Personal Recollections of Sherman's Campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas

by George W Pepper

  "Don't fire dat! don't fire dat!"

  The men stood with the brands raised. The Jew ran over to the General, and taking him confidentially by the coat, whispered in his ear:

  "What will I give you for de whole lot?"

  The General thought he would keep up the joke. "Well, taking the risks and every thing into account, I should think fifty thousand dollars enough for it."

  "Fifty thousand! the risks are great, General!"

  "True," says the General, "then give me forty."

  "O, dat too much too!"

  "What do you say to thirty thousand ?"

  "De rebel cavalry might come and burn it."

  "Well, what do you say yourself?"

  "General," he whispered in his ear," "I'll give you ten thousand gold dollars, and let de cotton be, and no one be de wiser."

  "It won't do, fire the cotton !"

  "No! no! General, I'll make it de twenty!"

  The General shook his head;the cotton was beginning to blaze up.

  "Stop dem, General! I'll make it de thirty!"

  The pile was in a blase.

  "It is too late now" said the General, and the bewildered Jew looked on in horror.

  "Look here" said the General, tapping the Jew on the shoulder, and giving him a look that made him quail, "I want thirty thousand dollars from you."

  "Mein Gott! for what!" exclaimed the affrighted Jew; "de cotton is all burned now!"

  "Exactly so, you are a rebel agent;otherwise, you would not pay such a sum for the cotton."

  "O, no, mein Gott! I hate de rebels;but I wanted to make one little money;me no agent!"

  "Well, well, you would buy the cotton from the rebels if it was left here. Are you a Union man?"

  "O, mein Gott, yes ! I always for de Union!"

  "You would do as much for the Union as for the Confederacy?"

  "Mein Gott, much more!"

  "Then you were ready to pay thirty thousand dollars for that cotton, which would fall into the rebels' hands ? now I demand the same amount for the Union cause."

  The poor Jew was in a trap; he had baited a snare for himself. It was amusing to see how he wriggled and shivered, between the fear of being strung upon a tree and the dread of losing his thirty thousand dollars. The General kept him in a state of suspense for some time, during which he swore by Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Solomon and all the prophets of the Old Law, that he was a strict Union man, and had not thirty thousand dollars in the world. "Why did you offer, then, or how did you mean to pay for it? "

  "O, mein Gott! General, I knew ye would not ax de money until I sell de cotton in New York."

  The subterfuge so pleased the General that he dismissed the Jew, who, I am sure, never tried to buy cotton from Yankee Generals again.

  SAVANNAH THE OBJECTIVE POINT.

  Savannah is the grand point in the present campaign. Other cities secure but a cursory glance, and the mind's eye turns almost instinctively toward this beautiful Forest City. It is well known to the soldiers whither Sherman is leading them, for, despite his well-known reticence, his course has been too clearly marked out. It appears to have been General Sherman's plan when he set out to strike effectively the most vital points in Georgia; and, as rapidly as possible, inflict the necessary damage and gain a place of safety. Permanent occupation of the country does not seem to have been a part of his plan. He proposed to do all the damage possible to the road over which he moved and the cities and the towns through which he passed, and gain with his army, a point on the sea-board where it would be disembarked for future operations. His purpose as indicated in his order of March, was to destroy all the public material which could be of use to the enemy; and to forage on the country, sparing only such property as he could have no military excuse for destroying.

  The other day a woman with a child in her arms was working her way along among the teams and crowds of cattle and horsemen; a staff officer called to her kindly:

  "Where are you going, Aunty?"

  She looked up to his face, with hopeful, beseeching earnestness, and replied:

  " I'se gwine whar you's gwine, Massa."

  THE HANGERS-ON OF THE ARMY.

