Southern Storm (52 page)

Brigadier General William B. Hazen commanded the force assigned to capture Rebel Fort McAllister.

The
Harper’s
image of the assault was based on a sketch by its artist, T. R. Davis. Seen in the depiction is the outer ring of abatis (piled treetops) and the inner palisade of sharpened wooden stakes. Near the abatis, the smoke blooms mark explosions of deadly land mines then known as torpedoes. Watching across the flat marshes from several miles distant, Sherman was moved by what he saw. “There they go grandly,” he said with pride, “not a waver.”

One striking incident of the Savannah siege occurred when a Federal battery dueled with C.S. gunboats on the Savannah River, resulting in the capture of the tender
Resolute
.

Fort McAllister’s capture opened a river supply route and also resulted in a sizable haul of munitions.

Finally, on December 21, Sherman’s army entered Savannah.

The final defense of the besieged city came from the Rebel ironclad
Savannah
, which blew itself up late on December 21.

“It lit the heavens for miles,” said one of its sailors. Among the variety of Savannah scenes depicted is the image in the center showing the Green Mansion, Sherman’s headquarters during his occupation, and the one below it depicting the Rebel evacuation.

To officially close his Savannah Campaign, Sherman reviewed each of his four corps, one of which is shown marching past him.

On Christmas Day, Sherman entertained his officers at the Green Mansion.

The darkly impressionistic sketch depicts Brigadier General Kilpatrick’s headquarters near Savannah. Immediately prior to setting up shop here, Kilpatrick and his men liberally foraged through Liberty County to the south of the city.

New Year’s Day in Savannah called for an official reception by Sherman, held in the spacious Green Mansion.

Chosen to oversee Confederate operations aimed at stopping Sherman, General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard had to manage a principal subordinate determined to pursue his own strategy, a collection of Confederate brass spread across southeastern Georgia with differing agendas, and a well-equipped, able, and active enemy. Facing critical actions occurring at either end of Sherman’s March, Beauregard struggled against a decrepit transportation system and unpredictable communications to fashion a coordinated response to the Yankee invasion.