First we are going to talk about general william t. Sherman and what he did in 1865, at least the first stage of his campaign in 1865 when he left the state of georgia and began to move north into South Carolina. He built up a little bit of a base at the conclusion of that campaign and began to talk about heading north. The conclusion of the savanna campaign had a couple questions behind it, political questions, which he did not want to deal with, and a couple of military, after it was agreed he would be permitted to move to the north and go straight into South Carolina. There were repercussions for that on the confederate side and the folks on the Southern Side would begin to react to that. Of course, even as sherman was leaving atlanta, there were folks on the confederate side that reacted to what was going on. One of them, something of an alert fellow, general beauregard, reacted and saw what was on the way. And of course, technology is always a curse in here. There we go. He discusses with his boss in richmond, samuel cooper, reports of general wheeler indicate sherman is about to move. Probably heading to charleston or savannah. There are a great many variables sherman can take when he begins to head north or south from atlanta. A junction may be formed with the enemys fleet. I would advise all available forces which can be spared from north and South Carolina to be ready to move should sherman take charleston or reach the atlantic coast. Here is an interesting point. This is november 16, the day they are pulling out of southwest environs around atlanta. They are already beginning to fixate about the possibility of charleston. They realize the significance, symbolic and otherwise, of charleston. He may then reinforce grant. They are beginning to build up, even before savannah is taken, about the potential for charleston, South Carolina and what that is going to mean. Of course, sherman will make his way to savannah and do what he does. In South Carolina itself, other things are brewing. That takes us to the political side of the question in the confederacy. That brings us to this fellow, andrew g. Magrath, who has the luck of landing the governors share in South Carolina in december 1864. He is not a South Carolina hillbilly, he is a harvard educated lawyer admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1835, admitted to the South Carolina house of representatives in 1838 when he is 25, known as a unionist or cooperationist. He is in private practice there until 1856, when he is nominated by president pierce, who is something of a nonconfrontationist, to a judgeship on the u. S. District court for South Carolina. When the pressure moment comes in the winter of 1860 four the secession of South Carolina, he is still a sitting judge at that point and he is in a very awkward spot. He is in a federal judgeship and is one of multitudes of people going to be torn from office because of the secession of the state. He, like many other folks, Jefferson Davis, robert e. Lee, will be forced to make that decision. Because he is in a public setting, he will make a Public Statement about this. That Public Statement goes like this. For the last time, i have as judge of the United States administered the laws of the United States within the limits of South Carolina while acting in obedience to a sense of duty. I cannot be indifferent to the emotions it must produce. That department of government which i believe has best maintained its integrity and purity has been suspended. So far as i am concerned, that temple of justice raised under the constitution of the United States is now clueless. I thank god its doors have been closed before its altar has been desecrated by the sacrifice of tyranny. So he is kind of an ideologue. Ideologues are interesting people because they will oftentimes go their own way. That is going to put him into interesting conflicts, not only with the northerners he is leaving but also folks on the Southern Side as things get into the next four years. As the newspaper reports, the address was received with profound silence and during its delivery, many spectators were in tears. He would serve as secretary of state in South Carolina in the initial severance period. In 1962, davis appoints him as a Federal District judge. Then he would be elected governor in december of 1964. Thats the political side of the coin in South Carolina at that moment. Militarily, things continue to worm their way, as they do. Sherman will make his way to savannah. After he begins to pose a serious threat to savannah in december of 1864, there are questions about just what do we leave in front of savannah when the federals get there. A question to the military directors in richmond, samuel cooper. Beauregard will write the following. The spirit of your instructions to general hardee relative to savannah has proved the same is applicable to charleston. We must rely on your judgment to make the fullest possible defense consistent with the safety of the garrison. In other words, dont die on that pyre. Get your military forces out of there. It is ok to surrender if such becomes necessary. Beauregard takes note of that. We are going to keep that in mind if that becomes necessary for charleston. There are some things that are important to know about savannah. Basically it is a drainage field. All the large rivers and small rivers and creeks and whatnot from that corner of the world go down into that direction. Because you get the watershed in that direction, you get all sorts of things coming down there. Its a marvelous place with its overhanging trees and mosquitoes and yellow fever and all that wonderful swamp stuff the poets will write about. It is going to be an interesting