Civil War 150th

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Resigning himself to a siege of Savannah, Sherman left his headquarters and took a ship along the coast to see what could be done about shutting off the last route into the city. However, the Confederates had learned the painful lesson of Vicksburg: when a city is surrounded, save the garrison and abandon the city rather than wait and lose both. On this date, Southern commander William Hardee began to evacuate his force across a quickly constructed pontoon bridge. The Southerners did not have time to destroy everything of value to the Yankees, but the military installations in Savannah were blown up, including at least two iron-clad warships under construction. Interestingly, they did not set fire to the large quantities of cotton in the city.

Sherman had the bad luck to be caught out of position:

[font="Times New Roman"]During the night of the 20th we started back, the wind blowing strong, Admiral Dahlgren ordered the pilot of the Harvest Moon to run into Tybee, and to work his way through to Wassaw Sound and the Ogeechee River by the Romney Marshes. We were caught by a low tide and stuck in the mud.

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

And while the Union commander was delayed, the Rebels completed their escape during the night. There was a cost, however: they had to abandon all their heavy artillery, which could not be risked on the pontoon bridge. It was a loss that Southern industry was no longer able to make good.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

The city fathers of Savannah had no intention of suffering the fate of Atlanta. As the Northerners entered the now-undefended city, they were met by a delegation headed by Mayor Richard D. Arnold offering their surrender in return for protection of the civilians and their private property. This time the offer would be more or less accepted (though the bales of cotton in the city's warehouses would be confiscated). The March to the Sea was now fully complete.

Sherman's force had left a trail of destruction behind them, but it had accomplished a major military objective. The Southern economy could do no more than partially repair the railroads and bridges. The Davis administration could now draw resources and manpower only from North and South Carolina, and most of Virginia (but no longer from the Shenandoah Valley).

Additionally, the taking of Savannah left the Confederacy only one major port east of the Mississippi: Wilmington, North Carolina. Blockade runners were already strained trying to bring in guns, ammunition, medicines, and other necessary items. In fact, the food situation around Richmond had become so bad that the ships were smuggling in meat rather than things like copper for percussion caps. (Meaning that eventually the Southerners would no longer be able to fire their muskets.) While not knowing these details, the Union was aware that the loss of both Savannah and Wilmington would be a shattering blow to the South. A major operation was already underway to deal with Wilmington.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Savannah received relatively light treatment from the occupying Union soldiers. The bad news for the Southerners is that the Yankees were there to stay. W. T. Sherman lost little time in transitioning from a field headquarters to one suited to the administration of a city:

[font="Times New Roman"]On the morning of December 22d I followed with my own headquarters, and rode down Bull Street to the custom-house, from the roof of which we had an extensive view over the city, the river, and the vast extent of marsh and rice-fields on the South Carolina side. The navy-yard, and the wreck of the iron-clad ram Savannah, were still smouldering, but all else looked quiet enough. Turning back, we rode to the Pulaski Hotel, which I had known in years long gone, and found it kept by a Vermont man with a lame leg, who used to be a clerk in the St. Louis Hotel, New Orleans, and I inquired about the capacity of his hotel for headquarters. He was very anxious to have us for boarders, but I soon explained to him that we had a full mess equipment along, and that we were not in the habit of paying board; that one wing of the building would suffice for our use, while I would allow him to keep an hotel for the accommodation of officers and gentlemen in the remainder. I then dispatched an officer to look around for a livery-stable that could accommodate our horses, and, while waiting there, an English gentleman, Mr. Charles Green, came and said that he had a fine house completely furnished, for which he had no use, and offered it as headquarters. He explained, moreover, that General Howard had informed him, the day before, that I would want his house for headquarters. At first I felt strongly disinclined to make use of any private dwelling, lest complaints should arise of damage and lose of furniture, and so expressed myself to Mr. Green; but, after riding about the city, and finding his house so spacious, so convenient, with large yard and stabling, I accepted his offer, and occupied that house during our stay in Savannah. He only reserved for himself the use of a couple of rooms above the dining-room, and we had all else, and a most excellent house it was in all respects.

... the blockade-runners that infested the coast, which were notoriously owned and managed by Englishmen, who used the island of New Providence (Nassau) as a sort of entrepot. One of these small blockade-runners came into Savannah after we were in full possession, and the master did not discover his mistake till he came ashore to visit the custom-house. Of course his vessel fell a prize to the navy. A heavy force was at once set to work to remove the torpedoes and obstructions in the main channel of the river, and, from that time forth, Savannah became the great depot of supply for the troops operating in that quarter.

