outer defences; and so moving up close to the rebel works, he waited for re-enforcements under Schofield, who had been detached by the lieutenant-general from Thomas's command after the battle of Nashville. Schofield came up on the 15th of February, and assumed command. On the 16th, at nightfall, he moved Cox's division across to Smithville and up the right bank of the Cape Fear River, to take Fort Anderson in rear, while Porter enfiladed it with iron-clads. On the 18th our lines were strengthened for an assault, which the enemy saved us the trouble of making, by evacuating the works on the 19th at dawn. Cox pushed forward across Brunswick River to Eagle Island, thus flanking the peninsula defences, and, on the evening of the 21st, the enemy, burning his cotton, resin, and supplies, evacuated the city of Wilmington. Our troops entered on the morning of the 22d, having lost not more than two hundred and fifty men since the fall of Fort Fisher. Another word-sentence of terrible import was thus written the handwriting on the wall was nearly completed.

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CHAPTER XXXIX.

CONCENTRATION.

PLANS OF SHERMAN.-MARCH; THE STRATEGIC USHER.-FORT STEADMAN. SHERIDAN'S GRAND MARCH.-SHERMAN'S VISIT.-THE MOVEMENT TO THE LEFT.

WHEN Thomas had been ordered to send Schofield east, Grant also directed him to send A. J. Smith's corps and a cavalry division to Canby, for service in Northern Alabama and Mississippi.

North Carolina had now become a field of great prospective interest, and Grant constituted it a distinct military department, of which he gave Schofield the command. His orders to Schofield are here given in extenso.

GENERAL

CITY POINT, Va., January 31, 1865. Your movements are intended as co-operative with Sherman's through the States of South and North Carolina. The first point to be attained is to secure Wilmington. Goldsboro' will then be your objective point, moving either from Wilmington or Newbern, or both, as you deem best. Should you not be able to reach Goldsboro', you will advance on the line or lines of railway connecting that place with the seacoast, as near to it as you can, building the road behind you. The enterprise under you has two objects: the first is to give Sherman material aid, if needed, in his march north; the second, to open a base of supplies for him on his line of march. As soon, therefore, as you can determine which of the two points, Wilmington or Newbern, you can best use for throwing supplies from, to the interior, you will commence the accumulation of twenty days' rations and forage for sixty thousand men and twenty thousand animals. You will get of these as many as you can house and protect to such point in the interior as you may be able to occupy. I believe General Palmer has received some instructions direct from General Sherman on the subject of securing supplies for his army. You can learn what steps he has taken, and be governed in your requisitions accordingly. A supply of ordnance stores will also be necessary.

Make all requisitions upon the chiefs of their respective departments in the field with me at City Point. Communicate with me by every opportunity, and should you deem it necessary at any time, send a special boat to Fortress Monroe, from which point you can communicate by telegraph.

The supplies referred to in these instructions are exclusive of those required for your own command.

The movements of the enemy may justify you, or even make it your im perative duty, to cut loose from your base, and strike for the interior to aid Sherman. In such case, you will act on your own judgment, without waiting for instructions. You will report, however, what you propose doing. The de tails for carrying out these instructions aré necessarily left to you. I would urge, however, if I did not know that you are already fully alive to the importance of it, prompt action. Sherman may be looked for in the neighborhood of Goldsboro' any time from the 22d to the 28th of February. This limits your time very materially.

If rolling-stock is not secured in the capture of Wilmington, it can be sup plied from Washington. A large force of railroad-men has already been sent to Beaufort, and other mechanics will go to Fort Fisher in a day or two. On this point I have informed you by telegraph.

MAJOR-GENERAL J. M. SCHOFIELD.

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

PLANS OF SHERMAN.

