MEMOIRS OF GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN

By William T. Sherman

VOLUME II

Part 3

CHAPTER XVI. 

ATLANTA CAMPAIGN-NASHVILLE AND CHATTANOOGA TO BENEBAW. 

MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY, 1864. 

On the 18th day of March, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee, I relievedLieutenant-General Grant in command of the Military Division of theMississippi, embracing the Departments of the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, and Arkansas, commanded respectively by Major-GeneralsSchofield, Thomas, McPherson, and Steele. General Grant was in theact of starting East to assume command of all the armies of theUnited States, but more particularly to give direction in person tothe Armies of the Potomac and James, operating against Richmond;and I accompanied him as far as Cincinnati on his way, to availmyself of the opportunity to discuss privately many little detailsincident to the contemplated changes, and of preparation for thegreat events then impending. Among these was the intendedassignment to duty of many officers of note and influence, who had, by the force of events, drifted into inactivity and discontent. Among these stood prominent Generals McClellan, Burnside, andFremont, in, the East; and Generals Buell, McCook, Negley, andCrittenden, at the West. My understanding was that General Grantthought it wise and prudent to give all these officers appropriatecommands, that would enable them to regain the influence they hadlost; and, as a general reorganization of all the armies was thennecessary, he directed me to keep in mind especially the claims ofGenerals Buell, McCook, and Crittenden, and endeavor to give themcommands that would be as near their rank and dates of commissionas possible; but I was to do nothing until I heard further fromhim on the subject, as he explained that he would have to consultthe Secretary of War before making final orders. General Buell andhis officers had been subjected to a long ordeal by a court ofinquiry, touching their conduct of the campaign in Tennessee andKentucky, that resulted in the battle of Perryville, or Chaplin'sHills, October 8, 1862, and they had been substantially acquitted;and, as it was manifest that we were to have some hard fighting, wewere anxious to bring into harmony every man and every officer ofskill in the profession of arms. Of these, Generals Buell andMcClellan were prominent in rank, and also by reason of their fameacquired in Mexico, as well as in the earlier part of the civilwar. 

After my return to Nashville I addressed myself to the task oforganization and preparation, which involved the general securityof the vast region of the South which had been already conquered, more especially the several routes of supply and communication withthe active armies at the front, and to organize a large army tomove into Georgia, coincident with the advance of the Easternarmies against Richmond. I soon received from Colonel J. B. Fry--now of the Adjutant-General's Department, but then at Washington incharge of the Provost-Marshal-General's office--a letter asking me todo something for General Buell. I answered him frankly, telling himof my understanding with General Grant, and that I was still awaitingthe expected order of the War Department, assigning General Buell tomy command. Colonel Fry, as General Buell's special friend, repliedthat he was very anxious that I should make specific application forthe services of General Buell by name, and inquired what I proposedto offer him. To this I answered that, after the agreement withGeneral Grant that he would notify me from Washington, I could notwith propriety press the matter, but if General Buell should beassigned to me specifically I was prepared to assign him to commandall the troops on the Mississippi River from Cairo to Natchez, comprising about three divisions, or the equivalent of a corpsd'armee. General Grant never afterward communicated to me on thesubject at all; and I inferred that Mr. Stanton, who was notoriouslyvindictive in his prejudices, would not consent to the employment ofthese high officers. General Buell, toward the close of the war, published a bitter political letter, aimed at General Grant, reflecting on his general management of the war, and stated that bothGenerals Canby and Sherman had offered him a subordinate command, which he had declined because he had once outranked us. This was nottrue as to me, or Canby either, I think, for both General Canby and Iranked him at West Point and in the old army, and he (General Buell)was only superior to us in the date of his commission asmajor-general, for a short period in 1862. This newspapercommunication, though aimed at General Grant, reacted on himself, forit closed his military career. General Crittenden afterward obtainedauthority for service, and I offered him a division, but he declinedit for the reason, as I understood it, that he had at one timecommanded a corps. He is now in the United States service, commanding the Seventeenth Infantry. General McCook obtained acommand under General Canby, in the Department of the Gulf, where herendered good service, and he is also in the regular service, lieutenant-colonel Tenth Infantry. 

I returned to Nashville from Cincinnati about the 25th of March, and started at once, in a special car attached to the regulartrain, to inspect my command at the front, going to Pulaski, Tennessee, where I found General G. M. Dodge; thence to Huntsville, Alabama, where I had left a part of my personal staff and therecords of the department during the time we had been absent atMeridian; and there I found General McPherson, who had arrived fromVicksburg, and had assumed command of the Army of the Tennessee. General McPherson accompanied me, and we proceeded by the cars toStevenson, Bridgeport, etc. , to Chattanooga, where we spent a dayor two with General George H. Thomas, and then continued on toKnoxville, where was General Schofield. He returned with us toChattanooga, stopping by the way a few hours at Loudon, where werethe headquarters of the Fourth Corps (Major-General GordonGranger). General Granger, as usual, was full of complaints at thetreatment of his corps since I had left him with General Burnside, at Knoxville, the preceding November; and he stated to mepersonally that he had a leave of absence in his pocket, of whichhe intended to take advantage very soon. About the end of March, therefore, the three army commanders and myself were together atChattanooga. We had nothing like a council of war, but conversedfreely and frankly on all matters of interest then in progress orimpending. We all knew that, as soon as the spring was fairlyopen, we should have to move directly against our antagonist, General Jos. E. Johnston, then securely intrenched at Dalton, thirty miles distant; and the purpose of our conference at the timewas to ascertain our own resources, and to distribute to each partof the army its appropriate share of work. We discussed everypossible contingency likely to arise, and I simply instructed eacharmy commander to make immediate preparations for a hard campaign, regulating the distribution of supplies that were coming up by railfrom Nashville as equitably as possible. We also agreed on somesubordinate changes in the organization of the three separatearmies which were destined to take the field; among which was theconsolidation of the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps (Howard and Slocum)into a single corps, to be commanded by General Jos. Hooker. General Howard was to be transferred to the Fourth Corps, viceGordon Granger to avail himself of his leave of absence; andGeneral Slocum was to be ordered down the Mississippi River, tocommand the District of Vicksburg. These changes required theconsent of the President, and were all in due time approved. 

The great question of the campaign was one of supplies. Nashville, our chief depot, was itself partially in a hostile country, andeven the routes of supply from Louisville to Nashville by rail, andby way of the Cumberland River, had to be guarded. Chattanooga(our starting-point) was one hundred and thirty-six miles in frontof Nashville, and every foot of the way, especially the manybridges, trestles, and culverts, had to be strongly guarded againstthe acts of a local hostile population and of the enemy's cavalry. Then, of course, as we advanced into Georgia, it was manifest thatwe should have to repair the railroad, use it, and guard itlikewise: General Thomas's army was much the largest of the three, was best provided, and contained the best corps of engineers, railroad managers, and repair parties, as well as the best body ofspies and provost-marshals. On him we were therefore compelled in agreat measure to rely for these most useful branches of service. Hehad so long exercised absolute command and control over the railroadsin his department, that the other armies were jealous, and thesethought the Army of the Cumberland got the lion's share of thesupplies and other advantages of the railroads. I found a good dealof feeling in the Army of the Tennessee on this score, and thereforetook supreme control of the roads myself, placed all the armycommanders on an equal footing, and gave to each the same control, sofar as orders of transportation for men and stores were concerned. Thomas's spies brought him frequent and accurate reports of Jos. E. Johnston's army at Dalton, giving its strength anywhere between fortyand fifty thousand men, and these were being reenforced by troopsfrom Mississippi, and by the Georgia militia, under General G. W. Smith. General Johnston seemed to be acting purely on the defensive, so that we had time and leisure to take all our measures deliberatelyand fully. I fixed the date of May 1st, when all things should be inreadiness for the grand forward movement, and then returned toNashville; General Schofield going back to Knoxville, and McPhersonto Huntsville, Thomas remaining at Chattanooga. 

On the 2d of April, at Nashville, I wrote to General Grant, then atWashington, reporting to him the results of my visit to the severalarmies, and asked his consent to the several changes proposed, which was promptly given by telegraph. I then addressed myselfspecially to the troublesome question of transportation andsupplies. I found the capacity of the railroads from Nashvilleforward to Decatur, and to Chattanooga, so small, especially in thenumber of locomotives and care, that it was clear that they werebarely able to supply the daily wants of the armies then dependenton them, with no power of accumulating a surplus in advance. Thecars were daily loaded down with men returning from furlough, withcattle, horses, etc. ; and, by reason of the previous desolation ofthe country between Chattanooga and Knoxville, General Thomas hadauthorized the issue of provisions to the suffering inhabitants. 

We could not attempt an advance into Georgia without food, ammunition, etc. ; and ordinary prudence dictated that we shouldhave an accumulation at the front, in case of interruption to therailway by the act of the enemy, or by common accident. Accordingly, on the 6th of April, I issued a general order, limiting the use of the railroad-cars to transporting only theessential articles of food, ammunition, and supplies for the armyproper, forbidding any further issues to citizens, and cutting offall civil traffic; requiring the commanders of posts within thirtymiles of Nashville to haul out their own stores in wagons;requiring all troops destined for the front to march, and allbeef-cattle to be driven on their own legs. This was a great help, but of course it naturally raised a howl. Some of the poor Unionpeople of East Tennessee appealed to President Lincoln, whose kindheart responded promptly to their request. He telegraphed me to knowif I could not modify or repeal my orders; but I answered him that agreat campaign was impending, on which the fate of the nation hung;that our railroads had but a limited capacity, and could not providefor the necessities of the army and of the people too; that one orthe other must quit, and we could not until the army of Jos. Johnstonwas conquered, etc. , etc. Mr. Lincoln seemed to acquiesce, and Iadvised the people to obtain and drive out cattle from Kentucky, andto haul out their supplies by the wagon-road from the same quarter, by way of Cumberland Gap. By these changes we nearly or quitedoubled our daily accumulation of stores at the front, and yet eventhis was not found enough. 

I accordingly called together in Nashville the master oftransportation, Colonel Anderson, the chief quartermaster, GeneralJ. L. Donaldson, and the chief commissary, General Amos Beckwith, for conference. I assumed the strength of the army to move fromChattanooga into Georgia at one hundred thousand men, and thenumber of animals to be fed, both for cavalry and draught, atthirty-five thousand; then, allowing for occasional wrecks oftrains, which were very common, and for the interruption of theroad itself by guerrillas and regular raids, we estimated it wouldrequire one hundred and thirty cars, of ten tons each, to reachChattanooga daily, to be reasonably certain of an adequate supply. Even with this calculation, we could not afford to bring forwardhay for the horses and mules, nor more than five pounds of oats orcorn per day for each animal. I was willing to risk the questionof forage in part, because I expected to find wheat and cornfields, and a good deal of grass, as we advanced into Georgia atthat season of the year. The problem then was to deliver atChattanooga and beyond one hundred and thirty car-loads daily, leaving the beef-cattle to be driven on the hoof, and all thetroops in excess of the usual train-guards to march by the ordinaryroads. Colonel Anderson promptly explained that he did not possesscars or locomotives enough to do this work. I then instructed andauthorized him to hold on to all trains that arrived at Nashvillefrom Louisville, and to allow none to go back until he had securedenough to fill the requirements of our problem. At the time heonly had about sixty serviceable locomotives, and about six hundredcars of all kinds, and he represented that to provide for allcontingencies he must have at least one hundred locomotives and onethousand cars. As soon as Mr. Guthrie, the President of theLouisville & Nashville Railroad, detected that we were holding onto all his locomotives and cars, he wrote me, earnestlyremonstrating against it, saying that he would not be able withdiminished stock to bring forward the necessary stores fromLouisville to Nashville. I wrote to him, frankly telling himexactly how we were placed, appealed to his patriotism to stand byus, and advised him in like manner to hold on to all trains cominginto Jeffersonville, Indiana. He and General Robert Allen, thenquartermaster-general at Louisville, arranged a ferry-boat so as totransfer the trains over the Ohio River from Jeffersonville, and ina short time we had cars and locomotives from almost every road atthe North; months afterward I was amused to see, away down inGeorgia, cars marked "Pittsburg & Fort Wayne, " "Delaware &Lackawanna, " "Baltimore & Ohio, " and indeed with the names ofalmost every railroad north of the Ohio River. How these railroadcompanies ever recovered their property, or settled theirtransportation accounts, I have never heard, but to this fact, asmuch as to any other single fact, I attribute the perfect successwhich afterward attended our campaigns; and I have always feltgrateful to Mr. Guthrie, of Louisville, who had sense enough andpatriotism enough to subordinate the interests of his railroadcompany to the cause of his country. 

About this time, viz. , the early part of April, I was muchdisturbed by a bold raid made by the rebel General Forrest upbetween the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers. He reached the OhioRiver at Paducah, but was handsomely repulsed by Colonel Hicks. Hethen swung down toward Memphis, assaulted and carried Fort Pillow, massacring a part of its garrison, composed wholly of negro troops. At first I discredited the story of the massacre, because, inpreparing for the Meridian campaign, I had ordered Fort Pillow tobe evacuated, but it transpired afterward that General Hurlbut hadretained a small garrison at Fort Pillow to encourage theenlistment of the blacks as soldiers, which was a favoritepolitical policy at that day. The massacre at Fort Pillow occurredApril 12, 1864, and has been the subject of congressional inquiry. No doubt Forrest's men acted like a set of barbarians, shootingdown the helpless negro garrison after the fort was in theirpossession; but I am told that Forrest personally disclaims anyactive participation in the assault, and that he stopped the firingas soon as he could. I also take it for granted that Forrest didnot lead the assault in person, and consequently that he was to therear, out of sight if not of hearing at the time, and I was told byhundreds of our men, who were at various times prisoners inForrest's possession, that he was usually very kind to them. Hehad a desperate set of fellows under him, and at that very timethere is no doubt the feeling of the Southern people was fearfullysavage on this very point of our making soldiers out of their lateslaves, and Forrest may have shared the feeling. 

I also had another serious cause of disturbance about that time. Iwanted badly the two divisions of troops which had been loaned toGeneral Banks in the month of March previously, with the expressunderstanding that their absence was to endure only one month, andthat during April they were to come out of Red River, and be againwithin the sphere of my command. I accordingly instructed one ofmy inspector-generals, John M. Corse, to take a fleet steamboat atNashville, proceed via Cairo, Memphis, and Vicksburg, to GeneralBanks up the Red River, and to deliver the following letter ofApril 3d, as also others, of like tenor, to Generals A. J. Smithand Fred Steele, who were supposed to be with him:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPINASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, April 3, 1864

Major-General N. P. BANKS, commanding Department of the Gulf, RedRiver. 

GENERAL: The thirty days for which I loaned you the command ofGeneral A. J. Smith will expire on the 10th instant. I send withthis Brigadier-General J. M. Corse, to carry orders to General A. J. Smith, and to give directions for a new movement, which ispreliminary to the general campaign. General Corse may see you andexplain in full, but, lest he should not find you in person, I willsimply state that Forrest, availing himself of the absence of ourfurloughed men and of the detachment with you, has pushed upbetween the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers, even to the Ohio. Heattacked Paducah, but got the worst of it, and he still lingersabout the place. I hope that he will remain thereabouts tillGeneral A. J. Smith can reach his destined point, but this I canhardly expect; yet I want him to reach by the Yazoo a position nearGrenada, thence to operate against Forrest, after which to marchacross to Decatur, Alabama. You will see that he has a big job, and therefore should start at once. From all that I can learn, mytroops reached Alexandria, Louisiana, at the time agreed on, viz. , March 17th, and I hear of them at Natchitoches, but cannot hear ofyour troops being above Opelousas. 

Steele is also moving. I leave Steele's entire force to cooperatewith you and the navy, but, as I before stated, I must have A. T. Smith's troops now as soon as possible. 

I beg you will expedite their return to Vicksburg, if they have notalready started, and I want them if possible to remain in the sameboats they have used up Red River, as it will save the timeotherwise consumed in transfer to other boats. 

All is well in this quarter, and I hope by the time you turnagainst Mobile our forces will again act toward the same end, though from distant points. General Grant, now having lawfulcontrol, will doubtless see that all minor objects are disregarded, and that all the armies act on a common plan. 

Hoping, when this reaches you, that you will be in possession ofShreveport, I am, with great respect, etc. , W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

Rumors were reaching us thick and fast of defeat and disaster inthat quarter; and I feared then, what afterward actually happened, that neither General Banks nor Admiral Porter could or would sparethose two divisions. On the 23d of April, General Corse returned, bringing full answers to my letters, and I saw that we must go onwithout them. This was a serious loss to the Army of theTennessee, which was also short by two other divisions that were ontheir veteran furlough, and were under orders to rendezvous atCairo, before embarking for Clifton, on the Tennessee River. 

On the 10th of April, 1864, the headquarters of the three Armies ofthe Cumberland, Tennessee, and Ohio, were at Chattanooga. , Huntsville, and Knoxville, and the tables on page 16, et seq. , givetheir exact condition and strength. 

The Department of the Arkansas was then subject to my command, butGeneral Fred Steele, its commander, was at Little Rock, remote fromme, acting in cooperation with General Banks, and had fullemployment for every soldier of his command; so that I neverdepended on him for any men, or for any participation in theGeorgia campaign. Soon after, viz. , May 8th, that department wastransferred to the Military Division of "the Gulf, " or "Southwest, "Major-General E. R. S. Canby commanding, and General Steele servedwith him in the subsequent movement against Mobile. 

In Generals Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield, I had three generalsof education and experience, admirably qualified for the workbefore us. Each has made a history of his own, and I need not heredwell on their respective merits as men, or as commanders ofarmies, except that each possessed special qualities of mind and ofcharacter which fitted them in the highest degree for the work thenin contemplation. 

By the returns of April 10, 1864, it will be seen that theArmy of the Cumberland had on its muster-rolls--

 Men. Present and absent................... 171, 450Present for duty..................... 88, 883

The Army of the Tennessee--Present and absent.................... 134, 763Present for duty...................... 64, 957

The Army of the Ohio--Present and absent ................... 46, 052Present for duty ..................... 26, 242

The department and army commanders had to maintain strong garrisonsin their respective departments, and also to guard their respectivelines of supply. I therefore, in my mind, aimed to prepare out ofthese three armies, by the 1st of May, 1864, a compact army foractive operations in Georgia, of about the following numbers:

Army of the Cumberland................ 50, 000Army of the Tennessee................. 35, 000Army of the Ohio ..................... 15, 000

Total ............................... 100, 000

and, to make these troops as mobile as possible, I made thestrictest possible orders in relation to wagons and all species ofincumbrances and impedimenta whatever. Each officer and soldierwas required to carry on his horse or person food and clothingenough for five days. To each regiment was allowed but one wagonand one ambulance, and to the officers of each company one packhorse or mule. 

Each division and brigade was provided a fair proportion of wagonsfor a supply train, and these were limited in their loads to carryfood, ammunition, and clothing. Tents were forbidden to all savethe sick and wounded, and one tent only was allowed to eachheadquarters for use as an office. These orders were notabsolutely enforced, though in person I set the example, and didnot have a tent, nor did any officer about me have one; but we hadwall tent-flies, without poles, and no tent-furniture of any kind. We usually spread our flies over saplings, or on fence-rails orposts improvised on the spot. Most of the general officers, exceptThomas, followed my example strictly; but he had a regularheadquarters-camp. I frequently called his attention to the orderson this subject, rather jestingly than seriously. He would breakout against his officers for having such luxuries, but, needing atent himself, and being good-natured and slow to act, he neverenforced my orders perfectly. In addition to his regularwagon-train, he had a big wagon which could be converted into anoffice, and this we used to call "Thomas's circus. " Several timesduring the campaign I found quartermasters hid away in somecomfortable nook to the rear, with tents and mess-fixtures whichwere the envy of the passing soldiers; and I frequently broke themup, and distributed the tents to the surgeons of brigades. Yet myorders actually reduced the transportation, so that I doubt if anyarmy ever went forth to battle with fewer impedimenta, and wherethe regular and necessary supplies of food, ammunition, andclothing, were issued, as called for, so regularly and so well. 

My personal staff was then composed of Captain J. C. McCoy, aide-de-camp; Captain L. M. Dayton, aide-de-camp; Captain J. C. Audenried, aide-de-camp; Brigadier-General J. D. Webster, chief ofstaff; Major R. M. Sawyer, assistant adjutant-general; CaptainMontgomery Rochester, assistant adjutant-general. These last threewere left at Nashville in charge of the office, and were empoweredto give orders in my name, communication being generally kept up bytelegraph. 

Subsequently were added to my staff, and accompanied me in thefield, Brigadier-General W. F. Barry, chief of artillery; ColonelO. M. Poe, chief of engineers; Colonel L. C. Easton, chiefquartermaster; Colonel Amos Beckwith, chief commissary; CaptainThos. G. Baylor, chief of ordnance; Surgeon E. D. Kittoe, medicaldirector; Brigadier-General J. M. Corse, inspector-general;Lieutenant-Colonel C. Ewing, inspector-general; and Lieutenant-Colonel Willard Warner, inspector-general. 

These officers constituted my staff proper at the beginning of thecampaign, which remained substantially the same till the close ofthe war, with very few exceptions; viz. : Surgeon John Moore, UnitedStates Army, relieved Surgeon Kittoe of the volunteers (aboutAtlanta) as medical director; Major Henry Hitchcock joined asjudge-advocate, and Captain G. Ward Nichols reported as an extraaide-de-camp (after the fall of Atlanta) at Gaylesville, justbefore we started for Savannah. 

During the whole month of April the preparations for active warwere going on with extreme vigor, and my letter-book shows anactive correspondence with Generals Grant, Halleck, Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield on thousands of matters of detail andarrangement, most of which are embraced in my testimony before theCommittee on the Conduct of the War, vol. I. , Appendix. 

When the time for action approached, viz. , May 1, 1864, the actualarmies prepared to move into Georgia resulted as follows, presentfor battle: Men. Army of the Cumberland, Major-General THOMAS. Infantry ....................... 54, 568Artillery ...................... 2, 377Cavalry......................... 3, 828 Aggregate............... 60, 773Number of field-guns, 130. 

Army of the Tennessee, Major-General McPHERSON. 

Infantry ....................... 22, 437Artillery ...................... 1, 404Cavalry ........................ 624 Aggregate ............. 24, 465Guns, 96

Army of the Ohio, Major-General SCHOFIELD. 

Infantry ....................... 11, 183Artillery....................... 679Cavalry......................... 1, 697 Aggregate .............. 13, 559Guns, 28. 

Grand aggregate, 98, 797 men and 254 guns

These figures do not embrace the cavalry divisions which were stillincomplete, viz. , of General Stoneman, at Lexington, Kentucky, andof General Garrard, at Columbia, Tennessee, who were then rapidlycollecting horses, and joined us in the early stage of thecampaign. General Stoneman, having a division of about fourthousand men and horses, was attached to Schofield's Army of theOhio. General Garrard's division, of about four thousand fivehundred men and horses, was attached to General Thomas's command;and he had another irregular division of cavalry, commanded byBrigadier-General E. McCook. There was also a small brigade ofcavalry, belonging to the Army of the Cumberland, attachedtemporarily to the Army of the Tennessee, which was commanded byBrigadier-General Judson Kilpatrick. These cavalry commandschanged constantly in strength and numbers, and were generally usedon the extreme flanks, or for some special detached service, aswill be herein-after related. The Army of the Tennessee was stillshort by the two divisions detached with General Banks, up RedRiver, and two other divisions on furlough in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, but which were rendezvousing at Cairo, under GeneralsLeggett and Crocker, to form a part of the Seventeenth Corps, whichcorps was to be commanded by Major-General Frank P. Blair, then amember of Congress, in Washington. On the 2d of April I notifiedhim by letter that I wanted him to join and to command these twodivisions, which ought to be ready by the 1st of May. GeneralBlair, with these two divisions, constituting the Seventeenth ArmyCorps, did not actually overtake us until we reached Acworth andBig Shanty, in Georgia, about the 9th of June, 1864. 

In my letter of April 4th to General John A. Rawains, chief ofstaff to General Grant at Washington, I described at length all thepreparations that were in progress for the active campaign thuscontemplated, and therein estimated Schofield at twelve thousand, Thomas at forty-five thousand, and McPherson at thirty thousand. At first I intended to open the campaign about May 1st, by movingSchofield on Dalton from Cleveland, Thomas on the same objectivefrom Chattanooga, and McPherson on Rome and Kingston from Gunter'sLanding. My intention was merely to threaten Dalton in front, andto direct McPherson to act vigorously against the railroad belowResaca, far to the rear of the enemy. But by reason of his beingshort of his estimated strength by the four divisions beforereferred to, and thus being reduced to about twenty-four thousandmen, I did not feel justified in placing him so far away from thesupport of the main body of the army, and therefore subsequentlychanged the plan of campaign, so far as to bring that army up toChattanooga, and to direct it thence through Ship's Gap against therailroad to Johnston's rear, at or near Resaca, distant from Daltononly eighteen miles, and in full communication with the otherarmies by roads behind Rocky face Ridge, of about the same length. 

On the 10th of April I received General Grant's letter of April 4thfrom Washington, which formed the basis of all the campaigns of theyear 1864, and subsequently received another of April 19th, writtenfrom Culpepper, Virginia, both of which are now in my possession, in his own handwriting, and are here given entire. These lettersembrace substantially all the orders he ever made on thisparticular subject, and these, it will be seen, devolved on me thedetails both as to the plan and execution of the campaign by thearmies under my immediate command. These armies were to bedirected against the rebel army commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, then lying on the defensive, strongly intrenched atDalton, Georgia; and I was required to follow it up closely andpersistently, so that in no event could any part be detached toassist General Lee in Virginia; General Grant undertaking in likemanner to keep Lee so busy that he could not respond to any callsof help by Johnston. Neither Atlanta, nor Augusta, nor Savannah, was the objective, but the "army of Jos. Johnston, " go where itmight. 

[PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL. ]

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATESWASHINGTON D. C. , April 4, 1864. 

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Military Division of theMississippi. 

GENERAL: It is my design, if the enemy keep quiet and allow me totake the initiative in the spring campaign, to work all parts ofthe army together, and somewhat toward a common centre. For yourinformation I now write you my programme, as at present determinedupon. 

