The Union loss during the siege of Savannah did not exceed six hundred. One hundred and forty-five cannon, one thousand prisoners, thirty thousand bales of cotton, and immense quantities of ammunition and supplies, and much valuable property were captured, which, as the city was virtually taken before it was surrendered, were regarded by General Sherman as the undoubted prizes of the government for which he and his army had toiled and fought so long.
Sherman’s grand march to the sea was accomplished. Its mysterious strategy and alarming boldness were now elucidated and justified by the event. The rebels had been perplexed and distracted by the movement. The feint on Macon first misled the enemy, and, afterward, Sherman’s constant menace against Augusta divided the forces which might have been united against him, and kept the Georgians in the most demoralizing suspense and terror, which allowed the Union army to sever and burn at its leisure the enemy’s only remaining railroad communications eastward and westward, for hundreds of miles—namely, the Georgia State railroad and the Central railroad from Gordon to Savannah, with numerous other portions of it. The army passed over forty-two of the finest grain-growing counties of the State, consuming their corn and fodder, sweet potatoes, cattle, sheep, hogs, and poultry, appropriating ten thousand or more horses and mules, burning all their bridges, cotton gins, all public buildings of service to the enemy, and bringing away a countless number of slaves. “I estimate,” says General Sherman, “the damage done to the State of Georgia and its military resources at one hundred million dollars, at least twenty million dollars of which has inured to our advantage, and the remainder is simple waste and destruction. This may seem a hard species of warfare, but it brings the sad realities of war home to those who have been directly or indirectly instrumental in involving us in its calamities.”
GRAND NAVAL COMBAT IN MOBILE BAY.
CAPTURE OF FORTS MORGAN, POWELL, AND GAINES.
August 5–23, 1864.
Admiral Farragut, who had anchored off Mobile Bay for more than a month, awaiting reinforcements and military cooperation, at length saw the day approach on which he was prepared to undertake the most dangerous if not formidable naval combat that history has ever recorded.
At the head of Mobile Bay, nearly thirty miles from the Gulf of Mexico, lies the city of Mobile. Dauphin’s Island lies at the mouth of the bay, and almost closes the entrance, having a narrow strait on either side. The western channel affords but five feet of water, and is therefore not navigable for heavy vessels. The eastern strait channel has a depth of twenty feet. The entrance to the bay is guarded by two strong forts. The principal defence is Fort Morgan, which is built on a low, sandy point opposite Dauphin’s Island, and four miles from it. The rebels had blockaded the whole passage between Fort Morgan and Dauphin Island with tiers of piles, chains, and torpedoes, leaving a channel of fifteen hundred yards in width for the blockade-runners, which flowed directly under the guns of the fort.
Opposite Fort Morgan, on Dauphin Island, is Fort Gaines; and about a mile distant from the latter structure was Fort Powell.
Early in August, Admiral Farragut’s fleet was reinforced by two iron-clads from James river, and two from the Mississippi.
Soon after sunrise on the morning of the 5th of August, signals were given to all the fleet, and at twenty minutes to six the gunboats and monitors were underweigh, moving up the bay.