In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

166 yankee dutchmen under fire Twelve The March to the Sea Realizing that he could neither recapture Atlanta nor defeat Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s Federal army, Gen. John Bell Hood moved his Army of Tennessee farther into Alabama on October 17, 1864, to prepare to invade Tennessee. Sherman sent the Fourth and Twenty-third Corps north to oppose this invasion, and on November 15, 1864, commenced his famous March to the Sea (Savannah campaign) from Atlanta. The victor at Atlanta planned to “make Georgia howl” by striking southeastward and destroying resources supporting the Southern war effort, including railroads, factories, and military stores. As historian David J. Eicher points out, the army chieftain, “defied military principles by operating deep within enemy territory and without lines of supply or communication .” Once Sherman reached Savannah he could be resupplied by sea and then move north to cooperate with Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to capture Richmond, Virginia, and to eliminate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s dangerous Army of Northern Virginia . Grant’s Army of the Potomac had been stalled twenty miles south of Richmond in front of Petersburg’s massive entrenchments since mid-June 1864.1 Sherman’s force consisted of two wings that marched twenty to forty miles apart. The left wing consisted of the Fourteenth Corps and Twentieth Corps and was called the Army of Georgia. Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum commanded this army. Brig. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams headed the Twentieth Corps; Brig. Gen. Nathaniel J. Jackson led its First Division; and Col. James S. Robinson commanded the division’s Third Brigade. Major Rolshausen commanded the 82nd Illinois in Lieutenant Colonel Salomon’s absence.2 The right wing consisted of the Fifteenth Corps and Seventeenth Corps—the Army of the Tennessee. (One division of the Sixteenth Corps was transferred to the Fifteenth Corps and its other division joined the Twenty-third Corps for this 166 the march to the sea 167 campaign.) Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard led the Army of the Tennessee. Only 3,000 Georgia militiamen and perhaps up to 10,000 troopers of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry command were available to oppose Sherman’s overwhelming force of 55,000 infantrymen, 5,000 cavalry, 2,000 artillerymen, and 64 guns during the march to Savannah.3 The 82nd Illinois marched to Savannah with its corps by way of Decatur, Madison , Eatonton, Milledgeville (the capital of Georgia), Davisborough, Birdsville, and Springfield. They reached within four and a half miles of Savannah on December 11, and found flooded rice fields and 10,000 troops of Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee’s command strongly entrenched and supported by artillery. During the march the German regiment participated in destroying stretches of railroad tracks and stations on the Georgia Central Railroad and the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. Their brigade did not engage in any significant fighting during its 350-mile journey. The 82nd Illinois and two other regiments of its brigade were withdrawn from the front lines late on December 11 and sent to protect the corps’s trains from the rear. On December 19 Rudolph Müller penned a short letter to Colonel Hecker mainly advising that he was in trouble and describing the current military situation with respect to his corps.4 • D e c a t u r ATLANTA • •Jonesboro •Lovejoy Macon • • Milledgeville Andersonville• Abbeville • • Eatonton • Athens • Abbeville Spartanburg • • Greenville Yorkville • • COLUMBIA Augusta • • Savannah • Charleston • Pocotaligo • Davisborough • Birdsville • Springfield Goldsboro • Raleigh • Fayetteville • Hillsboro • Kinston • • Purysburg • L a w t o n v i l l e • Lexington C. H. • Winnsborough • Cheraw • Chesterfield • Averasborough Bentonville • • W i l m i n g t o n Lumberton • N o r t h Carolina R. R. Weste rn R. R. & Atlantic Georgia R. R. South Carolina R. R. Central Georgia R. R. Charleston & Savannah R. R. Wilmington Manchester R. R. & • Madison to R ic h m o n d , V a . ➚ NORTH MILES 0 50 ATLANTIC OCEAN S a v a n n a h R i v e r C hattahoochee River Ocmulgee R iv e r O c o n e e R iv e r Santee R i v e r P e e d e e R i v e r Ca pe Fear R i v e r Neuse R i v e r NORTH CAROLINA SOUTH CAROLINA GEORGIA t o N e w B e r n ➚ Theater of Operations August 1864 to May 1865 [3.138.204.208] Project MUSE...

Share