I have sent orders to Banks, by private messenger, to finish up hispresent expedition against Shreveport with all dispatch; to turnover the defense of Red River to General Steels and the navy, andto return your troops to you, and his own to New Orleans; toabandon all of Texas, except the Rio Grande, and to hold that withnot to exceed four thousand men; to reduce the number of troops onthe Mississippi to the lowest number necessary to hold it, and tocollect from his command not less than twenty-five thousand men. To this I will add five thousand from Missouri. With this force heis to commence operations against Mobile as soon as he can. Itwill be impossible for him to commence too early. 

Gillmore joins Butler with ten thousand men, and the two operateagainst Richmond from the south aide of James River. This willgive Butler thirty-three thousand men to operate with, W. F. Smithcommanding the right wing of his forces, and Gillmore the leftwing. I will stay with the Army of the Potomac, increased byBurnside's corps of not less than twenty-five thousand effectivemen, and operate directly against Lee's army, wherever it may befound. 

Sigel collects all his available force in two columns, one, underOrd and Averill, to start from Beverly, Virginia, and the other, under Crook, to start from Charleston, on the Kanawha, to moveagainst the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad. 

Crook will have all cavalry, and will endeavor to get in aboutSaltville, and move east from there to join Ord. His force will beall cavalry, while Ord will have from ten to twelve thousand men ofall arms. 

You I propose to move against Johnston's army, to break it up, andto get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can, inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources. 

I do not propose to lay down for you a plan of campaign, but simplyto lay down the work it is desirable to have done, and leave youfree to execute it in your own way. Submit to me, however, asearly as you can, your plan of operations. 

As stated, Banks is ordered to commence operations as soon as hecan. Gillmore is ordered to report at Fortress Monroe by the 18thinst. , or as soon thereafter as practicable. Sigel isconcentrating now. None will move from their places of rendezvousuntil I direct, except Banks. I want to be ready to move by the25th inst. , if possible; but all I can now direct is that you getready as soon as possible. I know you will have difficulties toencounter in getting through the mountains to where supplies areabundant, but I believe you will accomplish it. 

From the expedition from the Department of West Virginia I do notcalculate on very great results; but it is the only way I can taketroops from there. With the long line of railroad Sigel has toprotect, he can spare no troops, except to move directly to hisfront. In this way he must get through to inflict great damage onthe enemy, or the enemy must detach from one of his armies a largeforce to prevent it. In other words, if Sigel can't skin himself, he can hold a leg while some one else skins. 

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPINASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, April 10, 1864

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, Commander-in-Chief, Washington, D. 

DEAR GENERAL: Your two letters of April 4th are now before me, andafford me infinite satisfaction. That we are now all to act on acommon plan, converging on a common centre, looks like enlightenedwar. 

Like yourself, you take the biggest load, and from me you shallhave thorough and hearty cooperation. I will not let side issuesdraw me off from your main plans in which I am to knock Jos. Johnston, and to do as much damage to the resources of the enemy aspossible. I have heretofore written to General Rawlins and toColonel Comstock (of your staff) somewhat of the method in which Ipropose to act. I have seen all my army, corps, and divisioncommanders, and have signified only to the former, viz. , Schofield, Thomas, and McPherson, our general plans, which I inferred from thepurport of our conversation here and at Cincinnati. 

First, I am pushing stores to the front with all possible dispatch, and am completing the army organization according to the ordersfrom Washington, which are ample and perfectly satisfactory. 

It will take us all of April to get in our furloughed veterans, tobring up A. J. Smith's command, and to collect provisions andcattle on the line of the Tennessee. Each of the armies willguard, by detachments of its own, its rear communications. 

At the signal to be given by you, Schofield, leaving a selectgarrison at Knoxville and London, with twelve thousand men willdrop down to the Hiawassee, and march against Johnston's right bythe old Federal road. Stoneman, now in Kentucky, organizing thecavalry forces of the Army of the Ohio, will operate with Schofieldon his left front--it may be, pushing a select body of about twothousand cavalry by Ducktown or Elijah toward Athens, Georgia. 

Thomas will aim to have forty-five thousand men of all arms, andmove straight against Johnston, wherever he may be, fighting himcautiously, persistently, and to the best advantage. He will havetwo divisions of cavalry, to take advantage of any offering. 

McPherson will have nine divisions of the Army of the Tennessee, ifA. J. Smith gets here, in which case he will have full thirtythousand of the best men in America. He will cross the Tennesseeat Decatur and Whitesburg, march toward Rome, and feel for Thomas. If Johnston falls behind the Coosa, then McPherson will push forRome; and if Johnston falls behind the Chattahoochee, as I believehe will, then McPherson will cross over and join Thomas. 

McPherson has no cavalry, but I have taken one of Thomas'sdivisions, viz. , Garrard's, six thousand strong, which is now atColombia, mounting, equipping, and preparing. I design thisdivision to operate on McPherson's right, rear, or front, accordingas the enemy appears. But the moment I detect Johnston fallingbehind the Chattahoochee, I propose to cast off the effective partof this cavalry division, after crossing the Coosa, straight forOpelika, West Point, Columbus, or Wetumpka, to break up the roadbetween Montgomery and Georgia. If Garrard can do this work well, he can return to the Union army; but should a superior forceinterpose, then he will seek safety at Pensacola and join Banks, or, after rest, will act against any force that he can find east ofMobile, till such time as he can reach me. 

Should Johnston fall behind the Chattahoochee, I will feign to theright, but pass to the left and act against Atlanta or its easterncommunications, according to developed facts. 

This is about as far ahead as I feel disposed, to look, but I willever bear in mind that Johnston is at all times to be kept so busythat he cannot in any event send any part of his command againstyou or Banks. 

If Banks can at the same time carry Mobile and open up the AlabamaRiver, he will in a measure solve the most difficult part of myproblem, viz. , "provisions. " But in that I must venture. Georgiahas a million of inhabitants. If they can live, we should notstarve. If the enemy interrupt our communications, I will beabsolved from all obligations to subsist on our own resources, andwill feel perfectly justified in taking whatever and wherever wecan find. I will inspire my command, if successful, with thefeeling that beef and salt are all that is absolutely necessary tolife, and that parched corn once fed General Jackson's army on thatvery ground. As ever, your friend and servant, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATESCULPEPPER COURT HOUSE, VIRGINIA, April 19, 1864. 

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Military Division of theMississippi. 

GENERAL: Since my letter to you of April 4th I have seen no reasonto change any portion of the general plan of campaign, if the enemyremain still and allow us to take the initiative. Rain hascontinued so uninterruptedly until the last day or two that it willbe impossible to move, however, before the 27th, even if no moreshould fall in the meantime. I think Saturday, the 30th, willprobably be the day for our general move. 

Colonel Comstock, who will take this, can spend a day with you, andfill up many little gaps of information not given in any of myletters. 

What I now want more particularly to say is, that if the two mainattacks, yours and the one from here, should promise great success, the enemy may, in a fit of desperation, abandon one part of theirline of defense, and throw their whole strength upon the other, believing a single defeat without any victory to sustain thembetter than a defeat all along their line, and hoping too, at thesame time, that the army, meeting with no resistance, will restperfectly satisfied with their laurels, having penetrated to agiven point south, thereby enabling them to throw their force firstupon one and then on the other. 

With the majority of military commanders they might do this. 

But you have had too much experience in traveling light, andsubsisting upon the country, to be caught by any such ruse. I hopemy experience has not been thrown away. My directions, then, wouldbe, if the enemy in your front show signs of joining Lee, followhim up to the full extent of your ability. I will prevent theconcentration of Lee upon your front, if it is in the power of thisarmy to do it. 

The Army of the Potomac looks well, and, so far as I can judge, officers and men feel well. Yours truly, U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPINASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, April 24, 1864

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, Commander-in-Chief, Culpepper, Virginia

GENERAL: I now have, at the hands of Colonel Comstock, of yourstaff, the letter of April 19th, and am as far prepared to assumethe offensive as possible. I only ask as much time as you thinkproper, to enable me to get up McPherson's two divisions fromCairo. Their furloughs will expire about this time, and some ofthem should now be in motion for Clifton, whence they will march toDecatur, to join General Dodge. 

McPherson is ordered to assemble the Fifteenth Corps near Larkin's, and to get the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps (Dodge and Blair) atDecatur at the earliest possible moment. From these two points hewill direct his forces on Lebanon, Summerville, and Lafayette, where he will act against Johnston, if he accept battle at Dalton;or move in the direction of Rome, if the enemy give up Dalton, andfall behind the Oostenaula or Etowah. I see that there is somerisk in dividing our forces, but Thomas and Schofield will havestrength enough to cover all the valleys as far as Dalton; and, should Johnston turn his whole force against McPherson, the latterwill have his bridge at Larkin's, and the route to Chattanooga viaWilla's Valley and the Chattanooga Creek, open for retreat; and ifJohnston attempt to leave Dalton, Thomas will have force enough topush on through Dalton to Kingston, which will checkmate him. Myown opinion is that Johnston will be compelled to hang to hisrailroad, the only possible avenue of supply to his army, estimatedat from forty-five to sixty thousand men. 

At Lafayette all our armies will be together, and if Johnstonstands at Dalton we must attack him in position. Thomas feelscertain that he has no material increase of force, and that he hasnot sent away Hardee, or any part of his army. Supplies are thegreat question. I have materially increased the number of carsdaily. When I got here, the average was from sixty-five to eightyper day. Yesterday the report was one hundred and ninety-three;to-day, one hundred and thirty-four; and my estimate is that onehundred and forty-five cars per day will give us a day's supply anda day's accumulation. 

McPherson is ordered to carry in wagons twenty day's rations, andto rely on the depot at Ringgold for the renewal of his bread. Beeves are now being driven on the hoof to the front; and thecommissary, Colonel Beckwith, seems fully alive to the importanceof the whole matter. 

Our weakest point will be from the direction of Decatur, and I willbe forced to risk something from that quarter, depending on thefact that the enemy has no force available with which to threatenour communications from that direction. 

Colonel Comstock will explain to you personally much that I cannotcommit to paper. I am, with great respect, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

On the 28th of April I removed my headquarters to Chattanooga, andprepared for taking the field in person. General Grant had firstindicated the 30th of April as the day for the simultaneousadvance, but subsequently changed the day to May 5th. McPhersonstroops were brought forward rapidly to Chattanooga, partly by railand partly by marching. Thomas's troops were already in position(his advance being out as far as Ringgold-eighteen miles), andSchofield was marching down by Cleveland to Red Clay and CatoosaSprings. On the 4th of May, Thomas was in person at Ringgold, hisleft at Catoosa, and his right at Leet's Tan-yard. Schofield wasat Red Clay, closing upon Thomas's left; and McPherson was movingrapidly into Chattanooga, and out toward Gordon's Mill. 

On the 5th I rode out to Ringgold, and on the very day appointed byGeneral Grant from his headquarters in Virginia the great campaignwas begun. To give all the minute details will involve more thanis contemplated, and I will endeavor only to trace the principalevents, or rather to record such as weighed heaviest on my own mindat the time, and which now remain best fixed in my memory. 

My general headquarters and official records remained back atNashville, and I had near me only my personal staff andinspectors-general, with about half a dozen wagons, and a singlecompany of Ohio sharp-shooters (commanded by Lieutenant McCrory) asheadquarters or camp guard. I also had a small company ofirregular Alabama cavalry (commanded by Lieutenant Snelling), usedmostly as orderlies and couriers. No wall-tents were allowed, onlythe flies. Our mess establishment was less in bulk than that ofany of the brigade commanders; nor was this from an indifference tothe ordinary comforts of life, but because I wanted to set theexample, and gradually to convert all parts of that army into amobile machine, willing and able to start at a minute's notice, andto subsist on the scantiest food. To reap absolute success mightinvolve the necessity even of dropping all wagons, and to subsiston the chance food which the country was known to contain. I hadobtained not only the United States census-tables of 1860, but acompilation made by the Controller of the State of Georgia for thepurpose of taxation, containing in considerable detail the"population and statistics" of every county in Georgia. One of myaides (Captain Dayton) acted as assistant adjutant general, with anorder-book, letter-book, and writing-paper, that filled a smallchest not much larger than an ordinary candle-boa. The onlyreports and returns called for were the ordinary tri-monthlyreturns of "effective strength. " As these accumulated they weresent back to Nashville, and afterward were embraced in the archivesof the Military Division of the Mississippi, changed in 1865 to theMilitary Division of the Missouri, and I suppose they were burnedin the Chicago fire of 1870. Still, duplicates remain of allessential papers in the archives of the War Department. 

The 6th of May was given to Schofield and McPherson to get intoposition, and on the 7th General Thomas moved in force againstTunnel Hill, driving off a mere picket-guard of the enemy, and Iwas agreeably surprised to find that no damage had been done to thetunnel or the railroad. From Tunnel Hill I could look into thegorge by which the railroad passed through a straight andwell-defined range of mountains, presenting sharp palisade faces, and known as "Rocky Face. " The gorge itself was called the"Buzzard Roost. " We could plainly see the enemy in this gorge andbehind it, and Mill Creek which formed the gorge, flowing towardDalton, had been dammed up, making a sort of irregular lake, filling the road, thereby obstructing it, and the enemy's batteriescrowned the cliffs on either side. The position was very strong, and I knew that such a general as was my antagonist (Jos. Johnston), who had been there six months, had fortified it to themaximum. Therefore I had no intention to attack the positionseriously in front, but depended on McPherson to capture and holdthe railroad to its rear, which would force Johnston to detachlargely against him, or rather, as I expected, to evacuate hisposition at Dalton altogether. My orders to Generals Thomas andSchofield were merely to press strongly at all points in front, ready to rush in on the first appearance of "let go, " and, ifpossible, to catch our enemy in the confusion of retreat. 

All the movements of the 7th and 8th were made exactly as ordered, and the enemy seemed quiescent, acting purely on the defensive. 

I had constant communication with all parts of the army, and on the9th McPherson's head of column entered and passed through SnakeCreek, perfectly undefended, and accomplished a complete surpriseto the enemy. At its farther debouche he met a cavalry brigade, easily driven, which retreated hastily north toward Dalton, anddoubtless carried to Johnston the first serious intimation that aheavy force of infantry and artillery was to his rear and within afew miles of his railroad. I got a short note from McPherson thatday (written at 2 p. M. , when he was within a mile and a half of therailroad, above and near Resaca), and we all felt jubilant. Irenewed orders to Thomas and Schofield to be ready for the instantpursuit of what I expected to be a broken and disordered army, forced to retreat by roads to the east of Resaca, which were knownto be very rough and impracticable. 

That night I received further notice from McPherson that he hadfound Resaca too strong for a surprise; that in consequence he hadfallen back three miles to the month of Snake Creek Gap, and wasthere fortified. I wrote him the next day the following letters, copies of which are in my letter-book; but his to me were merenotes in pencil, not retained

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, TUNNEL HILL, GEORGIA, May 11, 1864

Major-General McPHERSON, commanding army of the Tennessee, Sugar Valley, Georgia. 

GENERAL: I received by courier (in the night) yours of 5 and 8. 30P. M. Of yesterday. 

You now have your twenty-three thousand men, and General Hooker isin close support, so that you can hold all of Jos. Johnston's armyin check should he abandon Dalton. He cannot afford to abandonDalton, for he has fixed it up on purpose to receive us, and heobserves that we are close at hand, waiting for him to quit. Hecannot afford a detachment strong enough to fight you, as his armywill not admit of it. 

Strengthen your position; fight any thing that comes; and threatenthe safety of the railroad all the time. But, to tell the truth, Iwould rather the enemy would stay in Dalton two more days, when hemay find in his rear a larger party than he expects in an openfield. At all events, we can then choose our own ground, and hewill be forced to move out of his works. I do not intend to put acolumn into Buzzard-Roost Gap at present. 

See that you are in easy communication with me and with allhead-quarters. After to-day the supplies will be at Ringgold. 

Yours, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, TUNNEL HILL, GEORGIA, May 11, 1864-Evening

Major-General McPHERSON, commanding army of the Tennessee, Sugar Valley, Georgia

GENERAL: The indications are that Johnston is evacuating Dalton. In that event, Howard's corps and the cavalry will pursue; all therest will follow your route. I will be down early in the morning. 

Try to strike him if possible about the forks of the road. 

Hooker must be with you now, and you may send General Garrard bySummerville to threaten Rome and that flank. I will cause all thelines to be felt at once. 

W. T. SHERMAN, major-general commanding. 

McPherson had startled Johnston in his fancied security, but hadnot done the full measure of his work. He had in hand twenty-threethousand of the best men of the army, and could have walked intoResaca (then held only by a small brigade), or he could have placedhis whole force astride the railroad above Resaca, and there haveeasily withstood the attack of all of Johnston's army, with theknowledge that Thomas and Schofield were on his heels. Had he doneso, I am certain that Johnston would not have ventured to attackhim in position, but would have retreated eastward by Spring Place, and we should have captured half his army and all his artillery andwagons at the very beginning of the campaign. 

Such an opportunity does not occur twice in a single life, but atthe critical moment McPherson seems to have been a little cautious. Still, he was perfectly justified by his orders, and fell back andassumed an unassailable defensive position in Sugar Valley, on theResaca side of Snake-Creek Gap. As soon as informed of this, Idetermined to pass the whole army through Snake-Creek Gap, and tomove on Resaca with the main army. 

But during the 10th, the enemy showed no signs of evacuatingDalton, and I was waiting for the arrival of Garrard's andStoneman's cavalry, known to be near at hand, so as to secure thefull advantages of victory, of which I felt certain. Hooker'sTwentieth Corps was at once moved down to within easy supportingdistance of McPherson; and on the 11th, perceiving signs ofevacuation of Dalton, I gave all the orders for the generalmovement, leaving the Fourth Corps (Howard) and Stoneman's cavalryin observation in front of Buzzard-Roost Gap, and directing all therest of the army to march through Snake-Creek Gap, straight onResaca. The roads were only such as the country afforded, mererough wagon-ways, and these converged to the single narrow trackthrough Snake-Creek Gap; but during the 12th and 13th the bulk ofThomas's and Schofield's armies were got through, and deployedagainst Resaca, McPherson on the right, Thomas in the centre, andSchofield on the left. Johnston, as I anticipated, had abandonedall his well-prepared defenses at Dalton, and was found inside ofResaca with the bulk of his army, holding his divisions well inhand, acting purely on the defensive, and fighting well at allpoints of conflict. A complete line of intrenchments was foundcovering the place, and this was strongly manned at all points. Onthe 14th we closed in, enveloping the town on its north and west, and during the 15th we had a day of continual battle and skirmish. At the same time I caused two pontoon-bridges to be laid across theOostenaula River at Lay's Ferry, about three miles below the town, by which we could threaten Calhoun, a station on the railroad sevenmiles below Resaca. At the same time, May 14th, I dispatchedGeneral Garrard, with his cavalry division, down the Oostenaula bythe Rome road, with orders to cross over, if possible, and toattack or threaten the railroad at any point below Calhoun andabove Kingston. 

During the 15th, without attempting to assault the fortified works, we pressed at all points, and the sound of cannon and musketry roseall day to the dignity of a battle. Toward evening McPherson movedhis whole line of battle forward, till he had gained a ridgeoverlooking the town, from which his field-artillery could reachthe railroad-bridge across the Oostenaula. The enemy made severalattempts to drive him away, repeating the sallies several times, and extending them into the night; but in every instance he wasrepulsed with bloody loss. 

Hooker's corps had also some heavy and handsome fighting thatafternoon and night on the left, where the Dalton roan entered theintrenchments, capturing a four-gun intrenched battery, with itsmen and guns; and generally all our men showed the finest fightingqualities. 

Howard's corps had followed Johnston down from Dalton, and was inline; Stoneman's division of cavalry had also got up, and was onthe extreme left, beyond the Oostenaula. 

On the night of May 15th Johnston got his army across the bridges, set them on fire, and we entered Resaca at daylight. Our loss upto that time was about six hundred dead and thirty-three hundredand seventy-five wounded--mostly light wounds that did notnecessitate sending the men to the rear for treatment. ThatJohnston had deliberately designed in advance to give up suchstrong positions as Dalton and Resaca, for the purpose of drawingus farther south, is simply absurd. Had he remained in Daltonanother hour, it would have been his total defeat, and he onlyevacuated Resaca because his safety demanded it. The movement byus through Snake-Creek Gap was a total surprise to him. My armyabout doubled his in size, but he had all the advantages of naturalpositions, of artificial forts and roads, and of concentratedaction. We were compelled to grope our way through forests, acrossmountains, with a large army, necessarily more or less dispersed. Of course, I was disappointed not to have crippled his, army moreat that particular stage of the game; but, as it resulted, theserapid successes gave us the initiative, and the usual impulse of aconquering army. 

Johnston having retreated in the night of May 15th, immediatepursuit was begun. A division of infantry (Jeff. C. Davis's) wasat once dispatched down the valley toward Rome, to supportGarrard's cavalry, and the whole army was ordered to pursue, McPherson by Lay's Ferry, on the right, Thomas directly by therailroad, and Schofield by the left, by the old road that crossedthe Oostenaula above Echota or Newtown. 

We hastily repaired the railroad bridge at Resaca, which had beenpartially burned, and built a temporary floating bridge out oftimber and materials found on the spot; so that Thomas got hisadvance corps over during the 16th, and marched as far as Calhoun, where he came into communication with McPherson's troops, which hadcrossed the Oostenaula at Lay's Ferry by our pontoon-bridges, previously laid. Inasmuch as the bridge at Resaca was overtaxed, Hooker's Twentieth Corps was also diverted to cross by the fordsand ferries above Resaca, in the neighborhood of Echota. 

On the 17th, toward evening, the head of Thomas's column, Newton'sdivision, encountered the rear-guard of Johnston's army nearAdairsville. I was near the head of column at the time, trying toget a view of the position of the enemy from an elevation in anopen field. My party attracted the fire of a battery; a shellpassed through the group of staff-officers and burst just beyond, which scattered us promptly. The next morning the enemy haddisappeared, and our pursuit was continued to Kingston, which wereached during Sunday forenoon, the 19th. 

From Resaca the railroad runs nearly due south, but at Kingston itmakes junction with another railroad from Rome, and changesdirection due east. At that time McPherson's head of column wasabout four miles to the west of Kingston, at a country place called"Woodlawn;" Schofield and Hooker were on the direct roads leadingfrom Newtown to Casaville, diagonal to the route followed byThomas. Thomas's head of column, which had followed the countryroads alongside of the railroad, was about four miles east ofKingston, toward Cassville, when about noon I got a message fromhim that he had found the enemy, drawn up in line of battle, onsome extensive, open ground, about half-way between Kingston andCassville, and that appearances indicated a willingness andpreparation for battle. 

Hurriedly sending orders to McPherson to resume the march, tohasten forward by roads leading to the south of Kingston, so as toleave for Thomas's troops and trains the use of the main road, andto come up on his right, I rode forward rapidly, over some roughgravel hills, and about six miles from Kingston found GeneralThomas, with his troops deployed; but he reported that the enemyhad fallen back in echelon of divisions, steadily and in superborder, into Cassville. I knew that the roads by which GeneralsHooker and Schofield were approaching would lead them to a seminarynear Cassville, and that it was all-important to secure the pointof junction of these roads with the main road along which we weremarching. Therefore I ordered General Thomas to push forward hisdeployed lines as rapidly as possible; and, as night wasapproaching, I ordered two field-batteries to close up at a gallopon some woods which lay between us and the town of Cassville. Wecould not see the town by reason of these woods, but a high rangeof hills just back of the town was visible over the tree-tops. Onthese hills could be seen fresh-made parapets, and the movements ofmen, against whom I directed the artillery to fire at long range. The stout resistance made by the enemy along our whole front of acouple of miles indicated a purpose to fight at Cassville; and, asthe night was closing in, General Thomas and I were together, alongwith our skirmish-lines near the seminary, on the edge of the town, where musket-bullets from the enemy were cutting the leaves of thetrees pretty thickly about us. Either Thomas or I remarked thatthat was not the place for the two senior officers of a great army, and we personally went back to the battery, where we passed thenight on the ground. During the night I had reports fromMcPherson, Hooker, and Schofield. The former was about five milesto my right rear, near the "nitre-caves;" Schofield was about sixmiles north, and Hooker between us, within two miles. All wereordered to close down on Cassville at daylight, and to attack theenemy wherever found. Skirmishing was kept up all night, but whenday broke the next morning, May 20th, the enemy was gone, and ourcavalry was sent in pursuit. These reported him beyond the EtowahRiver. We were then well in advance of our railroad-trains, onwhich we depended for supplies; so I determined to pause a few daysto repair the railroad, which had been damaged but little, exceptat the bridge at Resaca, and then to go on. 

Nearly all the people of the country seemed to have fled withJohnston's army; yet some few families remained, and from one ofthem I procured the copy of an order which Johnston had made atAdairsville, in which he recited that he had retreated as far asstrategy required, and that his army must be prepared for battle atCassville. The newspapers of the South, many of which we found, were also loud in denunciation of Johnston's falling back before uswithout a serious battle, simply resisting by his skirmish-linesand by his rear-guard. But his friends proclaimed that it was allstrategic; that he was deliberately drawing us farther and fartherinto the meshes, farther and farther away from our base ofsupplies, and that in due season he would not only halt for battle, but assume the bold offensive. Of course it was to my interest tobring him to battle as soon as possible, when our numericalsuperiority was at the greatest; for he was picking up hisdetachments as he fell back, whereas I was compelled to makesimilar and stronger detachments to repair the railroads as weadvanced, and to guard them. I found at Cassville many evidencesof preparation for a grand battle, among them a long line of freshintrenchments on the hill beyond the town, extending nearly threemiles to the south, embracing the railroad-crossing. I was alsoconvinced that the whole of Polk's corps had joined Johnston fromMississippi, and that he had in hand three full corps, viz. , Hood's, Polk's, and Hardee's, numbering about sixty thousand men, and could not then imagine why he had declined battle, and did notlearn the real reason till after the war was over, and then fromGeneral Johnston himself. 

