l! "But what is now to be
done?" every one asks. "Has Sherman gone crazy, sure enough?" Thus
people talked, the country over. They could not tell what Sherman was
up to now. He moved out from Atlanta on the 16th of November into the
darkness and wilderness of Dixie, leaving the good folks at home to
wonder where Sherman had gone. But several weeks elapsed before the
secret was divulged--before the lost hero rose up in the magic of his
might on the great seaboard.

CHAPTER VII.

TO THE SEA.

With this chapter begins the narrative of the great raid through
Georgia down to the sea. Now was begun a military feat which when
accomplished astonished the world, and proved false the maxim laid down
by military geniuses of every notoriety and age, that no army could
subsist any length of time without a permanent base of supplies. The
undertaking of a raid of so great magnitude and daring was an act
bearing the tint of insanity and reckless daring beyond the
comprehension of learned critics and wire-cutters.

For the purpose of this great march, Sherman had divided his army into
two wings; the right commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard,
comprising the 15th and 17th Corps; the left under Major General Henry
W. Slocum, comprising the 14th and 20th Corps. The 14th Corps, to which
the Eighty-sixth Illinois belonged, was composed of three divisions,
led by Brigadier Generals William P. Carlin, James D. Morgan and
Absalom Baird. The 3rd brigade of General Morgan's division, to which
the Eighty-sixth regiment more immediately belonged, was commanded on
this great raid by Colonel Langley, of the 125th Illinois.

About 12 M., on the 16th of November, 1864, General Morgan's command
led out from Atlanta along the Augusta and Atlanta railroad, following
and destroying it as far as Covington; here the division left it,
marching through Shady Dale, near Edenton Factory, directly on to
Milledgeville, the capital of the State, where it arrived late in the
evening of the 22nd. Our march to the capital of Georgia was one of
pleasure and plenty; plenty sat smiling on every hand, tauntingly
inviting the Yankee boys on. The Eighty-sixth was now in the height of
its glory, making itself free in every man's potato patch, poultry yard
and smoke house, thus assuring the inhabitants of its sincere regard
and thankfulness for their unswerving devotion as enemies. Thus the
command passed merrily on in its wild paroxysms of frantic joy, l