Ohio History Journal

Marching Through South Carolina:

Another Civil War Letter

Of Lieutenant George M. Wise

 

Edited by WILFRED W. BLACK*

 

 

Sherman's march through Georgia was accomplished. On De-

cember 20, 1864, General William J. Hardee retreated from

Savannah toward Charleston, and from Savannah in the middle of

January Sherman launched his campaign through the Carolinas with

an army of 60,000 marching in two broad columns. The march

through Georgia had been regarded as a picnic, but it was not

destined to be such in the Carolinas. Much of South Carolina was

poor country, which did not yield generously to forage. Much of

the ground to be traversed was swampy, and the march was begun

during the depth of winter. Unusual rains had inundated the low-

lands, and small streams had become formidable rivers.

The Forty-Third Ohio Regiment, in which Lieutenant George M.

Wise was an adjutant, was at this point a part of the Second

Brigade of the First Division in General Frank P. Blair's Seventeenth

Corps. The Seventeenth Corps and the Fifteenth Corps formed the

right wing of Sherman's army. On leaving Savannah, the right wing

made a feint in the direction of Charleston, while the left wing set

out, apparently, toward Augusta, Georgia; but both wings soon

converged--though generally maintaining a distance of from ten

to twenty miles from each other--and marched on Columbia, South

Carolina's capital, their planned objective. From Columbia the army

turned northeast--after a feint toward Charlotte, North Carolina--

first to Fayetteville, North Carolina, and then to Goldsboro, where

 

* Wilfred W. Black is professor of history at Grove City College, Grove City,

Pennsylvania. Fifteen of Lieutenant Wise's letters, edited by him, were published in

the January 1956 issue of the Quarterly, Volume LXV, pages 53-81.

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188     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

it was to be supplied for the final movement northward. The cam-

paign ended when General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to

Sherman near Durham's Station, North Carolina, some twenty miles

northeast of Raleigh, on April 18.

Lieutenant Wise's long letter was written from Fayetteville, two

months after the Seventeenth Corps jumped off from Beaufort, South

Carolina. Like most of his other fifteen letters published in the

January 1956 issue of the Quarterly, this one is addressed to his

brother John A. Wise of Bellaire, Ohio. It turned up in the hands of

a grandson, Mr. Richard F. Wise of Ukiah, California, after the

publication of the first fifteen. The editor has since learned that

the original collection numbered something like one hundred and

eighty letters.

This Fayetteville letter is most revealing. Besides giving a vivid

description of much of the campaign, as well as reflecting the

vengeful spirit of the troops, the letter attaches greater responsibility

to Sherman for the burning of Columbia and for the general

devastation wrought in the Carolinas than is now customary. That

Wise was satiated with the spirit of victory there can be no doubt.

 

Headquarters 43rd Ohio Vet. Vols.

Fayetteville North Carolina 13th March '65

Dear Brother

We have again reached communications though we have not yet finished

our great journey. The Cape Fear river is found to be navigable and since

the lack of clothing is great it has been thought best to stop a few days and

get some shoes and trowsers [sic] before going on.¹ It is only 125 miles

from this point to Wilmington; consequently we need be delayed only a

very few days. When this pressing want of clothing is alleviated we will go

on to our destination. What point that destination is remains to be seen.

My own impression is, that it is Goldsborough [sic] North Carolina as

that seems to me to be the best point from which to operate against Raleigh

and Richmond.² If Lee permits Raleigh to be taken he must then leave

 

1 Sherman had dispatched scouts from Cheraw, South Carolina, with letters to

General A. H. Terry at Wilmington, North Carolina, asking him to send a boat with

certain supplies. The steamer arrived at Fayetteville but brought no issue of clothing.

2 On March 12 Sherman wrote Terry and General John M. Schofield, who were to

join him, that he would feint on Raleigh and would reach Goldsboro about March 20.

Many of his men were to enter Goldsboro barefooted and in ragged uniforms. It was

here that his troops were issued shoes and clothing.

