When General William Tecumseh Sherman started his devastating march through Georgia in November of 1864, Captain James Royal Ladd, twenty-eight years old, an adjutant in the 113th Ohio Volunteers, was one of the sixty-two thousand tough veterans in his army. The huge force swept diagonally across the state, meeting little opposition, foraging, plundering, and burning as it went. When Lincoln was asked where Sherman was heading, he said “I know the hole he went in at, but I can’t tell you what hole he will come out of. “Savannah proved to be Sherman ‘s objective. During the short siege that preceded the fall ofthat city, Ladd wrote an account of the month-long trek to his wtfe, Mary, telling the whole story with a casual, even cheerful brutality. This unusually frank diary came to the attention of AMERICAN HERITAGE through Captain Ladd ‘s granddaughter, Ruth Ladd Pierson.

Head Qrs, 113th Ohio Vol., in the field 3 miles north of Savannah, Ga., Dec. 14th, 1864.

Full Story >>