Nov. 30, 1864

Dec. 2, 1864

"Twelfth day, Headquarters in a field, Tennille Station, Georgia Central R. Rd. - Ride from Sandersville here through pine forests over sandy road . . . At this place found R.R. depot, store-houses, etc., in smoking ruins . . . this is the land for sweet potatoes -- from Covington to Milledgeville. Good story of soldier who 'don't touch any but red ones now,' and scornfully rejects white ones. Accidentally got to talking with brunette lady of the house today about the war, etc. I pity these women sincerely, but curse the miserable 'State pride' which blinds them. I believe there is no such contemptible provincialism in this world as these people have. It does me good to quote A.H. Stephens' Union speeches to them -- and it hits hard -- the harder because most politely done, with surprise and regret at his abandonment of principles so admirably and truthfully declared . . . . General in fine spirits, and well he may be. He desires nothing better than for Longstreet (Confederate General James Longstreet, rumored, inaccurately, to be at Augusta) to come and fight him. All our commanders constantly report our troops in the very best of spirits and condition, 'spoiling for a fight.' Our little skirmish yesterday at Sandersville showed it . . . Meanwhile we are all the time destroying the Georgia Central Railroad -- tearing up and burning the ties and sleepers and bending and twisting the rails. At Oconee Bridge, twelve miles from here, over two miles of trestle work through swamps on both sides of the river have been burned, as well as the bridge, a long and important one."

Source: M.A. DeWolfe Howe (ed.), Marching with Sherman: Passages from the Letters and Campaign Diaries of Henry Hitchcock, Major and assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers, November 1864-May 1865 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), pp. 99-105.

"Thus we approached Ogeechee [River] at two points -- one column at Louisville, which is ten to twelve miles above railroad bridge, -- and other three columns coming towards railroad bridge across the Ogeechee which is at Station 10. Meanwhile Kilpatrick has gone far round to the North from Milledgeville via Sparta, with orders to choose his own road and strike and cut R.R. at or near Wainesboro [sic], between Augusta and Millen, -- thence to come down on Millen if possible with dash and rescue prisoners and again cut Savannah railroad below Millen . . . .Today's march on sandy roads, and through woods chiefly pines, though as yet we still see oaks and other trees. Good farms along the travelled roads, and crops have all been good. We see hardly any cotton, -- corn almost exclusively instead -- for which we are much obliged. We often laugh over J.D's [Confederate President Jefferson Davis] idea that Sherman's army will be starved out. Never was an army so bountifully supplied."

Source: M.A. DeWolfe Howe (ed.), Marching with Sherman: Passages from the Letters and Campaign Diaries of Henry Hitchcock, Major and assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers, November 1864-May 1865 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), pp. 107-108.

"...Sherman with his army passed through Cedartown a few days before he left. Camped around Cedartown one night. They burned every house in town that was not occupied: Court house, all the storehouses, grocers, blacksmith shops and every house that there was no person living in. ... They take and kill everything as they go. Kill all the stock, ducks, chickens, &c., take all the provisions both for beast and man. ...
I did not hear what they did to Father's. I expect they tore him up. They went out to old Mrs. Battle's and tore open all her feather beds and poured them out in the middle of the floor, poured three sacks of salt on them and a sack of wheat bran and a jug of vinegar and stirred them all together. ...
My dear, I am very uneasy about you. I ought to have received a letter from you three or four nights ago, but still I hear nothing. I fear the mail has been stopped to that point. If so, I do not know what I will do. ... I hope things will soon get quiet in that department and Sherman and all of his army be captured but that is almost one of the impossibilities. ...
I don't want you to become frightened should they ever get there, for I don't think they will try to hurt you or insult you, unless you should say something out of the way. ... I would give everything I am worth to be there..."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), "Dear Mother: Don't grieve about me. If I get killed, I'll only be dead.": Letters from Georgia Soldiers in the Civil War (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1990), p. 337-338.

General Beauregard has issued the following address to the people of Georgia:

"People of Georgia! arise for the defence of your native soil. Rally around your patriotic Governor and gallant soldiers. Obstruct and destroy all roads in Sherman's front, flank and rear, and his army will soon starve in your midst. Be confident and resolute. Trust in an over-ruling Providence, and success will crown your efforts.

"I hasten to join you in the defence of your homes and firesides. G. T. Beauregard."

