At Savannah, General Sherman received instructions from the Lieutenant General to embark his army on transports, and hasten to the James river, to participate in the final destruction of the main army of the rebellion. However, upon Sherman's earnest representation of the difficulty of moving sixty thousand infantry, and ten thousand cavalry, with their due allowance of artillery, so great a distance by water, and on assurance that he could place his army at the desired place sooner, in better condition, and with more injury to the enemy, General Grant consented to this modification, and gave the necessary orders. A division was drawn from General Sheridan's army of the Shenandoah, and sent to Savannah as a garrison. This enabled Sherman to take with him the entire army with which he made the raid through Georgia. He determined to make the distance between Savannah and Goldsboro at one stride. Some time was consumed in preparation, and by the 15th of January, 1865, all was ready and the movement began.
On the 20th of this month, the 2nd division of the 14th Corps, still under the command of James D. Morgan, moved out from Savannah eight miles in a north-western direction, camping near Tuly's Station, where the command lay wind-bound for four days.
Just a short time prior to this move from Savannah, General Feering was placed in command of the 3rd brigade, under General Morgan, thus relieving Colonel Langley of that command.
General Feering remained with his brigade, much beloved by all, until the battle of Bentonville, N.C., where he was wounded, being so disabled that he never afterwards resumed command of it. On the morning of the 25th, at seven a.m., the command resumed its march from Tuly's Station, the 14th Corps with Geary's division of the 20th, and Corse's division of the 15th Corps, marched up the west bank of the Savannah to Sister's ferry, where they crossed over to the South Carolina side, on the 5th of February, having been detained one week on account of high water at this ferry.
On the 8th, the division again cut loose from communications, marching up the Savannah to a point opposite Barnwell, where it left the river road and going to Barnwell, crossed the Salkahatchie river on its route. From Barnwell it took a northern course, striking the Augusta and Charleston railway at a small place known as Williston, thence, continuing north, crossed the South and North Edisto rivers, and going within one and a half miles of Columbia, was headed off by other troops, being compelled to move back up the Saluda river, some eight miles from Columbia, where, on the 26th, it crossed it on a pontoon bridge, and thence marching north-east, round Columbia, crossed Broad river at Fursell's Ferry, some twenty miles nearly north of Columbia. Our division was ferried over this stream, as there were not enough pontoon boats to complete a bridge. Crossing the river in the afternoon of the 18th, it went into camp, building breastworks for a protection to our supply train, as it was reported that Hood was also crossing the river above us.
Before going into camp, the eighty-sixth sent out a detail of foragers, under charge of Captain Hall, of Company H, to scour the rich country beyond the Broad river, meeting with more than ordinary success. This party had a skirmish with a squad of the enemy's videttes, driving them pell-mell.
As the army remained here a few days, we will review the most interesting events of the march up to this period.
The general features of the country over which the division passed, was that of a hilly, undulating plain, becoming more hilly and broken the farther north it went, until these undulations had gradually assumed the proportions of high hills. The country south of the North Edisto river, in Carolina, is far richer in its soil and yields a better crop than that north of this river.
The plantations, too, are larger, and lie more in a body than in other parts of the State over which we passed; and it is a curious fact, often remarked, that there is no rock or gravel here. The soil is seldom black, but usually a yellow clay of a spongy texture. North of the North Edisto river, the country begins to assume a stony and gravelly appearance, and rises in ridges of hills until it becomes very broken indeed. There is a peculiarity in the soil of this part of the country which deserves remark. It is this: fields are sometimes seen covered over with a white sand, frequently an inch, and sometimes more, in depth. Off at a distance, a person unaccustomed to this peculiarity, would mistake this sand for a sheet of water. All soldiers are aware of this fact who have passed this portion of the country. There are places again where the sand seems to have been drifted like snow over the surface of a plain, and as much as one thing can resemble another, these drifts resemble snow, of a pure white color.
The swamps in this State are very different from those of Georgia. They are not so difficult to travel through, and not near as numerous and large. In many of them, rice is extensively cultivated, and is far superior in quality to that raised on high lands.