Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea
Page 81
Seminary, 25; march orders, 48–55, 77–8, 225–6; March to the Sea authorship, 33–34; Memoirs, 33, 87, 99, 188n, 223, 272, 331, 460, 463, 475, 487, 536, 546; Meridian
Campaign, 47; military expertise, 26–28; Milledgeville occupation, 218, 224–27, 236; newspaper praise, 516–17; perpetual motion, 26; personality, 24–32, 90–91, 273–74, 466; philosophy of war, 27–8; political generals, 48; postage stamp, 536; proposes to capture Augusta, 37; proposes to capture Columbus, 36; proposes to capture Macon, 37; proposes Savannah campaign, 38–46; racial prejudices, 30–31, 518–21; removes Augusta from target list, 225–26; removes Macon from target list, 70; reviews troops, 514–15; Sandersville, 257–8, 261–62; Savannah occupation, 504–5, 507–8, 511, 514–15; soldier sightings, 87, 99, 109, 137, 222, 259, 293–94, 328, 330, 388, 514–15; southern animosity, 536–37; southern guilt, 29, 32; Special Field Orders No. 15, 521; Special Field Orders No. 120, 48–55, 373; storm metaphors, 31–32; supremacy of law, 29–30; terror retaliation, 226, 245–46, 314–15; Thomas relationship, 38, 43–46, 460, 463; torpedoes, 387–89, 441, 448; views Atlanta destruction, 69, 87, 91; weather acumen, 57–58, 127
Sherwood, Frederick, 270
Shull, John S., 96
Shuttinger, Louis, 431
Sloan, Thomas S., 500
Slocum, Henry W., 42–43, 48–49, 62, 69, 78, 119, 140, 141, 162, 171, 184, 272, 373, 407, 453, 467, 472–73, 481, 501, 528, 531, 539
Smethurst, John, 247
Smith, Giles A., 219, 224, 230–31
Smith, Gustavus W., 125, 129, 197, 199, 204, 215, 368, 400, 451, 493–94; seeks Sherman protection for family, 517
Smith, John E., 192, 272, 313
Smith, Milo, 196
Smith, Robert F., 257
Snelling, David R., 187–88
Social Circle, Ga., 120, 125–26, 142
Southern Telegraph Company, 419, 533
Spanish moss, 267, 374, 448
Spencer, George, 116, 163
Spier’s Turnout (CRR No. 11), 281
Spring Hill, Tenn., 300 Springfield, Ga., 363–64
Stanley, T. N., 434
Stanton, Edwin, 41; Savannah visit, 519–21
Statesboro, Ga., December 4 fight, 332
Stiles, Robert M., 485–86
Stockbridge, Ga., 100, 101; November 15 fight, 84; November 16 fight, 93
Stoneman, George, 150, 165
Stone Mountain, Ga., 82, 91, 92, 96
Storrow, Samuel, 325
Strathy Hall, 423
Strong, William E., 61, 265–66, 440
Stubbs family, 80
Swan (steamer), 492, 497
Sylvan Grove, Ga., 105, 117
Sylvania, Ga., 330, 349
Tarver, Judge, 294
Tattnall, Josiah, 491–2
Taylor, Richard, 128, 231; appointed to Macon defense, 103–4; Davis meeting, 9; declines to provide Georgia support, 9; Macon defense, 193–3, 198, 199; reacts to Beauregard appointment, 9; reacts to Hood plan, 9
Taylor, Thomas, 193
Taylor, Zachary, 9
Tennessee troops (C.S.): infantry (24th Regiment, 167)
Tennille, Ga. (CRR No. 13), 247, 250, 254, 255, 259, 270, 271, 273, 280
Texas troops: cavalry (8th Regiment, 134, 185)
Thackeray, William, 19
Thomas Station, 328, 334, 528
Thomas, George H., 38, 41, 281, 300–301, 447, 460–61, 475, 521, 547; Nashville battle, 461–63; Sherman relationship, 38, 43–46, 460, 463; worries about Tennessee defense, 42–46
Toombs, Robert A., 95, 112, 199, 323
Toomsboro, Ga. (CRR No. 15), 228
Towaliga River, 108
Travis, Tillie, 14–5, 134–5
Trego, Alfred, 220, 272
Il Trovatore, 88
Turkey Roost Swamp, 377. See also Monteith Swamp
Turnwold plantation, 170. See also Harris, Joel Chandler
Tybee Roads, 490
Union Causeway, 453, 473, 485, 487, 489, 503
United States Customs House, 498, 504
Vaughan, J. A., 432
Vaun, Mr., 176–77
Verdi, Giuseppe, 88
Vernon River, 423–24, 430
Walcutt, Charles C., 196, 198, 201, 202, 204–5, 209; wounded, 210
Walker, Edmund B., 15–16, 141
Wallace, William, 120
Walnut Creek, 165–8
Walthourville, Ga., 477
Ward, William T., “Old Shaky,” 370
Ware, V. Thornton, 495
Wayne, Henry C., 150, 178n, 180, 191–92, 216–18, 227–28, 229–30, 251, 253–54, 313, 323, 330
