USA > Ohio > The history of Fuller's Ohio brigade, 1861-1865; its great march, with roster, portraits, battle maps and biographies > Part 23
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 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
The strength of this army as officially reported on November 10th, was : Infantry, 52,796; Cavalry, 4,961; Artillery, 1,788. Aggregate, 59,545.
The number of guns was sixty-five, generally in batteries of four guns each, twenty-five hundred wagons of six mules each and six hundred am- bulances with two horses each. The wagon trains were divided equally be- tween the four corps. These on the march occupied about five miles of road. Each soldier carried on his person forty rounds of ammunition. There were on hand one million two hundred thousand rations, which was about a twenty days' supply. There was a good supply of beef cattle to be driven on the hoof. The supply of oats and corn was limited to five days. The machine shops, arsenals, railroad depots and shot and shell were all destroyed at Atlanta as they had been at Rome, Georgia. The flames did not reach the Court House nor the great mass of dwelling houses.
-
CHAPTER XXVI.
PREPARATION FOR THIE MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA, FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA.
Sherman's plans for his future campaign were entirely original, being altogether different from the science of war as laid down in the text books taught at West Point. It was regarded as an experiment and a novel pro- cedure to cut loose, abandon a base, burn bridges behind you and proceed through the enemy's country. "But," as Sherman said, "I can make the march and make Georgia howl." And again "Hood may turn into Ten- nessee 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 my guessing of what he means to do, he will have to guess at my plans. The difference in war would be fully twenty-five percent. I can make Savan- nah, Charleston, or the mouth of the Apalachicola. I prefer to march through Georgia, smashing things to the sea."
"I must have alternatives:" he said. "else being confined to one route. the enemy so might oppose that the delay and want would trouble me: but having alternatives. I can take so eccentric a course that no general can guess at my objective. Therefore, when you hear I am off, having look- outs at Morris Island. S. C. Ossabaw Sound, Georgia, Pensacola and Mobile Bay, I will turn up somewhere, and believe me, I can take Macon, Milledgeville, Augusta and Savannah, and wind up with closing the neck back of Charleston, so that they will starve out. This movement is not purely military or strategic but it will illustrate the vulnerability of the south.'
General Grant promptly authorized the proposed movement, indicat- ing however, his preference for Savannah as the objective, and fixing Dalton as the northern limit for the destruction of the railway. Prepara- tions were instantly undertaken and pressed forward for the consummation of these plans.
General Sherman ordered: "There will be no general trains of sup- plies, but each corps will have its ammunition and provision trains distrib- uted habitually as follows: Behind each regiment should follow one wagon and one ambulance : behind each brigade should follow a due proportion of ammunition wagons, provision wagons and ambulances. In case of danger, each army corps commander should change this order of march by having his advance and rear brigade unencumbered by wheels. The separate columns will start habitually at seven o'clock in the morning, and make about fifteen miles a day, unless otherwise fixed in orders.
244
245
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE MARCH.
The army will forage liberally on the country during the march. To this end, each brigade commander will organize a good and sufficent for- aging party, under command of one or more discreet officers, who will be held to a strict accountability for the conduct of their men, and who will gather near the route travelled, corn or forage of any kind, meat of any kind, vegetables, corn meal, or whatever is needed by the command, aiming at all times to keep in the wagon trains at least ten days' provisions for the command, and three days' forage. Soldiers must not enter the dwellings of the inhabitants or commit any trespass; but during a halt of at camp, they may be permitted to gather turnips, potatoes, and other vegetables and drive in stock which is in sight of their camp. To regular foraging parties must be intrusted the gathering of provisions and forage at any distance from the road travelled."
"The General commanding, calls the attention of all officers to the necessity of enforcing the most rigid discipline, in order to prevent strag- gling, pillaging, marauding, and the evils attendant upon the evacuating of an important town."
"To army commanders alone is instructed the power to destroy mills, houses, cotton gins and so forth, and for them this general principle is laid down; in districts and neighborhoods where the army is unmolested, no destruction of such property should be permitted : but should guerillas or bushwhackers molest our march, or should the inhabitants burn bridges, obstruct roads, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then army corps com- manders should order and enforce devastation more or less relentless, according to the measure of such hostility.
