The Seventeenth Corps (General Blair) followed substantially the railroad, and, along with it, on the 5th of December, I reached Ogeechee Church, about fifty miles from Savannah, and found there fresh earthworks, which had been thrown up by McLaw's division; but he must have seen that both his flanks were being turned, and prudently retreated to Savannah without a fight.

All the columns then pursued leisurely their march toward Savannah, corn and forage becoming more and more scarce, but rice-fields beginning to occur along the Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers, which proved a good substitute, both as food and forage.

The weather was fine, the roads good, and every thing seemed to favor us.

Never do I recall a more agreeable sensation than the sight of our camps by night, lit up by the fires of fragrant pine-knots.

The trains were all in good order, and the men seemed to march their fifteen miles a day as though it were nothing.