THE GEORGIA MILITIA DURING SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA. 669
from tliat time until near (lark they made continuousefforts to carry our position. ... In an hour theenemy had so extended and developed their attack thatit became absolutely necessary for me to place inthe front line of battle my last troops, the 47th Georgia regiment, making in all about 1400 effective muskets onthe field, and all engaged. . . . While we could notfrom the dense wood accurately estimate the numberof the enemy, it was very clear their force largely ex-ceeded ours, and I awaited, with some anxiety, thearrival of the 32d Georgia , and the forces expected fromNorth and South Carolina . . . . About 4:30 P. m.Brigadier-General Robertson arrived with a portion ofthe 32d Georgia from Charleston , a battery of artillery,and a company of cavalry. These constituted an effec-tive reserve, but came up too late to be used in theaction. During the night the enemy retired rapidly inthe direction of their gun-boats. Our loss, in every armof service, was 8 men killed and 42 wounded. . . . Lieu-tenant-General Hardee arrived at Grakainville Stationbetween 8 and 9 o’clock on the morning of the 1st ofDecember. The enemy having been beaten back on the30th of November, and the Confederate forces [between2000 and 3000 in number] having now arrived, there was,in my judgment, no longer any necessity for retainingthe State troops of Georgia beyond their legal jurisdic-tion. I therefore asked and obtained permission ^tobring these exhausted troops back to their own State.” ^
In the meantime General Sherman’s army wassteadily moving through G-eorgia. The Confeder-ate cavalry under General Wheeler restricted theeccentric movements and depredations of the Fed-eral cavalry under General Kilpatrick, hut couldnot materially, if at all, affect the regular dailyprogress of Sherman’s main forces. If GeneralSherman purposed crossing the Savannah River ,and thus reaching the sea-coast of South Carolina ,he abandoned such intention after the defeat ofHatch’s forces at Honey Hill. Sherman’s armycontinued to move down the Savannah River onthe Georgia side.
About fifteen thousand Confederate troops fromthe Carolinas had reached Savannah , and GeneralHardee sent large detachments out on the GeorgiaCentral Railroad to delay Sherman’s progress, butwithout success. On the 9th of December theFederals were close against the fortifications ofSavannah .
During the siege of that place, the line occupiedby my command — about two thousand men —was about three miles above the city, and ex-
^ The Federal forces engaged at Honey Hill consistedof about 5500 men and 10 guns, under General John P.Hatch, sent by General John G. Foster , commandingthe Department of the South, to secure a foothold forSherman’s army and to cut off Confederate reenforce-ments from Savannah . The Federal loss was 88 killed,623 wounded, 43 missing,—total, 754.—Editors.
In my lines in front of Savannah there was a smallbattalion made up of released Federal prisoners of war,who had taken the oath of allegiance to the ConfederateGovernment, and were enlisted in the Confederate army.Because of suspicious circumstances reported to me, I
tended from the Savannah River to the OgeecheeCanal. This line was nearly two and a half milesin length. Batteries had been constructed at theCentral Railroad, the Augusta road, and at Will-iamson’s plantation, near the bank of the river.Between the batteries there were some slighttrenches or rifle-pits, leaving three-fourths of amile on my front without earth cover.
A short distance in front of the left of my linethere was a swamp, and, nearer the river, a rice-field, both of which were flooded by means of adam at the river-bank; and this sheet of waterformed a serious obstacle to the two Federal corpsjammed close against our front. But there wasnothing at the far end of the dam to prevent its be-ing cut, thereby draining the swamp and the rice-field ; in which ease the position could easily havebeen carried. To prevent this a work was begun,under the direction of Colonel B. W. Frobel, infront of the rice-field, but before it was completedthe enemy appeared in front. The small militiagarrison made a gallant and successful resistance,and saved the dam from being cut.
The enemy, after the capture of Fort McAllister,on the Altamaha River, effected a permanentlodgment on Hutchinson’s Island, crossed the Sa-vannah River, and established works on the SouthCarolina shore, almost within range of our only lineof retreat.
At my suggestion, by collecting boats and usingthe city wharves for flooring and car-wheels foranchors, Colonel Frobel constructed a pontoon-bridge, about half a mile in length, from Hutchin-son’s Island over the river, and on December 20ththe city was evacuated. The artillery, baggagewagons, and all the troops, except the permanentgarrisons of the forts below, passed over the bridge,the militia bringing up the rear and encampingon the sand-hills on the South Carolina side.
After the evacuation of Savannah my commandwas ordered to proceed through South Carolina toAugusta, Georgia , and were put in camp on thesand-hills west of that place. Later we were trans-ferred to the lines on Briar Creek; and in thelatter part of the winter took position for a shorttime in South Carolina , covering the approaches toAugusta on that side. &
bad given orders to the troops in the line on the right andleft of this battalion, to fire upon and destroy these rene-gades in case they committed any overt act of treacheryto us. These enlisted prisoners were styled “ galvanizedYankees.” Shortly before the evacuation of Savannah ,our troops on the extreme left needing reenforcements,these “galvanized Yankees ” were detached from mycommand by General Hardee, and within a very fewdays several of them were put to death for overt acts ofmutiny and attempted desertion. After the war thegeneral by whose order this was done was tried formurder by a military commission, andacquitted.
G. W. S.