Lincoln, who was “deeply touched,” publicly avowed retaliation, which he never inflicted. The advance of Sherman towards the sea was not exactly what Jefferson Davis predicted (September 22nd, 1864) it would be. Sherman’s force, he said, “would meet the fate of the army of the French Empire in the retreat from Moscow. Our cavalry will destroy his army ... and the Yankee General will escape with only a body-guard.” The events of this march are thus summed up by Holland. Sherman was opposed by Johnston, who, with a smaller army, had the advantage of very strong positions and a knowledge of the country, he moving towards supplies, while Sherman left his behind him. The Federal General flanked Johnston out of his works at Buzzard’s Roost; and then, fighting and flanking from day to day, he drove him from Dalton to Atlanta. To do this he had to force “a difficult path through mountain defiles and across great rivers, overcoming or turning formidable entrenched positions, defended by a veteran army commanded by a cautious and skilful leader.” At Atlanta, Johnston was superseded by Hood, and Hood assumed the offensive with little luck, since in three days he lost half his army, and then got behind the defences of Atlanta. Here he remained, surrounded by the toils which Sherman was weaving round him with consummate skill, and which, as Sherman admits in his admirably written report,[30] were patiently and skilfully eluded. But on the 2nd September, Atlanta fell into Sherman’s hands. The aggregate loss of the Union army from Chattanooga to Atlanta was in all more than 30,000--that of the rebels above 40,000. Then Sherman proposed to destroy Atlanta and its roads, and, sending back his wounded, to move through Georgia, “smashing things to the sea.” And this he did most effectually. Hood retreated to Nashville, where he was soon destined to be conquered by Thomas. On the 12th November, Sherman began his march. The writer has heard soldiers who were in it call it a picnic. In a month he passed through to Savannah, which was held by 15,000 men; by the 20th it was taken; and on the 21st General Sherman sent to President Lincoln this despatch, “I beg to present to you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with 150 guns, plenty of ammunition, and about 25,000 bales of cotton.” In this march he carried away more than 10,000 horses and mules, and set free a vast number of slaves. Then, turning towards the North, the grand North-Western army co-operated with Grant, “crushing the fragments of the rebellion between the opposing forces.”