Indeed, the confederate forces were a motley crew, but they had hearts of steel. The Mayor of Columbia reported that "there were not 1,400 able bodied men left in the entire state of South Carolina to defend against Gen. Sherman's march."2 Indeed, by this time, South Carolina had lost over 20,000 of her men to the war - fully one third of the men between ages 16 and 50 having been killed for the cause.

When they left Savannah, Federal troop strength was 60,000 consisting of the 14th, 15th, 17th, and 20th Army Corps plus a Cavalry Corps of 4,000. Each of the Federal Army Corps consisted equally of about 13,000 men. Throughout the march, each army took a slightly different route in a swath 100 miles wide from Savannah and Beaufort, SC to Columbia, then northeast towards Fayetteville, NC.

The total Confederate troops involved were 33,400, although not all of them were available to defend the state in the early part of the campaign. I estimate that at most about 5,000 Confederate forces were in the state in early January, 1865. The remnants of the Hood's Army were in Tennessee following the terrible loss at Nashville on 15 - 19 DEC 1864. Gen. Hood resigned on 13 JAN 1865, and Gen. Johnston once again resumed command and led the men from Tennessee to South Carolina. The troops passed through Augusta in late January, repairing the railroad as they went, and by late January had approx 30,000 troops in the mid-state with about 20,000 being fit for battle.

The loss of life both to the Confederate and Federal armies, and the population at large was relatively light in view of the destruction of property. In his report, the Surgeon for the Federal Forces, D. L. Huntington, puts their losses at 106 deaths and 697 wounded. A tally of the first hand accounts indicates a much higher number - something approaching 1,000 deaths. Confederate casualties are unknown for this period. There is a report of some 200 civilians being massacred in the upstate above Columbia, and something less than 20 killed when Columbia was burned, but the records are virtually non-existent as Sherman burned almost everything in his path. The tallies made by the federal officers would indicate approx. 300 confederate troops died.

The following excerpts are taken from "The Fiery Trail" by Thomas Osborn and other first hand accounts of the march.

30 DEC 1864 - Exit Savannah

02 JAN 1865 - First Crossing into South Carolina by Federal Troops

05 JAN 1865 - Pocotaligo

09 JAN 1865 - Sherman and his officers arrived by Steamer at Beaufort from Savannah. They met the XV and XVII A.C. which had marched out of Savannah on 31 DEC 1864. I do not think it is in General Sherman's plans to move directly against Charleston, but to neutralize it by other operations. It is strongly fortified and an attempt to take it would result in a large loss of men. The information we pick up indicates that the enemy is not in large force in this part of the country, but that the main body of the troops have been shipped to some other point. The prominent railroad connections above us, the posession of which appear to be of value in cutting off supplies from General Lee's army are Branchville, Columbia, Florence, Raleigh, Goldsboro, Greensboro, Weldon and Danville.." 3 "Our soldiers were so many, needed so many supplies, and felt themselves at last on South Carolina soil, that a lawless spirit came over them and many complaints came to me of their doings." 4

14 JAN 1865 - Gen. Howard leaves Beaufort to join Gen. Blair and the XV A.C. Battle at Pocotaligo creek. Federal loss - 2 officers killed and 2 men wounded. Federal forces take the railroad at Pocotaligo Station with a loss of about a dozen men.

15 JAN 1865 - Right wing of Sherman's army reaches Beaufort, SC

17 JAN 1865 - XVII A.C. occupies the Savannah & Charleston railroad. Loss Federal - about 12 men. "The XVII Corps has occupied the Charleston and Savannah railroad which it succeeded in doing with a loss of about a dozen men. I am told here that at one time and another 6,000 men have been lost in attempts to occupy this railroad from this point. Of course we have more men than has at any one time been employed and the enemy are in less confident spirit than at any time before. Yet I am disposed to think that the success with so light a loss is more owing to good military judgement than to any other cause." 5

25 JAN 1865 - 4 straight days of rain reported - all streams uncrossable. Federal estimates up to 20,000 Confederate in front. "We are about starting on a new campaign and it is not now unlikely we shall be absent from the coast as long as we were between Atlanta and Savannah. We may not be out of reach more than two weeks, quite likely six, but I guess about four. We cannot tell how much the enemy will oppose us, from present indications not very much, but probably more then [sic] in the last campaign. General Grant notifies General Sherman that General Lee shall not send his army, or any portion of it, against this. If that promise can be kept, the enemy has not force enough in our front to hinder us greatly.6

26 JAN 1865 - The XV A.C. leaves Beaufort."We know little or nothing about the future. General Sherman says it is to be the greatest campaign yet undertaken. So General Hooker said before Chancellorsville, and he was correct. I hope General Sherman will not be correct in the same sense."7

