THE HORRORS OF SOUTHERN PRISON LIFE. 481

therefore existed, and one attempted by General Butler, while at Fortress Monroe, failed. The enemy treated Union prisoners with such cruelty as unfitted them for future military service, while they desired the exchange of well-fed prisoners, who would, on their release, greatly aid the diminishing rebel army.

The people of the North at length grew dissatisfied, and the Administration, under the consequent pressure, devolved the responsibility on General Grant, under whose wise administration, the soldier might hope to see his beloved home once more, if but to die. The chief Southern prisons were Andersonville and Millen, Georgia; Columbia, Florence, and Charleston, South Carolina; Tyler, Texas; Salisbury, North Carolina; Cahawba, Alabama; Danville, Virginia; and Libby, Pemberton, Belle Isle, and Castle Thunder, Richmond. Millen and Richmond were where the greatest cruelties were practiced, but the real horrors of Southern prison-life were centred in the terrible prison pen of Andersonville, which was in command of a wretch named Captain Wirtz, of terrible ferocity, who, after the close of the war, was apprehended, tried by a military commission at Washington, and, on conviction, hung. It is estimated that more than seventy thousand brave Union patriots perished from ill treatment, cruelty, and starvation, in the prisons of the South.

The heart sickens at the diabolical attempts of the rebei leaders to render the prisoners useless for any service to their country when exchanged. In prison they died of the scurvy, were full of filth and vermin, exposed to the weather without shelter, shot down on the slightest pretences, and sometimes actually starved to death. If they returned, they were emaciated, idiotic, and dying. No pen can describe the sufferings of the brave soldiers who pined and died in these Southern charnel houses.

We now return to General Sherman, who, having rested with his army at Savannah, was prepared to march through the Carolinas. Preliminaries being arranged, he sent part of his army in transports to Beaufort in the middle of January, and on the 1st of February, the main body was put in motion.

41

CHAPTER XLVI.

FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1865.

THE RIGHT WING OF SHERMAN'S ARMY THREATENS CHARLESTON—THE LEFT, AUGUSTA HEAVY FLOODS DETAIN THE ARMY-KILPATRICK'S CAVALRY -THE SALKAHATCHIE FORCED-THE CONFEDERATE LEADERS OUTWITTED -THE CHARLESTON AND AUGUSTA RAILROAD DESTROYED-ORANGEBURG -CROSSING OF THE EDISTO-COLUMBIA BURNED-BURNING OF WINNSBORO -FEINT ON CHARLOTTE-SHERMAN MARCHES ON FAYETTEVILLE-CHERAW -FALL OF CHARLESTON-THE TWO WINGS MEET-SCHOFIELD AND TERRY -BATTLES OF AVERYSBORO AND BENTONVILLE-GOLDSBORO OCCUPIED SHERMAN VISITS GRANT-THE ARMY REFITTED-THE NATIONAL FINANCES.

SHERMAN'S army, consisting of sixty thousand men, was divided into four corps, of which the right wing, commanded by Howard, comprised those of Blair and Logan, while the left, under Slocum, was composed of the corps of Davis and Williams; and General Kilpatrick commanded the cavalry. The four thousand five hundred vehicles of all kinds, in the army, would have made a continuous line of forty-five miles, but each corps had its own train, which pursued a separate route. The news of the departure of the army caused great alarm to the Confederacy, while the people of the North were not without anxious solicitude. No one knew Sherman's designs, and his movements were veiled in mystery. By some, it was supposed that Augusta, by others, that Charleston was his destination, but there was a more extensive field of operation before him than the mere capture of either, or both of these places, and he formed the design of making Goldsboro, at the distance of five hundred miles from Savannah, and through two hostile States, his objective point. It was a mighty enterprise on which he was about to enter, and one that required bold daring and consummate strategy. The country through which he was to march after leaving Savannah, consisted for some distance of an extensive lowland plain, in which lay large plantations, surrounded by negro huts, and cultivated fields, skirted by dark forests of pine, and festooned by cypress, wild vine, and garlands of hanging moss. Gloomy and extensive swamps abounded, inhabited by wild fowl, serpents, and alligators,

SAGACITY OF GENERAL SHERMAN.

483

The whole coast, from Savannal. to Charleston, has pendent moss hanging like a funeral pall over all its miasmatic swamps, some of which were six miles in width, and through them must pass the troops, infantry and cavalry, together with the artillery, wagons, and ambulances. In a word, the country was deemed impassable; vehicles broke down in the swamps, or had to be burned and abandoned, and the strongest horses experienced the utmost difficulty in dragging through the artillery. Corduroying was necessary for many miles, otherwise the troops could never have got through. Indeed, it was easier for a pilgrim in olden times to walk to Jerusalem barefoot, than for an infantry soldier to make this march, and lest the cavalryman might be supposed to have the advantage, in a water covered swamp there would often plunge, almost inextricably, both horse

and rider.

