Note SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA — Chapter X
Reading edition
Page 512. Sherman's March to the Sea. General Sherman, in his Memoirs, says that on the afternoon of February 17, 1865, while overhauling his pockets, according to his custom, to read more carefully the various notes and memoranda received during the day, he found a paper which had been given him by a Union prisoner who had escaped from Columbia. It proved to be "Sherman's March to the Sea," composed by Adjutant S. H. M. Byers, of the Fifth Iowa Infantry, while a prisoner at Columbia. General Sherman was so impressed by the verses that he immediately sent for their author and attached him to his staff.