Sold – John Dahlgren: The Original Dispatch Informing the North That Sherman Had Arrived at the Sea

After Sherman’s successful Atlanta Campaign that culminated in the taking of the city on September 1, 1864, he originally planned to move against Mobile, Alabama. However, by the end of the month, with the bulk of Confederate forces leaving Georgia and heading north toward Tennessee, he became convinced that the great opportunity lay elsewhere and suggested to Grant that he instead march to the Georgia capital of Milledgeville and then on to Savannah, one of the last Confederate seaports still unoccupied by Union forces.

In the proposed campaign through Georgia, Sherman hoped to destroy an important portion of the infrastructure that was supplying the southern armies, illustrate what would be in store for other areas of the south if the war continued, and ruin the morale of southern civilians by proving that the Confederacy couldn’t protect its citizens. Also, with Grant’s forces in Virginia in a stalemate with Robert E. Lee’s army which was besieged in Petersburg, if Sherman could come up in Lee’s rear, he could increase pressure on Lee by keeping southern reinforcements away from Virginia, and eventually become a key component in trapping Lee altogether. To weigh against the potential benefits were the two biggest dangers: Sherman would be striking into the enemy heartland for an extended period with no possibility of reinforcements and no certainty about the opposition he would find, and he would be leaving behind his communications with the north as well as his supply lines. He would have to live off the land and he would be completely out of touch. On November 2, Grant approved the plan.

On November 15, Sherman commenced his march to the sea. He applied the principles of scorched earth, and his troops burned plantations, storehouses and crops, killed livestock, consumed supplies, subsisted on the land, and destroyed infrastructure (like railroads) along their path. The military opposition proved to be rather meager. However, the southern newspapers, in commenting on Sherman’s progress during the march, pictured him as in a deplorable condition with his men starving and demoralized. These papers got to the north, and being the only news about Sherman available, resulted in anxiety and distress there. Grant, in his memoirs, states, “President Lincoln, seeing these accounts, had a letter written asking me if I could give him anything that he could say to the loyal people that would comfort them.” Grant had no concrete information but reassured him.

Sherman’s armies reached the outskirts of Savannah on December 9, and his first order of business was to get into contact with the Union fleet so his whereabouts and condition would be known and he could secure supplies and munitions. He assigned General Oliver O. Howard to the task and Howard wrote Admiral John Dahlgren, commander of the South-Atlantic Squadron, “We have met with perfect success thus far. Troops in fine spirits and near by.” He then dispatched Captain William Duncan and two comrades to find Dahlgren’s ships and deliver the message. As Dahlgren wrote Sherman on December 13, “Captain Duncan reached me on the morning of the 12th at 8 a.m. I…will await your movements to establish a communication…” Howard’s note to Dahlgren was the first word from Sherman’s army that the outside world had had, and it explicitly stated that the march to the sea had been successful and his force was at the gates of Savannah.

Dahlgren acted immediately to provide this crucial information to the government in Washington, and paraphrasing Howard’s words to him, wrote out a telegram to be sent from the closest relay station.

Autograph Telegram Signed, “To be telegraphed from Fortress Monroe,” Port Royal Harbor near Savannah, 10 a.m. on December 12, 1864, to the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles. “I have just received a communication from Gen. Sherman’s Army. It is a few miles from Savannah and in fine spirits. A dispatch is forwarded with this.” He added, “I shall bring all my available force into connection with the Army.” The telegram appears in The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion and the listing indicates it was received in the Navy Department on the 14th. Subsequent to sending off this telegram on the 12th, Dahlgren wrote a letter to President Lincoln and a longer report to Welles.

Sherman’s hope for an immediate link-up with the U.S. Navy was blocked by Confederate General William J. Hardee, who had 10,000 men entrenched in good positions, including Fort McAllister, which guarded the most

desirable approach from the Ogeechee River. On December 13, Sherman sent William B. Haven’s division to storm the fort, which fell at 5 p.m. As soon as Sherman, who was watching the assault from a rice mill, saw the U.S. flag hoisted on the fort, he went down the river. There he saw a U.S. Navy ship, the Dandelion, and went on board. He found the ship was part of Dahlgren’s command, and that the Admiral was on his flag-ship the Harvest Moon, hoping for Sherman’s arrival. At about midnight on December 14, on board the Dandelion, Sherman wrote brief notes reporting his status to nearby General J.G. Foster, Admiral Dahlgren, General Grant, and Secretary of War Stanton. These messages, the first word from Sherman himself, were dispatched no earlier than the 14th. Later on the morning of the 14th, Sherman met with Admiral Dahlgren and General Foster on board the Harvest Moon. Sherman’s memoirs relate that Dahlgren, in keeping with the promise he made in this telegram, said “There was nothing in his power…which he would not do to assist us, to make our campaign absolutely successful.” He arranged that Sherman should be furnished with supplies and siege guns for the reduction of the lines before Savannah. This proved unnecessary, as in a week, the Confederate forces would evacuate the city.