Showing posts with label Fall of Savannah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fall of Savannah. Show all posts

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Daniel L. Ambrose: December 22, 1864

Last night Savannah was evacuated—her power yielded. The grand army is tramping now. Soon Sherman's terrible battle-flag will be flying beneath the shades of Bonniventure, where the chivalric knights have so often rehearsed their gallant deeds to the South's fair ones. With drums beating and colors flying we enter a fallen city. Our work in this campaign is done. We behold rebellion dying. The tramp of armies; the burning of cities; the destruction of railroads, have ruined Georgia. Such destruction and desolation never before followed in the wake of armies. History has never recorded a parallel. Sherman was terrible, severe, unmerciful. But his severity and unmercifulness have stamped his name high upon the "Table Rock of immortality" as the boldest, most fearless and most consummate leader of the nineteenth century, and second to none in the world. In the language of a Soldier Poet,

Proud was our army that morning,

When Sherman said, "boys, you are weary,

But to-day fair Savannah is ours."

Then sang we a song to our chieftain,

That echoed over river and lea;

And the stars in our banner shown brighter,

When Sherman marched down to the Sea.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 287

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Diary of Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes: Friday, December 23, 1864

A clear, cold, fine winter day. Began to move into a house; changed back. Visited Mr. Joseph Jolliffe, the only man who voted for Lincoln in 1860! A brother of Mr. Jolliffe of Cincinnati. Read with great pleasure the story of Thomas' victories and Sherman's great march.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 552

Diary of Brigadier-General Rutherford B. Hayes: Monday, December 26, 1864

A dull, foggy day; snow thawing rapidly. Savannah captured by Sherman on the 21st, Hardee making a hasty retreat across the river to South Carolina. Some important captures. Salute of one hundred guns fired. We expect to go to New Creek soon.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 552

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Diary of Gideon Welles: Sunday, December 25, 1864

Have intelligence this evening of the capture of Savannah. Hardee fled with his forces.

The Rebellion is drawing to a close. These operations in the heart of the Rebel region are destroying their self-confidence, and there are symptoms of extreme dissatisfaction among them.

Mr. Eads and Miss Eads of St. Louis, Mr. Faxon, and Sam Welles and L. F. Whitin dined with us.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 208

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, December 26, 1864

 Received a letter from Osborn denying that he furnished information concerning operations against Fort Fisher. At the same time Mr. Faxon tells me that Hart, a correspondent of the Rochester Democrat, says that paper was informed a fortnight previous.

Mr. Fox presses for further and more earnest application to Stanton for the punishment of O. Says Stanton thinks and asserts that I am not very anxious on the subject. In other words he desires me to importune him to harsh and general measures against O. and others. As O. is doubtless already arrested, I wrote Stanton transmitting his denial, also the letter of the Philadelphia Press, stating besides the assertion of Hart, and recommended a speedy trial.

Three hundred guns were fired by order of the Secretary of War on Vermont Avenue on account of the capture of Savannah. I felt as joyful as any one, perhaps, over Sherman's success, but I should have dispensed with over two hundred and sixty of those guns, had I made the order.

We have nothing definite or satisfactory from the Wilmington expedition. The weather has not been favorable, and there has been almost too imposing a force to furnish us as good success as we have sometimes had.

I have no faith in General Butler's scheme of knocking down Fort Fisher by blowing up a vessel filled with powder. Herein I differ with military men. The ordnance officers of the Navy and army advised the scheme, and are, as is also Fox, quite confident of its success. (Butler's influence.) I hope it may be so, and that the powder vessel may get near Fort Fisher, and be left by the crew before the explosion. Could we get Wilmington now along with Savannah, the Rebellion would run low.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 209

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Captain Charles Wright Wills: December 22, 1864

Green Square, Savannah, Camp 103d Illinois "Provost Guards." 
December 22, 1864. 

We have just by a hair's breadth missed what would have been a most unpleasant fight. We lay on the west side of the Ogeechee, with the enemy on the opposite shore, strongly fortified. We had crawled through the mud and established a line of rifle pits within 125 yards of them; 150 portable bridges had been built in our division and I believe everything was in readiness for hot work the next day, the 20th. The morning of the 21st finds the enemy gone across the river into South Carolina. The next day we moved into town and our regiment and the 40th from our brigade are put on provost duty. 

SOURCE: Charles Wright Wills, Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, p. 335

Monday, October 8, 2018

Diary of Captain Luman Harris Tenney: Monday, December 26, 1864

News of the fall of Savannah. Monthly inspection. Detailed for picket.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 140

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Diary of Captain Luman Harris Tenney: Wednesday, December 21, 1864


Orders regarding success of Sherman and Thomas, read to us near Mt. Jackson. Camped 8 miles south of Newmarket. Rained.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 138

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Captain Luman Harris Tenney to Professor Henry E. Peck: Sunday, December 18, 1864

Everybody in the 2nd Ohio is familiar with the name and services of Prof. Peck, of Oberlin, the man who has always done so much for the Ohio soldiers, both the sick and well, and who had an article in the paper a short time ago about the 2nd Ohio.

The boys are delighted with your praise of the Regiment. I have told a good many what you wrote in regard to us. All say, “Well, if he says that he does not know a regiment which has done better than ours, we ought to feel proud, for he is well acquainted with Ohio troops.”

Our Regiment has been sadly depleted during the campaign. It has not been recruited, but we hope to have it filled up, if another call for troops shall be made. Perhaps a portion of the records of Company C, with which I am serving will interest you. On the 1st day of May, 1864, the Company left Washington with forty-eight men, all told. During the summer, seven recruits joined it, making a total of fifty-five. From May 1st until this date, the losses foot up as follows: Five killed — all brave and good — thirty wounded and seventeen missing. Today we number for duty, eleven enlisted men, every one good soldiers.