  I have used the word "bummer" in my accounts, and it has been suggested that many of your readers do not know the meaning of the term. It has now a recognized position in the army lexicon. Any man who has seen the object that it applies to will acknowledge that it was admirably selected. Fancy a ragged man, blackened by the smoke of many a pine knot fire, mounted on a scrawny mule, without a saddle, with a gun, a knapsack, a butcher knife and a plug hat, stealing his way through the pine forests far out on the flanks of a column. Keen on the scent of rebels, or bacon, or silver spoons, or corn, or anything valuable, and you have him in your mind. Think how you would admire him if you were a lone woman, with a family of small children, far from help, when he blandly inquired where you kept your valuables. Think how you would smile when he pried open your chests with his bayonet or knocked to pieces your tables, pianos and chairs; tore your bed clothing in three inch strips, and scattered the strips about the yard. The "bummers" say it takes too much time to use keys. Color is no protection from these rough-riders. They go through a Negro cabin in search of diamonds and gold watches with just as much freedom and vivacity as they "loot" the dwelling of a wealthy planter. They appear to be possessed of a spirit of "pure cussedness." One incident of many will illustrate. A "bummer” stepped into a house and inquired for sorghum. The lady of the house presented a jug, which he said was too heavy, so he merely filled his canteen. Then taking a huge wad of tobacco, from his mouth he thrust it into the jug. The lady inquired, in wonder, why he spoiled that which he did not want. " Oh, some feller'll come along and taste that sorghum, think you've poisoned him;then he'll burn your damned old house. There are hundreds of these mounted men with the column, and they go everywhere. Some of them are loaded down with silverware, gold coin and other valuables. I hazard nothing in saying that threefifths (in value) of the personal property of the country we passed through was taken.

  At a Negro shanty, some miles distant from Milledgeville, we found an old Negro and his wife, both of them over sixty years old. In the talk which ensued, nothing was said which led us to believe that either of them were anxious to leave their mistress, who, by the way, was a sullen, cruel looking woman, when all at once the old Negress straightened herself up, and her face, which a moment before was almost stupid in expression, assumed a fierce, almost fiendish aspect. Pointing her shining black finger at the old man crouched in the corner of the fire-place, she screamed out:

  "What for you set dar ? You spose I wait sixty years for nuthen ? Don't yer see de door open ? I'se follow my chile! I not stay. Yes, nodder day I goes along wid people; yes sar, I walks till I drap in my tracks."

  A more terrible sight I never beheld. I can think of nothing to compare with it, except Charlotte Cushman's “Meg Merrilles.” Rembrandt only could have painted the scene with its dramatic surroundings.

  A SINGULAR CHARACTER.

  At one of the stations near Millen, we came across an old man named Wells, who was a most peculiar character. He was depot master in the days when there was a railroad here. He is a shrewd old man, and seemed to understand the merits of the war question perfectly. He said:

  "They say you are retreating, but it is the strangest retreat I ever saw. Why, dog bite 'em, the newspapers have been lying in this way, all along. They are always whipping the Federal armies, and they always fall back after the battle is over. It was that 'ere idea that first opened my eyes. Our army always whipping the Federals, and we always fell back. I always told them that it was a d — d humbug, and now I know it, for here you are right on old John Wells' place; hogs, potatoes, corn, fences all gone. I don't find any fault, expected it all. Jeff. Davis and the rest talk about splittin' the Union. Why, if South Carolina had gone out by herself, she would have been split in four pieces by this time. Splittin' the Union! Why, the State of Greorgia is bein
g split through from end to end. It's these rich fellers who are making this war, and keeping their precious bodies out of harm's way. There's John Franklin went through here the other day, running from your army. I could have played dominoes on his coat tail. There's my poor brother, sick with the small pox at Macon, working for eleven dollars a month and Jiasn't got a cent of the stuff for a year — 'leven dollars a month, and 'leven thousand bullets a minute— I don't believe in it.

  "I heard as how they cut down the trees across your road up country;and burnt the bridges ! Why, (dog bite their hides,) one of you Yankees can take up a tree and carry it off, top and all;and there's that bridge you put across the river in less than two hours — they might as well try to stop the Ogeechee as you Yankees. The blasted rascals who burnt this ere bridge thought they did a big thing;a natural born fool cut in two, has more sense in either end than any of them."

  A UNION WOMAN TRUE TO THE FLAG.

