point in the campaign, and the officers and men generally felt a sense of relief when on the east side of that stream.
Late in the afternoon of the 3d of December the 3d Brigade passed the stockade at Millen where so many of our prisoners had been confined. Since leaving Atlanta great expectations had been raised in reference to the liberation of these prisoners, and orders had been given by Gen. Sherman to Kilpatrick as far back as Milledgeville covering this possibility, but the enemy early in the campaign divined Sherman's purpose and removed the prisoners from the sphere of his operations, the , officers to Columbia, S. C., and the privates to some unknown place near the Gulf coast. As the men looked upon the barren and bleak enclosure, about three hundred yards square, where thousands of their comrades had been exposed without cover in their nakedness to the inclemency of the weather, saw the little holes in the ground where they had borrowed for protec- tion, and looked upon the seven hundred and fifty mounds marking the graves of those who had perished, they could not help feeling a deep sense of regret that their efforts for the rescue had not been more timely.
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Many blood-hounds were found in the vicinity of Millen which had been used in tracking escaped prisoners, and the men took their revenge on these and in burning the buildings of all persons known to have been concerned in this unhallowed practice ; in fact, throughout this and the subsequent campaign all blood-hounds were shot at sight.
Among the memorable incidents which occurred at this time was the burning of the beautiful depot at Millen : the burning of buildings of different kinds, especially of railroad depots. was too common hardly to attract attention, but in this instance, on account of the proximity of the prison stockade, the extent of the building, the beauty of its architecture, and the brilliancy of the conflagration, universal attention was attracted, and the incident occasioned a good deal of comment.
From Millen the general course of the army was turned from an easterly direction to one leading nearly due south. The sand plains in the eastern part of Georgia were now reached. the country was barren and sparsely inhabited. supplies were difficult to obtain, and the land was covered with dense pine forests. In many places the pine trees were very large, stand- ing far apart, with branches high overhead ; the ground was covered with a mat of soft pine needles, and the army traveled without difficulty outside of the road in parallel lines through the forests. The rich pine knots gave a decided blaze, and the men will never forget the evening camp-fires in the pine forests, and the appearance of the men as they were seen flitting hither and thither in the darkness guiding their footsteps with pitch- pine torches. The tardy troops arriving late at night in camp were frequently lighted on the way by blazing torches, giving to the moving column the appearance of a political procession.
The progress of the 20th Corps during this part of the march was bont slightly impeded until the 9th of December, when the ed Division was deployed in support of the 1st, which had found the enemy in force behind entrenchments on the further side of a large swamp, the road in front being oh- structed by a formidable abatis of pine trees fallen across it.
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The pioneers were unable to remove the obstructions on ae- count of a battery on the further side of the swamp command- ing the approach. After a short delay two or three regiments waded through the swamp on either side of the road and flanked the enemy out of the position. After removing the obstruc- tions in the road the command moved forward and formed on the extreme left of the Union line, touching the Savannah River on the north, and within six miles of Savannah.
On the morning of the 11th of December the 3d Brigade moved through the woods in front, turned to the left. and after proceeding a short distance, advanced to the right in line of bat- tle to an old canal, then dry, within forty rods of the enemy's works, and seenrely established itself with its left resting on the Savannah River. At midnight the brigade was ordered in line to make an attack on Fort Charleston in front, but before advancing the order was countermanded.
From this time until the morning of the 21st of December the brigade occupied the position described subject to an in- cessant shower of shells thrown by the enemy. The brigade line was so close to the enemy that most of his shells exploded after passing it, therefore, by the exercise of great caution no casualties occurred in the 149th, except one to Ezra Hall of Co. II (by shell), but there was constant exposure to danger and the men underwent great nervous strain. While occupying this line, which lasted for several days, supplies had to be ob- tained and cooking done for the men. These matters occa- sioned additional exposure, and notwithstanding the serious character of some of the incidents occurring in relation to them. there was occasionally a humorous side to them. Two men at night went to some negro shanties in rear for fuel. The noise made in demolishing the building drew a volley of shells ; so the twain shouldered a stick of timber and started for home. Another shell met them on the way and came too near for comfort, so suddenly dropping their burden, they scampered for eover amid the jeers and laughter of their companions. One of the men, an Irishman. in a broad brogue exclaimed,
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"Oh, you needn't langh, for I felt the wind of it on the back of me neck."
