“Headquarters Right Wing Army of Tennessee, }Steamer Forest Queen, Milliken’s Bend,January 4, 1863. }“Pursuant to the terms of General Orders No. 1, made this day by General McClernand, the title of our army ceases to exist, and constitutes in the future the Army of the Mississippi, composed of two ‘army corps,’ one to be commanded by General G. W. Morgan and the other by myself. In relinquishing the command of the Army of the Tennessee, and restricting my authority to my own corps, I desire to express to all commanders, to soldiers and officers recently operating before Vicksburg, my hearty thanks for their zeal, alacrity, and courage manifested by them on all occasions. We failed in accomplishing one purpose of our movement, the capture of Vicksburg; but we were part of a whole.Ours was but part of a combined movement, in which others were to assist. We were on time; unforeseen contingencies must have delayed the others.We have destroyed the Shreveport road, we have attacked the defences of Vicksburg, and pushed the attack as far as prudence would justify; and having found it too strong for our single column, we have drawn off in good order and good spirits, ready for any new move.A new commander is now here to lead you.He is chosen by the President of the United States, who is charged by the Constitution to maintain and defend it, and he has the undoubted right to select his own agents.I know that all good officers and soldiers will give him the same hearty support and cheerful obedience they have hitherto given me.There are honors enough in reserve for all, and work enough too. Let each do his appropriate part, and our nation must in the end emerge from this dire conflict purified and ennobled by the fires which now test its strength and purity. All officers of the general staff now attached to my person will hereafter report in person and by letter to Major-General McClernand, commanding the Army of the Mississippi, on board the steamerTigress, at our rendezvous at Gaines’ Landing and at Montgomery Point.“By order of Major-GeneralW. T. Sherman.“J. H. Hammond, A. A.-G.”
“Headquarters Right Wing Army of Tennessee, }
Steamer Forest Queen, Milliken’s Bend,January 4, 1863. }
“Pursuant to the terms of General Orders No. 1, made this day by General McClernand, the title of our army ceases to exist, and constitutes in the future the Army of the Mississippi, composed of two ‘army corps,’ one to be commanded by General G. W. Morgan and the other by myself. In relinquishing the command of the Army of the Tennessee, and restricting my authority to my own corps, I desire to express to all commanders, to soldiers and officers recently operating before Vicksburg, my hearty thanks for their zeal, alacrity, and courage manifested by them on all occasions. We failed in accomplishing one purpose of our movement, the capture of Vicksburg; but we were part of a whole.Ours was but part of a combined movement, in which others were to assist. We were on time; unforeseen contingencies must have delayed the others.We have destroyed the Shreveport road, we have attacked the defences of Vicksburg, and pushed the attack as far as prudence would justify; and having found it too strong for our single column, we have drawn off in good order and good spirits, ready for any new move.A new commander is now here to lead you.He is chosen by the President of the United States, who is charged by the Constitution to maintain and defend it, and he has the undoubted right to select his own agents.I know that all good officers and soldiers will give him the same hearty support and cheerful obedience they have hitherto given me.There are honors enough in reserve for all, and work enough too. Let each do his appropriate part, and our nation must in the end emerge from this dire conflict purified and ennobled by the fires which now test its strength and purity. All officers of the general staff now attached to my person will hereafter report in person and by letter to Major-General McClernand, commanding the Army of the Mississippi, on board the steamerTigress, at our rendezvous at Gaines’ Landing and at Montgomery Point.
“By order of Major-GeneralW. T. Sherman.
“J. H. Hammond, A. A.-G.”
The morning light of January the 9th, 1864, fell upon theWhite Cloud, carrying the mail with tidings of disaster, death, and suffering, bound for St. Louis, and theCity of Memphis, bearing the sick and wounded. In the Army of the Mississippi, under General McClernand, acting for the time independent of General Grant’s command, the late chief acted a subordinate part.
The fleet was again in motion, steaming up the broad current for Arkansas Post, whose fortress was the object of the expedition. It lies nearly north of Vicksburg, as a glance at the map will show you. On the 11th the transports and gunboats appeared before the fort.
The commander’s brief report will tell the story of attack, conflict, and victory, in which General Sherman had no inferior part.
“Headquarters Army of the Mississippi, }Post of Arkansas,January 11, 1863. }“Major-GeneralU. S. Grant,Commanding Department of Tennessee:“I have the honor to report that the forces under my command attacked the Post of Arkansas to-day, at one o’clock, having stormed the enemy’s work. We took a large number of prisoners, variously estimated at from seven thousand to ten thousand, together with all his stores, animals, and munitions of war.“Rear-Admiral David D. Porter, commanding the Mississippi Squadron, effectively and brilliantly coöperated, accomplishing this complete success.“John A. McClernand, Maj.-Gen. Com’ding.”
“Headquarters Army of the Mississippi, }
Post of Arkansas,January 11, 1863. }
“Major-GeneralU. S. Grant,Commanding Department of Tennessee:
“I have the honor to report that the forces under my command attacked the Post of Arkansas to-day, at one o’clock, having stormed the enemy’s work. We took a large number of prisoners, variously estimated at from seven thousand to ten thousand, together with all his stores, animals, and munitions of war.
“Rear-Admiral David D. Porter, commanding the Mississippi Squadron, effectively and brilliantly coöperated, accomplishing this complete success.
“John A. McClernand, Maj.-Gen. Com’ding.”