In the autumn of 1865, when in command of the Military Division ofthe Missouri, I went from St. Louis to Little Rock, Arkansas, andafterward to Memphis. Taking a steamer for Cairo, I found asfellow-passengers Generals Johnston and Frank Blair. We were, ofcourse, on the most friendly terms, and on our way up we talkedover our battles again, played cards, and questioned each other asto particular parts of our mutual conduct in the game of war. Itold Johnston that I had seen his order of preparation, in thenature of an address to his army, announcing his purpose to retreatno more, but to accept battle at Cassville. He answered that suchwas his purpose; that he had left Hardee's corps in the open fieldsto check Thomas, and gain time for his formation on the ridge, justbehind Cassville; and it was this corps which General Thomas hadseen deployed, and whose handsome movement in retreat he hadreported in such complimentary terms. Johnston described how hehad placed Hood's corps on the right, Polk's in the centre, andHardee's on the left. He said he had ridden over the ground, givento each corps commander his position, and orders to throw upparapets during the night; that he was with Hardee on his extremeleft as the night closed in, and as Hardee's troops fell back tothe position assigned them for the intended battle of the next day;and that, after giving Hardee some general instructions, he and hisstaff rode back to Cassville. As he entered the town, or village, he met Generals Hood and Polk. Hood inquired of him if he had hadany thing to eat, and he said no, that he was both hungry andtired, when Hood invited him to go and share a supper which hadbeen prepared for him at a house close by. At the supper theydiscussed the chances of the impending battle, when Hood spoke ofthe ground assigned him as being enfiladed by our (Union)artillery, which Johnston disputed, when General Polk chimed inwith the remark that General Hood was right; that the cannon-shotsfired by us at nightfall had enfiladed their general line ofbattle, and that for this reason he feared they could not holdtheir men. General Johnston was surprised at this, for heunderstood General Hood to be one of those who professed tocriticise his strategy, contending that, instead of retreating, heshould have risked a battle. General Johnston said he wasprovoked, accused them of having been in conference, with beingbeaten before battle, and added that he was unwilling to engage ina critical battle with an army so superior to his own in numbers, with two of his three corps commanders dissatisfied with the groundand positions assigned them. He then and there made up his mind toretreat still farther south, to put the Etowah River and theAllatoona range between us; and he at once gave orders to resumethe retrograde movement. 

This was my recollection of the substance of the conversation, ofwhich I made no note at the time; but, at a meeting of the Societyof the Army of the Cumberland some years after, at Cleveland, Ohio, about 1868, in a short after-dinner speech, I related thisconversation, and it got into print. Subsequently, in the springof 1870, when I was at New Orleans, on route for Texas, GeneralHood called to see me at the St. Charles Hotel, explained that hehad seen my speech reprinted in the newspapers and gave me hisversion of the same event, describing the halt at Cassville, thegeneral orders for battle on that ground, and the meeting at supperwith Generals Johnston and Polk, when the chances of the battle tobe fought the next day were freely and fully discussed; and hestated that he had argued against fighting the battle purely on thedefensive, but had asked General Johnston to permit him with hisown corps and part of Polk's to quit their lines, and to marchrapidly to attack and overwhelm Schofield, who was known to beseparated from Thomas by an interval of nearly five miles, claimingthat he could have defeated Schofield, and got back to his positionin time to meet General Thomas's attack in front. He also statedthat he had then contended with Johnston for the "offensive-defensive" game, instead of the "pure defensive, " as proposed byGeneral Johnston; and he said that it was at this time that GeneralJohnston had taken offense, and that it was for this reason he hadordered the retreat that night. As subsequent events estrangedthese two officers, it is very natural they should now differ onthis point; but it was sufficient for us that the rebel army didretreat that night, leaving us masters of all the country above theEtowah River. 

For the purposes of rest, to give time for the repair of therailroads, and to replenish supplies, we lay by some few days inthat quarter--Schofield with Stoneman's cavalry holding the groundat Cassville Depot, Cartersville, and the Etowah Bridge; Thomasholding his ground near Cassville, and McPherson that nearKingston. The officer intrusted with the repair of the railroadswas Colonel W. W. Wright, a railroad-engineer, who, with about twothousand men, was so industrious and skillful that the bridge atResaca was rebuilt in three days, and cars loaded with stores cameforward to Kingston on the 24th. The telegraph also brought us thenews of the bloody and desperate battles of the Wilderness, inVirginia, and that General Grant was pushing his operations againstLee with terrific energy. I was therefore resolved to give myenemy no rest. 

In early days (1844), when a lieutenant of the Third Artillery, Ihad been sent from Charleston, South Carolina, to Marietta, Georgia, to assist Inspector-General Churchill to take testimonyconcerning certain losses of horses and accoutrements by theGeorgia Volunteers during the Florida War; and after completing thework at Marietta we transferred our party over to Bellefonte, Alabama. I had ridden the distance on horseback, and had notedwell the topography of the country, especially that about Kenesaw, Allatoona, and the Etowah River. On that occasion I had stoppedsome days with a Colonel Tumlin, to see some remarkable Indianmounds on the Etowah River, usually called the "Hightower:" Itherefore knew that the Allatoona Pass was very strong, would behard to force, and resolved not even to attempt it, but to turn theposition, by moving from Kingston to Marietta via. Dallas;accordingly I made orders on the 20th to get ready for the march tobegin on the 23d. The Army of the Cumberland was ordered to marchfor Dallas, by Euharlee and Stilesboro; Davis's division, then inRome, by Van Wert; the Army of the Ohio to keep on the left ofThomas, by a place called Burnt Hickory; and the Army of theTennessee to march for a position a little to the south, so as tobe on the right of the general army, when grouped about Dallas. 

The movement contemplated leaving our railroad, and to depend fortwenty days on the contents of our wagons; and as the country wasvery obscure, mostly in a state of nature, densely wooded, and withfew roads, our movements were necessarily slow. We crossed theEtowah by several bridges and fords, and took as many roads aspossible, keeping up communication by cross-roads, or by couriersthrough the woods. I personally joined General Thomas, who had thecentre, and was consequently the main column, or "column ofdirection. " The several columns followed generally the valley ofthe Euharlee, a tributary coming into the Etowah from the south, and gradually crossed over a ridge of mountains, parts of which hadonce been worked over for gold, and were consequently full of pathsand unused wagon-roads or tracks. A cavalry picket of the enemy atBurnt Hickory was captured, and had on his person an order fromGeneral Johnston, dated at Allatoona, which showed that he haddetected my purpose of turning his position, and it accordinglybecame necessary to use great caution, lest some of the minorcolumns should fall into ambush, but, luckily the enemy was notmuch more familiar with that part of the country than we were. Onthe other side of the Allatoona range, the Pumpkin-Vine Creek, alsoa tributary of the Etowah, flowed north and west; Dallas, the pointaimed at, was a small town on the other or east side of this creek, and was the point of concentration of a great many roads that ledin every direction. Its possession would be a threat to Mariettaand Atlanta, but I could not then venture to attempt either, till Ihad regained the use of the railroad, at least as far down as itsdebouche from the Allatoona range of mountains. Therefore, themovement was chiefly designed to compel Johnston to give upAllatoona. 

On the 25th all the columns were moving steadily on Dallas--McPherson and Davis away off to the right, near Van Wert; Thomas onthe main road in the centre, with Hooker's Twentieth Corps ahead, toward Dallas; and Schofield to the left rear. For the convenienceof march, Hooker had his three divisions on separate roads, allleading toward Dallas, when, in the afternoon, as he approached abridge across Pumpkin-Vine Creek, he found it held by a cavalryforce, which was driven off, but the bridge was on fire. This firewas extinguished, and Hooker's leading division (Geary's) followedthe retreating cavalry on a road leading due east toward Marietta, instead of Dallas. This leading division, about four miles out fromthe bridge, struck a heavy infantry force, which was moving down fromAllatoona toward Dallas, and a sharp battle ensued. I came up inperson soon after, and as my map showed that we were near animportant cross-road called "New Hope, " from a Methodistmeeting-house there of that name, I ordered General Hooker to secureit if possible that night. He asked for a short delay, till he couldbring up his other two divisions. Viz. , of Butterfield and Williams, but before these divisions had got up and were deployed, the enemyhad also gained corresponding strength. The woods were so dense, andthe resistance so spirited, that Hooker could not carry the position, though the battle was noisy, and prolonged far into the night. Thispoint, "New Hope, " was the accidental intersection of the roadleading from Allatoona to Dallas with that from Van Wert to Marietta, was four miles northeast of Dallas, and from the bloody fightingthere for the next week was called by the soldiers "Hell-Hole. "

The night was pitch-dark, it rained hard, and the convergence ofour columns toward Dallas produced much confusion. I am suresimilar confusion existed in the army opposed to us, for we wereall mixed up. I slept on the ground, without cover, alongside of alog, got little sleep, resolved at daylight to renew the battle, and to make a lodgment on the Dallas and Allatoona road ifpossible, but the morning revealed a strong line of intrenchmentsfacing us, with a heavy force of infantry and guns. The battle wasrenewed, and without success. McPherson reached Dallas thatmorning, viz. , the 26th, and deployed his troops to the southeastand east of the town, placing Davis's division of the FourteenthCorps, which had joined him on the road from Rome, on his left; butthis still left a gap of at least three miles between Davis andHooker. Meantime, also, General Schofield was closing up onThomas's left. 

Satisfied that Johnston in person was at New Hope with all hisarmy, and that it was so much nearer my "objective;" the railroad, than Dallas, I concluded to draw McPherson from Dallas to Hooker'sright, and gave orders accordingly; but McPherson also wasconfronted with a heavy force, and, as he began to withdrawaccording to his orders, on the morning of the 28th he was fiercelyassailed on his right; a bloody battle ensued, in which he repulsedthe attack, inflicting heavy loss on his assailants, and it was notuntil the 1st of June that he was enabled to withdraw from Dallas, and to effect a close junction with Hooker in front of New Hope. Meantime Thomas and Schofield were completing their deployments, gradually overlapping Johnston on his right, and thus extending ourleft nearer and nearer to the railroad, the nearest point of whichwas Acworth, about eight miles distant. All this time a continualbattle was in progress by strong skirmish-lines, taking advantageof every species of cover, and both parties fortifying each nightby rifle-trenches, with head-logs, many of which grew to be asformidable as first-class works of defense. Occasionally one partyor the other would make a dash in the nature of a sally, butusually it sustained a repulse with great loss of life. I visitedpersonally all parts of our lines nearly every day, was constantlywithin musket-range, and though the fire of musketry and cannonresounded day and night along the whole line, varying from six toten miles, I rarely saw a dozen of the enemy at any one time; andthese were always skirmishers dodging from tree to tree, or behindlogs on the ground, or who occasionally showed their heads abovethe hastily-constructed but remarkably strong rifle-trenches. Onthe occasion of my visit to McPherson on the 30th of May, whilestanding with a group of officers, among whom were GeneralsMcPherson, Logan, Barry, and Colonel Taylor, my former chief ofartillery, a Minie-ball passed through Logan's coat-sleeve, scratching the skin, and struck Colonel Taylor square in thebreast; luckily he had in his pocket a famous memorandum-book, inwhich he kept a sort of diary, about which we used to joke him agood deal; its thickness and size saved his life, breaking theforce of the ball, so that after traversing the book it onlypenetrated the breast to the ribs, but it knocked him down anddisabled him for the rest of the campaign. He was a most competentand worthy officer, and now lives in poverty in Chicago, sustainedin part by his own labor, and in part by a pitiful pension recentlygranted. 

On the 1st of June General McPherson closed in upon the right, and, without attempting further to carry the enemy's strong position atNew Hope Church, I held our general right in close contact with it, gradually, carefully, and steadily working by the left, until ourstrong infantry-lines had reached and secured possession of all thewagon-roads between New Hope, Allatoona, and Acworth, when Idispatched Generals Garrard's and Stoneman's divisions of cavalryinto Allatoona, the first around by the west end of the pass, andthe latter by the direct road. Both reached their destinationwithout opposition, and orders were at once given to repair therailroad forward from Kingston to Allatoona, embracing the bridgeacross the Etowah River. Thus the real object of my move on Dallaswas accomplished, and on the 4th of June I was preparing to drawoff from New Hope Church, and to take position on the railroad infront of Allatoona, when, General Johnston himself having evacuatedhis position, we effected the change without further battle, andmoved to the railroad, occupying it from Allatoona and Acworthforward to Big Shanty, in sight of the famous Kenesaw Mountain. 

Thus, substantially in the month of May, we had steadily driven ourantagonist from the strong positions of Dalton, Resaea, Cassville, Allatoona, and Dallas; had advanced our lines in strong, compactorder from Chattanooga to Big Shanty, nearly a hundred miles of asdifficult country as was ever fought over by civilized armies; andthus stood prepared to go on, anxious to fight, and confident ofsuccess as soon as the railroad communications were complete tobring forward the necessary supplies. It is now impossible tostate accurately our loss of life and men in any one separatebattle; for the fighting was continuous, almost daily, among treesand bushes, on ground where one could rarely see a hundred yardsahead. 

The aggregate loss in the several corps for the month of May isreported-as follows in the usual monthly returns sent to theAdjutant-General's office, which are, therefore, official:

Casualties during the Month of May, 1864(Major-General SHERMAN commanding). 

 Killed and Missing. Wounded. Total. 1, 863 7, 436 9, 299

General Joseph E. Johnston, in his "Narrative of his MilitaryOperations, " just published (March 27, 1874), gives the effectivestrength of his army at and about Dalton on the 1st of May, 1864(page 302), as follows:

Infantry..................... 37, 652Artillery.................... 2, 812Cavalry...................... 2, 392

 Total ................... 42, 856

During May, and prior to reaching Cassville, he was furtherreenforced (page 352)

Polk's corps of three divisions....... 12, 000Martin's division of cavalry.......... 3, 500Jackson's division of cavalry......... 3, 900

And at New Hope Church, May 26th

Brigade of Quarles.................... 2, 200

 Grand-total.................. 64, 456

His losses during the month of May are stated by him, as taken fromthe report of Surgeon Foard (page 325)

 Killed Wounded Total 721 4, 672 5, 393

These figures include only the killed and wounded, whereas mystatement of losses embraces the "missing, " which are usually"prisoners, " and of these we captured, during the whole campaign offour and a half months, exactly 12, 983, whose names, rank, andregiments, were officially reported to the Commissary-General ofPrisoners; and assuming a due proportion for the month of May, viz. , one-fourth, makes 3, 245 to be added to the killed and woundedgiven above, making an aggregate loss in Johnston's army, fromDalton to New Hope, inclusive, of 8, 638, against ours of 9, 299. 

Therefore General Johnston is greatly in error, in his estimates onpage 357, in stating our loss, as compared with his, at six or tento one. 

I always estimated my force at about double his, and could affordto lose two to one without disturbing our relative proportion; butI also reckoned that, in the natural strength of the country, inthe abundance of mountains, streams, and forests, he had a fairoffset to our numerical superiority, and therefore endeavored toact with reasonable caution while moving on the vigorous"offensive. "

With the drawn battle of New Hope Church, and our occupation of thenatural fortress of Allatoona, terminated the month of May, and thefirst stage of the campaign. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

ATLANTA CAMPAIGN--BATTLES ABOUT KENESAW MOUNTAIN. 

JUNE, 1864. 

On the 1st of June our three armies were well in hand, in thebroken and densely-wooded country fronting the enemy intrenched atNew Hope Church, about five miles north of Dallas. GeneralStoneman's division of cavalry had occupied Allatoona, on therailroad, and General Garrard's division was at the western end ofthe pass, about Stilesboro. Colonel W. W. Wright, of theEngineers, was busily employed in repairing the railroad andrebuilding the bridge across the Etowah (or High tower) River, which had been destroyed by the enemy on his retreat; and thearmies were engaged in a general and constant skirmish along afront of about six miles--McPherson the right, Thomas the centre, and Schofield on the left. By gradually covering our front withparapet, and extending to the left, we approached the railroadtoward Acworth and overlapped the enemy's right. By the 4th ofJune we had made such progress that Johnston evacuated his lines inthe night, leaving us masters of the situation, when I deliberatelyshifted McPherson's army to the extreme left, at and in front ofAcworth, with Thomas's about two miles on his right, andSchofield's on his right all facing east. Heavy rains set in aboutthe 1st of June, making the roads infamous; but our marches wereshort, as we needed time for the repair of the railroad, so as tobring supplies forward to Allatoona Station. On the 6th I rodeback to Allatoona, seven miles, found it all that was expected, andgave orders for its fortification and preparation as a "secondarybase. "

General Blair arrived at Acworth on the 8th with his two divisionsof the Seventeenth Corps--the same which had been on veteranfurlough--had come up from Cairo by way of Clifton, on theTennessee River, and had followed our general route to Allatoona, where he had left a garrison of about fifteen hundred men. Hiseffective strength, as reported, was nine thousand. These, withnew regiments and furloughed men who had joined early in the monthof May, equaled our losses from battle, sickness, and bydetachments; so that the three armies still aggregated about onehundred thousand effective men. 

On the 10th of June the whole combined army moved forward sixmiles, to "Big Shanty, " a station on the railroad, whence we had agood view of the enemy's position, which embraced three prominenthills known as Kenesaw, Pine Mountain, and Lost Mountain. On eachof these hills the enemy had signal-stations and fresh lines ofparapets. Heavy masses of infantry could be distinctly seen withthe naked eye, and it was manifest that Johnston had chosen hisground well, and with deliberation had prepared for battle; but hisline was at least ten miles in extent--too long, in my judgment, tobe held successfully by his force, then estimated at sixtythousand. As his position, however, gave him a perfect view overour field, we had to proceed with due caution. McPherson had theleft, following the railroad, which curved around the north base ofKenesaw; Thomas the centre, obliqued to the right, deploying belowKenesaw and facing Pine Hill; and Schofield, somewhat refused, wason the general right, looking south, toward Lost Mountain. 

On the 11th the Etowah bridge was done; the railroad was repairedup to our very skirmish line, close to the base of Kenesaw, and aloaded train of cars came to Big Shanty. The locomotive, detached, was run forward to a water-tank within the range of the enemy'sguns on Kenesaw, whence the enemy opened fire on the locomotive;but the engineer was not afraid, went on to the tank, got water, and returned safely to his train, answering the guns with thescreams of his engine, heightened by the cheers and shouts of ourmen. 

The rains continued to pour, and made our developments slow anddilatory, for there were no roads, and these had to be improvisedby each division for its own supply train from the depot in BigShanty to the camps. Meantime each army was deploying carefullybefore the enemy, intrenching every camp, ready as against a sally. The enemy's cavalry was also busy in our rear, compelling us todetach cavalry all the way back as far as Resaca, and tostrengthen all the infantry posts as far as Nashville. Besides, there was great danger, always in my mind, that Forrest wouldcollect a heavy cavalry command in Mississippi, cross the TennesseeRiver, and break up our railroad below Nashville. In anticipationof this very danger, I had sent General Sturgis to Memphis to takecommand of all the cavalry in that quarter, to go out towardPontotoc, engage Forrest and defeat him; but on the 14th of June Ilearned that General Sturgis had himself been defeated on the 10thof June, and had been driven by Forrest back into Memphis inconsiderable confusion. I expected that this would soon befollowed by a general raid on all our roads in Tennessee. GeneralG. J. Smith, with the two divisions of the Sixteenth andSeventeenth Corps which had been with General Banks up Red River, had returned from that ill-fated expedition, and had been orderedto General Canby at New Orleans, who was making a diversion aboutMobile; but, on hearing of General Sturgis's defeat, I orderedGeneral Smith to go out from Memphis and renew the offensive, so asto keep Forrest off our roads. This he did finally, defeatingForrest at Tupelo, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th days of July; andhe so stirred up matters in North Mississippi that Forrest couldnot leave for Tennessee. This, for a time, left me only the taskof covering the roads against such minor detachments of cavalry asJohnston could spare from his immediate army, and I proposed tokeep these too busy in their own defense to spare detachments. Bythe 14th the rain slackened, and we occupied a continuous line often miles, intrenched, conforming to the irregular position of theenemy, when I reconnoitred, with a view to make a break in theirline between Kenesaw and Pine Mountain. When abreast of PineMountain I noticed a rebel battery on its crest, with a continuousline of fresh rifle-trench about half-way down the hill. Ourskirmishers were at the time engaged in the woods about the base ofthis hill between the lines, and I estimated the distance to thebattery on the crest at about eight hundred yards. Near it, inplain view, stood a group of the enemy, evidently observing us withglasses. General Howard, commanding the Fourth Corps, was near by, and I called his attention to this group, and ordered him to compelit to keep behind its cover. He replied that his orders fromGeneral Thomas were to spare artillery-ammunition. This was right, according to the general policy, but I explained to him that wemust keep up the morale of a bold offensive, that he must use hisartillery, force the enemy to remain on the timid defensive, andordered him to cause a battery close by to fire three volleys. Icontinued to ride down our line, and soon heard, in quicksuccession, the three volleys. The next division in order wasGeary's, and I gave him similar orders. General Polk, in myopinion, was killed by the second volley fired from the firstbattery referred to. 

In a conversation with General Johnston, after the war, heexplained that on that day he had ridden in person from Marietta toPine Mountain, held by Bates's division, and was accompanied byGenerals Hardee and Polk. When on Pine Mountain, reconnoitring, quite a group of soldiers, belonging to the battery close by, clustered about him. He noticed the preparations of our battery tofire, and cautioned these men to scatter. They did so, and helikewise hurried behind the parapet, from which he had an equallygood view of our position but General Polk, who was dignified andcorpulent, walked back slowly, not wishing to appear too hurried orcautious in the presence of the men, and was struck across thebreast by an unexploded shell, which killed him instantly. This ismy memory of the conversation, and it is confirmed by Johnstonhimself in his "Narrative, " page 337, except that he calculated thedistance of our battery at six hundred yards, and says that Polkwas killed by the third shot; I know that our guns fired by volley, and believe that he was hit by a shot of the second volley. It hasbeen asserted that I fired the gun which killed General Polk, andthat I knew it was directed against that general. The fact is, atthat distance we could not even tell that the group were officersat all; I was on horseback, a couple of hundred yards off, beforemy orders to fire were executed, had no idea that our shot hadtaken effect, and continued my ride down along the line toSchofield's extreme flank, returning late in the evening to myhead-quarters at Big Shanty, where I occupied an abandoned house. In a cotton-field back of that house was our signal-station, on theroof of an old gin-house. The signal-officer reported that bystudying the enemy's signals he had learned the key, and that hecould read their signals. He explained to me that he hadtranslated a signal about noon, from Pine Mountain to Marietta, "Send an ambulance for General Polk's body;" and later in the dayanother, "Why don't you send an ambulance for General Polk?" Fromthis we inferred that General Polk had been killed, but how orwhere we knew not; and this inference was confirmed later in thesame day by the report of some prisoners who had been captured. 

On the 15th we advanced our general lines, intending to attack atany weak point discovered between Kenesaw and Pine Mountain; butPine Mountain was found to be abandoned, and Johnston hadcontracted his front somewhat, on a direct line, connecting Kenesawwith Lost Mountain. Thomas and Schofield thereby gained about twomiles of most difficult, country, and McPherson's left lapped wellaround the north end of Kenesaw. We captured a good manyprisoners, among them a whole infantry regiment, the FourteenthAlabama, three hundred and twenty strong. 

On the 16th the general movement was continued, when Lost Mountainwas abandoned by the enemy. Our right naturally swung round, so asto threaten the railroad below Marietta, but Johnston had stillfurther contracted and strengthened his lines, covering Mariettaand all the roads below. 

On the 17th and 18th the rain again fell in torrents, making armymovements impossible, but we devoted the time to strengthening ourpositions, more especially the left and centre, with a viewgradually to draw from the left to add to the right; and we had tohold our lines on the left extremely strong, to guard against asally from Kenesaw against our depot at Big Shanty. Garrard'sdivision of cavalry was kept busy on our left, McPherson hadgradually extended to his right, enabling Thomas to do the samestill farther; but the enemy's position was so very strong, andeverywhere it was covered by intrenchments, that we found it asdangerous to assault as a permanent fort. We in like mannercovered our lines of battle by similar works, and even ourskirmishers learned to cover their bodies by the simplest and bestforms of defensive works, such as rails or logs, piled in the formof a simple lunette, covered on the outside with earth thrown up atnight. 

The enemy and ourselves used the same form of rifle-trench, variedaccording to the nature of the ground, viz. : the trees and busheswere cut away for a hundred yards or more in front, serving as anabatis or entanglement; the parapets varied from four to six feethigh, the dirt taken from a ditch outside and from a covered wayinside, and this parapet was surmounted by a "head-log, " composedof the trunk of a tree from twelve to twenty inches at the butt, lying along the interior crest of the parapet and resting innotches cut in other trunks which extended back, forming aninclined plane, in case the head-log should be knocked inward by acannon-shot. The men of both armies became extremely skillful inthe construction of these works, because each man realized theirvalue and importance to himself, so that it required no orders fortheir construction. As soon as a regiment or brigade gained aposition within easy distance for a sally, it would set to workwith a will, and would construct such a parapet in a single night;but I endeavored to spare the soldiers this hard labor byauthorizing each division commander to organize out of the freedmenwho escaped to us a pioneer corps of two hundred men, who were fedout of the regular army supplies, and I promised them ten dollars amonth, under an existing act of Congress. These pioneerdetachments became very useful to us during the rest of the war, for they could work at night while our men slept; they in turn werenot expected to fight, and could therefore sleep by day. Ourenemies used their slaves for a similar purpose, but usually keptthem out of the range of fire by employing them to fortify andstrengthen the position to their rear next to be occupied in theirgeneral retrograde. During this campaign hundreds if not thousandsof miles of similar intrenchments were built by both armies, and, as a rule, whichever party attacked got the worst of it. 

On the 19th of June the rebel army again fell back on its flanks, to such an extent that for a time I supposed it had retreated tothe Chattahoochee River, fifteen miles distant; but as we pressedforward we were soon undeceived, for we found it still moreconcentrated, covering Marietta and the railroad. These successivecontractions of the enemy's line encouraged us and discouraged him, but were doubtless justified by sound reasons. On the 20thJohnston's position was unusually strong. Kenesaw Mountain was hissalient; his two flanks were refused and covered by parapets and byNoonday and Nose's Creeks. His left flank was his weak point, solong as he acted on the "defensive, " whereas, had he designed tocontract the extent of his line for the purpose of getting inreserve a force with which to strike "offensively" from his right, he would have done a wise act, and I was compelled to presume thatsuch was his object: We were also so far from Nashville andChattanooga that we were naturally sensitive for the safety of ourrailroad and depots, so that the left (McPherson) was held verystrong. 