piece of terrain to fight over as far as that goes. When the capture of charleston and the securing of charleston has taken place or savannah, rather, has taken place, there will be a lot of letter writing that has gone on between the end of the savannah campaign, per se, and the initiation of activities going to the north. A lot of this curiously takes place on Christmas Eve. Nobody gets to enjoy Christmas Eve. They are all flailing away with their pens at various points. One of them will be from general sherman to halleck because halleck is one of those people who writes on the 18th of december, talking about what he expects sherman to be doing. Now, should you capture charleston he is thinking in that regard as well i hope by some accident the place might be destroyed and if a little salt should be sown, it may prevent the growth of future crops of nullification and succession. Of course, savannah will fall on the 22nd, but by that time, halleck will change his mind on the subject a little bit and will write, i did think the best thing to do was to bring the greater part of your army back here and wipe out lee. I doubt whether you might not accomplish more toward that result where you are. He has begun to reconsider the possibility of letting sherman loose in that area. Sherman will write to his direct boss in the field, general grant, about what his beginning to formulate campaign might just be. I left agusta untouched on purpose because the enemy no doubt will have doubt as to my objective point after crossing the Savannah River, whether it be augusta or charleston, and will naturally divide his forces. I will then move on either branch field or columbia and break up as much railroad as possible. So he is going to try to obscure his true intent about that at that particular moment. Somebody else flailing away with a pen on that day will be governor magrath again, because he is very concerned about this. The threat is literally on his doorstep at this point. He will say at this point, the question which naturally presents itself is why the force which penetrated georgia cannot penetrate South Carolina. This will become the 300 pound gorilla in the room at that point. One of the things i found which was very interesting, how many of you have ever had to deal with more than one boss at a single time . [laughter] this is the same sort of thing that i think sherman has to deal with, because grant is a westerner, very practical. Halleck is a little more politic, has to play to the political side of the house. When he writes a letter to halleck in that Christmas Eve, that tone will definitely be there. You will note here, the truth is the whole army is burning with insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate but feels she deserves all in store for her. That is sherman writing to general halleck. I think before we are done, South Carolina will not be quite so tempestuous. I will bear in mind your hint about charleston and i dont think salt will be necessary. The 15th corps will be on the right wing and their position will bring them into charleston first. If you have watched the history of that corps, mostly it will be changed back to general john logan because the political season is over at that point. They generally do their work quite well. Thats whats going to be in that circumstance at that point. Many people in georgia asked me why we did not go for South Carolina. When i answered that, i was on route for that state. The reply was, if you make those people feel the severities of the world, we will pardon you for georgia. I look upon columbia as bad as charleston and i doubt we will spare the public buildings as we did at village mill. To grant, he will write something slightly different. This is also a Christmas Eve letter. Like i said, a lot of people very busy writing letters that evening. Charleston is now a mere desolated wreck, hardly worth the time it would take to starve it out. I am aware that historically and politically, much importance is attached to the place. It may be both you and the administration would prefer i give it more attention and it would be well for you to give me some general idea on that subject or i will treat it as i expressed, as a point of little importance. Its railroads leading into the interior are nearly destroyed. He is looking at that from a tactical point of view, that there is no point to charge in and put a flag on top of it if they can dissolve the importance by clipping the railroads further to the west of it. One reason why i would ignore charleston is this. I believe they will reduce the garrison to a small force with plenty of provisions and i know the back of charleston can be made almost impregnable to an assault and we will have partly time for siege operations, the same tactics he deployed in georgia. If he can smack and dodge as opposed to undergo a siege operation, he would much rather do that. He submits these thoughts to his bosses in d. C. And waits for the response. The response is this. On the seventh of january, please say to general sherman, i do not regard the capture of charleston of any military importance. He can pass it by unless he leaves a force in his rear which it will be dangerous to have there. It will be left entirely to his own discretion whether charleston should be taken now. This is stanton giving a letter from grant. In response, general grant had received your telegram and will communicate your views to general sherman. Good wishes for you. They are pretty clear in d. C. That it is not necessarily important to have sherman go to charleston merely to plant that flag. Now, perhaps thats what they are thinking in washington, the fact that sherman has not already gone