Without consideration of these preliminaries, the march of Sherman can never be comprehended. There was one rebel army at Charleston, on his right, and another at Augusta on his left; numerous troops were swarming through North Carolina, and every mile that he marched brought him nearer Lee's army at Richmond. Besides the interminable swamps, which presented such a formidable obstacle, large rivers had to be crossed, which were capable of defence by a hostile army. The wonderful sagacity of Sherman had grasped the whole subject, and he was equal to the execution of the grand design, possessing, as he did, a veteran and well disciplined army, under leaders of well-tried valor, such as Howard, Slocum, Blair, Logan, Davis, and Kilpatrick, and others subordinate to these, but not inferior in skill and prowess.

General Sherman made Columbia his first objective point, and, to carry out this design, it was necessary to keep the Confederate armies at Charleston and Augusta divided. The lines of defence afforded by the rivers could not be carried without great sacrifice of life. It was necessary to his purpose to threaten both armies at the same time, and by keeping the enemy in constant suspense, to prevent any movement. Accordingly, he instructed Slocum, with the left. wing, and Kilpatrick, with the cavalry, to move up the Savannah river, and make a feint on Augusta, while Howard, with the right wing, threatened Charleston. This plan

484 CHARLESTON AND AUGUSTA RAILROAD DESTROYED.

prevented the concentration of the Confederate forces on the line of the swampy Salkahatchie. Had the enemy done so, General Sherman would have experienced great difficulty, for the designs in reference to Charleston and Augusta would have had to be given up; and even if the Salkahatchie had been crossed, the central position of the Confederates would have enabled them to fall back on Columbia, and make a stand on the Edisto. Flanking, as in the Atlanta campaign, would have exposed Sherman's trains greatly in the passage of the rivers. The supplies for the right wing were brought to Pocotaligo, and those for the left to Sister's Ferry, at which the cavalry and Slocum's wing were long detained by a heavy flood in the Savannah river, which overflowed the lowlands to such a degree, that the stream was three miles wide at the point where the troops were to cross. Slocum's orders were to advance without delay, but the state in which the flood left the swamp on the other side of the river, rendered him very anxious.

The cavalry, under Kilpatrick, having crossed the river on a pontoon at Sister's Ferry, passed the formidable swamp beyond, and moved rapidly on Augusta. Howard had already crossed the Salkahatchie river, indicating a movement of the whole army on Columbia by way of Branchville. By rapid marching, Kilpatrick had also crossed the last named river, and occupied Barnwell, thirty miles in his front, undiscovered by the enemy.

Wheeler now left the front of the Army of the Tennessee, and rapidly advanced to get in front of the Union cavalry, and save the railroad, but was too late. In a brilliant cavalry dash by Colonel Jordan, Blackville, on the Charleston and Augusta railroad, was captured on February the 7th, and Wheeler driven across the Edisto river. Next day, the whole army occupied the line of this river to Blackville, and the railroad was destroyed. At Johnston's Station, near Aiken, Kilpatrick encountered Wheeler's cavalry. which was supported by Cheatham's corps of infantry, After skirmishing two days with the enemy, until the Federal infantry had crossed the Edisto, and were advancing toward Columbia, Kilpatrick suddenly left Wheeler's front, crossed the river, and marched rapidly to Lexington Court House. By this movement, he prevented the rebel cavalry from reaching Columbia, and forced Wheeler, and the rem

THE SALKAHATCHIE FORCED.

485

nant of Hood's army, to make a wide detour in order to get in Sherman's front. The same day that Blackville was captured, Colonel Spencer, with three regiments of cavalry, defeated six rebel cavalry regiments, and took five battleflags. On the ninth, Kilpatrick gave Wheeler a severe repulse at Johnston's Station. The latter general was not found to be a match for the Union leader, and was, consequently, superseded by Lieutenant-general Wade Hampton. The Confederate cavalry now combined against Kilpatrick, whom they far outnumbered.

On the 31st of January, General Howard left Pocotaligo, where he left Hatch's division to keep up the feint of an advance on Charleston, by the railroad bridge across the Salkahatchie. The roads had been obstructed by fallen timber, and the bridges burned over swollen streams, but these matters were soon set right by the hardy pioneers. Midway Station, on the Charleston and Augusta railroad, is about midway from both these places, and due south of Columbia. Howard moved his columns toward this point. The rebels held the line of the Salkahatchie in force, being intrenched at River and Beaufort bridges, with infantry and artillery. General Howard ordered the Seventeenth corps to clear the former, and the Fifteenth corps the latter. The former was successfully carried, on February 3d, by the divisions of Mower and Smith, in which a swamp three miles wide, and of a depth ranging from the knee to the shoulder, was crossed. The weather was exceedingly cold, but the patriot commanders set a noble example, marching on foot at the head of their divisions, and wading through the cold water with their soldiers. The Confederates guarding the bridge were driven toward Branchville. In this gallant movement, the Union loss was ninety.

The next place at which the enemy could make a stand, was on the Edisto river, at Branchville, sixty miles from Charleston. The army moved rapidly, and reaching the railroad at Midway, on the 7th, began to destroy it; Slocum also destroyed it, nearer Augusta. The enemy's forces at Aiken and Augusta, on the one side, and at Branchville and Charleston, on the other, were now separated, without the least prospect of reunion. Sherman now left the work of destroying the railroad to be performed by the left wing, and advanced with the right on Orangeburg. The Seven