January 17, 1864, Dandridge, Tennessee. Two hungry armies meet over the farms along the French Broad River in a hard freeze. Union Major General Philip Sheridan builds a bridge out of wagons, finishes it "in sheer desperation," and then has to take it apart in the dark. On the Confederate side, James Longstreet's men are so short of shoes that their feet leave "bloody marks along the roads."

Next: Fair Garden, January 27.

January 27, 1864, near Sevierville, Tennessee. Dr. Robert Hodsden lies in bed while Union and Confederate cavalry fight across his farm. Captain Eli Lilly's Indiana battery, the future founder of a drug company, is in the attack. Sturgis's own report explains why the winning side left: "the men and animals were perfectly worn out from constant marching and fighting."

Next: Meridian, February 14.

February 14, 1864, Meridian, Mississippi. Union Major General William Sherman marches into the largest railroad center the Confederacy still holds in the state, to meet a cavalry column due four days earlier. It never arrives. Sherman spends six days tearing up the railroads around the town, and he reports that Meridian "no longer exists." Confederate Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk told his president that the damage was about fifty miles of track.

Next: Dalton (First), February 22.