Weekly Trinity journal., 1865-11-18
NUMBER 40.
from the Sacramento Bel
"From Atlanta to the Sea-"

A file of newspapers dating back for months
or years, is, as the author of the Sparrowgrass
Papers would say, " a good thing to have in the
country" 1t is very good thing to have any
where. 1t is interesting to turn over the pages
which in their freshness contained news, bnt
which Time with ripening touch, even as he ri
pens old wine, has converted into history. 1t is
peculiarly interesting at this time to look back
for even the brief space of q twelve-month.--
Now, we can in peace and safety, and with calm
ness, survey the ground which we then occupied.
! Then, all that we knew was that four years of
war was behind us-how many yet before
us, none but the God of Battles knew. The
smoke aud din OF the conflict were all around
us, and at times gloom and dependency would
fill the hearts of patriotic men; and often, very
often, in moments of doubt and apprehension,
would the lip express the confidence which the
heart did not feel. Even the most hopeful did
not look for so speedy crumbling of the fabric
of rebellion as that which did occur. When, in
the course of the Winter as the newspapers told
the story, somebody asked General Grant if he
would take Richmond and end the war in ninety
days and he replied - Can't say about that
but we'll see what can be done by the Fourth of
July the great majority of our people thought
/ him over-Sanguine. - How happy aud how well
satisfied should be, was the thought of every
loyal heart, q if the end could be accomplished
by that time" General Grant made good the
promise, whether he made it or not. and had
three months to spare. The checkmate was sud-
| den, startling, apparent, but the moves which
led to it had been made in secret were long con-
sidered and we'll matured. The march on the
rebel capital commenced year ago. The fol-
lowing then flashed across the wires and eiectri-
fed our people
CHICAGO. November 0. 1S6l.-sherman has cut his
municaons Tile United States TELEGRAPH officer has ro
port that General Sherman las destroyed Atlanta by
all his supplies to Chattanooga. and is marching
Charleston with forty thousand troops"
ipIa rtli
1t could scarcely be credited. Nothing of the
kind, nothing so daring, so apparently reckless
and foohardy. had been attempted during the
war What could it mean Some hoped 9TH
ers feared. But even to the minds of the most
confident would occur the thought: q Instead of
an advance may this not be a retreat? May not
Hood, after all, have succeeded in getting Sher-
man just where he wanted him? y The next
day the telegraph reiterated the story, and said,
q Sherman is bound through Dixie On the
day following. reference made to the
matter in the dispatches. But the day next en-
suing brought the regular denial OF the whole
story, and the telegram spoke of it as sensa-
ton rumor." At this announcement the timid
ones felt safer but many, most, felt disappoint-.
ment and chngrin. Why did he not venture ~
was the mutered thought of thousands. After
all, those times had pleasure of their own
The alterations of hope and fear, OF doubt and
assurance, of gloom and gladuess, impaired to
3
quickly, and proved measured Offset for the
dull routine Of the "piping times of peace"
On the two days next following the contradiction
the wires entirely ignored the matter. But Oh
the third day after, they brought the full con-
hrmatlon of the first announcement in this dis
patch from Sherman himself:
Hood has Tennessee Thomas will take care
of him aud Nashville while schofeld viii
Chattanooga or Knoxville Georgia and South Carolina
am all right"
! He had" cut his communications The match
was applied at Atlanta, and the Army of Georgia
was launched like thunderbolt at the heart OF
the rebellion. Some feared the story would be
again contradicted in the morning but it
not. Sherman had gone somewhere, the dispatch
told us, but did not seem to know exactly whith-
er. 1t said
IT appears certain that Sherman has set out upon some
expdlton The Richmond papers anxious in regard
~ pnt there Is no knowledge as TO his exact whereabouts
Government does not hear from him for m
except through the rebel papers"
| And all recolect how we did hear from him
| through that channel how awfully, and terribly
and thoroughly his army was cut up by the in
vlncible and overpowering hosts Of the Confedc-
racy and how often he met with utter annhla-
tion at the hands of nardec, and Bragg. and
Beauregard and Johnston, and Taylor, and
Hampton, and oihsr conquering heroes. II our
information relative to his objective point was
uncertain Mt that time, it afforded some salts
faction to know that the rebel press was even
more completely nonplussed If judgement
was formed OF his movements BY the record of
the frightened newspaper men of the Confederacy
we might consider his course truly erratc. His
army is everywhere !; then, again. 1t is no where
1t is here, it is there stretching its terrible lines
across the State and anon it has vanished en-
tlrely. Now he was aiming for this point; now
for that and again lie without aim or oh-
ject, and bundering blindly along TO sure de-
of NJ bnr nd mi
. Sherman's movements was the standard topic
with press and people both in the loyal ana reoei
States. and the subject maintained certain de-
gree of charming uncertainty to the very emu.
The first definite and positive information Oh
Sherman S actual Whereabouts came from him
self when reporting from near Savannah to uch-
eral Grant q Our march, he wrote: " mas pee"
most agreeable" On the following day Dcee"
Der 18th, Admiral Dahlgren wrote : Inc "ene
raj walked over Fort MeAllister ana came "ooaru
the flagship" few days after :, savanna" 'eii'
Shorn,an had struck his target full in the center.
s"What vii he do with it p was question
ouickly set at rest by this dispatch
,cxx,u December q, 1s6i.-To his Exceency. Presi-
dent Lincoln beg present yon as crst1ls sft the
icntv Of ammunition, and about twenty thousand bales
Pse1t Psdniton SHERMAN"
| This article cannot be appropriately
closed than By appending the familiar song and
chorus. which is in itself brief and suggestive
history of the march
Bring the good old bngle. boys we'll sing another song
Sing il u spirit that will start the world along;
Sing il as used o sing it, ifty thouaand strong
While marching through Georgia.
CHoRUs-
Hurrah hurrah we'll bring the jubilee.
Hurrah hurrahi the flag that makes you free,
So sang the chorus from Atlanta TO tho sea-
While were marching through Georgia.
How the darkeys shoned when they heard the oy sourd
How the turkeys gobhed which commissary fcund
How the sweet potatoes started from the ground
While marching through Georgia.
and there Union who wept with icyful tca
When they the honored a they had years
Hay could they be restrained breaking forth In cheers
While marching through Georgia.
" shermans daslng Yankee boys will never reach the
COAST"
So the saucy rebels said And twas a handsome boast:
Had they not forgot ala- to reckon with the host
While We were marching through Georgia
SO We made thoroughfare for freedom train
sixty mies in latitude. three hundred to the main;
Treason fed before Us, for resistance in vain,
While we were marching through Georgia