Command to Montgomery C. Meigs, March 16, 1865

Quartermaster-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

General: In obedience to instructions contained in your letter of the 26th of December, 1864, I have the honor to make the following report :

From the 14th to the 25th of October last found me at Chattanooga, Tenn. , hurrying and giving all the assistance in my power to the repair of the road from Chattanooga to Atlanta, which had been destroyed ! by General Hood’s army. On the 26th I joined General Sherman at i Gaylesville, a small town about thirty miles west of Rome, Ga., where I received his orders, and proceeded the next day to Atlanta, Ga. , by his direction, to superintend the removal of all stores, citizens, sick, j &e., from that place to Chattanooga. On entering upon this duty I I found the accumulation of supplies and the number of sick, wounded, and negroes surprisingly large for the short time we had occupied the place. The removal of the whole, except some property not worth transportation, was accomplished by the 12th of November, 1864, and the army of General Sherman commenced its march from Atlanta to Savannah, Ga., on the 15th of November, 1864.

The army consisted of four corps of infantry and one cavalry division, as follows, viz:

FourteeTith Corps . .

The following was ordered as the allowance of transportation for baggage, &g. , on the march.

One wagon to each regiment; two wagons to each brigade head¬ quarters; three wagons to each division headquarters; five wagons to each corps headquarters ; one wagon to each battery (there was one battery to each division).

The balance of the transportation was directed to be distributed as follows, viz:

Three wagons to each division for hospital purposes ; one wagon to every 100 men, including artillery for ammunition, and the remainder, 1,476 wagons, was used in transporting forage and subsistence, &c.

The army started from Atlanta with four days’ grain.

The subsistence transported for the whole army was as follows, viz:

Hard-bread, 20 days’ rations ; salt meat, 5 days’ rations ; sugar and coffee, 30 days’ rations; soap, rice, candles, 5 days’ rations; salt, 80 days’ rations.

The quantity of salt taken proved unnecessary, as we found it in great abundance in the country passed through.

The army started from Atlanta with 5,476 head of beef-cattle in addition to the above.

I The first grain received was at King’s Bridge, on the Ogeechee j River. It arrived there and was issued on the 18th of December, so I the animals of the army subsisted on the country twenty-nine days ! (we started with four days’ grain), which makes at least 11,145,792 ; pounds of grain and 15,177,344 pounds of fodder and hay taken from I the country and consumed by the army on the march. This is a low I estimate of the forage taken from the country, as beef-cattle were fed ; on the whole route as much as they would eat, and the number of i horses, mules, and beef-cattle varied from day to day, all increasing i in numbers. I inclose you a statement of beef-cattle captured, &c., t marked B.

After General Hood cut the Chattanooga and Atlanta Railroad the animals of the army suffered for want of forage, and a large number of them became very much reduced in flesh and were quite weak when the army commenced its march from Atlanta. This accounts The army marched by corps and on roads as near parallel to each 1^ other as could be found. Each corps had its pontoon train and each division its pioneer force, and with these organizations streams were crossed, roads repaired, and sometimes made, without retarding the movements of the troops.

The management of trains differed somewhat in each corps, but I H think the best arrangement was where the train of the corps followed immediately after its troops, with a strong rear guard, in the follow¬ ing order:

V I Second. Division headquarters baggage wagons.

t { Third. Brigade headquarters baggage wagons.

j;f Fourth. Regimental headquarters baggage wagons.

jj Fifth. Empty wagons, to be loaded with forage and other supplies

I ! taken from the country, with the proper details for loading them.

J Sixth. Ammunition train.

Seventh. Ambulance train.

Eighth. General supply train.

! As the empty wagons reached farm-houses and other points where I supplies could be obtained a sufficient number were turned out of fdhe road to take all at the designated point, and so on through the yday until the empty wagons were loaded, making it a rule to take • dhe first supplies come to, and to leave none on the road until all the -wagons were loaded. The empty wagons could be loaded by the time dhe rear of the general supply train came up to them, and they would Jfall into their proper places in the rear of their division trains, if in ■time, or in the rear of the general supply train, without retarding the march. This arrangement worked well, and is probably as good as march to obtain supplies, there being sufficient near by.