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

Strictly speaking, Savannah was in the Department of the South, comprising the islands and coastal installations under Union control on the coasts of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. This was commanded by General John G. Foster. But with Sherman on the scene, there seems to have been no question about who was in charge, both militarily and administratively:

[font="Times New Roman"]Within an hour of taking up my quarters in Mr. Green's house, Mr. A. G. Browne, of Salem, Massachusetts, United States Treasury agent for the Department of the South, made his appearance to claim possession, in the name of the Treasury Department, of all captured cotton, rice, buildings, etc. Having use for these articles ourselves, and having fairly earned them, I did not feel inclined to surrender possession, and explained to him that the quartermaster and commissary could manage them more to my liking than he; but I agreed, after the proper inventories had been prepared, if there remained any thing for which we had no special use, I would turn it over to him. It was then known that in the warehouses were stored at least twenty-five thousand bales of cotton, and in the forts one hundred and fifty large, heavy sea-coast guns: although afterward, on a more careful count, there proved to be more than two hundred and fifty sea-coast or siege guns, and thirty-one thousand bales of cotton. At that interview Mr. Browne, who was a shrewd, clever Yankee, told me that a vessel was on the point of starting for Old Point Comfort, and, if she had good weather off Cape Hatteras, would reach Fortress Monroe by Christmas-day, and he suggested that I might make it the occasion of sending a welcome Christmas gift to the President, Mr. Lincoln, who peculiarly enjoyed such pleasantry. I accordingly sat down and wrote on a slip of paper, to be left at the telegraph-office at Fortress Monroe for transmission, the following:

SAVANNAH GEORGIA, December 22, 1864.
To His Excellency President Lincoln, Washington, D. C.:

I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty five thousand bales of cotton.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

This message actually reached him on Christmas-eve, was extensively published in the newspapers, and made many a household unusually happy on that festive day...

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Savannah was now permanently in Union hands, but the obstacle to seizing the last remaining open Confederate port on the Atlantic coast was a formidable one. Wilmington, North Carolina, was on the Cape Fear River, whose mouth was guarded by a remarkably strong fort named Fort Fisher. This was actually a complex of earthworks mounting numerous cannon, powerful enough to make a close blockade too risky for the Union Navy. Its construction also made it far more resistant to bombardment, for the ramparts absorbed much of the energy of a shell instead of shattering as brick and masonry did. As at Charleston and Mobile, Federal troops would have to be landed to capture the fortifications. The good news was that the Navy had been expanded to a level such that a great fleet could be assembled to go against Fort Fisher even while the blockade of the rest of the Southern coasts was being maintained. Since there was clearly going to be no further major action around Richmond and Petersburg until spring, a goodly number of troops could also be spared for the project.

However, this caused a second problem. Many of the troops had come from the Army of the James, commanded by the controversial and less-than-competent Benjamin Butler. And since Butler had to be involved, he demanded to be in command of the land part of the operation. He even came up with an idea that might eliminate the need for a costly bombardment and amphibious landing after all: take an old cargo ship, pack it full of gunpowder, and set it off close enough to Fort Fisher so that the tremendous blast would disable all of its guns. A number of people, including U. S. Grant, were highly skeptical of the project, so the invasion effort proceeded independently. The good news for W. T. Sherman was that the transport demands for the operation meant that his army would not be embarked for Virginia, but would have to continue its march -- just what Sherman wanted.

But both the invasion and the exploding ship were blocked by a powerful storm along the coast, raging for four days. On this date, the weather finally cleared. The USS Louisiana, packed with 200 tons (180 t) of gunpowder, was sailed as closed to Fort Fisher as her captain and crew dared. They set the timers for the explosion to take place around 1:00 A.M., but just to make sure, they also started a fire on board. Then officers and men hastily scrambled over the side into the boats, rowed to the waiting escort ship, which then steamed to a safe distance.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

The timer and fuses to set off the gunpowder on board USS Louisiana apparently did not work: the hour of 1:00 A.M. passed with no result. But the fire set as a back-up eventually reached the powder, and the ship was blasted to smithereens a little after 2:00 A.M.

[font="Times New Roman"]I watched the burning vessel for half an hour . . . . Returning to my quarters, I laid down on my lounge to get a rest before the anticipated engagement next day [when] I felt a gentle rocking of the small brick house . . . which I would have attributed to imagination or vertigo, but it was instantly followed by an explosion, sounding very little louder than the report of a ten-inch Columbiad* . . .

— Col. William Lamb, commander of Fort Fisher[/font]

Besides the ship, nothing else took damage. Quite possibly the delay had allowed the ship to drift away from where the Northern sailors had evacuated her.

