And now the march Northward, to effect a junction with the army of the Potomac and end of the war by capturing both Lee and Johnston, was begun. It was Sherman himself who planned this Northward march through the Carolinas, and it was not without opposition that he did so. Grant wanted him to come on at once to Virginia by sea, and Sherman at first desired it. But a few days later he wrote to Grant that he wanted to march thither by land, by the way of Columbia, S. C., and Raleigh, N. C. "You know," he said, "how much better troops arrive by a land march than when carried by transports.... This march is necessary to the war. It must be made sooner or later, and I am in the proper position for it. I ask no re-enforcement, but simply with the utmost activity at all other points, so that the enemy may not concentrate too powerfully against me. I expect Davis will move heaven and earth to resist me, for the success of my army is fatal to his dream of empire." Grant finally consented to the march, to Sherman's delight, and by January 15 the army was ready to move Northward. First, Howard led the right wing, all but Corse's Division, by water to Beaufort and thence to Pocataligo, half way to Charleston, and after a sharp engagement, established a sub-depot there, with easy water connection with Beaufort and Hilton Head. Slocum, with the left wing, Corse's Division, and Kilpatrick, with the cavalry, went up the Savannah and via Sistus Ferry to Robertsville, S. C., some miles further inland. On January 18 Sherman turned the command at Savannah over to General Foster, and then went up to join Howard. Floods delayed Slocum and his army, but on February 1 Howard moved forward. On February 3 he crossed the Salkehatchie, marching for three miles in bitter cold weather through water from two to three feet deep, while rain was falling in torrents. The Edisto was next crossed and the whole army pushed on rapidly. Kilpatrick's cavalry, meanwhile, made various raids and had some skirmishing with Wheeler. Sherman pursued his old policy of directing no wilful damage to private property, but the rumor got abroad that he was pillaging and burning houses everywhere. So Wheeler presently wrote to him saying that unless he stopped burning houses, he, Wheeler, would burn all the cotton in the country. Sherman replied: "I hope you will burn all the cotton, and save us the trouble. We don't want it. It has been a curse to our country. All you don't burn I will. As to private houses occupied by peaceful families my orders are not to molest or disturb them, and I think my orders are obeyed. Vacant houses, being of no use to anybody, I care little about, as the owners have thought them of little use to themselves; I don't wish to have them destroyed, but do not take much care to preserve them."