It seemed impossible to us that they should not stop him soon, for if each of all these leaders had any command worthy the name the aggregate must make an army that, standing on the defensive, would give Sherman a great deal of trouble.

That he would be able to penetrate into the State as far as we were never entered into our minds.
By and by we were astonished at the number of the trains that we could hear passing north on the Charleston & Cheraw Railroad.

Day and night for two weeks there did not seem to be more than half an hour's interval at any time between the rumble and whistles of the trains as they passed Florence Junction, and sped away towards Cheraw, thirty-five miles north of us.

We at length discovered that Sherman had reached Branchville, and was singing around toward Columbia, and other important points to the north; that Charleston was being evacuated, and its garrison, munitions and stores were being removed to Cheraw, which the Rebel Generals intended to make their new base.

As this news was so well confirmed as to leave no doubt of it, it began to wake up and encourage all the more hopeful of us.