William Sherman's copy of George Barnard book with photos of his famous campaign sells for $144,000 at auction; his sword goes for $130,000

Remarkable clouds above railroad destruction in Atlanta (Fleischer's Auctions)

A rare copy of George N. Barnard’s “Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign,” thought to belong to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and signed in 1886 by his son Philemon, was sold at auction Tuesday for $144,000, before a buyer's premium was added.

The Barnard album garnered the highest bid for Sherman-related items in the Fleischer's Auction. 

Notable items from the family, many of whom live in western Pennsylvania, included the general’s copy of the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, with his annotations ($70,000), a trunk and sword $130,000) used early in the Civil War, shoulder straps with rank insignia, photographs of Sherman and his daughter Minnie and a family Bible ($17,000). The insignia sold for $37,000.

The Sherman House Museum in Lancaster, Ohio, said it had acquired the sword. It had asked for donations and pledges to make the purchase.

A map of Sherman’s March to the Sea went for $22,000. All of these prices were before buyer's premiums. With those, according to Fleischer's Auctions, the Sherman lots netted about $600,000.

The Barnard volume -- featuring 10 x 13 inches images -- includes scenes of the occupation of Nashville, the 1864 battles around Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, the Atlanta Campaign, Savannah, Ga., and South Carolina. In May 1866, Barnard traced the route of Sherman's North Georgia campaign, taking pictures at Resaca and elsewhere.

When Barnard arrived in Atlanta he took more, including his famous views of the downtown area that had been burned by the Federals before they left on November 15-16, 1864, says Civil War historian and author Steve Davis. 

Many copies of the volume are held by museums and other institutions.

Keith F. Davis, an expert on Barnard's work, said the volume went for a good but not an extravagant price.

"The buyer was astute and did very well," Davis said in a email, "It is so hard to guess how many complete copies of this are still in private hands, and thus could come on the market in the future, but I suspect the answer is: very, very few. Then you add the "subjective' factor -- the unbeatable provenance -- and the rarity of this album goes up several more notches."

A rare copy of photographer George Barnard's album recording William Sherman's campaign is up for auction. Here's why he was a master of memory and artistry

Rebel works in front of Atlanta and a scene of ruined depot in Charleston (Fleischer's Auctions)

Keith F. Davis recalls visiting a New York City gallery in 1977. On display was the full set of 61 images from George N. Barnard’s “Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign,” a volume that documents the general’s game-changing conquest of Atlanta, Georgia and South Carolina.

What Davis saw set him off on a journey of discovery.

“They were quiet, without obvious action, and many were primarily ‘landscape’ photographs,” he says. “They were more about memory and meditation than ‘action’. All in all, I felt puzzled and challenged by this work, because it didn’t easily conform to what I had expected to see.”

Davis felt challenged by the photographs and began a deep study of them and the man, eventually leading to a book on the subject. Today, Davis is the leading authority on Barnard, who ranks among the top echelon of Civil War photographers – Gardner, O’Sullivan, Cook, Rees, Reekie, Gibson and Brady.

“None of them surpassed Barnard in terms of technical or creative skill,” says Davis (photo, left), a photography curator, author and collector. “It’s hard to say that any one of them was 'the best' but Barnard was second to none.” 

A rare copy of “Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign,” thought to belong to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and signed in 1886 by his son Philemon, will be up for bid during Fleischer’s Auctions’ May 14-15 sale in Columbus, Ohio. (Sherman died in 1891.)

The Barnard album is among the top Sherman-related items in the auction. Notable items from the family, many of whom live in western Pennsylvania, include the general’s copy of the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, with his annotations, a trunk and saber used early in the Civil War, shoulder straps with rank insignia, photographs of Sherman and his daughter Minnie and a family Bible.

“These items … may represent the most important sale of Civil War artifacts in recent memory,” company president Adam Fleischer said in a statement. “It is my sincere hope that through this process, these items will find themselves in the hands of individuals or institutions who will preserve them, ensuring that General Sherman's story endures and continues to enrich our collective understanding of such a pivotal era in American history."

The auction includes relics of the Revolutionary War, the African-American experience (including a broadside used to recruit soldiers during the Civil War) and the Wild West.