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MARCHING THROUGH SOUTH CAROLINA                     189

 

Richmond, consequently I think the rebels will do their best to prevent

Raleigh from falling into our hands, and hence I infer, that we will go to

that place after we are well supplied in all respects which cannot well be

done here. I suppose you have learned the most important events of our

campaign, so far, from the rebels, but I will mention such things as are

most important, as far as my limited time will permit. The campaign from

Beaufort to Pocotaligo was not of great consequence and besides I have

described it in letters from that point before communications ceased. On

the 30th of January regular communications ceased, and the whole army set

out, the "right wing," (15th and 17th corps.). from Pocotaligo, and the left

wing. (14th and 20th) from Savannah. Hardee with 20,000 men had pre-

pared to meet us at Charleston and as the 17th corps was on the right of the

whole army it had to contend with this force.³ The first opposition we met

was at the little Salkihatchie [sic] river, where, defended by swamps, thick

forests, and a wide stream, they thought a passage impossible. Our Division

being in advance was ordered to do this hard and dangerous duty. The stream

was about half a mile wide and most of the distance not very deep, in fact

it was at that point a succession of small streams and closing up with two

on the farther side too deep to wade, probably 10 feet in depth. The

road leading over the stream was straight as an arrow and was swept the

whole length by five cannon so situated that they could not be reached by

our artillery. Worse than all this, in this half mile of road no less than 13

bridges were torn up, which had to be replaced before men could be sent

up the road. While the rest of the division was to bridge the river at another

place, our brigade was ordered to pass up that narrow road bridging as they

went. The 43d was in advance and under an awful fire up the road it went,

Co. A. Bridging. We finished eight of the bridges & then went into the

river among the trees and waded up to the deepest stream which could neither

be bridged nor waded. The 63d being next to us also came up the road &

followed our example by jumping into the river. We then commenced a

furious firing and while the rebels were trying to keep us from jumping

into the main river & drowning ourselves the rest of the division bridged

higher up, crossed, and jumped into the rebels so furiously that they cleared

out in a great hurry. We lost a large number of men but less I believe than

the rebels.⁴ You will see a sketch of this fight in Frank Leslies paper if you

choose to look at it. I don't know what date it will be but that you can find

3 The size of Hardee's force approximated 14,000 men.

4 The battle of the Salkehatchie (River's Bridge) stunned the Confederates. Here

Colonel Wager Swayne, commander of the 43d, was severely wounded. He was

removed to Pocotaligo, where a leg was amputated. Major Horace Park succeeded to

Swayne's command.

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190     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

out from the booksellers. Sherman said speaking of it that he had never

known a more heroic fight than the charge of our brigade at this bridge.

At the big Salkehatchie we found the same enemy. Our Division was again

in advance and it again fell to our lot to cross the river and drive off the

enemy. The day was very cold and freezing hard and the pontoons were

laid some distance from the road with a deep swamp beyond which pre-

vented the rebels from knowing what we were doing. About dark we crossed

the river and walked into the swamp. We found it nearly half a mile wide

and from two to four feet deep, but deep and wide as it was we marched

through. The rebs. were so astounded at the bare idea of wading such a

deep, wide, icy stream with cartridge boxes on top of the knapsacks that they

ran off, leaving everything including their fine fires which were very pleasant

as we were nearly frozen. What do you think of this? Don't you suppose

that it killed us all? No, I couldn't see that it injured any of us in the least.

I waded with the rest, preferring to do it rather than risk losing my horse

in some deep hole. At the South Edisto our third division found Hamptons

Cavalry Division but crossed without much loss by wading a swamp, but

as the day was not cold we had no difficulty in gaining the opposite bank.

