orders, because they were not designated to meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for the future struggles in which millions of good people outside of Atlanta have a deep interest," &c. * * *
After he had started on his "march to the sea" he gives an account of how the foraging details were made and carried out each day, and concludes by saying:
"Although this foraging was attended with great danger and hard work, there seemed to be a charm about it that attracted the soldiers, and it was a privilege to be detailed on such a party."
"Lastly, they returned mounted on all sorts of beasts, which were at once taken from them and appropriated to the general use, but the next day they would start out again on foot, only to repeat the experience of the day before. No doubt (he says) many acts of pillage, robbery and violence were committed by these parties of foragers, usually called 'bummers' for I have since heard of jewelry taken from women and the plunder of articles that never reached the commissary," &c. * * *
(See 2 Mem., page 182.)
He not only does not say that he tried to prevent his army from committing these outrages, but says, on page 255, in referring to his march through South Carolina:
"I would not restrain the army, lest its vigor and energy should be impaired."
He tells on page 185 how, when he reached General Howell Cobb's plantation, he "sent word back to General Davis to explain whose plantation it was, and instructed him to spare nothing."
To show what a heartless wretch he was, he tells on page 194 about one of his officers having been wounded by the explosion of a torpedo that had been hidden in the line of march, and on which this officer had stepped. He says:
"I immediately ordered a lot of rebel prisoners to he brought from the provost guard, armed with picks and spades, and made them march in close order along the road, so as to explode their own torpedoes, or to discover and dig them up. They begged hard but I reiterated the order, and could hardly help laughing at their stepping so gingerly along the road where it was supposed sunken torpedoes might explode at each step."