Theodore is robust and always ready for duty. He is well-fashioned for a soldier, having a hardy constitution and a jolly temperament. He was pleased to be remembered by you.

Yesterday I received a beautiful Christmas gift from my friends, Will Hudson, Fred Allen, Delos Haynes and Charley Fairchild, a pair of shoulder-straps. The Col. received a very cunning picture today of Sister Melissa, with her little treasure Carrie in her arms.

The glorious news from Gen'ls Thomas and Sherman has just been read to us. We gave three hearty cheers. We hope that the end is not far distant.

Yours truly,
Luman H. Tenney,
Capt. 2nd O. V. V. C.

Melissa and Baby Carrie

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 137-8

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Monday, December 26, 1864

Received official information from General Sherman this morning that he had taken Savannah, Ga. with thirty-three thousand bales of cotton, one hundred and fifty heavy guns, and eight hundred prisoners; one hundred shotted guns fired in honor of it here; Thomas reports seventeen thousand prisoners, eighty-one guns, etc., taken from General Hood; no news from the Shenandoah Valley; rumored in camp that the Eighth Corps is at Dutch Gap; hut covered and banked up; regimental dress parade to-night; mud drying up; reckon the Confederacy is crumbling rapidly.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 244-5

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Friday, December 23, 1864

Moved at 8 o'clock a. m.; weather freezing cold; only seven teams at work with us; regiment excused from brigade dress parade this evening. It's very cold to-night; shall sleep on Captain G. E. Davis's floor; men are without quarters; should think they would freeze. It's rumored Savannah is captured; doubt it.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 243-4

Diary of 1st Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Saturday, December 24, 1864

Very cold, but more comfortable than yesterday; commenced putting up my cabin this morning; not quite up to-night; regimental dress parade this evening. General Butler's fleet is off Wilmington; Savannah, Ga. reported captured through rebel sources; have written to David Mower, and to Washington for my valise; weather moderating; all's quiet in front.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 244

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Fessenden Morse: December 24, 1864

Near Savannah, Ga.,
December 24, 1864.

Our campaign has been successfully ended, and we are again in camp preparing for a few weeks' rest and comfort.

Since my note to E–––, we have had the hardest time of the whole campaign since leaving Atlanta. On the 15th, about two P. M., our regiment was ordered to the river; on arriving there, we were shipped on flat boats and crossed to Argyle Island, with considerable difficulty, getting aground once, and being shelled at long range by a rebel gunboat. We camped that night with the Third Wisconsin on a rice plantation. The object of our move was to protect a rice mill which was threshing out rice for the army, and to prepare a crossing into South Carolina. The remainder of our brigade crossed to the island on the 16th. That same morning, our threshing operations were suddenly brought to a standstill by a rebel battery, which opened on us from the South Carolina shore; this caused the most amusing skedaddle of about a hundred negro operatives, men, women and children, that I ever saw.

We got two guns into position and silenced the rebs. On the 19th, after several delays, our regiment, the Third Wisconsin, and the Thirteenth New Jersey, started at daylight, and, under cover of a heavy fog, crossed to the South Carolina side, effecting a landing without loss. We advanced at once, driving in about a brigade of rebel cavalry. After having secured all the desirable positions, we entrenched ourselves, and received the support of the remainder of our brigade and two guns. The enemy were much annoyed by our movement, and in the afternoon made quite a decided attack, charging in one place almost up to the works.

Our position was a peculiar one. With our five regiments, we held a line about two and a half miles long. The whole country is a rice swamp, divided into regular squares by dykes and ditches, with occasional mounds raised a few feet above the water level. On a series of these mounds our regiments were placed, connected along the dykes by a thin line of skirmishers. Our ground being perfectly open and level for miles, we could see every manoeuvre of the enemy.

On the 20th, the enemy pressed as close to our lines as they dared, showing a very superior force to our own, and in the afternoon opened a battery in our front, and fired from a gunboat in our rear, in a manner which was by no means comfortable. Early in the morning of the 21st, news came of the surrender of Savannah, and orders for our immediate crossing into Georgia. Most of our regiments and the two guns were transferred to Argyle Island, when the enemy began to advance rapidly into our old position ; they were easily checked, but with them in our front and a gale blowing on the river, it became a very difficult and dangerous operation to cross. However, by ten P. M., that night, the last man was on the island, though he had to swim the river.

Now I must go back to about four P. M., that same day, when our regiment attempted to cross to the Georgia shore. Arrived at the landing, no boats capable of carrying anybody were to be found. Captain Grafton and I took a light “dugout” and went across to send some over. Two “flats” were found and sent back, and the regiment put on them. The largest of the two, containing the majority of the men, had, with great difficulty, struggled against the wind and tide and nearly reached the shore, when an irresistible gust struck it, turning it round and round, and sending the poor boat up the river towards South Carolina with great speed. Grafton and I pursued them in our light boat, and found them about seven P. M., hard and fast on the lee shore of Hutchison Island, whence, after a deal of work, they were ferried back, a few at a time, to Argyle Island.

Such a row back against the wind as we had is easier imagined than described; however, at twelve at night, we were safe on Georgia soil with a fraction of the regiment. The next day was spent mainly in ferrying the brigade over. Towards night we started for camp, and reached it after a hard march of nine miles. This expedition cost us a few very good men wounded, but no officers.

