524

Battle of Franklin

[1864

Montgomery railroad. For a time he pertinaciously carried on detached operations against the stations and garrisons between Atlanta and Chattanooga; and it required constant watchfulness on the part of Sherman to fend them off. But, finding after a month of experiment that he could not permanently break Sherman's communications, Hood moved to Guntersville on the Tennessee river, and, still proceeding westward, on October 31 reached Tuscumbia, situate on that stream. Here, in conference with General Beauregard he matured his design; and Beauregard, who had been given superior command over both Hood and Taylor in the adjoining Department, ordered him to assume the offensive. Hood's force at this time had been increased to about 35,000, and he had in addition the co-operation of 10,000 cavalry under Forrest, then in northern Alabama. General Thomas was now in Nashville awaiting reinforcements, but had an advanced post of two army corps at Pulaski under Schofield. Putting his army in motion on November 21, Hood endeavoured by a swift march to reach Columbia, Tennessee, and cut off the retreat of this detachment. Though very near gaining his object, he did not quite succeed; and, as he still pushed northward, a severe fight took place at Spring Hill, which foiled and somewhat checked the Confederate pursuit. By all accounts General Hood possessed great courage and energy, and an ambition to emulate the flanking exploits of Stonewall Jackson; but the critics equally agree that serious defects of judgment rendered this ambition futile. Hood's reverse at Spring Hill only sharpened his appetite for a victory, which was, indeed, all but within his reach. He once more pushed on the pursuit, addressing to his subordinate commanders not only lively entreaties, but also injudicious reproaches for alleged shortcomings at Spring Hill. In the mood of mingled discontent and anger induced by this fault-finding they ordered a furious attack, at four o'clock on the afternoon of November 30, upon Schofield's army, which had barely arrived and entrenched itself at the village of Franklin on the Harpeth river. The assault came so suddenly that the first rush of the Confederates found an opening of about a thousand yards in the Federal line; and the struggle on this side to close it, and on the Confederate side to break through it at all cost, brought on a hand-to-hand conflict that proved one of the most sanguinary of the war. The intensity and ardour of combat at this point communicated itself to other parts of the field, and excited General Hood to order attack after attack, prolonging the battle until nine o'clock at night, with occasional volleys even for an hour after. Instead of his hoped-for victory, Hood suffered a crushing defeat. Six of his generals were killed, six wounded, and one captured, while his total losses reached 6252, of whom only 700 were prisoners.

General Thomas at Nashville, now ready to meet Hood's invasion, was informed by telegraph of the result at Franklin, and promptly ordered Schofield to retire on Nashville a movement which was effected

1864]

Battle of Nashville.

Tennessee freed

525

after midnight of the battle. General Hood's abnormal confidence was not shaken even by his terrible loss in the battle of Franklin. Again ordering a pursuit, he advanced on Nashville, and on December 2 formed an entrenched line of battle before that city. His later explanations indicate that he did not intend an attack, but only wished to present a bold defensive front, collect supplies, and await reinforcements, under the delusion then current among Confederate generals that Tennessee was Southern in sentiment, and that, once liberated from the yoke of the oppressor, it would eagerly rush to his support with recruits and rations. Hood had a total force of about 44,000 men, and trusted they could not be overwhelmed. On the contrary he believed that a defensive victory would give him control of the State, or even open an easy entrance into Kentucky.

It was, however, with a feeling of perfect security that General Thomas allowed his antagonist to approach. He had by this time accumulated a total Federal force of about 55,000; and by good fortune the last of his expected reinforcements and nearly all retiring detachments had joined him at Nashville a day or two before Hood's arrival. The Administration at Washington, and General Grant near Richmond, knowing that Sherman had started on his march to the sea, were watching the Tennessee campaign with intense anxiety. Grant, seeing the disadvantage in which Hood had placed himself, sent impatient orders to Thomas to attack him, and went even so far as to send Logan with contingent and discretionary orders to supersede him, if he did not act. A week passed away while Thomas was deliberately completing his preparations, and then a storm of rain and sleet, which covered the miry roads with a thin coat of ice, caused another six days' delay.

