he requested a court-martial for Brig. Gen. Jerome B. Robertson, who had been charged with "incompetency" by his division commander.) McLaws also wrote to Cooper on December 30, disputing Longstreet's charges and requesting a court-martial to clear his name. Cooper forwarded Longstreet's letter to Secretary of War James Seddon and to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, with the annotation that Longstreet was not authorized to relieve and reassign officers under his command without a formal court-martial. Davis ordered the court-martial of both generals, although he opposed relieving McLaws until a successor could be appointed. The courts-martial of Robertson and McLaws convened in Morristown, Tennessee, on February 12, 1864, with Maj. Gen. Simon B. Buckner serving as president of the court. The proceedings suffered delays as witnesses—including Longstreet—were not available to appear as scheduled, in some cases because Longstreet granted them leaves of absence. Cooper's office published the court's findings on May 5, exonerating him on the first two specifications of neglect of duty, but finding him guilty of the third—"failing in the details of his attack to make arrangements essential to his success." McLaws was sentenced to 60 days without rank or command, but Cooper overturned the verdict and sentence, citing fatal flaws in the procedures of the court, ordering McLaws to return to duty with his division. However, on May 18, McLaws was assigned by the War Department to the Defenses of Savannah in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. McLaws was bitter about his fate, claiming that Longstreet had used him as a scapegoat for the failed Knoxville Campaign. Writing in his memoirs many years after the war, Longstreet expressed regret that he had filed charges against McLaws, which he described as happening "in an unguarded moment." In time, the animosity healed between the two Confederate veterans, but McLaws never fully forgave Longstreet for his actions. McLaws left the First Corps, and since Lee would not accept him for command in Virginia, he proceeded to Savannah, which he was unable to defend successfully against Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's March to the Sea in late 1864. McLaws next saw active service opposing Sherman's advance into the Carolinas. At the Battle of Rivers' Bridge on February 2, 1865, his command resisted the advance of the Army of the Tennessee into South Carolina. His forces delayed the Federal crossing of the Salkehatchie River until they found other crossings and