I haven't as yet heard any estimate of the guns, stores, etc., captured, but I understand that everything was left behind. The city has been well protected since our occupation; the citizens seem very well contented that it has changed hands, and show themselves freely on the streets. We are camped about two miles from the city; the river is not a stone's throw from my tent. We are collecting quite a fleet of light boats, so that we shall have plenty of opportunity for rowing. Our next move will probably be to take Charleston.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 199-200

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, December 21, 1864

The last artillery firing this morning was that of a thunderstorm. It seems that kind Providence wanted a hand in the capture of the city. We received orders about 10 o'clock to be ready to march at a moment's warning, and immediately we were ordered to march, as the rebels had evacuated the place. We started at once and before noon reached the edge of the city and went into camp, while a part of the army went in pursuit of the fleeing rebels. They left their outside works last night at 10 o'clock, and this morning left the city, crossing the Savannah river by pontoon bridges, under cover of their gunboats. Their rear guard is now five miles below, just across the river on the South Carolina side.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 239

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Brigadier-General Thomas Kilby Smith to Elizabeth Budd Smith, December 26, 1864

26th. – Detained at Clarkesville by the unwarrantable interference of the officer in charge of the gunboat fleet who deemed it necessary to give us convoy against guerillas, lay there all night and until 9 A.M. of the 27th, which passes without event. Scenery on the river beautiful, high rocky cliffs of limestone, iron in abundance in these hills. Arrived at Nashville about two o'clock in the morning of the 28th. City dirty and disagreeable; has been the abode of wealth, as evidenced in the splendid architecture of the private dwellings, but everything now shows the brunt of war and war's desolation.

I find many friends and am hospitably entertained at the quarters of General Sawyer, General Sherman's Adjutant-General. The military are all agog at the good news from Sherman, but everybody here is as ignorant as I am of Hood's movements, of Thomas's intent. I have telegraphed to Gen. A. J. Smith, who is far to the front, but as yet receive no response. Railroad communication will be opened soon, we hope, to near the front, when I shall progress as soon as possible.

P. S. — You may have noticed in the papers that the train from Louisville to this point was attacked and captured, and that thus travel by rail was interrupted. With my usual good fortune, I have escaped this calamity, and it is doubly well with me that I came by boat.

SOURCE: Walter George Smith, Life and letters of Thomas Kilby Smith, p. 373-4

Saturday, December 19, 2009

COLONEL MILO SMITH

TWENTY-SIXTH INFANTRY.

Milo Smith was born in the State of Vermont, about the year 1819. At the time of entering the service he was a resident of Clinton, Iowa. He was commissioned colonel of the 26th Iowa, the 10th day of August, 1862; was mustered into the United States service on the 30th of the following September; and served with his regiment in the field until after the fall and occupation of Savannah, when he resigned his commission and returned to his home in Clinton.

I know more of the 26th Iowa than of its colonel. The regiment, like all the regiments of its old brigade, has a splendid record. It was raised in Clinton and adjoining counties, in the summer and early fall of 1862, and proceeding to the front arrived at Helena, Arkansas, in the latter part of the following October. The first military movements in which it joined were the White River and Tallahatchie marches. It also joined General Sherman in his operations against Vicksburg, late in December, 1862, by way of Chickasaw Bayou and the Walnut Hills; but in the severe and disastrous fighting which took place at that point, it took no part, being detached from its brigade, and engaged on pioneer-duty.

The regiment's first engagement was Arkansas Post. This battle was not only its first, but, judging from its list of casualties, the severest one in which it ever took part. Its position on the field was exposed, and it was not only subjected to a severe fire from the enemy's artillery, but to a direct and partially enfilading musketry-fire. The regiment went into the engagement with an aggregate, in officers and enlisted men, of four hundred and forty-seven, and lost, in killed and wounded, one hundred and nineteen. Two officers were killed, and six wounded. The killed were Lieutenants P. L. Hyde and J. S. Patterson; Lieutenant James McDill died of his wounds a few days after the engagement. Colonel Milo Smith was slightly wounded in the leg. Among the enlisted men killed were Corporal Shaffer, Pankow, Delong and J. E. Stearns. Lieutenants William R. Ward and Edward Svendsen were wounded.

The engagement at Arkansas Post took place on the 11th of January, 1863; and on the 13th instant the regiment left that place on transports for Young's Point, Louisiana.

General Steele's Division, of General Sherman's Corps, to which the 26th Iowa was attached, was the one selected by General Sherman to open up a passage through Deer Creek to the Yazoo River, and thereby gain the high lands to the rear of Haines' Bluff and Vicksburg.

The following is from General Grant's official report of his operations against Vicksburg:

"On the 14th day of March, Admiral D. D. Porter, commanding the Mississippi squadron, informed me that he had made a reconnoissance up Steele's Bayou, and partially through Black Bayou, towards Deer Creek; and so far as explored, these water-courses were reported navigable for the smaller iron-clads. Information, given mostly, I believe, by the negroes of the country, was to the effect that Deer Creek could be navigated to Rolling Fork, and that from there, through the Sun-Flower to the Yazoo River, there was no question about the navigation. On the following morning, I accompanied Admiral Porter in the ram Price, several iron-clads preceding us, up through Steele's Bayou to near Black Bayou.

The expedition was promptly dispatched, and as a co-operating infantry force, Sherman, with Steel's Division, was sent up to Eagle's Bend and marched across the country from that point. I need not add the expedition was a failure.

"All this may have been providential, in driving us ultimately to a line of operations, which has proven eminently successful." And so thought all who accompanied the expedition.

In this connection, mention should not be omitted of the other expedition, to which the one in question was only supplemental. The Yazoo Pass Expedition had already been organized and sent out, and was now blocked by the rebel Fort Pemberton at Greenwood. The junction of the Sun-Flower Bayou with the Yazoo River was between Fort Pemberton and Haines' Bluff; and General Grant hoped to introduce a force between that fort and the high grounds above Haines' Bluff. Had he succeeded, the rebel works at Greenwood would not only have been rendered untenable and the garrison compelled to fly east to escape capture, but the two Federal forces, united, would have been sufficiently strong to possess and defend the desired point.