About this time came reports that a large cavalry force of theenemy had passed around our left flank, evidently to strike thisvery railroad somewhere below Chattanooga. I therefore reenforcedthe cavalry stationed from Resaca to Casaville, and ordered forwardfrom Huntsville, Alabama, the infantry division of General John E. Smith, to hold Kingston securely. 

While we were thus engaged about Kenesaw, General Grant had hishands full with Lee, in Virginia. General Halleck was the chief ofstaff at Washington, and to him I communicated almost daily. Ifind from my letter-book that on the 21st of June I reported to himtersely and truly the condition of facts on that day: "This is thenineteenth day of rain, and the prospect of fair weather is as faroff as ever. The roads are impassable; the fields and woods becomequagmire's after a few wagons have crossed over. Yet we are atwork all the time. The left flank is across Noonday Creek, and theright is across Nose's Creek. The enemy still holds Kenesaw, aconical mountain, with Marietta behind it, and has his flanksretired, to cover that town and the railroad behind. I am allready to attack the moment the weather and roads will permit troopsand artillery to move with any thing like life. "

The weather has a wonderful effect on troops: in action and on themarch, rain is favorable; but in the woods, where all is blind anduncertain, it seems almost impossible for an army covering tenmiles of front to act in concert during wet and stormy weather. Still I pressed operations with the utmost earnestness, aimingalways to keep our fortified lines in absolute contact with theenemy, while with the surplus force we felt forward, from one flankor the other, for his line of communication and retreat. On the22d of June I rode the whole line, and ordered General Thomas inperson to advance his extreme right corps (Hooker's); andinstructed General Schofield, by letter, to keep his entire army, viz. , the Twenty-third Corps, as a strong right flank in closesupport of Hooker's deployed line. During this day the sun cameout, with some promise of clear weather, and I had got back to mybivouac about dark, when a signal message was received, dated--

KULP HOUSE, 5. 30 P. M. 

General SHERMAN:We have repulsed two heavy attacks, and feel confident, our onlyapprehension being from our extreme right flank. Three entirecorps are in front of us. 

Major-General HOOKER. 

Hooker's corps (the Twentieth) belonged to Thomas's army; Thomas'sheadquarters were two miles nearer to Hooker than mine; and Hooker, being an old army officer, knew that he should have reported thisfact to Thomas and not to me; I was, moreover, specially disturbedby the assertion in his report that he was uneasy about his rightflank, when Schofield had been specially ordered to protect that. I first inquired of my adjutant, Dayton, if he were certain thatGeneral Schofield had received his orders, and he answered that theenvelope in which he had sent them was receipted by GeneralSchofield himself. I knew, therefore, that General Schofield mustbe near by, in close support of Hooker's right flank. GeneralThomas had before this occasion complained to me of GeneralHooker's disposition to "switch off, " leaving wide gaps in hisline, so as to be independent, and to make glory on his ownaccount. I therefore resolved not to overlook this breach ofdiscipline and propriety. The rebel army was only composed ofthree corps; I had that very day ridden six miles of their lines, found them everywhere strongly occupied, and therefore Hooker couldnot have encountered "three entire corps. " Both McPherson andSchofield had also complained to me of this same tendency of Hookerto widen the gap between his own corps and his proper army(Thomas's), so as to come into closer contact with one or other ofthe wings, asserting that he was the senior by commission to bothMcPherson and Schofield, and that in the event of battle he shouldassume command over them, by virtue of his older commission. 

They appealed to me to protect them. I had heard during that daysome cannonading and heavy firing down toward the "Kulp House, "which was about five miles southeast of where I was, but this wasnothing unusual, for at the same moment there was firing along ourlines full ten miles in extent. Early the next day (23d) I rodedown to the "Kulp House, " which was on a road leading from PowderSprings to Marietta, about three miles distant from the latter. Onthe way I passed through General Butterfield's division of Hooker'scorps, which I learned had not been engaged at all in the battle ofthe day before; then I rode along Geary's and Williams's divisions, which occupied the field of battle, and the men were engaged inburying the dead. I found General Schofield's corps on the PowderSprings road, its head of column abreast of Hooker's right, therefore constituting "a strong right flank, " and I met GeneraleSchofield and Hooker together. As rain was falling at the moment, we passed into a little church standing by the road-side, and Ithere showed General Schofield Hooker's signal-message of the daybefore. He was very angry, and pretty sharp words passed betweenthem, Schofield saying that his head of column (Hascall's division)had been, at the time of the battle, actually in advance ofHooker's line; that the attack or sally of the enemy struck histroops before it did Hooker's; that General Hooker knew of it atthe time; and he offered to go out and show me that the dead men ofhis advance division (Hascall's) were lying farther out than any ofHooker's. General Hooker pretended not to have known this fact. Ithen asked him why he had called on me for help, until he had usedall of his own troops; asserting that I had just seen Butterfield'sdivision, and had learned from him that he had not been engaged theday before at all; and I asserted that the enemy's sally must havebeen made by one corps (Hood's), in place of three, and that it hadfallen on Geary's and Williams's divisions, which had repulsed theattack handsomely. As we rode away from that church General Hookerwas by my side, and I told him that such a thing must not occuragain; in other words, I reproved him more gently than the occasiondemanded, and from that time he began to sulk. General Hooker hadcome from the East with great fame as a "fighter, " and atChattanooga he was glorified by his "battle above the clouds, "which I fear turned his head. He seemed jealous of all the armycommanders, because in years, former rank, and experience, hethought he was our superior. 

On the 23d of June I telegraphed to General Halleck this summary, which I cannot again better state:

We continue to press forward on the principle of an advance againstfortified positions. The whole country is one vast fort, andJohnston must have at least fifty miles of connected trenches, withabatis and finished batteries. We gain ground daily, fighting allthe time. On the 21st General Stanley gained a position near thesouth end of Kenesaw, from which the enemy attempted in vain todrive him; and the same day General T. J. Wood's division took ahill, which the enemy assaulted three times at night withoutsuccess, leaving more than a hundred dead on the ground. Yesterdaythe extreme right (Hooker and Schofield) advanced on the PowderSprings road to within three miles of Marietta. The enemy made astrong effort to drive them away, but failed signally, leaving morethan two hundred dead on the field. Our lines are now in closecontact, and the fighting is incessant, with a good deal ofartillery-fire. As fast as we gain one position the enemy hasanother all ready, but I think he will soon have to let go Kenesaw, which is the key to the whole country. The weather is now better, and the roads are drying up fast. Our losses are light, and, not-withstanding the repeated breaks of the road to our rear, supplies are ample. 

During the 24th and 25th of June General Schofield extended hisright as far as prudent, so as to compel the enemy to thin out hislines correspondingly, with the intention to make two strongassaults at points where success would give us the greatestadvantage. I had consulted Generals Thomas, McPherson, andSchofield, and we all agreed that we could not with prudencestretch out any more, and therefore there was no alternative but toattack "fortified lines, " a thing carefully avoided up to thattime. I reasoned, if we could make a breach anywhere near therebel centre, and thrust in a strong head of column, that with theone moiety of our army we could hold in check the correspondingwing of the enemy, and with the other sweep in flank and overwhelmthe other half. The 27th of June was fixed as the day for theattempt, and in order to oversee the whole, and to be in closecommunication with all parts of the army, I had a place cleared onthe top of a hill to the rear of Thomas's centre, and had thetelegraph-wires laid to it. The points of attack were chosen, andthe troops were all prepared with as little demonstration aspossible. About 9 A. M. Of the day appointed, the troops moved tothe assault, and all along our lines for ten miles a furious fireof artillery and musketry was kept up. At all points the enemy metus with determined courage and in great force. McPherson'sattacking column fought up the face of the lesser Kenesaw, butcould not reach the summit. About a mile to the right (just belowthe Dallas road) Thomas's assaulting column reached the parapet, where Brigadier-General Barker was shot down mortally wounded, andBrigadier-General Daniel McCook (my old law-partner) wasdesperately wounded, from the effects of which he afterward died. By 11. 30 the assault was in fact over, and had failed. We had notbroken the rebel line at either point, but our assaulting columnsheld their ground within a few yards of the rebel trenches, andthere covered themselves with parapet. McPherson lost about fivehundred men and several valuable officers, and Thomas lost nearlytwo thousand men. This was the hardest fight of the campaign up tothat date, and it is well described by Johnston in his "Narrative"(pages 342, 343), where he admits his loss in killed and woundedas

 Total ............. 808

This, no doubt, is a true and fair statement; but, as usual, Johnston overestimates our loss, putting it at six thousand, whereas our entire loss was about twenty-five hundred, killed andwounded. 

While the battle was in progress at the centre, Schofield crossedOlley's Creek on the right, and gained a position threateningJohnston's line of retreat; and, to increase the effect, I orderedStoneman's cavalry to proceed rapidly still farther to the right, to Sweetwater. Satisfied of the bloody cost of attackingintrenched lines, I at once thought of moving the whole army to therailroad at a point (Fulton) about ten miles below Marietta, or tothe Chattahoochee River itself, a movement similar to the oneafterward so successfully practised at Atlanta. All the orderswere issued to bring forward supplies enough to fill our wagons, intending to strip the railroad back to Allatoona, and leave thatplace as our depot, to be covered as well as possible by Garrard'scavalry. General Thomas, as usual, shook his head, deeming itrisky to leave the railroad; but something had to be done, and Ihad resolved on this move, as reported in my dispatch to GeneralHalleck on July 1st:

General Schofield is now south of Olley's Creek, and on the head ofNickajack. I have been hurrying down provisions and forage, andtomorrow night propose to move McPherson from the left to theextreme right, back of General Thomas. This will bring my rightwithin three miles of the Chattahoochee River, and about five milesfrom the railroad. By this movement I think I can force Johnstonto move his whole army down from Kenesaw to defend his railroad andthe Chattahoochee, when I will (by the left flank) reach therailroad below Marietta; but in this I must cut loose from therailroad with ten days' supplies in wagons. Johnston may come outof his intrenchments to attack Thomas, which is exactly what Iwant, for General Thomas is well intrenched on a line parallel withthe enemy south of Kenesaw. I think that Allatoona and the line ofthe Etowah are strong enough for me to venture on this move. Themovement is substantially down the Sandtown road straight forAtlanta. 

McPherson drew out of his lines during the night of July 2d, leaving Garrard's cavalry, dismounted, occupying his trenches, andmoved to the rear of the Army of the Cumberland, stretching downthe Nickajack; but Johnston detected the movement, and promptlyabandoned Marietta and Kenesaw. I expected as much, for, by theearliest dawn of the 3d of July, I was up at a large spy-glassmounted on a tripod, which Colonel Poe, United States Engineers, had at his bivouac close by our camp. I directed the glass onKenesaw, and saw some of our pickets crawling up the hillcautiously; soon they stood upon the very top, and I could plainlysee their movements as they ran along the crest just abandoned bythe enemy. In a minute I roused my staff, and started them offwith orders in every direction for a pursuit by every possibleroad, hoping to catch Johnston in the confusion of retreat, especially at the crossing of the Chattahoochee River. 

I must close this chapter here, so as to give the actual lossesduring June, which are compiled from the official returns bymonths. These losses, from June 1st to July 3d, were allsubstantially sustained about Kenesaw and Marietta, and it wasreally a continuous battle, lasting from the 10th day of June tillthe 3d of July, when the rebel army fell back from Marietta towardthe Chattahoochee River. Our losses were:

 Killed and Missing Wounded TotalLoss in June Aggregate 1, 790 5, 740 7, 530

Johnston makes his statement of losses from the report of hissurgeon Foard, for pretty much the same period, viz. , from June 4thto July 4th (page 576): Killed Wounded Total Total............ 468 3, 480 3, 948

In the tabular statement the "missing" embraces the prisoners; and, giving two thousand as a fair proportion of prisoners captured byus for the month of June (twelve thousand nine hundred andeighty-three in all the campaign), makes an aggregate loss in therebel army of fifty-nine hundred and forty-eight, to ours ofseventy-five hundred and thirty--a less proportion than in therelative strength of our two armies, viz. , as six to ten, thusmaintaining our relative superiority, which the desperate gameof war justified. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

ATLANTA CAMPAIGN--BATTLES ABOUT ATLANTA

JULY, 1864. 

As before explained, on the 3d of July, by moving McPherson'sentire army from the extreme left, at the base of Kenesaw to theright, below Olley's Creek, and stretching it down the Nickajacktoward Turner's Ferry of the Chattahoochee, we forced Johnston tochoose between a direct assault on Thomas's intrenched position, orto permit us to make a lodgment on his railroad below Marietta, oreven to cross the Chattahoochee. Of course, he chose to let goKenesaw and Marietta, and fall back on an intrenched camp preparedby his orders in advance on the north and west bank of theChattahoochee, covering the railroad-crossing and his severalpontoon-bridges. I confess I had not learned beforehand of theexistence of this strong place, in the nature of a tete-du-pont, and had counted on striking him an effectual blow in the expectedconfusion of his crossing the Chattahoochee, a broad and deep riverthen to his rear. Ordering every part of the army to pursuevigorously on the morning of the 3d of July, I rode into Marietta, just quitted by the rebel rear-guard, and was terribly angry at thecautious pursuit by Garrard's cavalry, and even by the head of ourinfantry columns. But Johnston had in advance cleared andmultiplied his roads, whereas ours had to cross at right anglesfrom the direction of Powder Springs toward Marrietta, producingdelay and confusion. By night Thomas's head of column ran upagainst a strong rear-guard intrenched at Smyrna camp-ground, sixmiles below Marietta, and there on the next day we celebrated ourFourth of July, by a noisy but not a desperate battle, designedchiefly to hold the enemy there till Generals McPherson andSchofield could get well into position below him, near theChattahoochee crossings. 

It was here that General Noyes, late Governor of Ohio, lost hisleg. I came very near being shot myself while reconnoitring in thesecond story of a house on our picket-line, which was struckseveral times by cannon-shot, and perfectly riddled withmusket-balls. 

During the night Johnston drew back all his army and trains insidethe tete-du-pont at the Chattahoochee, which proved one of thestrongest pieces of field-fortification I ever saw. We closed upagainst it, and were promptly met by a heavy and severe fire. Thomas was on the main road in immediate pursuit; next on his rightwas Schofield; and McPherson on the extreme right, reaching theChattahoochee River below Turner's Ferry. Stoneman's cavalry wasstill farther to the right, along down the Chattahoochee River asfar as opposite Sandtown; and on that day I ordered Garrard'sdivision of cavalry up the river eighteen miles, to securepossession of the factories at Roswell, as well as to hold animportant bridge and ford at that place. 

About three miles out from the Chattahoochee the main road forked, the right branch following substantially the railroad, and the leftone leading straight for Atlanta, via Paice's Ferry and Buckhead. We found the latter unoccupied and unguarded, and the Fourth Corps(Howard's) reached the river at Paice's Ferry. The right-hand roadwas perfectly covered by the tete-du-pont before described, wherethe resistance was very severe, and for some time deceived me, forI was pushing Thomas with orders to fiercely assault his enemy, supposing that he was merely opposing us to gain time to get histrains and troops across the Chattahoochee; but, on personallyreconnoitring, I saw the abatis and the strong redoubts, whichsatisfied me of the preparations that had been made by Johnston inanticipation of this very event. While I was with General Jeff. C. Davis, a poor negro came out of the abatis, blanched with fright, said he had been hidden under a log all day, with a perfect stormof shot, shells, and musket-balls, passing over him, till a shortlull had enabled him to creep out and make himself known to ourskirmishers, who in turn had sent him back to where we were. Thisnegro explained that he with about a thousand slaves had been atwork a month or more on these very lines, which, as he explained, extended from the river about a mile above the railroad-bridge toTurner's Ferry below, --being in extent from five to six miles. 

Therefore, on the 5th of July we had driven our enemy to cover inthe valley of the Chattahoochee, and we held possession of theriver above for eighteen miles, as far as Roswell, and below tenmiles to the mouth of the Sweetwater. Moreover, we held the highground and could overlook his movements, instead of his lookingdown on us, as was the case at Kenesaw. 

From a hill just back of Mining's Station I could see the houses inAtlanta, nine miles distant, and the whole intervening valley ofthe Chattahoochee; could observe the preparations for our receptionon the other side, the camps of men and large trains of coveredwagons; and supposed, as a matter of course, that Johnston hadpassed the river with the bulk of his army, and that he had onlyleft on our side a corps to cover his bridges; but in fact he hadonly sent across his cavalry and trains. Between Howard's corps atPaice's Ferry and the rest of Thomas's army pressing up againstthis tete-du-pont, was a space concealed by dense woods, incrossing which I came near riding into a detachment of the enemy'scavalry; and later in the same day Colonel Frank Sherman, ofChicago, then on General Howard's staff, did actually ride straightinto the enemy's camp, supposing that our lines were continuous. He was carried to Atlanta, and for some time the enemy supposedthey were in possession of the commander-in-chief of the opposingarmy. 

I knew that Johnston would not remain long on the west bank of theChattahoochee, for I could easily practise on that ground to betteradvantage our former tactics of intrenching a moiety in his front, and with the rest of our army cross the river and threaten eitherhis rear or the city of Atlanta itself, which city was of vitalimportance to the existence not only of his own army, but of theConfederacy itself. In my dispatch of July 6th to General Halleck, at Washington, I state that:

Johnston (in his retreat from Kenesaw) has left two breaks in therailroad--one above Marietta and one near Mining's Station. Theformer is already repaired, and Johnston's army has heard the soundof our locomotives. The telegraph is finished to Mining's Station, and the field-wire has just reached my bivouac, and will be readyto convey this message as soon as it is written and translated intocipher. 

I propose to study the crossings of the Chattahoochee, and, whenall is ready, to move quickly. As a beginning, I will keep thetroops and wagons well back from the river, and only display to theenemy our picket-line, with a few field-batteries along at random. I have already shifted Schofield to a point in our left rear, whence he can in a single move reach the Chattahoochee at a pointabove the railroad-bridge, where there is a ford. At present thewaters are turbid and swollen from recent rains; but if the presenthot weather lasts, the water will run down very fast. We havepontoons enough for four bridges, but, as our crossing will beresisted, we must manoeuvre some. All the regular crossing-placesare covered by forts, apparently of long construction; but we shallcross in due time, and, instead of attacking Atlanta direct, or anyof its forts, I propose to make a circuit, destroying all itsrailroads. This is a delicate movement, and must be done withcaution. Our army is in good condition and full of confidence; butthe weather is intensely hot, and a good many men have fallen withsunstroke. The country is high and healthy, and the sanitarycondition of the army is good. 

At this time Stoneman was very active on our extreme right, pretending to be searching the river below Turner's Ferry for acrossing, and was watched closely by the enemy's cavalry on theother side, McPherson, on the right, was equally demonstrative atand near Turner's Ferry. Thomas faced substantially the intrenchedtete-du-pont, and had his left on the Chattahoochee River, atPaice's Ferry. Garrard's cavalry was up at Roswell, and McCook'ssmall division of cavalry was intermediate, above Soap's Creek. Meantime, also, the railroad-construction party was hard at work, repairing the railroad up to our camp at Vining's Station. 

Of course, I expected every possible resistance in crossing theChattahoochee River, and had made up my mind to feign on the right, but actually to cross over by the left. We had already secured acrossing place at Roswell, but one nearer was advisable; GeneralSchofield had examined the river well, found a place just below themouth of Soap's Creek which he deemed advantageous, and wasinstructed to effect an early crossing there, and to intrench agood position on the other side, viz. , the east bank. But, preliminary thereto, I had ordered General Rousseau, at Nashville, to collect, out of the scattered detachments of cavalry inTennessee, a force of a couple of thousand men, to rendezvous atDecatur, Alabama, thence to make a rapid march for Opelika, tobreak up the railroad links between Georgia and Alabama, and thento make junction with me about Atlanta; or, if forced, to go on toPensacola, or even to swing across to some of our posts inMississippi. General Rousseau asked leave to command thisexpedition himself, to which I consented, and on the 6th of July hereported that he was all ready at Decatur, and I gave him orders tostart. He moved promptly on the 9th, crossed the Coosa below the"Ten Islands" and the Tallapoosa below "Horseshoe Bend, " havingpassed through Talladega. He struck the railroad west of Opelika, tore it up for twenty miles, then turned north and came to Mariettaon the 22d of July, whence he reported to me. This expedition wasin the nature of a raid, and must have disturbed the enemysomewhat; but, as usual, the cavalry did not work hard, and theirdestruction of the railroad was soon repaired. Rousseau, when hereported to me in person before Atlanta, on the 28d of July, statedhis entire loss to have been only twelve killed and thirty wounded. He brought in four hundred captured mules and three hundred horses, and also told me a good story. He said he was far down in Alabama, below Talladega, one hot, dusty day, when the blue clothing of hismen was gray with dust; he had halted his column along a road, andhe in person, with his staff, had gone to the house of a planter, who met him kindly on the front-porch. He asked for water, whichwas brought, and as the party sat on the porch in conversation hesaw, in a stable-yard across the road, quite a number of goodmules. He remarked to the planter, "My good sir, I fear I must takesome of your mules. " The planter remonstrated, saying he hadalready contributed liberally to the good cause; that it was onlylast week he had given to General Roddy ten mules. Rousseaureplied, "Well, in this war you should be at least neutral--thatis, you should be as liberal to us as to Roddy" (a rebel cavalrygeneral). "Well, ain't you on our side?" "No, " said Rousseau; "Iam General Rousseau, and all these men you see are Yanks. " "GreatGod! is it possible! Are these Yanks! Who ever supposed theywould come away down here in Alabama?" Of course, Rousseau tookhis ten mules. 

Schofield effected his crossing at Soap's Creek very handsomely onthe 9th, capturing the small guard that was watching the crossing. By night he was on the high ground beyond, strongly intrenched, with two good pontoon-bridges finished, and was prepared, ifnecessary, for an assault by the whole Confederate army. The sameday Garrard's cavalry also crossed over at Roswell, drove away thecavalry-pickets, and held its ground till relieved by Newton'sdivision of Howard's corps, which was sent up temporarily, till itin turn was relieved by Dodge's corps (Sixteenth) of the Army ofthe Tennessee, which was the advance of the whole of that army. 

That night Johnston evacuated his trenches, crossed over theChattahoochee, burned the railroad bridge and his pontoon andtrestle bridges, and left us in full possession of the north orwest bank-besides which, we had already secured possession of thetwo good crossings at Roswell and Soap's Creek. I have alwaysthought Johnston neglected his opportunity there, for he had laincomparatively idle while we got control of both banks of the riverabove him. 

On the 13th I ordered McPherson, with the Fifteenth Corps, to moveup to Roswell, to cross over, prepare good bridges, and to make astrong tete-du-pont on the farther side. Stoneman had been sentdown to Campbellton, with orders to cross over and to threaten therailroad below Atlanta, if he could do so without too much risk;and General Blair, with the Seventeenth Corps, was to remain atTurner's Ferry, demonstrating as much as possible, thus keeping upthe feint below while we were actually crossing above. Thomas wasalso ordered to prepare his bridges at Powers's and Paice'sFerries. By crossing the Chattahoochee above the railroad bridge, we were better placed to cover our railroad and depots than below, though a movement across the river below the railroad, to the southof Atlanta, might have been more decisive. But we were already sofar from home, and would be compelled to accept battle wheneveroffered, with the Chattahoochee to our rear, that it becameimperative for me to take all prudential measures the case admittedof, and I therefore determined to pass the river above therailroad-bridge-McPherson on the left, Schofield in the centre, and Thomas on the right. On the 13th I reported to General Halleckas follows:

All is well. I have now accumulated stores at Allatoona andMarietta, both fortified and garrisoned points. Have also threeplaces at which to cross the Chattahoochee in our possession, andonly await General Stoneman's return from a trip down the river, tocross the army in force and move on Atlanta. 

Stoneman is now out two days, and had orders to be back on thefourth or fifth day at furthest. 

From the 10th to the 15th we were all busy in strengthening theseveral points for the proposed passage of the Chattahoochee, inincreasing the number and capacity of the bridges, rearranging thegarrisons to our rear, and in bringing forward supplies. On the15th General Stoneman got back to Powder Springs, and was orderedto replace General Blair at Turner's Ferry, and Blair, with theSeventeenth Corps, was ordered up to Roswell to join McPherson. Onthe 17th we began the general movement against Atlanta, Thomascrossing the Chattahoochee at Powers's and Paice's, by pontoon-bridges; Schofield moving out toward Cross Keys, and McPhersontoward Stone Mountain. We encountered but little opposition exceptby cavalry. On the 18th all the armies moved on a general rightwheel, Thomas to Buckhead, forming line of battle facingPeach-Tree Creek; Schofield was on his left, and McPherson wellover toward the railroad between Stone Mountain and Decatur, whichhe reached at 2 p. M. Of that day, about four miles from StoneMountain, and seven miles east of Decatur, and there he turnedtoward Atlanta, breaking up the railroad as he progressed, hisadvance-guard reaching Ecatur about night, where he came intocommunication with Schofield's troops, which had also reachedDecatur. About 10 A. M. Of that day (July 18th), when the armieswere all in motion, one of General Thomas's staff-officers broughtme a citizen, one of our spies, who had just come out of Atlanta, and had brought a newspaper of the same day, or of the day before, containing Johnston's order relinquishing the command of theConfederate forces in Atlanta, and Hood's order assuming thecommand. I immediately inquired of General Schofield, who was hisclassmate at West Point, about Hood, as to his general character, etc. , and learned that he was bold even to rashness, and courageousin the extreme; I inferred that the change of commanders meant"fight. " Notice of this important change was at once sent to allparts of the army, and every division commander was cautioned to bealways prepared for battle in any shape. This was just what wewanted, viz. , to fight in open ground, on any thing like equalterms, instead of being forced to run up against preparedintrenchments; but, at the same time, the enemy having Atlantabehind him, could choose the time and place of attack, and could atpleasure mass a superior force on our weakest points. Therefore, we had to be constantly ready for sallies. 

On the 19th the three armies were converging toward Atlanta, meeting such feeble resistance that I really thought the enemyintended to evacuate the place. McPherson was moving astride ofthe railroad, near Decatur; Schofield along a road leading towardAtlanta, by Colonel Howard's house and the distillery; and Thomaswas crossing "Peach-Tree" in line of battle, building bridges fornearly every division as deployed. There was quite a gap betweenThomas and Schofield, which I endeavored to close by drawing two ofHoward's divisions nearer Schofield. On the 20th I was withGeneral Schofield near the centre, and soon after noon heard heavyfiring in front of Thomas's right, which lasted an hour or so, andthen ceased. 