On the 14th of December the congratulatory order of Gen. Sherman was received announcing the capture of Fort Mc Allis- ter by Hazen's Division of the 15th Corps on the extreme right of the army. The men gave loud cheers, and were rewarded for their temerity by an extra burst of shells from the enemy.
At three o'clock in the morning of the 21st of December a messenger came from the picket and skirmish line announcing a movement in front of the brigade and in the city of Savan- nah ; whereupon the brigade was quickly put in line, following the lead of Companys Band F, commanded by Capt. Knapp and Lieut. Geo. HI. Deitz of the 149th, thrown out as skirmishers, and moved towards the city. After a short distance, it being appar- ent that the enemy was evacuating Savannah, Gen. Geary was no- tified, and the division moved forward and took possession of the city ; the proud honor being accorded to the 149th of being first to enter the city and plant its flag on the City Hall. Gen. Geary was placed in command of the city and his division assigned to provost duty, the 149th being in the southern portion.
It is not the purpose of this narrative to give the general history of events occurring ontside of the 149th Regiment, still it seems not inappropriate to remark that the fruits of this capture were very large and consisted of much valuable prop- erty and munitions of war. The announcement of the capture of Savannah produced a profound sensation throughout the country, and it is difficult to estimate its moral effect on the conduct of the war. Sherman's army felt proud of the achieve- ment, and for its part in the capture, and in the successful march which preceded it, the 149th is at least entitled to honor- able mention.
The city of Savannah at this time had a population of 25,000. It was situate on a high bluff or ridge of land on the right bank of the Savannah River, eighteen miles from its mouth, and was an old and very handsome city. It had a river front of a mile in length, and extended back on the high sandy ridge
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or plateau southerly for a distance of two or three miles. The streets were regular, crossing each other at right angles, and were wide, open and bordered by numerous Southern shade trees.
At regular intervals there were little parks or commons planted with beautiful trees and shrubs, affording breathing places for the people and romping grounds for children. In addition to the small parks, twenty-four in number, in the southern portion of the city were large and attractive grounds known as Forsyth Park containing thirty acres of land laid out with serpentine walks, and in which were evergreens, flower- ing shrubs and many venerable old trees. In the center of this park was a noticeable fountain which attracted mich at- tention and was said to be modeled after one in Paris. In a square in the center of the town was a monument erected in memory of Gen. Greene and Count Pulaski, the corner stone of which was laid by La Fayette during his visit in 1825. The Pulaski monument, erected on the spot where that esteemed officer fell in 1779 during the attack of the British on the city, was fifty-five feet high and pronounced very beautiful.
Although Savannah was situate on a sandy plain, it had many suburban attractions, among which was Bonaventure Cemetery. In the business portion of the town were many public buildings, and substantial brick blocks used for business purposes, yet the principal beauty of Savannah was in its resi- dences and homes ; although not pretentious or costly in con- struction, they were situate far apart, surrounded by beautiful shade trees, flowering shrubs, roses and plants in bloom the year round, and were very attractive, giving to the city the appearance of an immense park.
The warehouses were situate on a narrow street bordering the river with the first stories opening on the piers, and the upper ones on Bay street running along the edge of the bluff in rear. The latter street was over two hundred feet wide, shaded with double rows of trees, and was the commercial mart of the city. The boulevard or promenade, however, was
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Bull street running southerly at right angles from Bay street to Forsyth Park.
The country surrounding the platean on which Savannah is situate is low and swampy, and in high water is submerged : it is principally used for rice culture. The approaches to Sa- vannah in all directions are made on high causeways carrying the roads above the water, and the city is susceptible of easy .defense against attack by land by reason of this peculiarity ; a few pieces of artillery placed in redoubts commanding the causeways being nearly all that is necessary. This will explain why Sherman was so long delayed before Savannah, for at most places in front the water was from three to six feet deep and had to be drained off before the men could approach with- in striking distance.