The Union was back to the original plan: a massive naval bombardment, followed by an amphibious landing. (This was the operation discussed in a scene in the Steven Spielberg movie "Lincoln".) The cannonade opened in the afternoon from the mightiest Federal fleet that had ever been assembled to that time. The USS Colorado alone, with 52 guns, had more than all of Fort Fisher (which mounted 47 heavy guns and mortars). All told, the Northerners had over 600 cannon, and at the fiercest phase of the bombarment were throwing over 100 shells a minute. It was spectacular, but not effective, for the earth walls of the fort absorbed the impacts without breaking apart. The Union troops would face a mostly intact fort the next day.


*A term used for a large cannon.

[Capt. Harlock]

Christmas, 1864:

"Oh, why did we go to Camden? The very dismalest Christmas overtook us there." Diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut would complain. "...Now, we feel that if we are to lose our negroes, we would as soon see Sherman free them as the Confederate Government; freeing negroes is the last Confederate Government craze. We are a little too slow about it; that is all."

The Rebel shortage of manpower had indeed reached the point where enlisting slaves as soldiers was now being seriously discussed. But the honor of Robert E. Lee and a number of other Southerners would not permit keeping them as slaves if they were to risk life and limb for the country. They would need to be freed if they joined the ranks. This proposal caused outrage among the more conservative Confederates. When the Union had started using black soldiers, the South had universally condemmed the move as unworthy of a civilized nation, and declared that blacks could not fight bravely or with discipline. But if they could? Howell Cobb, who had presided during the Montgomery Convention that had founded the Confederacy, wrote, "The day you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the revolution. If slaves will make good soldiers then our whole theory of slavery is wrong."

Mrs. Chesnut would probably not have had a better Christmas had she stayed in Richmond. Food was running short in the Confederate capital, and inflation was reaching jaw-dropping heights. The price of gold in the North had been considered frightening when it touched 285 during the summer, but in the South it was now 5,000. A barrel of flour now cost 700 Confederate dollars. Meat had disappeared from Richmond's shops; dinner for the troops was boiled cabbage and cornbread. And above all there was the ever-present threat of U. S. Grant and his massive force, only held back by the most extensive lines of fortifications of the war.

There was one bit of cheering news for the Confederacy on this date: the failure of the amphibious attack on Fort Fisher, North Carolina. At first, matters went well for the Northerners; they came ashore to the north of the fort, cutting off reinforcements from Wilmington. An outlying battery of Rebel artillery was captured, along with two "Junior Reserve" battalions. After consolidating their beachead, the Yankees sent a brigade forward to determine the situation of Fort Fisher. The fort was found to be lightly manned (much of the garrison had been pulled away for reinforcements elsewhere), but also remarkably little damaged from the thousands of shells fired by the Union fleet. Benjamin Butler, in charge of all Northern ground troops, focused on the second piece of news rather than the first. He not only called off the attack, but ordered all of his men to taken back off the beach.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

At Fort Fisher, the entire Union landing force was evacuated uder the cover of another bombardment from the fleet. Surprisingly, although considerably fewer shells were fired, this cannonade seems to have been more accurate than the 10,000 shells expended the day before. The guns of the fort were effectively suppressed, and the evacuation proceeded without serious incident. The entire Northern fleet, warships and transports, then set course back to the naval base at Hampton Roads, Virginia, leaving Fort Fisher still in Rebel hands and the port of Wilmington open for blockade runners.

For the Union, there was one silver lining to the debacle. General-in-Chief Grant had specifically ordered that if Fort Fisher proved too strong to carry, troops should still be kept in place and a beachhead established for further operations in the area. By ordering all his men to be evacuated, Benjamin Butler had disobeyed orders (and he had also failed to communicate them to either Admiral Porter or the leader on the beach). Now, Grant and Lincoln had the concrete reason they needed to remove the incompetent but politically connected Butler from further field command.

[Capt. Harlock]

End of 1864:

The year of 1864 had come to its close, and it had been the deadliest year of the war. There had been no single battle the size of Gettysburg or Chickamauga, but Grant's Overland Campaign, with its near-constant action, dwarfed any other campaign of the conflict. And the death tolls at Andersonville and other prisoner of war camps had rivalled those on the battlefields. For the North, the losses had come close to breaking the public morale (and the Treasury as well). Now, however, the end of the war was clearly in sight: the South had only one effective army left, and it was stuck in the miles of trenches at Petersburg.

