J48 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



Gulf Railroad, which was being employed to 

 its utmost capacity to bring supplies and re- 

 enforcements to the city, a force was sent 

 across the Ogeechee, which it was supposed 

 would offer effectual resistance to the progress 

 of the 15th corps. The greater part of the 

 latter, however, had crossed to the east bank 

 of the Ogeechee, on the 7th, near Eden, and 

 on the succeeding day Gen. Corse's division 

 was pushed forward between the Little and 

 Great Ogeechee, thirteen miles in advance of 

 the main column, to the canal connecting the 

 Ogeechee with the Savannah. The canal was 

 quickly bridged, and the division intrenched in 

 a strong position on the south side, the enemy, 

 after a brief resistance, abandoning their ad- 

 vanced lines, and taking refuge within the for- 

 tifications proper of Savannah. Other portions 

 of the 15th corps were immediately brought 

 up to support Gen. Corse, and on the 9th a 

 detachment moved forward to the Savannah 

 and Gulf Railroad, destroyed the track for sev- 

 eral miles around Miller's station, and captured 

 a train of eighteen cars, with many prisoners, 

 thus cutting off communication between Sa- 

 vannah and the South. 



While the extreme right was thus closing in 

 upon the rear of Savannah, the main body 

 moved south by rapid marches between the 

 Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers. The weather, 

 which had been for the most part favorable 

 during the first half of the campaign, became 

 rainy after the columns passed Millen, and the 

 swampy regions of the coast, which the army 

 had now entered upon, offered serious obstacles 

 to rapid marching. But, inspired by contin- 

 ued successes and the prospect of soon opening 

 communications with the fleet on the coast, the 

 troops pushed forward with no more delays 

 than were caused by bridging streams or cor- 

 duroying swamps, and on the evening of the 

 10th the advance of the several columns had 

 reached positions varying from three to eight 

 miles distant from Savannah. On the march 

 the left wing struck the Savannah and Charles- 

 ton Railroad where it crosses the Savannah 

 River, from which point southward the track 

 was thoroughly destroyed. The enemy showed 

 considerable resistance as the Federal army 

 approached the city, and the 14th and 17th 

 corps sustained some loss in skirmishing. A 

 number of men having been wounded by the 

 explosion of shells and torpedoes, buried and 

 concealed in the road, the rebel prisoners were 

 placed in front of the columns, and compelled 

 to remove them. Kilpatrick covered the rear, 

 and kept at bay such scattered bodies of cav- 

 alry as attempted to harass the march. The 

 llth and 12th were occupied in putting the 

 troops in position, establishing batteries, erect- 

 ing breastworks, and in other operations con- 

 nected with a regular investment, and on the 

 latter day the army was concentrated so as to 

 form a semicircle, extending from the Savan- 

 nah River to the Savannah and Gulf Railroad. 

 The line was about ten miles long, the extreme 



left, held by the 20th corps, being about three 

 miles from the city, while the extreme right 

 of the 15th corps, resting on the railroad, was 

 eleven miles distant. Next to the 20th corps 

 came the 14th, and next to that on the right 

 the 17th. Everywhere the troops encountered 

 a strong line of earthworks, having heavy 

 guns in position, and held apparently by a 

 large force. These were the exterior fortifica- 

 tions of Savannah, and although of consider- 

 able extent, were so flanked by a series of im- 

 passable swamps stretching across the penin- 

 sula, as to be capable of easy defence. All the 

 openings to these morasses, as well as the 

 roads leading through them, had been fortified 

 with extreme care, and could hardly be carried 

 without severe loss. 



Meanwhile, as early as the 9th, Capt. Don- * 

 can and two scouts had been sent from the 15th 

 corps on the hazardous enterprise of penetrat- 

 ing the enemy's lines and reaching the coast, 

 for the purpose of communicating with the 

 fleet, which it was known was on the alert for 

 intelligence from Gen. Sherman's army. Em- 

 barking in a small skiff on the Ogeechee, at 

 nightfall, they paddled down the river until 

 warned by the approach of day to conceal 

 themselves in the rice swamps. On the night 

 of the 10th they resumed their voyage, and 

 creeping past Fort McAllister and the picket 

 boats during a rain storm, emerged into OSSOP- 

 haw Sound, where, on the morning of the 

 llth, they were picked up by the Federal gun- 

 boat Flag, which immediately conveyed them 

 to Hilton Head. Gen. Foster, commanding 

 the department, was at once summoned from 

 Pocotaligo, where he was demonstrating against 

 the Charleston and Savannah Railroad in aid 

 of Gen. Sherman's movement, and received 

 from the scouts Gen. Howard's despatch of the 

 9th : " We have had perfect success, and the 

 army is in fine spirits." This was the first 

 direct intelligence from the expeditionary army 

 since its departure from Atlanta, and its recep- 

 tion in the North a few days later caused uni- 

 versal rejoicing. The greater part of the avail- 

 able naval force on the station being already 

 in the Savannah River for the purpose of co- 

 operating with the army, nothing remained to 

 be done but to send a few vessels around to 

 Ossabaw and Wassaw Sounds to endeavor to 

 open communications. Wassaw Sound, into 

 which empties the Wilmington River, being 

 nearer the city, was carefully explored by Gen. 

 Foster and Admiral Dahlgren, and both there 

 and in Ossabaw Sound the gunboats were 

 directed to make frequent signals with the 

 shore. 



Gen. Sherman having determined that Ossa- 

 baw Sound, which forms the mouth of the 

 Ogeechee, afforded the most practicable meana 

 of communicating with the fleet, immediately 

 took measures to reduce Fort McAllister, which 

 commands the water approaches in that di- 

 rection. This work, situated on the right bank 

 of the Great Ogeechee, about six miles from 