gung ho for charleston conveys the wrong impression to some of those diehard folks in charleston at this point. Because of course, the newspapers are still flourishing in charleston and you get all sorts of interesting opinions from the folks in the columns there. From the daily south carolinian, a lady writes there, sherman with his victorious troops is on South Carolina soil. He has nearly reached the goal of his ambition and expects by fire and sword to glut yankee vengeance on that naughty state which dared to set a vile example of rebellion to her southern sisters. He intends she shall pay dearly for her folly. He is determined she shall suffer for the crime which in his estimation has put her beyond the pale of mercy and justly outlawed her from god and man. Neither sherman nor his men are yet at charleston, nor do i think they will get there. If he were on South Carolina soil, i believe he will get his first great repulse that will lead to his utter discomfiture. She goes on for a bit to say, as a true daughter of the south, i intend to pray for the salvation of my country as for the salvation of my soul. According to your faith, be it unto you. She goes on and on. If this woman be a true south carolinian, she had already seen some of that fire she called for. December 1861, a fairly impressive fire takes out a good bit of charleston. One of the northern newspapers who had a connection that way said, does it not look like a retribution of providence and an omen of the future destruction of the rebellion . Truth is, after the war many of the photographs of what is called the burned district will be passed over as an example of what was already done by the union army. Of course, the presence of the federals in savannah and time is ticking by already begins to very much get the awareness of many folks in South Carolina and they will go ahead and pled their cause as high up the post as they possibly can. Thus, a pleading to the secretary of war from the citizens of South Carolina. We respectfully request that at least one corps be sent from virginia to save north and South Carolina. Much of what sherman has passed through in georgia is not under military occupation. It has been burned and abandoned as shermans army has headed for savannah. There is no force here to prevent it and it is necessary to have at least one well organized corps on the coast about which the half trained citizens may rally. Otherwise, no matter how brave and determined, their efforts will amount to nothing. These furnished the army of virginia with supplies. We are sensible to the pressure upon richmond and the importance of saving the capital, but it is manifest that its defense must be made here. A just regard for the safety of those states and of the common cause we are all embarked induces us to impress this appeal with great earnestness upon your consideration. Let me ask you this. How many of you folks everything that levels of government, local, county, state, federal, jump on your requests and get them done . [laughter] ok. Now i want to give you an example of something. Unfortunately we do not have a date for when this was first filed, when this pleading was first done. Like any other request, it goes up the pipe. And it gets endorsed. First endorsement, january 5, the secretary of war said and i love that hat. Then it goes up to jeff davis. Jeff davis, although he went to west point and never tires of admitting that the folks, the question can be presented is one of which general lee can best judge. I suggest a reference to him. More endorsements. Notice the clock is ticking by. We have gone from december to february 7, february 9 when it goes to i presume that means jonathan. I have read that for years and years and i presume jno means jonathan. I have always read it as juno withers. We go to february 9 now and ultimately it makes it to february 11, when it finally reaches the wise sage of all wise sages in the confederacy, robert e. Lee. I have sent all the troops that can be spared. The army of tennessee is ordered to South Carolina. If the citizens of georgia and South Carolina will fill up its ranks, it will be able to protect the country. Notice the tone of voice in that line. If the citizens of georgia and South Carolina will fill up its ranks, it will be able to protect the country. There is a certain edge, i suspect. We start off in december and we go into mid february. We are a week away at that point from the burning of columbia. Now, meanwhile on the federal side, sherman is busy planning. Actually we have to turn the clock back now. We are going into the tail last of december and initial january here at this point. The lower section of South Carolina here, shermans march into the invasion plan of South Carolina. The initial movements proposed by sherman and developed over his first weeks would spread the wings of his army back over savannah. The right wing, these two arrows here, and i did make these red because there is so much blue here, these would stand out, not because they are the invading force. I know in military coloration, usually red is the invader. Like on election night. But the 15th and 17th corps, coming up on the right, would move by ship up the river to the foothills held by the brigadier general. From there, Major General howard would press the confederates. Meanwhile, Major General henry slocum would move the left wing up the Savannah River, the elements crossing at a ferry, a key crossing of the Savannah River. The brigadier generals calvary would move behind the right wing. This would hopefully prompt the evacuation of beaufort, South Carolina and give sherman a Firm Foothold in the state. However, all this movement, especially on the left