The noble Admiral Porter, a child of the sea, whose father was famous in the last war with England, also gives an account of his work with the grim warriors of the waters:
“United States Mississippi Squadron, }Arkansas Post,January 11, 1863. }“Hon.Gideon Welles,Secretary of Navy:“Sir: The gunboatsLouisville,De Kalb,Cincinnati, andLexington, attacked the heavy fort at the Post, on the Arkansas, last night, and silenced the batteries, killing twenty of the enemy.“The gunboats attacked again this morning, and dismounted every gun, eleven in all.“Colonel Dunnington, late of the United States Navy, commandant of the fort, requested to surrender to the navy. I received his sword.“The army coöperated on the land side. The forts were completely silenced, and the guns, eleven in number, were all dismounted in three hours.“The action was at close quarters on the part of the three iron-clads, and the firing splendid.“The list of killed and wounded is small. TheLouisvillelost twelve,De Kalbseventeen,Cincinnatinone,Lexingtonnone, andRattlertwo.“The vessels, although much cut up, were ready for action in half an hour after the battle.“The light draughtRattler, Lieutenant-Commander Wilson Smith, and the other light draughts, joined in the action when it became general, as did theBlack Hawk, Lieutenant-Commander R. B. Breese, with her rifle-guns. Particulars will be given hereafter.“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,“David D. Porter,Acting Rear-Admiral.”
“United States Mississippi Squadron, }
Arkansas Post,January 11, 1863. }
“Hon.Gideon Welles,Secretary of Navy:
“Sir: The gunboatsLouisville,De Kalb,Cincinnati, andLexington, attacked the heavy fort at the Post, on the Arkansas, last night, and silenced the batteries, killing twenty of the enemy.
“The gunboats attacked again this morning, and dismounted every gun, eleven in all.
“Colonel Dunnington, late of the United States Navy, commandant of the fort, requested to surrender to the navy. I received his sword.
“The army coöperated on the land side. The forts were completely silenced, and the guns, eleven in number, were all dismounted in three hours.
“The action was at close quarters on the part of the three iron-clads, and the firing splendid.
“The list of killed and wounded is small. TheLouisvillelost twelve,De Kalbseventeen,Cincinnatinone,Lexingtonnone, andRattlertwo.
“The vessels, although much cut up, were ready for action in half an hour after the battle.
“The light draughtRattler, Lieutenant-Commander Wilson Smith, and the other light draughts, joined in the action when it became general, as did theBlack Hawk, Lieutenant-Commander R. B. Breese, with her rifle-guns. Particulars will be given hereafter.
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“David D. Porter,Acting Rear-Admiral.”
Thus did the army and navy share equally in the honors of the success; neither is complete without the other.
The results of the original expedition seem small; and severe comments were spoken and written about General Sherman’s haste and failure. That his gallant spirit was loyal, and his aim to serve the country, his whole career has amply shown. That he relied upon the expected battalions of Grant to meet the strength of the garrisoned enemy victoriously, is evident. The defeat was one of the lessons of our early warfare, which no leader has so well improved as Major-General Sherman.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Plot—General Sherman’s Part—His Successful Feint at Haines’ Bluff—Joins the Main Army—The Advance toward Jackson, the State Capital—The Victorious Entry of the City—On to Vicksburg again—Assaults—Siege—Victory—General Sherman goes after “Joe” Johnston.
DURING the weeks of early spring the deeply laid plot against Vicksburg ripened into action. Quietly the master mind of the plan to reach and take it, had laid out the work for his commanders. On different sides toward the enemy feigned attacks were made to deceive the rebels. March 29th, the Thirteenth Corps, led by McClernand, made the advance from Milliken’s Bend, the grand starting-point.
Gen. Sherman, with the Fifteenth Corps, was to bring up the rear, and would therefore be last to leave in the general advance.
April 28th a message in cipher,i. e.secret characters, understood only by those in correspondence, was received by him from General Grant, apprising him of the time chosen for an attack on Grand Gulf. It also informed him that an assault upon Haines’ Bluff, on the Yazoo River, should “come off” at the same time, if it could be done in a way to be understood by our loyal people. For, to deceive the enemy and gain advantage over him, while the pretended attack was thought to be [the] real one, ending in defeat, would depress the national feeling, and do more harm than good. This was the problem for General Sherman to solve. He was sure he could make the affair understood by his troops, and those for whom they were fighting would not long be in the dark. He therefore took ten steamers, and embarking with his true-hearted warriors, started from Milliken’s Bend for the Yazoo. The spectacle was beautiful—itself adeceptionwhen contrasted with the havoc and horrors of conflict. When the fleet steamed into the mouth of the river, other vessels were waiting to join in theruse. The whole number of boats then moved, April 29th, to the Chickasaw Bayou. The morning of the following day the fleet pushed forward to the fort. Now came preparation for action in the gunboats of Admiral Porter, the stir of the gunners about their massive engines of destruction. A few moments later the thunder of bombardment opened, and for four hours it echoed over the works and waters. The gunboats then retired out of range, and General Sherman landed his force, while the rebels looked on, expecting an immediate attack by him. No sooner had the last soldier left the transports than the naval force advanced and renewed the fire on the fortress. General Sherman saw that the feint had succeeded, the foe was getting ready to resist an assault.
Says General Grant in his official report: “To prevent heavy reënforcements going from Vicksburg to the assistance of the Grand Gulf forces, I directed Sherman to make a demonstration on Haines’ Bluff, and to make all the show possible. From information since received from prisoners captured, this ruse succeeded admirably.”
Meanwhile, the magnificent naval scene in the passing of Vicksburg by Admiral Porter’s fleet, and the unrivalled and romantic raid of Colonel Grierson through the heart of the enemy’s country to Baton Rouge, cutting railroads southeasterly of the same defiant Gibraltar, gave their promise of success to the bold plans of General Grant.
While General Sherman was frightening the enemy, and learning his strength and positions, General Grant sent for the heroic commander. He at once forwarded to Grand Gulf the two divisions of his corps left at Milliken’s Bend; and soon as the night covered his feints on the Yazoo, sailed down the tide to his encampment at Young’s Point. Nor did he pause long here. With all his troops, excepting a garrison to hold the position, he hastened to Hard Times, four miles from Grand Gulf, which you will see lies on the banks of the Mississippi in Louisiana. It was a remarkable march of sixty-three miles in about five days. The columns reached Hard Times on the morning of the 6th, and the same evening commenced crossing the ferry to join General Grant.
