Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea

by Noah Andre Trudeau

  “He said he was too weak”: Overmyer, Stupendous Effort, 158.

  “in places”: Noble, Papers, UMB.

  “distributed along”: OR 44:284.

  “quicksand”: Schwab, “Civil War Letters,” CIN.

  “we had to pry”: Short, Diary, WHS.

  “looking like so many stranded”: Byrne, Diary and Journal, RU.

  “a poor looking”: Wheeler, Letters and Journal, ALL.

  “white flags flying”: Trego, Diary, CHI.

  “An almost endless variety”: Fleharty, Our Regiment, 122.

  “All were in a wild state”: Darnell, “Reminiscences,” UDC.

  “a very wet swampy”: Daniels, Diary, HL.

  “had to build four or five”: Clark, Downing’s Civil War, 235.

  “Stopped often”: Anderson, Civil War Diary, 181.

  “about 2,000”: Bargus, Diary, MHI.

  “some poor fellow’s”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 153–54.

  “McLaws’ division”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:194.

  “We hear that the enemy”: OR 44:652.

  “indications now point”: Brockman, “John Van Duser Diary,” 233.

  “All the way”: Arbuckle, Civil War Experiences, 112.

  “about ½ mile”: McKee, Diary, SHI.

  “charge over an open”: National Tribune, 6/19/1919.

  “They took the cars”: Gore, Diary, MHI.

  “At Black Creek”: OR 44:121.

  “There they come”: Grecian, History, 64–65.

  “An apparently small trifle”: Augusta Daily Chronicle & Sentinel, 12/11/1864.

  “We are camped here”: Prior, Letters, GSA.

  “small road branching off”: OR 44:276.

  “the lusty black”: Bryant, History, 289.

  “the worst roads”: Saylor, Letter, WHS.

  “cussing mad”: Trego, Diary, CHI.

  “Captain, corduroy it good”: Brant, History of the Eighty-fifth, 83–84.

  “had raised ‘Hail Columbia’”: Otto, “Civil War Memoirs,” WHS.

  “Like a flash of lightning”: Hight and Stormont, Fifty-eighth Regiment, 431.

  “Our Brigade just got over”: Porter, Diary, OHS.

  “The curiosity of all”: Widney, Diary and Letters, KNP.

  “I dare say the captain”: Miller, Diary, IHS.

  “We had our dinner ready”: Dresbach, Letters and Reminiscence, MHS.

  “The Rebels said”/“The negroes come into our lines”: 92nd Illinois Volunteers, 196.

  “Up to this time”: Miller, Diary, IHS.

  “The groups gathered”: ORS, 7:636.

  “Trees had been felled”: National Tribune, 6/13/1901.

  “A good deal of corduroy”: Force, Papers, UWA.

  “The army has been advancing”: Nichols, Great March, 59.

  “We don’t draw ours”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 156–58.

  “General very much provoked”: Ibid.

  “had washing done”: Engerud, 1864 Diary, 51.

  “We sent our forage”: Glossbrenner, Diary, MHI.

  “Our camp was in a pine woods”: Saunier, History, 360.

  “built works”: Corbin, Star for Patriotism, 160–61.

  “moved without supply trains”: Chamberlin, History, 152.

  “not sufficiently serious”: OR 44:126.

  “Around us are magnificent”: Burton, Diary, EU.

  “Went in swimming”: Roe, Papers, KNX.

  “This is an important point”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 159.

  “inform the naval commander”: OR 44:658.

  “two days [before]”: OR 44:160.

  “against the destructive”: Quoted in Stewart, Reward of Patriotism, 195.

  “injury to the service”: Beauregard, Papers, DU.

  “Having no army of relief”: OR 44:940.

  “thirty-two days”: Jones, Siege of Savannah, 107.

  “Detached field works”: Ibid., 78.

  “overflow”: OR 53:381.

  “consisted of detached works”: Jones, Siege of Savannah, 80.

  “The boys were marching along”: Morhous, Reminiscences, 145.

  “occupy the attention”: OR 44:218.

  “with instructions to advance”: OR 44:218.

  “swamp just at the left”: Wagoner, “From Wauhatchie,” 124.

  “After plunging around”: Duncan, Papers, NJH.

  “obliged at one time”: Funk, Diary, MHI.

  “We waded through a”: Rattenbury, From Wisconsin to the Sea, 79.

  “not…to fight the enemy”: Clark, Histories, 2:634.

