Sherman at Savannah
For Savannans, the dreaded day has arrived: Union General William T. Sherman, encamped outside the city with some 60,000 soldiers, demands that Lieutenant-General W. J. Hardee surrender the city.
For Sherman, it is a day to relish: Months of planning and a long, hard march have led to this moment.
One week before Christmas, the Union general is confident that the city will be his before the holiday.
The following letters tell the story of this day, the first from Sherman to Hardee, and the second, Hardee’s reply to Sherman.
Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi,In the Field, near Savannah, Ga.,
December 17, 1864.General William J. Hardee,Commanding Confederate Forces in Savannah:
GENERAL: You have doubtless observed from your station at Rosedew that sea-going vessels now come through Ossabaw Sound and up Ogeechee to the rear of my army, giving me abundant supplies of all kinds, and more especially heavy ordnance necessary to the reduction of Savannah. I have already received guns that can cast heavy and destructive shot as far as the heart of your city; also, I have for some days held and controlled every avenue by which the people and garrison of Savannah can be supplied, and I am therefore justified in demanding the surrender of the city of Savannah, and its dependent forts, and shall wait a reasonable time for your answer, before opening with heavy ordnance. Should you entertain the proposition, I am prepared to grant liberal terms to the inhabitants and garrison; but should I be forced to resort to assault, or the slower and surer process of starvation, I shall then feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and shall make little effort to restrain my army—burning to avenge the national wrong which they attach to Savannah and other large cities which have been so prominent in dragging our country into civil war. I inclose a copy of General Hood’s demand for the surrender of the town of Resaca, to be used by you for what it is worth.I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
W.T. Sherman, Major-General
Headquarters Department South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, Savannah, Georgia, December 17, 1864.
The reply:
Headquarters Department South Carolina Georgia, and Florida, Savannah, Georgia, December 17, 1864.
Major-General W.T. Sherman, commanding Federal Forces near Savannah, Georgia.
General: I have to acknowledge the receipt of a communication from you of this date, in which you demand “the surrender of Savannah and its dependent forts,” on the ground that you “have received guns that can cast heavy and destructive shot into the heart of the city,” and for the further reason that you “have, for some days, held and controlled every avenue by which the people and garrison can be supplied.” You add that, should you be “forced to resort to assault, or to the slower and surer process of starvation, you will then feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and will make little effort to restrain your army,” etc., etc. The position of your forces (a half-mile beyond the outer line for the land-defense of Savannah) is, at the nearest point, at least four miles from the heart of the city. That and the interior line are both intact.
Your statement that you have, for some days, held and controlled every avenue by which the people and garrison can be supplied, is incorrect. I am in free and constant communication with my department.
Your demand for the surrender of Savannah and its dependent forts is refused.
With respect to the threats you conveyed in the closing paragraphs of your letter (of what may be expected in case your demand is not complied with), I have to say that I have hitherto conducted the military operations entrusted to my direction in strict accordance with the rules of civilized warfare, and I should deeply regret the adoption of any course by you that may force me to deviate from them in future. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W.J. Hardee, Lieutenant-General
While the stage is thus seemingly set for a bloody battle over Savannah, today’s Richmond Daily Dispatch publishes a report on current events in the “unfortunate city” of Atlanta, conquered by Sherman three months earlier.
A letter from the city marshal of Atlanta, who has returned to that city, gives an account of what the Yankees and others have done to that unfortunate city. It says:
“From the best information I can get, there have been from fifty to three hundred wagons per day in Atlanta, since the Federal left, hauling off iron, furniture, wagons, window- blinds, door-locks, books, lumber, etc., amounting to about fifteen hundred wagon loads. They came from fifty to one hundred miles in every direction. They broke open all the houses that were left, including the churches in which the exiles’ furniture was stored, and plundered indiscriminately.
“Wesley Chapel and Trinity, the First and Second Baptist, First and Second Presbyterian and Catholic Churches are standing. The First Episcopal Church is standing, but badly damaged. The Yankees used it, I have been told, for a ten-pin alley.
“Every depot, railroad turn-table, water tank, pump, cross-tie, bridge, blacksmith shop (except one), and all the mills are burned. I think more than two-thirds of all the residences in the city are destroyed; but I can give but a faint idea of the destruction.
“The cemetery fence is all destroyed. The Yankees have buried their dead all over the city, and have taken the fence from around the cemetery to build some separate lots for themselves. They have put their dead into private vaults, and have stolen tombstones from Mr. Oatman’s marble yard to put at their heads. They have taken the moss and shrubbery from other graves to cover the graves of their dead, and have robbed our dead in the vaults of the silver coffin-plates to make finger rings….
Sources: William T. Sherman letter to William J. Hardee, December 17, 1864 (link); Hardee to Sherman, December 17, 1864 (link); Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 17, 1864 (link)
