On the 2nd of January, 1865, the 55th Ohio and its brigade broke camp and crossed the Savannah River on the transport "Planter" to Cheve's Landing, South Carolina. Regimental historian Hartwell Osborne stated that the "...sailors were heartily amused at the seasick agonies of the landsmen, who would rather march a hundred miles then travel ten miles by sea". They then marched six miles to the northwest to Hardee's Farm and encamped. On the 16th of January, Brevet Brigadier-General William Cogswell, formerly Colonel of the 2nd Massachusetts, assumed command of the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, 20th Corps, relieving Colonel Samuel Ross, who went home on leave of absence. Cogswell, according to one description, was "an able and fearless leader". The3rd Brigade, at this time, was composed of the 55th Ohio, 73rd Ohio, 20th Connecticut, 26th Wisconsin, 33rd Massachusetts, and the 136th New York. According to Cogswell, the brigade numbered 88 officers and 1,399 enlisted men (an average of 248 men per regiment).
On the 17th day of January, Cogswell's Brigade (minus the 26th Wisconsin and 136th New York) marched 8 miles to Hardeesville, South Carolina, camping on the "south side of the town . . . where drills, guard mountings and dress parades were resumed, and the camp put into as tolerable condition as the nature of the ground and weather would permit . . ." Materiel from the town buildings went into the making of log huts as the weather was bitterly cold, wet and windy. The two detached regiments rejoined the brigade the next day. On the 29th, ". . ."[A]t 7 o'clock, [Cogswell's brigade] broke camp and marched north and easterly toward Robertsville, S.C., to a point seven miles south of the latter place". On the 30th of January, 1865, the 55th Ohio joined the rest of the 3rd Brigade in a march to Robertsville, camping on the south side of that town.
.Sources:
Trials And Triumphs: The Record Of The Fifty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry
by Captain Hartwell Osborne And Others, A.C. McClurg & Co., 1904All Brave And True: A History Of The Marches And Battles Of The 55th Ohio (Veteran) Volunteer Infantry Regiment by Dan Munson, March 1987, (2nd Edition)