part iii, p. 245.]

CHAPTER XVIII
Transfer of the Twenty-Third Corps to North Carolina--Sherman's
Plan of Marching to the Rear of Lee--The Surrender of J. E. Johnston's
Army--Authorship of the Approved Terms of Surrender--Political
Reconstruction--Sherman's Genius--Contrast Between Grant and Sherman
--Halleck's Characteristics--His Attempt to Supplant Grant--Personal
Feeling in Battle--The Scars of War.

Upon the termination of the campaign of 1864 in Tennessee, General
Grant ordered me, with the Twenty-third Corps, to the coast of
North Carolina, via Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Washington,
and the sea. Under the direction of the Assistant Secretary of
War, Charles A. Dana, and the personal management of Colonel Lewis
B. Parsons of the quartermaster's department, that movement was
made without any necessity for the exercise of direction or control
on my part, in respect to routes or otherwise. I enjoyed very much
being a simple passenger on that comfortable journey, one of the
most remarkable in military history, and exceedingly creditable to
the officers of the War Department who directed and conducted it.
I did not know at the time anything about the details of the
arrangements made for transportation, nor who made them; but I have
always thought it an excellent illustration of the good results to
be obtained by a judicious distribution and division of duty,
authority, and responsibility in military operations on a large
scale. This being done under one common, competent head, to whom
all subordinates are alike responsible, the military system becomes
as nearly perfect as possible.

While the transports were detained by an ice blockade in the Potomac,
I joined General Grant at Fort Monroe, and went with him on the
war-steamer _Rhode Island_ to Cape Fear River, where we met General
Terry and Admiral Porter, discussed the military situation, and
decided on the general plan of operations for the capture of the
defenses of Cape Fear River and the city of Wilmington, and subsequent
operations. On our return to Fort Monroe, I proceeded to Washington,
and sailed with the advance of the Twenty-third Corps, arriving at
the mouth of Cape Fear River on February 9, 1865, where we joined
General Terry, who with two divisions had already captured Fort
Fisher. I was then assigned to command the new department of North
Carolina. We turned the defenses of Cape Fear River by marching
round the swamps, and occupied