And now began in earnest the great movement of the army toward Vicksburg; for here the supply-wagons were furnished and in line of march, arrangements made to send on more when needed, and the long cavalcade put in motion. General Sherman commanded at Hard Times upon General Grant’s advance, till the provision for the many thousand troops was completed. Unless you have seen this part of army-work, you have no idea of the immense scale on which it is conducted. There are miles of wagons, hundreds of horses and mules to draw them, and an army of teamsters to drive the brute muscle of the campaign. The gigantic locomotive storehouse moved toward Hawkinson’s Ferry on the Black River, where the commander-in-chief was waiting for it and Sherman’s Corps. While this deliberate and determined progress was made, the Mississippians were getting alarmed. The Governor of Mississippi issued a flaming proclamation, calling upon the people “to awake and join their brothers in arms, who were baring their bosoms to the storm of battle in defence of all they held dear.”
On May 12th, “Generals Sherman and McClernand had skirmishing at Fourteen-Mile Creek, and McPherson a successful engagement at Raymond. Sherman and McPherson then started for Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, the former on the turnpike road, the latter on the Clinton road. The rain fell in torrents, making the roads at first slippery and then miry. But the troops marched without straggling, and in the best of spirits, about fourteen miles, and engaged the enemy about twelve o’clockm., near Jackson. The wily rebel General Johnston, in command there, made a vigorous feint of resisting Sherman’s progress by posting infantry and artillery on the south side of the city, meanwhile moving nearly all his force against McPherson. But Sherman at once penetrated this device, by sending a reconnoitring party to his right, which flanked the position. The enemy retreated, after a heavy engagement with McPherson, who had beaten him. From Jackson McPherson and McClernand turned to Bolton; but Sherman was left at Jackson, and effectually destroyed the railroads, bridges, factories, workshops, arsenals, and every thing valuable for the support of the enemy. General Grant meanwhile, with the other two corps, had gained the decisive victories of Champion’s Hill on the 16th of May, and Big Black River on the 17th. Early on the former day he sent for Sherman ‘to move with all possible speed until he came up with the main force near Bolton. The despatch reached him at ten minutes past sevena. m., and his advance division was in motion in one hour from that time.’ The other followed on its heels, and both reached Bolton that night, by a forced march of twenty miles. There orders came to keep on to Bridgeport; and by noon of the next day the march to Bridgeport was accomplished. There Sherman assumed the advance, starting before dawn of May 18, and rapidly marched toward Vicksburg. By a quick detour to the right he managed to throw himself before night on Walnut Hills, in a brilliant manœuvre, and thereby established communication between the army and the fleet in the Yazoo. On these latter movements of Sherman the comment of General Grant is as follows:—‘His demonstration at Haines’ Bluff, in April, to hold the enemy about Vicksburg, while the army was securing a foothold east of the Mississippi; his rapid marches to join the army afterwards; his management at Jackson, Mississippi, in the first attack; his almost unequalled march from Jackson to Bridgeport, and passage of the Black River; his securing Walnut Hills on the 18th of May, attest his great merit as a soldier.’
“General Grant first determined to carry Vicksburg by assault, and ordered a general attack for two o’clock of the 19th of May. General Sherman was, curiously enough, on the ground he had before gallantly but vainly striven to take, in December, having now seized it from the rear without a struggle. Promptly at the hour his men rushed to the work. The interval was a broad reach, rugged and broken with deep ravines, and strewed with abatis or felled timber, and with groves of standing trees. It would have been a rough and impenetrable region even if unswept with artillery. But in truth the enemy’s cannon, carefully disposed, raked and enfiladed almost every step. But the order was Forward! and forward went the gallant brigade of General A. L. Lee, of Osterhaus’s division, and, struggling across the impediments, gained the crest of one of the ridges and planted the colors of the Thirteenth infantry on the enemy’s first line of works. The charge cost this regiment six officers and seventy-seven men killed and wounded out of two hundred and fifty. The column was then called off and covered from fire. General Grant’s report says: ‘The Fifteenth Army Corps,from having arrived in front of the enemy’s works in timeon the 18th to get a good position, were enabled to make a vigorous assault. The Thirteenth and Seventeenth Corps succeeded no further than to gain advanced positions covered from the fire of the enemy.’ On the morning of the 22d, a second and more terrific assault was made by all three corps, preceded by a tremendous cannonading from guns and mortars, mingled with the heavy booming from the entire fleet. The orders were to advance without firing a musket. The army dashed forward across ravines and ditches, over ground covered with artful tangles of cane and grapevines, to find only new difficulties. Yet so far did some of the gallant brigades advance as to lie underneath the guns of the fort, while hand-grenades and lighter shells were hurled over the parapet among them. The assault is worthy to be mentioned with the names of Mamelon, Vert, and Malakoff. But, like the Crimean stronghold, this Sebastopol of the Mississippi could only be carried by assault after a protracted siege. With fearful loss, the gallant army was retired from the unequal fight, and regular approaches commenced. The conduct, triumphant issue, and joyful results of the siege, are familiar. On the 4th of July, 1863, after a campaign of extraordinary energy, the unconditional surrender of Vicksburg closed up a series of movements of which General Halleck declares, ‘No more brilliant exploit can be found in military history.’
“While, however, the rest of the army, on the national holiday, moved into the city they had won, to rejoice in their success, and to rest after exhausting labors, for Sherman and his corps there was still work in hand. About a fortnight before the surrender, General Joe Johnston was threatening the rear of the besieging army with a large improvised force. Grant at once sent this message to Sherman: ‘You must whip Johnston fifteen miles from here.’ But Johnston drew back upon Jackson, and General Sherman was notified to be ready to start against the latter place on July 6th. ‘I placed Major-General Sherman in command of all the troops designated to look after Johnston. Johnston, however, not attacking, I determined to attack him the moment Vicksburg was in our possession, and accordingly notified Sherman that I would again make an assault on Vicksburg at daylight of the 6th, and for him to have up supplies of all descriptions ready to move upon receipt of orders if the assault should prove a success. His preparations were immediately made, and when the place surrendered on the 4th,two days earlierthan I had fixed for the attack,Sherman was found ready, and moved at oncewith a force increased by the remainder of both the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Army Corps, and is at present (July 6th) investing Jackson, where Johnston has made a stand.’
