For a distance of more than fifty miles they ruined a canal important to the Confederacy.

Boats, locks, everything went, and they also made cuts by which the swollen James poured into the canal, flooding it and thrusting it out of its banks.

They met no resistance save a few distant shots, and Sheridan rejoiced over his plan to join the Army of the Potomac, although he had not yet been able to send word of it to Grant.
But the omens remained propitious.

They saw now that there were no walls in the rear of the Confederacy and they had little to do but march.
The heavy rains followed them, roads disappeared, and it seemed to the young captains that they lived in eternal showers of mud.

Horses and riders alike were caked with it, and they ceased to make any effort to clean themselves.
"This is not a white army," said Warner, looking down a long column, "it's brown, although it would be hard to name the shade of brown." "It's not always brown," said Pennington.