28 JAN 1865 - Roper's Crossroads

29 JAN 1865 - Federal forces leave Pocataligo for the mid-state. Federal troop strength 60,000 men. Gen. Slocum has crossed the Savannah River above Savannah and is moving towards Branchville. "The remnants of General Hood's army, left after the battle of Nashville, is moving east and will probably be in our front again." ⁸

02 FEB 1865 - Rivers' Bridge - Salkehatchire River. Federal losses about a dozen men killed and wounded. Confederate dead reported by Federal forces - four. "We took last evening seven prisoners, and this morning picked up a few more. We learn that the 5th, 37th, 47th Georgia Infantry Regiments were here also 5th South Carolina Artillery, 4th Tennessee Cavalry, also two companies of Texas Cavalry, in all 2700 men, commanded by Colonel Harrison, 32nd Ga. Infantry."9 "At McBride's plantation, where Sherman had his headquarters, the out-houses, offices, shanties, and surroundings were all set on fire before he left. I think the fire approaching the dwelling hastened his departure... In Georgia few houses were burned; here few escaped, and the country was converted into one vast bonfire. The pine forests were fired; the resin factories were fired; the public buildings and private dwellings were fired. The middle of the finest day looked black and gloomy, for a dense smoke rose on all sides clouding the very heavens - at night the tall pine trees seemed so many huge pillars of fire. The flames hissed and screeched, as they fed on the fat resin and dry branches, imparting to the forest a most fearful appearance... The ruins of homesteads of the Palmetto State will long be remembered. The army might safely march the darkest night, the crackling pine woods shooting up their columns of flame, and the burning houses along the way would light it on, while the dark clouds and pillars of smoke would safely cover its rears. I hazard nothing in saying that three-fifths of value of the personal property of the counties we passed through were taken by Sherman's army." 10

03 FEB 1865 - Federal forces reach the Salkahatchie river. "The actual invasion of South Carolina has begun... The well-known sight of columns of black smoke meets our gaze again; this time houses are burning, and South Carolina has commenced to pay an installment, long overdue, on her debt to justice and humanity. With the help of God, we will have principal and interest before we leave her borders. There is a terrible gladness in the realization of so many hopes and wishes. This cowardly traitor state, secure from harm, as she thought, in her central position, with hellish haste dragged her Southern sisters into the caldron of secession. Little did she dream that the hated flag would again wave over her soil; but this bright morning a thousand Union banners are floating in the breeze, and the ground trembles beneath the tramp of thousands of brave Northmen, who know their mission, and will perform it to the end." 11

05 FEB 1865 - Branchville "The majority of the citizens here are of the same "cracker or sand hill" species we have found so plentiful everywhere we have been. I heard a soldier say to his comrade today the "the whole damned state was not worth the life of our Federal soldiers," He was about right. We everywhere hear the fear expressed of "Negro equality," while no one ever expressed a fear of equality with this class of "Southern white trash." They are lower than the negro in every respect, not excepting general intelligence, culture, and morality. A man not acquainted with this larger population of the South can form an idea of it in their style of living and cleanliness, &c. They are not fit to be kept in the same sty with a well-to- do farmer's hogs in New England. Once in ten or fifteen miles we find a plantation owned by a "reliable" man, a "first family" who lives in Charleston or Columbia, while every half mile we find a shanty with the poles a foot apart, a stick chimney, three or four half naked children, two or three with nothing but a shirt, but with an incrustation of dirt which entirely conceals the natural color; the mother with her person partially concealed by ragged cotton cloth and dirt combined. If you ask her where her husband is, the reply is "in the Army"... ¹²

07 FEB 1865 - Blackville "Our foraging parties are now gathering on the north side of the river more material than can be consumed, and large accumulations will be left in the morning... we find more supplies in this country than I feared we might. Chickens, sweet potatoes, fresh pork, and honey and fresh lard, all rewarded the zealous inquiries of our headquarters foragers today." 13 "Our troops reached the R.R. about 2 P.M. .. There is a Gernam Jew who has a couple hundred bales of cotton and wants protection because he is a foreigner. He asks that his cotton be saved to pay some "beebles" [people] up in New York, who he owes some "little debts." He will hardly save the cotton. "14 "I visited today the residence of William Gilmore Simms, the South Carolina novelist and author of "Marion" &c. He has evacuated but has left a very ardent secesh family to protect the residence and library for him. He has a fine library. I think it will be saved, but I should have no objection to seeing it burned... many books from his library, bearing his autograph, found their way into camp, and were carried away by the men as mementoes." ¹⁵

11 FEB 1865 - North Fork - Orangeburg "We do so many thing that are wrong in this living off the country in the way we do that I do not like it and I am afraid of retribution...but the army must be fed and the Bummers must feed us,"¹⁶

