sted,
and before the war closed over two hundred thousand.

It is needless to say that this made the Yankee unpopular at the time in
the best society of the South.

General Gillmore attempted to capture Sumter, and did reduce it to a
pulp, but when he went to gather it he was met by a garrison still
concealed in the basement, and peppered with volleys of hot
shingle-nails and other bric-a-brac, which forced him to retire with
loss.

He said afterward that Fort Sumter was not desirable anyhow.

[Illustration: PRICE OF LIVING RUNNING UP TO EIGHT HUNDRED AND NINE
HUNDRED DOLLARS PER DAY.]

This closed the most memorable year of the war, with the price of living
at the South running up to eight hundred and nine hundred dollars per
day, and currency depreciating so rapidly that one's salary had to be
advanced every morning in order to keep pace with the price of
mule-steaks.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

LAST YEAR OF THE DISAGREEABLE WAR.

General Grant was now in command of all the Union troops, and in 1864-5
the plan of operation was to prevent the junction of the
Confederates,--General Grant seeking to interest the army in Virginia
under General Lee, and General Sherman the army of General Joseph E.
Johnston in Georgia.

Sherman started at once, and came upon Johnston located on almost
impregnable hills all the way to Atlanta. The battles of Dalton, Resaca,
Dallas, Lost Mountain, and Kenesaw Mountain preceded Johnston's retreat
to the intrenchments of Atlanta, July 10, Sherman having been on the
move since early in May, 1864.

Jefferson Davis, disgusted with Johnston, placed Hood in command, who
made three heroic attacks upon the Union troops, but was repulsed.
Sherman now gathered fifteen days' rations from the neighbors, and,
throwing his forces across Hood's line of supplies, compelled him to
evacuate the city.

The historian says that Sherman was entirely supplied from Nashville
_via_ railroad during this trip, but the author knows of his own
personal knowledge that there were times when he got his fresh
provisions along the road.

[Illustration: GETTING FRESH PROVISIONS ALONG THE ROAD.]

This expedition cost the Union army thirty thousand men and the
Confederates thirty-five thousand. Besides, Georgia was the Confederacy,
so far as arms, grain, etc., were concerned. Sherman attributed much of
his success to the fact that he could repair and operate the railroad so
rapidly. Among his men were Yankee mac