"'SIR:--We have met with perfect success thus far. The troops are in fine spirits and General Sherman near by. "'Respectfully, O. O. HOWARD, Major-General, "'Commanding Right Wing of the Army.' "Another dispatch brought by Captain Duncan, directed to the Signal Officer of the fleet, from General Howard's Chief Signal Officer, requests a good lookout to be kept for signals. "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. G. FOSTER, "Major-General Commanding." Sherman afterward wrote of this great march and its results as follows: "I was left with a well-appointed army to sever the enemy's only remaining railroad communications eastward and westward, for over one hundred miles, namely, the Georgia State railroad, which is broken up from Fairborn Station to Madison and the Oconee and the Central railroad from Gordon clear to Savannah, with numerous breaks on the latter road from Gordon to Eatonville, and from Millen to Augusta, and the Savannah and Gulf railroad. We have consumed the corn and fodder in a region of country thirty miles on each side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah, as also the sweet potatoes, cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry. We have carried away more than ten thousand horses and mules, as well as a countless number of slaves. I estimate the damage done to the State of Georgia at a hundred millions of dollars, at least twenty millions of which has inured to our advantage, and the remainder is simply waste and destruction. This may seem a hard species of warfare, but it brings the sad realities of war home to those who have been directly or indirectly instrumental in involving us in its attendant calamities. "The behavior of our troops in Savannah has been so manly, so quiet, so perfect, that I take it as the best evidence of discipline and true courage. Never was a hostile city filled with women and children occupied by a large army with less disorder, or more system, order, and good government." CHAPTER XXV. SHERMAN'S STORY OF THE MARCH. THE SOLDIER'S MODEST NARRATION OF HIS ARDUOUS DEEDS--WHY THE MARCH WAS DECIDED UPON--OPERATIONS AROUND SAVANNAH--MATERIAL RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN--HANDSOME TRIBUTES TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF HIS ARMY. After his safe arrival at Savannah, General Sherman made the following official report on the great march "from Atlanta to the Sea": "HDQRS. MIL. DIV. OF THE MISSISSIPPI, "IN THE FIELD, SAVANNAH, GA., Jan. 1st, 1865. "_Major-General H. W. Halleck, Chief of Staff, Washington City, D. D_. "GENERAL:--I have the honor to offer my report of the operations of the armies under my command since the occupation of Atlanta in the early part of September last, up to the present date.