11 FEB 1865 - Battle of Aiken

12 FEB 1865 - Orangeburg "Orangeburg contains about 800 people, and was, before we entered it a fine little place with a fair proportion of churches, small cotton brokers' establishments, &c &c... If the town had been built on purpose for a bonfire it could not have been bettered. All that could be done was to watch it on the windward side and the outskirts of the town. We occupied the town at 2 P. M. and at four one third or one half of the town was on fire and burning with the greatest rapidity. I think one half of the body of the town was destroyed. The fires was not so extensive as the one in Atlanta, but more grand and beautiful."¹⁷

13 FEB 1865 - Big Beaver Creek "Today has been beautiful, clear and still. From the starting of the column this morning we could trace the tracks of each by the column of smoke from burning buildings, cotton, turpentine mills, pine woods &c. [Along] the line of the XVII A.C. on the R. R. the smoke lifted like a grand curtain here and there, tassled by a more dense column of smoke from a store house of cotton or resin. The columns of smoke which marked Logan's line of march were more isolated, but in themselves were very dense. Many of these columns were really wonderful. The smoke rising from the pitch fields rolled up in volumes to the sky so impenetrable that not a ray of light could be seen through them. They looked like a dozen cities burning at the same time. I wish I had the power of describing the grandeur of this scene." 18

15 FEB 1865 - Little Congaree

16 FEB 1865 - Saluda Factory on the Saluda River "A little before midnight last night the enemy opened fire from a battery in position on the north side of the river, firing into the rear of our troops on this side. We had no artillery with which we could silence it and they did considerable damage, killing an officer and several men, and wounding nearly twenry. The fire was very annoying." 17

17 FEB 1865 - Gen. Hampton evacuates Columbia

18 FEB 1865 - Columbia surrendered to the Federal forces - subsequently burned. "... when the brigade occupied the town the citizens and negroes brought out whiskey in buckets, bottles and in every conceivable manner treated the men to all they would drink. ... The negroes, escaped prisoners, state convicts, and such other people as would all went into the work of pillaging with a will. By this time all parties were willing to assist it on... The negroes piloted the men to the best places for plunder, and both men and negroes by evening were setting fires rapidly... One cannot conceive of anything which would or could make a grander fire than this one, excepting a larger city than Columbia. The city was built entirely of wood, and was in most excellent condition to burn. The space on fire at midnight was not less than one mile square, and one week before, sheltered from 25,000 to 30,000 people. The flames rolled and heaved like the waves of the ocean; the road was like a cataract. The whole air was filled with burning cinders, and fragments of fire as thick as the flakes of snow in a storm. The scene was splendid - magnificently grand. The scene of pillaging, the suffering and terror of the citizens, the arresting of and shooting negroes, and our frantic and drunken soldiers... this I will leave for the present for the imagination of those who choose to dwell upon it... I have in this war seen too much... and choose rather to remember the magnificent splendor of this burning city... I believe the burning of the city is an advantage to the cause and a just retribution to the state of South Carolina. 20

21 FEB 1865 - Winnsboro "Two of our men were found today with their brains beat out, and from all appearances had been captured and then murdered." 21

23 FEB 1865 - Rocky Mount "General Sherman sends us word again today that the enemy have murdered eleven of Kilpatrick's men, and the General has also ordered retaliation by killing the same number of rebels now in Kilpatrick's hands. Kilpatrick reported the incident: " An infantry lieutenant and seven men murdered yesterday by the 8th Texas Cavalry after they had surrendered. We found their bodies all together and mutilated, with paper on their breasts, saying "Death to foragers." Eighteen of my men were killed yesterday and some had their throats cut... I have sent Wheeler word that I intend to hang eighteen of his men... I have a number of prisoners and shall take a fearful revenge." 22 02 MAR 1865 - Cheraw

02 MAR 1865 - Florence "The sufferings which the people will have to undergo will be most intense. We have left on the wide strip of country we have passed over no provisions which will go any distance in supporting the people. We have left no stock by means of which they can get more. All horses, mules and cattle, sheep and hogs have been taken. They cannot go outside of the country traversed for lack of transportation... Even before we came into the State the provisions were vastly greater than we had ever supposed... We have been out on this trip a little longer than before, and made the same distance, and covered the same or a greater breadth of territory, and have again left nothing... I do not think that the Rebel armies will not fight, they will do so whenever an opportunity offers, which affords a hope of success. They still believe their government, their property, their honor, and their Southern pride is at stake, and they will fight for them. "In addition to what is said above of the people, there is one thing they invariably do, no matter how great the cost: they cling to the niggers as the visible proof of their respectability and chivalry and no matter how great the sacrifices they are compelled to make to restore them, they willingly make the sacrifices.23

11 MAR 1865 - Fayetteville, NC

16 MAR 1865 - Averasboro

19 MAR 1865 - Bentonville

26 APR 1865 - Gen. Johnston's troops surrendered at Goldsboro, NC

NOTES: