In Their Own Words
December 19, 1864
Confederate Retreat Planned
Despite a blustery exchange of letters two days previous, Confederate General William J. Hardee had no intention of subjecting his small army to an attack by General William T. Sherman’s powerful forces. Hardee’s chief of artillery, Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr., wrote:
“At eight o’clock on the evening of the 17th the first pontoon bridge, spanning the Savannah River from the foot of West Broad Street to Hutchinson’s Island was completed, and by half past eight o’clock P.M. on Monday the 19th the remaining bridges were finished and the route was in readiness for the retreat … .”