For many Southerners, it was not a matter of seeing the end, but that they could no longer see any hope. Though the Confederacy had lost proportionately even more than the Union, it was virtually unknown to talk aloud or even write privately of surrender. But "where is it all to end?" was a question that could be asked, and was. In some areas, such as Georgia or Texas, there was no longer an attempt to aid the Davis government, but only to hold on to what was left after three and a half years of war.

But two men evidently still believed that the South could preserve its independence: Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. Davis appears to have relied on the spirit and resolve of the Southern people not to be ruled by Yankees. Lee, on the other hand, saw the problems of supply and manpower clearly, but he believed those problems could be solved. Above all, there was still food in parts of the Confederacy; the issue was how to get it to his army.

Unfortunately for Lee, Grant and Sherman were also aware of the situation, and they determined to increase the difficulty to where it became impossible.

[t001001001]

I hope the war goes on a few more years b/c this thread is so interesting, and it's going to end [:(]

Next the captain will document the hundred years war [:)]

[Gilmer]

This was an excellent thread, an AAR of the actual war.

[RedArgo]

This is my favorite thread on the internet. Thanks Captain.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

[font="Times New Roman"] ON the 2nd of January, 1865, I had a consultation with General Lee at Richmond, about the difficulties of my position in the Valley, and he told me that he had left me there with the small command which still remained in order to produce the impression that the force was much larger than it really was, and he instructed me to do the best I could.

[center]--Jubal Early, Autobiographical Sketch and Narratve of the War Between the States[/center][/font]

In some ways, the disasters of the previous years had freed the government of Jefferson Davis. Since he was the head of a democracy, he could not afford to ignore the demands of the people to defend their different areas. And defending everywhere, of course, means effectively defending nowhere. But now the real and present threat to Richmond allowed him to nearly ignore other regions (especially west of the Mississippi). All else was secondary to holding the capital.

The Lincoln administration had a more complex situation to deal with, but also rather more resources to deal with it. Benjamin Butler may have been willing to accept failure at Fort Fisher, but the President and U. S. Grant were not. The expedition that had returned to its base at Hampton Roads would be given only a short breathing space to re-supply both the warships and the landing force, and then it would go back for a second try. And this time Grant would have an agressive commander for the troops ashore. He selected General Alfred Terry, only 37 years old but having shown promise.

Not even the Union had unlimited resources; the extended use of the transports against Fort Fisher and the need to keep Grant's immense force supplied at Petersburg meant it would take two months to transport Sherman's army by sea from Savannah to unite with Grant. However, this was exactly what Sherman wanted to hear, for he had already submitted a different plan. He would continue the destructive march of his force northwards up the eastern side of South Carolina, feinting towards Charleston but actually aiming for the state capital of Columbia. (Sherman considered Charleston to be effectively blockaded, and hindsight tends to confirm this.) Grant quickly approved the plan, and the rest of the Lincoln administration was not slow to see the political and military advantages of what would knock South Carolina out of the war.

This march would not be as easy as the March to the Sea. Food would not be as readily found in the countryside during winter, so the Yankees could not travel as light as they had through Georgia. They could also expect to encounter more opposition from the Rebel army that had escaped from Savannah, plus other coastal garrisons. Sherman's men needed more supplies and equipment. Happily, the War Department saw the need, and was sending Montgomery Meigs, the unsung genius of the Union supply effort, along with Secretary of War Stanton himself.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

At Hampton Roads, the Union fleet had been topped up with coal, fresh water, ammunition, and provisions for the warships and for the 9,500 infantry now embarked for Fort Fisher. All ships weighed anchor, but only the naval officers knew they were headed back to the Confederate fort. Even General Alfred Terry (below), in command of the Federal soldiers, had been given sealed orders by U. S. Grant. (To avoid any misunderstandings, however, Terry had been given an off-the-record briefing by Grant the day before.)

The reason for this secrecy was not to surprise the Confederates, who were well aware that the Yankees often made second attempts when they had failed to take an objective on the first try. What Grant feared was interference from Benjamin Butler, who had still been formally in command of the Army of the James, to which the landing troops belonged. If Butler didn't know about the new expedition, he could not cause difficulties. (There had been an earlier attempt to remove him from the command he was so clearly unqualified for, but he had browbeaten Grant into canceling the order.) Around this same date, however, President Lincoln himself gave the directive to replace Butler. This would not be the end of the matter, however; though Butler was not able to argue the Commander-in-Chief out of his decision, he would summon his political allies and call a Congressional inquiry.

The lack of surprise might have been a problem: the Southerners had reinforced the area, bringing total Rebel strength up to 7,000 men (though many of them inexperienced militia). The Northerners would receive one major advantage, however: President Davis had sent the unpopular and less-than-competent Braxton Bragg to command the defenders.

