Major-General William T. Sherman to Major-General George H. Thomas, January 21, 1865

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,                 

In the Field, Savannah, Ga., January 21, 1865.

Maj. Gen. GEORGE H. THOMAS,

Commanding Army in the Field, North Alabama, via Nashville:

GENERAL: Before I again dive into the interior and disappear from view, I must give you, in general terms, such instructions as fall within my province as commander of the division. I take it for granted that you now reoccupy in strength the line of the Tennessee from Chattanooga to Eastport. I suppose Hood to be down about Tuscaloosa and Selma, and that Forrest is again scattered to get horses and men and to divert attention. You should have a small cavalry force of, say, 2,000 men to operate from Knoxville through the mountain pass along the French Broad into North Carolina, to keep up the belief that it is to be followed by a considerable force of infantry. Stoneman could do this, whilst Gillem merely watches up the Holston. At Chattanooga should be held a good reserve of provisions and forage, and in addition to its garrison a small force that could at short notice relay the railroad to Resaca, prepared to throw provisions down to Rome, on the Coosa. You remember I left the railroad track from Resaca to Kingston and Rome with such a view. Then with an army of 25,000 infantry and all the cavalry you can get, under Wilson, you should move from Decatur and Eastport to some point of concentration about Columbus, Miss., and thence march to Tuscaloosa and Selma, destroying former, gathering horses, mules (wagons to be burned), and doing all the damage possible; burning up Selma, that is the navy-yard, the railroad back toward the Tombigbee, and all iron foundries, mills, and factories. If no considerable army opposes you, you might reach Montgomery and deal with it in like manner, and then at leisure work back along the Selma and Rome road, via Talladega and Blue Mountain, to the Valley of Chattooga, to Rome or La Fayette. I believe such a raid perfectly practicable and easy, and that it will have an excellent effect. It is nonsense to suppose that the people of the South are enraged or united by such movements. They reason very differently. They see in them the sure and inevitable destruction of all their property. They realize that the Confederate armies cannot protect them, and they see in the repetition of such raids the inevitable result of starvation and misery. You should not go south of Selma and Montgomery, because south of that line the country is barren and unproductive. I would like to have Forrest hunted down and killed, but doubt if we can do that yet. Whilst you are thus employed I expect to pass through the center of South and North Carolina, and I suppose Canby will also keep all his forces active and busy. I have already secured Pocotaligo and Grahamville, from which I have firm roads into the interior. We are all well.

Yours, truly,

W. T. SHERMAN,                

Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 45, Part 2 (Serial No. 94), p. 621-2

Special Field Orders No. 6.

HDQRS. MIL. DIV. OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

In the Field, Savannah, Ga.,

January 8, 1865.

The general commanding announces to the troops composing the Military Division of the Mississippi that he has received from the President of the United States, and from Lieutenant-General Grant, letters conveying their high sense and appreciation of the campaign just closed, resulting in the capture of Savannah and the defeat of Hood's army in Tennessee.

In order that all may understand the importance of events it is proper to revert to the situation of affairs in September last. We held Atlanta, a city of little value to us, but so important to the enemy that Mr. Davis, the head of the rebellious faction in the South, visited his army near Palmetto and commanded it to regain it, as well as to ruin and destroy us by a series of measures which he thought would be effectual. That army, by a rapid march, gained our railroad near Big Shanty, and afterward about Dalton. We pursued it, but it moved so rapidly that we could not overtake it, and General Hood led his army successfully far over toward Mississippi, in hopes to decoy us out of Georgia; but we were not then to be led away by him, and preferred to lead and control events ourselves. Generals Thomas and Schofield, commanding the departments to our rear, returned to their posts and prepared to decoy General Hood into their meshes, whilst we came on to complete the original journey. We quietly and deliberately destroyed Atlanta and all the railroads which the enemy had used to carry on war against us, occupied his State capital, and then captured his commercial capital, which had been so strongly fortified from the sea as to defy approach from that quarter. Almost at the moment of our victorious entry into Savannah came the welcome and expected news that our comrades in Tennessee had also fulfilled nobly and well their part; had decoyed General Hood to Nashville and then turned on him, defeating his army thoroughly, capturing all his artillery, great numbers of prisoners, and were still pursuing the fragments down into Alabama. So complete a success in military operations, extending over half a continent, is an achievement that entitles it to a place in the military history of the world.

The armies serving in Georgia and Tennessee, as well as the local garrisons of Decatur, Bridgeport, Chattanooga, and Murfreesborough, are alike entitled to the common honors, and each regiment may inscribe on its colors at pleasure the words "Savannah" or "Nashville." The general commanding embraces in the same general success the operations of the cavalry column, under Generals Stoneman, Burbridge, and Gillem, that penetrated into Southwest Virginia and paralyzed the efforts of the enemy to disturb the peace and safety of East Tennessee. Instead of being put on the defensive, we have at all points assumed the bold offensive, and completely thwarted the designs of the enemies of our country.

By order of Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman:

L. M. DAYTON,

Aide-de-Camp.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 44 (Serial No. 92), p. 16-7.  A copy of this order was forwarded from Major General William T. Sherman to the General’s brother, Senator John Sherman.  It was included in John Sherman’s letter book and therefore also included in Rachel Sherman Thorndike’s The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 242-4.