In the siege of Savannah, the 20th Corps held the left of our lines, resting on the Savannah river; the 14th Corps was on its right; the 17th Corps next, and the 15th Corps on the extreme right, with its flank resting on the Gulf railway, at station No. 1. The army remained in this position until the 21st, ten days from the commencement of the siege. In the meantime there was a deal of foraging done, as the country began to fail to supply the demands made upon it.
The last few days of the siege, the foragers were compelled to go a long distance to the rear in order to procure the necessary quota of rice, for this was eminently a rice country. The soldiers always had regular meals of rice and pork for breakfast, pork and rice for dinner, and vice versa for supper.
Up the Savannah river from the city of Savannah, and bordering on it upon either bank, were large and nourishing rice plantations, cultivated by great numbers of negroes of every hue of the skin and brogue of the tongue, some of them direct from Liberia, some from New Guinea, and others from the swamps of Florida. It was amusing to see the soldiers act the place of master and overseer over these deplorable creatures. One soldier would crowd together thirty or forty of them, and march around them at right-shoulder-shift arms, keeping them at work pounding rice with mortar and pestle. Great ricks of this precious produce, in every way resembling oats, were stacked on each plantation, and from ten to twenty thousand bushels in a single stackyard. Our army made use of it in various ways, much of it being threshed and hulled, and then used by the soldiers, but a greater part fed to mules.
Thus, things passed merrily on, until the memorable 21st of December, when our forces marched proudly into the "Forest City," Hardee having evacuated it on the night of the 20th. Now, the whole army went into camp in and about it, being once more in communication with the outer world.
Here ends the great raid to the sea.
Immediately after the capture of Savannah, General Sherman sent the following brief note to President Lincoln: "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."
On this raid, the army marched over three hundred miles directly through the heart of Georgia, living off the best of the land. No less than ten thousand negroes left the plantations of their former masters and accompanied the army when it reached Savannah, without taking note of thousands more who were left along the line of march. Over twenty thousand bales of cotton were burned, besides twenty-five thousand captured at Savannah. Thirteen thousand head of beef cattle, nine million five hundred thousand pounds of corn, and ten million five hundred thousand of fodder, were taken from the country and issued to the men and animals.
Besides the history of this great raid, there are many other historical incidents connected with this portion of the country. Savannah itself was the first settlement in the State, being laid off in the year 1733. It was here where the great John Wesley first officiated as minister. And it was the scene of many revolutionary incidents; where General Lincoln fought the British in October, 1779; where Pulaski fell, and where Nathaniel Greene lies buried.
Savannah is located in a low, level country, surrounded by almost impassable swamps of a very unhealthy nature. It has a canal running into it from the Ogechee, and three railroads radiating from it; and from its beautiful shade trees, it is appropriately called the "Forest City."
Our great raid through Georgia, the Queen State of the Confederacy, was practically unobstructed by the enemy. True, they attempted to arrest our progress, but without the slightest success. Some of Wheeler's men, would, at times, make a stand behind an intrenchment and contest our advance. Our skirmishers would push forward, reinforced by the reserve, a charge would be sounded by the bugle, a rush follow—and amid the rattle of musketry and report of field pieces, the ground would be swept over by our boys, the works carried, and enemy routed. These little fights resulted in no check to our advancing columns. The head of the column would halt to let the rear close up, and before that was done, the advance guard would have cleared the way, and the column again set in motion.