Steve Davis, author of several books on the Atlanta Campaign, including “What theYankees Did to Us: Sherman’s Bombardment and Wrecking of Atlanta,” told the Picket that Union Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs took interest in Barnard’s work and asked him to photograph Nashville. The photographer also traveled to Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn.

Barnard, a pioneer in the field, served as the official photographer of the Military Division of the Mississippi, led by Sherman.

On July 28, 1864, Capt. Orlando Poe, Sherman's chief engineer, wired Barnard, "Hold yourself in readiness to take the field if telegraphed to that effect." A few days after Atlanta fell, on September 4, Poe telegraphed Barnard to join him.

“A week or so later -- we're unsure of the date -- Barnard arrived in Atlanta and was soon taking pictures of the city, its surrounding fortifications and the battlefields of July,” said Steve Davis.

Interestingly, a famous Barnard photograph of Sherman astride a horse (above, Library of Congress) is not included in the book.

On October 1, 1864, Sherman wrote his wife Ellen, "I sent you a few days ago some photographs, one of which Duke was very fine. He stood like a gentleman for his portrait, and I like it better than any I ever had taken." Sherman wore formal attire for the camera session – sash, sword and all.

“Barnard's famous picture of him sitting on Duke in a Rebel fort west of the city is iconic,” says Steve Davis (photo, left).

The volume -- featuring 10 x 13 inches images -- includes scenes of the occupation of Nashville, battles around Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain, the Atlanta Campaign, Savannah, Ga., and South Carolina. In May 1866, Barnard traced the route of Sherman's North Georgia campaign, taking pictures at Resaca and elsewhere.

When Barnard arrived in Atlanta he took more, including his famous views of the downtown area that had been burned by the Federals before they left on November 15-16, 1864, says Steve Davis.) Many copies of the volume are held by museums and other institutions.

Charlie Crawford, president emeritus of the Georgia Battlefields Association, said Barnard's contract with the Army called for him to principally take photos of fortifications, and he took many.

“We're lucky that he had time to take photos of the Ponder house, car shed, etc.” says Crawford, who has led many tours of areas that were key in Civil War Atlanta.

“His 1866 photos destroy the myth that all of Atlanta was burned to the ground, since many of the same buildings appear in his 1864 photos,” says Crawford. “As Steve Davis writes in his book, destruction was concentrated along the rail lines, where many of the factories and warehouses were located.”

Remarkable clouds above railroad destruction in Atlanta (Fleischer's Auctions)

The Picket asked Keith F. Davis about Barnard’s techniques, artistry and legacy. He responded by email. The responses have been edited.

Q. What is the significance of this collection of his works? Apparently, relatively few of the volumes were made.

A. In its ambition, seriousness and artistic quality, Barnard’s album is one of the greatest photographic works in American history. Of course, it is one of two comparable productions of the immediate post-Civil War period. Alexander Gardner’s “Sketchbook,” with 100 original albumen prints, was issued in early 1866. Barnard’s “Sherman’s Campaign,” with 61 original prints was completed in the fall of 1866. Both were marketed to a wealthy and elite community of buyers -- largely former Union officers -- and sold by prospectus. Neither of these expensive works was ever intended for anything like “general” or “popular” sale. They were rare, deluxe collectibles, not “books” in any traditional sense. These are very different albums -- they cover different aspects of the war, with no overlap at all, and they cover their respective territories in distinct ways.

Barnard’s album was produced in an original edition of 100 to 150 copies, and priced at $100. Not very many have survived today, intact and in good condition. Some were lost or damaged over the years, and since the 1970s, a significant number have been cut up so that prints could be sold individually.

Q. Why did you choose to write about Barnard? What is his contribution to wartime journalism?

A. I became fascinated by Barnard (photo right by Brady, National Portrait Gallery) in 1977, when I was studying with (curator and art historian) Beaumont Newhall, getting my MA at the University of New Mexico. Dover had just issued a paperback reprint of Barnard’s album, with an introduction by Beaumont. I remember him talking about his work in class. In the summer of 1977, I saw an exhibition of a complete (disbound) “Sherman’s Campaign” album at a gallery in New York City -- perhaps the first time the full set of pictures had ever been displayed. I was struck by the quality of Barnard’s contact prints (made from 12x15” wet-collodion negatives) and, most importantly, by the “weirdness” of the whole set. I thought I knew something about the history of war photography, but these pictures seemed distinctly different from whatever “tradition” I knew. They were quiet, without obvious action, and many were primarily “landscape” photographs. They were more about memory and meditation than “action.” 

