At the end of October, Sherman was ready to continue his campaign. He had corresponded with Grant on the subject and had intimated to him what he proposed to do. Grant replied to him, on November 2d, "Go on, then, as you propose." Thus the credit of the historic march that followed must be given to Sherman himself,--the conception of it as well as its execution. "The honor is all yours," said Lincoln afterward; "none of us went further than to acquiesce."
But Sherman had not stated positively, not even to Grant, what his objective point was, whether Charleston or Savannah, or even Pensacola. He proposed to march from Atlanta to the sea; that was all. What road he would follow, he would decide for himself and he would keep his own counsel. And in order to isolate Atlanta and render it useless to the enemy and that there might be no interference with his plans as he proceeded, he performed the unique act of destroying utterly the railways and telegraph by which he had communicated with the North. When everything was ready, and the final messages transmitted between himself and Grant, he cut the last remaining wire, and thence forward for a time, was lost to the Nation's view. His conquering host became known as "the lost army." This was on November 12th. On the 14th his army was ready for the march, and on the 15th the drums beat and they moved forward.
Acting under the grim necessities of war, Sherman sent this order to Captain Poe: "You may commence the work of destruction at once, but don't use fire until towards the last moment." Thus much of the City of Atlanta was destroyed, and it was past smoking ruins that Sherman's army marched forward to the sea.
The army was divided, for the purposes of this march, into two great wings. The right, keeping its army name, was commanded by General Howard, and consisted of the Fifteenth Corps, under Osterhaus, and the Seventeenth Corps, under Blair. The left, called Army of Georgia, was commanded by General Slocum, and consisted of the Fourteenth Corps, under J. C. Davis, and the Twentieth Corps, under A. S. Williams. In all there were about 60,000 infantry and 60 cannon. In addition, there was a cavalry division of 5,500 men, under General Kilpatrick.