[Capt. Harlock]

Early January, 1865:
While the South debated using slaves as soldiers, the North debated freeing all slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation specifically exempted freeing slaves in the states that had remained in the Union, plus the areas under Union control at the beginning of 1863. But the 13th Amendment would abolish slavery entirely. The Senate, with a heavy Republican majority, had passed it, but the House had earlier failed to do so. Now the amendment was being debated again, and the debate was lively. Almost no one was willing to argue that slavery was right, but some questioned freeing slaves without compensation to the owners, since seizing property without compensation was forbidden by the Constitution. Other Democrats feared that once the slaves were free, the Republicans would then give them them full citizenship, including the vote and the right to serve on juries. (Black men sitting in judgment of a white man was still a deeply disturbing thought to most Northerners.)

The argument that really counted was of course going on behind the scenes. As the Speilberg movie "Lincoln" portrays, a number of congressmen, especially those who had lost re-election in November, were being offered government jobs to change their votes. It was, for all practical purposes, bribery -- but it was effective.

And also as shown in "Lincoln", Francis Preston Blair Sr. (below) had received permission from the President to go to Richmond on a peace mission, probably in return for the powerful Blair family influence in securing Congressional votes. What was not shown in the movie was that Blair had a rather wild scheme to unite north and South: that they would join together to kick the French out of Mexico. Lincoln carefully did not endorse this plan, but authorized Blair to travel through the lines simply as a peace envoy.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

In West Virginia, Jubal Early's force continued to make things difficult for the Northerners. An extraordinary Rebel cavalry raid through snowy country swooped on the Union depot at the town of Beverly, capturing it along with more prisoners (about 500) than the total Southern force. It was a challenge to Union control, but it was a raid rather than an invasion, and did nothing to re-establish Confederate control in the region. Philip Sheridan and U. S. Grant duly took note, and decided that Early's force would have eliminated before Sheridan and his troopers could be brought back to the Richmond-Petersburg lines.


At Savannah, W. T. Sherman wanted to lose no time getting his army back on the move. The fact that it was January and most of the other armies, North and South, had gone into winter quarters made little difference to him. What did make a difference was that he had to take responsibility for the city his forces had captured. Expelling the civilians, as had been done at Atlanta, was not going to happen, for the Union intended to hold the city permanently.

[font="Times New Roman"]It was estimated that there were about twenty thousand inhabitants in Savannah, all of whom had participated more or less in the war, and had no special claims to our favor, but I regarded the war as rapidly drawing to a close, and it was becoming a political question as to what was to be done with the people of the South, both white and black, when the war was actually over. I concluded to give them the option to remain or to join their friends in Charleston or Augusta, and so announced in general orders.

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

The great majority chose to stay. More, thousands of ex-slaves had followed the Yankees out of the interior of Georgia, so the non-soldier population that had to be fed was if anything even greater. However, slowly Savannah became a functioning city again:

[font="Times New Roman"]The guard-mountings and parades, as well as the greater reviews, became the daily resorts of the ladies, to hear the music of our excellent bands; schools were opened, and the churches every Sunday were well filled with most devout and respectful congregations; stores were reopened, and markets for provisions, meat, wood, etc., were established, so that each family, regardless of race, color, or opinion, could procure all the necessaries and even luxuries of life, provided they had money. Of course, many families were actually destitute of this, and to these were issued stores from our own stock of supplies. I remember to have given to Dr. Arnold, the mayor, an order for the contents of a large warehouse of rice, which he confided to a committee of gentlemen, who went North (to Boston), and soon returned with one or more cargoes of flour, hams, sugar, coffee, etc., for gratuitous distribution, which relieved the most pressing wants until the revival of trade and business enabled the people to provide for themselves.

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

And on this date the situation changed even more. Savannah reperesented one of the greatest captures by the Union, because huge quantities of valuable cotton had fallen into Northern hands. Not surprisingly, the War Department and the Treasury Department had been arguing over who should have control of this windfall. The result remains a mystery of the war:

[font="Times New Roman"]On the 11th of January there arrived at Savannah a revenue-cutter, having on board Simeon Draper, Esq., of New York City, the Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, Quartermaster-General Meigs, Adjutant-General Townsend, and a retinue of civilians, who had come down from the North to regulate the civil affairs of Savannah.... I was instructed by Mr. Stanton to transfer to Mr. Draper the custom house, post-office, and such other public buildings as these civilians needed in the execution of their office, and to cause to be delivered into their custody the captured cotton.
[...]
Up to this time all the cotton had been carefully guarded, with orders to General Euston to ship it by the return-vessels to New York, for the adjudication of the nearest prize-court, accompanied with invoices and all evidence of title to ownership. Marks, numbers, and other figures, were carefully preserved on the bales, so that the court might know the history of each bale. But Mr. Stanton, who surely was an able lawyer, changed all this, and ordered the obliteration of all the marks; so that no man, friend or foe, could trace his identical cotton. I thought it strange at the time, and think it more so now; for I am assured that claims, real and fictitious, have been proved up against this identical cotton of three times the quantity actually captured, and that reclamations on the Treasury have been allowed for more than the actual quantity captured, viz., thirty-one thousand bales.