On the morning of December 15, when a warm rain had melted the ice, but without waiting for the roads to dry, the Federal army advanced to the attack, its first movements being masked by a heavy fog. Though the ground was hilly and broken and the roads still heavy and difficult from the recent storm, the whole plan of battle seems to have been executed with unusual regularity and success, so that by nightfall at the close of the first day the entire Confederate line had been driven back a distance of two miles, and had lost 16 guns and 1200 prisoners. Roused to eager enthusiasm by this initial success, the Federal officers and soldiers resumed the battle on the next day, December 16, under the same well-planned orders, and with the same steady courage. Though driven back on the first day, Hood seems to have maintained hope and confidence on the second, until in the afternoon, in the language of the commander of a division on the Federal side, "the whole Confederate left was crushed in like an eggshell"; and in Hood's own words, his line "broke at all points," and he "beheld for the first and only time a Confederate army abandon the field in confusion." The full result of the two days' battle was the capture of 4500 prisoners, including

526

Sherman's march through Georgia

[1864 four generals, with 53 guns, and the disastrous rout of the Confederate army, which, pursued to the Tennessee river in its flight, soon after disappeared as an organised body. The Federal losses were about 3000, of whom less than 400 were killed. The judgment of Sherman, in dividing his army and trusting the defence of Tennessee to Thomas, was handsomely vindicated; and the President and General Grant were greatly relieved of anxiety and encouraged in hope about the march to the sea.

(4) THE MARCH TO THE SEA

Before Hood's advance had suffered its first reverses, Sherman was already on his second march. As soon as Atlanta fell, his despatches began strongly to recommend the project; and the design grew to conviction in his mind when Hood left him a clear path by abandoning Lovejoy's Station on October 21, 1864, to undertake the northward campaign. Receiving the coveted permission from Grant on November 2, Sherman hurried on his preparations with his usual impetuous energy. The railroad was taxed to its utmost service in carrying back to Chattanooga the sick, wounded, and non-combatants and surplus stores; garrisons were withdrawn, the railroad broken up, bridges burned, mills destroyed, and the dépôts, foundries, shops, and public buildings in Atlanta turned into smouldering ruins. Sixty thousand of his best soldiers, under his best officers, with 65 guns, were welded into as perfect a fighting machine as was ever organised. It was divided into two wings, led respectively by Generals Howard and Slocum. With twenty days' supply of provisions, five days' supply of forage, and 200 rounds of ammunition, forty of which were carried by each soldier, the army started on its march of 300 miles on November 15. The day was fine, men and officers in high spirits, the regiments singing the inspiring melody of "John Brown's Body" with a fervour and confidence that made the "Glory Hallelujah Glory Hallelujah" of the chorus ring out more like a religious anthem than a military march. The orders directed the army to march as nearly as possible in four parallel columns, and to forage liberally on the country, but forbade soldiers to enter the dwellings of the inhabitants or to use abusive or threatening language. To corps-commanders alone was entrusted the power to destroy mills, houses and cotton-gins.

In that latitude the weather was good and comparatively mild. Excellent crops had recently been harvested, and organised foraging parties found no difficulty in keeping up a ten days' supply of meat, corn, sweet potatoes, and miscellaneous provisions. Fifteen miles was an average day's march; forage was abundant, and more horses and mules were collected than could be used or taken along. Wherever an armycorps followed a railroad, the track was systematically destroyed by

1864]

Capture of Savannah

527

piling together and burning the ties, heating the rails red-hot in the middle and twisting them round trees. The advance of the left wing was directed to threaten Augusta, that of the right to threaten Macon, diverging again however to pass between them and unite at Milledgeville, the capital of the State, from which the Confederate State officials and legislature precipitately fled. Two brigades of cavalry under General Kilpatrick, operating as occasion required with either wing, easily kept off the slight demonstrations of the enemy.

