lly were marching through Georgia, was
another, and of its kind a great song:--

"John Brown's body lies amouldering in the grave,
But his soul goes marching on.
Glory, glory, Hallelujah."

Their progress was of the nature of a frolic, though in one way a very
stern frolic. They had little trouble from the small and scattered
Confederate forces that lay near their route. They industriously and
ingeniously destroyed the railway track of the South, heating the rails
and twisting them into knots; and the rich country of Georgia, which had
become the chief granary of the Confederates, was devastated as they
passed, for a space fifty or sixty miles broad, by the destruction of all
the produce they could not consume. This was done under control by
organised forage parties. Reasonable measures were taken to prevent
private pillage of houses. No doubt it happened. Sherman's able cavalry
commander earned a bad name, and "Uncle Billy," as they called him to his
face, clearly had a soft corner in his heart for the light-hearted and
light-fingered gentlemen called "bummers" (a "bummer," says the Oxford
Dictionary, "is one who quits the ranks and goes on an independent
foraging expedition on his own account"). They were, incidentally,
Sherman found, good scouts. But the serious crimes committed were very
few, judged by the standard of the ordinary civil population. The
authentic complaints recorded relate to such matters as the smashing of a
grand piano or the disappearance of some fine old Madeira. Thus the
suffering caused to individuals was probably not extreme, and a long
continuance of the war was rendered almost impossible. A little before
Christmas Day, 1864, Sherman had captured, with slight opposition, the
city of Savannah, on the Atlantic, with many guns and other spoils, and
was soon ready to turn northwards on the last lap of his triumphant
course. Lincoln's letter of thanks characteristically confessed his
earlier unexpressed and unfulfilled fears.

Grant was proceeding all the time with his pressure on the single large
fortress which Richmond and Petersburg together constituted. Its circuit
was far too great for complete investment. His efforts were for a time
directed to seizing the three railway lines which converged from the
south on Petersburg and to that extent cutting off the supplies of the
enemy. But he failed to get hold of the most important of these
railways. He settled down to the s