"Camp in pine grove near 'Rocky Creek,' Fourteenth day out Gilkeson (?) Co. Ga.--November 29/64 Certainly this is the perfection of campaigning. Since we left Sandersville I have seen nothing of an enemy. We know, however, that it is dangerous to go off the roads or to get either before or behind the army. But no orders nor danger can prevent squads of men going off foraging, and only yesterday a lieutenant and small party were 'gobbled' in our rear on the very road we had just come over in the morning. And this though it is well understood that to be made prisoner probably means to have one's throat cut at once."

Source: M.A. DeWolfe Howe (ed.), Marching with Sherman: Passages from the Letters and Campaign Diaries of Henry Hitchcock, Major and assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers, November 1864-May 1865 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), p. 110.

"Nov. 29th. Turned out early, and within four miles of Soursville we found our enemies, charged the lot, killed three, captured three, and run the whole brigade for a mile. We then turned off to the left, and soon found nine Yanks, burning some houses, cotton, cotton gins, barns, &c.; charged them at once, and in a very few minutes the whole lot were in kingdom come. We then moved back and camped, satisfied with the day's sport."

Source: Diary of Cpl Enoch John

"Fifteenth day out, in camp on east bank of Ogeechee River at Burton, The 'wire-grass region' proper extends east to the Ogeechee River; rode all morning through or among pine forests, whose aromatic odor is delightful tome . . . .All through this pine country there are better farms than we expected, and large stores of corn, fodder and potatoes (sweet) . . . . Railroad here at Station is say 200 to 250 yards from river bank. Very good brick station house was -- that is we shall say was after tomorrow morning . . . no good houses here save one frame, of old Johnny Wells, R.R. agent here . . . Old man Wells came to see General -- sat us with us all evening by camp-fire -- jolly old brick, great talker, full of jokes, some coarse ones . . . He claims to be utterly opposed to J.D. & Co. -- damns the lying editors and warlike preachers in heartiest style, -- says, as all we have met, almost, that a minority not only did force, but are still forcing on the war in the South...Here as everywhere same terrible stories and lies have been spread about us -- killing everybody -- burning all houses, including dwellings, etc, etc."

Source: M.A. DeWolfe Howe (ed.), Marching with Sherman: Passages from the Letters and Campaign Diaries of Henry Hitchcock, Major and assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers, November 1864-May 1865 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), pp. 116-119.

"Nov. 30th. Moved out early, but did not go far before we run into an infantry command, and taking a hasty farewell of them, went into the woods followed by some of their balls, which did no damage, more than an occasional dodge of the head from Mr. Minnie[ball]'s near proximity to our ears."

Source: Diary of Cpl. Enoch John

"...We were very glad to hear from you, particularly to learn that you had got an outfit of clothing. I had felt uneasy about it, knowing how cold the weather becomes in this latitude during the Winter. You will find more need of constant exercise in the open air now than in Summer or Fall. Don't lie up in your quarters too closely in good weather.
I am also very glad to know you have books. ... You should improve your time to the uttermost, not only by reading miscellaneously, but by the study of text books if you can obtain them. No matter how simple the study, you can learn much that will be valuable in life. ...
As to associates, you haven't much choice, I suppose, but you can avoid intimacy with anyone with whom you would not associate at home. I am sure you will not carelessly or recklessly fall into habits which would grieve our father and relatives. ...
I reserve my good news to the last. Ira has gone to Savannah for exchange and, I trust, is now at large in our dear old state. Be of good cheer. Your time and mine will come after awhile. And don't forget to thank our Heavenly Father for the good fortune of our brother. ..."

Source: Anita B. Sams (ed.), With Unabated Trust: Major Henry McDaniel's Love Letters from Confederate Battlefields as Treasured in Hester McDaniel's Bonnet Box (The Historical Society of Walton County, Inc., 1977), p. 208.

"I. The attention of division commanders and commanding officers of detachments is called to the irregularities existing in foraging and the manner in which this privilege is often abused. It is noticed that many men not belong to proper foraging parties are allowed to straggle from the ranks and forage for themselves, without any authority whatever. Is is by such men that the greater part of the pillaging is done and depredations committed, of which there is so much complaint. Officers in charge of foraging parties must be continually instructed to keep their men well in hand, never allowing them to to precede the advance guard of the column; and to use more discretion in taking from the poor, being careful to leave them sufficient for their immediate subsistence. It is also noticed that the number of mounted men is very large increasing, and that the ranks [of walking soldiers] are correspondingly diminished. Measures will be at once taken to check this growing evil. The number of mounted foragers to each brigade should be limited and regulated in orders, which, if not done, mounted foragers will be no longer allowed. . . ."