All in all, I felt puzzled and challenged by this work, because it didn’t easily conform to what I had expected to see. That triggered a deep fascination for Barnard’s life and work. I ended up getting an NEH research fellowship for this work in 1986, and published my book “George N. Barnard: Photographer of Sherman’s Campaign” in 1990, accompanied by a traveling exhibition in 1990-91. I was completely fascinated by the challenge or “problem” of Barnard and in my dozen or more years of intensive research, ended up greatly expanding what was known about him.

My real understanding of 19^th century American photography in general certainly grew from, and around, this project. (Davis also covered the topic in a Civil War chapter in "The Origins of American Photography: From Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate” below, 2007)

Barnard wasn’t primarily a “photojournalist.” A number of his works were reproduced in the illustrated papers of the day, and some stereographs were sold to a popular market. Primarily, however, he was working as a civilian employee of the Union Army’s Engineering Department, creating images that were primarily used for internal military use.

Of course, these boundaries were fluid: Barnard was friends with Theodore Davis, a skilled sketch artist and writer for “Harper’s Weekly”; he maintained connections to the commercial firm of E. and H. T. Anthony, which marketed war images to the general public; and, of course, he was a self-motivated entrepreneur who conceived, created and marketed his album to the elite audience described above.

Q. Can you speak to his technical and creative skills?

A. Barnard was extremely accomplished in both technical and aesthetic terms. He had been a daguerreotypist for more than a decade, then had worked for the Anthonys in New York City, and for Alexander Gardner in Washington, D.C. So, he was hugely experienced. In the field, he preferred his 12x15” view camera, making negatives of that size, and final prints that trimmed down to about 11x14”. And, as we know, he was an American pioneer in printing-in clouds from a second negative -- there are numerous instances of this in his “Sherman’s Campaign” album.

This technical labor was clearly not needed for strictly “documentary” purposes. Rather, he did it for aesthetic reasons, to make images that were both informative and artistic. And that gets to the key nature of his album. Rather than a “simple” work of documentation, it is instead something more complicated: a factual collection of places/views that combines memory, poetry and artistry in order to evoke something about the war’s justification, its horrific costs, and its relation to American character and values. There is a poetic and essentially literary aspect here that makes this album unusual and special.

Barnard's eerie image of McPherson's death site includes horse skull (Fleischer's Auctions)

In part, the nature of the album is a result of when and how the images were made. Barnard held a number of his original negatives from 1864. Once he decided to proceed with the album, he made a re-photographic trip back over the same ground in the spring of 1866 -- to record sites he had not photographed in 1864 and, in general, to enlarge his visual record of the ground that Sherman had covered.

He only printed-in skies in 1866; earlier prints from the same images exist, and they do not have the printed-in skies. Thus, the album blurs two distinct time frames: the 1864 views with troops visible, defensive works in optimum condition, etc; the 1866 prints of some of those negatives, now with cloudscapes; and the new 1866 views, without any evidence of military presence, of battlefields, defensive works, etc., as they stood a year and a half after the events of the war.

Q. Do you know whether he knew Sherman, and if so, to what extent? I understand Barnard worked for the Army and came to Atlanta soon after the surrender.

Barnard used clouds to bring drama to a scene, such as at an Atlanta fort (Fleischer's Auctions)

A. Barnard certainly knew Sherman, and vice versa, but they were not close friends or associates -- the social gap between general and staff photographer was just too great for that. But we know that Sherman supported Barnard’s project when he heard about it, and wrote a warm letter of endorsement. Barnard was aided in all of this by his superior, Orlando M. Poe, who was Sherman’s chief engineer. Poe supported Barnard consistently: he allowed Barnard to keep some of his wartime negatives for his own postwar use, and in 1866 he contacted Sherman and other generals to promote (and solicit buyers for) Barnard’s album.