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]

Note that Sherman was not an unbiased witness. He appears to have gotten along with Secretary Stanton moderately well while in Savannah, although Stanton would have some hard questions to ask about the blacks who had followed the army to the coast. But in three months there would be a serious falling-out between the two men.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Off of the North Carolina coast, the Union fleet had run into another delay from bad weather. Unfortunately for the Southern garrison of Fort Fisher, on this Friday the 13th the winds and waves abated, and the attack began. Union Admiral David Dixon Porter and landing commander General Alfred Terry had achieved a surprising level of cooperation, given the historical rivalry between Army and Navy, and the mutual plan was for bombardment but no land assault on the first day. And this time, instead of attempting to immediately overwhelm the Confederate batteries by sheer numbers of shells, it was decided to deliberately draw the Rebels' fire -- at first.

The ironclad warships went in first, including New Ironsides (now fully repaired from the CSS David's torpedo). This allowed the remainder of the fleet to spot the Southern guns when they engaged, and shortly the wooden-hulled ships of the Federal fleet joined in as well. This included the USS Brooklyn, on loan from Admiral Farragut's force, and the USS Minnesota, which the Monitor had saved from the CSS Virginia (AKA Merrimac) during the history-making Battle of Hampton Roads. It was a grand finale for the Union Navy, for after this there would be no objectives requiring more than two or three ships.

The Yankees' firing was more accurate than it had been the month before, and a number of the Confederate guns were knocked out. Taking advantage, General Terry landed his force of over 8,000 Union troops. There was a reserve division of Southern infantry available at Wilmington, but area commander Braxton Bragg decided not to interfere with the Yankees. By the end of the day, the Northerners had set up their base camp. Wisely, the Northern warships kept up a slow bombardment during the night, making it difficult for the Rebels to make repairs on their battered fort.


At Tupelo, Mississippi, John Bell Hood took stock of what was left of the Army of Tennessee, now more or less safe from Union pursuit. Of the once-proud force of 40,000 men, only 7,000 were present and able to stand and fight. And even those were often missing things like shoes and blankets against the winter. Heartbroken, Hood wrote out his resignation from command of the army and telegraphed it to Richmond.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

At Fort Fisher, all was ready for the Union attack. To give the infantry the best possible chance, the Northerners landed an additional 2,000 marines and sailors to assault one face of the fort while the nearly 9,000 infantry made their move against another side. The seamen fared badly: decimated by musket bullets and grapeshot, they went to ground, trying to dig trenches in the sand. When this was not effective, they retreated, having lost about a quarter of their number.

But they had at least achieved the purpose of distracting the Confederate defenders. Even as the sailors fell back, Northern battle flags were being planted on the outermost ramparts of Fort Fisher. The Rebels turned from their successful defense of one side and launched a counter-assault. It came close to driving the Yankees from their foothold, but then further reinforcements in blue arrived. More, the Union fleet opened fire again, now aided by signals from the men ashore telling them which parts of the fort could be bombarded without hitting friendly troops.

For hours there was furious back-and-forth combat. No part of the fort was safe for the Rebels. The commanding general was wounded and went down, shortly followed by the second-in-command colonel. Still, the fort was sub-divided by numerous walls, and the garrison made the attackers pay for every chamber gained.

By 9:30 p.m., it was clear that the Confederates could not hold without help. A general named Alfred Colquitt was sent with Rebel reinforcements to try to reverse the situation, but they arrived just as the Northerners were overrunning the fort's wharf and just managed to scramble back into their boats and pull away to avoid capture. Seeing this, Major Reilly, the highest ranking Southern officer still on his feet, held up a white flag and walked to the Union lines to announce the surrender.