"As for horses, mules, wagons and so forth, belonging to the inhabit- ants, the cavalry and artillery may appropriate freely and without limit. discriminating however between the rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor and industrious, who are usually neutral or friendly. Foraging parties may also take mules or horses to replace the jaded animals of their trains, or to serve as pack mules for the regiments or brigades. In all foraging of whatever kind, the parties engaged will refrain from abusive or threatening language, and may. when the officer in command thinks proper, give written certificates of the facts, but no receipts ; and they will endeavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for their main- tenance.
"Negroes who are able-bodied and who can be of service to the several columns, may be taken along, but each army commander will bear in mind that the question of supplies is a very important one, and that his first duty is to see to those who bear arms.
"The organization at once of a good pioneer battalion for each corps, composed, if possible, of negroes, should be attended to. This battalion should follow the advance guard, repair roads, and double them if possible. so that the columns may not be delayed on reaching bad places. Also, army commanders should study the habit of giving the artillery and wagons the road, and marching the troops on one side, and also to instruct their troops to assist wagons at steep hills or bad crossings of streams.
-4
246
FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE
"Captain O. M. Poe, Chief Engineer, will assign to each wing of the army a pontoon train fully equipped and organized and the commander . thereof will see to its being properly protected at all times."
THE MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA ; SIEGE OF SAVANNAH ; RAID TO ALTAMAIA RIVER : CAPTURE OF SAVANNAH : TRANSFER OF THE DIVISION TO BEAUFORT, SOUTH CAROLINA.
The Army now stood marshalled for the march through Georgia. It- sick and wounded had been sent to the rear, and as General Grant said, "atter all its depletions, there were remaining in ranks, strong and hardy men, numbering sixty thousand of as good troops as ever trod the earth." All the men were hardened by the activity and training of over three year- of constant warfare in the field of arms. They had come from their victories in Missouri, New Madrid, Donaldson, Iuka, Corinth, Vicksburg. Chattanooga, the campaign through northern Georgia, and the victories just won around Atlanta. They were full of enthusiasm, exultation and bound- less confidence, an ensemble, the most remarkable, the most redoubtable array of men, the finest soldiers the world had ever seen. Every man told off by the Company Sergeants at roll call was a hero, every voice making response, struck a full note in the chorus of freedom's morning song, no fear of death could drive them from the front of the enemy, no mountain beyond their enterprise, no stream more irresistible than their courage. their history was a chain of seeming impossibilities, easily accomplished. The men were possessed of miraculous vitality, their wounds were hardly ever mortal. They wrought for their country, many had died gloriously. they had conquered an empire. These men to the extent of three-fourths of their number, in the ranks were able to command a regiment and any one a company. The Confederates themselves, full fledged soldiers had to meet these brave dashing veterans.
The First Division moving out on the road from Atlanta, took a swinging step, marching steadily and rapidly with cheery look and singing the song "John Brown's soul goes marching on." The men seemed to make light of the thousand miles that lay between them and Richmond. They reached the hill just outside the old rebel works and the very ground where the bloody battle of July 22nd was fought. They turned to look back upon the scenes of their past battles and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind them lay Atlanta, smouldering in ruins, the black smoke rising high in air and hanging like a pall over the city.
247
THE GREAT MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA.
The right wing and Cavalry followed the railroad southeast toward Jonesborough. The Twentieth Corps led off to the east by Decatur. These were divergent lines designed to threaten both Macon and Augusta, at the same time, so as to prevent a concentration at our intended destination Milledgeville, the Capitol of Georgia, distant one hundred miles. The time allotted each column for reaching Milledgeville, was seven days. The First Division, with the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps marched toward Gordon Junction, twelve miles from Milledgeville.
On November 15th, this fine body of invincible troops commenced their famous march for Savannah, Georgia. The entire army in four columns marched out of Atlanta on four parallel roads, Cavalry on the flanks, Fifteenth Corps on the right, Seventeenth Corps on the right center, taking the McDonough Road, Twentieth Corps on the left center, the Fourteenth Corps on the left. Almost all day, the artillery, commissary and altinuni- tion wagons, occupied and moved in the road, while the infantry marched through the rough lands on each side, to protect the flanks. The width of this strip of country over which these columns marched, varied from sixty to seventy-five miles. On the first day, the First Division occupied the position of rear guard to the army. March was made till midnight, camp- ing at Cotton Indian Creek, and starting again at four o'clock in the morn- ing. The columns dragged along slowly, with frequent stops and starts till three o'clock in the afternoon when rapid marching commenced and continued till the morning of the 17th. After reaching the head of the column, a short stop was made for the men to prepare their coffee, then they continued for a distance of thirty-five miles, camping at Jackson. These regiments guarding trains in the rear, frequently got into camp just as the advance columns were starting out.
