Aot - 1865

[larry_cockerham]

Where were the 63rd and 54th Virginia in this logistical nightmare attempting to move 18,000 soldiers east at short notice?

Calvin Livesay’s diary describes a train ride south. Apparently he and his immediate comrades had been separated from the main body of the regiment. If Whitfield Parker was an ineffective at that time, he would have stayed with the main wagon train and would have perhaps have required assistance in moving about. Placing these men on trains would have been the logical move. I suspect the 54th and 63rd Regiments went with the main body. More study will hopefully reveal the order the Corps were transported.

[larry_cockerham]

Meanwhile the Union Army is on the move in Georgia:

"Cump" Sherman gives instructions to General Howard regarding the next phase of their campaign. "As soon as possible we will cast off, and then for another cruise that will, in my judgment, do more to bring matters to a crisis than the last. Choose the best points you can find to land stores for Pocotaligo. Don't cross the Salkehatchie [River], but hold all the ground up to it, as though we intended to break across. The next movement I want the enemy to feel is from the left flank."

General Hardee informs President Davis of the latest movements of Sherman's army. "Enemy seems to be concentrating at Pocotaligo. A force reported to be moving up the Coosawhatchie." Hardee continues, "Deserters from the enemy concur in stating that the force which crossed at Port Royal Ferry, and which is now [in] vicinity of Pocotaligo, consists of Fifteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps; also that their destination is Charleston."

[larry_cockerham]

HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY CORPS,
Near Steep Bottom Church, January 17, 1865--9.15 a.m.
General L. McLAWS, Commanding, near Salkehatchie Station:

- GENERAL: There were captured..., near Station No. O, three Yankee prisoners who belong to the Eighteenth Missouri Regiment, Sheldon's brigade, Mower's [division], Seventeenth Corps. They state that the Seventeenth Corps was near Station No. 6, and that the Fifteenth...is at Beaufort....They do not know the amount of artillery or number of wagons with them, but say their wagon train is small; say the talk in camp is that Charleston is their destination....They say the Fourth [Fourteenth] and Twentieth Corps were to march from Savannah to Charleston by the line of the railroad. A scouting party of about fifty men came up a short distance this side of Gillisonville yesterday, and was driven back toward Grahamville....

Respectfully, general, your obedient servant,
J. WHEELER, Major-General.

[larry_cockerham]

January 18, 1865

On this day Gen. Sherman turned over the city pf Savannah to Gen. John G. Foster who had been in command on the coast and issued orders for the movement of his whole army, at this time numbering about 65,000 men. The right wing was at Pocotaglio about 45 miles north of Savannah and the left wing at Robertsville, twenty miles west of Pocotaglio. The weather and the complexity of the move caused some delay.

[larry_cockerham]

January 21, 1865 in the Confederate Congress:

In joint committee, January 9, 1865.

Resoled, That the chairman of the committee communicate to the President of the Confederate States a copy of the joint resolution under which the committee have been appointed, and to request respectfully on behalf of the joint committee an interview upon the subject thereof at this earliest convenience.

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION.

Resolved (the House of Representatives concurring), That if the President will appoint General J. E. Johnson to the command of the Army of Tennessee, it will, in the opinion of the Congress of the Confederate States, be hailed with joy by the army and will receive the approval of the country.
[Indorsements.]

A concurrent resolution relative to the assignment of General Joseph E. Johnston.

SENATE, January 16, 1865.
Passed the Senate.
JAMES H. NASH,
Secretary.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 18, 1865.
Considered and passed.
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE, C. S. A., January 21, 1865.
I do hereby certify that this resolution originated in the Senate; and that the within is a true copy of the same as finally passed by the two houses of Congress.

JAMES H. NASH,
Secretary.

