Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
October 2, 1897



26th Wisconsin
Chapter 16

On the 1st of February, the march began, the Right Wing starting from Pocotaligo and marching up the west bank of the Salkiehatchie river, and the Left Wing starting at Sister's Ferry and marching up the east bank of the Savannah, both wings aiming for the South Carolina railroad in the neighborhood of Blackville or Midway. The same rules of marching were followed as those used on the march to the sea, and the cloud of foragers were again thrown out in advance and flanks, acting in the dual capacity of food-gatherers and mounted scouts.

The trains of the army now consisted of 2,500 wagons, with six mules to each wagon, and 600 ambulances, with two horses to each. Add to these 68 cannon, with about ten horses to each, and you get some idea of the number of animals to be fed, aside from the horses of the officers and cavalry, and of the length of the trains on each of the four routes followed by the columns. The average length of a single corpsí train was about seventeen miles. The wagon trains carried an ample supply of ammunition for a great battle, forage for seven days, consisting mostly of hardtack, coffee, sugar, and salt. The army had to depend mostly on the foragers for meat for the twenty days, and for everything but coffee for nearly thirty days longer.

The prestige of "Sherman's Army" and of "Shermanís Bummers" had reached South Carolina ahead of them, and the people had heard such terrible stories about the skill, courage, endurance and barbarity of the much dreaded army and its dare-devil ìBummers,î that many of them were scared out of their wits when they heard of the invasion of their state. Sherman writes of this: "It was to me manifest that the soldiers and people of the South entertained an undue fear of our Western men, and, like children, they had invented such ghostlike stories of our prowess in Georgia, that they were scared by their own invention. Still, this was a power, and I intended to utilize it. Somehow our men had got the idea that South Carolina was the cause of all our troubles; her people were the first to fire on Fort Sumter, and had been in a great hurry to precipitate the country into civil war; and therefore, on them should fall the scourge of war in its worst form. Taunting messages had also come to us, when in Georgia, to the effect that when we should reach South Carolina, we would find a people less passive, who would fight us to the bitter end; daring us to come over, etc."

Hardly had the march commenced when the rain set in again and fell almost without intermission for three or four days. The low lands adjoining both rivers being already overflown, the flood was deepened and expanded by the fresh torrents, making the roads very bad and covering nearly all the bridges and corduroys. The rain was a cold one, and thoroughly saturated the clothing, caused a great amount of suffering among the troops. But the heroic boys made light of such discomforts and pressed enthusiastically forward. As has been said in the history of the Ozaukee Rifles, perhaps never in the history of man did a large army, encumbered by great trains of artillery and wagons, start on a march in which greater natural difficulties had to be overcome, than did Shermanís on that eventful 1st of February, 1865. All nature seemed to be opposed to the movement, and determined to make it a failure. The start was made in the middle of winter and through some of the worst of the low coast region, and for days, there was water overhead, underfoot and all around them as the brave boys plodded steadily forward. Gen. Sherman and staff, enveloped in their rubber ponchos, rode through the rain, water and mire, and shared many of the discomforts of the boys in the ranks.

The Seventeenth Corps had been ordered to cross the Salkiehatchie at River's Bridge where it had expanded by the flood until it was a mud-covered stream of a mile in width, and it did cross there on the 4th, after one of the most remarkable battles of the war, it being fought in the flooded stream. The Fifteenth and Twentieth Corps were ordered to cross the river at Beaufort's Bridge. The former reached that point on the 4th and immediately crossed without serious opposition, and on the 5th, the leading division of the Twentieth corps reached the bridge; the Twenty-sixth Wisconsin being well to the rear of the column, did not get up until the next day.

By the 6th, nearly all the army was on the east bank of the Salkiehatchie, and all started toward the railroad. Again the rain poured down, but it did not check the onward sweep of that blue-clad host. Early on the 7th, in the midst of a heavy rain, the army reached and took possession of the railroad at several points from Midway to Blackville, with little or no opposition. As soon as the troops reached the railroad, they were deployed along it, and stacking their arms, went to work in the rain to tear up and destroy the track. As this was a most important road, it was completely wrecked for a distance of fifty miles. The country thereabouts was very poor, and the wretched inhabitants remained at home, not knowing where to go to get away from the Yanks. The enemy had a considerable force of infantry and cavalry in Sherman's front, but it had been so unceremoniously driven from its strong position at River's Bridge that it had lost courage, and kept at a very safe distance during the destruction of the railroad.

The Fourteenth Corps and Geary's division of the Twentieth being far in the rear and much delayed, did not reach the camp of the balance of the latter corps at Blackville until the 10th, the rest of the army awaiting their arrival. On the 11th, the march was resumed, the Right Wing marching straight to Orangeburg, but the Left Wing taking a more direct route to Columbia, S.C., the whole army crossing the South and North branches of the Edisto river enroute.