It had been a costly fight. Northern casualties were 1,341 men killed or wounded, and an amazing total of 51 Medals of Honor would be awarded for the bravery of the soldiers, sailors and marines. The entire garrison of 1,900 men was lost to the Confederacy -- and so was the last major blockade-running harbor in the East.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Near Savannah, W. T. Sherman was encountering delays in resuming his march. Perhaps the biggest was the number of newly freed blacks that had flocked to the area, escaping from slavery. By some estimates there were as many as 40,000 men, women, and children at Savannah and in the islands off the Georgia and South Carolina coasts that were now under Union control. Sherman had hired a number of the able-bodied males to be in his "Pioneer Corps" which served the functions of modern-day engineer units. But the great majority had to stay behind, and could not be allowed to starve.

Happily, there was a good deal of land available, confiscated from Confederates who were serving in the Southern armies or occupying positions in the Richmond government. Sherman was technically not the military governor of the area, but Secretary of War Stanton was with him at the moment. Between them the two men wrote and issued a far-reaching directive:

[font="Times New Roman"][Special Field Orders, No. 15.]

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, NEAR SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, January 16, 1865.

1. The islands from Charleston south, the abandoned rice-fields along the rivers for thirty miles back from the sea, and the country bordering the St. John's River, Florida, are reserved and set apart for the settlement of the negroes now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States.

2. At Beaufort, Hilton Head, Savannah, Fernandina, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville, the blacks may remain in their chosen or accustomed vocations; but on the islands, and in the settlements hereafter to be established, no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside; and the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves, subject only to the United States military authority, and the acts of Congress. By the laws of war, and orders of the President of the United States, the negro is free, and must be dealt with as such. He cannot be subjected to conscription, or forced military service, save by the written orders of the highest military authority of the department, under such regulations as the President or Congress may prescribe. Domestic servants, blacksmiths, carpenters, and other mechanics, will be free to select their own work and residence, but the young and able-bodied negroes must be encouraged to enlist as soldiery in the service of the United States, to contribute their share toward maintaining their own freedom, and securing their rights as citizens of the United States. Negroes so enlisted will be organized into companies, battalions, and regiments, under the orders of the United States military authorities, and will be paid, fed, and clothed; according to law. The bounties paid on enlistment may, with the consent of the recruit, go to assist his family and settlement in procuring agricultural implements, seed, tools, boots, clothing, and other articles necessary for their livelihood.

3. Whenever three respectable negroes, heads of families, shall desire to settle on land, and shall have selected for that purpose an island or a locality clearly defined within the limits above designated, the Inspector of Settlements and Plantations will himself, or, by such subordinate officer as he may appoint, give them a license to settle such island or district, and afford them such assistance as he can to enable them to establish a peaceable agricultural settlement. The three parties named will subdivide the land, under the supervision of the inspector, among themselves, and such others as may choose to settle near them, so that each family shall have a plot of not more than forty acres of tillable ground, and, when it borders on some water-channel, with not more than eight hundred feet water-front, in the possession of which land the military authorities will afford them protection until such time as they can protect themselves, or until Congress shall regulate their title. The quartermaster may, on the requisition of the Inspector of Settlements and Plantations, place at the disposal of the inspector one or more of the captured steamers to ply between the settlements and one or more of the commercial points heretofore named, in order to afford the settlers the opportunity to supply their necessary wants, and to sell the products of their land and labor.

4. Whenever a negro has enlisted in the military service of the United States, be may locate his family in any one of the settlements at pleasure, and acquire a homestead, and all other rights and privileges of a settler, as though present in person. In like manner, negroes may settle their families and engage on board the gunboats, or in fishing, or in the navigation of the inland waters, without losing any claim to land or other advantages derived from this system. But no one, unless an actual settler as above defined, or unless absent on Government service, will be entitled to claim any right to land or property in any settlement by virtue of these orders.

5. In order to carry out this system of settlement, a general officer will be detailed as Inspector of Settlements and Plantations, whose duty it shall be to visit the settlements, to regulate their police and general arrangement, and who will furnish personally to each head of a family, subject to the approval of the President of the United States, a possessory title in writing, giving as near as possible the description of boundaries; and who shall adjust all claims or conflicts that may arise under the same, subject to the like approval, treating such titles altogether as possessory. The same general offcer will also be charged with the enlistment and organization of the negro recruits, and protecting their interests while absent from their settlements; and will be governed by the rules and regulations prescribed by the War Department for such purposes.
6. Brigadier-General R. Saxton is hereby appointed Inspector of Settlements and Plantations, and will at once enter on the performance of his duties. No change is intended or desired in the settlement now on Beaufort Island, nor will any rights to property heretofore acquired be affected thereby.

