Today’s date in history, September 2, 1864, Sherman captured Atlanta.
A couple weeks before his capture of Atlanta he and his men were camped out on the Cobb County side of the Chattahoochee River. On the opposite side, the Atlanta side, CSA’s General Joseph Johnston’s men were camped out.
It was hot. There was the cool tempting flowing river. The North and South militaries called a temporary truce. Men from both sides left their guns and clothes on the banks and jumped in and had a good time splashing about.
Men from each side joked and splash each other. One of the yankee bathers that was cutting up and splashing the rebs was General William Tecumseh Sherman. He was at arm’s length and naked too! If only they had known.
After the capture of Atlanta, Sherman and his men marched to the sea. He had only about three months worth of shopping days left until Christmas. I don’t know the exact date, but it must have been in December, his forces captured Savannah. Sherman telegraphed President Lincoln saying in so many words, “Your Christmas present is Savannah.”
You might think Sherman was really a good old guy that just had a job to do, and thinking that joisting and playing in the water with the men on the other side proves that. You should also know that in and around Savannah wherever they went they had Confederate Prisoners, and ex-slaves to walk ahead in case of any hidden land mines.
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