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Our arrival with other troops at
Hilton Head was in consequence of
General Foster's orders to co-operate with
General Sherman in his ‘march to the sea,’ for the latter had telegraphed
General Halleck from
Kingston, Ga., November 11,—
‘I would like to have Foster break the Charleston and Savannah Railroad about Pocotaligo about the 1st of December.’
A force of some five thousand men was gathered at
Port Royal and organized as the ‘Coast Division,’ under command of
General Hatch.
Gen. E. E. Potter's First Brigade was composed of the Fifty-sixth, One Hundred and Twentyseventh, One Hundred and Forty-fourth and One Hundred and Fifty-seventh New York, Twenty-fifth Ohio, Thirtysecond, Thirty-fourth, and Thirty-fifth United States Colored Troops;
Col. A. S. Hartwell's Second Brigade, of the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Massachusetts, Twenty-sixth and One Hundred and Second United States Colored Troops.
Lieut.-Col. William Ames commanded the artillery, consisting of Batteries B and F, Third New York, and Battery A, Third Rhode Island.
Capt. George P. Hurlbut, Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, had a detachment of his regiment.
Admiral Dahlgren formed a naval brigade of sailors and marines with some howitzers for duty ashore under
Commander George H. Preble, and ordered the