Source: U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1893, reprinted by The National Historical Society, 1971), Series I, Vol. XLIV, p. 594.

"That it is a most momentous enterprise cannot be denied; but it is exactly one of those enterprises which are judged by the event. It may either make Sherman the most famous general of the North, or it may prove the ruin of his reputation, his army, and even his cause together."

Source: London Times, Dec. 1, 1864.

"It is clear that, so long as he roams about with his army inside the Confederate States, he is more deadly than twenty Grants, and that he must be destroyed if Richmond or anything is to be saved."

Source: British Army and Navy Gazette, Dec. 1, 1864.

From Georgia.

Special intelligence of Sherman's movements and present whereabouts was received here on yesterday by telegraph; fill as it is, possibly, a little ahead of the Georgia newspapers, it had, perhaps, better not be mentioned. It can, however, do no harm to state that the enemy have fourteen gunboats and transports near Port Royal, South Carolina, which is thirty-five miles northeast of Savannah and about fifty miles southwest of Charleston.

". . . remained a couple of days to rest his horses, and, receiving orders from me to engage Wheeler and give him all the fighting he wanted, he procured from General Slocum the assistance of the infantry division of General Baird, and moved back to Waynesboro on the 2nd of December, the remainder of the left wing continuing its march on toward Millen. Near Waynesboro Wheeler was again encountered and driven through the town and beyond Brier Creek, toward Augusta, thus keeping up the delusion that the main army was moving toward Augusta...Having thus covered that flank, he turned south and followed the movement of the Fourteenth Corps to Buckhead Church, north of Millen and near it."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Marching Through Georgia: William T. Sherman's Personal Narrative of His March Through Georgia (New York: Arno Press, 1978), p. 157.

"Dec. 2d. Out early, crossed Buckhead Creek, and found a large body of cavalry near the mill that was burned yesterday. We took the backtrack, crossing a field and met a squad of ten Yankees coming in our rear. We charged killing two of them; crossed the creek again; then crossed the Augusta and Savannah Railroad, and camped."

Source: Diary of Cpl Enoch John

From Georgia.

The Georgia papers of the 27th contain some facts about the raid through that State. Seven hundred prisoners have been received at Augusta, who were captured while foraging for Sherman's army. The following extract from a letter in the Augusta Chronicle, from a writer who fled with the Legislature from Milledgeville, shows how the country is being devastated along the route of the invading army:

"Leaving our baggage, we took a hasty dinner, determined to keep the road to Madison until our pickets should notify us of the approach of the Yankees.--About 3 o'clock, a south came dashing down the road at a Gilpin speed, crying "to the woods," "to the woods"; and we wooded. Waiting several hours in the rain, under a rail pen improvised for the occasion, we determined to go out on the road and see what was going on. --We had not traveled a hundred yards before a party of cerulean-clad equestrian came dashing up, and in a very polite and insinuating manner briefly requested us to half. The request was a companied with most significant coking of oil bens and pistols, which, brought, to a horizontal altitude in one's front, are very persuasive, especially to an unarmed civilian; and we halted. After a brief and hurried talk, in which we were questioned very closely about the country, troops in the vicinity, etc., they drove on. We gathered from their actions that they were the advance guard of the force from Madison, and were expecting to meet another force from Monticello at the fort near by.

"Apprehending that our overcoats and small residue of cash and other personal effects would not be safe in the motley crew composing the Yankee army, we resolved to keep the woods until they should pass. We therefore returned to our pen and staid until morning. We then proceeded through the woods, within hearing distance of the road.--Late on Sunday, their main column commenced passing, and we found it very difficult to avoid them. They swarmed through the field, shooting cattle and plundering indiscriminately, until late in the night. We were in more dread of being shot as bushwhackers than we had of being plundered, and probably should have kept the road. But we now had no choice but to avoid them if possible - Their wagons were rumbling along the Monticello road on our left, and on the Madison road on the right, while they swarmed in the country between. We could hear them talk and hear their caps explode as they passed within a few feet of us. The night was intensely cold, wet and dark, save when the distant gleam of a burning house lighted up the horizon. Their main columns were passing from about two o'clock on Sunday afternoon until about nine o'clock at night. The next day they were passing during the morning, and we continued in the woods. This was our third day out, during which time it had rained continually, and we had subsisted on parched corn.