When Sherman had established himself at Savannah, it became a question of immediate importance as to the next use to be made of his army. The general plan was already indicated he was to concentrate and co-operate with Grant; but in what manner might this be best accomplished? The first mode of answering this question which suggested itself to Grant, was to order him to take transports and bring his army direct to City Point. But the Atlantic zone was almost free from rebel soldiers. Hood was so terribly beaten that his force could never seriously make head against any movement Sherman might propose. Besides, ocean transportation was scarce and miserable, and so Grant wrote countermanding his first letter, and asking for Sherman's views. With a piercing vision, backed by a brave, self-reliant soul, Sherman, ready to do whatever he was ordered, expressed a desire to move on Columbia, South Carolina, and then to Raleigh. He seemed, besides, so confident of his ability to march up with no impediment that he could not brush away, that Grant sent him

an order in general terms, on the 28th of December, directing him to carry out his plans; and in that way, to come up and join him before Richmond. Sherman was also informed that Schofield would march upon Goldsboro' to co-operate with him. Schofield had at Wilmington twenty-one thousand men, and there were eight thousand at Fort Fisher, and four thousand at Newbern, all of which were to move inland to join Sherman, should he succeed in marching up into North Carolina.

In accordance with these plans, Schofield at once pushed forward two columns upon Goldsboro', one from Wilmington and the other from Newbern, taking in the latter the division of General Innis Palmer, who had been in command there. Kinston was occupied, after a severe battle, on the 14th of February; and after a rest, Goldsboro' was entered on the 20th.

Sherman's march northward to accomplish his part of the grand programme, was magnificent in the extreme. His army, spreading over a large surface whenever it marched, left Savannah on the 1st of February, and, flanking Charleston, entered Columbia on the 17th. Thence he moved on Goldsboro', by the way of Winsboro', Cheraw, and Fayetteville, on the Cape Fear, and opened communication with Schofield by the Cape Fear River, on the 12th of March. At Averysboro' the enemy, under Hardee, endeavored to impede his advance, and Sherman, fighting the battle in person, beat him and drove him away. Again, at Bentonville, the enemy attacked our advanced corps fiercely. At first we were driven back, but by the skilful management of Slocum, who com$ manded the advance, the enemy could make no further impression upon our lines, and was forced to withdraw. The enemy were here commanded by General J. E. Johnston, whose first success is thus reported by General Lee:

"General J. E. Johnston reports that about five o'clock P. M. on the 19th instant, he attacked the enemy near Bentonville, routed him, and captured three guns.

"A mile in the rear he rallied on fresh troops, but was forced back slowly

antil six P. M., when, receiving more troops, he apparently assumed the offensive, which was resisted without difficulty until dark."

But such little dashes at our advance were of no value to the rebels, and of very little effect on us. The grand plan went on almost unimpeded, and Sherman joined Schofield at Goldsboro', marching in the Armies of Tennessee and Georgia on the 23d and 24th of March. There his troops-not wearied, but wanting clothing, shoes, and supplies-were halted, while these were brought up from the coast; and in the mean time, Sherman, feeling that the end was near, set out for a brief visit to City Point, where he met in conference the lieutenant-general, Mr. Lincoln, and other officers. The interview was very brief. He returned to Goldsboro' on the 30th. We must here introduce the detailed instructions of Grant to General Thomas, indicating his cast in the great drama which was now in its last act:

CITY POINT, Va., February 14, 1865.

General Canby is preparing a movement from Mobile Bay against Mobile and the interior of Alabama. His force will consist of about twenty thousand men, besides A. J. Smith's command. The cavalry you have sent to Canby will be debarked at Vicksburg. It, with the available cavalry already in that section, will move from there eastward in co-operation. Hood's army has been terribly reduced by the severe punishment you gave it in Tennessee, by desertion consequent upon their defeat, and now by the withdrawal of many of them to oppose Sherman. (I take it a large portion of the infantry has been so withdrawn. It is so asserted in the Richmond papers; and a member of the rebel congress said, a few days since, in a speech, that one-half of it had been brought to South Carolina to oppose Sherman.) This being true, or even if it is not true, Canby's movement will attract all the attention of the enemy, and leave an advance from your standpoint easy. I think it advisable, therefore, that you prepare as much of a cavalry force as you can spare, and hold it in readiness to go south. The object would be threefold: First, to attract as much of the enemy's force as possible, to insure success to Canby; second, to destroy the enemy's line of communications and military resources; third, to destroy or capture their forces brought into the field. Tuscaloosa and Selma would probably be the points to direct the expedition against. This, however, would not be so important as the mere fact of penetrating deep into Alabama. Discretion should be left to the officer commanding the expedition to go where, according to the information he may receive, he will best secure the objects named above. Now that your force has been so much depleted, I do not know what number

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