November 29th the “boys” kept Thanksgiving upon the luxuries of Georgia plantations. The Ogeehee was crossed on November 30th. It is a stream sixty yards wide, where the troops passed over on a bridge which was put in repair, and with pontoons. In a sketch from a reliable source, we have an explanation of the false charge made by a distinguished orator against General Sherman, that he removed a bridge, and left unprotected negroes to the enemy. He knew nothing of the sad affair when it occurred: “From the time we left Atlanta, with fifty or one hundred contrabands, the ‘colored brigades’ continued to swell in numbers until we arrived at the Ogeechee River, when fully ten thousand were attached to the various columns. They represented all shades and conditions, from the almost white housemaid servant, worth $15,000 in rebel currency, to the tar black, pock-marked cotton picker, who never crosses massa’s door sill. A very large majority of them were women and children, who, mounted on mules, sometimes five on an animal, in ox wagons, buggies, and vehicles of every description, blocked the roads and materially delayed the movement of the columns. It was no unusual sight to behold a slave mother carrying two young children and leading a third, who, in a half nude state, trudged along the thorny path to freedom. Columns could be written descriptive of the harrowing scenes presented by this unfortunate class of fugitives. So much difficulty did General Davis find in moving his column, that at the Ogeechee River, as a military necessity, he placed a guard at the bridge, who halted the caravan of contrabands until the rear of the column passed, and then removed the pontoon. The negroes, however, not to be frustrated, constructed a foot-bridge and crossed. Next day the column had its full complement of negroes. “Arriving at Ebenezer Creek, the same method was taken to clear the column, with better success. The creek runs through a half mile of swamp, which is covered by water, and can only be crossed by a narrow bridge. This bridge was taken up, and the moment our forces disappeared the brutal Wheeler was in our rear. Next day only a few darkies came up. Another day passed and still fully two-thirds were missing. Inquiries elicited the information that Wheeler, on finding the defenceless negroes blocked, drove them pellmell into the water, where those who escaped say they struggled to reach the opposite bank, amidst heartrending shrieks; but most of the mothers went down in the water with their children clasped to their bosoms, while Wheeler and his inhuman band looked on with demoniac smiles. How far true this may be I know not, but all the negroes who escaped, with whom I have talked, seem to agree in their account of the hellish slaughter.”