Diary of Orrin Brown, outside Savannah, Georgia
Tuesday–Dec. 20th
Our men are building a fort about 25 rods in front of us they have to work at it nights for it is right in front of a rebbel fort so that our men cannot work even when the moon shines. The fournoon was warm and pleasant but it is cool and cloudy this evening and some sign of rain. There has been heavy Canonadeing this afternoon all along the line. I wrote a letter to A. S. Hamilton today. Read 3 Chapt. in Testament.
Savannah had played an important role in secession and prosecution of the war. From the old Visit Historic Savannah organization:
Georgia became the fifth state to secede from the United States in January 1861, and in March, a convention at Savannah ratified the constitution of the new Confederate States of America. Local militia units began to ready themselves for war. The Chatham Artillery, Georgia Hussars, Jasper Greens, Phoenix Riflemen and Oglethorpe Light Infantry, were now joined by colorful new outfits like the Rattle Snakes and Hyenas. Young boys enlisted in the Savannah Cadets.
After the state of New York refused to release a shipment of guns to the South, Georgia Governor Joseph Brown ordered all New York vessels in the port of Savannah seized. In retaliation, a Federal fleet of 41 vessels sailed to South Carolina and landed just 25 miles from Savannah in October 1861. Federal cannons breached the walls of Fort Pulaski after only a few hours of bombardment, and the Confederate forces surrendered. That would be the last of the fighting in the area around Savannah, but only the beginning of the hardships for Savannahians during the long four years of the war.
Read More:
- The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman’s Troops in the Savannah and Carolinas Campaigns by Joseph T. Glatthaar (New York University Press, 1985)
- Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman by Robert L. O’Connell (Random House, 2014)
- Southern Storm: Sherman’s March to the Sea by Noah Andre Trudeau (Harper, 2008)
- Sherman’s March by Burke Davis (Random House, 1980)
- The Memoirs Of General William T. Sherman by W.T. Sherman (Library of America, 1990)
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