I soon learned that the enemy had made a furious sally, the blowfalling on Hooker's corps (the Twentieth), and partially onJohnson's division of the Fourteenth, and Newton's of the Fourth. The troops had crossed Peach-Tree Creek, were deployed, but at thetime were resting for noon, when, without notice, the enemy camepouring out of their trenches down upon them, they becamecommingled, and fought in many places hand to hand. General Thomashappened to be near the rear of Newton's division, and got somefield-batteries in a good position, on the north side of Peach-TreeCreek, from which he directed a furious fire on a mass of theenemy, which was passing around Newton's left and exposed flank. After a couple of hours of hard and close conflict, the enemyretired slowly within his trenches, leaving his dead and manywounded on the field. Johnson's and Newton's losses were light, forthey had partially covered their fronts with light parapet; butHooker's whole corps fought in open ground, and lost about fifteenhundred men. He reported four hundred rebel dead left on theground, and that the rebel wounded would number four thousand; butthis was conjectural, for most of them got back within their ownlines. We had, however, met successfully a bold sally, hadrepelled it handsomely, and were also put on our guard; and theevent illustrated the future tactics of our enemy. This sally camefrom the Peach-Tree line, which General Johnston had carefullyprepared in advance, from which to fight us outside of Atlanta. Wethen advanced our lines in compact order, close up to thesefinished intrenchments, overlapping them on our left. From variousparts of our lines the houses inside of Atlanta were plainlyvisible, though between us were the strong parapets, with ditch, fraise, chevaux-de-frise, and abatis, prepared long in advance byColonel Jeremy F. Gilmer, formerly of the United States Engineers. McPherson had the Fifteenth Corps astride the Augusta Railroad, andthe Seventeenth deployed on its left. Schofield was next on hisright, then came Howard's, Hooker's, and Palmer's corps, on theextreme right. Each corps was deployed with strong reserves, andtheir trains were parked to their rear. McPherson's trains were inDecatur, guarded by a brigade commanded by Colonel Sprague of theSixty-third Ohio. The Sixteenth Corps (Dodge's) was crowded out ofposition on the right of McPherson's line, by the contraction ofthe circle of investment; and, during the previous afternoon, theSeventeenth Corps (Blair's) had pushed its operations on thefarther side of the Augusta Railroad, so as to secure possession ofa hill, known as Leggett's Hill, which Leggett's and Force'sdivisions had carried by assault. Giles A. Smith's division was onLeggett's left, deployed with a weak left flank "in air, " inmilitary phraseology. The evening before General Gresham, a greatfavorite, was badly wounded; and there also Colonel Tom Reynolds, now of Madison, Wisconsin, was shot through the leg. When thesurgeons were debating the propriety of amputating it in hishearing, he begged them to spare the leg, as it was very valuable, being an "imported leg. " He was of Irish birth, and thiswell-timed piece of wit saved his leg, for the surgeons thought, ifhe could perpetrate a joke at such a time, they would trust to hisvitality to save his limb. 

During the night, I had full reports from all parts of our line, most of which was partially intrenched as against a sally, andfinding that McPherson was stretching out too much on his leftflank, I wrote him a note early in the morning not to extend somuch by his left; for we had not troops enough to completely investthe place, and I intended to destroy utterly all parts of theAugusta Railroad to the east of Atlanta, then to withdraw from theleft flank and add to the right. In that letter I orderedMcPherson not to extend any farther to the left, but to employGeneral Dodge's corps (Sixteenth), then forced out of position, todestroy every rail and tie of the railroad, from Decatur up to hisskirmish-line, and I wanted him (McPherson) to be ready, as soon asGeneral Garrard returned from Covington (whither I had sent him), to move to the extreme right of Thomas, so as to reach if possiblethe railroad below Atlanta, viz. , the Macon road. In the morningwe found the strong line of parapet, "Peach-Tree line, " to thefront of Schofield and Thomas, abandoned, and our lines wereadvanced rapidly close up to Atlanta. For some moments I supposedthe enemy intended to evacuate, and in person was on horseback atthe head of Schofield's troops, who had advanced in front of theHoward House to some open ground, from which we could plainly seethe whole rebel line of parapets, and I saw their men dragging upfrom the intervening valley, by the distillery, trees and saplingsfor abatis. Our skirmishers found the enemy down in this valley, and we could see the rebel main line strongly manned, with guns inposition at intervals. Schofield was dressing forward his lines, and I could hear Thomas farther to the right engaged, when GeneralMcPherson and his staff rode up. We went back to the Howard House, a double frame-building with a porch, and sat on the steps, discussing the chances of battle, and of Hood's general character. McPherson had also been of the same class at West Point with Hood, Schofield, and Sheridan. We agreed that we ought to be unusuallycautious and prepared at all times for sallies and for hardfighting, because Hood, though not deemed much of a scholar, or ofgreat mental capacity, was undoubtedly a brave, determined, andrash man; and the change of commanders at that particular crisisargued the displeasure of the Confederate Government with thecautious but prudent conduct of General Jos. Johnston. 

McPherson was in excellent spirits, well pleased at the progress ofevents so far, and had come over purposely to see me about theorder I had given him to use Dodge's corps to break up therailroad, saying that the night before he had gained a position onLeggett's Hill from which he could look over the rebel parapet, andsee the high smoke-stack of a large foundery in Atlanta; thatbefore receiving my order he had diverted Dodge's two divisions(then in motion) from the main road, along a diagonal one that ledto his extreme left flank, then held by Giles A. Smith's division(Seventeenth Corps), for the purpose of strengthening that flank;and that he had sent some intrenching-tools there, to erect somebatteries from which he intended to knock down that foundery, andotherwise to damage the buildings inside of Atlanta. He said hecould put all his pioneers to work, and do with them in the timeindicated all I had proposed to do with General Dodge's twodivisions. Of course I assented at once, and we walked down theroad a short distance, sat down by the foot of a tree where I hadmy map, and on it pointed out to him Thomas's position and his own. I then explained minutely that, after we had sufficiently broken upthe Augusta road, I wanted to shift his whole army around by therear to Thomas's extreme right, and hoped thus to reach the otherrailroad at East Point. While we sat there we could hear livelyskirmishing going on near us (down about the distillery), andoccasionally round-shot from twelve or twenty-four pound guns camethrough the trees in reply to those of Schofield, and we could hearsimilar sounds all along down the lines of Thomas to our right, andhis own to the left; but presently the firing appeared a littlemore brisk (especially over about Giles G. Smith's division), andthen we heard an occasional gun back toward Decatur. I asked himwhat it meant. We took my pocket-compass (which I always carried), and by noting the direction of the sound, we became satisfied thatthe firing was too far to our left rear to be explained by knownfacts, and he hastily called for his horse, his staff, and hisorderlies. 

McPherson was then in his prime (about thirty-four years old), oversix feet high, and a very handsome man in every way, wasuniversally liked, and had many noble qualities. He had on hisboots outside his pantaloons, gauntlets on his hands, had on hismajor-general's uniform, and wore a sword-belt, but no sword. Hehastily gathered his papers (save one, which I now possess) into apocket-book, put it in his breast-pocket, and jumped on his horse, saying he would hurry down his line and send me back word whatthese sounds meant. His adjutant-general, Clark, Inspector-GeneralStrong, and his aides, Captains Steele and Gile, were with him. Although the sound of musketry on our left grew in volume, I wasnot so much disturbed by it as by the sound of artillery backtoward Decatur. I ordered Schofield at once to send a brigade backto Decatur (some five miles) and was walking up and down the porchof the Howard House, listening, when one of McPherson's staff, withhis horse covered with sweat, dashed up to the porch, and reportedthat General McPherson was either "killed or a prisoner. " Heexplained that when they had left me a few minutes before, they hadridden rapidly across to the railroad, the sounds of battleincreasing as they neared the position occupied by General Giles A. Smith's division, and that McPherson had sent first one, thenanother of his staff to bring some of the reserve brigades of theFifteenth Corps over to the exposed left flank; that he had reachedthe head of Dodge's corps (marching by the flank on the diagonalroad as described), and had ordered it to hurry forward to the samepoint; that then, almost if not entirely alone, he had followedthis road leading across the wooded valley behind the SeventeenthCorps, and had disappeared in these woods, doubtless with a senseof absolute security. The sound of musketry was there heard, andMcPherson's horse came back, bleeding, wounded, and riderless. Iordered the staff-officer who brought this message to return atonce, to find General Logan (the senior officer present with theArmy of the Tennessee), to report the same facts to him, and toinstruct him to drive back this supposed small force, which hadevidently got around the Seventeenth Corps through the blind woodsin rear of our left flank. I soon dispatched one of my own staff(McCoy, I think) to General Logan with similar orders, telling himto refuse his left flank, and to fight the battle (holding fast toLeggett's Hill) with the Army of the Tennessee; that I wouldpersonally look to Decatur and to the safety of his rear, and wouldreenforce him if he needed it. I dispatched orders to GeneralThomas on our right, telling him of this strong sally, and myinference that the lines in his front had evidently been weakenedby reason thereof, and that he ought to take advantage of theopportunity to make a lodgment in Atlanta, if possible. 

Meantime the sounds of the battle rose on our extreme left more andmore furious, extending to the place where I stood, at the HowardHouse. Within an hour an ambulance came in (attended by ColonelsClark and Strong, and Captains Steele and Gile), bearingMcPherson's body. I had it carried inside of the Howard House, andlaid on a door wrenched from its hinges. Dr. Hewitt, of the army, was there, and I asked him to examine the wound. He opened thecoat and shirt, saw where the ball had entered and where it cameout, or rather lodged under the skin, and he reported thatMcPherson must have died in a few seconds after being hit; that theball had ranged upward across his body, and passed near the heart. He was dressed just as he left me, with gauntlets and boots on, buthis pocket-book was gone. On further inquiry I learned that hisbody must have been in possession of the enemy some minutes, duringwhich time it was rifled of the pocket-book, and I was muchconcerned lest the letter I had written him that morning shouldhave fallen into the hands of some one who could read andunderstand its meaning. Fortunately the spot in the woods whereMcPherson was shot was regained by our troops in a few minutes, andthe pocket-book found in the haversack of a prisoner of warcaptured at the time, and it and its contents were secured by oneof McPherson's staff. 

While we were examining the body inside the house, the battle wasprogressing outside, and many shots struck the building, which Ifeared would take fire; so I ordered Captains Steele and Gile tocarry the body to Marietta. They reached that place the samenight, and, on application, I ordered his personal staff to go onand escort the body to his home, in Clyde, Ohio, where it wasreceived with great honor, and it is now buried in a smallcemetery, close by his mother's house, which cemetery is composedin part of the family orchard, in which he used to play when a boy. The foundation is ready laid for the equestrian monument now inprogress, under the auspices of the Society of the Army of theTennessee. 

The reports that came to me from all parts of the field revealedclearly what was the game of my antagonist, and the ground somewhatfavored him. The railroad and wagon-road from Decatur to Atlantalie along the summit, from which the waters flow, by short, steepvalleys, into the "Peach-Tree" and Chattahoochee, to the west, andby other valleys, of gentler declivity, toward the east (Ocmulgee). The ridges and level ground were mostly cleared, and had beencultivated as corn or cotton fields; but where the valleys werebroken, they were left in a state of nature--wooded, and full ofundergrowth. McPherson's line of battle was across this railroad, along a general ridge, with a gentle but cleared valley to hisfront, between him and the defenses of Atlanta; and another valley, behind him, was clear of timber in part, but to his left rear thecountry was heavily wooded. Hood, during the night of July 21st, had withdrawn from his Peach-Tree line, had occupied the fortifiedline of Atlanta, facing north and east, with Stewart's--formerlyPolk's--corps and part of Hardee's, and with G. W. Smith's divisionof militia. His own corps, and part of Hardee's, had marched outto the road leading from McDonough to Decatur, and had turned so asto strike the left and, rear of McPherson's line "in air. " At thesame time he had sent Wheeler's division of cavalry against thetrains parked in Decatur. Unluckily for us, I had sent away thewhole of Garrard's division of cavalry during the night of the20th, with orders to proceed to Covington, thirty miles east, toburn two important bridges across the Ulcofauhatchee and YellowRivers, to tear up the railroad, to damage it as much as possiblefrom Stone Mountain eastward, and to be gone four days; so thatMcPherson had no cavalry in hand to guard that flank. 

The enemy was therefore enabled, under cover or the forest, toapproach quite near before he was discovered; indeed, hisskirmish-line had worked through the timber and got into the field tothe rear of Giles A. Smith's division of the Seventeenth Corpsunseen, had captured Murray's battery of regular artillery, movingthrough these woods entirely unguarded, and had got possession ofseveral of the hospital camps. The right of this rebel line struckDodge's troops in motion; but, fortunately, this corps (Sixteenth)had only to halt, face to the left, and was in line of battle; andthis corps not only held in check the enemy, but drove him backthrough the woods. About the same time this same force had struckGeneral Giles A. Smith's left flank, doubled it back, captured fourguns in position and the party engaged in building the very batterywhich was the special object of McPherson's visit to me, and almostenveloped the entire left flank. The men, however, were skillful andbrave, and fought for a time with their backs to Atlanta. Theygradually fell back, compressing their own line, and gaining strengthby making junction with Leggett's division of the Seventeenth Corps, well and strongly posted on the hill. One or two brigades of theFifteenth Corps, ordered by McPherson, came rapidly across the openfield to the rear, from the direction of the railroad, filled up thegap from Blair's new left to the head of Dodge's column--now facingto the general left--thus forming a strong left flank, at rightangles to the original line of battle. The enemy attacked, boldly andrepeatedly, the whole of this flank, but met an equally fierceresistance; and on that ground a bloody battle raged from littleafter noon till into the night. A part of Hood's plan of action wasto sally from Atlanta at the same moment; but this sally was not, forsome reason, simultaneous, for the first attack on our extreme leftflank had been checked and repulsed before the sally came from thedirection of Atlanta. Meantime, Colonel Sprague, in Decatur, had gothis teams harnessed up, and safely conducted his train to the rear ofSchofield's position, holding in check Wheeler's cavalry till he hadgot off all his trains, with the exception of three or four wagons. I remained near the Howard House, receiving reports and sendingorders, urging Generals Thomas and Schofield to take advantage of theabsence from their front of so considerable a body as was evidentlyengaged on our left, and, if possible, to make a lodgment in Atlantaitself; but they reported that the lines to their front, at allaccessible points, were strong, by nature and by art, and were fullymanned. About 4 p. M. The expected, sally came from Atlanta, directedmainly against Leggett's Hill and along the Decatur road. AtLeggett's Hill they were met and bloodily repulsed. Along therailroad they were more successful. Sweeping over a small force withtwo guns, they reached our main line, broke through it, and gotpossession of De Gress's battery of four twenty-pound Parrotts, killing every horse, and turning the guns against us. GeneralCharles R. Wood's division of the Fifteenth Corps was on the extremeright of the Army of the Tennessee, between the railroad and theHoward House, where he connected with Schofield's troops. Hereported to me in person that the line on his left had been sweptback, and that his connection with General Logan, on Leggett's Hill, was broken. I ordered him to wheel his brigades to the left, toadvance in echelon, and to catch the enemy in flank. GeneralSchofield brought forward all his available batteries, to the numberof twenty guns, to a position to the left front of the Howard House, whence we could overlook the field of action, and directed a heavyfire over the heads of General Wood's men against the enemy; and wesaw Wood's troops advance and encounter the enemy, who had securedpossession of the old line of parapet which had been held by our men. His right crossed this parapet, which he swept back, taking it inflank; and, at the same time, the division which had been driven backalong the railroad was rallied by General Logan in person, and foughtfor their former ground. These combined forces drove the enemy intoAtlanta, recovering the twenty pound Parrott guns but one of them wasfound "bursted" while in the possession of the enemy. The twosix-pounders farther in advance were, however, lost, and had beenhauled back by the enemy into Atlanta. Poor Captain de Gress came tome in tears, lamenting the loss of his favorite guns; when they wereregained he had only a few men left, and not a single horse. He askedan order for a reequipment, but I told him he must beg and borrow ofothers till he could restore his battery, now reduced to three guns. How he did so I do not know, but in a short time he did get horses, men, and finally another gun, of the same special pattern, and servedthem with splendid effect till the very close of the war. Thisbattery had also been with me from Shiloh till that time. 

The battle of July 22d is usually called the battle of Atlanta. Itextended from the Howard House to General Giles A. Smith'sposition, about a mile beyond the Augusta Railroad, and then backtoward Decatur, the whole extent of ground being fully seven miles. In part the ground was clear and in part densely wooded. I rodeover the whole of it the next day, and it bore the marks of abloody conflict. The enemy had retired during the night inside ofAtlanta, and we remained masters of the situation outside. Ipurposely allowed the Army of the Tennessee to fight this battlealmost unaided, save by demonstrations on the part of GeneralSchofield and Thomas against the fortified lines to their immediatefronts, and by detaching, as described, one of Schofield's brigadesto Decatur, because I knew that the attacking force could only be apart of Hood's army, and that, if any assistance were rendered byeither of the other armies, the Army of the Tennessee would bejealous. Nobly did they do their work that day, and terrible wasthe slaughter done to our enemy, though at sad cost to ourselves, as shown by the following reports:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD NEAR ATLANTA, July 23, 1864. 

General HALLECK, Washington, D. C. 

Yesterday morning the enemy fell back to the intrenchments properof the city of Atlanta, which are in a general circle, with aradius of one and a half miles, and we closed in. While we wereforming our lines, and selecting positions for our batteries, theenemy appeared suddenly out of the dense woods in heavy masses onour extreme left, and struck the Seventeenth Corps (General Blair)in flank, and was forcing it back, when the Sixteenth Corps(General Dodge) came up and checked the movement, but the enemy'scavalry got well to our rear, and into Decatur, and for some hoursour left flank was completely enveloped. The fight that resultedwas continuous until night, with heavy loss on both sides. Theenemy took one of our batteries (Murray's, of the Regular Army)that was marching in its place in column in the road, unconsciousof danger. About 4 p. M. The enemy sallied against the division ofGeneral Morgan L. Smith, of the Fifteenth Corps, which occupied anabandoned line of rifle-trench near the railroad east of the city, and forced it back some four hundred yards, leaving in his handsfor the time two batteries, but the ground and batteries wereimmediately after recovered by the same troops reenforced. Icannot well approximate our loss, which fell heavily on theFifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, but count it as three thousand; Iknow that, being on the defensive, we have inflicted equally heavyloss on the enemy. 

General McPherson, when arranging his troops about 11. 00 A. M. , andpassing from one column to another, incautiously rode upon anambuscade without apprehension, at some distance ahead of his staffand orderlies, and was shot dead. 

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD NEAR ATLANTA, July 26, 1864. 

Major-General HALLECK, Washington, D. C. 

GENERAL: I find it difficult to make prompt report of results, coupled with some data or information, without occasionally makingmistakes. McPherson's sudden death, and Logan succeeding to thecommand as it were in the midst of battle, made some confusion onour extreme left; but it soon recovered and made sad havoc with theenemy, who had practised one of his favorite games of attacking ourleft when in motion, and before it had time to cover its weakflank. After riding over the ground and hearing the varyingstatements of the actors, I directed General Logan to make anofficial report of the actual result, and I herewith inclose it. 

Though the number of dead rebels seems excessive, I am disposed togive full credit to the report that our loss, though onlythirty-five hundred and twenty-one killed, wounded, and missing, theenemy's dead alone on the field nearly equaled that number, viz. , thirty-two hundred and twenty. Happening at that point of the linewhen a flag of truce was sent in to ask permission for each party tobury its dead, I gave General Logan authority to permit a temporarytruce on that flank alone, while our labors and fighting proceeded atall others. 

I also send you a copy of General Garrard's report of the breakingof the railroad toward Augusta. I am now grouping my command toattack the Macon road, and with that view will intrench a strongline of circumvallation with flanks, so as to have as large aninfantry column as possible, with all the cavalry to swing round tothe south and east, to strike that road at or below East Point. 

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT AND ARMY OF THE TENNESSEEBEFORE ATLANTA GEORGIA, July 24, 1864

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Military Division of theMississippi. 

GENERAL: I have the honor to report the following general summaryof the result of the attack of the enemy on this army on the 22dinst. 

Total loss, killed, wounded, and missing, thirty-five hundred andtwenty-one, and ten pieces of artillery. 

We have buried and delivered to the enemy, under a flag of trucesent in by them, in front of the Third Division, Seventeenth Corps, one thousand of their killed. 

The number of their dead in front of the Fourth Division of thesame corps, including those on the ground not now occupied by ourtroops, General Blair reports, will swell the number of their deadon his front to two thousand. 

The number of their dead buried in front of the Fifteenth Corps, upto this hour, is three hundred and sixty, and the commandingofficer reports that at least as many more are yet unburied;burying-parties being still at work. 

The number of dead buried in front of the Sixteenth Corps is fourhundred and twenty-two. We have over one thousand of their woundedin our hands, the larger number of the wounded being carried offduring the night, after the engagement, by them. 

We captured eighteen stands of colors, and have them now. We alsocaptured five thousand stands of arms. 

The attack was made on our lines seven times, and was seven timesrepulsed. Hood's and Hardee's corps and Wheeler's cavalry engagedus. 

We have sent to the rear one thousand prisoners, includingthirty-three commissioned officers of high rank. 

We still occupy the field, and the troops are in fine spirits. Adetailed and full report will be furnished as soon as completed. 

Recapitulation. 

Our total loss............................ 3, 521Enemy's dead, thus far reported, buried, and delivered to them..................... 3, 220Total prisoners sent North................ 1, 017Total prisoners, wounded, in our hands.... 1, 000Estimated loss of the enemy, at least.... 10, 000

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Joan A. Logan, Major-General. 

On the 22d of July General Rousseau reached Marietta, havingreturned from his raid on the Alabama road at Opelika, and on thenext day General Garrard also returned from Covington, both havingbeen measurably successful. The former was about twenty-fivehundred strong, the latter about four thousand, and both reportedthat their horses were jaded and tired, needing shoes and rest. But, about this time, I was advised by General Grant (theninvesting Richmond) that the rebel Government had become aroused tothe critical condition of things about Atlanta, and that I mustlook out for Hood being greatly reenforced. I therefore wasresolved to push matters, and at once set about the originalpurpose of transferring the whole of the Army of the Tennessee toour right flank, leaving Schofield to stretch out so as to rest hisleft on the Augusta road, then torn up for thirty miles eastward;and, as auxiliary thereto, I ordered all the cavalry to be ready topass around Atlanta on both flanks, to break up the Macon road atsome point below, so as to cut off all supplies to the rebel armyinside, and thus to force it to evacuate, or come out and fight uson equal terms. 

But it first became necessary to settle the important question ofwho should succeed General McPherson? General Logan had takencommand of the Army of the Tennessee by virtue of his seniority, and had done well; but I did not consider him equal to the commandof three corps. Between him and General Blair there existed anatural rivalry. Both were men of great courage and talent, butwere politicians by nature and experience, and it may be that forthis reason they were mistrusted by regular officers like GeneralsSchofield, Thomas, and myself. It was all-important that thereshould exist a perfect understanding among the army commanders, andat a conference with General George H. Thomas at the headquartersof General Thomas J. Woods, commanding a division in the FourthCorps, he (Thomas) remonstrated warmly against my recommending thatGeneral Logan should be regularly assigned to the command of theArmy of the Tennessee by reason of his accidental seniority. Wediscussed fully the merits and qualities of every officer of highrank in the army, and finally settled on Major-General O. O. Howardas the best officer who was present and available for the purpose;on the 24th of July I telegraphed to General Halleck thispreference, and it was promptly ratified by the President. GeneralHoward's place in command of the Fourth Corps was filled by GeneralStanley, one of his division commanders, on the recommendation ofGeneral Thomas. All these promotions happened to fall uponWest-Pointers, and doubtless Logan and Blair had some reason tobelieve that we intended to monopolize the higher honors of the warfor the regular officers. I remember well my own thoughts andfeelings at the time, and feel sure that I was not intentionallypartial to any class, I wanted to succeed in taking Atlanta, andneeded commanders who were purely and technically soldiers, men whowould obey orders and execute them promptly and on time; for I knewthat we would have to execute some most delicate manoeuvres, requiring the utmost skill, nicety, and precision. I believed thatGeneral Howard would do all these faithfully and well, and I thinkthe result has justified my choice. I regarded both Generals Loganand Blair as "volunteers, " that looked to personal fame and gloryas auxiliary and secondary to their political ambition, and not asprofessional soldiers. 

As soon as it was known that General Howard had been chosen tocommand the Army of the Tennessee; General Hooker applied toGeneral Thomas to be relieved of the command of the TwentiethCorps, and General Thomas forwarded his application to me approvedand heartily recommended. I at once telegraphed to GeneralHalleck, recommending General Slocum (then at Vicksburg) to be hissuccessor, because Slocum had been displaced from the command ofhis corps at the time when the Eleventh and Twelfth were united andmade the Twentieth. 

General Hooker was offended because he was not chosen to succeedMcPherson; but his chances were not even considered; indeed, I hadnever been satisfied with him since his affair at the Gulp House, and had been more than once disposed to relieve him of his corps, because of his repeated attempts to interfere with GeneralsMcPherson and Schofield. I had known Hooker since 1836, and wasintimately associated with him in California, where we servedtogether on the staff of General Persifer F. Smith. He had come tous from the East with a high reputation as a "fighter, " which hehad fully justified at Chattanooga and Peach-Tree Creek; at whichlatter battle I complimented him on the field for specialgallantry, and afterward in official reports. Still, I did feel asense of relief when he left us. We were then two hundred andfifty miles in advance of our base, dependent on a single line ofrailroad for our daily food. We had a bold, determined foe in ourimmediate front, strongly intrenched, with communication open tohis rear for supplies and reenforcements, and every soldierrealized that we had plenty of hard fighting ahead, and that allhonors had to be fairly earned. 

