VOLUME 2. From tii« New Tor* TrlbunA Geo. Sherman's March. The army of (Jen. Sherman has reach ed this poiut after a march across South Carolina, almost wholly without opposi tion. It enters the town where it opens communication with Wilmington by the Cape Fear River in as good condition in almost evefy respect as when it left Sa vannah. and seeuis neither latigued b\ ' its long journey, nor to demand either rest or equipment before it resumes its resistless advance. Ol what it has alrea dy accomplished I send you a hurried sketch. About the 15th of January all prepar tions has been made for the opening ol Sherman's Carolina campaign. The 15th and 17th Cofps had been conveyed to Beaufort by transports. The 14th and 20th Corps had been taken up to Sister's Ferry, with one division of the loth, Gen. Corse and Ivilpatriek's cavalry, which was the last togo up. The 17th Corps, un der Major Gen. Frank Blair, moved ftom Pocotaligo landing, where he had a slight skirmish with the enemy. The weather suddenly broke into rain, and tho whole country about Sat-annah was deluged, which retarded for some time the advance of the army, tho advance column, as it commenced its line of march, being actu ally caught in the ride-swamps and sur rounded by water, where they were for ced to remain fur several days, being una ble either to advance or retreat. Our pontoons on the Savannah had been swept away, and several men and teams had been lost. .January 20, the weather was so much more 112 vorable that the 21th and 20th Corps took up tlioii line of march from Sisters ferry. On I the evening of the 29th, the 17th ( orps j broke camp near Pocotaligo road. '1 he only force they met sligh bodies ot the enemy's cavalry. On the 't li the 1.: li Corps marched along the i'eaulort road toward M'Phcrsouville. 'lho loth and 17t!i Corps, commanded by tiens. Logan and Blair, both under Gen. Oliver O. Howard, formed tho right wing of tin army. The let wing was under .Major Go eral Shc.im, comprising the 14th and 20th Corps, commanded by liens. Williams and Davis. On the extreme left, and partly in advance, was Kilpat ricks cavalry. On the Ist ol february the advance of the 15;h Corps reached Hickory Hill, (Jen. Charles R Wood's division leading. As the army marched i through Mel'liersi>nville they set lire to j the few wooden shanties composing that j town —the army having a keen sense that they were traversing the soil of South Carolina it.-elf, and occasionally giving vent to their feeling by such acts as might else where have seemed unwarlike. So deternied moreover, wore tho soldiers to leave some real traces of their march that they even forgot at times the distinc tion between friend and foe, and at Beau fort, which for three years has been un der the Union flag, they pounced upon fences, and destroyed that of Father French, and made it necessary for double guards to be posted at various places in the town. For >u e first two or three days of the march toward Hickory Hill the roads were obstructed liy fallen lumber at tin different swamp crossings. A South Car olina swamp crossing is a place where a sunken road has been carried through the • .vamp below thelcvwl of the ground ami so as to reach solid bottom. On either side ot itis the morass, and the wate. overflows the road itself, so that no little caution is required to keep the path. Such places att.ird gieat lae.lities for ob structing the march of all army, do spite of all obstacles the C >luiun ] i through, and at no place did the enemy make anything like a determined stand. Hickory Hill was the place fixed upon for tho junction of the two wings of the army, but the left wing was so much de layed by the condition of the roads that it did not reach that place till two days after the time appointed. The C josa . watohic swamps might have given at th's point an easy defense to the enemy, but no effort was made by the Rebels to avail themselves of it. On the 2d of February the 15th Corps, with which 1 was riding at the time, inarched for Duck Creek, corduroying the roads all day long. The rain again be gan to fall, and occasioned no litle delay in repairing the roads. Meantime the 17th Corps was forcing its way across the Salkehachie at River's Bridge. The ad vauce iu this enterprise was taken by Gen. Mower s Divisiou, aud they carried the position with a loss of less than a hundred in killed and wounded. All the wounded were senf hack to Beaufort. The work of forcing the position was done in the most gallant manner. The 