“General Sherman was now intrusted with the chief part of General Grant’s army: he moved so quickly that the latter was able to telegraph to Washington, July 12th, ‘General Sherman has Jackson invested from Pearl River on the north to the river on the south. This has cut off many hundred cars from the Confederacy. General Sherman says he has force enough, and feels no apprehension about the result.’ ”
Nor was there occasion to fear; for the rebel chief was under the eye of a lion in war’s arena, that never missed his prey when fairly within his reach.
CHAPTER XV.
General Sherman watching Joe Johnston—Foraging—An Attack—The Enemy steals away in the Night—The Conquering Battalions have a brief rest—Encampment on the Big Black River—Scenes there—Reënforces General Rosecrans—Death of General Sherman’s Son—Beautiful Letter—The Monument.
GENERAL SHERMAN was in no haste to strike; he could leisurely watch the foe chafing in the narrow limits of his beleagured ground. Expeditions were sent out in different directions, the gallant troopers destroying railroad tracks, bridges, and culverts, and bringing in supplies from the enemy’s lands and granaries.
July 11th they accidentally found in an old building, carefully packed away, a large library, and various mementos of friendship. A glance revealed the owner. A gold-headed cane bore the inscription, “To Jefferson Davis, from Franklin Pierce.” Precious plunder! The arch traitor has hidden in the quiet country, and in a place which could awaken no suspicion, his valuable library, correspondence, and articles of cherished regard. The excited troopers soon get into the book pile, and volumes, heaps of letters, and handsome canes, are borne as trophies (a new kind of forage) to headquarters. Secession is discovered in many letters, by Northern friends of the treasonable leader, and his right to that proud distinction freely granted. Added to their capture, hundreds of cars were taken from the Confederacy.
On the 13th a heavy fog lay along the river-banks, hiding from each other’s view the opposing armies. Suddenly rebel shouts came through the gloom, and a desperate sortie from their works is made upon General Sherman’s defences. He is ready to meet the shock, and after a brief struggle they stagger back to their intrenchments.
The twilight hour of July 16th brought to a projection of the works rebel bands of music, insulting our troops with “Bonnie Blue Flag,” “My Maryland,” “Dixie’s Land,” and other airs perverted to the service of treason. The next morning’s dawn gave signs of a retreating foe. The fighting Joe Johnston had stolen away, leaving all over Jackson the marks of ruin. The day before—July 15th—the President issued a proclamation for national thanksgiving, on the 6th day of August, for the recent victories.
General Johnstonwasfairlywhipped, and without the awful waste of life a great battle involves. And now followed other bloodless, and yet exciting scenes of war. You might have seen squads of cavalrymen galloping in every direction, in the wake of the retreating foe, and, with axe and torch, laying in ruins bridges and barns, and whatever might serve the cause of rebellion. Of our brave chieftain’s successes to this time, since he dashed forward to Walnut Hills, after the first occupation of Jackson, “the siege of Vicksburg and last capture of Jackson, and dispersion of Johnston’s army, entitle General Sherman to more honor than usually falls to the lot of one man to earn.”
The short period of rest enjoyed by the heroic army was only one of preparation for a more difficult and grander advance. The LondonSpectatorsaid of the bold and splendid campaign: It comprised “a series of movements which were overlooked at the time, yet upon which hung the safety of two Federal armies—the extraordinary march of General Sherman from Vicksburg to Chattanooga.”
The camp of the Fifteenth Army Corps, during this interlude of marching, lay along the Big Black River, between Jackson and Vicksburg, about twenty miles from the latter. It was acting as guard to all that region against any return movements or raids of the enemy. A glance at the map will show you the exact position.
But there is a history of this and similar encampments which will never be written. In the sultry air and poisonous vapors of the Big Black, officers and men resorted to every possible resource for whiling away the dull hours and cheering the home-sick invalids.
Not unfrequently, in the light of the evening-lamps, the commander-in-chief has amused and interested by the hour a circle of officers gathered about him, with the narratives of his early adventures, presenting, with the vividness of reality, the exciting life among the Indians of Florida and the gold-seekers of California.
But one day there was an unusual stir around the General’s headquarters; for visitors worth more to him than all earthly honors or gold were escorted to his tent, his wife and his son, bearing his own name, had come from their western home, to meet him once more before his long and perilous marches over hostile soil. But the hours of domestic converse and delight flew swiftly by, the farewells were spoken, and the well-guarded visitors went on their homeward way. There was no safeguard against disease lurking in those Southern swamps. The gifted and beautiful boy, unconsciously to all, had been smitten, and a raging fever soon laid him at the gate of death. He had been adopted by the Thirteenth Corps as their pet—a compliment both to him and his father, who was himself the idol of those brave battalions.
How this bereavement affected him and his old veterans, you will know hereafter.
September 22d, General Grant telegraphed him from Vicksburg to send forward immediately a division to reënforce General Rosecrans, who had been defeated by General Bragg at Chickamauga, and was obliged to retreat to Chattanooga, unpursued by his successful enemy. General Rosecrans commanded the Army of the Cumberland, and was now holding the great central stronghold in the vast battle-field between Vicksburg and Charleston. At 4 o’clock of the same day the telegram was read by General Sherman, who is always a minute man. General Osterhaus’ division was on the road to Vicksburg, and the following day “it was streaming toward Memphis.” A day later, and the commander-in-chief received orders to follow with the entire corps. The tents disappeared like dew before the morning sun, and the proud host were following the columns of Osterhaus toward Memphis. Two divisions were transported by water. But the low tide and scarcity of food made their progress slow. The leader was impatient of delay, for he longed to try the metal of his corps against that of General Bragg. He is no fancy commander; but an incarnation of nervous energy, with no display of tinsel in his attire, helping with his own hands to bring in fence-rails to feed the fires, then turning teamster to wagons hauling wood from the interior to the boats.
