DK - The American Civil War

COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY 1865

bit at the prospect of carrying the

war to the state where the fighting

had started. In the minds of many

Northerners, South Carolina was more

responsible than any other state for

the suffering the nation had endured

for nearly four years.

Natural obstacles

The logistical problems of marching

an army through the swamps and

rain-swollen rivers that lay between

Savannah, Georgia, and South

Carolina’s state capital, Columbia,

presented a greater challenge than

did the Confederate troops. In many

places the roads were impassable,

and Sherman’s men had to create

causeways by the slow process of

“corduroying.” This entailed cutting

down trees, stripping off the bark,

and flattening them on one side, then

laying them crosswise, interspersed

with saplings, to form a usable

surface for the men and the

supply wagons. In spite of the

difficulties, Sherman’s bummers

made extraordinarily fast progress,

covering almost 10 miles (16km) a

day. By February 17, barely a month

after leaving Savannah, they reached

Columbia. That night, the city

I

nitially, General Grant—fearing the

hazardous state of South Carolina’s

roads in the winter—wanted to ship

General William T. Sherman’s victorious

troops from Savannah to support his

own forces in Virginia. Sherman,

however, insisted that his men were

up to the task of overcoming any

difficulties confronting them. Given

that it would have taken two months

to arrange the shipping option, Grant

let himself be persuaded.

Although Sherman was to encounter

formidable obstacles in his path, the

opposition forces were the least of his

worries. General P. G. T. Beauregard,

commanding Confederate troops in

South Carolina, had only about 17,500

men scattered across the state to

combat Sherman’s 60,000 battle-

hardened veterans. In addition, morale

in the Union ranks was extremely high.

Most of the men were champing at the

BEFORE

Sherman’s march through Georgia had
badly damaged Confederate morale. Union
leaders now sought to reap the benefits.

BRINGING THE WAR HOME
Earlier in the war, the deep Southern states
had escaped much of the fighting, which was
concentrated in border areas to the north and
west. That situation changed dramatically with
Sherman’s invasion of Georgia and the
evaporation of large-scale armed resistance after
the fall of Atlanta. The question now was how
best to press home the advantage.

REVIVING THE ANACONDA PLAN
With General Sherman in Savannah, Federal
strategists saw a chance at last to implement
fully the Anaconda Plan,
originally proposed by
General Winfield Scott in
1861 ❮❮ 64–65. The project
involved enveloping and
finally suffocating
the remaining
Confederate
command centers
in Virginia.

burned. By the following morning,

two-thirds of it lay in ashes.

The fate of Columbia was only part

of the trail of destruction Sherman’s

forces blazed across the state. In their

path they looted farms and torched

villages to the ground. The Confederate

forces opposing them felt the pinch

because they were forced to live off

the land as best they could.

On February 23, at Robert E. Lee’s

insistance, Joseph Johnston took

command of all Southern forces in

the Carolinas. Under the circumstances,

the best that he could manage was

a holding action designed to delay

Sherman’s progress.

From Columbia, the Union

commander headed north toward

Goldsboro, North Carolina, where he

Defending Charleston

Soldier and painter

Conrad Wise Chapman

was stationed in

Charleston in 1864 and

often sketched while

under fire. After the war,

he made a series of

paintings from his sketches.

The Carolinas and Alabama

In the wake of General Sherman’s march through Georgia to the sea, the year 1865 saw further

Union incursions bringing total war to the Southern heartland. South Carolina, where the war

had begun four years earlier, was a particular target.

KEY MOMENT

By late 1864, Wilmington, North Carolina,

was the only major port through which

overseas supplies were still reaching the

Confederate armies. It was protected from

attack by Fort Fisher, a massive log-and-

earth bastion at the mouth of the Cape

Fear River, defended by 47 guns, 22 facing

the ocean and 25 facing the land.

On January 15, 1865, a fleet under

Admiral David D. Porter bombarded the

fort from the sea, while the troops of

General Alfred H. Terry attacked from the

land. Under these two men, a combined

force of 6,500 Union soldiers and sailors

took the fort in a single day, with battle

raging into the night. At 10 p.m. the

Confederates under General W. H. C.

Whiting surrendered to General Terry.

THE FALL OF FORT FISHER

The Union forces had taken the garrison

with 2,000 men inside. Wilmington itself fell

soon after, leaving the Southern heartland

cut off from trade with foreign countries.

“The truth is, the whole army is burning with

an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance

upon South Carolina. I ... feel that she

deserves all that seems in store for her.”

GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN IN A LETTER TO MAJOR GENERAL HENRY W. HALLECK,

UNION ARMY CHIEF-OF-STAFF, DECEMBER 24, 1864

The number of buildings

estimated to have been

burned in South Carolina’s capital

Columbia, including six churches,

eleven banks, and a printing plant

where Confederate currency was minted.

458