15th Corps crossed at Beauforts bridge, march ing in a north easterly direction to Ham burg on the Augusta and Charleston Railroad ; the 17th Corps striking the Railroad at Midway, about eight miles nearer Bradchville. The place is the residence of the novelist, Gillmore Siumis, whose house and library were carefully guarded by our troops. About this time the foragers began to spread over the country. These enter prising characters were known by the names of "Bummers," ''.Siuokc-house Hangers," and "Do-boys." A bummer is and individual who by.favor of a wag on master becomes possessed of a broken down mule, or elso starts, if ueed be, on fout, in either ease, of course, armed with his musket. He makes his way into the enemy's country, finds horses in number by help of the negroes, hitches a team to a wagon, loads on it all the stores and sup plies he can find in the nearest house, mounts his negroes on the rest of the hor ses, and returns with his spoils, lie nev objects to gold watches or silver plates "it hecan finds them iu a swamp a mile from any house. These men were strag glers not in rear but in front of the army and they went before it like a cloud, be ing otien twenty to thirty miles in ad vauee of the head of the column. They would fight anything. Three "bummers" together would at any time attack a coiu | any of H"bel*nvulry, and in a favorable circumstance would disperse them and capture their booty. \\ itli the exception of Columbia alone, every town iu South Carolina through which tho army passed was first entered by tho bummers, At Chesterfield they were two days and hall ahead of the army, the whole Corps hav ing congregated at this point, 'i hey rig ged up twfl logs, for cannons, sent a flag to the town, which was occupied by a de tachment ol'Uutler's Division of cavalry demanded its surrender, frightened off the Rebel cavalry-, and entered the town in grand procession ofbroken down mules ragged "bummers," u'M the "Quaker guns." The coat tails of the Rebels dis appeared at one end ol the town as the "Do Roys" entered at tho other. When the army was marching toward Med way, as above described, a smoke bouse ranger was seen rushing toward the front, with an old hit of carpet on his mule for blanket, and a couple of ropes with nooses lor stirrups, in which his feet rested. This.hero came rushing up to lien. Howard, and shouted out: lien, the bummers have tnkcn tho railroad and are iu line of battle, fighting to hold it, and (/'you'll only hurry up I think they'll hold it." The General did hurry up,and found the railroad as the smoke ranger had said, in possession of about seven bummers, who were busily engaged skir mishing at long range with a detachment of Wheeler's cavalry. At Coiigaree Creek, Justin front of Columbia, tho enemy was met in some force oil the" 15th of February, Wade Hampton's cavalry there making its first appearance. Tho army was then entire ly in hand, all tho corps being united,and Hampton discovering the condition of affairs and the number of tho he must expect to meet, disappeared, burn ing the bri ges after him on all tho roads. This made it neces-ary to bring the pon toon trains to the front. A bridge was thrown across the Saluda River, just be low tho dam on the Saluda cotton facto ry. and about live miles above the city of Columbia. The Salu la and Broad rivers join just above Columbia, forming a pe ninsular, to which tho 15th Corps cross ed ou the evening of the 10th of Febru ary. I luring the night and the following morning most of tho Seventeenth Corps crossed. Tho men were at once sent over a swing ferry across the road Riv er, arriving on the main land on the same side as Columbia. The Fifteenth Corp staried ou the same morning to march into tho city, Col. Stone's brigade having the advance, and entered the city üboiit the middle of the day. Meantime, the 43th lowa, under Lieut.-Col. Kennedy (.Gen. Giles A. Smith's division of the Seventeenth Corps), crossed the river on pontoons directly opposite the city. Gen. Smith wrote the following note to Gen. Blair: UD4R3, FocßTft DIVISION, SIY«\TIKM I! A C-,) COLUMBIA, S. C., Fell. 17. J v<-> / M:VJ if.