During the 16th of February the Fifteenth Corps reached the point

opposite Columbia, and pushed on for the Saluda Factory three miles

above, crossed that stream, and the head of column reached Broad

River just in time to find its bridge in flames, Butler's cavalry

having just passed over into Columbia. The head of Slocum's column

also reached the point opposite Columbia the same morning, but the

bulk of his army was back at Lexington. I reached this place early

in the morning of the 16th, met General Slocum there; and explained

to him the purport of General Order No. 26, which contemplated the

passage of his army across Broad River at Alston, fifteen miles

above Columbia. Riding down to the river-bank, I saw the wreck of

the large bridge which had been burned by the enemy, with its many

stone piers still standing, but the superstructure gone. Across

the Congaree River lay the city of Columbia, in plain, easy view.

I could see the unfinished State-House, a handsome granite

structure, and the ruins of the railroad depot, which were still

smouldering. Occasionally a few citizens or cavalry could be seen

running across the streets, and quite a number of negroes were

seemingly busy in carrying off bags of grain or meal, which were

piled up near the burned depot.

Captain De Gres had a section of his twenty-pound Parrott guns

unlimbered, firing into the town. I asked him what he was firing

for; he said he could see some rebel cavalry occasionally at the

intersections of the streets, and he had an idea that there was a

large force of infantry concealed on the opposite bank, lying low,

in case we should attempt to cross over directly into the town. I

instructed him not to fire any more into the town, but consented to

his bursting a few shells near the depot, to scare away the negroes

who were appropriating the bags of corn and meal which we wanted,

also to fire three shots at the unoccupied State-House. I stood by

and saw these fired, and then all firing ceased. Although this

matter of firing into Columbia has been the subject of much abuse

and investigation, I have yet to hear of any single person having

been killed in Columbia by our cannon. On the other hand, the

night before, when Woods's division was in camp in the open fields

at Little Congaree, it was shelled all night by a rebel battery

from the other aide of the river. This provoked me much at the

time, for it was wanton mischief, as Generals Beauregard and

Hampton must have been convinced that they could not prevent our

entrance into Columbia. I have always contended that I would have

been justified in retaliating for this unnecessary act of war, but

did not, though I always characterized it as it deserved.

The night of the 16th I camped near an old prison bivouac opposite

Columbia, known to our prisoners of war as "Camp Sorghum," where

remained the mud-hovels and holes in the ground which our prisoners

had made to shelter themselves from the winter's cold and the

summer's heat. The Fifteenth Corps was then ahead, reaching to

Broad River, about four miles above Columbia; the Seventeenth Corps

was behind, on the river-bank opposite Columbia; and the left wing

and cavalry had turned north toward Alston.

The next morning, viz., February 17th, I rode to the head of

General Howard's column, and found that during the night he had

ferried Stone's brigade of Woods's division of the Fifteenth

Corps across by rafts made of the pontoons, and that brigade was

then deployed on the opposite bank to cover the construction of a

pontoon-bridge nearly finished.

I sat with General Howard on a log, watching the men lay this

bridge; and about 9 or 10 A.M. a messenger came from Colonel Stone

on the other aide, saying that the Mayor of Columbia had come out

of the city to surrender the place, and asking for orders. I

simply remarked to General Howard that he had his orders, to let

Colonel Stone go on into the city, and that we would follow as soon

as the bridge was ready. By this same messenger I received a note

in pencil from the Lady Superioress of a convent or school in

Columbia, in which she claimed to have been a teacher in a convent

in Brown County, Ohio, at the time my daughter Minnie was a pupil

there, and therefore asking special protection. My recollection

is, that I gave the note to my brother-in-law, Colonel Ewing, then

inspector-general on my staff, with instructions to see this lady,

and assure her that we contemplated no destruction of any private

property in Columbia at all.

As soon as the bridge was done, I led my horse over it, followed by

my whole staff. General Howard accompanied me with his, and

General Logan was next in order, followed by General C. R. Woods,

and the whole of the Fifteenth Corps. Ascending the hill, we soon

emerged into a broad road leading into Columbia, between old fields

of corn and cotton, and, entering the city, we found seemingly all

its population, white and black, in the streets. A high and

boisterous wind was prevailing from the north, and flakes of cotton

were flying about in the air and lodging in the limbs of the trees,

reminding us of a Northern snow-storm. Near the market-square we

found Stone's brigade halted, with arms stacked, and a large detail

of his men, along with some citizens, engaged with an old

fire-engine, trying to put out the fire in a long pile of burning

cotton-bales, which I was told had been fired by the rebel cavalry

on withdrawing from the city that morning. I know that, to avoid

this row of burning cotton-bales, I had to ride my horse on the

sidewalk. In the market-square had collected a large crowd of

whites and blacks, among whom was the mayor of the city, Dr.

Goodwin, quite a respectable old gentleman, who was extremely

anxious to protect the interests of the citizens. He was on foot,

and I on horseback, and it is probable I told him then not to be

uneasy, that we did not intend to stay long, and had no purpose to

injure the private citizens or private property. About this time I

noticed several men trying to get through the crowd to speak with

me, and called to some black people to make room for them; when

they reached me, they explained that they were officers of our

army, who had been prisoners, had escaped from the rebel prison and

guard, and were of course overjoyed to find themselves safe with

us. I told them that, as soon as things settled down, they should

report to General Howard, who would provide for their safety, and

enable them to travel with us. One of them handed me a paper,

asking me to read it at my leisure; I put it in my breast-pocket

and rode on. General Howard was still with me, and, riding down

the street which led by the right to the Charleston depot, we found

it and a large storehouse burned to the ground, but there were, on

the platform and ground near by, piles of cotton bags filled with

corn and corn-meal, partially burned.

A detachment of Stone's brigade was guarding this, and separating

the good from the bad. We rode along the railroad-track, some

three or four hundred yards, to a large foundery, when some man

rode up and said the rebel cavalry were close by, and he warned us

that we might get shot. We accordingly turned back to the

market-square, and en route noticed that, several of the men were

evidently in liquor, when I called General Howard's attention to

it. He left me and rode toward General Woods's head of column,

which was defiling through the town. On reaching the

market-square, I again met Dr. Goodwin, and inquired where he

proposed to quarter me, and he said that he had selected the house

of Blanton Duncan, Esq., a citizen of Louisville, Kentucky, then a

resident there, who had the contract for manufacturing the

Confederate money, and had fled with Hampton's cavalry. We all

rode some six or eight squares back from the new State-House, and

found a very good modern house, completely furnished, with stabling

and a large yard, took it as our headquarters, and occupied it

during our stay. I considered General Howard as in command of the

place, and referred the many applicants for guards and protection

to him. Before our headquarters-wagons had got up, I strolled

through the streets of Columbia, found sentinels posted at the

principal intersections, and generally good order prevailing, but

did not again return to the main street, because it was filled with

a crowd of citizens watching the soldiers marching by.

During the afternoon of that day, February 17th, the whole of the

Fifteenth Corps passed through the town and out on the Camden and

Winnsboro' roads. The Seventeenth Corps did not enter the city at

all, but crossed directly over to the Winnsboro' road from the

pontoon bridge at Broad River, which was about four miles above the

city.

After we had got, as it were, settled in Blanton Duncan's house,

say about 2 p.m., I overhauled my pocket according to custom, to

read more carefully the various notes and memoranda received during

the day, and found the paper which had been given me, as described,

by one of our escaped prisoners. It proved to be the song of

"Sherman's March to the Sea," which had been composed by Adjutant

S. H. M. Byers, of the Fifth Iowa Infantry, when a prisoner in the

asylum at Columbia, which had been beautifully written off by a

fellow-prisoner, and handed to me in person. This appeared to me

so good that I at once sent for Byers, attached him to my staff,

provided him with horse and equipment, and took him as far as

Fayetteville, North Carolina, whence he was sent to Washington as

bearer of dispatches. He is now United States consul at Zurich,

Switzerland, where I have since been his guest. I insert the song

here for convenient reference and preservation. Byers said that

there was an excellent glee-club among the prisoners in Columbia,

who used to sing it well, with an audience often of rebel ladies:

SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.

Composed by Adjutant Byers, Fifth Iowa Infantry. Arranged and sung

by the Prisoners in Columbia Prison.

I

Our camp-fires shone bright on the mountain

That frowned on the river below,

As we stood by our guns in the morning,

And eagerly watched for the foe;

When a rider came out of the darkness

That hung over mountain and tree,

And shouted, "Boys, up and be ready!

For Sherman will march to the sea!"

CHORUS:

Then sang we a song of our chieftain,

That echoed over river and lea;

And the stars of our banner shone brighter

When Sherman marched down to the sea!

II

Then cheer upon cheer for bold Sherman

Went up from each valley and glen,

And the bugles reechoed the music

That came from the lips of the men;

For we knew that the stars in our banner

More bright in their splendor would be,

And that blessings from Northland world greet us,

When Sherman marched down to the sea!

Then sang we a song, etc.

III

Then forward, boys! forward to battle!

We marched on our wearisome way,

We stormed the wild hills of Resacar

God bless those who fell on that day!

Then Kenesaw frowned in its glory,

Frowned down on the flag of the free;

But the East and the West bore our standard,

And Sherman marched on to the sea!

Then sang we a song, etc.

IV

Still onward we pressed, till our banners

Swept out from Atlanta's grim walls,

And the blood of the patriot dampened

The soil where the traitor-flag falls;

But we paused not to weep for the fallen,

Who slept by each river and tree,

Yet we twined them a wreath of the laurel,

As Sherman marched down to the sea!

Then sang we a song, etc.

V

Oh, proud was our army that morning,

That stood where the pine darkly towers,

When Sherman said, "Boys, you are weary,

But to-day fair Savannah is ours!"

Then sang we the song of our chieftain,

That echoed over river and lea,

And the stars in our banner shone brighter

When Sherman camped down by the sea!

Toward evening of February 17th, the mayor, Dr. Goodwin, came to my

quarters at Duncan's house, and remarked that there was a lady in

Columbia who professed to be a special friend of mine. On his

giving her name, I could not recall it, but inquired as to her

maiden or family name. He answered Poyas. It so happened that,

when I was a lieutenant at Fort Moultrie, in 1842-'46, I used very

often to visit a family of that name on the east branch of Cooper

River, about forty miles from Fort Moultrie, and to hunt with the

son, Mr. James Poyas, an elegant young fellow and a fine sportsman.