The enterprise was burdened with most annoying and stubborn obstacles, to overcome which no man who possessed less hope and persistency than Grant would have attempted. But Vicksburg would never have been captured from this direction, and I doubt whether Grant ever honestly expected it. The former of these expeditions was christened by the soldiers " the back-water," and the latter, the " Deer Creek raid."

In the meantime, General Grant, having settled on the plan which promised and resulted in success, recalled the detached portions of his army, and concentrated it on the west bank of the Mississippi, above Vicksburg. The 26th Iowa returned with its division to Milliken's Bend on the 25th of April, and on the 2d of May following marched with Sherman for Grand Gulf and Jackson, and thence to the rear of Vicksburg. In this march the regiment failed to meet the enemy in a single general engagement. It arrived at the Walnut Hills the 18th of May, and all that afternoon skirmished with the enemy, they gradually falling back to their strong works encircling the city. The heavy skirmishing of the following day the regiment engaged in, as it also did in the assault which was made the same afternoon. Its position before Vicksburg was north of the city. It was in Steele's Division, which held the right of the besieging line.

What followed in the long and arduous siege is given elsewhere. But one general assault was made after the 19th instant — that of the memorable 22d of May; and in that the 26th Iowa participated. Up to and including this disastrous day, the 26th Iowa lost in its skirmishes and assaults some forty in killed and wounded. Colonel Smith and Lieutenants Rider, Noble, and Maden were among the wounded.

After the fall of Vicksburg, the 26th Iowa joined the army of General Sherman in the pursuit of Johnson to Jackson, where it arrived on the 10th of July. It remained there during the eight days' siege, without meeting the enemy. It next marched to Brandon; then back to Jackson, and thence to Big Black River, where it remained in camp till the 23d of the following September, when it left with three divisions of its corps to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland, at Chattanooga. This march was accomplished without any fighting, if we except the affairs which General Osterhaus had with the enemy at Cherokee Station and beyond that place, in the direction of Tuscumbia, Alabama. The 26th Iowa was attached to this division, and participated in some of these affairs, but suffered no loss. In the meantime, General Sherman was preparing to cross the Tennessee at Chickasaw Landing; and the object of Osterhaus' advance to Tuscumbia, I do not understand, unless it was to draw the attention of the enemy from Sherman's real purpose, which was to reach Chattanooga by way of Florence, Alabama, Fayetteville and Winchester, Tennessee, and Bridgeport.

Returning to Chickasaw, General Osterhaus crossed the river with his division, and moved on after the main column; for Sherman was already well under way. He did not arrive in Lookout Valley until the evening of the 23d of November, and was too late to operate with Sherman's forces against the northern point of Mission Ridge. He was therefore ordered to report to General Hooker; and thus it happened that the 4th, 9th, 25th, 26th, 30th and 31st Iowa regiments, all of General Osterhaus' Division, engaged the enemy on Lookout Mountain. The 26th Iowa fought in the battle of Lookout Mountain in the afternoon and night of the 24th of November, after which it moved across the valley to engage the enemy on Mission Ridge; for the enemy had been routed and Lookout gained by our forces early on the morning of the 25th.

At Mission Ridge the 26th Iowa, and also the 25th, were separated from their division, and made a sort of Corps of Observation to watch the enemy's cavalry from near Rossville Gap. Neither of these regiments were therefore engaged at this point. But on the flight of General Bragg the night of the 25th instant, the 26th Iowa was near the van in its division, which led the advance in the pursuit. Osterhaus came up with the enemy at Ringgold as previously stated, and at Ringgold the 26th engaged them from behind their works, and suffered greater loss than it had done in the whole campaign before. In the engagement at Lookout Mountain, the loss of the regiment was only five wounded, among whom was Lieutenant-Colonel Ferreby. At Mission Ridge it was not engaged. Its loss at Ringgold on the 27th was three men killed — McDonnell, Beddon and Phillips — and nine wounded. Among the latter were Captain Steele, and Lieutenants Hubbard and Nickel. Captain Steele, a brave and efficient officer, died of his wounds soon after the engagement.

On the close of the Chattanooga Campaign, the 26th Iowa returned with its division to Bridgeport, and in the latter part of December was ordered to Woodville, Alabama, on the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, where it went into Winter quarters. On the opening of the Spring Campaign against Atlanta, it marched to the front: since that time its services have been nearly the same as those of the other Iowa regiments of its division. Moving via Gordon Mills and Snake Creek Gap, the regiment came on the enemy at Resaca, where it first engaged him. It subsequently engaged the enemy at New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Kenesaw Mountain, before Atlanta, and at Jonesboro; but in none of these engagements was its loss severe. At Big Shanty, it lost one enlisted man killed, and one officer and six men wounded. In the terrible fight before Atlanta on the 22d of July, the regiment lost only five men wounded; and, at Jonesboro, its loss was one officer and four men wounded.

After joining in the pursuit of Hood in his celebrated flank movement northward, the 26th Iowa returned to near Vining Station, on the Chattahoochie, where it rested and fitted for the march to Savannah. The history of this march, and of that from Savannah to Raleigh, will be found in the sketches of those officers whose regiments belonged to the 15th Corps' Iowa Brigade. I have already said that the 26th Iowa was attached to this brigade.

On the arrival of his regiment at Savannah, Colonel Smith resigned his commission.

SOURCE: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 415-20

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

BRIGADIER-GENERAL ELLIOTT W. RICE


SECOND COLONEL, SEVENTH INFANTRY.