-Oon. F. P. BLAIR, CommanUiug l"tli A. O, The colors of the 18th towa were sus pended over the Capitol at 11 o'clock a. m National salute is now being fired l>y Capt. Clayton, Ist Minnesota Battery, to commemorate this event. Very respectfully, Yourobedient servant, Gir.ES A. SMITU, Brevet Maj. Gen. As there has been some dispute about the hoisting ot these colors, I give this note in order to put on record- the official declaration of the fact that the honor be longs to the loth lowa. Ou our eutrance into the city the wo men rushed frautically into the streets with bottles of whisky, aud basins of whisky, and whisky iu every sort of ves , sel. The soldiers naturally were not "Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in that Faith let us, to the end,dare to do our (fvrty as we understand it"-*- ttwoofeg BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21), 1865. averse to a little whisky. When it was pressed up< n them in this manner, and the columns marching through the streets were beset on every side, it need be uo matter of wonder if some excitement fol lowed. South Carolina whisky moreover is a shade worse even than ComuiLsary whisky. The Mayor of the city was anxious to have the whisky destroyed, but the Governor of South Carolina said, " No, let the damned Yankees drink it and get drunk." To some extent they undoubtedly did. It was discovered on advancing thro the city that Wade Hampton had had large quantities of cotton piled in the street. The bales had been cut open, the cotton pulled out loosely, and remain ed all ready lor the torch. In several places it was actually on fire. A high wind was blowing at the time, which had scattered the cotton through the trees, and on the house-tops and piazzas, and verandahs, the effect being in many places as if a snow storm had fallen on the city. The fire had been set to this cotton, tho citizens said, by Wheeler's men, who was the last to leave tho town. The wind abating, tho efforts which our men made to extinguish tin* fire wero apparently .successful. Toward evening a strong south-westerly gale came up, which fanned the smouldering embers, and the half extinguished cotton into a blaze, and wafted the newly burning tufts of the cotton on tho roofs and into tho open windows and doors of the houses through a large, part of the city. At the same time a man who had a store fill ed ith provisions which belonged to the Rebel Government, and to which our sol dier-i were helping themselves, himself set his store on fire. From the burning co.ton which had blown from tho bales, tho city was soon on fire in as many as twenty places, the soldiers endeavoring everywhere to arrest tho flames, the citi zens either sullenly looking on or rush ing wildly about, and iu either case mak ing no effort to stop the fire. Our cscap ed prisoners wero to be seen rushing to the houses of those who had befriendel them, and calling on the soldiers for help, and they worked long and earnestly to save the property of those who had been kind to their comrades. Before morning however, nearly the whole city was in ashes. Nearlp 3,000 houses had beqii destroyed. The Old Capitol was burnt, the new one somewhat damaged. The Bank Note and Treasury Buildings, where the Rebel notes were engraved and printed, wero entirely burnt. The Nis eis, of Mercy Home was burnt, and all the hotels. Only one chuich was des troyed. Many of the so! licrs wero now intoxi cated, barrels of liquor wero distributed, many women were drunk, and the city appeared a perfect pandemonium. The day following, tho arsenal ami pub lic buildings were destroyed. \\ r e found 4o heavy guus, 5.000 stand of small arms, 12.000 rounds of fixed ammunition, large quantities of heavy ammunition, and a great portion of tho machinery that had been scut here from Cha.lcston for at tho time of the evacuation of that place. The machine shops, which were of vast importance, ordinance stores of all kinds, one eymplete battery of Blakly guns with eassiotis and limber chests, were destroyed and thrown into the river which as far as one could see seemed black with powder. This was all des troyed by Lieut-Col. Baylor, Chief Ord nance officer, who had a detail from the iid l'ivisiou of the 15th Corps, General ('lark's brigade, lor this purpose. By the caielcss I.mulling of the powder a terrific explosion occurred, killing and wounding quite a num er of our men. OULL PRISONERS. A few days before Sherman's arrival iu front of Columbia our officers, who were prisoners at tint place, wore aware that they were to be removed. They im mediately commenced tunneling, search ing 112 r a place in which to hide until our army could reach them. All the prison ers were removed. The Rebels stationed a small force around the outside of the stockade to watch for any of the prison ers who should coiue out, and to recap ture