Q. Do you have any anecdotes about his time in Atlanta and in the Carolina?

A. Barnard was a distinctly intelligent, ethical and upright man. He supported the Union cause wholeheartedly and was an abolitionist from the start. There is also, however, clear evidence that the death and devastation of the war shocked him to the core. He accompanied Sherman’s troops on the March to the Sea but – notably -- made not a single photograph along the way. They were moving quickly, sure, but if he had really wanted to make images, he could have found a way to do it. This says something to me about his dismay at what he saw Union troops doing along the way.

Capitol in Nashville and view from Lookout Mountain, click to enlarge (Fleischer's Auctions)

Q. Which of the photographs in the book particularly stand out?

A. In terms of my favorite individual images, that’s a bit difficult, since I love the totality of the album, but I have always been particularly fond of:

-- The Capitol, Nashville

-- Chattanooga Valley from Lookout Mountain

-- Scene of Gen McPherson’s Death

-- Rebel Works in Front of Atlanta No. 3

-- Destruction of Hood’s Ordnance Train

-- Ruins of the RR Depot, Charleston

Archaeology students find likely evidence of a brief cavalry skirmish in southern Georgia during Sherman's March to the Sea

A Spencer repeating rifle casing and a toe tap with nails found during recent
excavation near Millen, Ga. (Courtesy of Camp Lawton Archaeological Project)

Archaeology students at a Georgia university have found artifacts that might derive from a skirmish between Union and Confederate cavalry during Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea.

Ryan McNutt, assistant professor of historical archaeology at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, said recent field work yielded fired casings from a Spencer repeating rifle and from a likely Allen & Wheelock .32 Rim fire side hammer revolver, a fired percussion cap, toe caps from footwear and a bridle rosette that matches types used by Union cavalry.

McNutt heads up the school’s Camp Lawton Archaeological Project, which for several years has been researching the remains of a Confederate prison camp that was in operation for several weeks in fall 1864.

In 2020, the university was awarded a $116,247 grant from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program to document and evaluate the archaeological integrity of two skirmish sites near the end of Sherman's campaign in Georgia: Buck Head Creek and Lawton (Lumpkin's) Station.

“Both of these conflicts occurred as the Confederacy attempted to tactically slow, or at least constrain, Sherman’s inexorable approach to southeast Georgia,” McNutt wrote in an email to the Picket.

Round believed to be from .32-caliber rimfire revolver (Camp Lawton Project)

The artifacts were found in the past month near the site of Lawton Station, a Dec. 4 clash that followed fighting at Buck Head Creek. Lawton Station had served the prison camp, which closed a few weeks before these skirmishes.

The Battle of Buck Head Creek on November 28, 1864, involved U.S. Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s and Confederate Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler’s cavalry forces. It took place across what are now Jenkins and Burke counties, a fighting Union withdrawal north from the area around the still-standing Buck Head Creek Church, through Reynold’s Plantation across the course of a day and over approximately three miles of period roads, McNutt said.

Kilpatrick was in the area to destroy railroad between August and Millen and burn a trestle. Another objective was to release the Camp Lawton prisoners, but Union forces discovered they had been moved to other sites. Federal forces were able to destroy a mile of track.

Gens. Judson Kilpatrick and Joseph Wheeler

On the 28^th, Wheeler “almost captured Kilpatrick, and pursued him and his men to Buck Head Creek. As Kilpatrick's main force crossed the creek, one regiment, supported by artillery, fought a rearguard action severely punishing Wheeler and then burned the bridge behind them,” says a National Park Service summary of the fighting. “Wheeler soon crossed and followed, but a Union brigade behind barricades at Reynolds's Plantation halted the Rebels' drive, eventually forcing them to retire.”

The main body of Sherman’s army, notably the 14^th and 20^th corps, approached Millen days later and engaged with Rebel cavalry.

According to McNutt, Capt. S.P. Dobbs and the 9^th Alabama Cavalry burned a bridge at Buck Head Creek Church and fell back to Lawton Station, “where they sheltered under fire for a period before withdrawing into Screven County toward Beaver Dam Creek.” (Lawton Station/Depot is where Federal prisoners were brought to the POW camp a couple months before.)

Front and back of bridle rosette (Camp Lawton Project)

The professor believes some of the Lawton Station fighting occurred with the boundaries of Magnolia Springs State Park, meaning it is protected. Much of the prison site, particularly the section where the guards lived, is inside the park. The Union prisoners lived in an area that is now federal property.