Elliott W. Rice, a younger brother of the late General Samuel A. Rice, who died in the summer of 1864, of a wound received at the battle of Jenkins' Ferry, is a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the 16th of November, 1835. In 1837, he removed with his father's family to Belmont county, Ohio, where he made his home till the year 1855. He was regularly graduated at Franklin College, Ohio, in 1854; and immediately after entered the Law University at Albany, New York. In 1855, he came West, and became a law-partner of his late brother at Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Early in the spring of 1861, General Rice enlisted as a private in the 7th Iowa Infantry; but was, on the 30th of the following August, promoted to the majority of the regiment. He served with his regiment with that rank till after the battle of Fort Donelson, when he was commissioned colonel, vice Colonel Lauman promoted to brigadier-general. This promotion was endorsed by the almost unanimous voice of the officers of his regiment, and was a high compliment to his military talent and worth. One of the brightest pages in General Rice's military history was made prior to the date of his colonel's commission, on the battle-field of Belmont. The enemy had been forced through the low, timbered bottoms that skirt the west side of the Mississippi above Columbus; they had been driven back to their encampment, and beyond, to the banks of the Mississippi below Columbus; their camp had been burned, and their flag—Harp of Erin —captured, when word came, "we are flanked." Colonel Lauman had already been wounded and taken to the rear. At the very moment that orders were received to fall back, the enemy rallied in front, and Lieutenant-Colonel Wentz fell, mortally wounded. Under these circumstances, Major Rice took command of his regiment to conduct the retreat. He had already been severely wounded, though he said he was not hurt. Placing himself at the head of his regiment, which he had hastily re-formed, (for all just then was confusion) he dashed through the lines of the enemy that had been interposed between the Federal forces and the landing, disregarding all calls of "surrender!" In the terrific enfilading fire through which he passed, his horse was pierced with twenty bullets; his sword-scabbard was shot in two; his sword-belt shot away, and his clothes riddled; but he saved a remnant of his regiment, and brought it safely back to the transports. His gallant conduct in this engagement made him the idol of his regiment.

The history of the 7th Iowa Infantry, subsequently to the battle of Fort Donelson, when Major Rice was promoted to colonel, is briefly as follows: — For three weeks after the battle, the regiment rested in rebel barracks, constructed by the enemy for winter quarters. Then, marching back to the Tennessee, it took the steamer White Cloud at Metal Landing for Pittsburg.

As already stated, the 7th Iowa fought at Shiloh with the 2d, 12th, and 14th Iowa regiments. It was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Parrott, and lost in the engagement thirty-four in killed, wounded and missing. Lieutenant John Dillin, a resident of Iowa City, was killed, and no other commissioned officer of the regiment was struck. After the fall of Corinth, and the pursuit of the enemy to Boonville, the 7th returned and established, with its brigade, what was known as Camp Montgomery. Here the regiment passed the chief portion of its time till the battles of Iuka and Corinth.

At the battle of Corinth, the 7th Iowa suffered severely, the list of casualties amounting to one hundred and twenty-three. In speaking of the conduct of his officers and men in the engagement, Colonel Rice said:

"I must make special mention of Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott, who, with great bravery and coolness, cheered and encouraged the men to renewed vigor. * * * It is with pleasure that I make favorable mention of almost all my officers who were engaged in the two day's battle. Major McMullen did efficient service until he was wounded and disabled, on the evening of the 3d. Captain Conn, although wounded, remained with his command through both day's battle. Captains Hedges and Mahon, left in camp sick, left their beds and came on the battle-field on Saturday, and did efficient service. Their companies were well commanded Friday by Lieutenants Dillon and Sergeant. Lieutenant Gale displayed great gallantry, and was severely wounded in the battle of the 4th, after which the company was bravely led by Lieutenant Morrison.

"Captains Irvin and Reiniger performed their duties nobly. I must also mention Lieutenants Hope, Loughridge, Irvin, McCormick, Bennett and Bess. Captain Smith, who was killed in the last hour of the battle of the 4th, was one of the most promising young officers of the service. He was brave, cool and deliberate in battle, and very efficient in all his duty. Color-Sergeant Aleck Field was wounded in the battle of the 3d: afterwards the colors were borne by William Akers of Company G, who was also wounded, when they were carried by George Craig, of Company B. All of the color-guard, with the exception of one, were either killed or wounded. Sergeant-Major Cameron, severely wounded, must not escape favorable mention for his brave and valuable services on the field.

"While it is a pleasure to report the noble and heroic conduct of so many of my officers and men, we mourn the loss of the gallant dead, and sympathize deeply with the unfortunate wounded. More than one-third of those taken into action are wounded, or lie dead beneath the battle-field. With this sad record, we can send to Iowa the gratifying word that her unfortunate sons fell with faces to the enemy. * * * * * "

For nearly a year and a half prior to the month of October, 1863, the 7th Iowa Infantry remained at and near Corinth, Mississippi; but, at the above named date, marched with General Dodge from Corinth to Pulaski. In the winter of 1863-4, the regiment re-enlisted and came North on veteran furlough, and, on its return to the field, marched to the front with the 2d Iowa, via Prospect, Elkton and Huntsville.

In Sherman's celebrated Atlanta campaign, Colonel Rice commanded his brigade, composed of the 2d and 7th Iowa, the 52d Illinois and 66th Indiana, (the same that he had commanded for nearly a year before) and, at the battles of Resaca, Lay's Ferry, Rome Cross Roads, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, and Nick-a-jack Creek, distinguished himself. For his gallantry and promptness to duty, he was recommended by General Sherman for promotion to a brigadier-general, and was appointed and confirmed to that rank, his commission dating the 20th of June, 1864.

