Sherman's Christmas Gift
On this day in 1864, Union General William T. Sherman presents the city of Savannah, Georgia, to President Abraham Lincoln. Sherman captured the city after his famous March to the Sea from Atlanta. Savannah had been one of the last major ports that remained open to the Confederates. After Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864, he did not plan to stay for long. There was still the Confederate army of General John Bell Hood in the area, and cavalry leaders like Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joe Wheeler, who could threaten Sherman's supply lines. In November, Sherman dispatched part of his force back to Nashville, Tennessee, to deal with Hood while Sherman cut free from his supply lines and headed south and east across Georgia. Along the way, his troops destroyed nearly everything in their path. Sherman's intent was to wreck the morale of the South and bring the war to a swift end. For nearly six weeks, nothing was heard from Sherman's army. Finally, just before Christmas, word arrived that Sherman's army was outside Savannah. A Union officer reached the coast and found a Union warship that carried him to Washington, D.C., to personally deliver news of the success. Sherman wired Lincoln with the message, "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton." This short telegram, from William Tecumseh Sherman to Abraham Lincoln, is dated December 22, 1864. “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition and also about 25,000 bales of cotton,” Sherman wrote. The brief message came as a huge relief to Lincoln, who had been out of touch with Sherman for several weeks, since the major general had embarked from Atlanta on his March to the Sea. Sherman had fought for this plan, which involved severing 62,000 Union troops from supply lines and communications. His two columns of Union men conducted a campaign of fear, moving toward Savannah while destroying military targets and punishing civilians who tried to resist. In a reply to the telegram that's dated December 26, 1864, Lincoln wrote: “Many, many thanks for your Christmas gift.” He admitted to having been “anxious, if not fearful” when Sherman left Atlanta, but had decided to trust his general: “Feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that 'nothing risked, nothing gained,' I did not interfere.” The plot having succeeded, Lincoln added, “the honor is all yours.” Georgians, naturally, saw things differently. Although Savannah surrendered relatively easily, the March to the Sea, with its psychological tactics designed to undercut civilian support for the Confederacy, lives in Southern memory as one of the cruelest campaigns of the Civil War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman%27s_March_to_the_Sea Soldiers not actively campaigning celebrated Christmas in several ways. Union soldiers would use salt pork and hardtack to decorateChristmas trees.[8] Others were treated to special meals; a captain from Massachusetts treated his soldiers to foods such as turkey,oysters, pies, and apples.[6] However, many soldiers received no special treats or privileges. In one incident on December 25, 1864, 90 Union soldiers from Michigan, led by their captain, dispensed "food and supplies" to poor Georgians, with the mules pulling the carts decorated to resemble reindeer by having tree branches tied to their heads.[6] In some units, celebrating Christmas was not allowed.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his pacifist poem, "Christmas Bells" on Christmas Day 1864[10] at the news of his son Lieutenant Charles Appleton Longfellow having suffered severe wounds in November during the Mine Run Campaign. The poem was set to the tune "Waltham" by John Baptiste Calkin sometime after 1872 and has since been received into the established library of Christmas carols. The carol does not include two stanzas from the original poem that focused on the war.[11][12]
For children, Christmas was altered during the war. Presents were fewer, especially in the devastated South. In We Were Marching on Christmas Day, author Kevin Rawlings notes that some southern children worried about the Union blockade, and one little girl, Sallie Brock Putnam, plotted the course Santa Claus would have to take to avoid it. Sometimes fathers on both sides were allowed furlough, and children were said to react to their fathers as if seeing "near strangers".[13] Excuses for a lack of Santa included Yankees having shot him.[13]
The Nast Christmas cartoon for 1864 was more conciliatory print, showing Lincoln inviting Confederate soldiers into a warm lodge hall full of merriment.[18] Lincoln called Nast's use of Santa Claus "the best recruiting sergeant the North ever had".[6] Nast was not the only one to use Christmas as a propaganda tool. On the Union side, The New York Herald also engaged in propaganda. One illustration published in the paper included Santa Claus fuming that he could not reach southern children, due to the northern blockade.[13] On the Confederate side, The Richmond Examiner described Santa to its young readers as "a Dutch toy monger" who was a New York/New England "scrub" and Hottentot that had nothing to do with traditional Virginian celebrations of Christmas.[13] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121933069 video..Christmas 1864 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybOW9PaLt3w