Georgia Southern students used Lidar, a remote sensing method, at the Lawton Station area and will do so again when they get to Buck Head Creek this summer. The aim of the project is to document any surviving above-ground indications of Lawton Station, field fortifications from Buck Head Creek, and historic roads, structures, houses, bridges that would have been used by both Confederate and Union forces throughout both battlefields.

McNutt believes the Lidar found what is believed to be the site of Lawton Station.

Students used metal detectors on an old road that went from the station, past Confederate barracks and the stockade to a larger road that goes north toward Augusta. This is where the artifacts were found.

“This would have been the retreat route of Captain Dobb's Confederate regiment, and the (pursuit) route of the Union cavalry,” McNutt wrote.

POW Robert Knox Sneden's map of prison (Library of Congress)

Beyond the artifacts mentioned above, the project found at Lawton Station “material culture remnants that are more ambiguous, but might be Union in origin.” That includes bits of saddlery and horse tack elements, “implying a greater presence of horse-mounted troops than were stationed at Lawton by the Confederates when it was operating as a prison camp,” McNutt said.

“These are all tantalizing bits of material culture that suggest we're looking at an edge of the skirmish, or at least an area where Union forces were firing at something or someone further along the road. As we progress through the spring field school, we'll fill this picture in more as we finish our search grid, and move up the road to investigate with another systematic metal detector survey the site of Lawton Station itself.”

McNutt concedes there is commingling of artifacts from the operation of the prison camp and the December skirmish. The survey has taken place on the edge of Rebel barracks and what may be an open parade ground.

“But the Spencer and .32-cal rimfire round are really only going to come from Union cavalry, given the Confederacy's inability to manufacture cased ammunition, especially with the copper shortage. I'm pretty confident in saying at a minimum, the Spencer and the .32 round are specific to some kind of engagement, and the bridle rosette is likely to come from that as well.”

“We have a few other ferrous items that I need to investigate in more detail, but a few are potential gun furniture, and there is a possible carbine sling bolt. So in short, there is some comingling, but these items range from being certainly not Confederate in origin, to being ambiguous, and possibly Confederate or Union.”

The professor said Kilpatrick sent troopers to Lawton in late November, but a major did not report any fighting. “I suspect given as deep as they were in Wheeler's turf, with extended (and uncertain) supply lines, conservation of ammunition would have been enforced, so they're unlikely to have just rode into the barracks area guns blazing.

“The more likely possibility is that these are items from that December cavalry skirmish -- but we need more information to be sure, and hopefully we'll know more as we finish up our search area.”

(At left is an adjustable buckle found by metal detector.)

In the meantime, the Camp Lawton Archaeological Project is contacting landowners in the area of Buck Head Creek to obtain permission to do field work there in the summer.

This field work will continue into 2022. McNutt says landowners, anyone interested in volunteering and those who might have collections of artifacts and would like him to take a look should contact him at rmcnutt@georgiasouthern.edu. 

Atlanta on the move: A stone railroad marker that survived the Civil War got a new home while a replica was put in place

Replica Zero Mile Post and interpretive signs in downtown Atlanta (Picket photo)

On Nov. 14, 1864, the eve of the beginning of the March to the Sea, brevet Lt. Col. Orlando Poe, chief engineer of the Military Division of the Mississippi, supervised demolition of the main passenger depot in downtown Atlanta.

Lt. Col. Poe

Poe’s troops used a battering ram to knock out the support columns of the “car shed,” a cooperative venture of the four railroads that served the Georgia city and the Confederacy. The station had been a fixture for about 10 years.

The loss of the structure was just one of many blows to the city when Union Gen. William T. Sherman ordered the destruction of buildings and supplies that could possibly help the Southern cause after his men left town on their campaign to bring the Civil War to civilians.

Not far from the northeast corner of the shed stood a stubby granite post that is associated with the birth of the city. Since 1850, the so-called Zero Mile Post marked the southeastern terminus of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, one of several rail companies vital to the growth of a young Atlanta.

In addition to the car shed, a succeeding depot is long gone. And Zero Mile Post departed in 2018 for a new home at the Atlanta History Center, several miles to the north.

A replica post (right), interpretive panel and revamped metal sign were put in place earlier this year.

The Georgia Building Authority decided to move Zero Mile Post because a building in which it was enclosed needed to be torn down for a viaduct improvement project.

The relocation idea was opposed by the Atlanta City Council and preservation and civic groups, which argued that the landmark should stay put. They complained about the move’s secrecy.

George Barnard's view of the car shed in 1864 (Library of Congress)

The view today (Picket photo)

The history center and the Georgia Building Authority said the relocation would protect the post and improve its accessibility to the public. The authority feared motorists or pedestrians might damage the post because it would be exposed after the building was razed, officials said.

The Georgia Battlefields Association called the debate a “different sort of preservation issue,” given you could see both sides of the argument – while the post’s significance was due to its location, how to protect it once it was out in the open?

Sherman's men destroy track; car shed rubble at right (Library of Congress)

“The mile post had not been routinely accessible in several years since it was in a closed state government building,” the preservation group said in a newsletter this month. “The explanatory historical marker had been in the hard to access basement of a nearby state government building.”

Now, those curious about Zero Mile Post, the Civil War and the city’s rich railroad history can go to two locations, in a scenario that might appear to be a compromise.

(Georgia Battlefields Association)

The original marker (right) is in a gallery at the Atlanta History Center, next to the restored locomotive Texas, famous for its part in the Great Locomotive Chase.

The replica milepost is accessible under the Central Avenue Bridge near its intersection with Wall Street.

The interpretive panel and an updated Georgia Historical Society marker detail the landmark’s significance. Sunlight filters into the dark and dank parking street and parking area where the replica marker juts out from a bed of gravel. (Click here for text of GHS sign)

The building that surrounded the post for three decades was torn down. It had been used as a tourist trolley and police station.

Markers like Zero Mile Post informed train crews where they were along a route. One side of this marker is engraved with "W&A RR OO" – the W & A indicating the Western & Atlantic Railroad and the double-zero designating the beginning of the rail line.

The other side of the marker is engraved “W&A RR 138.” That indicates the 138 miles from downtown Atlanta to the W&A’s endpoint in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The original 800-pound marker measures 7 feet 5 inches, and weighs approximately 800 pounds. That is how the Atlanta History Center displays it, as opposed to 42 inches exposed in its old location.

Mile post before it was enclosed (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Wartime sites, including car shed (Georgia Battlefields Assn.)

Jackson McQuigg, vice president of properties for the Atlanta History Center, said the Georgia Building Authority asked the center to remove the original post.

“It's worth noting that the replica is on the exact spot of the original. GBA surveyors used GPS to locate the original site (where) the old marker was installed; they came back when we installed the replica."

Building that housed Zero Mile Stone has been demolished (Picket photo)

Fort McAllister's 150th was a 'great way' to end the year's events

Members of Confederate gun section  (Courtesy Armory Guards)

Last weekend’s winter muster and battle re-enactment at Fort McAllister State Park in Georgia had an unexpected bonus.

“The most amazing aspect was that there was a meteor shower Saturday night, and we all stood on the parade ground in the fort and watched,” said Herb Coats, a member of the Armory Guards living historian group based in metro Atlanta.

An estimated 1,200 visitors witnessed sesquicentennial events at the site, timed to the day a Union force on the March to the Sea captured the earthen fortifications and opened a vital sea supply line for the army as it lay siege to Savannah.

Armory Guards U.S. contingent before attack along river wall

The Armory Guards portrayed both Confederate and Union soldiers. While Jordan Roberts commanded the former’s Clinch Rifles section, Coats and others re-enacted as members of Company A, 70^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

“We started the skirmish portion of the fort at the exact time it happened in 1864 -- 11 am,” Coats told the Picket. “Also, we made the advance along the river trench line, which hasn't been done since 1864.”

A post on the Armory Guard’s Facebook page said, “It was a successful event for the park, and for the participants. All in all, a great way to end the 2014 season of events.”

Clinch Rifles under fire inside fort (Courtesy Armory Guards)

Park manager Jason Carter said there were nearly 300 re-enactors at the event.

“I just wanted to take a minute and thank everyone that attended the event. It went off almost perfectly, other than the Union pulling off the victory again!” he said in a statement. “I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and maybe got a small glimpse into the past and the history you have right here in your backyard.”

Betrayal at Ebenezer Creek: Deaths of freed slaves in Georgia swamp drew outrage and had repercussions

Ebenezer Creek in Effingham County, Ga. (The Trust for Public Land)

A paddle through bald cypress and water tupelo in Georgia’s Ebenezer Creek is enchanting.

Water storks use their inscrutable eyes to watch for striped bass. American alligators, feed, too, in the National Natural Landmark. Everywhere are the cypress, their swollen trunks and “knees” rising from the murky waters.

Beyond enchanting, says KayakGuide.com, the best remaining cypress-gum swamp forest in the Savannah River basin offers scenes “straight out of Tolkien’s Trilogy.”

But the swamp forest offered no tantalizing respite on Dec. 9, 1864, when Ebenezer Creek became a nightmarish death trap for just-freed slaves.

The refugees had been following a column of Union troops that was quickly advancing on Savannah during Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea.

Confederate horsemen were on their foe's heels, notably rear elements of the 14^th Corps, commanded by Union Brig. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis (not to be confused with the Confederate president).

"Contrabands," or former slaves, during the Civil War (Library of  Congress)

Upon his orders, Union soldiers hastily removed pontoon bridges they had just used to cross Ebenezer Creek.  The stranded slaves were left on their own, effectively betrayed by Davis.

Rebel cavalry under Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler rode into the chaotic scene, swords slashing. Whole families rushed into the water in a bid to escape, and most of the casualties were the result of drowning.

Union Col. Charles D. Kerr of the 16^th Illinois, who would later help raise an outcry over Davis’ decision, wrote that with “cries of anguish and despair, men, women, and children rushed by the hundreds into the turbid stream, and many were drowned before our eyes. From what we learned afterwards of those who remained on land, their fate at the hands of Wheeler’s troops was scarcely to be preferred.”

(State of Georgia)

An historical marker erected in 2010 in this remote area of Effingham County, northwest of Savannah, said that hundreds of the slaves drowned.

While some estimate up to 5,000 were at Ebenezer Creek, no one was making a daily count of those following each Federal column.

“Consequently, it is hard to know how many drowned, how many got across -- some did -- and how many were picked up by Confederate cavalry -- Wheeler reported thousands,” said Charlie Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association, who has toured the site. A few Federal soldiers did try to help the slaves.

Gen. Jefferson Davis

Last week, The Trust for Public Land announced that the historic crossing has been protected for a future greenway park through purchases of private property. For now, there is no public access to the site, save a canoe or kayak ride or private tour.

“The site is especially evocative because there is not much evidence of modern life -- no paved roads or telephone lines,” Crawford told the Picket. “Also, the old road bed is elevated, so you can imagine how the low-lying areas to either side could be swampy after a rain.  For someone who couldn’t swim or was trying to bring along children, the road was the only place to be.”

The horrific incident, which occurred 150 years ago Tuesday, had a dramatic -- if short-lived – impact.

Secretary of War Edwin Stanton met in Savannah with Sherman and African-American church leaders as outrage grew over the Ebenezer Creek incident.

President Lincoln approved Sherman’s Field Order No. 15, confiscating 400,000 acres of coastal property and redistributing it in 40-acre parcels to former slaves. Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, would later rescind the order.

Book: General planned to rid himself of slaves

The Union’s Jefferson Davis had more than his share of notoriety before the Ebenezer Creek debacle.

Two years before the March to the Sea, he was given command of the 14^th Corps during the Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea, Davis shot and killed Union Maj. Gen. William “Bull” Nelson following an argument. He was never charged.

(The Trust for Public Land)

Despite that scandal, Davis was considered a competent officer. He led the corps during the march, finding a need to cross Ebenezer Creek's swollen and wide waters. Mindful of Rebel raiders, his troops set up the pontoon bridges.

A 1998 Civil War Times article argues that Davis was annoyed by the demands of the thousands of freed slaves he was unable to put to work.

Angered by food shortages and the fact the slaves were slowing his march, along with mud that bogged down equipment, the general decided to rid himself of the refugees by having his subordinates tell them to wait to cross.

The soldiers than removed the temporary bridges. A stampede ensued, with some victims crushed in the rush while many more "contrabands" drowned.

