CHAPTER n.

THE MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA.

At Rome , when parting with one of the officers he wassending back to Tennessee , Sherman said, “ If there’s to beany hard fighting, you will have it to do.” He perfectlyunderstood that there was no sufficient force in Georgia tothwart his plan or even to delay his march. Before leavingAtlanta he pointed out to one of his principal subordinatesthat a National army at Columbia , S. C. , would end the war un-less it should be routed and destroyed. Deprived of the mate-rial support of all the States but North Carolina , it wouldbe impossible for the Confederate Government to feed itsarmy at Richmond , or to fill its exchequer. The experienceit had with the country west of the Mississippi proved thata region isolated from the rest of the Confederacy wouldnot furnish men or money, and could not furnish supplies;while anxiety for their families, who were within the Na-tional lines, tempted the soldiers from those States to desert,and weakened the confidence of the whole army. In such asituation credit would be destroyed, the Confederate papermoney would become worthless, its foreign assistance wouldbe cut off, and the rebellion must end. The one chanceleft would be for Lee to break away from Grant, overwhelmSherman, and re-establish the Confederate power in a cen-tral position by the abandonment of Virginia . But thisimplied that Lee could break away from Grant, w T ho, on the