Until General Slocum joined (in the latter part of August), theTwentieth Corps was commanded by General A. S. Williams, the seniordivision commander present. On the 25th of July the army, therefore, stood thus: the Army of the Tennessee (General O. O. Howard commanding) was on the left, pretty much on the same groundit had occupied during the battle of the 22d, all ready to moverapidly by the rear to the extreme right beyond Proctor's Creek;the Army of the Ohio (General Schofield) was next in order, withits left flank reaching the Augusta Railroad; next in order, conforming closely with the rebel intrenchments of Atlanta, wasGeneral Thomas's Army of the Cumberland, in the order of--theFourth Corps (Stanley's), the Twentieth Corps (Williams's), and theFourteenth Corps (Palmer's). Palmer's right division (Jefferson C. Davis's) was strongly refused along Proctor's Creek. This line wasabout five miles long, and was intrenched as against a sally aboutas strong as was our enemy. The cavalry was assembled in twostrong divisions; that of McCook (including the brigade of Harrisonwhich had been brought in from Opelika by General Rousseau)numbered about thirty-five hundred effective cavalry, and wasposted to our right rear, at Turner's Ferry, where we had a goodpontoon-bridge; and to our left rear, at and about Decatur, werethe two cavalry divisions of Stoneman, twenty-five hundred, andGarrard, four thousand, united for the time and occasion under thecommand of Major-General George Stoneman, a cavalry-officer of highrepute. My plan of action was to move the Army of the Tennessee tothe right rapidly and boldly against the railroad below Atlanta, and at the same time to send all the cavalry around by the rightand left to make a lodgment on the Macon road about Jonesboro. 

All the orders were given, and the morning of the 27th was fixedfor commencing the movement. On the 26th I received from GeneralStoneman a note asking permission (after having accomplished hisorders to break up the railroad at Jonesboro) to go on to Macon torescue our prisoners of war known to be held there, and then topush on to Andersonville, where was the great depot of Unionprisoners, in which were penned at one time as many as twenty-threethousand of our men, badly fed and harshly treated. I wrote him ananswer consenting substantially to his proposition, only modifyingit by requiring him to send back General Garrard's division to itsposition on our left flank after he had broken up the railroad atJonesboro. Promptly, and on time, all got off, and General Dodge'scorps (the Sixteenth, of the Army of the Tennessee) reached itsposition across Proctor's Creek the same evening, and early thenext morning (the 28th) Blair's corps (the Seventeenth) deployed onhis right, both corps covering their front with the usual parapet;the Fifteenth Corps (General Logan's) came up that morning on theright of Blair, strongly refused, and began to prepare the usualcover. As General Jeff. C. Davis's division was, as it were, leftout of line, I ordered it on the evening before to march downtoward Turner's Ferry, and then to take a road laid down on ourmaps which led from there toward East Point, ready to engage anyenemy that might attack our general right flank, after the samemanner as had been done to the left flank on the 22d. 

Personally on the morning of the 28th I followed the movement, androde to the extreme right, where we could hear some skirmishing andan occasional cannon-shot. As we approached the ground held by theFifteenth Corps, a cannon-ball passed over my shoulder and killedthe horse of an orderly behind; and seeing that this gun enfiladedthe road by which we were riding, we turned out of it and rode downinto a valley, where we left our horses and walked up to the hillheld by Morgan L. Smith's division of the Fifteenth Corps. Near ahouse I met Generals Howard and Logan, who explained that there wasan intrenched battery to their front, with the appearance of astrong infantry support. I then walked up to the ridge, where Ifound General Morgan L. Smith. His men were deployed and engagedin rolling logs and fence-rails, preparing a hasty cover. Fromthis ridge we could overlook the open fields near a meeting-houseknown as "Ezra Church, " close by the Poor-House. We could see thefresh earth of a parapet covering some guns (that fired anoccasional shot), and there was also an appearance of activitybeyond. General Smith was in the act of sending forward a regimentfrom, his right flank to feel the position of the enemy, when Iexplained to him and to Generals Logan and Howard that they mustlook out for General Jeff. C. Davis's division, which was comingup from the direction of Turner's Ferry. 

As the skirmish-fire warmed up along the front of Blair's corps, aswell as along the Fifteenth Corps (Logan's), I became convincedthat Hood designed to attack this right flank, to prevent, ifpossible, the extension of our line in that direction. I regainedmy horse, and rode rapidly back to see that Davis's division hadbeen dispatched as ordered. I found General Davis in person, whowas unwell, and had sent his division that morning early, under thecommand of his senior brigadier, Morgan; but, as I attached greatimportance to the movement, he mounted his horse, and rode away toovertake and to hurry forward the movement, so as to come up on theleft rear of the enemy, during the expected battle. 

By this time the sound of cannon and musketry denoted a severebattle as in progress, which began seriously at 11. 30 a. M. , andended substantially by 4 p. M. It was a fierce attack by the enemyon our extreme right flank, well posted and partially covered. Themost authentic account of the battle is given by General Logan, whocommanded the Fifteenth Corps, in his official report to theAdjutant-General of the Army of the Tennessee, thus:

HEADQUARTERS FIFTEENTH ARMY CORPSBEFORE ATLANTA, GEORGIA, July 29, 1864

Lieutenant-Colonel WILLIAM T. CLARK, Assistant Adjutant-General, Army of the Tennessee, present. 

COLONEL: I have the honor to report that, in pursuance of orders, Imoved my command into position on the right of the SeventeenthCorps, which was the extreme right of the army in the field, duringthe night of the 27th and morning of the 28th; and, while advancingin line of battle to a more favorable position, we were met by therebel infantry of Hardee's and Lee's corps, who made a determinedand desperate attack on us at 11 A. M. Of the 28th (yesterday). 

My lines were only protected by logs and rails, hastily thrown upin front of them. 

The first onset was received and checked, and the battle commencedand lasted until about three o'clock in the evening. During thattime six successive charges were made, which were six timesgallantly repulsed, each time with fearful loss to the enemy. 

Later in the evening my lines were several times assaultedvigorously, but each time with like result. The worst of thefighting occurred on General Harrow's and Morgan L. Smith's fronts, which formed the centre and right of the corps. The troops couldnot have displayed greater courage, nor greater determination notto give ground; had they shown less, they would have been drivenfrom their position. 

Brigadier-Generals C. R. Woods, Harrow, and Morgan L. Smith, division commanders, are entitled to equal credit for gallantconduct and skill in repelling the assault. My thanks are due toMajor-Generals Blair and Dodge for sending me reenforeements at atime when they were much needed. My losses were fifty killed, fourhundred and forty-nine wounded, and seventy-three missing:aggregate, five hundred and seventy-two. 

The division of General Harrow captured five battle-flags. Therewere about fifteen hundred or two thousand muskets left on theground. One hundred and six prisoners were captured, exclusive ofseventy-three wounded, who were sent to our hospital, and are beingcared for by our surgeons. Five hundred and sixty-five rebels haveup to this time been buried, and about two hundred are supposed tobe yet unburied. A large number of their wounded were undoubtedlycarried away in the night, as the enemy did not withdraw till neardaylight. The enemy's loss could not have been less than six orseven thousand men. A more detailed report will hereafter be made. 

I am, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, JOHN A. LOGAN, Major-General, commanding Fifteenth Army Corps. 

General Howard, in transmitting this report, added:

I wish to express my high gratification with the conduct of thetroops engaged. I never saw better conduct in battle. GeneralLogan, though ill and much worn out, was indefatigable, and thesuccess of the day is as much attributable to him as to any oneman. 

This was, of coarse, the first fight in which General Howard hadcommanded the Army of the Tennessee, and he evidently aimed toreconcile General Logan in his disappointment, and to gain theheart of his army, to which he was a stranger. He very properlyleft General Logan to fight his own corps, but exposed himselffreely; and, after the firing had ceased, in the afternoon hewalked the lines; the men, as reported to me, gathered about him inthe most affectionate way, and he at once gained their respect andconfidence. To this fact I at the time attached much importance, for it put me at ease as to the future conduct of that mostimportant army. 

At no instant of time did I feel the least uneasiness about theresult on the 28th, but wanted to reap fuller results, hoping thatDavis's division would come up at the instant of defeat, and catchthe enemy in flank; but the woods were dense, the roads obscure, and as usual this division got on the wrong road, and did not comeinto position until about dark. In like manner, I thought thatHood had greatly weakened his main lines inside of Atlanta, andaccordingly sent repeated orders to Schofield and Thomas to make anattempt to break in; but both reported that they found the parapetsvery strong and full manned. 

Our men were unusually encouraged by this day's work, for theyrealized that we could compel Hood to come out from behind hisfortified lines to attack us at a disadvantage. In conversationwith me, the soldiers of the Fifteenth Corps, with whom I was onthe most familiar terms, spoke of the affair of the 28th as theeasiest thing in the world; that, in fact, it was a commonslaughter of the enemy; they pointed out where the rebel lines hadbeen, and how they themselves had fired deliberately, had shot downtheir antagonists, whose bodies still lay unburied, and markedplainly their lines of battle, which must have halted within easymusket-range of our men, who were partially protected by theirimprovised line of logs and fence-rails. All bore willingtestimony to the courage and spirit of the foe, who, thoughrepeatedly repulsed, came back with increased determination somesix or more times. 

The next morning the Fifteenth Corps wheeled forward to the leftover the battle-field of the day before, and Davis's division stillfarther prolonged the line, which reached nearly to theever-to-be-remembered "Sandtown road. "

Then, by further thinning out Thomas's line, which was wellentrenched, I drew another division of Palmer's corps (Baird's)around to the right, to further strengthen that flank. I wasimpatient to hear from the cavalry raid, then four days out, andwas watching for its effect, ready to make a bold push for thepossession of East Point. General Garrard's division returned toDecatur on the 31st, and reported that General Stoneman had postedhim at Flat Rock, while he (Stoneman) went on. The month of Julytherefore closed with our infantry line strongly entrenched, butdrawn out from the Augusta road on the left to the Sandtown road onthe right, a distance of full ten measured miles. 

The enemy, though evidently somewhat intimidated by the results oftheir defeats on the 22d and 28th, still presented a bold front atall points, with fortified lines that defied a direct assault. Ourrailroad was done to the rear of our camps, Colonel W. P. Wrighthaving reconstructed the bridge across the Chattahoochee in sixdays; and our garrisons and detachments to the rear had soeffectually guarded the railroad that the trains from Nashvillearrived daily, and our substantial wants were well supplied. 

The month, though hot in the extreme, had been one of constantconflict, without intermission, and on four several occasions--viz. , July 4th, 20th, 22d, and 28th--these affairs had amounted toreal battles, with casualty lists by the thousands. Assuming thecorrectness of the rebel surgeon Foard's report, on page 577 ofJohnston's "Narrative, " commencing with July 4th and terminatingwith July 31st, we have:

 Aggregate loss of the enemy......... 10, 841

Our losses, as compiled from the official returns for July, 1864, are: Killed and Missing. Wounded. Total. 

Aggregate loss of July....... 3, 804 5, 915 9, 719

In this table the column of "killed and missing" embraces theprisoners that fell into the hands of the enemy, mostly lost in theSeventeenth Corps, on the 22d of July, and does not embrace thelosses in the cavalry divisions of Garrard and McCook, which, however, were small for July. In all other respects the statementis absolutely correct. I am satisfied, however, that Surgeon Foardcould not have been in possession of data sufficiently accurate toenable him to report the losses in actual battle of men who neversaw the hospital. During the whole campaign I had rendered to metri-monthly statements of "effective strength, " from which Icarefully eliminated the figures not essential for my conduct, sothat at all times I knew the exact fighting-strength of each corps, division, and brigade, of the whole army, and also endeavored tobear in mind our losses both on the several fields of battle and bysickness, and well remember that I always estimated that during themonth of July we had inflicted heavier loss on the enemy than wehad sustained ourselves, and the above figures prove itconclusively. Before closing this chapter, I must record one ortwo minor events that occurred about this time, that may prove ofinterest. 

On the 24th of July I received a dispatch from Inspector-GeneralJames A. Hardie, then on duty at the War Department in Washington, to the effect that Generals Osterhaus and Alvan P. Hovey had beenappointed major-generals. Both of these had begun the campaignwith us in command of divisions, but had gone to the rear--theformer by reason of sickness, and the latter dissatisfied withGeneral Schofield and myself about the composition of his divisionof the Twenty-third Corps. Both were esteemed as first-classofficers, who had gained special distinction in the Vicksburgcampaign. But up to that time, when the newspapers announced dailypromotions elsewhere, no prominent officers serving with me hadbeen advanced a peg, and I felt hurt. I answered Hardie on the25th, in a dispatch which has been made public, closing with thislanguage: "If the rear be the post of honor, then we had better allchange front on Washington. " To my amazement, in a few days Ireceived from President Lincoln himself an answer, in which hecaught me fairly. I have not preserved a copy of that dispatch, and suppose it was burned up in the Chicago fire; but it wascharacteristic of Mr. Lincoln, and was dated the 26th or 27th dayof July, contained unequivocal expressions of respect for those whowere fighting hard and unselfishly, offering us a full share of thehonors and rewards of the war, and saying that, in the cases ofHovey and Osterhaus, he was influenced mainly by therecommendations of Generals Grant and Sherman. On the 27th Ireplied direct, apologizing somewhat for my message to GeneralHardie, saying that I did not suppose such messages ever reachedhim personally, explaining that General Grant's and Sherman'srecommendations for Hovey and Osterhaus had been made when theevents of the Vicksburg campaign were fresh with us, and that mydispatch of the 25th to General Hardie had reflected chiefly thefeelings of the officers then present with me before Atlanta. Theresult of all this, however, was good, for another dispatch fromGeneral Hardie, of the 28th, called on me to nominate eightcolonels for promotion as brigadier-generals. I at once sent acircular note to the army-commanders to nominate two colonels fromthe Army of the Ohio and three from each of the others; and theresult was, that on the 29th of July I telegraphed the names of--

Colonel William Gross, Thirty-sixth Indiana; Colonel Charles C. Walcutt, Forty-sixth Ohio; Colonel James W. Riley, One Hundred andFourth Ohio; Colonel L. P. Bradley, Fifty-first Illinois; ColonelJ. W. Sprague, Sixty-third Ohio; Colonel Joseph A. Cooper, SixthEast Tennessee; Colonel John T. Croxton, Fourth Kentucky; ColonelWilliam W. Belknap, Fifteenth Iowa. These were promptly appointedbrigadier-generals, were already in command of brigades ordivisions; and I doubt if eight promotions were ever made fairer, or were more honestly earned, during the whole war. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

CAPTURE OF ATLANTA. 

AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, 1864

The month of August opened hot and sultry, but our position beforeAtlanta was healthy, with ample supply of wood, water, andprovisions. The troops had become habituated to the slow andsteady progress of the siege; the skirmish-lines were held close upto the enemy, were covered by rifle-trenches or logs, and kept up acontinuous clatter of musketry. The mainlines were held fartherback, adapted to the shape of the ground, with muskets loaded andstacked for instant use. The field-batteries were in selectpositions, covered by handsome parapets, and occasional shots fromthem gave life and animation to the scene. The men loitered aboutthe trenches carelessly, or busied themselves in constructingingenious huts out of the abundant timber, and seemed as snug, comfortable, and happy, as though they were at home. GeneralSchofield was still on the extreme left, Thomas in the centre, andHoward on the right. Two divisions of the Fourteenth Corps(Baird's and Jeff. C. Davis's) were detached to the right rear, and held in reserve. 

I thus awaited the effect of the cavalry movement against therailroad about Jonesboro, and had heard from General Garrard thatStoneman had gone on to Mason; during that day (August 1st) ColonelBrownlow, of a Tennessee cavalry regiment, came in to Marietta fromGeneral McCook, and reported that McCook's whole division had beenoverwhelmed, defeated, and captured at Newnan. Of course, I wasdisturbed by this wild report, though I discredited it, but madeall possible preparations to strengthen our guards along therailroad to the rear, on the theory that the force of cavalry whichhad defeated McCook would at once be on the railroad aboutMarietta. At the same time Garrard was ordered to occupy thetrenches on our left, while Schofield's whole army moved to theextreme right, and extended the line toward East Point. Thomas wasalso ordered still further to thin out his lines, so as to set freethe other division (Johnson's) of the Fourteenth Corps (Palmer's), which was moved to the extreme right rear, and held in reserveready to make a bold push from that flank to secure a footing onthe Mason Railroad at or below East Point. 

These changes were effected during the 2d and 3d days of August, when General McCook came in and reported the actual results of hiscavalry expedition. He had crossed the Chattahoochee River belowCampbellton, by his pontoon-bridge; had then marched rapidly acrossto the Mason Railroad at Lovejoy's Station, where he had reason toexpect General Stoneman; but, not hearing of him, he set to work, tore up two miles of track, burned two trains of cars, and cut awayfive miles of telegraph-wire. He also found the wagon-trainbelonging to the rebel army in Atlanta, burned five hundred wagons, killed eight hundred mules; and captured seventy-two officers andthree hundred and fifty men. Finding his progress eastward, towardMcDonough, barred by a superior force, he turned back to Newnan, where he found himself completely surrounded by infantry andcavalry. He had to drop his prisoners and fight his way out, losing about six hundred men in killed and captured, and thenreturned with the remainder to his position at Turner's Ferry. This was bad enough, but not so bad as had been reported by ColonelBrownlow. Meantime, rumors came that General Stoneman was downabout Mason, on the east bank of the Ocmulgee. On the 4th ofAugust Colonel Adams got to Marietta with his small brigade of ninehundred men belonging to Stoneman's cavalry, reporting, as usual, all the rest lost, and this was partially confirmed by a reportwhich came to me all the way round by General Grant's headquartersbefore Richmond. A few days afterward Colonel Capron also got in, with another small brigade perfectly demoralized, and confirmed thereport that General Stoneman had covered the escape of these twosmall brigades, himself standing with a reserve of seven hundredmen, with which he surrendered to a Colonel Iverson. Thus anotherof my cavalry divisions was badly damaged, and out of the fragmentswe hastily reorganized three small divisions underBrigadier-Generals Garrard, McCook, and Kilpatrick. 

Stoneman had not obeyed his orders to attack the railroad firstbefore going to Macon and Andersonville, but had crossed theOcmulgee River high up near Covington, and had gone down that riveron the east bank. He reached Clinton, and sent out detachmentswhich struck the railroad leading from Macon to Savannah atGriswold Station, where they found and destroyed seventeenlocomotives and over a hundred cars; then went on and burned thebridge across the Oconee, and reunited the division before Macon. Stoneman shelled the town across the river, but could not crossover by the bridge, and returned to Clinton, where he found hisretreat obstructed, as he supposed, by a superior force. There hebecame bewildered, and sacrificed himself for the safety of hiscommand. He occupied the attention of his enemy by a small forceof seven hundred men, giving Colonels Adams and Capron leave, withtheir brigades, to cut their way back to me at Atlanta. The formerreached us entire, but the latter was struck and scattered at someplace farther north, and came in by detachments. Stonemansurrendered, and remained a prisoner until he was exchanged sometime after, late in September, at Rough and Ready. 

I now became satisfied that cavalry could not, or would not, make asufficient lodgment on the railroad below Atlanta, and that nothingwould suffice but for us to reach it with the main army. Thereforethe most urgent efforts to that end were made, and to Schofield, onthe right, was committed the charge of this special object. He hadhis own corps (the Twenty-third), composed of eleven thousand andseventy-five infantry and eight hundred and eighty-five artillery, with McCook's broken division of cavalry, seventeen hundred andfifty-four men and horses. For this purpose I also placed theFourteenth Corps (Palmer) under his orders. This corps numbered atthe time seventeen thousand two hundred and eighty-eight infantryand eight hundred and twenty-six artillery; but General Palmerclaimed to rank General Schofield in the date of his commission asmajor-general, and denied the latter's right to exercise commandover him. General Palmer was a man of ability, but was notenterprising. His three divisions were compact and strong, wellcommanded, admirable on the defensive, but slow to move or to acton the offensive. His corps (the Fourteenth) had sustained, up tothat time, fewer hard knocks than any other corps in the wholearmy, and I was anxious to give it a chance. I always expected tohave a desperate fight to get possession of the Macon road, whichwas then the vital objective of the campaign. Its possession by uswould, in my judgment, result in the capture of Atlanta, and giveus the fruits of victory, although the destruction of Hood's armywas the real object to be desired. Yet Atlanta was known as the"Gate-City of the South, " was full of founderies, arsenals, andmachine-shops, and I knew that its capture would be the death-knellof the Southern Confederacy. 

On the 4th of August I ordered General Schofield to make a boldattack on the railroad, anywhere about East Point, and orderedGeneral Palmer to report to him for duty. He at once deniedGeneral Schofield's right to command him; but, after examining thedates of their respective commissions, and hearing their arguments, I wrote to General Palmer. 

August 4th. -10. 45 p. M. 

From the statements made by yourself and General Schofield to-day, my decision is, that he ranks you as a major-general, being of thesame date of present commission, by reason of his previous superiorrank as brigadier-general. The movements of to-morrow are soimportant that the orders of the superior on that flank must beregarded as military orders, and not in the nature of cooperation. I did hope that there would be no necessity for my making thisdecision; but it is better for all parties interested that noquestion of rank should occur in actual battle. The Sandtown road, and the railroad, if possible, must be gained to-morrow, if itcosts half your command. I regard the loss of time this afternoonas equal to the loss of two thousand men. 

I also communicated the substance of this to General Thomas, towhose army Palmer's corps belonged, who replied on the 5th:

I regret to hear that Palmer has taken the course he has, and Iknow that he intends to offer his resignation as soon as he canproperly do so. I recommend that his application be granted. 

And on the 5th I again wrote to General Palmer, arguing the pointwith him, advising him, as a friend, not to resign at that crisislest his motives might be misconstrued, and because it might damagehis future career in civil life; but, at the same time, I felt itmy duty to say to him that the operations on that flank, during the4th and 5th, had not been satisfactory--not imputing to him, however, any want of energy or skill, but insisting that "theevents did not keep pace with my desires. " General Schofield hadreported to me that night:

I am compelled to acknowledge that I have totally failed to makeany aggressive movement with the Fourteenth Corps. I have orderedGeneral Johnson's division to replace General Hascall's thisevening, and I propose to-morrow to take my own troops(Twenty-third Corps) to the right, and try to recover what has beenlost by two days' delay. The force may likely be too small. 

I sanctioned the movement, and ordered two of Palmers divisions--Davis's and Baird's--to follow en echelon in support of Schofield, and summoned General Palmer to meet me in person: He came on the6th to my headquarters, and insisted on his resignation beingaccepted, for which formal act I referred him to General Thomas. He then rode to General Thomas's camp, where he made a writtenresignation of his office as commander of the Fourteenth Corps, andwas granted the usual leave of absence to go to his home inIllinois, there to await further orders. General Thomasrecommended that the resignation be accepted; that Johnson, thesenior division commander of the corps, should be ordered back toNashville as chief of cavalry, and that Brigadier-General JeffersonC. Davis, the next in order, should be promoted major general, andassigned to command the corps. These changes had to be referred tothe President, in Washington, and were, in due time, approved andexecuted; and thenceforward I had no reason to complain of theslowness or inactivity of that splendid corps. It had beenoriginally formed by General George H. Thomas, had been commandedby him in person, and had imbibed some what his personal character, viz. , steadiness, good order, and deliberation nothing hasty orrash, but always safe, "slow, and sure. " On August 7th Itelegraphed to General Halleck:

Have received to-day the dispatches of the Secretary of War and ofGeneral Grant, which are very satisfactory. We keep hammering awayall the time, and there is no peace, inside or outside of Atlanta. To-day General Schofield got round the line which was assaultedyesterday by General Reilly's brigade, turned it and gained theground where the assault had been made, and got possession of allour dead and wounded. He continued to press on that flank, andbrought on a noisy but not a bloody battle. He drove the enemybehind his main breastworks, which cover the railroad from Atlantato East Point, and captured a good many of the skirmishers, who areof his best troops--for the militia hug the breastworks close. Ido not deem it prudent to extend any more to the right, but willpush forward daily by parallels, and make the inside of Atlanta toohot to be endured. I have sent back to Chattanooga for twothirty-pound Parrotts, with which we can pick out almost any house intown. I am too impatient for a siege, and don't know but this is asgood a place to fight it out on, as farther inland. One thing iscertain, whether we get inside of Atlanta or not, it will be aused-up community when we are done with it. 

In Schofield's extension on the 5th, General Reilly's brigade hadstruck an outwork, which he promptly attacked, but, as usual, gotentangled in the trees and bushes which had been felled, and lostabout five hundred men, in killed and wounded; but, as abovereported, this outwork was found abandoned the next day, and wecould see from it that the rebels were extending their lines, parallel with the railroad, about as fast as we could add to ourline of investment. On the 10th of August the Parrottthirty-pounders were received and placed in Position; for a coupleof days we kept up a sharp fire from all our batteries convergingon Atlanta, and at every available point we advanced ourinfantry-lines, thereby shortening and strengthening theinvestment; but I was not willing to order a direct assault, unlesssome accident or positive neglect on the part of our antagonistshould reveal an opening. However, it was manifest that no suchopening was intended by Hood, who felt secure behind his strongdefenses. He had repelled our cavalry attacks on his railroad, andhad damaged us seriously thereby, so I expected that he wouldattempt the same game against our rear. Therefore I madeextraordinary exertions to recompose our cavalry divisions, whichwere so essential, both for defense and offense. Kilpatrick wasgiven that on our right rear, in support of Schofield's exposedflank; Garrard retained that on our general left; and McCook'sdivision was held somewhat in reserve, about Marietta and therailroad. On the 10th, having occasion to telegraph to GeneralGrant, then in Washington, I used this language:

Since July 28th Hood has not attempted to meet us outside hisparapets. In order to possess and destroy effectually hiscommunications, I may have to leave a corps at the railroad-bridge, well intrenched, and cut loose with the balance to make a circle ofdesolation around Atlanta. I do not propose to assault the works, which are too strong, nor to proceed by regular approaches. I havelost a good many regiments, and will lose more, by the expirationof service; and this is the only reason why I want reenforcements. We have killed, crippled, and captured more of the enemy than wehave lost by his acts. 

