Here at Savannah we fared sumptuously on oysters and fresh fish. Every evening the negroes would come up to the city from the mouth of the river, with their boat loads of oysters. These we purchased at the rate of one dollar per bushel, and taking them to camp would throw them on the fire, and let them roast, the opening of the shell indicating when the bivalve was thoroughly cooked. Many a feast of this sort did we have while there. But our feasting and merry making was rudely ended by the bugle one morning sounding the call to "strike tents." Everything was ready, and we were now to leave Savannah, and commence the march which ended at Washington. The city of Savannah and the forts around it were transferred to Gen. Foster, commanding the department of the south, and on the 19th of January, 1865, all preparations were completed and the march commenced. The weather was very bad, the January rains had commenced to fall, swelling the Savannah river, overflowing its bottoms and making the roads miserable. This made no difference, however, to our general, so we marched up the river to Sisters Ferry, but owing to the high state of the water, and the difficulty in laying the pontoons, we did not succeed in getting everything across, until the first week in February. And now we entered on the soil of South Carolina, and the feelings of the men were openly expressed as they stepped off of the pontoons, by the declaration that now they were in the state which had caused more trouble than any other state in the union. We were behind the rest of the army owing to the difficulties encountered in crossing the Savannah, and so we had to march rapidly to overtake the right wing, but at last we caught up with it. Foraging was again the order of the day, we were compelled to subsist off of the country through which we passed. Every morning a detail of two men from each company would be made, making twenty men to a regiment. They were put under command of a commissioned officer, and would leave camp about an hour before the army moved. These men would strike off into the country around and gather up all the provisions they could find, and towards evening would turn their steps towards the roads on which the corps was marching. They would come into camp in all styles of transportation. Here would be a couple of fellows, who in their wanderings had found a fine buggy or carriage; hunting up a mule or a horse, they would hitch him to the vehicle, and loading it down with the proceeds of their day's search, would come gravely riding into camp amid the laughter of all who saw them. Or some other squad had come across a grist mill, and if there was no grist on hand to be ground, they would soon procure some from somebody's corn-field or granary, and starting up the machinery would grind it in good workmanlike style, load it into an old wagon or anything they could find and bring it into camp, burning the mill to the ground, however, before leaving it. Others would make their appearance riding on some old mule or horse, which they had picked up, loaded down with hams, bacon, chickens, sweet potatoes or whatever they could find. By these means we were provided with plenty of food and in great variety. The army occupied four roads travelling parallel to each other, and the location of each corps could be easily known by the cloud of smoke that hovered over it by day, and the light of the camp fires which lit up the heavens at night. Our march through South Carolina, often recalled to our minds the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness when the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire. Our line of march extended over a strip of country nearly sixty miles in width, and with the exception of the negro huts, this land was stripped of everything. There were undoubtedly many acts of wanton cruelty and villainous outrage committed by some, but the mass of the army was opposed to such actions, and loudly condemned them. Of course, in an army the size of ours, there were all phases of humanity, and it was plainly seen that the members of regiments, which had been made up in some of our large cities, were oftener guilty of acts of violence than men from regiments which had been formed in the agricultural parts of the country. This was entirely logical, as the reader can easily understand. The weather still continued rainy, and the roads were terrible, often requiring the severest labor on the part of all to make them passable for our teams, by corduroying them. At last we reached the banks of the Congaree, on the other side of which the city of Columbia, the capitol of the state, was situated, and on the night of February the 15th, the enemy amused themselves by shelling our camps from a battery posted on that side of the river. And now we come to a matter, which, although not having any particular bearing on the regiment, as we did not come within two miles of the city, still as a part of the army then in front of Columbia, we must suffer in common with other regiments from the stigma the rebels sought to cast upon our arms, by the destruction of that city by fire on the night of the 17th of February. Major General Howard had received orders from the general commanding, to destroy absolutely all arsenals and public property not needed for the use of our army, as well as railroads, depots and machinery useful in war to an enemy, but to spare all dwellings, colleges, schools, asylums, and harmless private property. The day of the occupation of Columbia was clear, but a tremendous wind was blowing. One brigade of our army was in the city and properly posted. Citizens and soldiers were on the streets, and good order prevailed. General Wade Hampton, who commanded the rebel rear guard of cavalry, had, in anticipation of the capture of Columbia, ordered that all cotton, public and private, should be moved into the streets and fired. Bales were piled everywhere, the rope and bagging cut, and tufts of cotton were blown about in the wind, lodged in the trees and against houses, so as to resemble a snow storm. Some of these piles of cotton were burning, especially one in the very heart of the city, near the court-house, but the fire was partially subdued by the labor of our soldiers. Before one single public building had been fired by order, the smoldering fires, set by Hampton's orders, were rekindled by the wind and communicated to the buildings around. About dark they had began to spread and get beyond the control of the brigade on duty in the city. A whole division was brought in, but it was found impossible to check the flames, which by midnight, had become unmanageable and raged until about four a. m., when the wind subsiding, they were brought under control. Gen. Sherman in his report says:

"I was up nearly all night and saw Generals Howard, Logan and Wood and others laboring to save houses and protect families thus suddenly deprived of shelter, and of bedding, and wearing apparel. I disclaim, on the part of my army, any agency in this fire, but, on the contrary, claim that we saved what of Columbia remains unconsumed. And without hesitation I charge General Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of Columbia, not with a malicious intent, or as the manifestation of a silly "Roman Stoicism," but from folly and want of sense in filling it with lint, cotton and tinder. Our officers and men on duty worked well to extinguish the flames, but others not on duty, including the officers who had long been imprisoned there, rescued by us, may have assisted in spreading the fire after it had once begun, and may have indulged in unconcealed joy to see the ruin of the capitol of South Carolina. Thus ends the account of the destruction of Columbia." We shall not enter into any discussion of the matter, as we firmly believe, along with Gen. Sherman, that it was all caused by the folly or ignorance of Gen. Wade Hampton.