On November 18th, the Division marched to the Ocmulgee River, and after dark, crossed over on a pontoon bridge. The weather grew warm, and rainy, the soldiers were hungry and cursing, the drivers were yelling at the tops of their voices at the mules and every one seemed vexed and out of humor. Besides many soldiers, the night before, had used their blankets for tents as a protection from the down pour of rain. The blankets were now so wet and heavy, that they were cast off to be destroyed by fire and the men must sleep without covering.
One day as Sherman was riding on horseback, along the ranks, a soldier sang out, "Uncle Billy, Grant is waiting for us at Richmond !"
Newspapers that were captured contained appeals to the people of Georgia. The following is a sample :
Richmond, November 19th, 1864.
To the people of Georgia :
We have had a special conference with President Davis and the Secre- tary of War and are able to assure you that they have done and are still
-
248
FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
doing all that can be done to meet the emergency that presses upon you. Let every man fly to arms! Move your negroes, horses, cattle, and pro- visions from Sherman's Army, and burn what you cannot carry. Burn all bridges, block up the roads in his route, assail the invader in front. flank and rear, by night and by day. Let him have no rest.
JULIAN HARTRIDGE, MARK BLAUFORD, Members of Congress.
On November 19th, camp was made six miles south of the village at Monticello. On the 20th, march was made through Hillsboro and Falls Church, reaching Gordon Junction on November 22nd. During a snow storm, camp was made near the Milledgeville and Georgia Central Railroad which was burned and destroyed as was also the Milledgeville Railroad. Portions of the railroads were destroyed each day. These roads were built by laying heavy stringers on the ties, then iron rails spiked to the stringers. Twenty men were detailed from the regiments to collect forage. Hogs and' sweet potatoes were brought in by foragers from a section of the country that had had an abundant harvest.
LAB
11
MARCH TO THE SEA. 1st Division 17th A. C. Tearing up Georgia R. R., Dec., 1864.
-
249
THE ENEMY CONCENTRATING IN FRONT.
On the 24th of November a march was made on the Jackson Ferry Road and the railroad was destroyed. On the 25th, camp was made at Toombsboro. On the 26th, after dark, the Oconee River was crossed at Bald's Ferry, on the Georgia Central Railroad. On the 29th of November the First Division crossed the Ogeechee River, fighting the enemy who tried to prevent the crossing.
At the Oconee River, the First Division met a show of resistance from the rebel troops under Harry Wayne, but a pontoon bridge was soon made and the troops passed over. Our cavalry crossed the Oconee River near Milledgeville. The Twentieth and Fourteenth Corps reached Sandersville on the 26th and drove the rebel cavalry away. General Wheeler with his division of rebel cavalry got between Milledgeville and Augusta, ahead of our Army. General Hardee was in our front trying to arouse the people to annihilate Sherman's Army. He had with him McLaw's Division and other irregular troops. in number not to exceed ten thousand men. The rebel General Bragg was in Augusta and Wade Hampton had been ordered from Richmond to organize a large cavalry force with which to resist our progress.
A TYPICAL CAMP SERVANT,
250
FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
A negro describing the arrival of the Yankees at a station near San- dersville said: "First there came along some cavalrymen and they burned the depot ; then came along some infantry men, and they tore up the track and burned it, and just before I left, they had set fire to the well."
The troops destroyed the arsenal and such public buildings as could be converted into hostile uses, at Milledgeville. Mills and cotton were spared and little damage was done to private property. Kilpatrick's Caval- ry moved rapidly on the branch railroad leading from Milan to Augusta. and had considerable skirmishing with Wheeler's Cavalry there, but believ- ing that our prisoners had been moved from Milan, he returned to Louisville.
Our wagons were full of provisions, but as we approached the sea coast, the country became more sandy and barren and food became more scarce. In a few days however, rice fields began to appear along the Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers, and the rice proved a good substitute both as feed and forage.