During the first days of October, while General Osterhaus is in front of Corinth, his boats lie before Memphis.
And amid the absorbing duties of a grand campaign, look into the General’s tent, and you shall see the warrior for a moment lost in the grieving father, and will feel that the scene is, indeed, “a touching episode of the war.” The letter, addressed to the Thirteenth Infantry, and by its officers ordered to be printed for distribution among the soldiers of the regiment, cannot but touch a tender chord in every heart. Stricken father, noble patriot, the hero of uncounted battles; let the nation pause in its admiration of his gallant deeds, to weep with the mourner over the young life that no “bugle note” will awaken.
“Gayoso House, Memphis, Tenn.,Oct. 4, Midnight.“Capt.C. C. Smith,Commanding Battalion Thirteenth Regulars:“My Dear Friend: I cannot sleep to-night till I record an expression of the deep feelings of my heart to you, and to the officers and soldiers of the battalion, for their kind behavior to my poor child. I realize that you all feel for my family the attachment of kindred; and I assure you all of full reciprocity. Consistent with a sense of duty to my profession and office, I could not leave my post, and sent for my family to come to me in that fatal climate, and in that sickly period of the year, and behold the result! The child that bore my name, and in whose future I reposed with more confidence than I did in my own plans of life, now floats a mere corpse, seeking a grave in a distant land, with a weeping mother, brother, and sisters clustered about him. But, for myself I can ask no sympathy. On, on, I must go to meet a soldier’s fate, or see my country rise superior to all factions, till its flag is adored and respected by ourselves and all the powers of the earth.“But my poor Willy was, or thought he was, a sergeant of the Thirteenth. I have seen his eye brighten and his heart beat as he beheld the battalion under arms, and asked me if they were not real soldiers. Child as he was, he had the enthusiasm, the pure love of truth, honor, and love of country, which should animate all soldiers. God only knows why he should die thus young. He is dead, but will not be forgotten till those who knew him in life have followed him to that same mysterious end.“Please convey to the battalion my heartfelt thanks, and assure each and all that if, in after years, they call on me or mine, and mention that they were of the Thirteenth Regulars, when poor Willy was a sergeant, they will have a key to the affections of my family that will open all it has—that we will share with them our last blanket, our last crust.“Your friend,W. T. Sherman,Maj.-Gen.”
“Gayoso House, Memphis, Tenn.,Oct. 4, Midnight.
“Capt.C. C. Smith,Commanding Battalion Thirteenth Regulars:
“My Dear Friend: I cannot sleep to-night till I record an expression of the deep feelings of my heart to you, and to the officers and soldiers of the battalion, for their kind behavior to my poor child. I realize that you all feel for my family the attachment of kindred; and I assure you all of full reciprocity. Consistent with a sense of duty to my profession and office, I could not leave my post, and sent for my family to come to me in that fatal climate, and in that sickly period of the year, and behold the result! The child that bore my name, and in whose future I reposed with more confidence than I did in my own plans of life, now floats a mere corpse, seeking a grave in a distant land, with a weeping mother, brother, and sisters clustered about him. But, for myself I can ask no sympathy. On, on, I must go to meet a soldier’s fate, or see my country rise superior to all factions, till its flag is adored and respected by ourselves and all the powers of the earth.
“But my poor Willy was, or thought he was, a sergeant of the Thirteenth. I have seen his eye brighten and his heart beat as he beheld the battalion under arms, and asked me if they were not real soldiers. Child as he was, he had the enthusiasm, the pure love of truth, honor, and love of country, which should animate all soldiers. God only knows why he should die thus young. He is dead, but will not be forgotten till those who knew him in life have followed him to that same mysterious end.
“Please convey to the battalion my heartfelt thanks, and assure each and all that if, in after years, they call on me or mine, and mention that they were of the Thirteenth Regulars, when poor Willy was a sergeant, they will have a key to the affections of my family that will open all it has—that we will share with them our last blanket, our last crust.
“Your friend,W. T. Sherman,Maj.-Gen.”
The noble Thirteenth did not stop in their expressions of sympathy with words. The chieftain went to his war-path, while the sculptor’s chisel was busy on the marble, until it formed a lasting memorial of manly affection cherished by the troops for father and son. Wrote one who saw it in Cincinnati before it was removed to the “silent city:”
“At Rule’s marble works we observed recently a beautiful monument to the memory of Major-General Sherman’s son, who died over a year since, in Memphis, while returning home with his mother from the Black River, where they had been visiting the General, and where, unfortunately, the boy contracted a fever. The monument was made by order of the Thirteenth Regiment of Regular United States Infantry, of which General Sherman was Colonel four years since, and of which his namesake-son, the deceased child, was, by general consent, considered a sergeant, having been elected to that position by the members of the regiment, who were very proud of him. The monument is about two feet square at the base, and six feet high. Above the rough ground base is the marble base, an eight-sided, finely-polished and ornamented block. Upon four of the faces are inscriptions, and upon the other four, between them, the American shield, with its Stripes and Stars. Surmounting the base is a full-sized tenor drum, with straps and sticks complete, and crossed above this two flags of the Union—all in beautiful white marble. The inscriptions are as follows:
“ ‘In Thy Tabernacles I shall dwell forever. I shall be protected under the cover of Thy wing. Psalms l. 1.’
“ ‘Our Little Sergeant Willie—from the First Battalion, Thirteenth United States Infantry.’
“ ‘William Tecumseh Sherman, son of William T. and Ellen E. Sherman. Born in San Francisco, California, June 8, 1854; died in Memphis, Tennessee, October 3, 1863.’
“ ‘In his spirit there was no guile.’
“ ‘Blessed are they undefiled in the way, who walk in the way of the Lord. Psalms cxviii.’ ”
CHAPTER XVI.
