Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-04-08
shsFman's March thrOagh Il

ZION OF Shermans army, &c, under date ne
March 10th:
To-day we have added Fayetteville to the
list Of cities that have fallen into our bs,J"
Hardee, who is said to have 10000 mon
Withdrew across the river yesterday and L..
night. He is reported en- route for RaIo;nS'
The rebels skirmished on the town. and S.;
artillery upon houses occupied by women 80
children. They burned bridge at this Ms" So
and removed all the public stores by rsiIroal
they could. Sherman is here, and weT
Many men are wanting shoes and clotbins
yet the army never was in better conditiore9'
From letter dated Fayetteville. n r
March II, giving an account of Gen. Su,,
MANS great march through North Caroline
we make some extracts, containing sona
items not before published.
Near Hanging Rock couple of bank. :
trdRSite in four iron safes were taken and ~
money turned overto the United States c ,-e
eminent. In the place itself was found all &c
General Ripley's private history of the siega
of Charleston. This gives us historicsI 80
from the highest rebel official sourcaO N"'o
At Cheraw among the guns captured xoso
Blakely guu, presented to the sovere;r1
State of South Carolina by her citizens resi-.
dent abroad, December, 1860" This gnn
was used on Morris Island during the FIRST
bombardment of Fort Sumter, and with it the
rebels claim to have shot away the Flagstaff
of that Fort. On the day of President Lin.
coins re.inauguration, March 4th, 1865, Gen.
eral Mower captured this gun, turned it
quickly on the retreating rebels and gave
them National shotted salute, for which
they furnished all the materials.
IL r -
across the Pedee river directly to Fayette-
vile, where it captured the United States
Arsenal and a large quantity of machinery
ammunition, stores, etc. Much of the ma.
chinery that was removed from Harper's Fer
ry was found at this place.
On the morning of the 10th of March. Cen
eral Fitzpatrick was encamped about fifteen
miles from Fayetteville, and was attacked by
the whole of Wade Hampton's cavalry.
Hampton commanded in person. The attack
was very sudden and fell entirely upon one
brigade, which was surprised, and for the
; time could offer little resistance Near the
portion OF the camp which it guarded were
| Kilpatrick's headquarters, and Fitzpatrick
himself narrowly escaped capture. He fled
from the house in which he was sleeping with
his pantalOons and slippers on, two officers
following example One of his Colonies
commanding a brigade and the rest of his
officers were in the house, and having no time
to escape, secreted themselves. The lady
no was in the house on being asked, when
Hampton rode up, whether there were any
Yankees concealed inside. answered that
there were a couple of wounded soldiers.
Beneath these wounded men she had hidden
Kilpatrick's flag, sword and hat, and thus
saved his personal effects
Fitzpatrick was driven back to a swamp in
rear of bis lines. There he reformed his men
charged the enemy in turn, got possession OF
his guns again, turned them at once OH his
headquarters, and drove out the rebels. As
they were leaving at one end of the town.
Fitzpatrick entered by the other, got his flag
and tied it on a staff, chargedagain, and com
pletely routed the enemy, leaving IS of them
dead on the field, killing General Aiken, and
taking a number of prisoners. Kilpatrieks
loss in this affair, killed, wounded and mis-
sing, was less than 200, according to his Off
cial report. The fight and the successful
stand made by General Fitzpatrick after he
had been surprised, are regarded as amongst
the most gallant deeds of the campaign.
: The day after General Sherman arrived at
| Fayetteville, Capt. AinswOrth reached that
| place from Wilmington, on the tug Davidson,
| with dispatches from General Schofeld.-
Captain Ainsworth left Wilmington to come
up the Cape Fear river, l20 miles, in spite Of
the reports current that the river was filed
with tOrpedoes and blocked up by trees, and
by the rebel ChiekanldltgG sunk across it, and
that numerous batteries were established at
different points on the river. He made his
way up with safety, without losing a man,
although continually fired into by the rebels
along the shore. General Sherman compi-
mented him most highly for his gallantry, and
forthwith breveted him Commodore" His
services in establishing communication were
of great Importance. On his return his little
vessel was well protected by cotton bales,
given to the Commodore with the personal
regards of General Sherman. AinswOrth, on
his arrival at Wilmington, turned over the
cotton to the Quartermaster and keeps the
regards Of the General.
The same day that Ainsworth arrived at
Fayetteville, Master w. Fl. Grennel and En-
sign H. B. Colley, of the United States steam
er Nyaek, arrived with dispatches from Gen.
SchOfeld, having made the entire trip by
land through swamps, in their naval uniform.
Never before has an army accomplished so
much with such little sacrifice of either life
or property Il had been about forty-fye
days shut out, as it were, from the outer
world. The march has been one continued
success. Sherman's capital manoeuvers COM
pletely split up the rebel army, breaking
them into isolated bodies, thus destroying
their power. The march was somewhat re-
tarded by the heavy falls of rain, which food
ed the creeks and swamps, and cut up the
roads so that he had to corduroy over hun
dred miles of road, and build several miles of
trestle work and bridges.
Besides compelling them to evacuate Char
lesion, Sherman destroyed Columbia and
Orangeburg, and several other places also,
over fifty miles of their chief lines OF rail-
road, and thousands of bales of cotton.
At Columbia, Sherman captured So Cd non,
200, 900 cartridges, 10 tons of powder, 1000
rounds of fixed ammunition, about 10000
muskets, over 100 Government presses, be-
sides an immense amount of public stores, To-
comotives, rolling stock, and other kinds of
Government stores too numerous to mention.
At Cheraw he took % cannon, 8 eaissons,
and 2 travelling FORCES, besides large guam
tity of Government stores of various kinds in
the arsenal and elsewhere. At Fayetteville
he took II cannon, besides a large quantity
of Government stores of various kinds in the
arsenal and elsewhere. This makes IS can
non-one third of which were field pieces
with carriages, caissons, and all complete
He captured about %, 900 animals on his line
of march. He gave food and transportation
to about 10, 900 colored refugees, thus depriv-
ing the Confederacv of colored soldiers and
slaves. He also had about 1000 white ref
ugees, all of whom were well cared for, and
will be sent North, to whatever destination
they choose. sa
His army operated over the following dis
frInf1 Or In S0uth Carolina