At this time the roads were good and nature seemed to favor us. The men seemed to march their fifteen miles a day as if it were nothing. The sight of our camps by night, lit up by the fires of fragrant pine knots, impressed the soldiers agreeably. The Confederate forces were falling back before us, although captured prisoners insisted that we would meet strong opposition at Savannah.
On December 1st. a march of six miles was made by the First Division to the eastward from the Ogeechee River and the railroad was destroyed, at Station 91/2 on the Georgia Central Railroad. On the 2nd, a camp was made at Milan, Station 8. On the 3rd, railroad was destroyed, thoroughly, and a camp was made at Station 7. On the 4th, a march of seventeen miles was made. On the 5th, a march of eight miles was made, reaching the Little Ogeechee River. The enemy disputed our passage, but we dislodged him and crossed over, camping at Station 41/2. On the 6th, railroad was again destroyed. On the 7th, a march of thirteen miles was made over bad roads and quick-sand bottoms. The second Brigade was in the rear of the trains. A camp was made in the night. On the 8th, a camp was made. twenty-one miles from Savannah. On the 9th, with the First Division in advance, we moved in line of battle, ten miles, through low rice fields. skirmishing, and with artillery firing, driving the enemy. Several men in our Division, were killed and wounded by the explosion of torpedoes which had been planted in the road by the rebels. Prisoners were made to march along the road so as to explode their own torpedoes. Camp was made at Pooler, Station 1. ,
On December 7th, an order was received that mounted foragers would not be permitted, that foraging must be done on foot.
251
CROSSING THE OGEECHEE RIVER.
"There will be a rear guard to each regiment and brigade, who will arrest any soldier found straggling. Company commanders will habitually march in the rear of their companies, and any officer found guilty of allow- ing his men to straggle will be arrested and reported to these headquarters. Forage parties must not move in advance of the column, but must keep on the flanks of the command."
On the 10th of December, a movement was made forward five miles skirmishing sharply, losing a few men. After crossing the Ogeechee canal. a position was taken and fortified during the night. At Savannah the enemy was driven into his mammouth earthworks, so formidable in appearance. which had been constructed behind swamps and overflowed rice fields, with. care and skill by Confederate engineers. Black slaves from the surround- ing plantations had been pressed to perform the labor which took over two years to complete. These works were manned by a good garrison. We had run up against the old familiar parapet with its deep ditches and canais and bayous. It looked as it another siege was inevitable. The enemy not only occupied the city itself with its long line of outer works, but the many forts that had been built to guard the approaches from the sea, named Beaulieu, Rosedew. White Bluff, Bonaventura, Thunderbolt, Cansten's Bluff, Fort Tatrall and others.
General Sprague's Second Brigade engaged the enemy in front, while . General Fuller's First Brigade moved around through cypress and rice swamps to the enemy's right. They crossed the canal to the right of the Louisville Road and found the line of parapet continuous. The enemy was driven seven miles, with constant skirmishing, artillery being used on both sides. The country back of Savannah was very low. These submerged and intersected rice fields, salt marshes and boggy swamps were crossed only on narrow causeways or common corduroy roads. The Division Camp was in a dismal swamp where the water covered the ground. in a dense wood of oak pine and cypress. The weather grew very cold, the wind from the sea blew still colder, ice formed in the pools, no fires could be lighted. and the men had no blankets. The wagon trains with supplies were miles in the rear and there were no rations. The men were hungry and cold and they danced around in their wet clothing to keep from freezing. It may be said that at no one time during their service in the army, was their suffering more severe than on that night from exposure and from being deprived of many nights' sleep.
By the 10th of December the city was invested. Communication was opened with our fleet which was waiting for us with supplies and clothing in Ossabaw Sound. General Howard had on the night previous, sent one of his best scouts, Captain Duncan, with two men in a canoe to drift past Fort McAllister and to convey to the fleet a knowledge of our approach.
·
ATLANTA
15 A.C. } AT. WING
4-17
.14
DECATUR
.20
LEFT
-
.CAV.
MACDONOUGHE.
JACKSON ?!
COVINGTON
FORSYTH
MMONTICELLO
MADISON
MACON
GREENSBORO
GORDON
MILLEDGEVILLE
YUNION PT.
IRWINTON! a.
N SPARTA
HEE R.
SANDERS
GIBSON
BOSTWICKIL SLOUIS V.
AUGUSTAde
CUSHING VỊ
WAYNESBORO
CAMILLEN
STATESBORO
· RIV.
