Sherman's March Through Georgia

JANUARY 7, 1865. ]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

5

GOVERNOR'S MANSION, MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA.

THE 20TH CORPS CROSSING LITTLE RIVER, NEAR MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA, NOVEMBER 24, 1864.

SHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH
GEORGIA.

WE devote a large portion of our present Number to the graphic and interesting illustrations of General SHERMAN'S march through Georgia, which we have received from our special artist, Mr. THEODORE R. DAVIS. Such a military event has not occurred in history since NAPOLEON'S celebrated but ill-omened march from Warsaw to Moscow in 1812. That adventure resulted in the destruction of a noble army, not by the force of the enemy met on the

of force to threaten the capture of Washington or a march to the banks of the Ohio gave the Confederacy a bold front, which imparted confidence to its friends at home and abroad, and was intended to convince the loyal States of the hopelessness of the war. Not accomplishing this latter purpose, it failed of any substantial benefit. JEFFERSON DAVIS has persisted in this spendthrift habit of waging war until he has entirely exhausted the white population of the South, and is now advised by the highest military authority in the Confederacy to conscript negro slaves. His injudicious policy has

eighteen millions worth of cotton, and had gained the line of the Savannah River, for DAHLGREN'S benefit, thereby insuring the speedy capture of Augusta. Yet this enormous sacrifice was for nothing : the campaigns in the Shenandoah, in Tennessee, and Missouri have all failed disastrously ; and they can never be repeated.

HOOD'S campaign was the most disastrous of all. LEE had been placed by GRANT'S summer campaign in a position where he was utterly helpless to relieve the Confederacy. All hope rested with HOOD and BEAUREGARD. SHERMAN had flank-

ance to SHERMAN'S advance. What followed has already become history. HOOD was defeated by THOMAS. And SHERMAN, unable of course to stay in Atlanta, exchanged the great railroad centre of Georgia for the possession of the railroads themselves. With nothing in his front he did in forty days what in the ordinary course of the war it would have taken many months to perform. He destroyed hundreds of miles of railroad, destroyed stores essential to the Confederate armies, captured one of the four great sea board cities which yet belonged to the enemy, and, more than all, destroyed

CAPITOL AT MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA.

MADISON, GEORGIA.

field of battle, but by the necessities of hunger and cold encountered in the desert wastes of a Russian winter. The record of General SHERMAN'S march covers exactly the period of a single month, and extends over a distance of more than three hundred miles, passed through the heart of the enemy's country ; but it terminates in perfect success. It is hardly possible to overestimate the importance of this success ; and yet it dwindles into insignificance when compared with the promised victories to which it is preliminary.

Ever since this war began the rebels have lavishly exhausted their strength by the audacity of their offensive policy. To be able with some show

resulted in as great loss of material as of men. Taking merely the last two months from October 17 to December 17 the offensive campaigns of HOOD, EARLY, and PRICE, have cost the Confederacy, if we include the capture of Savannah, over three hundred and fifty guns and forty thousand men. Of these forty thousand men three-fourths have been captured on the battle field. Twenty-five rebel generals also have been put out of combat by death, capture, or wounds. While HOOD was flying to the banks of the Tennessee in complete rout, SHERMAN was entering Savannah, and by his capture of that city had subtracted 20,000 souls from the Confederate population, had taken

ed JOHNSTON out of half a dozen strong holds from Dalton to Atlanta, and had manoeuvred HOOD out of Atlanta itself. In the natural course of events Atlanta would have been made, like Nashville, a great military post, from which offensive operations would have been pushed forward toward the coast. But HOOD'S advance northward made this unnecessary, and took from Atlanta all its importance. Leaving THOMAS with a portion of his army to confront HOOD, SHERMAN with the better half determined to prosecute an independent campaign. HOOD'S advance had accomplished two things : it had taken from Atlanta all its value as a conquest ; it had also taken from HOOD'S army all its value as a resist-

the confidence of the rebels in the power of their Government to defend them.

As soon as SHERMAN was satisfied that HOOD was moving westward into Tennessee, and after having pursued him as far as to Gaylesville on the Chattooga River, he made his preparations for marching. STANLEY with the Fourth Corps, and SCHOFIELD with the Twenty-third, were sent north to co-operate with THOMAS, and the main army fell back to Rome. Then Rome was evacuated, and all its stores and machinery sent North. The army moved South. At Curtisville the telegraph wire was broken and all communication with the North severed. The last message was to THOMAS, saying, "All is well." (Next Page)

MAGAZINE AT MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA.

DESTRUCTION OF MADISON STATION, GEORGIA, DECEMBER 3, 1864.