Feb. 16, 1865 |
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Bridge, and reached the State road at Zeigler's. They found the Confederates in strong force at a bridge over the Congaree Creek, which was defended by a heavy battery on the north side, that swept it, and a weaker one at the head of the bridge, on the south side.
This tete-du-pont was turned by the division of General C. R. Woods, by sending Stone's brigade through a cypress swamp on the left.
The Confederates fled after trying in vain to burn the bridge.
Over it the main column of the Fifteenth passed, and bivouacked that night near the great bridge that spans the Congaree, in front of Columbia, where the Confederates, in and around that city, shelled them.
That bridge was burned the next morning
by the occupants of Columbia, when the National vanguard approached it.
In the mean time the left wing of the army, under Slocum, had pushed steadily forward some distance to the westward of the right, but with the same destination, Columbia.
For awhile Augusta trembled with fear as his host passed by; and the troops for its defense were kept on the alert day and night.
But Slocum was very little troubled excepting by Wheeler's cavalry; and those troopers were kept too busy by Kilpatrick to be very mischievous.
Through the swamps and across the streams he trudged on, by Barnwell, Windom and Lexington, for the Saluda (which, with the Broad River, forms the Congaree at Columbia), hearing now and then of the approach of troops from the westward.
Beauregard and Bragg had, in turn and in conjunction, tried in vain to thwart Sherman's plans, and the Conspirators, in their despair, had turned to General Johnston as their only hope for the maintenance of their cause below the Roanoke.
That able officer was now again in command in that region, and at the time we are considering, Cheatham was moving from Northern Mississippi with the remnant of Hood's army, with orders to get in front of Sherman, and, in co-operation with Hardee at Charleston, arrest his progress through South Carolina.
But Sherman's movements were too rapid to allow Cheatham to execute his order, and the National army was at Columbia before any of Hood's men appeared.
Slocum had not been molested by them, and he arrived upon the banks of the Saluda, a few miles from Columbia, at almost the same hour when Howard reached it, after the burning of the bridge over the Congaree.
The Nationals had tried to save that fine structure, but failed.
They could see the inhabitants hastening about the streets,1 and occasional squads of cavalry.
Upon the latter a single gun of De Grass's battery fired.
But this Sherman checked, and limited him to a few shots at the unfinished State House.2
1 “Terrible, meanwhile, was the press, the shock, the rush, the hurry, the universal confusion — such as might naturally be looked for in the circumstances of a city from which thousands were preparing to fly without previous preparations for flight — burdened with pale and trembling women, their children, and portable chattels, trunks and jewels, family bibles, and the lares familieres. The railroad depot for Charlotte was crowded with anxious waiters upon the train, with a wilderness of luggage--millions, perhaps, in value — much of which was finally lost. The citizens fared badly. The Governments of the State and of the Confederacy absorbed all the modes of conveyance.” --Sack and Destruction of the City of Columbia, page 10.
2 The author of the little pamphlet above quoted, speaks of this firing as if a regular bombardment of the. city had occurred. He says the shells “fell thick and fast about the town ;” and he complains that “no summons to surrender had been made; no warning of any kind was given.” I have recorded in the text substantially what Sherman says on the subject, in his report. The author above quoted says: “The damage was comparatively slight. The new capitol was struck five times, but suffered little or no injury.” That building was commenced sometime before the war, and was designed to be the finest structure of the kind in the Union, and the most costly. It is of light-colored granite, with the surface smooth from base to roof. Its order of architecture is pure Corinthian throughout. It was not more than half completed when the war broke out, and labor upon it ceased. The picture on the next page shows it as it will appear when finished.
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