This Month in the Civil War – Fort Fisher Surrenders – by S. McBride

As William Tecumseh Sherman was offering the capture of the key Confederate city of Savannah, Georgia to President Abraham Lincoln as a “Christmas gift”, a combined amphibious Army and Navy force was engaged in an attempt to capture Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina. That was the only remaining Atlantic seaport accessible to blockade runners who were bringing in supplies to keep the rapidly-fading Confederate hopes of victory alive.

Read the entire article in the Jan. 15th issue of the Express.

Sherman’s March to the Sea – By S. McBride

Union forces under General William Tecumseh Sherman had taken Atlanta in the early days of September, 1864, but the defending Confederate Army of Tennessee under General John Bell Hood hadn’t gone far.  They encamped south of the captured city while Hood made plans to lure Sherman away from Atlanta and into battle in the field.  Indeed, President Jefferson Davis had told cheering crowds in Georgia and South Carolina that “I see no chance for Sherman to escape from a defeat or a disgraceful retreat”.

Read the entire article in the Nov. 20th edition of the Express.

This Month in the Civil War: Sherman Moves to Georgia – By S. McBride

 

  “Mine eyes have beheld the Promised Land!”

   So wrote Major James Connolly of the 123rd Illinois Infantry to his wife, describing the arrival of Union forces on a high bluff overlooking the second-most important city in the Confederate States of America – Atlanta, Georgia - in mid-July of 1864.

   The Union soldiers, on seeing the city, gave voice to a cheer that Major Connolly supposed might have been heard all the way to Atlanta.  Within moments, he said, Generals William T. Sherman and George Thomas had joined them on the overlook, gazing southward across the Chattahoochee River at the city in the distance.  Atlanta was a strategic city, a rail hub with foundries, factories, munitions plants and supply depots all very vital to the survival of the Confederacy. Its importance to the rebellious south could not be overstated, and the Confederates had encircled it with elaborate fortifications.

 

Read the entire article in the July 10th issue of the Express.