  After we left Millen, and were traveling in the direction of Savannah, we met a Mrs. Jameson, the widow of an eminent Georgian. She is connected with the leading families of the State. This Union woman, whom we will call Mrs. Jameson, is an earnest Christian and a splendid patriot. She did everything in her power to prevent the secession of Georgia, writing hundreds of letters to prominent politicians and using her personal influence to prevent the consummation of the horrible deed. She has always preserved the stars and stripes in her house, and when we reached her beautiful mansion there was flying to the breeze the banner of Beauty and Glory. Herself and two accomplished daughters did everything in their power to make our weary boys as comfortable as possible. Several months before, when Iverson captured one of the flags from Stoneman's party, some of his men were trailing it in the dust, near the residence of this model patriot. The column halting, Mrs. Jameson put on her bonnet and going up to the flag, she knelt down exclaiming:

  "Flag of my Fathers and of my Country," and she kissed it and bathed it with her sorrowful tears, then rose up and returned home.

  She generously threw open her granaries, furnishing forage for the stock, and with her own hands carried buckets of water to relieve the thirst of the brave men, whose hearts were gladdened by this exhibition of womanly patriotism. She has an abiding faith that the rebellion will be utterly subdued, and that the Stars and Stripes will yet triumphantly wave over all the land— this is her constant prayer.

  From Atlanta to Savannah there was presented to the eye one vast sheet of misery. The fugitives from ruined villages or desolated fields, seek shelter in caves and dens. Cities sacked, towns burnt, population decimated are so many evidences of the desolations of war. I saw enough of this part of Georgia to get a vivid and painful impression of the horrors of civil strife. This is a beautiful country, exclaimed a friend. How beautiful in the brightness and warmth of summer, teeming with fruits and grain, and waving with groves that grow to forests in the distance. In every town the more public buildings and residences were destroyed. In some instances Churches have not escaped! They have been stripped for fire wood. Fences were demolished, and here and there a lordly mansion stands an unsightly ruin. A beautiful country! But woe to it, when slavery brought upon it the curse of rebellion. A beautiful country it shall be, when re-peopled by manly, free labor.

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  Savannah, the Forest City — The Edifices and Monuments — Revolutionary Rebels — Review of the Fifteenth Corps — More Jottings about Savannah — The Advance of Sherman's Army into the Palmetto State — South Carolina, the Proper Battle-field.

  A flag of truce was sent in to General Hardee, demanding the surrender of the city of Savannah. To this Hardee replied, that he could hold Savannah for some time; that he was in constant communication with his Government, and that Sherman was not near enough to the city to justify its surrender. That very day the last of the rebel army was crossing to the Carolina shore on pontoons. When our troopers entered, the rebels had barely escaped, some of them, in fact, were captured. The different corps entered the city with great joy and rapture. Three hours after the Confederates had left, the Stars and Stripes were floating all over Savannah.

  Savannah is situated on the river of the same name, eighteen miles from the sea, and ninety-six miles Southeast of Charleston. It is the largest and most commercial city of the State, and a great cotton and rice point. It ranks in many respects as the most important city of the Confederacy, and contained, by the last census, a population of thirty thousand, fifteen thousand of whom were foreigners. It is universally admitted that few cities can boast of such environs as the metropolis of Georgia. The natural features are of the most varied and agreeable character; for a while to the north the level plantations of rice stretch luxuriantly forth, to the South and East the landscape rises in gentle undulations, gradually swelling into hills, until at length bursts into view the river, the beautiful river, flowing in a broad and majestic volume to the sea, with all its ever changing, never ending, never tiring succession of enchanting scenery.

  Still the beauties of nature are not the only charms of the environs of Savannah. Man, noble man, lord of the creation, has also done his part; and taking advantage of every circumstance favorable to his views, has gradually increased his dominion and reared his habitation, thus giving life to inanimation, and ornamenting the entire scene with splendid tokens of his taste, industry, and perseverance. I have been informed that a great portion of the improvements now visible, are the growth of the last few years; nor are they confined to the country — even the city has within twelve years, advanced far beyond its former bounds, and nearly doubled its circumference. All over the city the eye is fatigued with the endless succession of new and splendid residences. Here may be discerned every description of edifice, from the castellated mansion to the modest cottage. Were the spirit of Oglethorpe free once more to revisit this nether world, the house of his fathers, he would be surprised at the prosperity of what was known in his day as an obscure village.