The engagement on Oostanaula River is worthy of special mention. Crossing his brigade in the face of the rebel General Walker's entire Division, he drove it in disgrace from the south bank of the stream, and secured a position which was generally believed to have necessitated the evacuation of Resaca.

Of the different regiments in his command, the 7th Iowa Infantry suffered the most severely in this engagement. The regiment was moving through heavy timber, when it was suddenly charged by a whole brigade of rebel infantry. The charge was gallantly sustained, and a counter-charge made, which resulted in driving the enemy from the field. The loss of the regiment here was between sixty and seventy.

The preliminaries to the battle of Dallas are briefly as follows: Having arrived at Kingston, a small railroad station about eighty miles south of Chattanooga, the enemy were found posted across the Etowah River, in the Allatoona Mountains. Their position, which was one of great natural strength, was to be carried by a flank movement; and General McPherson, moving south-west, reached and crossed the Etowah River, and marched directly for Atlanta. The enemy, when advised of the movement, abandoned their position on the Allatoona Mountains, and pushed for Dallas, some thirty-five miles south of Kingston. Hardee's rebel Corps, leading the advance, reached Dallas and strongly fortified itself before McPherson's arrival. What followed is well given by an officer of General Rice's command:

"At early dawn, on the 28th of May, the two contending armies were on the qui vive. All looked forward for the deeds the day might bring forth. Heavy skirmishing was kept up, which, at times, almost swelled into volleys; and, at short intervals, stretcher-men, with their precious burdens going to the rear, attested the accuracy with which the 'Johnny rebs' handled their long Enfields. At four o'clock P. M., the threatening storm burst out in all the fury of battle, just on the extreme right of Logan's Corps, where it sounded like the wind roaring through a pine forest. The breeze wafted it dismally toward us. On came the wall of fire, nearing us at every instant, until it broke in all its violence on our front. Here was the rebel right. Their assaulting column reached along the whole line of Logan's Corps, and over on to Dodge's front far enough to engage Rice's Brigade, which was posted hi the front line. The rebel forces consisted of Hardee's Corps—three divisions. Their men were told that we were one-hundred-day men; and their charge was a desperate one. In front of Rice's Brigade (two regiments being in line, the 2d Iowa and 66th Indiana) there was a brigade of the enemy, known as the Kentucky Brigade, consisting of the 2d, 3d, 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th Kentucky Infantry. They charged in columns six lines deep, and, as they neared our works, yelled in that unearthly style peculiar to themselves. They were met by men who were equal to the emergency. Not a man left the works, unless he was wounded. They stood there like a wall of iron, their comrades from the reserve carrying ammunition to replenish their exhausted supplies. Yet still the rebel hosts poured up to the works, those behind being cursed by their officers and rushed up so as to prevent those in front from falling back. Thus they continued, hoping against hope, and all the time being mowed down like grass by the fire of our brave veterans, and the grape and canister of Welker's Battery. Pushing forward till they were almost hand-to-hand, they continued the deadly struggle for one hour and a half; when, completely exhausted, they broke and fled, amid the loud huzzas of our splendid fellows. I never wish to know a prouder day than that.

"Our brigade that day fought for the first time behind breast-works. Although they had built miles of them, this was the first chance to use them. Too much praise can not be given to Colonel Rice, who was ever where the danger was the thickest, mounted on his magnificent gray. He looked the personification of the brave soldier. His example appeared to inspire the men: they fought as only the best and bravest of soldiers can fight, and never left the works.

"After the action, I noticed him riding to the different regiments to ascertain, I suppose, the extent of our casualties. He was everywhere met with loud and prolonged cheers; but he modestly attributed it all to them, and kindly thanked them for their great bravery. Such men as he are not made of the ordinary stuff. Though young in years, he is already a veteran-hero of nearly a score of battles; and has, since this campaign, made a reputation for himself and the brigade he so gallantly commands, unequalled by any in this army."

No one has been a warmer admirer of the gallantry of General Rice than myself, whenever it has fallen to his lot to meet the enemy; but still I think it hardly just to say that the reputation of himself or of his brigade was "unequalled by any" in that magnificent Army of the Tennessee. The general himself would not claim this; nor would the author, from whom I have quoted, on sober reflection. He wrote under the inspiration of recent victory.

General Rice, I believe, most distinguished himself on the memorable 22d of July before Atlanta. In that engagement, though assaulted by an entire division of Hardee's Corps, he held his ground firmly, and inflicted most bitter punishment upon the enemy. Besides capturing one hundred prisoners of war, and six hundred stand of arms, he buried in his front, on the morning of the 23d, one hundred and twenty of the enemy's dead, which is evidence that his brigade placed nearly one thousand rebels out of battle.

After General Dodge was wounded before Atlanta, the division to which General Rice's brigade was attached was assigned to the 15th Army Corps: since that time, the services of the general and, I may add, of the 7th Iowa, are the same as those of General Logan's command. Marching first in pursuit of General Hood back nearly to Dalton, and round through Snake Creek Gap, they then returned, and, with the other troops, pushed through to Savannah, and thence north, through South Carolina and North Carolina to Raleigh.

The operations of the 7th Iowa in rear of Savannah, are thus given by Lieutenant-Colonel Parrott:

"December 11, moved to the rear, and encamped on Anderson's plantation, where we remained in camp until the 21st, keeping up all the time a lively skirmish on the picket line. On the night of the 19th, my regiment was ordered to effect a crossing of the Little Ogechee. The regiment marched to the vicinity of the river, Company A, being detailed to carry boards for the purpose of crossing sloughs, and Company B to carry a boat for the purpose of crossing a detachment to reconnoitre the opposite bank. Major Mahon, with four picked men, crossed the river, and from his reconnoissance it was found impossible to cross the regiment on account of swamps and morasses on the opposite bank. At 12 midnight, the regiment was ordered back to camp.

