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72 CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION [1865
February 1, 1865, his troops all rested and equipped afresh, Sherman set his face to the north. The days of frolic were over. Continuous rains had made the Carolinas almost impassable. The march now begun was an incessant struggle with mud, swamps, and swollen rivers. A pontoon and trestle bridge three miles long was thrown across the Savannah, and miles of corduroy road were built through continuous swamps. Charleston, incessantly besieged since the war opened, where the United States had wasted more powder and iron than at all other points together, fell without a blow. Columbia was reached the middle of the month. It caught fire--just how has never been settled--and the greater part of the city was destroyed. Sherman's men helped to put out the flames, and left behind provisions and a herd of five hundred cattle for the suffering inhabitants.
1865] THE WAR IN THE CENTRE 73
Map of North Carolina.
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