  “Advanced as skirmishers”: Rugg, Papers, CSL.

  “most magnificent view”: Short, Diary, WHS.

  “The enemy kept blazing”: Bryant, History, 290.

  “the Johnnies break”: Storrow, Papers, MAS.

  “three or four”: Clark, Histories, 4:334.

  “As I came splashing”: National Tribune, 1/29/1891.

  “the swamp was so deep”: OR 44:250.

  “Useless negroes”: OR 44:502.

  “I…knew [this] must result”: Angle, Three Years, 354.

  “Some hid in the wagons”: Bruce, Personal Memorandum, ISL.

  “As soon as the army”: Pendergast, Family Papers, MHS.

  “It was really pitiful”: Miller, Diary, IHS.

  “The Negro men constructed”: Reed, “Civil War Diaries,” MHS.

  “the raft would carry only”: Rosenow, Pen Pictures, 112.

  “As soon as we were over”: Kerr, “From Atlanta to Raleigh,” 215–16.

  “a great many negroes”: OR 44:410.

  “opened upon us”: McAdams, Every-day Soldier Life, 123.

  “his usual rashness”: Rogers, 125th Regiment, 109.

  “He was literally torn”: Woodruff, Fifteen Years Ago, 434.

  “order was for”: Saunier, History, 361.

  “magnificent…railroad”: OR 44:121.

  “soon encountered”: OR 44:138.

  “breast-works”: OR 44:141.

  “The rebels open fire”: Kimmell, Journal-Report, NYH.

  “to fire altogether”: OR 44:127.

  “The Brigade was too far”: Chamberlin, History, 153.

  “Strong sea breeze”: Jamison, Recollections, 286.

  “We found the enemy”: OR 44:149.

  “subterra shells”: Sherman and the torpedoes in Howe, Marching with Sherman, 161–62: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:194.

  “These torpedoes”: National Tribune, 2/19/1925.

  “In the entrance”: Nichols, Great March, 86.

  “Torpedoes at the entrance”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 161.

  “This was not war”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:194.

  “One of the Rebels”: Cryder and Stanley, “War for the Union,” 462.

  “A Rebel major”: Christie, Family Papers, MHS.

  “This is a new mode”: Hunter, Diary, MHI.

  “disappeared like a covey”: Jamison, Recollections, 286.

  “was on his horse”: Cincinnati Daily Commercial, 1/2/1865.

  “The event distributed”: Pittenger, Diary, OHS.

  “simply a small neat station”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 165.

  “To-morrow we may expect”: Nichols, Great March, 86–87.

  “dressed in what may be considered”: Cincinnati Daily Commercial, 12/21/1864.

  “I don’t think”: Duncan expedition in Howard, “Incidents and Operations,” 433–34; National Tribune, 4/2/1925.

  “to defend the city”: OR 53:382.

  “The outlook”: Roman, Military Operations, 2:313–4.

  “The battery that annoyed”: Quincy Daily Whig & Republican, 1/6/1865.

  “a splendid plantation”: Ladd, “From Atlanta to the Sea,” 11.

  “What have you got”: Bircher incident in Bircher, Drummer-Boy’s Diary, 147–48.

  “We tore up the track”/“made it ‘red hot’”: Miller, Diary, IHS.

  “certain what was firing”:
Kellogg, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, 37.

  “through thick underbrush”: Grunert, History, 147.

  “for he knows”: Storrs, Twentieth Connecticut, 155.

  “I have the honor”: Gildersleeve report in Carmen, Papers, NJH.

  “Confederate trash”: Ross, Diary, ALL.

  “The weather is cold”: Brown, History of the Fourth Regiment, 346.

  “We then commenced”/“was not hurt”: Glossbrenner, Diary, MHI.

  “Every thing is a black muck”: Winther, With Sherman to the Sea, 139–40.

  “The rebels shelled us”: Fultz, “History of Company D,” 77.

  “pell mell through”: Hawley, Diary, WHS.

  “In our front”: National Tribune, 6/13/1901.

  “He had dismounted”: Hedley, Marching through Georgia, 324.

  “The boys thought”: Fultz, “History of Company D,” 77.

  “loud rush”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 170.

  “I could see”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:195.

  “may be considered”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 166.

  “I was driving out”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, 11/21/1885.

  “enemy is in heavy force”: Hardee statements in Beauregard, Papers, DU.

  “some roast pig”: Duncan expedition in Howard, “Incidents and Operations,” 433–44; National Tribune, 4/2/1925.