"On Tuesday morning we determined to take the road and push on. Going to Mr. Credel's place we found his fine house in ashes and his gin-house burned, and every horse and mule gone. In his lot were about one hundred horses lying dead. They looked like good stock, and were evidently killed to deprive planters of them. A number of Mr. Credel's negroes were gone. Proceed we found every plantation on the devastated, except that no other dwelling houses were burned until we reached the fine farm of Hon. Joshua Hill. This is a perfect wreck. A large gin-house full of cotton corn-cribs, dwelling - all a smouldering ruin. His loss was greater than that of any-planter in this section. Besides the cotton, several thousand bushels of corn, potatoes, several hundred of wheat, and much other valuable property, with every horse and mule and many negroes, are gone. No farm on the road to this place, and, as far as we can hear, towards Atlanta, escaped their brutal ravages. They ravaged the country below here to the Oconee river. The roads were strewn with the debris of their progress. Dead horses, cows, sheep, hog, chickens, corn, wheat, cotton, books, paper, broken vehicles, coffee mills, and fragments of nearly every species of property that adorned the beautiful farms of this county, straw the wayside, monuments of the meanness rapacity and hypocrisy of the people who boats that they are not robbers and do not interfere with private property.

"In Madison, they burned the depot and one or two old warehouses, with the jail and market-house. They gutted every store, and plundered more or less on every lot. They fired the drug store and several other houses, and their officers, with a show of magnanimity, aided to put out the flames. Many families have not a pound of meat or a peck of meal or flour. Many negroes were enticed away from homes of comfort to share the uncertain fortunes of a winter march to the coast, and then - freedom to starve. Families of wealth have not a house servant left, and those who were the most trusted were often the first to leave.

"The Yankees entered the house of my next-door neighbor, an old man of over three score years, and tore up his wife's clothes and bedding, trampling her bonnet on the floor, and robbing the house and pantry of nearly everything of value. There was no provocation for any of these acts, for everybody treated them civilly and offered them all they wanted to eat. Their excuse is, that they cannot control their men. Many of them, including their officers, behave civilly; and my humble domicil escaped any serious depredations.

"Those citizens who remained at home and watched their premises lost little save horses, food and stock. Those who, from any cause, chanced to be away, lost all. A lady on the Eatonton road, whose father is in the army, feeling afraid to stay at home, went to the house of a neighbor, and, on returning, found every plate broke, every knife and fork and spoon gone, and her own clothes stripped to shreds and scattered about the lot."

Another letter says:

"From Milledgeville we learn that the Government has been removed. The Governor has pardoned all the convicts in the penitentiary, put arms in their hands and sent them to the front, except those put in for life, whom he could not reprieve according to law."

"On the 3d of December I entered Millen with the Seventeenth Corps and there paused one day, to communicate with all parts of the army. General Howard was south of the Ogechee River, with the Fifteenth Corps, opposite Scarboro. General Slocum was at Buckhead Church, four miles north of Millen, with the Twentieth Corps. The Fourteenth was at Lumpkin's Station, on the Augusta Road, about ten miles north of Millen, and the cavalry division was within easy support of this wing. Thus the whole army was in good position and in good condition. We had largely subsisted on the country; our wagons were full of forage and provisions; but, as we approached the sea-coast, the country became more sandy and barren, and food became more scarce; still, with little or no loss, we had traveled two-thirds of our distance, and I concluded to push on for Savannah."

Source: Mills Lane (ed.), Marching Through Georgia: William T. Sherman's Personal Narrative of His March Through Georgia (New York: Arno Press, 1978), p. 157.

"Dec. 3d. Moved on slowly, all tired, and weather bad. After riding ten miles, we heard of a party of Yanks and cut for them; found twelve at a house. We soon had six ready for the ditch, and six prisoners, and are now in Scriven county, and the poorest country in the State, all pine timber. We camped five miles of Silvania, the county seat."

Source: Diary of Cpl Enoch John

On Tuesday, the enemy made their appearance at Griswoldville in some force, and, before being attacked, burnt all the buildings in the place except three. A fight took place, lasting some three hours, when the enemy were repulsed. Our wounded in this engagement arrived in Macon on Tuesday evening. We have not ascertained the extent of the loss in the engagement on either side.