His father, mother, and several sisters, composed the family, and

were extremely hospitable. One of the ladies was very fond of

painting in water-colors, which was one of my weaknesses, and on

one occasion I had presented her with a volume treating of

water-colors. Of course, I was glad to renew the acquaintance, and

proposed to Dr. Goodwin that we should walk to her house and visit

this lady, which we did. The house stood beyond the Charlotte

depot, in a large lot, was of frame, with a high porch, which was

reached by a set of steps outside. Entering this yard, I noticed

ducks and chickens, and a general air of peace and comfort that was

really pleasant to behold at that time of universal desolation; the

lady in question met us at the head of the steps and invited us

into a parlor which was perfectly neat and well furnished. After

inquiring about her father, mother, sisters, and especially her

brother James, my special friend, I could not help saying that I

was pleased to notice that our men had not handled her house and

premises as roughly as was their wont. "I owe it to you, general,"

she answered. "Not at all. I did not know you were here till a

few minutes ago." She reiterated that she was indebted to me for

the perfect safety of her house and property, and added, "You

remember, when you were at our house on Cooper River in 1845, you

gave me a book;" and she handed me the book in question, on the fly

leaf of which was written: "To Miss Poyas, with the compliments of

W. T. Sherman, First-lieutenant Third Artillery." She then

explained that, as our army approached Columbia, there was a doubt

in her mind whether the terrible Sherman who was devastating the

land were W. T. Sherman or T. W. Sherman, both known to be generals

in the Northern army; but, on the supposition that he was her old

acquaintance, when Wade Hampton's cavalry drew out of the city,

calling out that the Yankees were coming, she armed herself with

this book, and awaited the crisis. Soon the shouts about the

markethouse announced that the Yankees had come; very soon men were

seen running up and down the streets; a parcel of them poured over

the fence, began to chase the chickens and ducks, and to enter her

house. She observed one large man, with full beard, who exercised

some authority, and to him she appealed in the name of "his

general." "What do you know of Uncle Billy?" "Why," she said,

"when he was a young man he used to be our friend in Charleston,

and here is a book he gave me." The officer or soldier took the

book, looked at the inscription, and, turning to his fellows, said:

"Boys, that's so; that's Uncle Billy's writing, for I have seen it

often before." He at once commanded the party to stop pillaging,

and left a man in charge of the house, to protect her until the

regular provost-guard should be established. I then asked her if

the regular guard or sentinel had been as good to her. She assured

me that he was a very nice young man; that he had been telling her

all about his family in Iowa; and that at that very instant of time

he was in another room minding her baby. Now, this lady had good

sense and tact, and had thus turned aside a party who, in five

minutes more, would have rifled her premises of all that was good

to eat or wear. I made her a long social visit, and, before

leaving Columbia, gave her a half-tierce of rice and about one

hundred pounds of ham from our own mess-stores.

In like manner, that same evening I found in Mrs. Simons another

acquaintance--the wife of the brother of Hon. James Simons, of

Charleston, who had been Miss Wragg. When Columbia was on fire

that night, and her house in danger, I had her family and effects

carried to my own headquarters, gave them my own room and bed, and,

on leaving Columbia the next day, supplied her with a half-barrel

of hams and a half-tierce of rice. I mention these specific facts

to show that, personally, I had no malice or desire to destroy that

city or its inhabitants, as is generally believed at the South.

Having walked over much of the suburbs of Columbia in the

afternoon, and being tired, I lay down on a bed in Blanton Duncan's

house to rest. Soon after dark I became conscious that a bright

light was shining on the walls; and, calling some one of my staff

(Major Nichols, I think) to inquire the cause, he said there seemed

to be a house on fire down about the market-house. The same high

wind still prevailed, and, fearing the consequences, I bade him go

in person to see if the provost-guard were doing its duty. He soon

returned, and reported that the block of buildings directly

opposite the burning cotton of that morning was on fire, and that

it was spreading; but he had found General Woods on the ground,

with plenty of men trying to put the fire out, or, at least, to

prevent its extension. The fire continued to increase, and the

whole heavens became lurid. I dispatched messenger after messenger

to Generals Howard, Logan, and Woods, and received from them

repeated assurances that all was being done that could be done, but

that the high wind was spreading the flames beyond all control.

These general officers were on the ground all night, and Hazen's

division had been brought into the city to assist Woods's division,

already there. About eleven o'clock at night I went down-town

myself, Colonel Dayton with me; we walked to Mr. Simons's house,

from which I could see the flames rising high in the air, and could

hear the roaring of the fire. I advised the ladies to move to my

headquarters, had our own headquarter-wagons hitched up, and their

effects carried there, as a place of greater safety. The whole air

was full of sparks and of flying masses of cotton, shingles, etc.,

some of which were carried four or five blocks, and started new

fires. The men seemed generally under good control, and certainly

labored hard to girdle the fire, to prevent its spreading; but, so

long as the high wind prevailed, it was simply beyond human

possibility. Fortunately, about 3 or 4 a.m., the wind moderated,

and gradually the fire was got under control; but it had burned out

the very heart of the city, embracing several churches, the old

State-House, and the school or asylum of that very Sister of

Charity who had appealed for my personal protection. Nickerson's

Hotel, in which several of my staff were quartered, was burned

down, but the houses occupied by myself, Generals Howard and Logan,

were not burned at all. Many of the people thought that this fire

was deliberately planned and executed. This is not true. It was

accidental, and in my judgment began with the cotton which General

Hampton's men had set fire to on leaving the city (whether by his

orders or not is not material), which fire was partially subdued

early in the day by our men; but, when night came, the high wind

fanned it again into full blaze, carried it against the

frame-houses, which caught like tinder, and soon spread beyond our

control.

This whole subject has since been thoroughly and judicially

investigated, in some cotton cases, by the mixed commission on

American and British claims, under the Treaty of Washington, which

commission failed to award a verdict in favor of the English

claimants, and thereby settled the fact that the destruction of

property in Columbia, during that night, did not result from the

acts of the General Government of the United States--that is to

say, from my army. In my official report of this conflagration, I

distinctly charged it to General Wade Hampton, and confess I did so

pointedly, to shake the faith of his people in him, for he was in

my opinion boastful, and professed to be the special champion of

South Carolina.

The morning sun of February 18th rose bright and clear over a

ruined city. About half of it was in ashes and in smouldering

heaps. Many of the people were houseless, and gathered in groups

in the suburbs, or in the open parks and spaces, around their

scanty piles of furniture. General Howard, in concert with the

mayor, did all that was possible to provide other houses for them;

and by my authority he turned over to the Sisters of Charity the

Methodist College, and to the mayor five hundred beef-cattle; to

help feed the people; I also gave the mayor (Dr. Goodwin) one

hundred muskets, with which to arm a guard to maintain order after

we should leave the neighborhood. During the 18th and 19th we

remained in Columbia, General Howard's troops engaged in tearing up

and destroying the railroad, back toward the Wateree, while a

strong detail, under the immediate supervision of Colonel O. M.

Poe, United States Engineers, destroyed the State Arsenal, which

was found to be well supplied with shot, shell, and ammunition.

These were hauled in wagons to the Saluda River, under the

supervision of Colonel Baylor, chief of ordnance, and emptied into

deep water, causing a very serious accident by the bursting of a

percussion-shell, as it struck another on the margin of the water.

The flame followed back a train of powder which had sifted out,

reached the wagons, still partially loaded, and exploded them,

killing sixteen men and destroying several wagons and teams of

mules. We also destroyed several valuable founderies and the

factory of Confederate money. The dies had been carried away, but

about sixty handpresses remained. There was also found an immense

quantity of money, in various stages of manufacture, which our men

spent and gambled with in the most lavish manner.

Having utterly ruined Columbia, the right wing began its march

northward, toward Winnsboro', on the 20th, which we reached on the

21st, and found General Slocum, with the left wing, who had come by

the way of Alston. Thence the right wing was turned eastward,

toward Cheraw, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, to cross the

Catawba River at Peay's Ferry. The cavalry was ordered to follow

the railroad north as far as Chester, and then to turn east to

Rocky Mount, the point indicated for the passage of the left wing.

In person I reached Rocky Mount on the 22d, with the Twentieth

Corps, which laid its pontoon-bridge and crossed over during the

23d. Kilpatrick arrived the next day, in the midst of heavy rain,

and was instructed to cross the Catawba at once, by night, and to

move up to Lancaster, to make believe we were bound for Charlotte,

to which point I heard that Beauregard had directed all his

detachments, including a corps of Hood's old army, which had been

marching parallel with us, but had failed to make junction with,

the forces immediately opposing us. Of course, I had no purpose of

going to Charlotte, for the right wing was already moving rapidly

toward Fayetteville, North Carolina. The rain was so heavy and

persistent that the Catawba, River rose fast, and soon after I had

crossed the pontoon bridge at Rocky Mount it was carried away,

leaving General Davis, with the Fourteenth Corps, on the west bank.

The roads were infamous, so I halted the Twentieth Corps at Hanging

Rock for some days, to allow time for the Fourteenth to get over.

General Davis had infinite difficulty in reconstructing his bridge,

and was compelled to use the fifth chains of his wagons for

anchor-chains, so that we were delayed nearly a week in that

neighborhood. While in camp at Hanging Rock two prisoners were

brought to me--one a chaplain, the other a boy, son of Richard Bacot,

of Charleston, whom I had known as a cadet at West Point. They were

just from Charleston, and had been sent away by General Hardee in

advance, because he was, they said, evacuating Charleston. Rumors to

the same effect had reached me through the negroes, and it was,

moreover, reported that Wilmington, North Carolina, was in possession

of the Yankee troops; so that I had every reason to be satisfied that

our march was fully reaping all the fruits we could possibly ask for.

Charleston was, in fact, evacuated by General Hardee on the 18th of

February, and was taken possession of by a brigade of General Fosters

troops, commanded by General Schimmelpfennig, the same day. Hardee

had availed himself of his only remaining railroad, by Florence to

Cheraw; had sent there much of his ammunition and stores, and reached

it with the effective part of the garrison in time to escape across

the Pedee River before our arrival. Wilmington was captured by

General Terry on the 22d of February; but of this important event we

only knew by the vague rumors which reached us through rebel sources.

General Jeff. C. Davis got across the Catawba during the 27th, and

the general march was resumed on Cheraw. Kilpatrick remained near

Lancaster, skirmishing with Wheeler's and Hampton's cavalry,

keeping up the delusion that we proposed to move on Charlotte and

Salisbury, but with orders to watch the progress of the Fourteenth

Corps, and to act in concert with it, on its left rear. On the 1st

of March I was at Finlay's Bridge across Lynch's Creek, the roads

so bad that we had to corduroy nearly every foot of the way; but I

was in communication with all parts of the army, which had met no

serious opposition from the enemy. On the 2d of March we entered

the village of Chesterfield, skirmishing with Butler's cavalry,

which gave ground rapidly. There I received a message from General

Howard, who, reported that he was already in Cheraw with the

Seventeenth Corps, and that the Fifteenth was near at hand.

General Hardee had retreated eastward across the Pedee, burning the

bridge. I therefore directed the left wing to march for

Sneedsboro', about ten miles above Cheraw, to cross the Pedee

there, while I in person proposed to cross over and join the right

wing in Cheraw. Early in the morning of the 3d of March I rode out

of Chesterfield along with the Twentieth Corps, which filled the

road, forded Thompson's Creek, and, at the top of the hill beyond,

found a road branching off to the right, which corresponded with

the one, on my map leading to Cheraw. Seeing a negro standing by

the roadside, looking at the troops passing, I inquired of him what

road that was. "Him lead to Cheraw, master!" "Is it a good road,

and how far?" "A very good road, and eight or ten miles." "Any

guerrillas?"

"Oh! no, master, dey is gone two days ago; you could have played

cards on der coat-tails, dey was in sich a hurry!" I was on my

Lexington horse, who was very handsome and restive, so I made

signal to my staff to follow, as I proposed to go without escort.

I turned my horse down the road, and the rest of the staff

followed. General Barry took up the questions about the road, and

asked the same negro what he was doing there. He answered, "Dey

say Massa Sherman will be along soon!" "Why," said General Barry,

"that was General Sherman you were talking to." The poor negro,

almost in the attitude of prayer, exclaimed: "De great God! just

look at his horse!" He ran up and trotted by my side for a mile or

so, and gave me all the information he possessed, but he seemed to

admire the horse more than the rider.

We reached Cheraw in a couple of hours in a drizzling rain, and,

while waiting for our wagons to come up, I staid with General Blair

in a large house, the property of a blockade-runner, whose family

remained. General Howard occupied another house farther down-town.

He had already ordered his pontoon-bridge to be laid across the

Pedee, there a large, deep, navigable stream, and Mower's division

was already across, skirmishing with the enemy about two miles out.

Cheraw was found to be full of stores which had been sent up from

Charleston prior to its evacuation, and which could not be removed.

I was satisfied, from inquiries, that General Hardee had with him

only the Charleston garrison, that the enemy had not divined our

movements, and that consequently they were still scattered from

Charlotte around to Florence, then behind us. Having thus secured

the passage of the Pedee, I felt no uneasiness about the future,

because there remained no further great impediment between us and

Cape Fear River, which I felt assured was by that time in

possession of our friends. The day was so wet that we all kept

in-doors; and about noon General Blair invited us to take lunch

with him. We passed down into the basement dining-room, where the

regular family table was spread with an excellent meal; and during

its progress I was asked to take some wine, which stood upon the

table in venerable bottles. It was so very good that I inquired

where it came from. General Blair simply asked, "Do you like it?"

but I insisted upon knowing where he had got it; he only replied by

asking if I liked it, and wanted some. He afterward sent to my

bivouac a case containing a dozen bottles of the finest madeira I

ever tasted; and I learned that he had captured, in Cheraw, the

wine of some of the old aristocratic families of Charleston, who

had sent it up to Cheraw for safety, and heard afterward that Blair

had found about eight wagon-loads of this wine, which he

distributed to the army generally, in very fair proportions.

After finishing our lunch, as we passed out of the dining room,

General Blair asked me, if I did not want some saddle-blankets, or

a rug for my tent, and, leading me into the hall to a space under

the stairway, he pointed out a pile of carpets which had also been

sent up from Charleston for safety. After our headquarter-wagons

got up, and our bivouac was established in a field near by, I sent

my orderly (Walter) over to General Blair, and he came back

staggering under a load of carpets, out of which the officers and

escort made excellent tent-rugs, saddle-cloths, and blankets.

There was an immense amount of stores in Cheraw, which were used or

destroyed; among them twenty-four guns, two thousand muskets, and

thirty-six hundred barrels of gunpowder. By the carelessness of a

soldier, an immense pile of this powder was exploded, which shook

the town badly; and killed and maimed several of our men.

We remained in or near Cheraw till the 6th of March, by which time

the army was mostly across the Pedee River, and was prepared to

resume the march on Fayetteville. In a house where General Hardee

had been, I found a late New York Tribune, of fully a month later

date than any I had seen. It contained a mass of news of great

interest to us, and one short paragraph which I thought extremely

mischievous. I think it was an editorial, to the effect that at

last the editor had the satisfaction to inform his readers that

General Sherman would next be heard from about Goldsboro', because

his supply-vessels from Savannah were known to be rendezvousing at

Morehead City:--Now, I knew that General Hardee had read that same

paper, and that he would be perfectly able to draw his own

inferences. Up to, that moment I had endeavored so to feign to our

left that we had completely, misled our antagonists; but this was

no longer possible, and I concluded that we must be ready, for the

concentration in our front of all the force subject to General Jos.

Johnston's orders, for I was there also informed that he had been

restored to the full command of the Confederate forces in South and

North Carolina.

On the 6th of March I crossed the Pedee, and all the army marched

for Fayetteville: the Seventeenth Corps kept well to the right, to

make room; the Fifteenth Corps marched by a direct road; the

Fourteenth Corps also followed a direct road from Sneedsboro',

where it had crossed the Pedee; and the Twentieth Corps, which had

come into Cheraw for the convenience of the pontoon-bridge,

diverged to the left, so as to enter Fayetteville next after the

Fourteenth Corps, which was appointed to lead into Fayetteville.

Kilpatrick held his cavalry still farther to the left rear on the

roads from Lancaster, by way of Wadesboro' and New Gilead, so as to

cover our trains from Hampton's and Wheeler's cavalry, who had

first retreated toward the north. I traveled with the Fifteenth

Corps, and on the 8th of March reached Laurel Hill, North Carolina.

Satisfied that our troops must be at Wilmington, I determined to

send a message there; I called for my man, Corporal Pike, whom I

had rescued as before described, at Columbia, who was then

traveling with our escort, and instructed him in disguise to work

his way to the Cape Fear River, secure a boat, and float down to

Wilmington to convey a letter, and to report our approach. I also

called on General Howard for another volunteer, and he brought me a

very clever young sergeant, who is now a commissioned officer in

the regular army. Each of these got off during the night by

separate routes, bearing the following message, reduced to the same

cipher we used in telegraphic messages:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI

IN THE FIELD, LAUREL HILL, Wednesday, March 8, 1865.

Commanding Officer, Wilmington, North Carolina:

We are marching for Fayetteville, will be there Saturday, Sunday,

and Monday, and will then march for Goldsboro'.

If possible, send a boat up Cape Fear River, and have word conveyed

to General Schofield that I expect to meet him about Goldsboro'.

We are all well and have done finely. The rains make our roads

difficult, and may delay us about Fayetteville, in which case I

would like to have some bread, sugar, and coffee. We have

abundance of all else. I expect to reach Goldsboro' by the 20th

instant.

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

On the 9th I was with the Fifteenth Corps, and toward evening

reached a little church called Bethel, in the woods, in which we

took refuge in a terrible storm of rain, which poured all night,

making the roads awful. All the men were at work corduroying the

roads, using fence-rails and split saplings, and every foot of the

way had thus to be corduroyed to enable the artillery and wagons to

pass. On the 10th we made some little progress; on the 11th I

reached Fayetteville, and found that General Hardee, followed by

Wade Hampton's cavalry, had barely escaped across Cape Fear River,

burning the bridge which I had hoped to save. On reaching

Fayetteville I found General Slocum already in possession with the

Fourteenth Corps, and all the rest of the army was near at hand. A

day or two before, General Kilpatrick, to our left rear, had

divided his force into two parts, occupying roads behind the

Twentieth Corps, interposing between our infantry columns and Wade

Hampton's cavalry. The latter, doubtless to make junction with

General Hardee, in Fayetteville, broke across this line, captured

the house in which General Kilpatrick and the brigade-commander,

General Spencer, were, and for a time held possession of the camp

and artillery of the brigade. However, General Kilpatrick and most

of his men escaped into a swamp with their arms, reorganized and

returned, catching Hampton's men--in turn, scattered and drove them

away, recovering most of his camp and artillery; but Hampton got

off with Kilpatrick's private horses and a couple hundred

prisoners, of which he boasted much in passing through

Fayetteville.

It was also reported that, in the morning after Hardee's army was

all across the bridge at Cape Fear River, Hampton, with a small

bodyguard, had remained in town, ready to retreat and burn the

bridge as soon as our forces made their appearance. He was getting

breakfast at the hotel when the alarm was given, when he and his

escort took saddle, but soon realized that the alarm came from a

set of our foragers, who, as usual, were extremely bold and rash.

On these he turned, scattered them, killing some and making others

prisoners; among them General Howard's favorite scout, Captain

Duncan. Hampton then crossed the bridge and burned it.

I took up my quarters at the old United States Arsenal, which was

in fine order, and had been much enlarged by the Confederate

authorities, who never dreamed that an invading army would reach it

from the west; and I also found in Fayetteville the widow and

daughter of my first captain (General Childs), of the Third

Artillery, learned that her son Fred had been the ordnance-officer

in charge of the arsenal, and had of course fled with Hardee's

army.

During the 11th. the whole army closed down upon Fayetteville, and

immediate preparations were made to lay two pontoon bridges, one

near the burned bridge, and another about four miles lower down.

Sunday, March 12th, was a day of Sabbath stillness in Fayetteville.

The people generally attended their churches, for they were a very

pious people, descended in a large measure from the old Scotch

Covenanters, and our men too were resting from the toils and labors

of six weeks of as hard marching as ever fell to the lot of

soldiers. Shortly after noon was heard in the distance the shrill

whistle of a steamboat, which came nearer and nearer, and soon a

shout, long and continuous, was raised down by the river, which

spread farther and farther, and we all felt that it meant a

messenger from home. The effect was electric, and no one can

realize the feeling unless, like us, he has been for months cut off

from all communication with friends, and compelled to listen to the

croakings and prognostications of open enemies. But in a very few

minutes came up through the town to the arsenal on the plateau

behind a group of officers, among whom was a large, florid

seafaring man, named Ainsworth, bearing a small mail-bag from

General Terry, at Wilmington, having left at 2 p.m. the day

before. Our couriers had got through safe from Laurel Hill, and

this was the prompt reply.

As in the case of our former march from Atlanta, intense anxiety

had been felt for our safety, and General Terry had been prompt to

open communication. After a few minutes' conference with Captain

Ainsworth about the capacity of his boat, and the state of facts

along the river, I instructed him to be ready to start back at 6

p.m., and ordered Captain Byers to get ready to carry dispatches to

Washington. I also authorized General Howard to send back by this

opportunity some of the fugitives who had traveled with his army

all the way from Columbia, among whom were Mrs. Feaster and her two

beautiful daughters.

I immediately prepared letters for Secretary Stanton, Generals

Halleck and Grant, and Generals Schofield, Foster, Easton, and

Beckwith, all of which have been published, but I include here only

those to the Secretary of War, and Generals Grant and Terry, as

samples of the whole:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD,

FAYETTVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, Sunday, March. 12, 1885.

Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

DEAR SIR: I know you will be pleased to hear that my army has

reached this point, and has opened communication with Wilmington.

A tug-boat came up this morning, and will start back at 6 P. M.

I have written a letter to General Grant, the substance of which he

will doubtless communicate, and it must suffice for me to tell you

what I know will give you pleasure--that I have done all that I

proposed, and the fruits seem to me ample for the time employed.

Charleston, Georgetown, and Wilmington, are incidents, while the

utter demolition of the railroad system of South Carolina, and the

utter destruction of the enemy's arsenals of Columbia, Cheraw, and

Fayetteville, are the principals of the movement. These points

were regarded as inaccessible to us, and now no place in the

Confederacy is safe against the army of the West. Let Lee hold on

to Richmond, and we will destroy his country; and then of what use

is Richmond. He must come out and fight us on open ground, and for

that we must ever be ready. Let him stick behind his parapets, and

he will perish.

I remember well what you asked me, and think I am on the right

road, though a long one. My army is as united and cheerful as

ever, and as full of confidence in itself and its leaders. It is

utterly impossible for me to enumerate what we have done, but I

inclose a slip just handed me, which is but partial. At Columbia

and Cheraw we destroyed nearly all the gunpowder and cartridges

which the Confederacy had in this part of the country. This

arsenal is in fine order, and has been much enlarged. I cannot

leave a detachment to hold it, therefore shall burn it, blow it up

with gunpowder, and then with rams knock down its walls. I take it

for granted the United States will never again trust North Carolina

with an arsenal to appropriate at her pleasure.

Hoping that good fortune may still attend my army. I remain your

servant,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD,

FAYETTVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, Sunday, March. 12, 1885.

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, commanding United States Army,

City Point, Virginia.

DEAR GENERAL: We reached this place yesterday at noon; Hardee, as

usual, retreating across the Cape Fear, burning his bridges; but

our pontoons will be up to-day, and, with as little delay as

possible, I will be after him toward Goldsboro'.

A tug has just come up from Wilmington, and before I get off from

here, I hope to get from Wilmington some shoes and stockings,

sugar, coffee, and flour. We are abundantly supplied with all

else, having in a measure lived off the country.

The army is in splendid health, condition, and spirits, though we

have had foul weather, and roads that would have stopped travel to

almost any other body of men I ever heard of.

Our march, was substantially what I designed--straight on Columbia,

feigning on Branchville and Augusta. We destroyed, in passing, the

railroad from the Edisto nearly up to Aiken; again, from Orangeburg

to the Congaree; again, from Colombia down to Kingsville on the

Wateree, and up toward Charlotte as far as the Chester line; thence

we turned east on Cheraw and Fayetteville. At Colombia we

destroyed immense arsenals and railroad establishments, among which

wore forty-three cannon. At Cheraw we found also machinery and

material of war sent from Charleston, among which were twenty-five

guns and thirty-six hundred barrels of powder; and here we find

about twenty guns and a magnificent United States' arsenal.

We cannot afford to leave detachments, and I shall therefore

destroy this valuable arsenal, so the enemy shall not have its use;

and the United States should never again confide such valuable

property to a people who have betrayed a trust.

I could leave here to-morrow, but want to clear my columns of the

vast crowd of refugees and negroes that encumber us. Some I will

send down the river in boats, and the rest to Wilmington by land,

under small escort, as soon as we are across Cape Fear River.

I hope you have not been uneasy about us, and that the fruits of

this march will be appreciated. It had to be made not only to

destroy the valuable depots by the way, but for its incidents in

the necessary fall of Charleston, Georgetown, and Wilmington. If I

can now add Goldsboro' without too much cost, I will be in a

position to aid you materially in the spring campaign.

Jos. Johnston may try to interpose between me here and Schofield

about Newbern; but I think he will not try that, but concentrate

his scattered armies at Raleigh, and I will go straight at him as

soon as I get our men reclothed and our wagons reloaded.

Keep everybody busy, and let Stoneman push toward Greensboro' or

Charlotte from Knoxville; even a feint in that quarter will be most

important.

The railroad from Charlotte to Danville is all that is left to the

enemy, and it will not do for me to go there, on account of the

red-clay hills which are impassable to wheels in wet weather.

I expect to make a junction with General Schofield in ten days.

Yours truly,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD,

FAYETTVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, Sunday, March. 12, 1885.

Major-General TERRY, commanding United States Forces,

Wilmington, North Carolina.

GENERAL: I have just received your message by the tug which left

Wilmington at 2 p.m. yesterday, which arrived here without

trouble. The scout who brought me your cipher-message started back

last night with my answers, which are superseded by the fact of

your opening the river.

General Howard just reports that he has secured one of the enemy's

steamboats below the city, General Slocum will try to secure two

others known to be above, and we will load them with refugees

(white and black) who have clung to our skirts, impeded our

movements, and consumed our food.

We have swept the country well from Savannah to here, and the men

and animals are in fine condition. Had it not been for the foul

weather, I would have caught Hardee at Cheraw or here; but at

Columbia, Cheraw, and here, we have captured immense stores, and

destroyed machinery, guns, ammunition, and property, of inestimable

value to our enemy. At all points he has fled from us, "standing

not on the order of his going."

The people of South Carolina, instead of feeding Lee's army, will

now call on Lee to feed them.

I want you to send me all the shoes, stockings, drawers, sugar,

coffee, and flour, you can spare; finish the loads with oats or

corn: Have the boats escorted, and let them run at night at any

risk. We must not give time for Jos. Johnston to concentrate at

Goldsboro'. We cannot prevent his concentrating at Raleigh, but he

shall have no rest. I want General Schofield to go on with his

railroad from Newbern as far as he can, and you should do the same

from Wilmington. If we can get the roads to and secure Goldsboro'

by April 10th, it will be soon enough; but every day now is worth a

million of dollars. I can whip Jos. Johnston provided he does not

catch one of my corps in flank, and I will see that the army

marches hence to Goldsboro' in compact form.

I must rid our army of from twenty to thirty thousand useless

mouths; as many to go down Cape Fear as possible, and the rest to

go in vehicles or on captured horses via Clinton to Wilmington.

I thank you for the energetic action that has marked your course,

and shall be most happy to meet you. I am, truly your friend,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

In quick succession I received other messages from General Terry,

of older date, and therefore superseded by that brought by the tug

Davidson, viz., by two naval officers, who had come up partly by

canoes and partly by land; General Terry had also sent the

Thirteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry to search for us, under Colonel

Kerwin, who had dispatched Major Berks with fifty men, who reached

us at Fayetteville; so that, by March 12th, I was in full

communication with General Terry and the outside world. Still, I

was anxious to reach Goldsboro', there to make junction with

General Schofield, so as to be ready for the next and last stage of

the war. I then knew that my special antagonist, General Jos. E.

Johnston, was back, with part of his old army; that he would not be

misled by feints and false reports, and would somehow compel me to

exercise more caution than I had hitherto done. I then

over-estimated his force at thirty-seven thousand infantry,

supposed to be made up of S. D. Lee's corps, four thousand;

Cheatham's, five thousand; Hoke's, eight thousand; Hardee's, ten

thousand; and other detachments, ten thousand; with Hampton's,

Wheeler's, and Butler's cavalry, about eight thousand. Of these,

only Hardee and the cavalry were immediately in our front, while

the bulk of Johnston's army was supposed to be collecting at or

near Raleigh. I was determined, however, to give him as little

time for organization as possible, and accordingly crossed Cape

Fear River, with all the army, during the 13th and 14th, leaving

one division as a rearguard, until the arsenal could be completely

destroyed. This was deliberately and completely leveled on the

14th, when fire was applied to the wreck. Little other damage was

done at Fayetteville.

On the 14th the tug Davidson again arrived from Wilmington, with

General Dodge, quartermaster, on board, reporting that there was no

clothing to be had at Wilmington; but he brought up some sugar and

coffee, which were most welcome, and some oats. He was followed by

a couple of gunboats, under command of Captain Young, United States

Navy, who reached Fayetteville after I had left, and undertook to

patrol the river as long as the stage of water would permit; and

General Dodge also promised to use the captured steamboats for a

like purpose. Meantime, also, I had sent orders to General

Schofield, at Newbern, and to General Terry, at Wilmington, to move

with their effective forces straight for Goldsboro', where I

expected to meet them by the 20th of March.

On the 15th of March the whole army was across Cape Fear River, and

at once began its march for Goldsboro'; the Seventeenth Corps still

on the right, the Fifteenth next in order, then the Fourteenth and

Twentieth on the extreme left; the cavalry, acting in close concert

with the left flank. With almost a certainty of being attacked on

this flank, I had instructed General Slocum to send his

corps-trains under strong escort by an interior road, holding four

divisions ready for immediate battle. General Howard was in like

manner ordered to keep his trains well to his right, and to have

four divisions unencumbered, about six miles ahead of General

Slocum, within easy support.

In the mean time, I had dispatched by land to Wilmington a train of

refugees who had followed the army all the way from Columbia, South

Carolina, under an escort of two hundred men, commanded by Major

John A. Winson (One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Infantry), so

that we were disencumbered, and prepared for instant battle on our

left and exposed flank.

In person I accompanied General Slocum, and during the night of

March 15th was thirteen miles out on the Raleigh road. This flank

followed substantially a road along Cape Fear River north,

encountered pretty stubborn resistance by Hardee's infantry,

artillery, and cavalry, and the ground favored our enemy; for the

deep river, Cape Fear, was on his right, and North River on his

left, forcing us to attack him square in front. I proposed to

drive Hardee well beyond Averysboro', and then to turn to the right

by Bentonville for Goldsboro'. During the day it rained very

hard, and I had taken refuge in an old cooper-shop, where a

prisoner of war was brought to me (sent back from the skirmish-line

by General Kilpatrick), who proved to be Colonel Albert Rhett,

former commander of Fort Sumter. He was a tall, slender, and

handsome young man, dressed in the most approved rebel uniform,

with high jackboots beautifully stitched, and was dreadfully

mortified to find himself a prisoner in our hands. General Frank

Blair happened to be with me at the moment, and we were much amused

at Rhett's outspoken disgust at having been captured without a

fight. He said he was a brigade commander, and that his brigade

that day was Hardee's rear-guard; that his command was composed

mostly of the recent garrisons of the batteries of Charleston

Harbor, and had little experience in woodcraft; that he was giving

ground to us as fast as Hardee's army to his rear moved back, and

during this operation he was with a single aide in the woods, and

was captured by two men of Kilpatrick's skirmish-line that was

following up his retrograde movement. These men called on him to

surrender, and ordered him, in language more forcible than polite,

to turn and ride back. He first supposed these men to be of

Hampton's cavalry, and threatened to report them to General Hampton

for disrespectful language; but he was soon undeceived, and was

conducted to Kilpatrick, who sent him back to General Slocum's

guard.

The rain was falling heavily, and, our wagons coming up, we went

into camp there, and had Rhett and General Blair to take supper

with us, and our conversation was full and quite interesting. In

due time, however, Rhett was passed over by General Slocum to his

provost-guard, with orders to be treated with due respect,--and was

furnished with a horse to ride.

The next day (the 16th) the opposition continued stubborn, and near

Averysboro' Hardee had taken up a strong position, before which

General Slocum deployed Jackson's division (of the Twentieth

Corps), with part of Ward's. Kilpatrick was on his right front.

Coming up, I advised that a brigade should make a wide circuit by

the left, and, if possible, catch this line in flank. The movement

was completely successful, the first line of the enemy was swept

away, and we captured the larger part of Rhett's brigade, two

hundred and seventeen men, including Captain Macbeth's battery of

three guns, and buried one hundred and eight dead.

The deployed lines (Ward's and Jackson's) pressed on, and found

Hardee again intrenched; but the next morning he was gone, in full

retreat toward Smithfield. In this action, called the battle of

Averysboro', we lost twelve officers and sixty-five men killed, and

four hundred and seventy-seven men wounded; a serious loss, because

every wounded man had to be carried in an ambulance. The rebel

wounded (sixty-eight) were carried to a house near by, all surgical

operations necessary were performed by our surgeons, and then these

wounded men were left in care of an officer and four men of the

rebel prisoners, with a scanty supply of food, which was the best

we could do for them. In person I visited this house while the

surgeons were at work, with arms and legs lying around loose, in

the yard and on the porch; and in a room on a bed lay a pale,

handsome young fellow, whose left arm had just been cut off near

the shoulder. Some one used my name, when he asked, in a feeble

voice, if I were General Sherman. He then announced himself as

Captain Macbeth, whose battery had just been captured; and said

that he remembered me when I used to visit his father's house, in

Charleston. I inquired about his family, and enabled him to write

a note to his mother, which was sent her afterward from Goldsboro'.

I have seen that same young gentleman since in St. Louis, where he

was a clerk in an insurance-office.

While the battle of Averysboro' was in progress, and I was sitting

on my horse, I was approached by a man on foot, without shoes or

coat, and his head bandaged by a handkerchief. He announced

himself as the Captain Duncan who had been captured by Wade Hampton

in Fayetteville, but had escaped; and, on my inquiring how he

happened to be in that plight, he explained that when he was a

prisoner Wade Hampton's men had made him "get out of his coat, hat,

and shoes," which they appropriated to themselves. He said Wade

Hampton had seen them do it, and he had appealed to him personally

for protection, as an officer, but Hampton answered him with a

curse. I sent Duncan to General Kilpatrick, and heard afterward

that Kilpatrick had applied to General Slocum for his prisoner,

Colonel Rhett, whom he made march on foot the rest of the way to

Goldsboro', in retaliation. There was a story afloat that

Kilpatrick made him get out of those fine boots, but restored them

because none of his own officers had feet delicate enough to wear

them. Of course, I know nothing of this personally, and have never

seen Rhett since that night by the cooper-shop; and suppose that he

is the editor who recently fought a duel in New Orleans.

From Averysboro' the left wing turned east, toward Goldsboro', the

Fourteenth Corps leading. I remained with this wing until the

night of the 18th, when we were within twenty-seven miles of

Goldsboro' and five from Bentonsville; and, supposing that all

danger was over, I crossed over to join Howard's column, to the

right, so as to be nearer to Generals Schofield and Terry, known to

be approaching Goldsboro'. I overtook General Howard at

Falling-Creek Church, and found his column well drawn out, by reason

of the bad roads. I had heard some cannonading over about Slocum's

head of column, and supposed it to indicate about the same measure of

opposition by Hardee's troops and Hampton's cavalry before

experienced; but during the day a messenger overtook me, and notified

me that near Bentonsville General Slocum had run up against

Johnston's whole army. I sent back orders for him to fight

defensively to save time, and that I would come up with

reenforcements from the direction of Cog's Bridge, by the road which

we had reached near Falling-Creek Church. The country was very

obscure, and the maps extremely defective.

By this movement I hoped General Slocum would hold Johnston's army

facing west, while I would come on his rear from the east. The

Fifteenth Corps, less one division (Hazen's), still well to the

rear, was turned at once toward Bentonsville; Hazen's division was

ordered to Slocum's flank, and orders were also sent for General

Blair, with the Seventeenth Corps, to come to the same destination.

Meantime the sound of cannon came from the direction of

Bentonsville.

The night of the 19th caught us near Falling-Creek Church; but

early the next morning the Fifteenth Corps, General C. R. Woods's

division leading, closed down on Bentonsville, near which it was

brought up by encountering a line of fresh parapet, crossing the

road and extending north, toward Mill Creek.

After deploying, I ordered General Howard to proceed with due

caution, using skirmishers alone, till he had made junction with

General Slocum, on his left. These deployments occupied all day,

during which two divisions of the Seventeenth Corps also got up.

At that time General Johnston's army occupied the form of a V, the

angle reaching the road leading from Averysboro' to Goldsboro', and

the flanks resting on Mill Creek, his lines embracing the village

of Bentonsville.

General Slocum's wing faced one of these lines and General Howard's

the other; and, in the uncertainty of General Johnston's strength,

I did not feel disposed to invite a general battle, for we had been

out from Savannah since the latter part of January, and our

wagon-trains contained but little food. I had also received messages

during the day from General Schofield, at Kinston, and General

Terry, at Faison's Depot, approaching Goldsboro', both expecting to

reach it by March 21st. During the 20th we simply held our ground

and started our trains back to Kinston for provisions, which would

be needed in the event of being forced to fight a general battle at

Bentonsville. The next day (21st) it began to rain again, and we

remained quiet till about noon, when General Mower, ever rash,

broke through the rebel line on his extreme left flank, and was

pushing straight for Bentonsville and the bridge across Mill Creek.

I ordered him back to connect with his own corps; and, lest the

enemy should concentrate on him, ordered the whole rebel line to be

engaged with a strong skirmish-fire.

I think I made a mistake there, and should rapidly have followed

Mower's lead with the whole of the right wing, which would have

brought on a general battle, and it could not have resulted

otherwise than successfully to us, by reason of our vastly superior

numbers; but at the moment, for the reasons given, I preferred to

make junction with Generals Terry and Schofield, before engaging

Johnston's army, the strength of which was utterly unknown. The

next day he was gone, and had retreated on Smithfield; and, the

roads all being clear, our army moved to Goldsboro'. The heaviest

fighting at Bentonsville was on the first day, viz., the 19th, when

Johnston's army struck the head of Slocum's columns, knocking back

Carlin's division; but, as soon as General Slocum had brought up

the rest of the Fourteenth Corps into line, and afterward the

Twentieth on its left, he received and repulsed all attacks, and

held his ground as ordered, to await the coming back of the right

wing. His loss, as reported, was nine officers and one hundred and

forty-five men killed, eight hundred and sixteen wounded, and two

hundred and twenty-six missing. He reported having buried of the

rebel dead one hundred and sixty-seven, and captured three hundred

and thirty-eight prisoners.

The loss of the right wing was two officers and thirty-five men

killed, twelve officers and two hundred and eighty-nine men

wounded, and seventy missing. General Howard reported that he had

buried one hundred of the rebel dead, and had captured twelve

hundred and eighty-seven prisoners.

Our total loss, therefore, at Bentonsville was: 1,604

General Johnston, in his "Narrative" (p. 392), asserts that his

entire force at Bentonsville, omitting Wheeler's and Butler's

cavalry, only amounted to fourteen thousand one hundred infantry

and artillery; and (p. 393) states his losses as: 2,343

Wide discrepancies exist in these figures: for instance, General

Slocum accounts for three hundred and thirty-eight prisoners

captured, and General Howard for twelve hundred and eighty-seven,

making sixteen hundred and twenty-five in all, to Johnston's six

hundred and fifty three--a difference of eight hundred and

seventy-two. I have always accorded to General Johnston due credit

for boldness in his attack on our exposed flank at Bentonville,

but I think he understates his strength, and doubt whether at the

time he had accurate returns from his miscellaneous army, collected

from Hoke, Bragg, Hardee, Lee, etc. After the first attack on

Carlin's division, I doubt if the fighting was as desperate as

described by him, p. 385, et seq. I was close up with the

Fifteenth Corps, on the 20th and 21st, considered the fighting as

mere skirmishing, and know that my orders were to avoid a general

battle, till we could be sure of Goldsboro', and of opening up a

new base of supply. With the knowledge now possessed of his small

force, of course I committed an error in not overwhelming

Johnston's army on the 21st of March, 1865. But I was content then

to let him go, and on the 22d of March rode to Cog's Bridge, where

I met General Terry, with his two divisions of the Tenth Corps; and

the next day we rode into Goldsboro', where I found General

Schofield with the Twenty-third Corps, thus effecting a perfect

junction of all the army at that point, as originally contemplated.

During the 23d and 24th the whole army was assembled at Goldsboro';

General Terry's two divisions encamped at Faison's Depot to the

south, and General Kilpatrick's cavalry at Mount Olive Station,

near him, and there we all rested, while I directed my special

attention to replenishing the army for the next and last stage of

the campaign. Colonel W. W. Wright had been so indefatigable, that

the Newbern Railroad was done, and a locomotive arrived in

Goldsboro' on the 25th of March.

Thus was concluded one of the longest and most important marches

ever made by an organized army in a civilized country. The

distance from Savannah to Goldsboro' is four hundred and

twenty-five miles, and the route traversed embraced five large

navigable rivers, viz., the Edisto, Broad, Catawba, Pedee, and Cape

Fear, at either of which a comparatively small force, well-handled,

should have made the passage most difficult, if not impossible.

The country generally was in a state of nature, with innumerable

swamps, with simply mud roads, nearly every mile of which had to be

corduroyed. In our route we had captured Columbia, Cheraw, and

Fayetteville, important cities and depots of supplies, had

compelled the evacuation of Charleston City and Harbor, had utterly

broken up all the railroads of South Carolina, and had consumed a

vast amount of food and forage, essential to the enemy for the

support of his own armies. We had in mid-winter accomplished the

whole journey of four hundred and twenty-five miles in fifty days,

averaging ten miles per day, allowing ten lay-days, and had reached

Goldsboro' with the army in superb order, and the trains almost as

fresh as when we had started from Atlanta.

It was manifest to me that we could resume our march, and come

within the theatre of General Grant's field of operations in all

April, and that there was no force in existence that could delay

our progress, unless General Lee should succeed in eluding General

Grant at Petersburg, make junction with General Johnston, and thus

united meet me alone; and now that we had effected a junction with

Generals Terry and Schofield, I had no fear even of that event. On

reaching Goldsboro, I learned from General Schofield all the

details of his operations about Wilmington and Newbern; also of the

fight of the Twenty-third Corps about Kinston, with General Bragg.

I also found Lieutenant Dunn, of General Grant's staff, awaiting

me, with the general's letter of February 7th, covering

instructions to Generals Schofield and Thomas; and his letter of

March 16th, in answer to mine of the 12th, from Fayetteville.

These are all given here to explain the full reasons for the events

of the war then in progress, with two or three letters from myself,

to fill out the picture.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, February 7, 1865

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Military Division of the

Mississippi.

GENERAL: Without much expectation of it reaching you in time to be

of any service, I have mailed to you copies of instructions to

Schofield and Thomas. I had informed Schofield by telegraph of the

departure of Mahone's division, south from the Petersburg front.

These troops marched down the Weldon road, and, as they apparently

went without baggage, it is doubtful whether they have not

returned. I was absent from here when they left. Just returned

yesterday morning from Cape Fear River. I went there to determine

where Schofield's corps had better go to operate against Wilmington

and Goldsboro'. The instructions with this will inform you of the

conclusion arrived at.

Schofield was with me, and the plan of the movement against

Wilmington fully determined before we started back; hence the

absence of more detailed instructions to him. He will land one

division at Smithville, and move rapidly up the south side of the

river, and secure the Wilmington & Charlotte Railroad, and with his

pontoon train cross over to the island south of the city, if he

can. With the aid of the gunboats, there is no doubt but this move

will drive the enemy from their position eight miles east of the

city, either back to their line or away altogether. There will be

a large force on the north bank of Cape Fear River, ready to follow

up and invest the garrison, if they should go inside.

The railroads of North Carolina are four feet eight and one-half

inches gauge. I have sent large parties of railroad-men there to

build them up, and have ordered stock to run them. We have

abundance of it idle from the non-use of the Virginia roads. I

have taken every precaution to have supplies ready for you wherever

you may turn up. I did this before when you left Atlanta, and

regret that they did not reach you promptly when you reached

salt-water....

Alexander Stephens, R. M. T. Hunter, and Judge Campbell, are now at

my headquarters, very desirous of going to Washington to see Mr.

Lincoln, informally, on the subject of peace. The peace feeling

within the rebel lines is gaining ground rapidly. This, however,

should not relax our energies in the least, but should stimulate us

to greater activity.

I have received your very kind letters, in which you say you would

decline, or are opposed to, promotion. No one world be more

pleased at your advancement than I, and if you should be placed in

my position, and I put subordinate, it would not change our

personal relations in the least. I would make the same exertions to

support you that you have ever done to support me, and would do all

in my power to make our cause win.

Yours truly,

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, January 81, 1865.

Major-General G. H. THOMAS, commanding Army of the Cumberland.

GENERAL: With this I send you a letter from General Sherman. At

the time of writing it, General Sherman was not informed of the

depletion of your command by my orders. It will, be impossible at

present for you to move south as he contemplated, with the force of

infantry indicated. General Slocum is advised before this of the

changes made, and that for the winter you will be on the defensive.

I think, however, an expedition from East Tennessee, under General

Stoneman might penetrate South Carolina, well down toward Columbia,

destroying the railroad and military resources of the country, thus

visiting a portion of the State which will not be reached by

Sherman's forces. He might also be able to return to East

Tennessee by way of Salisbury, North Carolina, thus releasing home

our prisoners of war in rebel hands.

Of the practicability of doing this, General Stoneman will have to

be the judge, making up his mind from information obtained while

executing the first part of his instructions. Sherman's movements

will attract the attention of all the force the enemy can collect,

thus facilitating the execution of this.

Three thousand cavalry would be a sufficient force to take. This

probably can be raised in the old Department of the Ohio, without

taking any now under General Wilson. It would require, though, the

reorganization of the two regiments of Kentucky Cavalry, which

Stoneman had in his very successful raid into Southwestern

Virginia.

It will be necessary, probably, for you to send, in addition to the

force now in East Tennessee, a small division of infantry, to

enable General Gillem to hold the upper end of Holston Valley, and

the mountain-passes in rear of Stevenson.

You may order such an expedition. To save time, I will send a copy

of this to General Stoneman, so that he can begin his preparations

without loss of time, and can commence his correspondence with you

as to these preparations.

As this expedition goes to destroy and not to fight battles, but to

avoid them when practicable, particularly against any thing like

equal forces, or where a great object is to be gained, it should go

as light as possible. Stoneman's experience, in raiding will teach

him in this matter better than he can be directed.

Let there be no delay in the preparations for this expedition, and

keep me advised of its progress. Very respectfully, your obedient

servant,

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, January 81, 1865.

Major-General J. M. SCHOFIELD, commanding army of the Ohio.

GENERAL: I have requested by telegraph that, for present purposes,

North Carolina be erected into a department, and that you be placed

in command of it, subject to Major-General Sherman's orders. Of

course, you will receive orders from me direct until such time as

General Sherman gets within communicating distance of you. This

obviates the necessity of my publishing the order which I informed

you would meet you at Fortress Monroe. If the order referred to

should not be published from the Adjutant-General's office, you

will read these instructions as your authority to assume command of

all the troops in North Carolina, dating all official

communications, "Headquarters Army of the Ohio." Your headquarters

will be in the field, and with the portion of the army where you

feel yourself most needed. In the first move you will go to Cape

Fear River.

Your movements are intended as cooperative with Sherman's movement

through the States of South and North Carolina. The first point to

be obtained is to secure Wilmington. Goldsboro' will then be your

objective point, moving either from Wilmington or Newbern, or both,

as you may deem best. Should you not be able to reach Goldsboro',

you will advance on the line or lines of railway connecting that

place with the sea-coast, as near to it as you can, building the

road behind you. The enterprise under you has two objects: the

first is, to give General Sherman material aid, if needed, in his

march north; the second, to open a base of supplies for him on the

line of his march. As soon, therefore, as you can determine which

of the two points, Wilmington or Newbern, you can best use for

throwing supplies from to the interior, you will commence the

accumulation of twenty days rations and forage for sixty thousand

men and twenty thousand animals. You will get of these as many as

you can house and protect, to such point in the interior as you may

be able to occupy.

I believe General Innis N. Palmer has received some instructions

directly from General Sherman, on the subject of securing supplies

for his army. You can learn what steps he has taken, and be

governed in your requisitions accordingly. A supply of

ordnance-stores will also be necessary.

Make all your requisitions upon the chiefs of their respective

departments, in the field, with me at City Point. Communicate with

me by every opportunity, and, should you deem it necessary at any

time, send a special boat to Fortress Monroe, from which point you

can communicate by telegraph.

The supplies referred to in these instructions are exclusive of

those required by your own command.

The movements of the enemy may justify you, or even make it your

imperative duty, to cut loose from your base and strike for the

interior, to aid Sherman. In such case you will act on your own

judgment, without waiting for instructions. You will report,

however, what you propose doing. The details for carrying out

these instructions are necessarily left to you. I would urge,

however, if I did not know that you are already fully alive to the

importance of it, prompt action. Sherman may be looked for in the

neighborhood of Goldsboro' any time from the 22d to the 28th of

February. This limits your time very materially.

If rolling-stock is not secured in the capture of Wilmington, it

can be supplied from Washington: A large force of railroad-men has

already been sent to Beaufort, and other mechanics will go to Fort

Fisher in a day or two. On this point I have informed you by

telegraph.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, March 16, 1865.

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding military Division of the

Mississippi.

GENERAL: Your interesting letter of the 12th inst. is just

received. I have never felt any uneasiness for your safety, but I

have felt great anxiety to know just how you were progressing. I

knew, or thought I did, that, with the magnificent army with you,

you would come out safely somewhere.

To secure certain success, I deemed the capture of Wilmington of

the greatest importance. Butler came near losing that prize to us.

But Terry and Schofield have since retrieved his blunders, and I do

not know but the first failure has been as valuable a success for

the country as the capture of Fort Fisher. Butler may not see it

in that light.

Ever since you started on the last campaign, and before, I have

been attempting to get something done in the West, both to

cooperate with you and to take advantage of the enemy's weakness

there--to accomplish results favorable to us. Knowing Thomas to be

slow beyond excuse, I depleted his army to reinforce Canby, so that

he might act from Mobile Bay on the interior. With all I have

said, he has not moved at last advices. Canby was sending a

cavalry force, of about seven thousand, from Vicksburg toward

Selma. I ordered Thomas to send Wilson from Eastport toward the

same point, and to get him off as soon after the 20th of February

as possible. He telegraphed me that he would be off by that date.

He has not yet started, or had not at last advices. I ordered him

to send Stoneman from East Tennessee into Northwest South Carolina,

to be there about the time you would reach Columbia. He would

either have drawn off the enemy's cavalry from you, or would have

succeeded in destroying railroads, supplies, and other material,

which you could not reach. At that time the Richmond papers were

full of the accounts of your movements, and gave daily accounts of

movements in West North Carolina. I supposed all the time it was

Stoneman. You may judge my surprise when I afterward learned that

Stoneman was still in Louisville, Kentucky, and that the troops in

North Carolina were Kirk's forces! In order that Stoneman might

get off without delay, I told Thomas that three thousand men would

be sufficient for him to take. In the mean time I had directed

Sheridan to get his cavalry ready, and, as soon as the snow in the

mountains melted sufficiently, to start for Staunton, and go on and

destroy the Virginia Central Railroad and canal. Time advanced,

until he set the 28th of February for starting. I informed Thomas,

and directed him to change the course of Stoneman toward Lynchburg,

to destroy the road in Virginia up as near to that place as

possible. Not hearing from Thomas, I telegraphed to him about the

12th, to know if Stoneman was yet off. He replied not, but that he

(Thomas) would start that day for Knoxville, to get him off as soon

as possible.

Sheridan has made his raid, and with splendid success, so far as

heard. I am looking for him at "White House" to-day. Since about

the 20th of last month the Richmond papers have been prohibited

from publishing accounts of army movements. We are left to our own

resources, therefore, for information. You will see from the

papers what Sheridan has done; if you do not, the officer who bears

this will tell you all.

Lee has depleted his army but very little recently, and I learn of

none going south. Some regiments may have been detached, but I

think no division or brigade. The determination seems to be to

hold Richmond as long as possible. I have a force sufficient to

leave enough to hold our lines (all that is necessary of them), and

move out with plenty to whip his whole army. But the roads are

entirely impassable. Until they improve, I shall content myself

with watching Lee, and be prepared to pitch into him if he attempts

to evacuate the place. I may bring Sheridan over--think I will

--and break up the Danville and Southside Railroads. These are the

last avenues left to the enemy.

Recruits have come in so rapidly at the West that Thomas has now

about as much force as he had when he attacked Hood. I have

stopped all who, under previous orders, would go to him, except

those from Illinois.

Fearing the possibility of the enemy falling back to Lynchburg, and

afterward attempting to go into East Tennessee or Kentucky, I have

ordered Thomas to move the Fourth Corps to Bull's Gap, and to

fortify there, and to hold out to the Virginia line, if he can. He

has accumulated a large amount of supplies in Knoxville, and has

been ordered not to destroy any of the railroad west of the

Virginia Hue. I told him to get ready for a campaign toward

Lynchburg, if it became necessary. He never can make one there or

elsewhere; but the steps taken will prepare for any one else to

take his troops and come east or go toward Rome, whichever may be

necessary. I do not believe either will.

When I hear that you and Schofield are together, with your back

upon the coast, I shall feel that you are entirely safe against any

thing the enemy can do. Lee may evacuate Richmond, but he cannot

get there with force enough to touch you. His army is now

demoralized and deserting very fast, both to us and to their homes.

A retrograde movement would cost him thousands of men, even if we

did not follow.

Five thousand men, belonging to the corps with you, are now on

their way to join you. If more reenforcements are necessary, I

will send them. My notion is, that you should get Raleigh as soon

as possible, and hold the railroad from there back. This may take

more force than you now have.

From that point all North Carolina roads can be made useless to the

enemy, without keeping up communications with the rear.

Hoping to hear soon of your junction with the forces from

Wilmington and Newborn, I remain, very respectfully, your obedient

servant,

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN THE FIELD,

COX'S BRIGADE, NEUSE RIVER, NORTH CAROLINA, March 22, 1865

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, Commander-in-Chief, City Point,

Virginia.

GENERAL: I wrote you from Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Tuesday,

the 14th instant, that I was all ready to start for Goldsboro', to

which point I had also ordered General Schofield, from Newborn, and

General Terry, from Wilmington. I knew that General Jos. Johnston

was supreme in command against me, and that he would have time to

concentrate a respectable army to oppose the last stage of this

march. Accordingly, General Slocum was ordered to send his main

supply-train, under escort of two divisions, straight for

Bentonsville, while he, with his other four divisions,

disencumbered of all unnecessary wagons, should march toward

Raleigh, by way of threat, as far as Averysboro'. General Howard,

in like manner, sent his trains with the Seventeenth Corps, well to

the right, and, with the four divisions of the Fifteenth Corps,

took roads which would enable him to come promptly to the exposed

left flank. We started on the 16th, but again the rains set in,

and the roads, already bad enough, became horrible.

On Tuesday, the 16th, General Slocum found Hardee's army, from

Charleston, which had retreated before us from Cheraw, in position

across the narrow, swampy neck between Cape Fear and North Rivers,

where the road branches off to Goldsboro'. There a pretty severe

fight occurred, in which General Slocum's troops carried handsomely

the advanced line, held by a South Carolina brigade, commanded by a

Colonel Butler. Its Commander, Colonel Rhett, of Fort Sumter

notoriety, with one of his staff, had the night before been

captured, by Kilpatrick's scouts, from his very skirmish-line. The

next morning Hardee was found gone, and was pursued through and

beyond Averysboro'. General Slocum buried one hundred and eight

dead rebels, and captured and destroyed three guns. Some eighty

wounded rebels were left in our hands, and, after dressing their

wounds, we left them in a house, attended by a Confederate officer

and four privates, detailed out of our prisoners and paroled for

the purpose.

We resumed the march toward Goldsboro'. I was with the left wing

until I supposed all danger had passed; but, when General Slocum's

head of column was within four miles of Bentonsville, after

skirmishing as usual with cavalry, he became aware that there was

infantry in his front. He deployed a couple of brigades, which, on

advancing, sustained a partial repulse, but soon rallied, when he

formed a line of the two leading divisions (Morgan's and Carlin's)

of Jeff. C. Davis's corps. The enemy attacked these with violence,

but was repulsed. This was in the forenoon of Sunday, the 19th.

General Slocum brought forward the two divisions of the Twentieth

Corps, hastily disposed of them for defense, and General Kilpatrick

massed his cavalry on the left.

General Jos. Johnston had, the night before, marched his whole army

(Bragg, Cheatham, S. D. Lee, Hardee, and all the troops he had

drawn from every quarter), determined, as he told his men, to crash

one of our corps, and then defeat us in detail. He attacked

General Slocum in position from 3 P. M. on the 19th till dark; but

was everywhere repulsed, and lost heavily. At the time, I was with

the Fifteenth Corps, marching on a road more to the right; but, on

hearing of General Slocum's danger, directed that corps toward

Cox's Bridge, in the night brought Blair's corps over, and on the

20th marched rapidly on Johnston's flank and rear. We struck him

about noon, forced him to assume the defensive, and to fortify.

Yesterday we pushed him hard, and came very near crushing him, the

right division of the Seventeenth Corps (Mower's) having broken in

to within a hundred yards of where Johnston himself was, at the

bridge across Mill Creek. Last night he retreated, leaving us in

possession of the field, dead, and wounded. We have over two

thousand prisoners from this affair and the one at Averysboro', and

I am satisfied that Johnston's army was so roughly handled

yesterday that we could march right on to Raleigh; but we have now

been out six weeks, living precariously upon the collections of our

foragers, our men dirty, ragged, and saucy, and we must rest and

fix up a little. Our entire losses thus far (killed, wounded, and

prisoners) will be covered by twenty-five hundred, a great part of

which are, as usual, slight wounds. The enemy has lost more than

double as many, and we have in prisoners alone full two thousand.

I limited the pursuit, this morning, to Mill Creek, and will

forthwith march the army to Goldsboro', there to rest, reclothe,

and get some rations.

Our combinations were such that General Schofield entered

Goldsboro' from Newborn; General Terry got Cox's Bridge, with

pontoons laid, and a brigade across Neuse River intrenched; and we

whipped Jos. Johnston--all on the same day.

After riding over the field of battle to-day, near Bentonsville,

and making the necessary orders, I have ridden down to this place

(Cox's Bridge) to see General Terry, and to-morrow shall ride into

Goldsboro.

I propose to collect there my army proper; shall post General Terry

about Faison's Depot, and General Schofield about Kinston, partly

to protect the road, but more to collect such food and forage as

the country affords, until the railroads are repaired leading into

Goldsboro'.

I fear these have not been pushed with the vigor I had expected;

but I will soon have them both going. I shall proceed at once to

organize three armies of twenty-five thousand men each, and will

try and be all ready to march to Raleigh or Weldon, as we may

determine, by or before April 10th.

I inclose you a copy of my orders of to-day. I would like to be

more specific, but have not the data. We have lost no general

officers nor any organization. General Slocum took three guns at

Averysboro', and lost three others at the first dash on him at

Bentonsville. We have all our wagons and trains in good order.

Yours truly,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN THE FIELD,

COX'S BRIGADE, GOLDSBORO', NORTH CAROLINA, March 23, 1865.

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, commanding the Armies of the United

States, City Point, Virginia.

GENERAL: On reaching Goldsboro' this morning, I found Lieutenant

Dunn awaiting me with your letter of March 18th and dispatch of the

17th. I wrote you fully from Cox's Bridge yesterday, and since

reaching Goldsboro' have learned that my letter was sent punctually

to Newborn, whence it will be dispatched to you.

I am very glad to hear that General Sheridan did such good service

between Richmond and Lynchburg, and hope he will keep the ball

moving, I know that these raids and dashes disconcert our enemy and

discourage him much.

General Slocum's two corps (Fourteenth and Twentieth) are now

coming in. I will dispose of them north of Goldsboro', between the

Weldon road and Little River. General Howard to-day is marching

south of the Nenae, and to-morrow will come in and occupy ground

north of Goldsboro', extending from the Weldon Railroad to that

leading to Kinston.

I have ordered all the provisional divisions, made up of troops

belonging to the regular corps, to be broken up, and the men to

join their proper regiments and organizations; and have ordered

General Schofield to guard the railroads back to Newborn and

Wilmington, and to make up a movable column equal to twenty-five

thousand men, with which to take the field. His army will be the

centre, as on the Atlanta campaign. I do not think I want any more

troops (other than absentees and recruits) to fill up the present

regiments, and I can make up an army of eighty thousand men by

April 10th. I will post General Kilpatrick at Mount Olive Station

on the Wilmington road, and then allow the army some rest.

We have sent all our empty wagons, under escort, with the proper

staff-officers, to bring up from Kinston clothing and provisions.

As long as we move we can gather food and forage; but, the moment

we stop, trouble begins.

I feel sadly disappointed that our railroads are not done. I do

not like to say there has been any neglect until I make inquiries;

but it does seem to me the repairs should have been made ere this,

and the road properly stocked. I can only hear of one locomotive

(besides the four old ones) on the Newbern road, and two damaged

locomotives (found by General Terry) on the Wilmington road. I

left Generals Easton and Beckwith purposely to make arrangements in

anticipation of my arrival, and have heard from neither, though I

suppose them both to be at Morehead City.

At all events, we have now made a junction of all the armies, and

if we can maintain them, will, in a short time, be in a position to

march against Raleigh, Gaston, Weldon, or even Richmond, as you may

determine.

If I get the troops all well planed, and the supplies working well,

I may run up to see you for a day or two before diving again into

the bowels of the country.

I will make, in a very short time, accurate reports of our

operations for the past two months. Yours truly,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN THE FIELD,

COX'S BRIGADE, GOLDSBORO', NORTH CAROLINA, March 24, 1865.

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, City Point, Virginia.

GENERAL: I have kept Lieutenant Dunn over to-day that I might

report farther. All the army is now in, save the cavalry (which I

have posted at Mount Olive Station, south of the Nenae) and General

Terry's command (which--to-morrow will move from Cog's Ferry to

Faison's Depot, also on the Wilmington road). I send you a copy of

my orders of this morning, the operation of which will, I think,

soon complete our roads. The telegraph is now done to Morehead

City, and by it I learn that stores have been sent to Kinston in

boats, and that our wagons are loading with rations and clothing.

By using the Neuse as high up as Kinston, hauling from there

twenty-six miles, and by equipping the two roads to Morehead City

and Wilmington, I feel certain we can not only feed and equip the

army, but in a short time fill our wagons for another start. I

feel certain, from the character of the fighting, that we have got

Johnston's army afraid of us. He himself acts with timidity and

caution. His cavalry alone manifests spirit, but limits its

operations to our stragglers and foraging-parties. My marching

columns of infantry do not pay the cavalry any attention, but walk

right through it.

I think I see pretty clearly how, in one more move, we can

checkmate Lee, forcing him to unite Johnston with him in the defense

of Richmond, or to abandon the cause. I feel certain, if he leaves

Richmond, Virginia leaves the Confederacy. I will study my maps a

little more before giving my positive views. I want all possible

information of the Roanoke as to navigability, how far up, and with

what draught.

We find the country sandy, dry, with good roads, and more corn and

forage than I had expected. The families remain, but I will

gradually push them all out to Raleigh or Wilmington. We will need

every house in the town. Lieutenant Dunn can tell you of many

things of which I need not write. Yours truly,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN THE FIELD,

COX'S BRIGADE, GOLDSBORO', NORTH CAROLINA, April 5,1865

Major-General George H. Thomas, commanding Department of the

Cumberland.

DEAR GENERAL: I can hardly help smiling when I contemplate my

command--it is decidedly mixed. I believe, but am not certain,

that you are in my jurisdiction, but I certainly cannot help you in

the way of orders or men; nor do I think you need either. General

Cruft has just arrived with his provisional division, which will at

once be broken up and the men sent to their proper regiments, as

that of Meagher was on my arrival here.

You may have some feeling about my asking that General Slocum

should have command of the two corps that properly belong to you,

viz., the Fourteenth and Twentieth, but you can recall that he was

but a corps commander, and could not legally make orders of

discharge, transfer, etc., which was imperatively necessary. I

therefore asked that General Slocum should be assigned to command

"an army in the field," called the Army of Georgia, composed of the

Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps. The order is not yet made by the

President, though I have recognized it because both, General Grant

and the President have sanctioned it, and promised to have the

order made.

My army is now here, pretty well clad and provided, divided into

three parts, of two corps each--much as our old Atlanta army was.

I expect to move on in a few days, and propose (if Lee remains in

Richmond) to pass the Roanoke, and open communication with the

Chowan and Norfolk. This will bring me in direct communication

with General Grant.

This is an admirable point--country open, and the two railroads in

good order back to Wilmington and Beaufort. We have already

brought up stores enough to fill our wagons, and only await some

few articles, and the arrival of some men who are marching up from

the coast, to be off.

General Grant explained to me his orders to you, which, of course,

are all right. You can make reports direct to Washington or to

General Grant, but keep me advised occasionally of the general

state of affairs, that I may know what is happening. I must give

my undivided attention to matters here. You will hear from a

thousand sources pretty fair accounts of our next march. Yours

truly,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General.

[LETTER FROM ADMIRAL DAHLGREN]

SOUTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON

FLAG-SHIP PHILADELPHIA, CHARLESTON, April 20, 1865

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Armies of the Tennessee,

Georgia, and Mississippi.

Mr DEAR GENERAL: I was much gratified by a sight of your

handwriting, which has just reached me from Goldsboro'; it was very

suggestive of a past to me, when these regions were the scene of

your operations.

As you progressed through South Carolina, there was no

manifestation of weakness or of an intention to abandon Charleston,

until within a few hours of the fact. On the 11th of February I

was at Stono, and a spirited demonstration was made by General

Schimmel-pfennig and the vessels. He drove the rebels from their

rifle-pits in front of the lines, extending from Fort Pringle, and

pushed them vigorously. The next day I was at Bull's Bay, with a

dozen steamers, among them the finest of the squadron. General

Potter had twelve to fifteen hundred men, the object being to carry

out your views. We made as much fuss as possible, and with better

success than I anticipated, for it seems that the rebs conceived

Stono to be a feint, and the real object at Bull's Bay, supposing,

from the number of steamers and boats, that we had several thousand

men. Now came an aide from General Gillmore, at Port Royal, with

your cipher-dispatch from Midway, so I steamed down to Port Royal

to see him. Next day was spent in vain efforts to decipher-finally

it was accomplished. You thought that the state of the roads might

force you to turn upon Charleston; so I went there on the 15th, but

there was no sign yet of flinching. Then I went to Bull's Bay next

day (16th), and found that the troops were not yet ashore, owing to

the difficulties of shoal water. One of the gunboats had contrived

to get up to within shelling range, and both soldiers and sailors

were working hard. On the evening of the 18th I steamed down to

Stono to see how matters were going there. Passing Charleston, I

noticed two large fires, well inside--probably preparing to leave.

On the 17th, in Stono, rumors were flying about loose of

evacuation. In course of the morning, General Schimmelpfennig

telegraphed me, from Morris Island, that there were symptoms of

leaving; that he would again make a push at Stono, and asked for

monitors. General Schimmelpfennig came down in the afternoon, and

we met in the Folly Branch, near Secessionville. He was sore that

the rebs would be off that night, so he was to assault them in

front, while a monitor and gunboats stung their flanks both sides.

I also sent an aide to order my battery of five eleven-inch guns,

at Cumming's Point, to fire steadily all night on Sullivan's

Island, and two monitors to close up to the island for the same

object. Next morning (18th) the rascals were found to be off, and

we broke in from all directions, by land and water. The main

bodies had left at eight or nine in the evening, leaving

detachments to keep up a fire from the batteries. I steamed round

quickly, and soon got into the city, threading the streets with a

large group of naval captains who had joined me. All was silent as

the grave. No one to be seen but a few firemen.

No one can question the excellence of your judgment in taking the

track you did, and I never had any misgivings, but it was natural

to desire to go into the place with a strong hand, for, if any one

spot in the land was foremost in the trouble, it was Charleston.

