Sherman's March to be re-enacted at Fort McAllister
On Dec. 13, Fort McAllister State Park will host its largest Civil War re-enactment — exactly 150 years after Gen. William T. Sherman ended his March to the Sea by overtaking the fort.
Winter Muster is expected to bring more than 300 re-enactors and 1,000 visitors to the park south of Savannah, with additional public events planned for Dec. 11 and 12 as well.
The three-day commemoration begins Thursday, Dec. 11, as Union soldiers set up camp at the Richmond Hill Museum and answer visitors' questions about the upcoming battle. On Friday, Dec. 12, soldiers will march from the intersection of Georgia Highway 144 and Fort McAllister Road to the park, setting up camp when they arrive.
By 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, the fort will be filled with Confederate soldiers as they prepare for the battle they know is coming. Throughout the day, visitors can watch skirmishes between Union and Confederate troops as they fire muskets and cannons. Guests can also walk among the earthworks and tour a Civil War museum. Then at 5 p.m., the same time that the actual battle occurred 150 years ago, visitors can watch Union forces breach the fort and take Confederates as prisoners.
When Union troops took control of Fort McAllister in 1864, they marked the end of Sherman's March to the Sea and enabled him to present Savannah as a Christmas gift to President Abraham Lincoln.
"Fort McAllister is a very significant part of Georgia's history, and we're especially pleased that our annual Winter Muster falls on the exact date of the original battle," said Park Manager Jason Carter. "This event is expected to bring in a large number of visitors to the Richmond Hill and Savannah areas, so it's good for tourism. They will be dining and shopping at local businesses and making a positive impact on our community."
Fort McAllister State Park is located on the Ogeechee River with beautiful low-country scenery. Admission to Winter Muster is $6. Visitors can stay overnight in cabins or the campground with advance reservations. Popular activities include fishing, boating, hiking, biking, geocaching, birding and nature photography. To learn more about the park and Winter Muster, visit www.GaStateParks.org/fortmcallister or call (912) 727-2339. Overnight reservations can be made by calling (800) 864-7275.
—Special to the Herald
On Dec. 4, 1864, Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea was in full swing.
Approaching Statesboro that day 150 years ago, "a strong party of mounted foragers from Hazen's division, 15th Corps, on the right of Gen. Sherman's army on its destructive March to the Sea, was attacked by a detachment of Confederate cavalry and driven back to the protection of Hazen's marching column," according to a new historical marker placed Thursday afternoon in exactly the same spot as the original one marking the "Skirmish at Statesboro" was placed.
The ground where this took place is today known as Northside Drive West, and the largest landmarks are Food World and a small strip shopping center next to the supermarket.
The original marker was placed in 1958 by the Georgia Historical Commission, said Joe McGlamery, the president of the Bulloch County Historical Society, as well as the president of the Statesboro Herald.
It was one of many the agency erected across the state in an effort to have them ready for the 1961 centennial of the Civil War, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Virginia Anne Franklin Waters, the historical society's project coordinator, said that when she contacted state Sen. Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, who happens to be a cousin of hers, Hill explained that the state has no money to restore historical markers that it had previously erected.
The AJC reported that in 1973, when the Georgia Historical Commission was disbanded, the state Department of Natural Resources took over the markers. Then in 1998, the Georgia Historical Society took over after the state stopped erecting and maintaining the markers.
So, Waters made sure the Bulloch County Historical Society had permission to restore the marker to its original location because it is state property, and she was assured that was not a problem. The society paid less than $1,000 to replace the marker and "preserve some very important history in Bulloch County," she said.
Her husband, Bill Waters, a Bulloch County Historical Society board member, said that when the Union army marched through the area and even nearly 100 years later when the original marker was installed, "there were no buildings here."
"There certainly wasn't this pole," he said, pointing to a tall utility pole just a few feet from the marker, as a large tractor trailer drove by on the four-lane highway. "We did not make the selection of this site based on how wonderful it looks, etc."
The real fireworks - literally - came after Waters and historical society Program Vice President Brent Tharp unveiled the marker.
That was when the Sons of Confederate Veterans took over, some dressed in Confederate uniforms, two holding muskets and two others handling a cannon.
To mark the occasion, honoring the six Confederate soldiers killed during the Statesboro skirmish, Sons of Confederate Veterans members set up a Southern Cross of Honor, consisting of four swords and a Bible, just in front of the historical marker.
George King, the commander of the Gen. Robert A. Toombs Camp, explained that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs places Southern Crosses of Honor on the grave markers of Confederate soldiers only.
After King was finished speaking, the two muskets were fired three times, followed by the cannon, also three times, as a salute to the soldiers who gave their lives.
"We represent the descendants of Confederate soldiers from around this area," said Mike Mull, the acting commander of the Georgia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, noting that members from the Ogeechee Rifles Camp 941 of Bulloch County and several other Sons of Confederate Veterans camps around southeast Georgia were present for the commemoration of the Skirmish at Statesboro.
"Nothing gives me more pride than to stand up here and represent my ancestors who fought for Southern independence," he said.
Jason Wermers may be reached at (912) 489-9431.