plank road to Petersburg. I also directed that no foraging be done in the country and that all supplies absolutely necessary be paid for; that the country be left as little injured by the passage of troops through it as possible. The average distance from Raleigh to Petersburg taken by the columns en route, as near as can be estimated, is 140 miles. The march was made in seven marching days, the troops resting on the Sabbath. The country through which we passed was generally well cultivated and productive. The roads were superior and the weather fine for marching an army.

On the 3rd of May we reached the Roanoke River, which was bridged under the supervision of Lieutenant Amos Stickney, assistant chief engineer of the army. The river where bridged, Robinson's Ferry, is 285 yards wide. It was bridged by pontoons and trestle-work, there being nearly seventy-five yards of the latter. I found the people on the roads kindly disposed and apparently little dissatisfied with the termination of hostilities. May 6, the heads of columns reached Petersburg, and on the 7th the two corps closed up and went into camp two miles south of Petersburg, where they remained till the morning of the 8th, when the Seventeenth Corps, Major-General Blair, passed through the city and I reviewed it near the Jarrett House. On the 9th the Fifteenth Army Corps, General Logan, marched through the city and was also reviewed. The army then moved to Manchester, where it encamped on the morning of the 10th.

The general-in-chief rejoined us at Manchester. On the evening of the 10th I received an order from Lieutenant-General Grant directing me to report to the Secretary of War, and on the morning of the 11th I issued orders regulating the march, via Richmond to Alexandria, to commence the next day, and then proceeded by water directly to Washington.

In behalf of the Army of Tennessee, officers and men, whom I have had the honor and pleasure of commanding, I can say that in pursuit of the insurgent army from Goldsborough to Raleigh and beyond the same energy and cheerful conduct as ever before were witnessed. When it was known by the troops that the enemy had really surrendered, and that it was the desire of the Government and commanding officers to allow no destruction of property, the entire army readily acquiesced. The inhabitants were treated in the most friendly manner and the country left as much uninjured as though no army had passed through it. While en route from the Nottoway River to Petersburg the order of Major-General Halleck respecting Major-General Sherman's terms was read with no little surprise, and considerable feeling was manifested by the officers who saw it. On reaching Petersburg I telegraphed to Major-General Halleck the fact of my arrival, and received a reply ordering me to encamp at or near Manchester, and briefly prohibiting my troops from entering Richmond till prepared to pass through. The impression I received was that the army was under a cloud, and therefore coldly received. I directed the order to be literally complied with. The campaign from Goldsborough to Washington is new ended, and with its closes the great work of the war.

The Army of the Tennessee has left its record all the way along during its four years of hard marching and hard fighting. The God of Hosts has blessed it and brought a remnant to realize the promise of its beginning. It is with gratitude to Him, and with feelings of fervent affections for my co-laborers, that I contemplate the completeness of our success. The only shadow around us now is the constant recollection that we cannot bring the laurels we have won and lay them at the feet