Your campaign was the final blow, grand in conception, complete in

execution; and now it is yours to secure the last army which

rebeldom possesses. I hear of your being in motion by the 9th, and

hope that the result may be all that you wish.

Tidings of the murder of the President have just come, and shocked

every mind. Can it be that such a resort finds root in any stratum

of American opinion? Evidently it has not been the act of one man,

nor of a madman. Who have prompted him?

I am grateful for your remembrance of my boy; the thought of him is

ever nearest to my heart. Generous, brave, and noble, as I ever

knew him to be, that he should close his young life so early, even

under the accepted conditions of a soldier's life, as a son of the

Union, would have been grief sufficient for me to bear; but that

his precious remains should have been so treated by the brutes into

whose hands they fell, adds even to the bitterness of death. I am

now awaiting the hour when I can pay my last duties to his memory.

With my best and sincere wishes, my dear general, for your success

and happiness, I am, most truly, your friend,

J. A. DAHLGREN.

[General Order No. 50.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE

WASHINGTON, March 27, 1865

Ordered--1. That at the hour of noon, on the 14th day of April,

1885, Brevet Major-General Anderson will raise and plant upon the

ruins of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, the same United States

flag which floated over the battlements of that fort during the

rebel assault, and which was lowered and saluted by him and the

small force of his command when the works were evacuated on the

14th day of April, 1861.

2. That the flag, when raised, be saluted by one hundred guns from

Fort Sumter, and by a national salute from every fort and rebel

battery that fired upon Fort Sumter.

3. That suitable ceremonies be had upon the occasion, under the

direction of Major-General William T. Sherman, whose military

operations compelled the rebels to evacuate Charleston, or, in his

absence, under the charge of Major-General Q. A. Gilmore,

commanding the department. Among the ceremonies will be the

delivery of a public address by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher.

4. That the naval forces at Charleston, and their commander on

that station, be invited to participate in the ceremonies of the

occasion.

By order of the President of the United States,

EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

[General Order No. 41.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH

HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA, April 10, 1865

Friday next, the 14th inst., will be the fourth anniversary of the

capture of Fort Sumter by the rebels. A befitting celebration on

that day, in honor of its reoccupation by the national forces, has

been ordered by the President, in pursuance of which Brevet Major-

General Robert Anderson, United States Army, will restore to its

original place on the fort the identical flag which, after an

honorable and gallant defense, he was compelled to lower to the

insurgents in South Carolina, in April, 1861.

The ceremonies for the occasion will commence with prayer, at

thirty minutes past eleven o'clock a.m.

At noon precisely, the flag will be raised and saluted with one

hundred guns from Fort Sumter, and with a national salute from Fort

Moultrie and Battery Bee on Sullivan's Island, Fort Putnam on

Morris Island, and Fort Johnson on James's Island; it being

eminently appropriate that the places which were so conspicuous in

the inauguration of the rebellion should take a part not less

prominent in this national rejoicing over the restoration of the

national authority.

After the salutes, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher will deliver an

address.

The ceremonies will close with prayer and a benediction.

Colonel Stewart L. Woodford, chief of staff, under such verbal

instructions as he may receive, is hereby charged with the details

of the celebration, comprising all the arrangements that it may be

necessary to make for the accommodation of the orator of the day,

and the comfort and safety of the invited guests from the army and

navy, and from civil life.

By command of Major-General Q. A. Gillmore,

W. L. M. BURGER, Assistant Adjutant-General.

Copy of Major ANDERSON's Dispatch, announcing the Surrender of Fort

Sumter, April 14, 1861.

STEAMSHIP BALTIC, OFF SANDY HOOK

April 10, 1861, 10.30 a.m. via New York

Honorable S. Cameron, Secretary of War, Washington

Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the

quarters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire,

the gorge-walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by

flames, and its door closed from the effect of heat, four barrels

and three cartridges of powder only being available, and no

provisions remaining but pork, I accepted terms of evacuation

offered by General Beauregard, being the same offered by him on the

11th inst., prior to the commencement of hostilities, and marched

out of the fort, Sunday afternoon, the 14th inst., with colors

flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private

property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns.

ROBERT ANDERSON, Major First Artillery, commanding.

CHAPTER XXIV.

END OF THE WAR--FROM GOLDSBORO' TO RALEIGH AND WASHINGTON.

APRIL AND MAY, 1865.

As before described, the armies commanded respectively by Generals

J. M. Schofield, A. H. Terry, and myself, effected a junction in

and about Goldsboro', North Carolina, during the 22d and 23d of

March, 1865, but it required a few days for all the troops and

trains of wagons to reach their respective camps. In person I

reached Goldsboro' on the 23d, and met General Schofield, who

described fully his operations in North Carolina up to that date;

and I also found Lieutenant Dunn, aide-de-camp to General Grant,

with a letter from him of March 16th, giving a general description

of the state of facts about City Point. The next day I received

another letter, more full, dated the 22d, which I give herewith.

Nevertheless, I deemed it of great importance that I should have a

personal interview with the general, and determined to go in person

to City Point as soon as the repairs of the railroad, then in

progress under the personal direction of Colonel W. W. Wright,

would permit:

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, March 22, 1865

Major-General SHERMAN, Commanding Military Division of the

Mississippi.

GENERAL: Although the Richmond papers do not communicate the fact,

yet I saw enough in them to satisfy me that you occupied Goldsboro'

on the 19th inst. I congratulate you and the army on what may be

regarded as the successful termination of the third campaign since

leaving the Tennessee River, less than one year ago.

Since Sheridan's very successful raid north of the James, the enemy

are left dependent on the Southside and Danville roads for all

their supplies. These I hope to cut next week. Sheridan is at

White House, "shoeing up" and resting his cavalry. I expect him to

finish by Friday night and to start the following morning, raid

Long Bridge, Newmarket, Bermuda Hundred, and the extreme left of

the army around Petersburg. He will make no halt with the armies

operating here, but will be joined by a division of cavalry, five

thousand five hundred strong, from the Army of the Potomac, and

will proceed directly to the Southside and Danville roads. His

instructions will be to strike the Southside road as near

Petersburg as he can, and destroy it so that it cannot be repaired

for three or four days, and push on to the Danville road, as near

to the Appomattox as he can get. Then I want him to destroy the

road toward Burkesville as far as he can; then push on to the

Southside road, west of Burkesville, and destroy it effectually.

From that point I shall probably leave it to his discretion either

to return to this army, crossing the Danville road south of

Burkesville, or go and join you, passing between Danville and

Greensboro'. When this movement commences I shall move out by my

left, with all the force I can, holding present intrenched lines.

I shall start with no distinct view, further than holding Lee's

forces from following Sheridan. But I shall be along myself, and

will take advantage of any thing that turns up. If Lee detaches, I

will attack; or if he comes out of his lines I will endeavor to

repulse him, and follow it up to the best advantage.

It is most difficult to understand what the rebels intend to do; so

far but few troops have been detached from Lee's army. Much

machinery has been removed, and material has been sent to

Lynchburg, showing a disposition to go there. Points, too, have

been fortified on the Danville road.

Lee's army is much demoralized, and great numbers are deserting.

Probably, from returned prisoners, and such conscripts as can be

picked up, his numbers may be kept up. I estimate his force now at

about sixty-five thousand men.

Wilson started on Monday, with twelve thousand cavalry, from

Eastport. Stoneman started on the same day, from East Tennessee,

toward Lynchburg. Thomas is moving the Fourth Corps to Bull's Gap.

Canby is moving with a formidable force on Mobile and the interior

of Alabama.

I ordered Gilmore, as soon as the fall of Charleston was known, to

hold all important posts on the sea-coast, and to send to

Wilmington all surplus forces. Thomas was also directed to forward

to Newbern all troops belonging to the corps with you. I

understand this will give you about five thousand men, besides

those brought east by Meagher.

I have been telegraphing General Meigs to hasten up locomotives and

cars for you. General McCallum, he informs me, is attending to it.

I fear they are not going forward as fast as I world like.

Let me know if you want more troops, or any thing else.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

The railroad was repaired to Goldsboro' by the evening of March

25th, when, leaving General Schofield in chief command, with a

couple of staff-officers I started for City Point, Virginia, in a

locomotive, in company with Colonel Wright, the constructing

engineer. We reached Newbern that evening, which was passed in the

company of General Palmer and his accomplished lady, and early the

next morning we continued on to Morehead City, where General Easton

had provided for us the small captured steamer Russia, Captain

Smith. We put to sea at once and steamed up the coast, reaching

Fortress Monroe on the morning of the 27th, where I landed and

telegraphed to my brother, Senator Sherman, at Washington, inviting

him to come down and return with me to Goldsboro. We proceeded on

up James River to City Point, which we reached the same afternoon.

I found General Grant, with his family and staff, occupying a

pretty group of huts on the bank of James River, overlooking the

harbor, which was full of vessels of all classes, both war and

merchant, with wharves and warehouses on an extensive scale. The

general received me most heartily, and we talked over matters very

fully. After I had been with him an hour or so, he remarked that

the President, Mr. Lincoln, was then on board the steamer River

Queen, lying at the wharf, and he proposed that we should call and

see him. We walked down to the wharf, went on board, and found Mr.

Lincoln alone, in the after-cabin. He remembered me perfectly, and

at once engaged in a most interesting conversation. He was full of

curiosity about the many incidents of our great march, which had

reached him officially and through the newspapers, and seemed to

enjoy very much the more ludicrous parts-about the "bummers," and

their devices to collect food and forage when the outside world

supposed us to be starving; but at the same time he expressed a

good deal of anxiety lest some accident might happen to the army in

North Carolina during my absence. I explained to him that that

army was snug and comfortable, in good camps, at Goldsboro'; that

it would require some days to collect forage and food for another

march; and that General Schofield was fully competent to command it

in my absence. Having made a good, long, social visit, we took our

leave and returned to General Grant's quarters, where Mrs. Grant

had provided tea. While at the table, Mrs. Grant inquired if we

had seen Mrs. Lincoln. "No," said the general, "I did not ask for

her;" and I added that I did not even know that she was on board.

Mrs. Grant then exclaimed, "Well, you are a pretty pair!" and added

that our neglect was unpardonable; when the general said we would

call again the next day, and make amends for the unintended slight.

Early the next day, March 28th, all the principal officers of the

army and navy called to see me, Generals Meade, Ord, Ingalls, etc.,

and Admiral Porter. At this time the River Queen was at anchor out

in the river, abreast of the wharf, and we again started to visit

Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. Admiral Porter accompanied us. We took a

small, tug at the wharf, which conveyed us on board, where we were

again received most courteously by the President, who conducted us

to the after-cabin. After the general compliments, General Grant

inquired after Mrs. Lincoln, when the President went to her state-

room, returned, and begged us to excuse her, as she was not well.

We then again entered upon a general conversation, during which

General Grant explained to the President that at that very instant

of time General Sheridan was crossing James River from the north,

by a pontoon-bridge below City Point; that he had a large,

well-appointed force of cavalry, with which he proposed to strike

the Southside and Danville Railroads, by which alone General Lee,

in Richmond, supplied his army; and that, in his judgment, matters

were drawing to a crisis, his only apprehension being that General

Lee would not wait long enough. I also explained that my army at

Goldsboro' was strong enough to fight Lee's army and Johnston's

combined, provided that General Grant could come up within a day or

so; that if Lee would only remain in Richmond another fortnight, I

could march up to Burkesville, when Lee would have to starve inside

of his lines, or come out from his intrenchments and fight us on

equal terms.