"December 20th was quiet all day. December 21st, reports were in circulation, at an early hour, that the enemy had abandoned his stronghold on the Little Ogechee. The brigade was ordered to move to the front, and at 2 P. M. entered the city of Savannah without firing a gun, the enemy having made a hasty retreat."

The only time I ever saw General Rice was in the summer of 1862, and not long after he had received his colonel's commission. He was in company with Captain, now Major, Mahon, and on a visit to some Mends at Camp Clear Springs, Mississippi. He was dressed in a brand-new uniform, and I thought him a gallant and handsome looking officer.

He is a man of middle size, and has a fine form. His complexion, and the color of his hair and eyes, are much like those of his late distinguished brother. He Is reputed a more brilliant man than was his brother, but not so able. His neighbors say he has one of those minds that learn from observation, rather than from hard study. When he entered the service, he was so young that he had had little opportunity to gain distinction. He has made a brilliant record in the army; and his friends expect that his course in civil life will be equally brilliant.

Source: Addison A. Stuart, Iowa Colonels and Regiments, p. 171-8

Saturday, January 24, 2009

THE MARCH TO THE SEA

From Atlanta to the Atlantic

From the Hawk-Eye

HOW SHERMAN MARCHED

The scouts report that throughout the march the army moved in four columns, Howard on the right, and Slocum on the left, with cavalry on the front and rear. In this manner, it covered a strip of nearly sixty miles in width. For 300 miles Sherman has cut through Georgia a swath of nearly 60 miles. It would seem that the “hero turned fugitive” might have been found somewhere in this tract of 18,000 square miles. If the search for him had been very earnest.

Immediately after leaving Atlanta, the column marched toward Macon devastated the country for miles west of the Macon and Atlanta Railroad, in order to retard the progress of Hood, should he attempt to follow in on Sherman’s rear.

WHAT OPPOSITION WAS ENCOUNTERED

Not the least significant and cheering fact of the march is, that but very little opposition to the grand raid, or rather occupation, was met. In their haste to fly, bridges over the small streams were, in several instances, left unburned by the citizens. They were terrified out of their discretion, and failed to respond to the despairing appeals of Generals and Legislators, to fell trees, burn bridges, and destroy subsistence. In no place was the road seriously blockaded, and the stores that were burned were fired by the rebel cavalry, who were feared by the agricultural Georgians as much as the Yankees. The horses were secreted in the swamps to escape both parties. We got nearly all, because the indispensable negro was very apt to designate the spots where the coming cavalry nags were to be fund. Our troops had a few skirmishes, in all of which they were successful. If Wheeler defeated Kilpatrick at any time, no one in Sherman’s army was aware of the fact when our scouts left it.

THE CAPTURE OF MILLEDGEVILLE

The rebel papers make no mention of the ludicrous fact that Milledgeville was surrendered to our scouts two days before the main army reached the town. РThese scouts were met by the Mayor, who insisted on surrendering the place, only asking what private property should be respected. РThese triumphant captors, after their informal entr̩e, proceeded to open the Penitentiary, releasing about one hundred and fifty inmates, some of them members of the Federal army, confined for what were really military offenses. Very few of the citizens remained, and those who did were not disturbed. On leaving Milledgeville, our forces burned the State buildings, exploded a quantity of ammunition and destroyed the depots.

A FIELD ORDER FROM SHERMAN

While in Milledgeville, a citizen made a complaint to Sherman having been robbed of a considerable amount in money and a valuable gold watch, establishing the fact with abundant evidence. Sherman immediately issued an order declaring that any of his army found engaged in stealing money or articles of no military value, of ravishing or wantonly burning private property, would be shot. The order was not violated, so far as could be ascertained.

DAMAGE TO THE GEORGIA RAILROADS

Our scouts assert that Sherman has completely destroyed the great railroad quadrilateral, of which Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, and Savannah are the four corners. The railroad leading east from Atlanta to Augusta is destroyed for over seventy miles, including bridges over the Yellow and contiguous rivers. The railroad running south from Atlanta to Macon, is destroyed for eighty miles. The railroad running east from Macon to Savannah is destroyed for a distance estimated at from ninety to one hundred miles. The railroad running between Augusta and Savannah is destroyed from Wanesboro [sic] to Savannah, a distance of over eighty miles. The Gulf Railroad has been cut, and Sherman’s position, when last heard from, insures that he holds the Charleston and Savannah Railroad.

We learn that this wholesale work of destruction was carried on leisurely, and with an eye of completeness. Every rail was heated and bent; every tie, bridge, water station, tank, wood-shed, and depot building, burned, and every culvert blown up. For miles on the Macon and Savannah, and the Augusta and Savannah Roads, the track is carried over marshy territory by extensive trestlework. – this is all burned, and will be very difficult to replace. In all, Sherman has completely destroyed nearly 400 miles of railroad track, and as he was nearly a month in doing it, we may readily believe that it is well done.

OUR PRISONERS NOT RELEASED

The Hopes that Sherman would reach Millen in time to release the body of our prisoners were not realized. The rebels had abundant opportunity to remove them by rail and on foot. They were hurried to Columbia, South Carolina, via Savannah, several days before our advance reached Millen.