The Grand Advance from Memphis—The Enemy prepare to Meet It—General Sherman’s Genius equal to any Emergency—Rapid Marches—The Foe driven from the Path—New Command—The Swollen River—Into Chattanooga—The Tireless Chief and his Gallant Troops push forward to Missionary Ridge.
OPEN the map, my reader, and spend a few moments, tracing the long way before the Union troops, and you will understand the greatness of the success of the march from Memphis to Chattanooga, which are three hundred and nine miles apart. The Memphis and Charleston Railway connect them. The Tennessee and Elk Rivers cross the country, many of whose bridges were gone, and the foe lurked along the lines of travel.
But when General Sherman received orders from General Halleck to transport his troops to Athens, Alabama, repairing the railroad and getting his supplies as best he could, he was off with the haste of a prepared and fearless leader, whose heart was in the cause, for whose triumph he fought. But instead of using boats, “his quick eye saw that he could move his trains faster by road under escort.” He therefore did so, and conveyed into the enemy’s country the entire Fourth Division over the iron track.
“Alarmed by this very dangerous move eastward, the enemy quickly assembled at Salem and Tuscumbia, with intent to thwart it and to foil the junction with Rosecrans. At the former point Chalmers collected three thousand cavalry and eight pieces of artillery, and planted himself in our path. Hearing of this, General Sherman, on October 11th, put his whole force in motion toward Corinth, and himself started thither in a special train with a battalion of the Thirteenth Infantry (his own regiment) as escort. On approaching Colliersville, which was defended by a few troops in a stockade, the train was fired upon, and it was discovered that Chalmers was investing the place. Instantly the General ordered his regulars to charge, and under his eye they scattered the rebels in all directions, and reached the stockade. Before General Sherman’s arrival, the little garrison had been sorely pressed in a severe contest. The General soon changed the aspect of affairs, and beat off the superior force. Corinth being reached next night, he sent General Blair to Iuka with the First Division, and pushed troops toward Bear Creek, five miles east of Iuka, as fast as they came up.
“Foreseeing difficulties in crossing the Tennessee, he had written to Admiral Porter at Cairo to watch the river and send up gunboats as soon as the water would permit, and to General Allen at St. Louis to despatch a ferry-boat to Eastport. The requests were promptly fulfilled. It now only remained to work away at the railroad, in accordance with orders, covering his working-parties from the enemy’s attacks. At the same time he despatched Blair with two divisions to drive the enemy from Tuscumbia, where, under Stephen Lee, they were five thousand strong. It was accomplished after a severe fight at Cane Creek; and Tuscumbia was occupied on the 27th of October.”
Pause here, to get a glimpse of the general movements in the programme of war, of which this was no inferior part. General Grant had been put in command of the “Departments of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, and of the Tennessee, constituting the military division of the Mississippi.” In the latter General Sherman was appointed to the command, while General Thomas succeeded General Rosecrans in the department of the Cumberland. October 23d, General Grant, modestly wearing his new laurels, reached Chattanooga. The enemy occupying Lookout Mountain, with their terraces of cannon cut off our troops to get their scanty supplies by the most difficult mountain routes. Wrote a Union soldier of the sad condition of things there:
“I confess I do not see any very brilliant prospects for continuing alive in it all this winter, unless something desperate be done. While the army sits here, hungry, chilly, watching the ‘key to Tennessee,’ the ‘good dog’ Bragg lies over against us, licking his Chickamauga sores without whine or growl. He will not reply to our occasional shots from Star Fort, Fort Crittenden, or the Moccasin Point batteries across the river; has forbidden the exchange of newspapers and the compliments of the day between pickets; has returned surly answers to flag-of-truce messengers; in fact, has cut us dead.
“The mortality among the horses and mules is frightful to contemplate. Their corpses line the road, and taint the air, all along the Bridgeport route. In these days, hereabouts, it is within the scope of the most obtuse to distinguish a quartermaster or a staff officer by a casual glance at the animal he strides. ‘He has the fatness of twenty horses upon his ribs,’ as Squeers remarked of little Wackford; and so he has. God help the others.
“I am assured that this state of things will not last long; that hordes of men are energetically at work improving our communication, and that we soon shall be benefited by the overflowing plenty of the North. The vigor and good spirits of the army all this time are developed in a most astonishing manner.”
Relief was nearer than the writer deemed at the time. General Sherman, at Iuka, reorganized his new command on the very day of the battle at Cane Creek, and sent General Ewing with a division to cross the Tennessee, and hasten with all possible speed to Eastport. A messenger from General Grant on the same day came down the river over the Muscle Shoals, with an order to suspend his work on the railroad, and press forward to Bridgeport. No message ever found a more welcome ear. November 1st, the chieftain led his columns across the Tennessee and on to the branch of the Elk River. But the river was unfordable, and with no leisure to construct a bridge or ferry, he was compelled to take a circuitous route along the stream by the way of Fayetteville, where he mapped out the routes for the different divisions, and hastening to Bridgeport, sent to General Grant, by telegram, the position of his army. November 15th, the unresting commander of admiring and uncomplaining troops reined up his steed at the headquarters of General Grant in Chattanooga, after more than three hundred miles of varied and difficult travel between him and Memphis, where he lay during the early days of October.
The hero of Vicksburg welcomed with delight his peer in the field of war’s most daring exploits. Though worn and weary with their unrivalled, if not hitherto unequalled march, such was his confidence in his brave men, he heard without hesitation the order to bring them across the Tennessee, secure a position at the extremity of Missionary Ridge, and also threatened Lookout Mountain; saying for himself, “I saw enough of the condition of men and animals in Chattanooga to inspire me with renewed energy.”
Away he flies to execute the commands. He does not wait for means of conveyance; he has no false ideas of dignity to interfere with the business in hand. Taking a row-boat, he glides before the strokes of his own strong arms, down the river to Bridgeport. The divisions are soon in order of march. But oh! what roads!Mud—mud—mud!is before the unflinching columns. They toil on, their leader sharing with them the exhausting labor, till three divisions, on the 23d, are sheltered from the observation of the enemy behind the hills, opposite the mouth of the Chickamauga.