  CHAPTER 20. “I WAS SOON COVERED WITH BLOOD FROM HEAD TO FOOT”

  “It was supposed”: New York Herald, 1/7/1865.

  “We found by trial”: Widney, Diary and Letters, KNP.

  “noise enough to wake”/“Better keep quiet”: Andrews, Footprints, 152.

  “One man had”: Jackson, Colonel’s Diary, 172.

  “lustily”: Brown, Signal Corps, 347.

  “Rations are very”: McLean, Family Papers, NYL.

  “All that was issued”: Cruikshank, “Civil War Letters.”

  “Our infantry came round”: Christie, Family Papers, MHS.

  “Foraging is played out”: Wilcox, Diary, MHI.

  “found the enemy”: Sloan, Diary, TSL.

  “As we filed”: Storrow, Papers, MAS.

  “found the rebels”: Quint, Record, 253.

  “crossing was slow”: Bryant, History, 293.

  “General…gave him”/“very quiet”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 173–75.

  “every inquiry”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 177.

  “a plan of Fort McAllister”: OR 44:61.

  “about 200 men”: OR 44:690.

  “I was thus thrown”: Quoted in Jones, Siege of Savannah, 123.

  “I have been obliged”: Beauregard, Papers, DU.

  “It was a bitter pill”: Heyward-Ferguson, Papers, SHC.

  “Sherman was in no condition”: New York Herald, 1/7/1865.

  “battle must certainly occur”: Miers, Rebel War Clerk’s Diary, 458.

  “Our situation”: Duncan expedition in Howard, “Incidents and Operations,” 433–34; National Tribune, 4/2/1925.

  “Sir: It is my happiness”: Dahlgren message in ORN, 16:127–28.

  “The excitement”: Quoted in Lawrence, Present for Mr. Lincoln, 181–82.

  “and the vessels”: Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/16/1864.

  “the Corps and Division”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 176.

  “Ambitious Geary”: Parmater, Diary, OHS.

  “dried beef”: Brant, History of the Eighty-fifth, 85.

  “one of our boys”: Strickling, Memoir, OHS.

  “As soon as it was”: Cryder and Stanley, “War for the Union,” 463.

  “You may judge”: Gross, Journal and Letters, MHI.

  “spied a light”: National Tribune, 3/4/1920.

  “As we went along”: ORN, 16:486.

  “falling short”: Bradley, Star Corps, 210.

  “terrific fire”: Text on Georgia State Historical Marker 025-79.

  “was struck three times”: ORN, 16:486.

  “Turn back, Cap”: Bryant, History, 293–94.

  “the first naval engagement”: Howe, Marching with Sherman, 176–77.

  “We were hotly pursued”: Quoted in Jones, Siege of Savannah, 123.

  “a beautiful place”: Eisenhower, Diary, MHI.

  “too salty”: Ward, Diary, IHS.

  “I determined”: Quoted in Jones, Siege of Savannah, 123.

  “We wanted”: OR 44:10.

  “gave me a little map”: Hazen, Narrative, 330.

  “I gave General Hazen”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:196.

  “not to find myself”: Hazen, Narrative, 332.

  “some time must elapse”: Augusta Daily Chronicle & Sentinel, 12/13/1864.

  “rice-mills to their full capacity”: National Tribune, 1/29/1891.

  “We drove them off”: Hinkley, Papers, WHS.

  “covered with mud”: Glossbrenner, Diary, MHI.

  “will be found”: OR 44:704.

  “There was a general notion”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, 2/6/1886.

  “about two miles”: Hazen, Narrative, 331.

  “While we were going”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, 2/6/1886.

  “The day was bright”: Hazen, Narrative, 331.

  “looking closely”: OR 44:751.

  “had reconnoitered the fort”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, 2/6/1886.

  “Have you seen”: Brown, Signal Corps, 562.

  “plainly seen”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:196.

  “the use of the glass”: Brockman, “John Van Duser Diary,” 236.

  “timber in rear”: Harwell and Racine, Fiery Trail, 71.

  “the place looked”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:196.

  “a careful and close”: OR 44:751.

  “This humane and proper act”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, 2/6/1886.

  “and large, black, ugly-looking”: National Tribune, 2/20/1896.

  “believing that it would”: Hazen, Narrative, 332.

  “the feebleness”: Quoted in Jones, Siege of Savannah, 124–25.

  “observed signs”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:197.

  “by the little round puffs”: Strong, Papers, ALL.

