Feb. 8, 1820 - Feb. 14, 1891

  
     
   
     

SAVANNAH OURS

Sherman's Christmas Present


Maj.-Gen, Dix, New-York: A dispatch has been received this evening by the President from Gen. SHERMAN. It is dated at Savannah, on Thursday, the 22d inst., and announces his occupation of the city of Savannah and the capture of one hundred and fifty guns, plenty of ammunition, and about 25,000 bales of cotton. No other particulars are given.

An official dispatch from Gen. FOSTER to Gen. GRANT, dated on the 22d instant, at 7 P.M., states that the city of Savannah was occupied by Gen. SHERMAN on the morning of the 21st, and that on the preceding afternoon and night, HARDEE escaped with the main body of his infantry and light, artillery, blowing up the iron-clads and the Navy-yard. He enumerates as captured 800 prisoners, 150 guns, 13 locomotives, in good order, 190 cars, a large lot of ammunition and materials of war, three steamers and 33,000 bales of cotton. No mention is made of the present position of HARDEE's force, which had been estimated at about 15,000.

An official dispatch from Gen. FOSTER to Gen. GRANT, dated on the 22d instant, at 7 P.M., states that the city of Savannah was occupied by Gen. SHERMAN on the morning of the 21st, and that on the preceding afternoon and night, HARDEE escaped with the main body of his infantry and light, artillery, blowing up the iron-clads and the Navy-yard. He enumerates as captured 800 prisoners, 150 guns, 13 locomotives, in good order, 190 cars, a large lot of ammunition and materials of war, three steamers and 33,000 bales of cotton. No mention is made of the present position of HARDEE's force, which had been estimated at about 15,000. The dispatches of Gen. SHERMAN and Gen. FOSTER are as follows: SAVANNAH, Ga., Dec. 22. To His Excellency, 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.

(Signed,) W.T. SHERMAN, Major-General



The Close of Sherman's Great Campaign Savannah Ours


SHERMAN'S resplendent campaign has had a logical termination, in the capture of Savannah, the chief city and seaport of the State of Georgia. This campaign, so unique and striking, is thus rounded and made complete. The military mystery, which for so long a time amazed and puzzled the country, is revealed, and is seen to be a thing whose character and object were fixed, definite and grand. The army, about which the rebels told so many falsehoods, from the hour of its "retreat" from Northern Georgia to the day they "ruined" it near Atlanta -- from the time they had it "floundering through the bogs of Georgia" to the moment they brought it up in blank despair before the fortifications of Savannah -- through all the defeats it suffered without knowing of them, and amid all the failures it enjoyed to read about -- has marched onward to its destination with triumphant tread, has reaped fruits of victory as it went, and has grasped the prize when it reached the goal.

SHERMAN offers the President, as the head of the Republic and the representative of the people, the City of Savannah as a "Christmas gift."

The military and other spoils of the city are mentioned as one hundred and fifty cannon, much materiel of war, over two hundred cars and locomotives, twenty-five thousand (or according to FOSTER, thirty-three thousand) bales of cotton, and several steamers. The bulk of HARDEE's army escaped from the city on Tuesday last, the day before our army moved into it, and the prisoners are estimated at less than a thousand, but twenty thousand people were found in the city, "quiet and well-disposed." The rebel iron-clads have been destroyed and the navy-yard demolished, and FOSTER and DAHLGREN have opened up communications with the city through the Savannah River.

It would undoubtedly have been very gratifying to have taken captive all of HARDEE's army of fifteen thousand men. There was a break, however, in the line of SHERMAN's investment of the city. That break was on the eastern side of the place, and consisted in the space from the mouth of the Savannah River to a short distance above the city -- a space of about seven miles. Had DAHLGREN's iron-clads been able to run up and cover this short line, HARDEE would have had no possible route of escape. We do not doubt that FARRAGUT, with wooden vessels would have accomplished this work. HARDEE may find some difficulty yet in getting his army on to the railroad or into Charleston; but the chances of success are in his favor.

The time covered by SHERMAN's campaign, from the day he left Rome until he planted his army within the defences of Savannah, was just about forty days. The campaign will stand as one of the most striking feats in military history, and will prove one of the heaviest blows at the vitality of the great Southern rebellion.


My Source: Book: The New York Times Complete Civil War 1861 - 1864