By order of Major-General W. T. Sherman,
L. M. DAYTON, Assistant Adjutant-General.[/font]


Sherman's forces had also collected a number of horses and mules during their march to the sea, and Sherman now loaned many of the surplus mules to the new farming families. Here was the start of the famous "forty acres and a mule" program. Unhappily for the blacks, their bounty would last only a few months: when Andrew Johnson became President, he would put a stop to it.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 Years Ago Today:

Near Savannah, Sherman made the first moves for his march through South Carolina. However, much of it had to be done by sea instead of by land, for the Savannah River was running strongly from winter rains, and Sherman's "Pioneer Corps" had not yet managed a permanent bridge across. The result confirmed Sherman's opinion that it would have been a mistake to transfer his army by sea to the Richmond-Petersburg area:

[font="Times New Roman"] We were very much in want of light-draught steamers for navigating the shallow waters of the coast, so that it took the Seventeenth Corps more than a week to transfer from Thunderbolt to Beaufort, South Carolina. Admiral Dahlgren had supplied the Harvest Moon and the Pontiac, and General Foster gave us a couple of hired steamers; I was really amused at the effect this short sea-voyage had on our men, most of whom had never before looked upon the ocean. Of course, they were fit subjects for sea-sickness, and afterward they begged me never again to send them to sea, saying they would rather march a thousand miles on the worst roads of the South than to spend a single night on the ocean.
[...]
About the same time General Slocum crossed two divisions of the Twentieth Corps over the Savannah River, above the city, occupied Hardeeville by one division and Purysburg by another. Thus, by the middle of January, we had effected a lodgment in South Carolina, and were ready to resume the march northward; but we had not yet accumulated enough provisions and forage to fill the wagons...

[center]--Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman[/center][/font]


In Richmond, there was a growing movement among many politicians to appoint Robert E. Lee as General-in-Chief of the Confederate armies, just as Grant was in charge of all the Union armies. Jefferson Davis hated the idea, since it would diminish his own power. He parried cleverly by putting the question directly to Lee, knowing that Lee's modesty (and reluctance to leave Virginia for anywhere else) would cause him to decline. On this date, Lee did just that, writing back "If I had the ability I would not have the time . . . I do not wish you to be misled as to the extent of my capacity."

But it wouldn't be enough. The fall of Fort Fisher, coming only weeks after the disaster of the Battle of Nashville and the capture of Savannah, was a stunning blow to Southern morale. The members of the Confederate Congress insisted that something be done to reverse the trend.

[Capt. Harlock]

150 years Ago Today:

At North Carolina's Cape Fear river, the Northerners were busy consolidating after their capture of Fort Fisher. Unfortunately, the structure wasn't as useful as they had hoped, partly because of the damage during the bombardment and fighting, but even more because some careless Union soldiers had explored one of the magazines with a torch. The resulting explosion had killed scores, including some Confederate prisoners who had not been evacuated yet. The destruction had made it all the more necessary to seize the smaller forts in the area, since the Yankees hoped to advance up the river and capture the city of Wilmington.


This in turn required the massive Union fleet to stay at the mouth of the river for a while longer. And so, the Northern naval presence at the mouth of the James River was greatly reduced, and the Confederates had an opportunity. They had managed to put together three ironclads, including the flagship CSS Fredricksburg, pus a flotilla of eight unarmored craft. (By this time both sides had something called a "torpedo boat", though they used explosive charges on long spars.) Against this, the Union had one "monitor"-type ironclad and three smaller vessels on the James. There seemed a good chance for the Rebels to break through and bombard the main Northern supply base at City Point, which might do enough damage to force Grant to abandon the siege of Richmond and Petersburg.

It wasn't going to be quite so easy. The Northerners had been preparing for months against something of this sort, and had also installed a number of shore batteries, plus obstructions in the river. Nonetheless, after sunset on this date, the James River Squadron, as the Southerners had named their fleet, weighed anchors and quietly began the voyage downriver. They were soon spotted by the Union garrison of Fort Brady, but when the Yankees opened fire, the muzzle flashes of their guns drew return fire both from the Rebel ships and from land-based artillery. This kept the Fort Brady gunners distracted enough that they scored no hits on the Confederate fleet, which soon passed downstream.

The second problem took considerably longer. The Yankees had sunk two hulks in the river and stretched an anchor chain between them, blocking the way. There was also at least one large sunken "torpedo", capable of sinking any vessel that passed over it. Flagship Fredricksburg anchored just upstream of these obstacles and launched boats to clear the way by hand. The other two Southern ironclads, Richmond and Virginia II, also stopped close by to give covering fire. This helped, but did not completely stop a steady fire of cannon shot from Union shore batteries and bullets from Union sharpshooters. Happily for the Confederates, the darkness prevented accurate shooting, but the task of clearing the way went on the entire night.