We were now near Branchville which the rebels and the people of the

north also supposed was the point at which we were aiming. We lay here a

day or two then moved northward again and before Beauregard & Hardee

knew what we were about we had crossed the North Edisto, captured

Orangeburgh [sic] & cut off the Charleston Army from Columbia. The left

wing seeming to be marching against Augusta had got Hoods old army into

that place to defend it, but now having cut that army off, also set out in the

direction of Columbia. The right wing marching straight forward toward

that place destroyed the railroad to the Congaree river.⁵ Then passing up

the river beyond the city the 15th Corps in advance, crossed the Saluda &

Broad rivers and entered the Capital of South Carolina. While the 15th

Corps was crossing these rivers a brigade from the 17th crossed in old flat

boats and raised the stars & Stripes on the State House, while the cheers of

the grand Army on the opposite bank almost rent the heavens. We had

captured the proud Capital of the first & meanest rebel State & planted the

National flag on the building in which treason had its birthplace, and grown

up into this terrible rebellion. The 17th Corps occupied the city & then a

scene of horror ensued such as I never saw before, and such as no citizen

of the American Republic ever saw. All day long the lines of the "right

 

5 After dislodging the Confederates at Orangeburg, the Seventeenth Corps destroyed

the railroad as far as Lewisville and forced the enemy to retreat across the Congaree

and to burn the bridges.

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MARCHING THROUGH SOUTH CAROLINA                     191

 

wing" kept pouring through the place, and though everything was apparently

quiet it was evident that a storm was coming. We camped a mile or so

from the city & very tired, I laid down to sleep. About two o'clock I wakened

and hearing a great noise & commotion I supposed that we were attacked.

I found in a moment that this was not the case. The sky was nearly red

and before I had time to look in the direction of the city I knew the cause.

Columbia was burning. I had seen so much burning that I had supposed

that this city would be spared, as a few houses had been spared during the

few days previous. Many of our men had become intoxicated, and with fire-

brands in their hands were rushing from house to house burning as they

went. Sober men too were engaged in the same work, yelling, "Here is the

place where it all begun [sic] and we will burn it." It was in vain that

women & aged men pleaded & begged for protection; Sherman, standing on

a corner, answered all alike, "It is your own fault & I can do nothing for

you." It was plain that the city was given up to pilage [sic] and destruction.⁶

And it was pilaged and all the principal parts destroyed. Next day our

brigade was sent in to do provost duty, and prevent the burning of the rest

of the place. It was an awful task, though there was no difficulty in saving

the rest as Sherman had ordered that no more houses should be burnt. Ten

thousand people, most of whom the day before were proud aristocrats who

despised & tyranized [sic] over the poor were now homeless, friendless

and without a protecting roof or mouthfull of food. The task of dealing

with such people was indeed unpleasant but we succeeded in giving satis-

faction to most of the parties. We remained at Columbia two or three days

and then marched on northward to Winsborough [sic], while the "Left

Wing" made an immense circuit through the north-western part of the

State & then turning eastward passing through Chester, the extreme left

resting about the North Carolina line. Opposition nearly ceased after the

fall of Columbia. The empty boasts of this proud, vain people, that

Sherman's Army should never march through their State as it had done

 

6 One of the mysteries of the war has been, Who Burned Columbia? Sherman

once attributed it to General Wade Hampton, who, he said, had left piles of baled

cotton burning in the streets at a time when a strong wind was blowing. Southerners

generally blamed it on Sherman personally. The fact is that it was burned by Sherman's

troops, as Lieutenant Wise says, probably most of them drunk on the liquor that

had accumulated in the city and all of them fired by a desire for revenge. Burning

was nothing new to them, for the army had practiced it all the way from Savannah.

They were not acting under orders, and if there was a plot, it was hatched in the

lower ranks. Sherman had no direct personal responsibility. He and his higher officers

spent most of the night trying to halt the flames, but it was a shift in the wind about

four in the morning that saved the city from complete destruction. For a thorough

review of the whole subject, see John G. Barrett, Sherman's March Through the

Carolinas (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1956), 71-94.

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192     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

through Georgia were exploded. They did their best for a while, but finding

that they could not stop us they allowed us to pass without firing a shot

from Columbia to Winsborough, & from there to Liberty Hill, Lancaster,

Camden & Cheraw. At Cheraw, Hardee with 14000 men threatened re-

sistance but ran off in such haste that he left 27 cannon & other munitions

of war in proportion. Here too, we, that is, our brigade, was provost guard

of the city while we were there. From Cheraw to this place we also met no

enemy worth naming.

Our course through South Carolina embraced nearly the whole State,

and such a scene of desolation no citizen of this nation ever saw before.