[larry_cockerham]

January 21, 1865 (Saturday) More Union communication:

General Grant informs "Cump" Sherman that, instead of having General Thomas "make a campaign into the heart of Alabama," as Sherman has suggested, he has transferred Schofield's corps to Virginia. "The advance, 6,000, will reach seaboard by the 23d, the remainder following as rapidly as railroad transportation can be procured from Cincinnati. The corps numbers over 21,000 men." Grant explains he reasons; "I was induced to do this because I did not believe Thomas could possibly be got off before spring. His pursuit of Hood indicated a sluggishness that satisfied me that he would never do to conduct one of your campaigns."

[larry_cockerham]

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 21, 1865. (Received 29th.) -
Maj. Gen. W. T. SHERMAN, Commanding Military Division of the Mississippi:

When Hood had crossed the Tennessee, and those in pursuit had reached it, Thomas had not much more than half crossed the State, from whence he returned to Nashville to take steamer for Eastport. He is possessed of excellent judgment, great coolness, and honesty, but he is not good on a pursuit. He also reported his troops fagged, and that it was necessary to equip up....Canby has been ordered to act offensively from the sea coast to the interior toward Montgomery and Selma....In the meantime should you be brought to a halt anywhere, I can send two corps of 30,000 effective men to your support from the troops about Richmond. To résumé: Canby is ordered to operate to the interior from the gulf. A. J. Smith may go from the north, but I think it doubtful. A force of 28,000 or 30,000 men will co-operate with you from New Berne or Wilmington, or both. You can call for re-enforcements. This will be handed to you by Captain Hudson of my staff, who will return with any message you may have for me. If there is anything I can do for you in the way of having supplies on shipboard at any point on the sea coast ready for you let me know it.

U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

[larry_cockerham]

The recent rainy weather in South Carolina and Georgia has slowed Sherman's preparations for embarking on his new campaign. He writes to Admiral Porter, "The weather has been villainous, and all the country is under water, and retards me much. It may be some days yet before I can cast off, as the roads are under water, and my men are not exactly amphibious yet, nor the mules either." However, Sherman remains optimistic. "I shall spare no efforts to be off, and the foul weather of January may be a guarantee for better in February and March." Sherman also gives Porter his opinion of Benjamin Butler. "The best part of the taking of Fort Fisher was the killing of Butler. He has no blood on his skirts, and, judging from the past, it will be long before his blood stains anything. His solicitude for the blood of his men is a moonshine." In addition, Sherman sends a letter to General Grant promising to meet him in Virginia in "April or May." Sherman writes, "I have turned over everything to General Foster, so that nothing now hinders me but water....When I am at Goldsborough and move against Raleigh, Lee will be forced to divide his command or give up Richmond."

[larry_cockerham]

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, In the Field, Savannah, January 21, 1865. - Lieut. Gen. U.S. GRANT, City-Point, Va. - GENERAL: I have been told that Congress meditates a bill to make another lieutenant-general for me. I have written to John Sherman to stop it, if it is designed for me. It would be mischievous, for there are enough rascals who would try to sow differences between us whereas you and I now are in perfect understanding. I would rather have you in command than anybody else for you are fair, honest, and have at heart the same purpose that should animate all. I should emphatically decline any commission calculated to bring us into rivalry....I doubt if men in Congress fully realize that you and I are honest in our professions of want of ambition. I know I feel none, and to-day will gladly surrender my position and influence to any other who is better able to wield the power. The flurry attending my recent success will soon blow over, and give place to new developments....I am, truly, yours, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General

[larry_cockerham]

It was about this date that Generals Hatch, Croxton and Hammond arrived shortly after Wilson at Gravelly Springs, Alabama. Watkins and La Grange arrived the next day. This was the beginning of the almost two-month training period for Wilson’s forming Cavalry that was to battle Forrest at Selma, Alabama on April 2. As the 13,000 plus newly armed and outfitted cavalry was being assembled, log cantonments (cabins) were crafted from the surrounding Alabama woods. Intensive training was to follow prior to the movement south. James Patterson Cockerham and the 10th Tennessee remained in western Tennessee. The war, for him at least, was over.