The audacity of Sherman's advance at first created great consternation; and the authorities printed proclamations and orders in excited language, exhorting the people to rise en masse to "assail the invader in front, flank, and rear by night and by day." But the appeal was vain. No effective force gathered to oppose Sherman's triumphant march. It was not even molested by guerillas. While the troops were sullenly received by the whites, they were everywhere greeted by the negroes with demonstrations of satisfaction and welcome. Often their coming was hailed as a providential deliverance; and it was with difficulty that Sherman could prevent the blacks following in such numbers as seriously to embarrass his march. Moving eastward from Milledgeville on November 24, Sherman crossed the Ogeechee, and on the high land between that and the Savannah river pursued a south-easterly course directly toward the city of Savannah, the outer defences of which he reached on December 10, easily driving before him a Confederate division and some irregular forces, about 10,000 in all. Hardee, an educated and accomplished soldier, held Savannah, a site by nature difficult of approach, well fortified, and defended by a garrison of 15,000. But Sherman promptly stormed Fort McAllister on December 13; this gave him command of Ossabaw Sound, through which he communicated with the Federal fleet, and sent to Washington a despatch that his march had been most agreeable, that he had not lost a waggon on the trip, that he had utterly destroyed over 200 miles of rails, and consumed stores and provisions that were essential to Lee's and Hood's armies. "The army is in splendid order," he added with pardonable pride, "and equal to anything."

The investment and preparations for the capture of Savannah were immediately begun, Admiral Dahlgren, in command of the Federal fleet, heartily co-operating. Hardee's position was soon rendered untenable, and on December 22, 1864, Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."

At Savannah Sherman received a despatch from Grant, written twelve days earlier, in which he was directed to establish and fortify a strong base on the coast, leaving his artillery and cavalry, with enough infantry to hold the place and make local incursions, and to move by sea and join Grant before Richmond, with the remainder of his army. This

528

Sherman's return march

[1864-5 plan was distasteful to Sherman; but, greatly to his delight, a few days later he received a change of orders, or rather of suggestions. Since Grant had heard of Thomas' victory at Nashville, and the success of several Federal cavalry raids, the military problem seemed to be changing; and he frankly wrote to Sherman on the day of the latter's arrival at Savannah, "I want to get your views about what ought to be done, and what can be done." By that time Sherman's views were "as clear as daylight." He laid before Grant in considerable detail his own plan of a march northward from Savannah by way of Columbia, South Carolina, to Raleigh, North Carolina. "The game is then up with Lee,” he confidently added, "unless he comes out of Richmond, avoids you, and fights me, in which case I should reckon on your being on his heels. If you feel confident that you can whip Lee outside of his entrenchments, I feel equally confident that I can handle him in the open country."

Grant promptly accepted Sherman's suggestion, and directed him on December 27, 1864, to make his preparations without delay, to "break up the railroads in South and North Carolina, and join the armies operating against Richmond" as soon as he could. To facilitate this campaign a number of co-operative movements were directed by Grant. The interior of Alabama was threatened, both by operations from the Gulf Coast, and by a powerful cavalry expedition from Thomas' army in Tennessee. The 23rd corps of the Army of the Cumberland, under General Schofield, was brought to the East and sent by sea to the North Carolina coast, with orders to advance on Goldsborough - a movement rendered possible by the fall of Fort Fisher at the mouth of Cape Fear river, which occurred on January 15, 1865. By agreement with Admiral Dahlgren the Federal fleet was held in readiness to establish a new base and afford communication and support if Sherman should desire or be forced to approach the coast during his northward march.

The month of January, 1865, was occupied, partly in preparation, partly by delays due to rains which swelled the rivers and flooded the swamps. On February 1 Sherman started from Savannah on his third march, with an army of 60,000 men, provisions for twenty days, forage for seven, and ample ammunition for a great battle. While he did not anticipate an unobstructed advance, he rightly judged that the severest work of the expedition would be to conquer the natural obstacles in his path. The general course of the rivers was at right angles to the direction he had to follow, and, flowing through a low and sandy country, they were divided into many branches and bordered by broad and difficult swamps. To an ordinary army the route would have been, as the Confederate general officially reported it, impassable. As in the march to the sea, Sherman's army was stripped of all but the barest necessaries; but these included 2500 waggons, 600 ambulances, a pontoon train with each of the four columns, and 68 guns.

This however was not an ordinary army. It was made up of the