During the occupation of Savannah the army was visited by many distinguished persons, and many reviews were held in their honor. The most noteworthy of these was one by Gen. Sherman of the 20th Corps in front of the City Exchange on the 7th of January, 1865.
The usual routine of military duties was resumed, and dress parades and other ceremonials were conducted in the most punetilions manner. Many of the men were detailed as guard in private houses, and the relation between the soldiers and citizens became very intimate and cordial. An effort was made to revive polite society, and several public entertain- ments, balls and receptions were held in which the civilians and soldiers participated. The best of good order was maintained. and the officers did all that was in their power to render the presence of the army of as little detriment to the city and its inhabitants as possible.
Among the noticeable incidents occurring was the publica- tion of a newspaper called the "Loyal Georgian", first con- ducted and edited by Moses Summers, former Quarter-master of the 149th Regiment.
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CHAPTER XXIX.
SAVANNAH TO GOLDSBORO.
BEFORE the capture of Savannah it was the purpose of Gen. Grant to transfer Sherman's army by transports to Virginia as soon as it reached the sea coast, consequently the first dispatches received by Sherman, after opening communi- cations by the capture of Fort Mc- Allister on the 13th, were two from Gen. Grant, received on the 16th and 17th, the latter in the nature of a peremptory request to that ef- feet, dated the 6th of December. THE FORAGER. Gen. Sherman mcomplainingly set himself to the immediate task of complying with the order, but owing to varions fortunate circumstances, Gen. Grant soon revoked the order and permitted Sherman to carry out his own preconceived notions of a campaign through the Carolinas, which was known to him. No sooner was Sherman permitted to act as he pleased, than he commenced the work of prepara- tion with his nsual pluek and energy.
It is not our purpose to write a history of the campaign. which has been so ably done by Gen. Sherman himself, but simply to call attention to the fact, that while making a feint on Charleston, by the right wing under Howard, and on Augusta, by the left wing under Slocum, thereby dividing and
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distracting the enemy, it was Sherman's plan to fall on Cohim- bia ; leaving Charleston to fall by its own weight, and then, aided by a counter movement under Schofield and Terry from Wilmington, to occupy Goldsboro and Raleigh.
In furtherance of this scheme Howard's troops, consisting of the 15th and 17th Corps, were to be transferred to Port Royal by transports, and thence occupy Pocotaligo, a station on the Savannah and Charleston Railroad, by the 15th of January ; while the left, consisting of the 14th and 20th Corps, was to move up on either side of the Savannah River, at the same date. Owing to lack of transportation, among other things, only the 17th Corps was taken by sea to Port Royal, the 15th being directed to march to Pocotaligo by land. How- ard occupied the latter place with one corps at the time ap- pointed, but owing to the difficulty of obtaining clothing and supplies, the departure of the balance of the army from Savan- nah was delayed until the 25th of January, at which time the Winter rains had raised the volume of water in the Savannah River to such an extent as to overflow the adjacent low lands and render useless the frail pontoon bridges and approaching causeways. One of the divisions of the 15th Corps, with its wagon train, came near beig lost by the destruction of one of the bridges by high water, so Corse's Division of that corps joined Slocum, who moved up the right bank of the Savannah River to Sister's Ferry, about forty miles above the city of Savannah.
On arriving at Sister's Ferry the river was found overflow- ing its banks, so that it was at least three miles in width, had a stiff current filled with drift wood. and could not be safely bridged by frail pontoons. Slocum had the necessary pluek and energy to surmount obstacles offered by the enemy, but was unable to cope with the elements : so he supplied his troops by means of transports from Savannah and waited for the floods to subside. In the first week of February there came a cold snap, the water subsided sufficient to permit the laying of pontoons, and the troops commenced crossing ; the ed Division
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