  “I…saw”: OR 44:752.

  “watch me make”: Saunier, History, 367.

  “out of a detachment”: Quoted in Jones, Siege of Savannah, 124.

  “position on the left”: Hazen, Narrative, 332.

  “To make the chance”: Ibid., 332–33.

  “On being assured”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:197.

  “south and east”: National Tribune, 6/14/1900.

  “I and others”: National Tribune, 9/12/1901.

  “Keep them down”: Shuttinger incident in Saunier, History, 366.

  “cautioned his men”: Ibid., 372.

  “My comrades”: National Tribune, 2/20/1913.

  “Colonel, you know”: Connelly, History, 137.

  “found itself behind”: Quoted in Christman, Undaunted, 65.

  “Look! Howard”: New York Herald, 12/22/1864.

  “Who are you?”: Fisher-McClintock exchange in OR 44:752.

  “a big [tree] stump”: National Tribune, 6/28/1906.

  “Is Fort McAllister taken?”: Fisher-Sherman exchange in Sherman, Memoirs, 2:197.

  “To my great surprise”: Hazen, Narrative, 332.

  “The forward movement”/“they all started off”: Saunier, History, 372.

  “There was no firing”: Philadelphia Weekly Times, 2/6/1886.

  “out of the dark fringe”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:197.

  “a long line”: Nichols, Great March, 90.

  “a single line”: National Tribune, 2/20/1896.

  “The musketry”: Harwell and Racine, Fiery Trail, 71.

  “seemed alive with flame”: Connelly, History, 137.

  “This was the moment”: Brockman, “John Van Duser Diary,” 237.

  “When we got up close”: National Tribune, 3/14/1907.

  “One of my company”: National Tribune, 6/19/1913.

  “I had arrived”: Quoted in Christman, Undaunted,
68.

  “Some 50 yards out”: National Tribune, 2/20/1913.

  “I was knocked down”: National Tribune, 9/12/1901.

  “I remember very distinctly”: National Tribune, 7/11/1907.

  “the netted abatis”: Connelly, History, 138.

  “crawling under”: Burt, Diary.

  “to charge with a rush”: Quoted in Christman, Undaunted, 67.

  “tangle of buckhorns”: National Tribune, 2/20/1913.

  “that it would take four”: Quoted in Livingston, “Among the Best Men,” 104.

  “Some got through”: National Tribune, 6/20/1907.

  “from the bullets”: National Tribune, 1/29/1914.

  “There they go”: New York Herald, 12/22/1864.

  “the most difficult part”: National Tribune, 6/14/1900.

  “They crossed the ditch”: Howard, Autobiography, 2:91.

  “The wind lifted the smoke”: Nichols, Great March, 90.

  “were all engaged”: Saunier, History, 364.

  “we had to bayonet”: Dye, Letter, MCA.

  “I would…most respectfully”: Quoted in Jones, Siege of Savannah, 127.

  “Get to the rear, George”: Gordon, Letter, HFL.

  “recognized and spoke”: Quoted in Christman, Undaunted, 71.

  “the parapets were blue”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:198.

  “Then all of us”: Nichols, Great March, 91.

  “so wild and boisterous”: Brown, Signal Corps, 564.

  “Fort McAllister is ours”: OR 44:753.

  “held out your hand”: Anderson, Papers, GHS.

  “Take a good big drink”: OR 44:704.

  “they were good oarsmen”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:198.

  “even Generals Sherman”: Strong, “Account,” LOC.

  “he invited us to join them”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:199.

  “I’se workin’”: Hazen, Narrative, 334.

  “When the news was received”: Cryder and Stanley, “War for the Union,” 464.

  “I would the world”: Pittenger, Diary, OHS.

  “I hear the troops”: Vail, Diary, OHS.

  “Fort McAllister is taken”: Owens, Greene County, 105.

  “a great load”: Quoted in Schmidt, Civil War History, 1065.

  “Hardtack!”: Taylor, Lights and Shadows, 22.

  “some news”: Sherman, Memoirs, 2:199.

  “an ambulance”: Howard, Autobiography, 2:92.

  “an unwarrantable”: Quoted in Jones, Siege of Savannah, 126.

  “reporting the loss”: OR 44:955.

  “What boat”: OR 44:753.

  “succeeded in avoiding”: Howard, Autobiography, 2:92.

  Sherman’s dispatches: OR 44:701–2.

  “shared my blankets”: Hazen, Narrative, 334.