1863:  
Skirmish at Fayette, Mississippi


1864:  
Skirmish at Franklin Creek, Mississippi


Operations against Fort Fisher, North Carolina

December 22, 1864

Sherman presents Lincoln with a Christmas gift
Union General William T. Sherman presents the city of Savannah, Georgia, to President Lincoln. Sherman captured Georgia's largest city after his famous "March to the Sea" from Atlanta. Savannah had been one of the last major ports that remained open to the Confederates.

After Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864, he did not plan to stay for long. There was still the Confederate army of General John Bell Hood in the area, and cavalry leaders like Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joe Wheeler, who could threaten Sherman's supply lines. In November, Sherman dispatched part of his force back to Nashville, Tennessee, to deal with Hood while Sherman cut free from his supply lines and headed south and east across Georgia. Along the way, his troops destroyed nearly everything that lay in their path. Sherman's intent was to wreck the morale of the South and bring the war to a swift end.

For nearly six weeks, nothing was heard from Sherman's army. Finally, just before Christmas, word arrived that Sherman's army was outside Savannah. A Union officer reached the coast and found a Union warship that carried him to Washington to personally deliver news of the success. Sherman wired Lincoln with the message, "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton."



Primary sources:
Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion ; by Frederick Dyer;
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865 by E. B. Long with Barbara Long;
National Archives Guide Index

A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT.
"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 1862.

"To the Army of the Potomac;

"I have just read your Commanding General's preliminary report of the battle of Fredericksburg. Although you were not successful, the attempt was not an error, nor the failure other than an accident. The courage with which you, in an open field, maintained the contest against an intrenched foe, and the consummate skill and success with which you crossed and recrossed the river in the face of the enemy, show that you possess all the qualities of a great army which will yet give victory to the cause of the country and of popular government. Condoling with the mourners for the dead and sympathizing with the severely wounded, I congratulate you that the number of both is comparatively so small. I tender to you, officers and soldiers, the thanks of the nation.

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1863/january/lincoln-fredericksburg.htm

That Lincoln letter was sortta' like cutting off your leg and then trying to fix it with a one inch band-aid. I understand what Lincoln was trying to do to "perk up the boys" but, I fear it was a drop of rain in the ocean to the men who fought there. the men knew their leaders had been idiots for quite some time.