Night comes on, and with silent, stealthy steps, a force advanced along the Tennessee, taking prisoners nineteen out of twenty men who were on picket duty. By daylight eight thousand troops were on the banks of the river, ready to cross over and fasten upon Missionary Ridge. Before the sun was above the hill-tops, a pontoon bridge, three hundred and fifty feet long, was commenced, and at 1p. m.it was done. Proudly the grand cavalcade streamed over the causeway of boats, and advanced toward the desired position. These movements were favored by the concealment—a providential interposition—which “a light, drizzling rain and low-hanging clouds” afforded. Three o’clock found them safely lodged at the terminus of Missionary Ridge. Up the hill the gallant ranks pressed, completely surprising the enemy, who, in his vexation at the humiliating success of the flanking generalship, opened a fruitless fire of artillery and musketry. The “boys” could not allow this, and, dragging their own guns up the acclivity, soon silenced the noisy demonstration of impotent wrath. But beyond and higher was a spur, still more important in the coming trial of strength between the two great armies. Fortifying the ground gained, at midnight the orders passed along the columns to advance at dawn.
CHAPTER XVII.
The Place of Battle—The Battle-ground—General Sherman’s Part in the Struggle—Desperate Valor—Victory—Pursuit—No Rest—General Burnside in Peril—General Sherman hastens to his Relief—The Bridge breaks down—It is Rebuilt, and the Heroic Battalions save Knoxville—General Sherman again at Chattanooga.
MY reader cannot even imagine, in his peaceful home, the dread interest which broods over preparation for a great and decisive battle. Thoughts of the loved and absent throng the minds of brave men; hasty letters are written, and messages left, should they fall in mortal combat. Bibles are read, prayers offered, and hope rekindled in many heroic hearts. Ambulances and “stretchers” are made ready for the wounded, and surgeons arrange their instruments, lint, and bandages, while orders are passed from the commanding general down to the lieutenant. This work of preparation went forward at Chattanooga during the hours of November 23d.
Writes Colonel Bowman, the friend of General Sherman, a scholar, a gentleman, and a gallant soldier: “In the plan of the battle, Hooker was to hold the enemy at Lookout Mountain, and carry it, if possible. General Sherman was to vigorously assault Missionary Ridge. As that was their vital point, the enemy would mass to defend it. This would weaken the centre, upon which Thomas would rush, to penetrate it. Simple and plausible as this plan seemed, and successful as it proved, to most men who looked up at the frowning and precipitous heights which towered even into the clouds, above Chattanooga, with rebel works studded with artillery commanding every rugged approach, the idea of carrying them seemed little short of madness. The rebels felt so secure as to risk sending Longstreet’s entire corps to Knoxville, where it closely besieged the army of Burnside. ‘By half-past threep. m.of the 24th,’ says Grant, ‘the whole of the northern extremity of Missionary Ridge, to near the tunnel, was in Sherman’s possession. During the night he fortified the position thus secured, making it equal, if not superior, in strength to that held by the enemy.’
“Before dawn of the 25th of November General Sherman was in the saddle, and had made the entire tour of his position in the dim light. It was seen that a deep valley lay between him and the precipitous sides of the next hill in the series, which was only partially cleared, and of which the crest was narrow and wooded. The farther point of the hill was held by the enemy, with a strong breastwork of logs and fresh earth, crowded with men, and carrying two guns. On a still higher hill beyond the tunnel he appeared in great force, and had a fair plunging fire on the intermediate hill in dispute. The gorge between these two latter hills, through which the railroad-tunnel passes, could not be seen from Sherman’s position, but formed the naturalplace d’armes, where the enemy covered his masses ‘to resist our turning his right flank, and thus endangering his communications with the Chickamauga depot.’ General Corse was to have the advance; ‘and the sun had hardly risen,’ says Sherman, ‘before his bugle sounded the “Forward.” ’
“His men moved briskly down into the valley and up the steep sides of the hill in front, and, in spite of all opposition, carried and held a sort of secondary crest on the enemy’s hill, which, however, was swept with a murderous fire from the breastworks in front. And now for more than an hour a very bloody and desperate conflict raged, our line now swaying up close to the breastwork, as though it would sweep over and engulf it, and anon dashed back, receding far away to its first conquest. Meanwhile, Sherman’s left, on the outer spur of the ridge, and his right abreast of the tunnel, were hotly engaged, and partially drew the enemy’s fire from the assaulting party on the hill-crest. Our artillery also plumped shot and shell into the breastwork, and strove to clear the hill in Corse’s front. About tena. m.the fight raged furiously, and General Corse was severely wounded. Two brigades of reënforcements were sent up; but the crest was so crowded that they had to fall away to the west of the hill. At once the heavy masses of the enemy in a gorge, under cover of the thick undergrowth, moved out on their right and rear. So suddenly overwhelmed, the two supporting brigades fell back in some confusion to the lower edge of the field, where they reformed in good order; but, as they constituted no part of the real attack, the temporary rebuff was unimportant. General Corse, Colonel Loomis, and General M. L. Smith still stubbornly held the attacking column proper up at the crest. General Grant says of them, ‘The assaulting column advanced to the very rifle-pits of the enemy, and held their position firmly and without wavering.’ ‘When the two reserved brigades fell back,’ says Sherman, ‘the enemy made a show of pursuit, but was caught in flank by the well-directed fire of one brigade on the wooded crest, and hastily sought his cover behind the hill.’