On the 12th of August I heard of the success of Admiral Farragut inentering Mobile Bay, which was regarded as a most valuableauxiliary to our operations at Atlanta; and learned that I had beencommissioned a major-general in the regular army, which wasunexpected, and not desired until successful in the capture ofAtlanta. These did not change the fact that we were held in checkby the stubborn defense of the place, and a conviction was forcedon my mind that our enemy would hold fast, even though every housein the town should be battered down by our artillery. It wasevident that we most decoy him out to fight us on something likeequal terms, or else, with the whole army, raise the siege andattack his communications. Accordingly, on the 13th of August, Igave general orders for the Twentieth Corps to draw back to therailroad-bridge at the Chattahoochee, to protect our trains, hospitals, spare artillery, and the railroad-depot, while the restof the army should move bodily to some point on the Macon Railroadbelow East Point. 

Luckily, I learned just then that the enemy's cavalry, underGeneral Wheeler, had made a wide circuit around our left flank, andhad actually reached our railroad at Tilton Station, above Resaca, captured a drove of one thousand of our beef-cattle, and was strongenough to appear before Dalton, and demand of its commander, Colonel Raum, the surrender of the place. General John E. Smith, who was at Kingston, collected together a couple of thousand men, and proceeded in cars to the relief of Dalton when Wheelerretreated northward toward Cleveland. On the 16th anotherdetachment of the enemy's cavalry appeared in force about Allatoonaand the Etowah bridge, when I became fully convinced that Hood hadsent all of his cavalry to raid upon our railroads. For some daysour communication with Nashville was interrupted by the destructionof the telegraph-lines, as well as railroad. I at once orderedstrong reconnoissances forward from our flanks on the left byGarrard, and on the right by Kilpatrick. The former moved with somuch caution that I was displeased; but Kilpatrick, on thecontrary, displayed so much zeal and activity that I was attractedto him at once. He reached Fairburn Station, on the West Pointroad, and tore it up, returning safely to his position on our rightflank. I summoned him to me, and was so pleased with his spiritand confidence, that I concluded to suspend the general movement ofthe main army, and to send him with his small division of cavalryto break up the Macon road about Jonesboro, in the hopes that itwould force Hood to evacuate Atlanta, and that I should thereby notonly secure possession of the city itself, but probably could catchHood in the confusion of retreat; and, further to increase thechances of success. 

I ordered General Thomas to detach two brigades of Garrard'sdivision of cavalry from the left to the right rear, to act as areserve in support of General Kilpatrick. Meantime, also, theutmost activity was ordered along our whole front by the infantryand artillery. Kilpatrick got off during the night of the 18th, and returned to us on the 22d, having made the complete circuit ofAtlanta. He reported that he had destroyed three miles of therailroad about Jonesboro, which he reckoned would take ten days torepair; that he had encountered a division of infantry and abrigade of cavalry (Ross's); that he had captured a battery anddestroyed three of its guns, bringing one in as a trophy, and healso brought in three battle-flags and seventy prisoners. On the23d, however, we saw trains coming into Atlanta from the south, when I became more than ever convinced that cavalry could not orwould not work hard enough to disable a railroad properly, andtherefore resolved at once to proceed to the execution of myoriginal plan. Meantime, the damage done to our own railroad andtelegraph by Wheeler, about Resaca and Dalton, had been repaired, and Wheeler himself was too far away to be of any service to hisown army, and where he could not do us much harm, viz. , up aboutthe Hiawaesee. On the 24th I rode down to the Chattahoocheebridge, to see in person that it could be properly defended by thesingle corps proposed to be left there for that purpose, and foundthat the rebel works, which had been built by Johnston to resistus, could be easily utilized against themselves; and on returningto my camp, at that same evening, I telegraphed to GeneralHalleck as follows:

Heavy fires in Atlanta all day, caused by our artillery. I will beall ready, and will commence the movement around Atlanta by thesouth, tomorrow night, and for some time you will hear little ofus. I will keep open a courier line back to the Chattahoocheebridge, by way of Sandtown. The Twentieth Corps will hold therailroad-bridge, and I will move with the balance of the army, provisioned for twenty days. 

Meantime General Dodge (commanding the Sixteenth Corps) had beenwounded in the forehead, had gone to the rear, and his twodivisions were distributed to the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps. The real movement commenced on the 25th, at night. The TwentiethCorps drew back and took post at the railroad-bridge, and theFourth Corps (Stanley) moved to his right rear, closing up with theFourteenth Corps (Jeff. C. Davis) near Utoy Creek; at the same timeGarrard's cavalry, leaving their horses out of sight, occupied thevacant trenches, so that the enemy did not detect the change atall. The next night (26th) the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, composing the Army of the Tennessee (Howard), drew out of theirtrenches, made a wide circuit, and came up on the extreme right ofthe Fourth and Fourteenth Corps of the Army of the Cumberland(Thomas) along Utoy Creek, facing south. The enemy seemed tosuspect something that night, using his artillery pretty freely;but I think he supposed we were going to retreat altogether. Anartillery-shot, fired at random, killed one man and woundedanother, and the next morning some of his infantry came out ofAtlanta and found our camps abandoned. It was afterward relatedthat there was great rejoicing in Atlanta "that the Yankees weregone;" the fact was telegraphed all over the South, and severaltrains of cars (with ladies) came up from Macon to assist in thecelebration of their grand victory. 

On the 28th (making a general left-wheel, pivoting on Schofield)both Thomas and Howard reached the West Point Railroad, extendingfrom East Point to Red-Oak Station and Fairburn, where we spent thenext day (29th) in breaking it up thoroughly. The track was heavedup in sections the length of a regiment, then separated rail byrail; bonfires were made of the ties and of fence-rails on whichthe rails were heated, carried to trees or telegraph-poles, wrappedaround and left to cool. Such rails could not be used again; and, to be still more certain, we filled up many deep cuts with trees, brush, and earth, and commingled with them loaded shells, soarranged that they would explode on an attempt to haul out thebushes. The explosion of one such shell would have demoralized agang of negroes, and thus would have prevented even the attempt toclear the road. 

Meantime Schofield, with the Twenty-third Corps, presented a boldfront toward East Point, daring and inviting the enemy to sally outto attack him in position. His first movement was on the 30th, toMount Gilead Church, then to Morrow's Mills, facing Rough andReady. Thomas was on his right, within easy support, moving bycross-roads from Red Oak to the Fayetteville road, extending fromCouch's to Renfrew's; and Howard was aiming for Jonesboro. 

I was with General Thomas that day, which was hot but otherwisevery pleasant. We stopped for a short noon-rest near a littlechurch (marked on our maps as Shoal-Creek Church), which stood backabout a hundred yards from the road, in a grove of native oaks. The infantry column had halted in the road, stacked their arms, andthe men were scattered about--some lying in the shade of the trees, and others were bringing corn-stalks from a large corn-field acrossthe road to feed our horses, while still others had arms full ofthe roasting-ears, then in their prime. Hundreds of fires weresoon started with the fence-rails, and the men were busy roastingthe ears. Thomas and I were walking up and down the road which ledto the church, discussing the chances of the movement, which hethought were extra-hazardous, and our path carried us by a fire atwhich a soldier was roasting his corn. The fire was builtartistically; the man was stripping the ears of their husks, standing them in front of his fire, watching them carefully, andturning each ear little by little, so as to roast it nicely. Hewas down on his knees intent on his business, paying little heed tothe stately and serious deliberations of his leaders. Thomas'smind was running on the fact that we had cut loose from our base ofsupplies, and that seventy thousand men were then dependent fortheir food on the chance supplies of the country (alreadyimpoverished by the requisitions of the enemy), and on the contentsof our wagons. Between Thomas and his men there existed a mostkindly relation, and he frequently talked with them in the mostfamiliar way. Pausing awhile, and watching the operations of thisman roasting his corn, he said, "What are you doing?" The manlooked up smilingly "Why, general, I am laying in a supply ofprovisions. " "That is right, my man, but don't waste yourprovisions. " As we resumed our walk, the man remarked, in a sortof musing way, but loud enough for me to hear: "There he goes, there goes the old man, economizing as usual. " "Economizing" withcorn, which cost only the labor of gathering and roasting!

As we walked, we could hear General Howard's guns at intervals, away off to our right front, but an ominous silence continuedtoward our left, where I was expecting at each moment to hear thesound of battle. That night we reached Renfrew's, and had reportsfrom left to right (from General Schofield, about Morrow's Mills, to General Howard, within a couple of miles of Jonesboro). Thenext morning (August 31st) all moved straight for the railroad. Schofield reached it near Rough and Ready, and Thomas at two pointsbetween there and Jonesboro. Howard found an intrenched foe(Hardee's corps) covering Jonesboro, and his men began at once todig their accustomed rifle-pits. Orders were sent to GeneralsThomas and Schofield to turn straight for Jonesboro, tearing up therailroad-track as they advanced. About 3. 00 p. M. The enemysallied from Jonesboro against the Fifteenth corps, but was easilyrepulsed, and driven back within his lines. All hands were keptbusy tearing up the railroad, and it was not until toward eveningof the 1st day of September that the Fourteenth Corps (Davis)closed down on the north front of Jonesboro, connecting on hisright with Howard, and his left reaching the railroad, along whichGeneral Stanley was moving, followed by Schofield. General Davisformed his divisions in line about 4 p. M. , swept forward over someold cotton-fields in full view, and went over the rebel parapethandsomely, capturing the whole of Govan's brigade, with twofield-batteries of ten guns. Being on the spot, I checked Davis'smovement, and ordered General Howard to send the two divisions ofthe Seventeenth Corps (Blair) round by his right rear, to get belowJonesboro, and to reach the railroad, so as to cut off retreat inthat direction. I also dispatched orders after orders to hurryforward Stanley, so as to lap around Jonesboro on the east, hopingthus to capture the whole of Hardee's corps. I sent first CaptainAudenried (aide-de-camp), then Colonel Poe, of the Engineers, andlastly General Thomas himself (and that is the only time during thecampaign I can recall seeing General Thomas urge his horse into agallop). Night was approaching, and the country on the fartherside of the railroad was densely wooded. General Stanley had comeup on the left of Davis, and was deploying, though there could nothave been on his front more than a skirmish-line. Had he movedstraight on by the flank, or by a slight circuit to his left, hewould have inclosed the whole ground occupied by Hardee's corps, and that corps could not have escaped us; but night came on, andHardee did escape. 

Meantime General Slocum had reached his corps (the Twentieth), stationed at the Chattahoochee bridge, had relieved General A. S. Williams in command, and orders had been sent back to him to feelforward occasionally toward Atlanta, to observe the effect when wehad reached the railroad. That night I was so restless andimpatient that I could not sleep, and about midnight there arosetoward Atlanta sounds of shells exploding, and other sound likethat of musketry. I walked to the house of a farmer close by mybivouac, called him out to listen to the reverberations which camefrom the direction of Atlanta (twenty miles to the north of us), and inquired of him if he had resided there long. He said he had, and that these sounds were just like those of a battle. Aninterval of quiet then ensued, when again, about 4 a. M. , aroseother similar explosions, but I still remained in doubt whether theenemy was engaged in blowing up his own magazines, or whetherGeneral Slocum had not felt forward, and become engaged in a realbattle. 

The next morning General Hardee was gone, and we all pushed forwardalong the railroad south, in close pursuit, till we ran up againsthis lines at a point just above Lovejoy's Station. While bringingforward troops and feeling the new position of our adversary, rumors came from the rear that the enemy had evacuated Atlanta, andthat General Slocum was in the city. Later in the day I received anote in Slocum's own handwriting, stating that he had heard duringthe night the very sounds that I have referred to; that he hadmoved rapidly up from the bridge about daylight, and had enteredAtlanta unopposed. His letter was dated inside the city, so therewas no doubt of the fact. General Thomas's bivouac was but a shortdistance from mine, and, before giving notice to the army ingeneral orders, I sent one of my staff-officers to show him thenote. In a few minutes the officer returned, soon followed byThomas himself, who again examined the note, so as to be perfectlycertain that it was genuine. The news seemed to him too good to betrue. He snapped his fingers, whistled, and almost danced, and, asthe news spread to the army, the shouts that arose from our men, the wild hallooing and glorious laughter, were to us a fullrecompense for the labor and toils and hardships through which wehad passed in the previous three months. 

A courier-line was at once organized, messages were sent back andforth from our camp at Lovejoy's to Atlanta, and to ourtelegraph-station at the Chattahoochee bridge. Of course, the gladtidings flew on the wings of electricity to all parts of the North, where the people had patiently awaited news of their husbands, sons, and brothers, away down in "Dixie Land;" and congratulations camepouring back full of good-will and patriotism. This victory was mostopportune; Mr. Lincoln himself told me afterward that even he hadpreviously felt in doubt, for the summer was fast passing away; thatGeneral Grant seemed to be checkmated about Richmond and Petersburg, and my army seemed to have run up against an impassable barrier, when, suddenly and unexpectedly, came the news that "Atlanta wasours, and fairly won. " On this text many a fine speech was made, butnone more eloquent than that by Edward Everett, in Boston. Apresidential election then agitated the North. Mr. Lincolnrepresented the national cause, and General McClellan had acceptedthe nomination of the Democratic party, whose platform was that thewar was a failure, and that it was better to allow the South to gofree to establish a separate government, whose corner-stone should beslavery. Success to our arms at that instant was therefore apolitical necessity; and it was all-important that somethingstartling in our interest should occur before the election inNovember. The brilliant success at Atlanta filled that requirement, and made the election of Mr. Lincoln certain. Among the many lettersof congratulation received, those of Mr. Lincoln and General Grantseem most important:

EXECUTIVE MANSIONWASHINGTON, D. C. September 3, 1864. 

The national thanks are rendered by the President to Major-GeneralW. T. Sherman and the gallant officers and soldiers of his commandbefore Atlanta, for the distinguished ability and perseverancedisplayed in the campaign in Georgia, which, under Divine favor, has resulted in the capture of Atlanta. The marches, battles, sieges, and other military operations, that have signalized thecampaign, must render it famous in the annals of war, and haveentitled those who have participated therein to the applause andthanks of the nation. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLNPresident of the United States

CITY POINT VIRGINIA, September 4, 1864-9 P. M. 

Major-General SHERMAN:I have just received your dispatch announcing the capture ofAtlanta. In honor of your great victory, I have ordered a saluteto be fired with shotted guns from every battery bearing upon theenemy. The salute will be fired within an hour, amid greatrejoicing. 

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

These dispatches were communicated to the army in general orders, and we all felt duly encouraged and elated by the praise of thosecompetent to bestow it. 

The army still remained where the news of success had first foundus, viz. , Lovejoy's; but, after due refection, I resolved not toattempt at that time a further pursuit of Hood's army, but slowlyand deliberately to move back, occupy Atlanta, enjoy a short periodof rest, and to think well over the next step required in theprogress of events. Orders for this movement were made on the 5thSeptember, and three days were given for each army to reach theplace assigned it, viz. : the Army of the Cumberland in and aboutAtlanta; the Army of the Tennessee at East Point; and the Army ofthe Ohio at Decatur. 

Personally I rode back to Jonesboro on the 6th, and there inspectedthe rebel hospital, full of wounded officers and men left by Hardeein his retreat. The next night we stopped at Rough and Ready, andon the 8th of September we rode into Atlanta, then occupied by theTwentieth Corps (General Slocum). In the Court-House Square wasencamped a brigade, embracing the Massachusetts Second andThirty-third Regiments, which had two of the finest bands of thearmy, and their music was to us all a source of infinite pleasureduring our sojourn in that city. I took up my headquarters in thehouse of Judge Lyons, which stood opposite one corner of theCourt-House Square, and at once set about a measure already ordered, of which I had thought much and long, viz. , to remove the entirecivil population, and to deny to all civilians from the rear theexpected profits of civil trade. Hundreds of sutlers and traderswere waiting at Nashville and Chattanooga, greedy to reach Atlantawith their wares and goods, with, which to drive a profitable tradewith the inhabitants. I gave positive orders that none of thesetraders, except three (one for each separate army), should bepermitted to come nearer than Chattanooga; and, moreover, Iperemptorily required that all the citizens and families resident inAtlanta should go away, giving to each the option to go south ornorth, as their interests or feelings dictated. I was resolved tomake Atlanta a pure military garrison or depot, with no civilpopulation to influence military measures. I had seen Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, and New Orleans, all captured from the enemy, andeach at once was garrisoned by a full division of troops, if notmore; so that success was actually crippling our armies in the fieldby detachments to guard and protect the interests of a hostilepopulation. 

I gave notice of this purpose, as early as the 4th of September, toGeneral Halleck, in a letter concluding with these words:

If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I willanswer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. If they wantpeace, they and their relatives most stop the war. 

I knew, of course, that such a measure would be stronglycriticised, but made up my mind to do it with the absolutecertainty of its justness, and that time would sanction its wisdom. I knew that the people of the South would read in this measure twoimportant conclusions: one, that we were in earnest; and the other, if they were sincere in their common and popular clamor "to die inthe last ditch, " that the opportunity would soon come. 

Soon after our reaching Atlanta, General Hood had sent in by a flagof truce a proposition, offering a general exchange of prisoners, saying that he was authorized to make such an exchange by theRichmond authorities, out of the vast number of our men then heldcaptive at Andersonville, the same whom General Stoneman had hopedto rescue at the time of his raid. Some of these prisoners hadalready escaped and got in, had described the pitiable condition ofthe remainder, and, although I felt a sympathy for their hardshipsand sufferings as deeply as any man could, yet as nearly all theprisoners who had been captured by us during the campaign had beensent, as fast as taken, to the usual depots North, they were thenbeyond my control. There were still about two thousand, mostlycaptured at Jonesboro, who had been sent back by cars, but had notpassed Chattanooga. These I ordered back, and offered General Hoodto exchange them for Stoneman, Buell, and such of my own army aswould make up the equivalent; but I would not exchange for hisprisoners generally, because I knew these would have to be sent totheir own regiments, away from my army, whereas all we could givehim could at once be put to duty in his immediate army. Quite anangry correspondence grew up between us, which was published at thetime in the newspapers, but it is not to be found in any book ofwhich I have present knowledge, and therefore is given here, asillustrative of the events referred to, and of the feelings of theactors in the game of war at that particular crisis, together withcertain other original letters of Generals Grant and Halleck, neverhitherto published. 

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATESCITY POINT, VIRGINIA, September 12, 1864

Major-General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding Military Division of theMississippi

GENERAL: I send Lieutenant-Colonel Horace Porter, of my staff, withthis. Colonel Porter will explain to you the exact condition ofaffairs here, better than I can do in the limits of a letter. Although I feel myself strong enough now for offensive operations, I am holding on quietly, to get advantage of recruits andconvalescents, who are coming forward very rapidly. My lines arenecessarily very long, extending from Deep Bottom, north of theJames, across the peninsula formed by the Appomattox and the James, and south of the Appomattox to the Weldon road. This line is verystrongly fortified, and can be held with comparatively few men;but, from its great length, necessarily takes many in theaggregate. I propose, when I do move, to extend my left so as tocontrol what is known as the Southside, or Lynchburg & Petersburgroad; then, if possible, to keep the Danville road out. At thesame time this move is made, I want to send a force of from six toten thousand men against Wilmington. The way I propose to do thisis to land the men north of Fort Fisher, and hold that point. Atthe same time a large naval fleet will be assembled there, and theiron-clads will run the batteries as they did at Mobile. This willgive us the same control of the harbor of Wilmington that we nowhave of the harbor of Mobile. What you are to do with the forcesat your command, I do not exactly see. The difficulties ofsupplying your army, except when they are constantly moving beyondwhere you are, I plainly see. If it had not been for Price'smovement, Canby could have sent twelve thousand more men to Mobile. From your command on the Mississippi, an equal number could havebeen taken. With these forces, my idea would have been to dividethem, sending one-half to Mobile, and the other half to Savannah. You could then move as proposed in your telegram, so as to threatenMacon and Augusta equally. Whichever one should be abandoned bythe enemy, you could take and open up a new base of supplies. Myobject now in sending a staff-officer to you is not so much tosuggest operations for you as to get your views, and to have plansmatured by the time every thing can be got ready. It wouldprobably be the 5th of October before any of the plans hereindicated will be executed. If you have any promotions torecommend, send the names forward, and I will approve them. 

In conclusion, it is hardly necessary for me to say that I feel youhave accomplished the most gigantic undertaking given to anygeneral in this war, and with a skill and ability that will beacknowledged in history as unsurpassed, if not unequaled. It givesme as much pleasure to record this in your favor as it world infavor of any living man, myself included. Truly yours, U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 20, 1864. 

Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, Commander-in-Chief, City Point, Virgina

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge, at the hands ofLieutenant Colonel Porter, of your staff, your letter of September12th, and accept with thanks the honorable and kindly mentionof the services of this army in the great cause in which we are allengaged. 

I send by Colonel Porter all official reports which are completed, and will in a few days submit a list of names which are deemedworthy of promotion. 

I think we owe it to the President to save him the invidious taskof selection among the vast number of worthy applicants, and haveordered my army commanders to prepare their lists with great care, and to express their preferences, based upon claims of actualcapacity and services rendered. 

These I will consolidate, and submit in such a form that, ifmistakes are made, they will at least be sanctioned by the bestcontemporaneous evidence of merit, for I know that vacancies do notexist equal in number to that of the officers who really deservepromotion. 

As to the future, I am pleased to know that your army is beingsteadily reinforced by a good class of men, and I hope it will goon until you have a force that is numerically double that of yourantagonist, so that with one part you can watch him, and with theother push out boldly from your left flank, occupy the SouthsideRailroad, compel him to attack you in position, or accept battle onyour own terms. 

We ought to ask our country for the largest possible armies thatcan be raised, as so important a thing as the self-existence of agreat nation should not be left to the fickle chances of war. 

Now that Mobile is shut out to the commerce of our enemy, it callsfor no further effort on our part, unless the capture of the citycan be followed by the occupation of the Alabama River and therailroad to Columbus, Georgia, when that place would be amagnificent auxiliary to my further progress into Georgia; but, until General Canby is much reinforced, and until he can morethoroughly subdue the scattered armies west of the Mississippi, Isuppose that much cannot be attempted by him against the AlabamaRiver and Columbus, Georgia. 

The utter destruction of Wilmington, North Carolina, is ofimportance only in connection with the necessity of cutting off allforeign trade to our enemy, and if Admiral Farragut can get acrossthe bar, and move quickly, I suppose he will succeed. From myknowledge of the mouth of Cape Fear River, I anticipate moredifficulty in getting the heavy ships across the bar than inreaching the town of Wilmington; but, of course, the soundings ofthe channel are well known at Washington, as well as the draught ofhis iron-clads, so that it must be demonstrated to be feasible, orelse it would not be attempted. If successful, I suppose that FortCaswell will be occupied, and the fleet at once sent to theSavannah River. Then the reduction of that city is the nextquestion. It once in our possession, and the river open to us, Iwould not hesitate to cross the State of Georgia with sixtythousand men, hauling some stores, and depending on the country forthe balance. Where a million of people find subsistence, my armywon't starve; but, as you know, in a country like Georgia, with fewroads and innumerable streams, an inferior force can so delay anarmy and harass it, that it would not be a formidable object; butif the enemy knew that we had our boats in the Savannah River Icould rapidly move to Milledgeville, where there is abundance ofcorn and meat, and could so threaten Macon and Augusta that theenemy world doubtless give up Macon for Augusta; then I would moveso as to interpose between Augusta and Savannah, and force him togive us Augusta, with the only powder-mills and factories remainingin the South, or let us have the use of the Savannah River. Eitherhorn of the dilemma will be worth a battle. I would prefer hisholding Augusta (as the probabilities are); for then, with theSavannah River in our possession, the taking of Augusta would be amere matter of time. This campaign can be made in the winter. 

But the more I study the game, the more am I convinced that itwould be wrong for us to penetrate farther into Georgia without anobjective beyond. It would not be productive of much good. I canstart east and make a circuit south and back, doing vast damage tothe State, but resulting in no permanent good; and by merethreatening to do so, I hold a rod over the Georgians, who are notover-loyal to the South. I will therefore give it as my opinionthat your army and Canby's should be reinforced to the maximum;that, after you get Wilmington, you should strike for Savannah andits river; that General Canby should hold the Mississippi River, and send a force to take Columbus, Georgia, either by way of theAlabama or Appalachicola River; that I should keep Hood employedand put my army in fine order for a march on Augusta, Columbia, andCharleston; and start as soon as Wilmington is sealed to commerce, and the city of Savannah is in our possession. 

I think it will be found that the movements of Price and Shelby, west of the Mississippi, are mere diversions. They cannot hope toenter Missouri except as raiders; and the truth is, that GeneralRosecrans should be ashamed to take my troops for such a purpose. If you will secure Wilmington and the city of Savannah from yourcentre, and let General Canby leave command over the MississippiRiver and country west of it, I will send a force to the Alabamaand Appalachicola, provided you give me one hundred thousand of thedrafted men to fill up my old regiments; and if you will fix a dayto be in Savannah, I will insure our possession of Macon and apoint on the river below Augusta. The possession of the SavannahRiver is more than fatal to the possibility of Southernindependence. They may stand the fall of Richmond, but not of allGeorgia. 

I will have a long talk with Colonel Porter, and tell him everything that may occur to me of interest to you. 

In the mean time, know that I admire your dogged perseverance andpluck more than ever. If you can whip Lee and I can march to theAtlantic, I think Uncle Abe will give us a twenty days' leave ofabsence to see the young folks. 

Yours as ever, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, September 16, 1864. 

General W. T. SHERMAN, Atlanta, Georgia. 

My DEAR GENERAL: Your very interesting letter of the 4th is justreceived. Its perusal has given me the greatest pleasure. I havenot written before to congratulate you on the capture of Atlanta, the objective point of your brilliant campaign, for the reason thatI have been suffering from my annual attack of "coryza, " orhay-cold. It affects my eyes so much that I can scarcely see towrite. As you suppose, I have watched your movements mostattentively and critically, and I do not hesitate to say that yourcampaign has been the most brilliant of the war. Its results areless striking and less complete than those of General Grant atVicksburg, but then you have had greater difficulties to encounter, a longer line of communications to keep up, and a longer and morecontinuous strain upon yourself and upon your army. 

You must have been very considerably annoyed by the State negrorecruiting-agents. Your letter was a capital one, and did muchgood. The law was a ridiculous one; it was opposed by the WarDepartment, but passed through the influence of Easternmanufacturers, who hoped to escape the draft in that way. Theywere making immense fortunes out of the war, and could well affordto purchase negro recruits, and thus save their employees at home. 

