150 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



tween the city and the South Carolina shore 

 intervenes Hutchinson's Island, several miles in 

 length, the upper end of which had been seized 

 by Gen. Slocum as the Federal left wing ap- 

 proached the city. But the lower end, divided 

 from the upper by a canal, was fortified and 

 still held by the enemy; and somewhat below 

 the island, on the South Carolina side, com- 

 mences Union Causeway, traversing the ex- 

 tensive swamps intervening between Savannah 

 and Charleston, and offering a practicable line 

 of retreat to Gen. Hardee. To approach the 

 city from the north, along the Carolina shore, 

 through the wide stretch of swamps and rice- 

 fields, artificially and skilfully flooded, seemed 

 almost an impossibility, and the enemy re- 

 lied confidently upon a protracted and per- 

 haps successful resistance. On the 16th Gen. 

 Sherman sent a formal demand for the sur- 

 render of Savannah, closing his despatch with 

 Hood's words to the colored troops at Dalton. 

 To this General Hardee replied that as his 

 communications were still open and his men 

 supplied with subsistence, he was able to with- 

 stand a long siege, and was determined to hold 

 the city until his forces were overpowered. 



Gen. Sherman now rapidly pushed forward 

 his work,' and by means of a substantial cordu- 

 roy road traversing the swamps and rice-fields 

 between Kingsbridge and the city, brought 

 up heavy siege guns which by the 20th were 

 put in position. Perceiving this, and also that 

 preparations were making to close up the Fede- 

 ral lines on the left, Gen. Hardee seems to 

 liave become suddenly aware of the danger 

 that menaced the city, and alive to the ne- 

 cessity of securing his own retreat while 

 Union Causeway afforded an avenue of escape. 

 On the afternoon of the 20th his troops were 

 hurriedly set to work to destroy the navy 

 yard and Government property, while the for- 

 midable iron-clads, Georgia and Savannah, 

 moved up the river and commenced a furious 

 fire on the Federal left, supported by several 

 batteries. Under cover of this fire the garri- 

 son was transported during the night of the 

 20th, by steamboats, rowboats, and rafts to 

 Union Causeway, and on the morning of the 

 21st the troops were well on their way to 

 Charleston. Before leaving, they blew up the 

 iron-clads and the fortifications below the city. 



At dawn of the 21st the evacuation became 

 known to the Federal pickets, and several regi- 

 ments were sent forward to occupy the deserted 

 intrenchments. A few hours later Gen. Sher- 

 man entered the city at the head of his body- 

 guard, and received its formal surrender from 

 the municipal authorities. The following de- 

 spatch to the President announced this crown- 

 ing success of the campaign : 



SAVANNAH, GA., December 22. 

 Hut Excellency 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, and also about twenty- 

 a re thousand bales of cotton 



W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 



The following from Gen. Foster gives ad- 

 ditional details of the capture : 



STEAMER GOLDEN STATE, SAVANNAH RIVER, ) 

 December 22 7 p. M. ) 

 To Lieut. Gen.- Grant and Mai.- Gen. If. W. Halleck : 



I have the honor to report that I have just returned 

 from Gen. Sherman's headquarters in Savannah. 



I send Major Gray, of my staff, as bearer of de- 

 spatches from Gen. Sherman to you, and also a mes- 

 sage to the President. 



The city of Savannah was occupied on the morn- 

 ing of the 21st. Gen. Hardee, anticipating the con- 

 templated assault, escaped with the main body of hia 

 infantry and light artillery on the morning of the 

 20th, by crossing the river to Union Causeway, op- 

 posite the city. The rebel iron-clads were blown up, 

 and the navy yard was burned. All the rest of the 

 city is intact, and contains twenty thousand citizens, 

 quiet and well disposed. 



The captures include eight hundred prisoners, one 

 hundred and fifty guns, thirteen locomotives in good 

 order, one hundred and ninety cars, a large supply 

 of ammunition and materials of war, three steamers, 

 and thirty-three thousand bales of cotton, safely 

 stored in warehouses. All these valuable fruits of 

 an almost bloodless victory have been, like Atlanta, 

 fairly won. 



I opened communication with the city with my 

 steamers to-day, taking up what torpedoes we could 

 see, and passing safely over others. Arrangements 

 are made to clear the channel of all obstructions. 

 J. G. FOSTER, Major-General. 



"With the capture of Savannah ended the 

 great winter campaign through Georgia, just 

 five weeks after the Federal army left Atlanta. 

 Within that period Gen. Sherman traversed at 

 his leisure, and with a total loss of less than 

 fifteen hundred men, a tract of country varying 

 from sixty to twenty miles in width, and com- 

 pletely destroyed the great railroad quadri- 

 lateral of which Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, and 

 Savannah formed the four corners. When it 

 is recollected that from Atlanta to Madison 

 on the Georgia road, and from the neigh- 

 borhood of Macon to Savannah, the track 

 was systematically torn up, beside considerable 

 portions of the Milledgeville branch and the 

 Augusta and Millen road, Gen. Sherman's 

 estimate of 200 miles destroyed will seem under 

 the mark. The work of destruction was car- 

 ried on with a completeness and deliberation 

 unknown to previous expeditions. Every rail 

 was heated and twisted; every tie, bridge, 

 tank, wood-shed, and depot building was burned, 

 and every culvert blown up. For miles on the 

 Georgia, Georgia Central, and Augusta and 

 Millen roads, the track is carried over marshy 

 territory by extensive trestle-work. This was 

 all burned or otherwise injured beyond the pos- 

 sibility of immediate replacement. Almost from 

 the moment of departure the army literally 

 fed on the fat of the land, and fared probably 

 better on the march than in camp. Live stock, 

 poultry, Indian meal, sweet potatoes, sorghunr 

 syrup, and other luxuries were found in an 

 abundance far exceeding the demands of the 

 men, and many thousand head of cattle, horses, 

 and mules were gathered up on the march and 

 brought safely to the coast. The army is said 

 to have encamped around Savannah with fifty 

 days' rations of beef on the hoof. As a rule the 