Hogs, turkeys, geese, ducks, and chickens were killed and brought to the road by foraging parties sent out at the head of each column, and loaded into wagons as they came up. The captured beef-cattle and sheep were driven along in their proper places and killed as required. Sweet potatoes of the finest kind were found in great abundance immediately on the road ; also turnips, which were gener¬ ally of an inferior quality.

The portable forge is almost entirely done away with in General Sherman’s army. . Nearly all the officers prefer carrying a small-sized bellows, using any ordinary box filled with dirt as a fire-box. The bellows is swung between two stakes, usually cut from the woods or taken from some fence, driven into the ground, with a piece nailed across the top to suspend the bellows handle. The box (usually a bread box) is placed at its proper height on four forks or stakes driven into the ground, with pieces laid from one to the other to set the box on. They transport simply the bellows, anvil, and tools, making use of any empty box or barrel for a fire-box. Nearly all the iron-work on the march from Atlanta to Savannah was done with forges of this description. Officers prefer this arrangement to the portable forge, because it does not get out of order and gives a better heat. Since writing this I have received a circular describing Capt. John H. Dickerson’s portable forge, which is, I presume, got up from this idea. In the absence of portable forges I would suggest the plan for a forge now used in General Sherman’s army, which answers every purpose.

There is one little thing which has been practiced by experienced officers for many years, which would be a great economy in both wagon sheets and wagon bows if officers generally could be made to adopt it; that is, to put their side boards ten or twelve inches wide on all wagons. Wagons are loaded far above their sides; heavy articles are frequently put on top, and over rough roads jar against a bow, snapping it off, or coming between the bows, burst out the sheet. The side boards running the whole length of the wagon and pressing against all the bows prevents this difficulty, and also prevents the loading from coming against a wet sheet. A thin light board of this kind adds very little to the weight of the wagon, and is a great pro¬ tection to wagon bows and sheets.

For campaigning I would much prefer a wagon made with stand¬ ards to the bolster and over the hind axle, so that the body can be readily lifted off and removed from the running-gear; this will be a great economy in wagon-beds, as a great many of them are ruined on a march in hauling heavy timber for bridges, poles for corduroy, &c., to say nothing of the convenience of loading, particularly long timber, and making short turns in the woods to get the wagon into position to load. Another advantage is, that on a rainy day the wagon body can be set on the ground, and the loading kept in it as dry as if it were on its wheels.

In camps and, in fact, about garrisons, where wood is obtained from the forest, and where officers do not take the trouble to make wood-racks, a great many wagon-beds are crushed out and ruined by loading firewood on them. With standards wood could be cut long and loaded between them.

These are small things, but should the suggestions be followed I think they would prove a convenience and economy in the end.

Immediately on the receipt of your letter of the 26th December last, ^directing me to call on the chief quartermasters of General Sherman’s army for reports of the operations of the Quartermaster’s Department ‘ on the campaign from Atlanta to Savannah, I called on the chief quar¬ termasters of the two wings and of the different corps for reports. I ihave not as yet been able to get reports from either Colonel Conklin, chief quartermaster of the Right Wing, Lieut. Col. G. L. Fort or Lieut. Col. E. M. Joel, chief quartermasters of the Fifteenth and ‘-(Seventeenth Army Corps.* * My report would have been forwarded sooner had I not waited to get reports from these officers. I have hfinally concluded to make it without them. I will forward these ‘reports as soon as received.

\ I inclose you a statement of captured and abandoned animals, parked A. I inclose also the reports of Maj. G. E. Dunbar, chief quartermaster of the Cavalry corps; Capt. J. E. Remington, chief quartermaster (acting) of the Fourteenth Army Corps, and of Capt. pH. M. Whittelsey, acting chief quartermaster of the Twentieth Armv Corps.

your obedient servant, Brevet Brigadier-General, Chief Quartermaster,