THE CAPTURE OF FORT MACALISTER

On the 15th Inst., Hazen’s division (commanded by Gen. Sherman himself formerly,) of the 15th Corps, was ordered to storm Fort MacAllister after a demand for its surrender had been refused. The charge was made in column at the double-quick, and in less than fifteen minutes from the time the word to storm was given, our flag floated from the fort, which is strongly built of sand, with deep ditches and massive parapets. The garrison, consisting of three hundred men, were captured, together with twenty-three fine guns of heavy caliber. The loss of the division in the charge was seventy killed and wounded. The great strength of Fort MacAllister renders its capture by storm a feat of arms second to no valorous achievement of the war. It was Gen. Hazen’s division which bore the brunt of Hardee’s attack upon our right at Jonesboro the day before the rebel evacuation of Atlanta, so its talent for defense and offense is pretty firmly established. Gen. Sherman may be justly proud to say, as he did in describing the assault, “that was once my division.”

SHERMAN’S POSITION AROUND SAVANNAH

General Sherman feels certain that Savannah is his legitimate property, and the position of his forces around it at this moment would seem fully to justify his anticipations. The main body of his army is on the west of the city, stretching around it somewhat on the south. He has passed a body of infantry north of the Savannah River, the only direction of escape for the garrison.

The situation is simply this: Sherman with an army of veterans, out numbering the garrison four to one – perhaps more – is beleaguering Savannah, holding all the railroad communications, and has passed a body of troops north of the Savannah River, almost directly in the rear of the force which has been confronting general Foster at Pocotaligo, and hindered a seizure of the Charleston and Savannah Railroad north of the river. – The only avenue for the garrison to escape, is over a marshy [country], between Foster’s army, near Pocotaligo, and Sherman’s force, north of the Savannah River, and it is only through this interval (which may at any moment be closed,) that further reinforcements or supplies can enter Savannah. Since the war began we have never had such immense advantage over the garrison of any city in the South. At the very initiation of the investment we hold all railroads and have very nearly closed all outlet and inlet.

The water batteries below Savannah are on the south side of the river, and are liable to fall as Fort McAllister fell, provided enough firm land can be found in the rear of them to permit the movement of a sufficient body of troops.

SHERMAN’S NEW BASE

Sherman has now as safe and convenient a base of supplies as Grant. Indeed in some respects he has advantages over the armies on the James. His supplies ascend the Ogeechee river a short distance, and reach him after landing by a few miles transportation over a splendid shell road. – His flanks are protected by the Savannah river on the left, and the Ogeechee on the right, while his rear is approachable only through a strip of country south of Millen, flanked on both sides by impenetrable swamps. Unlimited supplies can be sent from Port Royal, and any number of heavy guns from the same well stocked post. He is five days from New York, three days from Fortress Monroe. He is in an invigorating winter climate, as you may imagine from the fact that I write with my coat off and my pocket-handkerchief in easy supporting distance, and I am thirty miles north of the latitude of Savannah. The weather is deliciously spring-line; just such a day as you would think clever for a Northern June.

THR TROOPS WANT TO GO TO SOUTH CAROLINA

Sherman related that during the march he was often assailed by good humored request from the ranks to be taken to South Carolina. There is a settled conviction in Sherman’s veterans that it is part of their mission to make the tour of the hot-beds of treason, and if they do we fancy the flower pots will suffer somewhat. With the talent for desolating a country, acquired and acquiring by that army, we are led to expect that the next census of the State that first fired on the flag now planted again on its borders will be very easily taken; It will be impossible to restrain the men; and it is almost impossible to wish to have them restrained from wiping from existence so foul an enemy to the Republic.

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Friday, December 30, 1864

Friday, December 26, 2008

WAR NEWS

WAR BULLETIN

WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, Dec. 25, 7 p.m. – To Major General Dix: - A despatch [sic] has been received this evening by the President from Gen. Sherman. It is dated Savannah, Thursday 22d inst., and announces his occupation of the city of Savannah, and the capture of ammunition and about 25,000 bales of cotton. No other particulars are given.

An official dispatch from Foster to Gen. Grant, dated on the 22d at 7 p.m., states that the City of Savannah was occupied by Gen. Sherman on the morning of the 21st and that on the preceding afternoon and night Hardee escaped with the main body of his infantry and light artillery, blowing up the ironclads and the navy yard. He enumerates as captured 800 prisoners, 150 guns in good order, 100 cars, a large lot of ammunition and material of war, 30 steamers and 33,000 bales of cotton.

No mention is made of the present position of Hardee and his forces which had been estimated at about 15,000.

The despatches [sic] of Gen. Sherman and Foster are as follows:

SAVANNAH, GA, Dec. 22. – His Excellency Pres’t Lincoln – E beg to present you as a Christmas Gift, the city of Savannah with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.

(Signed) W. L. [sic] SHERMAN, Maj. Gen.

The Steamer Golden Gate from Savannah arrived at 7 p.m.

Lieut. Gen. Grant and Maj. Gen. Halleck. I have the honor to report that I have just returned form Gen. Sherman’s headquarters in Savannah. I sent Major Gray of my staff as bearer of dispatches from Gen. Sherman to you, and also a message to the President. The city of Savannah was occupied on the morning of the 21’st. Gen. Hardee, expecting the contemplated assault, escaped with the main body of his infantry and light artillery on the morning of the 20th by crossing the river to Union City causeway opposite the city.

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Friday, December 30, 1864

NOTE: The rest of the article was continued on the top of the next column, which unfortunately, was sewn into the binding of the bound newspaper. However, General Foster’s dispatch sited above, is found in the Official Records, Series I, Vol. 44, Serial # 92, p. 786 and the rest reads as follows:

The rebel iron-clads were blown up and the navy-yard burned. All the rest of the city is intact and contains 20,000 citizens, quiet and well disposed.

The captures include 800 prisoners, 150 guns, 13 locomotives in good order, 190 cars, a large supply of ammunition and material of war, 3 steamers, and 32,000 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.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. G. FOSTER,
Major-General, Commanding Department of the South.