Scarcely a bite of food was left along our track, and all most [sic) all towns

of consequence were burned & pilaged. Pocotaligo, Midway, Orangeburgh,

Columbia, Winsborough, Camden & every town & city west & north of the

line of these cities were destroyed, and the country suffered as badly as the

cities & towns.⁷ Every animal was taken off, every railroad destroyed and

almost every building burned. The destruction of railroads was the most

complete ever seen in any country. Large fires were built, on which the rails

were heated red hot, & then by a very simple arrangement they were twisted

until the whole central part of the rail resembled an augur more than any-

thing else I can now think of. Our loss during the campaign has been quite

light, but that of the rebels, though small in men, is irreparable in means.

We have captured probably 3000 prisoners, 70 or 80 cannon, many thousand

stand of small arms, hundreds of thousands pounds of powder, and shot,

shell & cartridges in immense quantities. We also captured three of the

largest arsenals in the South.⁸ No crops can be raised in South Carolina

this year and nothing raised in Georgia or the West can possibly get to

Lee's Army unless it leaves Virginia & North Carolina. These are some of

the direct results of the campaign. The fall of Charleston might be included

in the number of our achievements, as our Army drove the rebels away

from it by simply cutting it off from the country at large, and threatening

to descend upon it from the north. Within the last two months Sherman's

Army in the Carolinas, has captured over 500 cannon & captured or de-

 

7 By the time Wise reached Fayetteville he was flushed with the spirit of victory

and was inclined to employ hyperbole. Figuratively speaking, he was correct. The

desolation and cruelty inflicted on South Carolina, as Jefferson Davis recorded, "finds

a parallel only in the barbarous excesses of Wallenstein's army in the Thirty Years'

War." Pine forests, resin factories, and both public and private property were fired.

At midday the skies were often obscured by billowing clouds of dense smoke. Ruined

homesteads dotted the state.

8 The arsenals were those at Columbia, Cheraw, and Fayetteville.

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MARCHING THROUGH SOUTH CAROLINA                        193

 

stroyed 150,000,000 dollars worth of property.⁹ If the war costs us largely

what do you suppose it costs the South?

South Carolina: poor, proud, aristocratic, ignorant South Carolina, began

the war-most terribly has she been punished. Our march over that devoted

State has been like an awful storm, but it has passed, and her black ruins

will stand as a warning of more terrible things to come if it ever becomes

necessary to pass over her territory again. The people of this State are

mostly very poor & ignorant.10 The rich are generally educated, proud,

domineering, & think the poor worse than slaves & treat them as such.

They can talk of nothing but the purity of blood of themselves & their

ancestors, & cannot comprehend why they should not be allowed to have

the affairs of their country in their own hands exclusively. In fact they think

no people in America are capable of ruling but themselves, that is, the

Aristocracy. Their cant about aristocracy is perfectly sickening. I suppose;

in fact, I know, that the course of this army in South Carolina will be

severely condemned by many in the North. If you hear any condemning us

for what we have done, tell them for me and for Sherman's Army, that

"we found here the authors of all the calamities that have befallen this

nation & the men & women whose hands are red with all the innocent

blood that has been shed in this war, and that their punishment is light

when compared with what justice demanded." We are now in North

Carolina & we will burn nothing save what is rebel government property.

Many who hate us & our cause will probably say that Sherman could not

controll [sic] his men. If they do it is a slander against this Army. William T.

Sherman is the most relentless enemy the South has in the Union Army, and

when a word from his lips would have stopped the universal devastation

 

9 From Goldsboro on March 31, 1865, General William F. Barry, chief of artillery,

summarizing the operations of February and March, reported to Sherman that the

number of guns captured at Columbia, Cheraw, and Fayetteville was 43, 25, and 26,

respectively, and that if the guns captured at Charleston and Wilmington were

added, the total artillery captured during the preceding ten months exceeded 700 guns.

