Life of Wm. Tecumseh Sherman. / Late Retired General. U. S. A.

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

"Your refusal to receive, in exchange, your soldiers belonging to 'regiments whose times are out, and who have been discharged,' discloses a fixed purpose on the part of your Government to doom to hopeless captivity those prisoners whose term of service have expired, or will soon expire.

"My offer to exchange the prisoners captured during the campaign precludes an intention on my part in the delivery to discriminate between your prisoners, as all would have been delivered; and even had it been intended, this discrimination between your men, whose term of service had and had not expired, would have been impossible, and could not have been effected, as I had no reliable means of ascertaining what portion of your men were entitled to their discharge.

"Your avowal that this class of your soldiers will not be exchanged, but will be rewarded by the sufferings and privations incident to military imprisonment because their boldness and courage subjected them to capture, although their terms of service has nearly expired, is deeply regretted by me, as I have the earnest desire of my Government to release from prolonged confinement the large number of prisoners held by both parties."

An exchange of about two thousand prisoners was, however effected. During the truce, four hundred and forty-six families were sent South. These comprised 705 adults, 860 children, and 79 servants, and each family took on the average, 1651 pounds of furniture and other personal effects.

At the end of October, Sherman was ready to continue his campaign. He had corresponded with Grant on the subject and had intimated to him what he proposed to do. Grant replied to him, on November 2d, "Go on, then, as you propose." Thus the credit of the historic march that followed must be given to Sherman himself,—the conception of it as well as its execution. "The honor is all yours," said Lincoln afterward; "none of us went further than to acquiesce."

But Sherman had not stated positively, not even to Grant, what his objective point was, whether Charleston or Savannah, or even Pensacola. He proposed to march from Atlanta to the sea; that was all. What road he would follow, he would decide for himself and he would keep his own counsel. And in order to isolate Atlanta and render it useless to the enemy and that there might be no interference with his plans as he proceeded, he performed the unique act of destroying utterly the railways and telegraph by which he had communicated with the North. When everything was ready, and the final messages transmitted between himself and Grant, he cut the last remaining wire, and thence forward for a time, was lost to the Nation's view. His conquering host became known as "the lost army." This was on November 12th. On the 14th his army was ready for the march, and on the 15th the drums beat and they moved forward.

Acting under the grim necessities of war, Sherman sent this order to Captain Poe: "You may commence the work of destruction at once, but don't use fire until towards the last moment." Thus much of the City of Atlanta was destroyed, and it was past smoking ruins that Sherman's army marched forward to the sea.

The army was divided, for the purposes of this march, into two great wings. The right, keeping its army name, was commanded by General Howard, and consisted of the Fifteenth Corps, under Osterhaus, and the Seventeenth Corps, under Blair. The left, called Army of Georgia, was commanded by General Slocum, and consisted of the Fourteenth Corps, under J. C. Davis, and the Twentieth Corps, under A. S. Williams. In all there were about 60,000 infantry and 60 cannon. In addition, there was a cavalry division of 5,500 men, under General Kilpatrick.

General Howard was now 34 years old; a native of Maine, and a graduate of West Point in the class of 1854. He had served in Florida against the Indians, and as an instructor at West Point. He had joined the army again as Colonel of the first three years' regiment that came from Maine; had commanded a brigade at Bull Run and served with the Army of the Potomac until the battle of Fair Oaks, where he had lost his right arm while leading a gallant charge. Two months later, he had returned to active service in time to be at the second battle of Bull Run, where he commanded the rear guard on the retreat. He had rendered distinguished service at Antietam and Fredericksburg, and also at Chancellorsville. He had been one of the chief actors at Gettysburg, being responsible for the selection of the invincible position at Cemetery Ridge occupied by the Union Army. His gallantry at Missionary Ridge has already been recorded in these pages, and he had also marched with Sherman to the relief of Burnside at Knoxville. His Christian character and his intellectual attainments made him as acceptable as a man as he was as a brave and skilful General.

General Slocum, a native of New York State, had been graduated at West Point two years before Howard. After some military service he had become a practicing lawyer and active in the politics of his State. At the outbreak of the war he had returned to the army as Colonel of one of the first three years' regiments sent from New York. He had served with honor at Bull Run and with the Army of the Potomac on the Rappahannock and at Yorktown and all through the Peninsula campaign from West Point, Va., to Malvern Hill. He had won great distinction at South Mountain and Antietam, at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He and Howard were trusted lieutenants of Sherman in the great campaign that was now to be undertaken.