I hope the course I have taken in these matters will meet your approbation, and that the President will not refund to parties claiming cotton or other property, without the strongest evidence of loyalty and friendship on the part of the claimant, or unless some other positive end is to be gained.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,

W. T. Sherman, Major-General commanding.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Campaign of the Carolinas.

February and march, 1865.

On the 1st day of February, as before explained, the army designed for the active campaign from Savannah northward was composed of two wings, commanded respectively by Major-Generals Howard and Slocum, and was substantially the same that had marched from Atlanta to Savannah.  The same general orders were in force, and this campaign may properly be classed as a continuance of the former.

The right wing, less Corse’s division, Fifteenth Corps, was grouped at or near Pocotaligo, South Carolina, with its wagons filled with food, ammunition, and forage, all ready to start, and only waiting for the left wing, which was detained by the flood in the Savannah River.  It was composed as follows: 

Fifteenth Corps, Major-General John A. Logan.

First Division, Brigadier-General Charles R. Woods;
Second Division, Major-General W. B. Hazen;
Third Division, Brigadier-General John E. Smith;
Fourth Division, Brigadier-General John M. Corse. 
Artillery brigade, eighteen guns, Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Ross,
First Michigan Artillery.

Seventeenth.  Corps, Major-General frank P. Blair, Jr.

First Division, Major-General Joseph A. Mower;
Second Division, Brigadier-General M. F. Force;
Fourth Division, Brigadier-General Giles A. Smith. 
Artillery brigade, fourteen guns, Major A. C. Waterhouse, First
Illinois Artillery.

The left wing, with Corse’s division and Kilpatrick’s cavalry, was at and near Sister’s Ferry, forty miles above the city of Savannah, engaged in crossing the river, then much swollen.  It was composed as follows: 

Fourteenth Corps, Major-General Jeff.  C. Davis.

First Division, Brigadier-General W. P. Carlin;
Second Division, Brigadier-General John D. Morgan;
Third Division, Brigadier-General A. Baird. 
Artillery brigade, sixteen guns, Major Charles Houghtaling, First
Illinois Artillery.

Twentieth Corps, Brigadier-General A. S. Williams.

First Division, Brigadier-General N. I. Jackson;
Second Division, Brigadier-General J. W. Geary;
Third Division, Brigadier-General W. T. Ward. 
Artillery brigade, Sixteen gnus, Major J. A. Reynolds, First New
York Artillery.

Cavalry Division, Brigadier-General Judson Kilpatrick.