CAMERON'S
SYLVANAA
VEGYPT
SAVANNAH
SPRINGFIELD
FORT
-N
SAVANNAH
MILES
0
150
ATLANTA TO SAVANNAH. Sherman's March to the Sea. Nov. and Dec. 1864.
25.2
XEDEN ..
OCONEE
0300
253
FORT MCALLISTER CAPTURED.
Orders were given to General Slocum to press the siege. Mower's Division (the First), of the Seventeenth Corps rebuilt King's bridge over the Ogee- chee River, which was finished on the night of the 12th. Signal rockets were used by the army commanders to communicate with the Union fleet at sea. On the 12th of December, communication between General Sher- man's Army and the South Atlantic blockading squadron under Rear- Admiral Dalgreen was established. The Second Brigade moved to Dillon's Bridge and crossed the Ogeechee Canal to hold the ground between the Great and Little Ogeechee Rivers. The First Brigade inarched with the engineers to the right continuing all day and all night, remaining in camp on the 13th, 14th, and 15th. at King's Bridge.
MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.
Bring the good old bugle, boys, we'll sing another song- Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along- Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong, While we were marching through Georgia. CHORUS Hurrah! Hurrah! We bring the jubilee ! Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free ! So we sang the Chorus from Atlanta to the sea. While we were marching through Georgia.
At sunrise, Hazen's Second Division of the Fifteenth Corps passed over and marched rapidly down the right bank of the Ogeechee River and prepared to assault and carry Fort McAllister by storm. On the action of this Division, depended in a marked degree the safety of our army and the success of the campaign. Kilpatrick's Cavalry had already left the fort and had gone further down the coast to St. Catherine's Sound, where he had communication with a vessel belonging to the blockading fleet. Fort McAllister was strong in heavy artillery against an approach from the sea, but not so strong in the rear. As the sun was setting, a steamer was seen in the distance coming up the river. Soon the flag of the United States was plainly visible. "A group of officers was seen on the deck, signalling with a flag the question, 'Is Fort McAllister taken?' General Sherman signalled back, 'Not yet. but it will be in a minute.' When the sun was still an hour high. Hazen's troops came out of the dark fringe of woods that encompassed the fort, the lines dressed as if on parade, with colors flying and moving forward at a quick, steady pace.
Fort McAllister was then all alive. Its big guns belched forth dense clouds of smoke which enveloped our assaulting lines. One color went down, but was up in a moment. The men had to pass a line of torpedoes that killed many. As the lines advanced there was faintly seen in the white
254
FULLER'S OHIO BRIGADE.
sulphurous smoke, a cessation of firing. The smoke cleared away and the parapets were blue with our men firing their muskets. Fort McAllister was taken with its twenty-two guns and garrison. The good news wa- signalled to our fleet." This opened to us Ossabaw Sound and gave u- free passage to the transports loaded with supplies of hard bread, coffee. bacon, ammunition and so forth, of which the first two named ration- before this we had been almost entirely destitute. The capture of Fort McAllister also enabled the Union War Ships to ascend the Ogeechee River to King's Bridge, fourteen miles south west of Savannah. All railroads leading to Savannah were completely destroyed and the city invested. The left of the army was on the Savannah River, three miles above the city and the right on the Ogeechee River at King's Bridge. The Fourteenth Corps was on the left touching the river next the Twentieth, then the Seven- teenth and the Fifteenth on the extreme right.
At this time, General Grant with his forces was besieging Richmond and Petersburg.
The population of Savannah was estimated at twenty-five thousand and the garrison under Hardee's command, fifteen thousand.
On the 16th. General Mower with the First and Third Brigades of the First Division before rations were landed, marched out for a raid on the Savannah, New Albany and Gulf Railroad, which was destroyed from Savannah to the Altamaha River, a distance of fifty-five miles. The bridge and trestle across the river were also destroyed. The men were several days without government rations, subsisting during that time on sweet potatoes and corn. They complained of hunger many times, and their pinched and haggard faces plainly indicated their suffering. The march- ing and labor were so constant that the opportunities for gathering provision were limited and yet the country ivas cleaned out of eatables all along the route as if an army of locusts had passed through. It was stated by General Sherman when ordering this raid, that plenty of rations could be procured in the section through which these troops were going. Only six wagons of ammunition were allowed to be taken and the time was limited to accomplish the work and return to Savannah, to five days.
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.