Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/479

 S/ieniiaii's Jllarc/i to the Sea 469 While the army was concentrating at Atlanta, the railway sta- tion, machine-shops, and other buildings of that city useful to the enemy in its military operations were destroyed. The right wing and one corps of the left wing having started the day before, Sher- man rode out of Atlanta November 16 with the Fourteenth Corps ; he had in all 62,000 "able-bodied, experienced soldiers, well armed, well equipped and provided, as far as human foresight could, with all the essentials of life, strength and vigorous action." One of the bands happening to play " John Brown's body lies a-moulder- ing in the grave," the men sang the well-known song, giving to the chorus " Glory, glory hallelujah, his soul is marching on," a force and spirit full of meaning as their minds reverted to the events which had taken place since that December day in 1859 when he, who was now a saint in their calendar, had suffered death on the scaffold. When the march to the sea began, the weather was fine, the air bracing and the movement to the south and east exhilarated the men. Many of the common soldiers called out to their gen- eral, " Uncle Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond." " There was a ' devil-may-care ' feeling pervading officers and men," relates Sherman, "that made me feel the full load of responsibility." The tale of the march is not one of battle and inch-by-inch progress as was the campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta. "As to the ' lion ' in our path," wrote Sherman after he had reached Savannah, " we never met him." " In all our marching through Georgia Hardee [the Confederate commander] has not forced me to use anything but a skirmish line." Officers and men looked upon the march as a "picnic," "a vast holiday frolic." The burden was on the gen- eral in command. He was in the enemy's country ; he must keep this large army supplied. Two critics, Mr. Ropes and Colonel Henry Stone, who have not a high opinion of Sherman's tactics on the battlefield, testify to his skill in handling an army on the march and to his foresight and care in providing it with food and muni- tions of war. When the army set out it had approximately sup- plies of bread for twenty days, sugar, coffee, and salt for forty and about three days' forage in grain ; it had also a sufficient quantity of ammunition ; all this was carried in 2500 wagons with a team of six mules to each. Droves of cattle, enough to insure fresh meat for more than a month, were part of the commisariat. The ambu- lances were 600 in number ;. the artillery had been reduced to 65 guns. Pontoon trains were carried along as the invading host had many rivers to cross. The right wing was composed of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, the left wing of the Fourteenth and Twentieth ; each corps marched on a separate road. The