“The desperate and incessant attack of General Sherman was triumphantly successful. It was directed against, in the words of Grant, ‘the enemy’s most northern and vital point,’ and ‘was vigorously kept up all day.’ Sherman’s position not only threatened the right flank of the enemy, but also his rear and stores at Chickamauga. The enemy, therefore, began very early to mass his line down against the single gallant storming party. ‘At threep. m.,’ writes Sherman, ‘column after column of the enemy was streaming toward me, gun after gun poured its concentric shot on us from every hill and spur that gave a view of any part of the ground.’ Long and anxiously he waited for the centre to open its part of the contest, and meanwhile held stubbornly to his bloody ridge under murderous fire. Grant, keeping his eye fixed on this key point, sent a division to Sherman’s support, but he sent it back with the note that ‘he had all the force necessary.’ Now at last the time had come for seizing victory out of doubtful battle. Hooker on the right had gallantly swept round the enemy’s left. ‘Discovering that the enemy,’ says General Grant, ‘in his desperation to defeat or resist the progress of Sherman, was weakening his centre on Missionary Ridge, determined me to order the advance at once.’ It was ordered and gallantly executed. The huge masses with which Sherman was contending, now, to their dismay, found Thomas on their left flank, and the centre of their long line broken in. They turned; but it was too late. The white line of Thomas’s musketry swept up from ridge to ridge, and the army of Bragg was flung back, in overwhelming defeat, into the valleys of Georgia. Thus was the great victory of Chattanooga won.
“And now pursuit swiftly followed victory. The same night Sherman pushed his skirmishers out, and, finding that enemy had given way, sent a division after him to the depot, and followed it up at foura. m.with a part of Major-General’s Howard’s Eleventh Corps. As the column advanced, wagons, guns, caissons, forage, stores, pontoons, and all the ruins of a defeated army and an abandoned camp, were found on the route. At night of the 26th, so rapid was the pursuit that the rear-guard of the enemy was reached, and a sharp fight ensued, till darkness closed in. The next day all three armies pressed on, Hooker and Thomas sharing with Sherman the marching and fighting. General Sherman meanwhile detached Howard to move against the railroad between Dalton and Cleveland, and destroy it. This was done, and communication thereby cut between Bragg and Longstreet. The same movement also turned the flank of the enemy, who were engaging Hooker so heavily further south at Ringgold that the latter sent to Sherman to turn their position. It was already done before Hooker’s messenger arrived. Continuing to Ringgold, he found General Grant. The enemy had been driven from Tennessee, and Sherman was ordered to move leisurely back to Chattanooga. The next day he effectually destroyed the railroad from half-way between Graysville and Ringgold to the State line, and General Grant ‘consented that, instead of returning to Chattanooga, he might send back all my artillery, wagons, and impediments, and make a circuit by the north as far as the Hiawassee.’ This, too, was effected, with the destruction of more railroad and the capture of more stores. ‘This,’ says Sherman, ‘was to have been the limit of our journey. Officers and men had brought no baggage or provisions; and the weather was bitter cold.’ But at this time Grant received an urgent appeal for relief from Burnside, stating that his supplies could only last until the 3d of December. Nothing but incomparable energy would save Knoxville and its gallant commander. Granger had already been ordered thither, but ‘had not yet got off,’ says General Grant, ‘nor would he have the number of men I directed. Besides, he moved with reluctance and complaint. I therefore determined, notwithstanding the fact that two divisions of Sherman’s forces had marched from Memphis and had gone into battle immediately on their arrival at Chattanooga, to send him with his command.’ Accordingly General Sherman received command of all the troops designed for relieving Knoxville, including Granger’s. ‘Seven days before,’ he writes, ‘we had left our camps on the other side of the Tennessee, with two days’ rations, without a change of clothing, stripped for the fight, with but a single blanket or coat per man, from myself to the private included. Of course, we then had no provisions, save what we gathered by the road, and were ill supplied for such a march. But we learned that twelve thousand of our fellow-soldiers were beleaguered in the mountain town of Knoxville, eighty-four miles distant, that they needed relief, and must have it in three days. This was enough; and it had to be done.’
“That night General Howard repaired and planked the railroad-bridge, and at daylight the army passed the Hiawassee and marched to Athens, fifteen miles. On the 2d of December the army hurried thence toward London, twenty-six miles distant, and the cavalry pushed ahead to save the pontoon bridge across the Tennessee, held by Vaughn’s brigade of the enemy. They moved with such rapidity as to capture every picket, but found Vaughn posted strongly in earthworks containing artillery in position. They were forced to wait till night, when Howard’s infantry came up. During the night the enemy retreated, destroying the pontoons, running three locomotives and forty-eight cars into the Tennessee, and leaving for Howard to capture at daylight a large quantity of provisions, four guns, and other material.
“The bridge was gone, and but one day of the allotted three remained. The same night, therefore, Sherman sent word to Colonel Long, commanding the cavalry brigade, that Burnside must know within twenty-four hours of his approach—ordering him to select his best material, to start at once, ford the Little Tennessee, and push into Knoxville, ‘at whatever cost of life and horse-flesh.’ The distance to be travelled was forty miles, and ‘the road villanous.’ Before dawn they were off. At daylight the Fifteenth Corps was turned from Philadelphia to Morgantown; but even at this place the Little Tennessee was found too deep for fording. A bridge was skilfully extemporized by General Wilson—‘working partly with crib-work and partly with square trestles made of the houses of the late town of Morgantown;’ and by dark of December 4th the bridge was down and the troops passing. Next morning came the welcome message from Burnside, dated December 4th, that Long’s cavalry had reached Knoxville on the night of the 3d, and all was well. Just before this news, the diagonal bracings of Wilson’s bridge had broken, from want of proper spikes, and there was delay. But the bridge was mended, and the forced march continued, till, at Marysville, on the night of the 5th, a staff officer of General Burnside rode up to announce that Longstreet had raised the siege the night before. Sending forward Granger’s two divisions to Knoxville, General Sherman at once ordered the rest of his gallant army to halt and rest; for their work was done.
“General Sherman rode from Marysville to Knoxville, greeted General Burnside, and freely expressed his admiration at the skilful fortification of the place, including Fort ‘Saunders,’ where Longstreet’s assaulting columns had met a bloody repulse. Knoxville being saved, it was obviously best for Sherman’s army, excepting Granger’s two divisions, to return to support the suspended movement against Bragg. But before General Sherman left he received the following letter: