The Capture of Columbia, South Carolina in the Civil War

 

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Civil War Harper's Weekly, April 8, 1865

This site features our online version of the Harper's Weekly newspapers published during the Civil War. These papers have a wealth of incredible details on the conflict, including news reports and illustrations created by eye-witnesses to the historic events depicted. We hope you enjoy browsing this online resource.

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Columbia

Columbia, South Carolina

Amnesty

Amnesty

Fort Steadman

Battle of Fort Steadman

General Barnum

General Barnum

Navy Yard

Ruins of Norfolk Navy Yard

Freshets

Spring Freshets

Rochester Flood

Rochester Flood

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Battle of the Salkehatchie

Columbia, South Carolina

Sherman Burning Columbia, South Carolina

Montevideo

Montevideo, Uruguay

 

 

 

 

VOL. IX.—No. 432.]

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1865.

[SINGLE COPIES TEN CENTS. $4,00 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Year I865, by Harper & Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.


THE FIFTEENTH CORPS CROSSING THE SOUTH EDISTO.—[SKETCHED BY DAVIS.]

THE WEIGHT OF THE FEDERAL
ARMIES.

THE armies of the Union are bearing down heavily upon Richmond—the great military centre upon which the revolutionists have drawn back for their last convulsive efforts against the United States Government. For almost a year Lieutenant-General GRANT has confronted the principal army of the Confederacy with a force so strong as to make any depletion of that army perilous to the safety of Richmond. Not for one moment has the tenacity of his hold been relaxed ; even the old move of the rebels down the Valley against Washington proved ineffectual to turn him from the gates of the doomed capital. How long he might have to wait thus he knew not, but he knew that he was compelling the concentration of the best portion of the rebel force against himself, and that the battles which SHERMAN was conducting in the West would have to be fought without any help from ROBERT E. LEE. He knew that from the battle of Donelson the advance of our Western armies had been a series of flank movements on Richmond. The movement of HOOD northward after the capture of Atlanta and his defeat by THOMAS was the turning-point in our favor. From that point the great flank movement under SHERMAN progressed with almost incredible velocity, meeting with no considerable resistance, from Atlanta to Savannah, and thence into North Carolina.

The rebels may compare this movement to the flight of an arrow, if they please, but it was none the less a successful flank movement on Richmond. Besides, it was not like the flight of an arrow, except in the matter of ease and velocity. It has secured our possession of all the sea-ports and all the great rivers of the South. It has completely destroyed the Georgia and South Carolina systems of railroads; and it has effected these great objects, for which a

dozen battles might well have been fought, without a single important struggle.

But SHERMAN'S and GRANT'S armies are not the only ones available in the combinations against Richmond. There is SHERIDAN'S splendid corps of cavalry already with GRANT ; there is HANCOCK'S veteran corps, which, with the army of Western Virginia, constitutes a formidable army north of Richmond; and it is not impossible that the force which THOMAS has been organizing in the vicinity of Eastport will also take part in this final struggle of the war. We have, it is true, in the earlier stages of the war, had in the field a larger number of men than we now have, and we have before formed combinations which in themselves were quite as formidable as those now forming. But power is measured by resistance : and in order to estimate the weight of the armies now operating against LEE, it must be considered how weak is the resistance which he can oppose to them. In some sort this power of resistance has been tested. For, even if we allow that for the sake of concentration it was better for BEAUREGARD, BRAGG, and HARDEE to fall back into co-operation with LEE, it still remains true that this concentration has not enabled JOHNSTON to resist even SCHOFIELD's column with any success. And the test thus afforded is a fair one, for there was the opportunity to fight SCHOFIELD alone ; and it was most desirable that he should be defeated before he should be joined by SHERMAN.

The battle of last Saturday before Petersburg shows what LEE may hope to accomplish by hurling his columns against GRANT'S fortifications. His loss upon that occasion more than decimated his army. Half a dozen more such battles would leave him no army to fight with. In a few days it will no longer be an exaggeration to speak of Richmond as besieged. To prevent this complete in- (Next Page)

RAISING THE STARS AND STRIPES OVER THE CAPITOL AT COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA. - [SKETCHED BY DAVIS]

Picture
The South Edisto River
Columbia South Carolina in the Civil War

We acquired this leaf for the purpose of digitally preserving it for your research and enjoyment.  If you would like to acquire the original 140+ year old Harper's Weekly leaf we used to create this page, it is available for a price of $195.  Your purchase allows us to continue to archive more original material. For more information, contact paul@sonofthesouth.net


 

 

  

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