TIME MACHINE: Sherman's March to the Sea - Part Two

Here is Part Two on my look at Sherman's March to the Sea. 


TIME MACHINE: SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA - PART TWO

December 21, 2014 marked the 150th anniversary of the end of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's military march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The date also marked the 150th anniversary of Savannah's surrender to his forces. 

Sherman's famous march across the state of Georgia began in Atlanta, Georgia on November 15, 1864. Utilizing aspects of Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant's successful Vicksburg Campaign and Winfield Scott's march to Mexico City, during the Mexican-American War, Sherman cut his army's ties to tradition supply lines and led his forces across Georgia, as they lived off the land, foraging food and livestock. Sherman's forces also destroyed military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property and disrupted not only the State of Georgia's economy and its transportation networks, but also those that belonged to the Confederacy.

The Union forces that departed from Atlanta in mid-November 1864 consisted of two wings. Major General Oliver O. Howard commanded the Army of the Tennessee, also known as the right wing. The left wing consisted of the Army of Georgia, which was under the command of Major General Henry W. Slocum. A calvary division under Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick supported both wings. And the First Alabama Calvary Regiment, a unit Southern Unionists, served as Sherman's personal escort.

Sherman's forces encountered military opposition from Confederate forces led by Lieutenant-General William J. Hardee's Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida; and the state militia. Both the Union and Confederate forces clashed on several occasions; including the Battle of Griswoldville, the Battle of Griswoldville, and the Battle of Waynesboro. All were Union victories. More troops from Hilton Head, South Carolina under the command of Brigadier General John P. Hatch were sent to join Sherman's march by Major General John G. Foster. Hatch's forces fought an action against Georgia militiamen under G.W. Smith at the Battle of Honey Hill, resulting in a Confederate victory.

Sherman's forces finally reached the outskirts of Savannah on December 10, 1864. Unfortunately, he discovered that Hardee had entrenched 10,000 men in good positions. The latter's soldiers also flooded the surrounding rice fields, leaving only narrow causeways available to approach the city. Sherman found himself blocked from linking up with the U.S. Navy under Admiral John A. Dahlgren and new supplies, as he had planned. To unblock his route to the U.S. Navy, he dispatched William B. Hazen's division of Howard's wing and the cavalry to Fort McAllister, guarding the Ogeechee River, in hopes of unblocking his route. On December 13, Hazen and his forces stormed the fort in the Battle of Fort McAllister and captured it within 15 minutes. 

Once Sherman managed to connect to Dahlgren and the Navy's supplies, he set about preparing a siege of Savannah. On December 17, he sent a message to Hardee in the hopes that the latter would surrender. Instead, Hardee and his men escaped across the Savannah River on December 20, leaving the city to the mercy of Sherman's forces. On the following day, December 21, 1864; Mayor Richard Dennis Arnold, with a delegation of aldermen and ladies of the city, rode out to Union lines and offered a surrender of the city in exchange for protection of the city's citizens and their property. Sherman accepted their proposition and later in the day, rode into Savannah with the Union forces that had accompanied him across Georgia. Later, Sherman sent the following telegram to President Abraham Lincoln:

"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."

For more detailed information on Sherman's March to the Sea, I recommend the following books:

*"Sherman's March: The First Full-Length Narrative of General William T. Sherman's Devastating March through Georgia and the Carolinas" (1988) by Burke Davis

*"Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and American Memory" (2014) by Anne Sarah Rubin