them. A few wero taken in this manner, and tho suspicions of the guard were aroused. They came into the pris on, searched for the tunnels, and discov ered one place which looked suspicions. Immediately tlicy set fire to the shanty over it, and then stood around with their guns ready to shoot any of our prisoners who might come out of the hole. A number were killed iu this way, aud oth ers were burned to death in the tunnels. About 130 of our officers escaped aud joinod the army on its march. Many of those who wen conveyed towards Char lotte by the cars, escaped by jumping lioui the train while in motion, and joined us. They all speak with the utmost feeling of the kindness of the negroes, and say that there arc very many Union people down thorc. THE MARCH NORTHWARD. From Columbia we marched toward Charlotte, destroying the .railroad as we went. The 20th Corps entered W inns borough. on the 21st, about 42 miles from Columbia, on the Charlotte Road. On entering the tflwn, some of the largest buildings were fouud to be on fire. Upon inquiry, it was discovered that the houses had been fired by Mrs. Lauderdale who had a quantity of cotton stored in the buildings, and which she said "she would destroy to keep the Yankees from getting it." In this way a large portion of this very pretty town was burued. Here we found many rebels from Charleston who had moved their household fumiture.&c., to a safe place (as they thought) from Yankee invasion. The town was care fully taken carc of, and tho guards left by (Jen. Geary were sent by the Rebels, when they entered tho town after us, un banned into'our lines. We were now getting on revolution ary ground, striking the Catawba river at Rock Hill, where Sumter fought his actions. While at this river a rain storm came on, which rendered the roads .al most impassible. The 20th Corps crossed the river first, and got through with great difficulty.. Ivilpatriek's cavalry.followed, after whom came the 11th Corps. \\ bile this Corps was crossing the bridge gave way, and tho greater portion of it float ed off down the stream. T1 e bridge was finally repaired, tho tugs from tho har ness being anchored as cables, iyid the 14th Corps crossed. The army of the Tentiesseo crossed about 20 miles below meeting little or no opposition. The next point of interest was the Hanging Rock, also connected with Rev olutionaiy memories. \\ hen about one day's march from Hanging Rock some of our bummers captured a couple of banks which were ut transitu in four iron safes. In the place itself was found all of Gen. liipley's private history of tho siege of Charleston. This gives us historical date from tho highest Rebel official sources. — All the property found was at once taken to tho headquarters of General Williams, commanding the 20th Corps, the money earorully counted, and turned ever to the Unite 1 States Government. The next town of importance was Chesterfield which was entered by the foragers two days in advance of the ar my. At tho same time the 15th aud 17th Corps entered tho town of Cheran lien. Mowers division in advance. The. command of that officer fought their way in with a skirmish lino, hut had no seri ous opposition. We captured at this place 2.! gnus and a largo (juantity of .fix ed ammunition. Among the guts was a lllakely gun, " presented to the sovereign States of South Carolina by her citizers resident abroad, Dec. 1800." This gun was used oil Morris Islan 1 during the first bombardment of Fort Sumter, and with it the Itebels claim to have shot away the flagstaff of that Fort. March 4, 1805, (Jen. Mower captured this gun turned it quickly on tho retreating Rebels, and gave tlicui a National shotted salute, for which they furnished all tho materials. Owing to the disaster at Columbia the powder captured hero was haudlod very carefully, yet an explosion occurred which seriously wounded one man, and more or le>s injured the buildings aud tho town. Many Charlestonians were iu the town who had escaped from Charleston with their household furniture, &c. Among the captures was tho entire stock of wire of Mr. Uavenel, one of the most celebra ted iu all the South. From Cheraw, the route of the army was across the Pedee River diicctly to Fayetteville, where we captured the Uni ted States arsenal and a large quantity of machinery, ammunition, stores, &c.— Much of the machinery that was remov ed from Harper's Ferry was fouud at this place. liII.PATRICK'S FIGHT. On the morning of the 10th of March Gen. Kilpatrick was encamped