10 The reader may find it difficult to reconcile this observation with Wise's earlier

assertion that ten thousand proud aristocrats found themselves homeless after the

burning of Columbia. It is true, however, that there was a wide breach between

the upper and lower classes in South Carolina. That most of Columbia's people were

"proud aristocrats" may be somewhat exaggerated; nevertheless, many southern "blue-

bloods" lived in Columbia and others had fled there. On the other hand, the Palmetto

State had more than her share of poor, illiterate inhabitants. Much of the state was

poor, waste land, and by the mid-thirties most of the Old South, especially Georgia

and South Carolina, having depleted much of her soil through monoculture, had

passed the peak of cotton production. At the time of Calhoun's death in 1850 a shift

of power favored the New South--the Gulf States. It was no accident that Jefferson

Davis of Mississippi succeeded Calhoun as the spokesman of the South.

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194     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

he would not speak that word, but said simply to the pleading fair ones

of Columbia "It is your own fault." While in Cheraw General Sherman was

at our Head. Qrs. half or three fourths of an hour, and I heard from his

own lips one of the most remarkable conversations it was ever my fortune

to hear. I can not now repeat it to you as it might be considered too con-

traband to tell even to my nearest relatives. I will give one or too [sic]

things however in his own words. Says he "When the rebels took Sumpter

[sic] an army ought to have been sent against Charleston and every building

burned & leveled to the ground, more than this I would have killed every

man[,] woman & child found in it." "This people are possessed with devils

& when we fight the devil we must fight him with fire." ["]Let South

Carolina take warning for if it ever becomes necessary to come here again

to put down the rebellion of her people they will see war such as they

never dreamed of before." These words were spoken by Sherman in our

room in Cheraw in a plain, earnest[,] calm conversation; but he said other

things that I have not told.1l Will Copperheads still claim this general as

one of their party.

How we have fared is a question that I suppose you wish me to answer.

I can hardly tell--good, badly, and very indifferently. We lived well as to

provisions but had to endure many hardships. It rained nearly half the

time, and often we had to literally bridge the way before us for miles:

this too in mud & water from one to five feet deep & often with torrents

pouring down upon us from the clouds. We did not march very fast usually

about fifteen miles a day, but we seldom stopped--Onward, day after day,

& weak after weak [sic) regardless of swamps, rivers, rebels and the storms

that so often beset our advance moved our veteran army. It was a grand

example of human endurance and has never been excelled as a military

movement.

 

11 In his Memoirs Sherman speaks of his having stayed in a large house with

General Blair in Cheraw. He relates that he was Blair's luncheon guest one noon;

whether any junior officers or staff members were present on this occasion, the record

does not state. Sherman and his officers remained in and near Cheraw for three days

(until March 6) and had many opportunities for conversation.

Sherman's remarks as paraphrased by Wise seem to be in order. Chief-of-Staff

Henry W. Halleck had written Sherman on December 18, 1864: "Should you capture

Charleston, I hope that by some accident the place may be destroyed; and if a little

salt should be sown upon its site, it may prevent the growth of future crops of

nullification and secession." In his reply to Halleck on December 24, Sherman wrote:

"I know that this recent movement of mine through Georgia has had a wonderful

effect in this respect. . . . The truth is, the whole army is burning with an insatiable

desire to work vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble for her, but feel

she deserves all that seems in store for her." Memoirs of General William T. Sherman

(New York, 1889), II, 291-292. Yet Sherman's talk was often stronger than his

actions.

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MARCHING THROUGH SOUTH CAROLINA                  195

 

14th March afternoon

We have not moved out yet and will not I think before day after

tomorrow at soonest. We received this morning some papers from the north

of as late a date as the 6th of this month, but no letters. A northern paper

is quite a novelty with us & it was difficult to get one at all, but we

succeeded in getting some in our regiment. I see from the Herald of the

6th that the rear guard of our army was driven out of Columbia by the

rebels. Now I was one of that rear guard & I didn't see or hear of any

rebels that day, or for the next half dozen days. The story is a rebel lie.

None of our troops have been driven any place during the whole Campaign.

There are many other interesting things that I might speak of but have not

time now. Continue to write often--

Your Affectionate Brother

Geo. M. Wise

43d Ohio Vet. Vols

2d Brig 1st Div. 17th A.C.

Shermans Army

North Carolina

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