Anne Sarah Rubin, in her recent book, “Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and American Memory” writes that Davis had planned such a move. “In no way could the deaths be excused as a product of a quick decision.”

Tour of property in 2012 (Georgia Battlefields Association)

While there is no evidence Sherman knew of the plan, he later defended Davis’ actions as militarily necessary and unavoidable, writes Rubin.

An outraged Maj. James A. Connolly of Illinois wrote about the massacre, and accompanying publicity led Stanton to travel to Savannah. He called the incident an "inhuman, barbarous proceeding."

Davis was neither punished nor reprimanded. Sherman, who himself was hardly progressive on his attitude toward African-Americans, never made any move to bring justice to the freed slaves.

Sherman did issue Field Order No. 15 on Jan. 16, 1865, while his troops occupied Savannah. It punished Southern planters and provided for about 400,000 acres to be distributed to former slaves.

“From Sherman’s perspective the most important priority in issuing the directive was military expediency,” says the New Georgia Encyclopedia. “It served as a means of providing for the thousands of black refugees who had been following his army since its invasion of Georgia. He could not afford to support or protect these refugees while on campaign.”

While the order was scrapped by President Andrew Johnson, its legacy continues because the slave reparations movement has pointed to it as the federal government’s promise to make restitution to blacks for enslavement.

And it’s also the likely origin for the phrase “forty acres and a mule,” which spread throughout the South following the march, according to the encyclopedia.

Dying in the pursuit of freedom

(Georgia Civil War Heritage Trails)

The history of Ebenezer Creek, which flows into the Savannah River near the South Carolina border, starts well before the Civil War. It is near one of the first settlements in the British colony of Georgia.

In 1734, Lutherans escaping religious persecution in Salzburg, Austria, arrived in the 1-year-old town of Savannah looking for a new home,” says Sherpa Guides. Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe directed the group approximately 30 miles up the Savannah River to Ebenezer Creek.

Ebenezer was around for a few decades but the town was heavily damaged during the American Revolution and the county seat was moved to Springfield, Ga. Very little is left of the settlement.

The city of Springfield has been interested in a recreational greenway, and preservationists and the federal and state government supported its move to acquire the Civil War property as part of the project.

The 275-acre parcel was purchased with a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant of $400,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The money went through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, according to the Savannah Morning News.

(The Trust for Public Land)

An additional $100,000 came from the Trust for Public Land, from donations by the R. Howard Dobbs Jr. Foundation and the Knobloch Family Foundation.

The purchase protects two miles of rivers and streams.

“The city of Springfield is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Ebenezer crossing property,” says Mayor Barton Alderman. “This purchase will be important for Springfield, Effingham County and the State of Georgia due to the historical and cultural nature of the property.

“It has been our dream to preserve Ebenezer Creek’s natural beauty for the enjoyment of future generations. Our hope is that the Creek will remain as it is now, bringing tourists to enjoy the peace and serenity of the area.”

Curt Soper, Georgia and Alabama director for the Trust for Public Land, said the “significance of the Ebenezer crossing is immense and this land is protected in memory of the many lives that were lost here 150 years ago in the pursuit of freedom.”

There is no legal access to the property yet, Soper tells the Picket, because it is surrounded by private land.

“The city of Springfield expects to work on this in the future, but the site is not ready for unfettered public access just yet,” he says. “It is easier to paddle by the site in a canoe or kayak as there is a boat launch nearby on the Savannah River at the mouth of Ebenezer Creek.

Alderman told the Savannah newspaper that if the city can gain access, parking and restrooms might be built.

Michael Thurmond

A Georgia Historical Society and Georgia Department of Economic Development marker sits along a road about a mile from the pontoon crossing site. It was dedicated in 2010.

Among the speakers was Michael Thurmond, former Georgia labor commissioner. He is the author of “Freedom: Georgia's Antislavery Heritage, 1733-1865.”

Thurmond told the crowd, “We come to commemorate, consecrate and celebrate the nameless and faceless heroes and heroines, the men, women and children, who sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of the precious commodity called freedom,” Thurmond said.

Steve Longcrier, head of the nonprofit Georgia Civil War Heritage Trails, said his organization is developing an interpretive sign that will be installed next to Ebenezer Creek.

“The public awareness of that significant historic site is far-reaching,” says Longcrier.