SHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS.--In the meantime Sherman had given his troops only a month's rest in Savannah. Early in February, they were put in motion northward. There was no waiting for roads to dry nor for bridges to be built, but the troops swept on like a tornado. Rivers were waded, and one battle was fought while the water was up to the shoulders of the men. The army, sixty thousand strong, moved in four columns, with a front of more than fifty miles. Cavalry and foragers swarmed on the flanks. Before them was terror; behind them were ashes. COLUMBIA was captured (February 17), and Charleston, thus threatened in the rear, was evacuated the next day. [Footnote: The cotton stored in the city was scattered through the streets and destroyed by fire. The flames quickly spread to the houses adjoining. All efforts to subdue the conflagration were unsuccessful, and a large portion of the city was destroyed.] [Footnote: General Hardee, on leaving, inflicted a terrible injury. He set fire to every shed and warehouse in which cotton was stored. The flames spread to a quantity of powder in the depot, which exploded with fearful destruction. Two hundred lives were lost. In spite of the efforts of the Union troops, a vast amount of private property was involved in the general devastation. The ravages which the war had made were well illustrated by the appearance of this city after its evacuation. An eye-witness says: "No pen, no pencil, no tongue can do justice to the scene; no imagination can conceive the utter wreck, the universal ruin, the stupendous desolation. Ruin, ruin, ruin, above and below, on the right hand and on the left-ruin, ruin, ruin, everywhere and always, staring at us from every paneless window, looking out at us from every shell-torn wall, glaring at us from every battered door, pillar, and veranda, crouching beneath our feet on every sidewalk. Not Pompeii, nor Herculaneum, nor Tadmor, nor the Nile, has ruins so saddening, so plaintively eloquent."] In this emergency, Johnston was again called to the command of the Confederate forces. He gathered their scattered armies and vigorously opposed Sherman's advance. After fierce engagements at _Averysboro_ and _Bentonville_ (March 15, 18), he was driven back, and Raleigh was captured (April 13). SIEGE OF RICHMOND.--Lee's position was fast becoming desperate. His only hope lay in getting out of Richmond and joining with Johnston. Their united armies might prolong the struggle. Grant was determined to prevent this, and compel Lee to surrender, as he had forced Pemberton to do.