to get private freight, tobacco, furniture, &c., to the rear upon cars were unceasing, and were aided in numerous cases by railroad employes, making the greatest vigilance necessary to prevent these attempts from being successful. I had two officers detailed especially to keep private property out of the trains.

The work of our department was successfully accomplished by the 11th of November, and the destruction of the railroad from the Etowah down was commenced the same day by our troops. The army had everything it needed and the wagons were full. Everything of value had been got to the rear. Very little but worthless property was destroyed for want of transportation. A few old wagons and ambulances were burned, and some clothing drawn by an officer of the Fifteenth Corps and not needed by the corps was given away by him to any one who chose to take it. A few days' delay occurred while the army was marching down the railroad to Atlanta, during which that city was completely destroyed, with the exception of its dwellings. The march to savannah commenced on the 15th of November. The strength of the army was 63,680 men, and its transportation consisted of 14,468 horses, 19,410 mules, 2,520 wagons, and 440 ambulances. The following was ordered as the allowance of transportation for baggage and on the march: One wagon to each regiment, one wagon to each battery, two wagons to each brigade headquarters, three wagons to each division headquarters, five wagons to each corps headquarters. The remainder of the transportation was directed to be distributed as follows: Three wagons to each division for hospital purposes, one wagon to every 100 men, including artillery, for ammunition, and the remaining wagons, 1,296 in number, were used in carrying subsistence, forage, &c. The army started from Atlanta with four days' grain. The subsistence transported was: Twenty days' rations of hard bread, five days' rations of salt meat, thirty days' rations of sugar and coffee, five days' rations of soap, rice, and cans' rations of salt. The quantity of salt taken proved unnecessary, as we found it in great abundance in the country passed through. In addition to the above, 5,476 head of beef-cattle were taken. The first grain received at King's Bridge, on the Ogeechee River, arrived there and was issued on the 18th of December, 1864. So the animals of the army subsisted on the country twenty-nine days, which makes at least 11,000,000 pounds of grain and 15,000,000 pounds of fodder and hay taken form the country and consumed on the march.

This is a low estimate of the forage taken, as the beef-cattle were fed on the whole route as much as they would eat, and the number of horses, mules, and cattle was increasing every day. After General Hood cut the Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad the animals of the army suffered for want of forage, and a large number of them became very much reduced in flesh and were quite weak when the march commenced. This accounts for the large number of animals that gave out and were shot on the road. The character of the mules captured was superior, a small-sized or inferior one being seldom met with. On the arrival of the amry before Savannah the condition of the animals was far better than at the commencement of the march. Those that had strength sufficient at the start improved daily, and those that failed and gave out were replaced by better ones than we had in the trains at starting. The army marched by corps and on roads as near parallel to each other as could be found. Each corps had its pontoon train and each division