William T. Sherman -- 12 december 1864

• William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) was een Amerikaanse zakenman, schrijver en generaal gedurende de Amerikaanse Burgeroorlog. Hij is het bekendst om zijn inname van de stad Atlanta in die oorlog. Fragmenten uit zijn dagboeken staan hier.

December 12, 1864
My plan to connect with the Union fleet is coming together nicely. In order for us to be able to connect with the Union fleet, we will have to first go through Fort McAllister (Strong). There is only one slight problem, the fort is currently occupied with enemy forces. From what I have been able to see, their forces are prepared for an attack and have entrenched themselves. Over the past few days, “many of the horses belonging to the Right Wing were sadly reduced”. We are quickly running out of time before my army would be too weak for a siege. Sadly, a siege will have to take place in order to be able to receive the necessary materials to keep my men alive. Hopefully our recourses will be able to hold us over until we can make contact with the fleet.

However, on a different topic, today I was able to order a telegraph to President Abraham Lincoln (Marszalek 102). Im sure he was rather happy to have heard word of my successful journey to the Atlantic. It made me rather grateful that my own commander in chief was not even aware of my army’s position. I’m sure if my position was somehow released, my own president would have been one of the first ones to know.

December 13, 1864
What a successful day! Everything was able to fall right into place for my army. Today my forces were able to overtake Fort McAllister. To be honest, the Confederate forces did not have a chance of stopping my army from overtaking the fort. Our numbers heavily outnumbered theres. The siege made me a very proud general of these very brave men. As all were very driven to capture that fort as soon as they possibly could. Even as men were dying and torpedos were being blown up, retreat was never even considered. From watching from a far, it was quite exciting to watch as each cannon in the fort began to stop firing one at a time. The battle, for the fort, only lasted a short fifteen minutes, where my army suffered very little causalities. The total death toll was only “twenty four killed and one hundred wounded”. After the dust had cleared, and the enemy was subdued, I was able to make my way out to the awaiting Union gunboat. From there, we were able to set up a stable supply line. Now that Fort McAllister had fallen, the battle for Savannah could now commence.