On the 17th of February, the Right Wing captured South Carolina's capital city, but the Left Wing passed some distance to the northwest, crossing the Saluda river some distance above the city, and the Broad river at or near Alston. On the 21st, the Left Wing was at Winnsboro, and the Right Wing nearby. Thus far, the enemy had succeeded in delaying our troops but very little, but the elements and bad roads had delayed them considerably. From Winnsboro, the Left Wing kept on in a northerly direction, while the Right Wing turned to the east and marched to Cheraw on the Grand Pedee river.

The march of Sherman's army had forced the evacuation of Charleston on the 18th, and Wilmington, N.C., had been captured by Gen. Terry on the 22nd of February. Thus, the good work went bravely on, every day bringing the rebellion nearer its end, and every day adding to the hopefulness and enthusiasm of Shermanís superb army. On the 22nd, the Twentieth Corps reached Rocky Mount on the Catawba river, a deep, broad and rapid stream, in the midst of a heavy rain. A pontoon bridge was quickly laid, and Kilpatrick's cavalry having crossed, the Twentieth Corps followed. But the clouds continued to let down their floods, and before the Fourteenth Corps could cross, the river rose so fast that it broke the pontoon bridge and flooded its own banks. By using his wagon chains, Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, the commander of the Fourteenth Corps, succeeded in getting his men and train safely across, but the mishap had delayed the whole army three or four days.

On the 27th, the march was resumed, but the rain continued to come down for two or three days at a time, and the rainy spells became quite frequent, flooding all level land, and saturating the soil so much that it became a sea of quicksand. The roads had to be corduroyed, some days every foot of the distance, up hill and down, and consequently, the march was considerably retarded. On the 1st of March, the Twentieth Corps was at Finlay's Bridge on Lynch's Creek, and on the 2nd was at Chesterfield, its advance skirmishing with the rebel Butler's cavalry, while the Right Wing was in Cheraw, from which it had driven a strong force under Gen. Hardee across the Pedee.

During the succeeding three days, the Union army was crossing the big river, and on the 6th, the army resumed the march, heading for Fayetteville, on the Cape Fear river, in North Carolina. The Twentieth Corps, which had marched down to Cheraw for the convenience of crossing the river on the pontoon bridge laid there, turned to the left and followed by the Fourteenth Corps, where he constantly skirmished with the rebel cavalry. The weather which had been fine during the passage of the Pedee, now grew thick again and the roads became so bad that for three or four days but slow progress was made and there was much difficulty experienced in getting the trains through. Rain came down in torrents and flooded all the level tracts of land, making it exceedingly difficulty to find a camping place at times.

On the 11th, Fayetteville was captured by our foragers, after a lively fight with Wade Hampton's rebel cavalry and the Fourteenth Corps being the first infantry to arrive, occupied the place, the other corps camping around it as they came up. Sunday, March 12, Sherman's whole army was camped around Fayetteville, while on the further side of the river, his old adversary, Gen. Jos. Johnston was gathering an army with which to contest his further progress. But that day, steamers from the Union fleet at Wilmington came up the river with mail and some supplies, and brought the information that Terry with his corps was marching from Wilmington to Goldsboro, N.C., and Gen. Schofield with the Twenty-third Corps and thousands of convalescents, which had been sent around by rail and water, from Nashville, Tenn., to Newbern, N.C., was advancing from the latter place upon Goldboro, which had been designated by Sherman as the place at which the three armies should meet. That day, pontoon bridges having been laid, Shermanís army began to cross the river.

On the 15th of March, the whole army being across the river, the march to Goldsboro began under dark, dripping clouds and over water-soaked roads. The Twentieth Corps was now on the left of the whole army, and as it was soon proven, in the most dangerous position. It had followed a road leading north along the left bank of the Cape Fear river, and encountered pretty stubborn resistance from the enemy. But the rebels were pressed back steadily, and a number of prisoners were taken by our men during the day. The next day, as the Union troops approached Averysboro, a village a short distance from the river, and some twenty odd miles northeast of Fayetteville, the resistance became much stronger, and near the town, a line of breastworks, manned by a strong force, was encountered. Here what is called the battle of Averysboro was fought by Ward and Jackson's divisions of the Twentieth Corps and Kilpatrick's cavalry under Hardee, on the rebel side. The result was a complete victory for the Union forces, who fought under Gen. Sherman's eye, he being on the field in person. The Union loss was 77 killed and 477 wounded. The rebels left 108 dead, 68 badly wounded, 217 prisoners and a battery of three guns in the hands of the Union troops.

The Twenty-sixth Wisconsin, as a portion of Ward's division, took a very active part in the battle of Averysboro and kept up its glorious fighting record, losing eight killed and one wounded. Captain Charles Schmidt, of Company B, and Lieut. F. R. Klein, of Company C, were among the killed. Of the Ozaukee members, Mich. Moldenhauer, of Cedarburg, was badly wounded. He was absent on account of wounds when the regiment was mustered out.