  Savannah stands on elevated ground. It is constructed with regularity and taste; many rich and beautiful trees lend their charms. Its streets are wide, sandy, and handsome. Congress is the principal business street. Broad is a beautiful street, one hundred and sixty feet wide. It is finely shaded by rows of live oaks. On this street are a number of fine residences; warehouses tastefully laid out, and in other days richly furnished, line these streets, while others diverge to the right and left, which are chiefly occupied by the merchant princes. At every opening salubrious breezes from the noble river, inspire health and vigor, and a walk to the harbor is amply compensated by the view of the splendid steamers which are coming up the river. Here a ship, laden with provisions, lies quietly at anchor, while before us a number of vessels, gaily decked in their many colored streamers, call forth our unbound ed admiration. The scene was beautiful.

  A more superb city view can hardly be presented than that from the cupola of the Court House. From this point you can count the palatial residences of the aristocracy, the market-houses, the banks, the asylums, the large and splendid hotels, the view of the Savannah River, the railroad depots, Fort Jackson, and the collegiate buildings.

  Savannah, ere the war, was the market and emporium for the States of Tennessee Alabama and North Carolina. Its foreign commerce was extensive and profitable. Vast quantities of cotton were annually exported from this city to European markets. Many magnificent enterprises had their origin in this venerable city. Here, in 1819, the first steamship that ever ploughed the ocean, was constructed. There have been here iron foundries, steam engine shops, rice mills, and steam lighters, once in flourishing operation.

  The houses of the rich are noted for their splendor land elegance. Many of them are of stone, adorned with steps and basements of white marble. In their construction, beauty and taste seem rather to have been studied than comfort. The abodes of the lordly planters are perfectly enchanting. Bull Street is one of the most beautiful and improved in the city. It is one delightful plain studded with eleg
ant mansions. Among the private residences worthy of special note, as well for horticultural as architectural elegance are those of Charles Greene, now occupied as the headquarters of General Sherman; the British Consul, Molyneaux, now occupied by General Howard, and the magnificent residence of one Lorrell, whose son is a Brigadier in the Confederate service. Greene's place is well arranged and admirably built. Every modern improvement and convenience are found in the house, while all the materials of workmanship are of the best character. It is indeed one of the finest structures in the land.

  Judging by these superb houses, and scores just like them, there has been much private wealth in the city .and its vicinity.

  THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

  The public buildings also indicate the wealth, spirit, and generosity of the people. The bank buildings are grand and costly; the Marine bank will compare favorably with anything of the kind in the country. The hotels are large, commodious, and splendid. The Pulaski House is now in running order. The Court House building is handsome and substantial. It has recently been renovated. The public squares are neatly enclosed with palings. There are here, also a number of parks, laid out with much taste and beauty, shaded by trees and adorned with beautiful works, and other appropriate ornaments. Much credit is due those who planned and executed these tasteful improvements. The passenger depot is the finest I have ever seen in any country.

  THE CHURCHES.

  The churches are splendid specimens of architecture. The Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Roman Catholics, all have houses for religious service; and there are several churches for colored persons. Christ Church, Episcopal, is a very beautiful building. It has been destroyed four times by fire and hurricanes. The rector of this church is Bishop Elliott, a virulent secessionist. He is an excellent expounder of the Gospel of Jefferson Davis, having pronounced a number of discourses in favor of the slaveholding despotism. Apprehending the penalty due to his traitorous conduct, he left with his friend Hardee, and is now somewhere in South Carolina. Generals Sherman, Howard and Slocum attended Divine service yesterday at St. John’s, where the prayer for the President was purposely omitted. One officer was so indignant at the intentional slight to the Government that he immediately left in no very amiable mood. It is reported that General Sherman gave permission for the omission. I hope, for the honor and dignity of the country, that this report is not true.