Waynesboro, Ga., 19, 22, 278, 347; December 4 battle, 334–44 weather, 57–58, 127
Weller, John, 80, 84, 217, 218, 219, 224
Wellman, D. L., 406
Wells, Johnny, 305–6, 313
Wentz, F. J., 338
Wheeler, Joseph, 39, 125, 129, 276, 347, 375, 486, 540–41; Beauregard considers replacing, 256; combat, 102, 157, 285–91, 361–62; command decisions, 63, 174, 195, 200, 232, 247, 264, 276–77; described, 63, 256; Ebenezer Creek incident, 383; foraging excesses, 112–13, 294, 375, 541–42; foraging policy, 85; Griswoldville actions, 195–200; Macon defense, 151, 157, 168; ordered into South Carolina, 419; reports on Federal advance, 64–65, 83, 93, 111–12, 129, 312; Reynolds plantation fight, 288–89; Rocky Creek fight, 319–20; Sandersville fight, 256–59, 260; seeks guidance, 112; Waynesboro, 278, 334–44
Whitehead, Catherine, 277–78
Whitfield, Matthew, 153
Widney, Lyman, 318–19
Wilcox, M. K., 215
William (slave), 20, 505
Williams, Alpheus S., 69, 453, 479, 515
Williams, William F., 215
Williamson, James A., 365
Wilson, Kline, 363
Winder, John H., 448
Winegar, Charles E., 415–16, 479
Wisconsin troops: artillery (10th Battery, 288, 336, 340–1), (12th Battery, 452); infantry (3rd Regiment, 98, 184, 380, 406–7, 414, 416, 419, 448, 453, 468, 484–85, 489), (12th Regiment, 364, 483), (16th Regiment, 364, 470), (21st Regiment, 135, 146, 452–53), (22nd Regiment, 282, 325, 414, 448), (26th Regiment, 514), (31st Regiment, 98, 247, 379–80), (32nd Regiment, 390)
Womble, George, 21
Woodhull, Maxwell Van Zandt, 456–58
Woods, Charles R., 196
Work, Henry Clay, 536–8
Wright’s Bridge, 358, 365–6
Wright, Ambrose Ransom, 189, 400, 491
Wright, Oscar, 176
Wrightsville, Ga., 282
W. W. Coit (steamer), 509
Yellow River, 97, 110, 118, 120, 127, 135
Zachry family, 126
About the Author
NOAH ANDRE TRUDEAU is the author of Gettysburg. He has won the Civil War Round Table of New York’s Fletcher Pratt Award and the Jerry Coffey Memorial Book Prize. A former executive producer at National Public Radio, he lives in Washington, D.C.
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ALSO BY NOAH ANDRE TRUDEAU
Gettysburg: A Testing of Courage
Like Men of War: Black Troops in the Civil War, 1862–1865
Out of the Storm: The End of the Civil War, April–June 1865
Bloody Roads South: The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, May–June 1864
The Last Citadel: Petersburg, Virginia, June 1864–April 1865
Credits
Jacket photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress
Jacket design by Joseph Ibrahim
Copyright
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* Davis much preferred West Point graduates for high-level military appointments.
* Davis later agreed to promote the officer one step in rank, but before the order could be implemented the officer in question died of yellow fever.
* Howell Cobb had to have the last word, telling the crowd that if all eligible men rallied now to the colors they would “very speedily send the Yankees back to stink and rot and go to——!”
* Brown’s resolution never had a chance. Backed by a scornful rejection from Richmond, the governor’s foes had little trouble killing the measure.
* So called after a manufacturing process, these were soldiers whose “new” allegiance thinly coated over their original loyalties.
* Ironically, this encouraged some to believe that Savannah had been made more secure, since the Yankees would no longer consider it a priority target.
* Sherman is referring to civilian organizations devoted to soldier welfare, such as the U.S. Sanitary Commission.
* The Right Wing was also referred to as the Army of the Tennessee (after the river), while the Left Wing was sometimes called the Army of Georgia.
† Howard had just turned thirty-four; Slocum was thirty-seven.
* Since Wheeler’s effort had been focused east and south of the city, his scouts missed spotting the Fourteenth Corps, which was marching in from the northwest.
