Sherman to Halleck 12 January 1865:
"...that ****-and-bull story of my turning back negroes that Wheeler might kill them is all humbug. I turned nobody back. Jeff. C. Davis did at Ebenezer Creek forbid certain plantation slaves- old men, women, and children-to follow his column; but they would come along and he took up his pontoon bridge, not because he wanted to leave them, but because he wanted his bridge.
He and Slocum both tell me they don't believe Wheeler killed one of them...."
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&cite=http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ANU4519-0099&coll=moa&view=50&root=/moa/waro/waro0099/&tif=00038.TIF&pagenum=36
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Sherman's Memoirs-
"...On the occasion referred to, the bridge was taken up from Ebenezer Creek while some of the camp-followers remained asleep on the far ther side, and these were picked up by Wheeler's cavalry. Some of them, in their fright, were drowned in trying to swim over, and
others may have been cruelly killed by Wheeler's men, but this was a mere supposition...."
http://www.sonshi.com/sherman22.html
*
Wheeler's report, Savannah Campaign, 24 December 1864-
"...On the night December 8 we shelled the camp of the Fourteenth Corps with good effect, throwing the corps into confusion and causing it to leave camp at midnight, abandoning clothing, arms. &c. By breaking up the camp during the extreme darkness a great many negroes were left in our hands, whom we sent back to their owners. We also captured three wagons and teams, and caused the enemy to burn several more wagons. The whole number of negroes captured from the enemy during the movement was nearly 2,000...."
[url]http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&cite=http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ANU4519-0092&coll=moa&view=50&root=/moa/waro/waro0092/&tif=00430.TIF&pagenum=410[/URL]
Bringing the