many deep channels of the swollen river, and the only available passage seemed to be along the narrow causeways which constituted the common roads.  At Rivers’s Bridge Generals Mower and Giles A. Smith led, their heads of column through this swamp, the water up to their shoulders, crossed over to the pine-land, turned upon the rebel brigade which defended the passage, and routed it in utter disorder.  It was in this attack that General Wager Swayne lost his leg, and he had to be conveyed back to Pocotaligo.  Still, the loss of life was very small, in proportion to the advantages gained, for the enemy at once abandoned the whole line of the Salkiehatchie, and the Fifteenth Corps passed over at Beaufort’s Bridge, without opposition.

On the 5th of February I was at Beaufort’s Bridge, by which time General A. S. Williams had got up with five brigades’ of the Twentieth Corps; I also heard of General Kilpatrick’s being abreast of us, at Barnwell, and then gave orders for the march straight for the railroad at Midway.  I still remained with the Fifteenth Corps, which, on the 6th of February, was five miles from Bamberg.  As a matter of course, I expected severe resistance at this railroad, for its loss would sever all the communications of the enemy in Charleston with those in Augusta.

Early on the 7th, in the midst of a rain-storm, we reached the railroad; almost unopposed, striking it at several points.  General Howard told me a good story concerning this, which will bear repeating:  He was with the Seventeenth Corps, marching straight for Midway, and when about five miles distant he began to deploy the leading division, so as to be ready for battle.  Sitting on his horse by the road-side, while the deployment was making, he saw a man coming down the road, riding as hard as he could, and as he approached he recognized him as one of his own “foragers,” mounted on a white horse, with a rope bridle and a blanket for saddle.  As he came near he called out, “Hurry up, general; we have got the railroad!” So, while we, the generals, were proceeding deliberately to prepare for a serious battle, a parcel of our foragers, in search of plunder, had got ahead and actually captured the South Carolina Railroad, a line of vital importance to the rebel Government.

As soon as we struck the railroad, details of men were set to work to tear up the rails, to burn the ties and twist the bars.  This was a most important railroad, and I proposed to destroy it completely for fifty miles, partly to prevent a possibility of its restoration and partly to utilize the time necessary for General Slocum to get up.

The country thereabouts was very poor, but the inhabitants mostly remained at home.  Indeed, they knew not where to go.  The enemy’s cavalry had retreated before us, but his infantry was reported in some strength at Branchville, on the farther side of the Edisto; yet on the appearance of a mere squad of our men they burned their own bridges the very thing I wanted, for we had no use for them, and they had.