* No one contemplated a serious defense of Georgia’s capital, Milledgeville; nevertheless, Governor Brown and the state assembly expected to be kept informed.
* Referred to in contemporary accounts as “Judge Lyon’s house” after its occupant at the time.
† The corps had been commanded during the Atlanta Campaign by Major General John A. Logan, who was on leave, politicking in Illinois, when the army departed the Gate City.
* The corps marched today without its late-arriving Fourth Division, which would spend the next twenty-four hours resting and resupplying in Atlanta.
† The Seventeenth Corps consisted of three divisions for this campaign, its Second Division having been assigned to Major General Thomas in Nashville.
* Martin would make the entire journey as an invalid. A mention of him dated December 15 describes his condition as “very low.”
* The village had been the site of a major Union headquarters during summer operations around Atlanta.
† Actually, about 750 feet.
* Wheeler’s strength during the opening phase of the campaign was approximately 2,500 men.
* In order to reduce the ordnance train size, all army batteries—which normally consisted of six guns during the Atlanta Campaign—were reduced to carrying just four.
* Modern Hampton.
* Also known as Planter’s Mill, Ocmulgee Mill, Nutling’s Mill, Hunter’s Mill, and Button’s Factory.
* His fate is not recorded.
* Hardee’s reinforcements consisted of 200 men; Taylor was bringing only himself.
* Needing the laborers, Brown had offered amnesty to any prisoner willing to serve in the present emergency.
* One postwar story records her hiding in a neighbor’s upstairs room, whose door was concealed by a large piece of furniture. Other accounts have her out of town at the time of Sherman’s visit.
* The delay would prove fatal. Mackey escaped and directly joined the regiment, while Barber and his friend were held up in the exchange process. Mackey was later captured and killed by guerrillas in North Carolina, before Barber or Mallory returned to the unit.
* A nearby bridge across the Little River was torched by retreating Confederates but saved by an alert Federal lieutenant, who rounded up some foragers to secure the span. However, the bridge was not part of Sherman’s plan, so the Federals would wreck it themselves.
* Only the 100-foot-tall brick chimney survived the factory blaze. This striking symbol of Sherman’s wrath stood for more than a century afterward.
* This refers to a very early type of rail which consisted of a thin iron strap laid along the upper surface of a wood “stringer.”
† Local lore says that the oversize flag usually displayed was safely hidden in a hollow tree.
* Although Major Hitchcock thought the two would meet either at the factory or in Eatonton, there is no evidence that such a meeting took place.
* A later historian of the region, and even Major Hitchcock in one place, refer to this individual as Mr. Vaughn, while Sherman, in his memoirs, notes him as Mr. Vann.
* Ironically, even as Hardee was reaching this conclusion, Major General Henry C. Wayne, commanding the patchwork garrison at Gordon, was pulling out the last of his force and heading east to take position behind the Oconee River bridge.
* In addition to the primary supply train, which traveled in the rear of the Right Wing, each division maintained its own train, carrying ammunition and other supplies required for immediate needs.
* The unyielding Kelly fought a short engagement with the Yankee advance. He was knocked from his horse, captured, eventually escaped his captivity, and slipped back into Gordon’s civilian population. Interviewed thirty years later by one of General Wayne’s aides, the doughty Rebel regretted nothing of what he had said that day. Declared Kelly: “I thought so then and I think so yet!”
* Even with every available person in place, the Macon garrison likely never exceeded 7,000 men. Of the Rebel leaders cited by Howard, General Beauregard was still in transit, General Hardee on his way out the door, and General Johnston relocated to South Carolina.
* This was just the second appearance in Sherman’s Memoirs, and the first in a conversational context, of the word that would become synonymous with freewheeling foragers.
† Not long after sending this note off, a courier arrived from Kilpatrick with a report on his actions through November 21. The dispatch, which emphasized the positive, brought relief and cheer to Sherman’s headquarters.
* Soldier slang for a supply line.
* In the process, the small rural chapel was completely dismantled.
* Though Philips’s name is often spelled with two l’s historian William Harris Bragg pointed out to me that this officer’s gravestone, many of his signatures, and a special presentation sword all have only one.
* “Lieutenant Generals Hardee and Richard Taylor, and other officers of prominence, reached Macon,” Smith wrote with some asperity, “but they brought no troops with them.”
* On average. There were younger and older volunteers in the ranks.
* A seventh regiment, the 26th Illinois, was detached on train guard duty.
* Afterward given the name Battle Line Creek.
* The size of this force was estimated
by Wayne at two hundred, by Hartridge at four to five hundred, and reported to be at battalion strength by Major General Frank Blair, commanding the Seventeenth Corps.