I fully agree with you in regard to the policy of a stringentdraft; but, unfortunately, political influences are against us, andI fear it will not amount to much. Mr. Seward's speech at Auburn, again prophesying, for the twentieth time, that the rebellion wouldbe crushed in a few months, and saying that there would be nodraft, as we now had enough soldiers to end the war, etc. , has donemuch harm, in a military point of view. I have seen enough ofpolitics here to last me for life. You are right in avoiding them. McClellan may possibly reach the White House, but he will lose therespect of all honest, high-minded patriots, by his affiliationwith such traitors and Copperheads as B---, V---, W---, S---, & Co. He would not stand upon the traitorous Chicago platform, but he hadnot the manliness to oppose it. A major-general in the UnitedStates Army, and yet not one word to utter against rebels or therebellion! I had much respect for McClellan before he became apolitician, but very little after reading his letter accepting thenomination. 

Hooker certainly made a mistake in leaving before the capture ofAtlanta. I understand that, when here, he said that you wouldfail; your army was discouraged and dissatisfied, etc. , etc. He ismost unmeasured in his abuse of me. I inclose you a specimen ofwhat he publishes in Northern papers, wherever he goes. They aredictated by himself and written by W. B. And such worthies. Thefunny part of the business is, that I had nothing whatever to dowith his being relieved on either occasion. Moreover, I have neversaid any thing to the President or Secretary of War to injure himin the slightest degree, and he knows that perfectly well. Hisanimosity arises from another source. He is aware that I know somethings about his character and conduct in California, and, fearingthat I may use that information against him, he seeks to ward offits effect by making it appear that I am his personal enemy, amjealous of him, etc. I know of no other reason for his hostilityto me. He is welcome to abuse me as much as he pleases; I don'tthink it will do him much good, or me much harm. I know verylittle of General Howard, but believe him to be a true, honorableman. Thomas is also a noble old war-horse. It is true, as yousay, that he is slow, but he is always sure. 

I have not seen General Grant since the fall of Atlanta, and do notknow what instructions he has sent you. I fear that Canby has notthe means to do much by way of Mobile. The military effects ofBanks's disaster are now showing themselves by the threatenedoperations of Price & Co. Toward Missouri, thus keeping in checkour armies west of the Mississippi. 

With many thanks for your kind letter, and wishes for your futuresuccess, yours truly, H. W. HALLECK. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 20, 1864. 

Major General HALLECK, Chief of Staff, Washington D. C. 

GENERAL: I have the honor herewith to submit copies of acorrespondence between General Hood, of the Confederate Army, theMayor of Atlanta, and myself, touching the removal of theinhabitants of Atlanta. 

In explanation of the tone which marks some of these letters, Iwill only call your attention to the fact that, after I hadannounced my determination, General Hood took upon himself toquestion my motives. I could not tamely submit to suchimpertinence; and I have also seen that, in violation of allofficial usage, he has published in the Macon newspapers such partsof the correspondence as suited his purpose. This could have hadno other object than to create a feeling on the part of the people;but if he expects to resort to such artifices, I think I can meethim there too. 

It is sufficient for my Government to know that the removal of theinhabitants has been made with liberality and fairness, that it hasbeen attended with no force, and that no women or children havesuffered, unless for want of provisions by their natural protectorsand friends. 

My real reasons for this step were:

We want all the houses of Atlanta for military storage andoccupation. 

We want to contract the lines of defense, so as to diminish thegarrison to the limit necessary to defend its narrow and vitalparts, instead of embracing, as the lines now do, the vast suburbs. This contraction of the lines, with the necessary citadels andredoubts, will make it necessary to destroy the very houses used byfamilies as residences. 

Atlanta is a fortified town, was stubbornly defended, and fairlycaptured. As captors, we have a right to it. 

The residence here of a poor population would compel us, sooner orlater, to feed them or to see them starve under our eyes. 

The residence here of the families of our enemies would be atemptation and a means to keep up a correspondence dangerous andhurtful to our cause; a civil population calls for provost-guards, and absorbs the attention of officers in listening to everlastingcomplaints and special grievances that are not military. 

These are my reasons; and, if satisfactory to the Government of theUnited States, it makes no difference whether it pleases GeneralHood and his people or not. I am, with respect, your obedientservant, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 7, 1864. 

General HOOD, commanding Confederate Army. 

GENERAL: I have deemed it to the interest of the United States thatthe citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove, those whoprefer it to go south, and the rest north. For the latter I canprovide food and transportation to points of their election inTennessee, Kentucky, or farther north. For the former I canprovide transportation by cars as far as Rough and Ready, and alsowagons; but, that their removal may be made with as littlediscomfort as possible, it will be necessary for you to help thefamilies from Rough and Ready to the care at Lovejoy's. If youconsent, I will undertake to remove all the families in Atlanta whoprefer to go south to Rough and Ready, with all their movableeffects, viz. , clothing, trunks, reasonable furniture, bedding, etc. , with their servants, white and black, with the proviso thatno force shall be used toward the blacks, one way or the other. Ifthey want to go with their masters or mistresses, they may do so;otherwise they will be sent away, unless they be men, when they maybe employed by our quartermaster. Atlanta is no place for familiesor non-combatants, and I have no desire to send them north if youwill assist in conveying them south. If this proposition meetsyour views, I will consent to a truce in the neighborhood of Roughand Ready, stipulating that any wagons, horses, animals, or personssent there for the purposes herein stated, shall in no manner beharmed or molested; you in your turn agreeing that any care, wagons, or carriages, persons or animals sent to the same point, shall not be interfered with. Each of us might send a guard of, say, one hundred men, to maintain order, and limit the truce to, say, two days after a certain time appointed. 

I have authorized the mayor to choose two citizens to convey to youthis letter, with such documents as the mayor may forward inexplanation, and shall await your reply. I have the honor to beyour obedient servant. 

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

Major General W. T. SHERMAN, commanding United States Forces inGeorgia

GENERAL: Your letter of yesterday's date, borne by James M. Balland James R. Crew, citizens of Atlanta, is received. You saytherein, "I deem it to be to the interest of the United States thatthe citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove, " etc. I do notconsider that I have any alternative in this matter. I thereforeaccept your proposition to declare a truce of two days, or suchtime as may be necessary to accomplish the purpose mentioned, andshall render all assistance in my power to expedite thetransportation of citizens in this direction. I suggest that astaff-officer be appointed by you to superintend the removal fromthe city to Rough and Ready, while I appoint a like officer tocontrol their removal farther south; that a guard of one hundredmen be sent by either party as you propose, to maintain order atthat place, and that the removal begin on Monday next. 

And now, sir, permit me to say that the unprecedented measure youpropose transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts everbefore brought to my attention in the dark history of war. 

In the name of God and humanity, I protest, believing that you willfind that you are expelling from their homes and firesides thewives and children of a brave people. I am, general, veryrespectfully, your obedient servant, J. B. HOOD, General. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 10, 1864. 

General J. B. HOOD, commanding Army of Tennessee, Confederate Army. 

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letterof this date, at the hands of Messrs. Ball and Crew, consenting tothe arrangements I had proposed to facilitate the removal south ofthe people of Atlanta, who prefer to go in that direction. Iinclose you a copy of my orders, which will, I am satisfied, accomplish my purpose perfectly. 

You style the measures proposed "unprecedented, " and appeal to thedark history of war for a parallel, as an act of "studied andingenious cruelty. " It is not unprecedented; for General Johnstonhimself very wisely and properly removed the families all the wayfrom Dalton down, and I see no reason why Atlanta should beexcepted. Nor is it necessary to appeal to the dark history ofwar, when recent and modern examples are so handy. You yourselfburned dwelling-houses along your parapet, and I have seen to-dayfifty houses that you have rendered uninhabitable because theystood in the way of your forts and men. You defended Atlanta on aline so close to town that every cannon-shot and many musket-shotsfrom our line of investment, that overshot their mark, went intothe habitations of women and children. General Hardee did the sameat Jonesboro, and General Johnston did the same, last summer, atJackson, Mississippi. I have not accused you of heartless cruelty, but merely instance these cases of very recent occurrence, andcould go on and enumerate hundreds of others, and challenge anyfair man to judge which of us has the heart of pity for thefamilies of a "brave people. "

I say that it is kindness to these families of Atlanta to removethem now, at once, from scenes that women and children should notbe exposed to, and the "brave people" should scorn to commit theirwives and children to the rude barbarians who thus, as you say, violate the laws of war, as illustrated in the pages of its darkhistory. 

In the name of common-sense, I ask you not to appeal to a just Godin such a sacrilegious manner. You who, in the midst of peace andprosperity, have plunged a nation into war--dark and cruel war--whodared and badgered us to battle, insulted our flag, seized ourarsenals and forts that were left in the honorable custody ofpeaceful ordnance-sergeants, seized and made "prisoners of war" thevery garrisons sent to protect your people against negroes andIndians, long before any overt act was committed by the (to you)hated Lincoln Government; tried to force Kentucky and Missouri intorebellion, spite of themselves; falsified the vote of Louisiana;turned loose your privateers to plunder unarmed ships; expelledUnion families by the thousands, burned their houses, and declared, by an act of your Congress, the confiscation of all debts dueNorthern men for goods had and received! Talk thus to the marines, but not to me, who have seen these things, and who will this daymake as much sacrifice for the peace and honor of the South as thebest-born Southerner among you! If we must be enemies, let us bemen, and fight it out as we propose to do, and not deal in archhypocritical appeals to God and humanity. God will judge us in duetime, and he will pronounce whether it be more humane to fight witha town full of women and the families of a brave people at our backor to remove them in time to places of safety among their ownfriends and people. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE TENNESSEESeptember 12, 1864

Major-General W. T, SHERMAN, commanding Military Division of theMississippi. 

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letterof the 9th inst. , with its inclosure in reference to the women, children, and others, whom you have thought proper to expel fromtheir homes in the city of Atlanta. Had you seen proper to let thematter rest there, I would gladly have allowed your letter to closethis correspondence, and, without your expressing it in words, would have been willing to believe that, while "the interests ofthe United States, " in your opinion, compelled you to an act ofbarbarous cruelty, you regretted the necessity, and we would havedropped the subject; but you have chosen to indulge in statementswhich I feel compelled to notice, at least so far as to signify mydissent, and not allow silence in regard to them to be construed asacquiescence. 

I see nothing in your communication which induces me to modify thelanguage of condemnation with which I characterized your order. Itbut strengthens me in the opinion that it stands "preeminent in thedark history of war for studied and ingenious cruelty. " Youroriginal order was stripped of all pretenses; you announced theedict for the sole reason that it was "to the interest of theUnited States. " This alone you offered to us and the civilizedworld as an all-sufficient reason for disregarding the laws of Godand man. You say that "General Johnston himself very wisely andproperly removed the families all the way from Dalton down. " It isdue to that gallant soldier and gentleman to say that no act of hisdistinguished career gives the least color to your unfoundedaspersions upon his conduct. He depopulated no villages, nortowns, nor cities, either friendly or hostile. He offered andextended friendly aid to his unfortunate fellow-citizens whodesired to flee from your fraternal embraces. You are equallyunfortunate in your attempt to find a justification for this act ofcruelty, either in the defense of Jonesboro, by General Hardee, orof Atlanta, by myself. General Hardee defended his position infront of Jonesboro at the expense of injury to the houses; anordinary, proper, and justifiable act of war. I defended Atlantaat the same risk and cost. If there was any fault in either case, it was your own, in not giving notice, especially in the case ofAtlanta, of your purpose to shell the town, which is usual in waramong civilized nations. No inhabitant was expelled from his homeand fireside by the orders of General Hardee or myself, andtherefore your recent order can find no support from the conduct ofeither of us. I feel no other emotion other than pain in readingthat portion of your letter which attempts to justify your shellingAtlanta without notice under pretense that I defended Atlanta upona line so close to town that every cannon-shot and manymusket-balls from your line of investment, that overshot their mark, went into the habitations of women and children. I made no complaintof your firing into Atlanta in any way you thought proper. I makenone now, but there are a hundred thousand witnesses that you firedinto the habitations of women and children for weeks, firing farabove and miles beyond my line of defense. I have too good anopinion, founded both upon observation and experience, of the skillof your artillerists, to credit the insinuation that they for severalweeks unintentionally fired too high for my modest field-works, andslaughtered women and children by accident and want of skill. 

The residue of your letter is rather discussion. It opens a widefield for the discussion of questions which I do not feel arecommitted to me. I am only a general of one of the armies of theConfederate States, charged with military operations in the field, under the direction of my superior officers, and I am not calledupon to discuss with you the causes of the present war, or thepolitical questions which led to or resulted from it. These graveand important questions have been committed to far abler hands thanmine, and I shall only refer to them so far as to repel any unjustconclusion which might be drawn from my silence. You charge mycountry with "daring and badgering you to battle. " The truth is, we sent commissioners to you, respectfully offering a peacefulseparation, before the first gun was fired on either aide. You saywe insulted your flag. The truth is, we fired upon it, and thosewho fought under it, when you came to our doors upon the mission ofsubjugation. You say we seized upon your forts and arsenals, andmade prisoners of the garrisons sent to protect us against negroesand Indians. The truth is, we, by force of arms, drove outinsolent intruders and took possession of our own forts andarsenals, to resist your claims to dominion over masters, slaves, and Indians, all of whom are to this day, with a unanimityunexampled in the history of the world, warring against yourattempts to become their masters. You say that we tried to forceMissouri and Kentucky into rebellion in spite of themselves. Thetruth is, my Government, from the beginning of this struggle tothis hour, has again and again offered, before the whole world, toleave it to the unbiased will of these States, and all others, todetermine for themselves whether they will cast their destiny withyour Government or ours; and your Government has resisted thisfundamental principle of free institutions with the bayonet, andlabors daily, by force and fraud, to fasten its hateful tyrannyupon the unfortunate freemen of these States. You say we falsifiedthe vote of Louisiana. The truth is, Louisiana not only separatedherself from your Government by nearly a unanimous vote of herpeople, but has vindicated the act upon every battle-field fromGettysburg to the Sabine, and has exhibited an heroic devotion toher decision which challenges the admiration and respect of everyman capable of feeling sympathy for the oppressed or admiration forheroic valor. You say that we turned loose pirates to plunder yourunarmed ships. The truth is, when you robbed us of our part of thenavy, we built and bought a few vessels, hoisted the flag of ourcountry, and swept the seas, in defiance of your navy, around thewhole circumference of the globe. You say we have expelled Unionfamilies by thousands. The truth is, not a single family has beenexpelled from the Confederate States, that I am aware of; but, onthe contrary, the moderation of our Government toward traitors hasbeen a fruitful theme of denunciation by its enemies andwell-meaning friends of our cause. You say my Government, by actsof Congress, has confiscated "all debts due Northern men for goodssold and delivered. " The truth is, our Congress gave due and ampletime to your merchants and traders to depart from our shores withtheir ships, goods, and effects, and only sequestrated the propertyof our enemies in retaliation for their acts--declaring ustraitors, and confiscating our property wherever their powerextended, either in their country or our own. Such are youraccusations, and such are the facts known of all men to be true. 

You order into exile the whole population of a city; drive men, women and children from their homes at the point of the bayonet, under the plea that it is to the interest of your Government, andon the claim that it is "an act of kindness to these families ofAtlanta. " Butler only banished from New Orleans the registeredenemies of his Government, and acknowledged that he did it as apunishment. You issue a sweeping edict, covering all theinhabitants of a city, and add insult to the injury heaped upon thedefenseless by assuming that you have done them a kindness. Thisyou follow by the assertion that you will "make as much sacrificefor the peace and honor of the South as the best-born Southerner. "And, because I characterize what you call as kindness as being realcruelty, you presume to sit in judgment between me and my God; andyou decide that my earnest prayer to the Almighty Father to saveour women and children from what you call kindness, is a"sacrilegious, hypocritical appeal. "

You came into our country with your army, avowedly for the purposeof subjugating free white men, women, and children, and not onlyintend to rule over them, but you make negroes your allies, anddesire to place over us an inferior race, which we have raised frombarbarism to its present position, which is the highest everattained by that race, in any country, in all time. I must, therefore, decline to accept your statements in reference to yourkindness toward the people of Atlanta, and your willingness tosacrifice every thing for the peace and honor of the South, andrefuse to be governed by your decision in regard to matters betweenmyself, my country, and my God. 

You say, "Let us fight it out like men. " To this my reply is--formyself, and I believe for all the free men, ay, and women andchildren, in my country--we will fight you to the death! Betterdie a thousand deaths than submit to live under you or yourGovernment and your negro allies!

Having answered the points forced upon me by your letter of the 9thof September, I close this correspondence with you; and, notwithstanding your comments upon my appeal to God in the cause ofhumanity, I again humbly and reverently invoke his almighty aid indefense of justice and right. Respectfully, your obedient servant, J. B. HOOD, General. 

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 11, 1864Major-General W. T. SHERMAN. 

Sir: We the undersigned, Mayor and two of the Council for the cityof Atlanta, for the time being the only legal organ of the peopleof the said city, to express their wants and wishes, ask leave mostearnestly but respectfully to petition you to reconsider the orderrequiring them to leave Atlanta. 

At first view, it struck us that the measure world involveextraordinary hardship and loss, but since we have seen thepractical execution of it so far as it has progressed, and theindividual condition of the people, and heard their statements asto the inconveniences, loss, and suffering attending it, we aresatisfied that the amount of it will involve in the aggregateconsequences appalling and heart-rending. 

Many poor women are in advanced state of pregnancy, others nowhaving young children, and whose husbands for the greater part areeither in the army, prisoners, or dead. Some say: "I have such aone sick at my house; who will wait on them when I am gone?"Others say: "What are we to do? We have no house to go to, and nomeans to buy, build, or rent any; no parents, relatives, orfriends, to go to. " Another says: "I will try and take this orthat article of property, but such and such things I must leavebehind, though I need them much. " We reply to them: "GeneralSherman will carry your property to Rough and Ready, and GeneralHood will take it thence on. " And they will reply to that: "But Iwant to leave the railroad at such a place, and cannot getconveyance from there on. "

We only refer to a few facts, to try to illustrate in part how thismeasure will operate in practice. As you advanced, the peoplenorth of this fell back; and before your arrival here, a largeportion of the people had retired south, so that the country southof this is already crowded, and without houses enough toaccommodate the people, and we are informed that many are nowstaying in churches and other out-buildings. 

This being so, how is it possible for the people still here (mostlywomen and children) to find any shelter? And how can they livethrough the winter in the woods--no shelter or subsistence, in themidst of strangers who know them not, and without the power toassist them much, if they were willing to do so?

This is but a feeble picture of the consequences of this measure. You know the woe, the horrors, and the suffering, cannot bedescribed by words; imagination can only conceive of it, and we askyou to take these things into consideration. 

We know your mind and time are constantly occupied with the dutiesof your command, which almost deters us from asking your attentionto this matter, but thought it might be that you had not consideredthis subject in all of its awful consequences, and that on morereflection you, we hope, would not make this people an exception toall mankind, for we know of no such instance ever having occurred--surely never in the United States--and what has this helplesspeople done, that they should be driven from their homes, to wanderstrangers and outcasts, and exiles, and to subsist on charity?

We do not know as yet the number of people still here; of those whoare here, we are satisfied a respectable number, if allowed toremain at home, could subsist for several months withoutassistance, and a respectable number for a much longer time, andwho might not need assistance at any time. 

In conclusion, we most earnestly and solemnly petition you toreconsider this order, or modify it, and suffer this unfortunatepeople to remain at home, and enjoy what little means they have. Respectfully submittedJAMES M. CALHOUN, Mayor. E. E. RAWSON, Councilman. S. C. Warns, Councilman. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 12, 1864. 

JAMES M. CALHOUN, Mayor, E. E. RAWSON and S. C. Wares, representingCity Council of Atlanta. 

GENTLEMEN: I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of apetition to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants fromAtlanta. I have read it carefully, and give full credit to yourstatements of the distress that will be occasioned, and yet shallnot revoke my orders, because they were not designed to meet thehumanities of the case, but to prepare for the future struggles inwhich millions of good people outside of Atlanta have a deepinterest. We must have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in allAmerica. To secure this, we must stop the war that now desolatesour once happy and favored country. To stop war, we must defeatthe rebel armies which are arrayed against the laws andConstitution that all must respect and obey. To defeat thosearmies, we must prepare the way to reach them in their recesses, provided with the arms and instruments which enable us toaccomplish our purpose. Now, I know the vindictive nature of ourenemy, that we may have many years of military operations from thisquarter; and, therefore, deem it wise and prudent to prepare intime. The use of Atlanta for warlike purposes is inconsistent withits character as a home for families. There will be nomanufactures, commerce, or agriculture here, for the maintenance offamilies, and sooner or later want will compel the inhabitants togo. Why not go now, when all the arrangements are completed forthe transfer, --instead of waiting till the plunging shot ofcontending armies will renew the scenes of the past months. Ofcourse, I do not apprehend any such thing at this moment, but youdo not suppose this army will be here until the war is over. Icannot discuss this subject with you fairly, because I cannotimpart to you what we propose to do, but I assert that our militaryplans make it necessary for the inhabitants to go away, and I canonly renew my offer of services to make their exodus in anydirection as easy and comfortable as possible. 

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War iscruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war intoour country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people canpour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know Iwill make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. If theUnited States submits to a division now, it will not stop, but willgo on until we reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war. TheUnited States does and must assert its authority, wherever it oncehad power; for, if it relaxes one bit to pressure, it is gone, andI believe that such is the national feeling. This feeling assumesvarious shapes, but always comes back to that of Union. Once admitthe Union, once more acknowledge the authority of the nationalGovernment, and, instead of devoting your houses and streets androads to the dread uses of war, I and this army become at once yourprotectors and supporters, shielding you from danger, let it comefrom what quarter it may. I know that a few individuals cannotresist a torrent of error and passion, such as swept the South intorebellion, but you can point out, so that we may know those whodesire a government, and those who insist on war and itsdesolation. 

You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against theseterrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only waythe people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quietat home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admittingthat it began in error and is perpetuated in pride. 

We don't want your negroes, or your horses, or your houses, or yourlands, or any thing you have, but we do want and will have a justobedience to the laws of the United States. That we will have, and, if it involves the destruction of your improvements, we cannothelp it. 

You have heretofore read public sentiment in your newspapers, thatlive by falsehood and excitement; and the quicker you seek fortruth in other quarters, the better. I repeat then that, by theoriginal compact of Government, the United States had certainrights in Georgia, which have never been relinquished and neverwill be; that the South began war by seizing forts, arsenals, mints, custom-houses, etc. , etc. , long before Mr. Lincoln wasinstalled, and before the South had one jot or tittle ofprovocation. I myself have seen in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, hundreds and thousands of women and childrenfleeing from your armies and desperadoes, hungry and with bleedingfeet. In Memphis, Vicksburg, and Mississippi, we fed thousandsupon thousands of the families of rebel soldiers left on our hands, and whom we could not see starve. Now that war comes home to you;you feel very different. You deprecate its horrors, but did notfeel them when you sent car-loads of soldiers and ammunition, andmoulded shells and shot, to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, to desolate the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people whoonly asked to live in peace at their old homes, and under theGovernment of their inheritance. But these comparisons are idle. I want peace, and believe it can only be reached through union andwar, and I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect and earlysuccess. 

But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for anything. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch withyou to shield your homes and families against danger from everyquarter. 

Now you must go, and take with you the old and feeble, feed andnurse them, and build for them, in more quiet places, properhabitations to shield them against the weather until the madpassions of men cool down, and allow the Union and peace once moreto settle over your old homes at Atlanta. Yours in haste, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 14, 1864. 

General J. B. HOOD, commanding Army of the Tennessee, ConfederateArmy. 

GENERAL: Yours of September 12th is received, and has beencarefully perused. I agree with you that this discussion by twosoldiers is out of place, and profitless; but you must admit thatyou began the controversy by characterizing an official act of minein unfair and improper terms. I reiterate my former answer, and tothe only new matter contained in your rejoinder add: We have no"negro allies" in this army; not a single negro soldier leftChattanooga with this army, or is with it now. There are a fewguarding Chattanooga, which General Steedman sent at one time todrive Wheeler out of Dalton. 

I was not bound by the laws of war to give notice of the shellingof Atlanta, a "fortified town, with magazines, arsenals, founderies, and public stores;" you were bound to take notice. Seethe books. 

This is the conclusion of our correspondence, which I did notbegin, and terminate with satisfaction. I am, with respect, yourobedient servant, W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General commanding. 

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMYWASHINGTON, September 28, 1864, Major-General SHERMAN, Atlanta, Georgia. 

GENERAL: Your communications of the 20th in regard to the removalof families from Atlanta, and the exchange of prisoners, and alsothe official report of your campaign, are just received. I havenot had time as yet to examine your report. The course which youhave pursued in removing rebel families from Atlanta, and in theexchange of prisoners, is fully approved by the War Department. Not only are you justified by the laws and usages of war inremoving these people, but I think it was your duty to your ownarmy to do so. Moreover, I am fully of opinion that the nature ofyour position, the character of the war, the conduct of the enemy(and especially of non-combatants and women of the territory whichwe have heretofore conquered and occupied), will justify you ingathering up all the forage and provisions which your army mayrequire, both for a siege of Atlanta and for your supply in yourmarch farther into the enemy's country. Let the disloyal familiesof the country, thus stripped, go to their husbands, fathers, andnatural protectors, in the rebel ranks; we have tried three yearsof conciliation and kindness without any reciprocation; on thecontrary, those thus treated have acted as spies and guerrillas inour rear and within our lines. The safety of our armies, and aproper regard for the lives of our soldiers, require that we applyto our inexorable foes the severe rules of war. We certainly arenot required to treat the so-called non-combatant rebels betterthan they themselves treat each other. Even herein Virginia, within fifty miles of Washington, they strip their own families ofprovisions, leaving them, as our army advances, to be fed by us, orto starve within our lines. We have fed this class of people longenough. Let them go with their husbands and fathers in the rebelranks; and if they won't go, we must send them to their friends andnatural protectors. I would destroy every mill and factory withinreach which I did not want for my own use. This the rebels havedone, not only in Maryland and Pennsylvania, but also in Virginiaand other rebel States, when compelled to fall back before ourarmies. In many sections of the country they have not left a millto grind grain for their own suffering families, lest we might usethem to supply our armies. We most do the same. 

I have endeavored to impress these views upon our commanders forthe last two years. You are almost the only one who has properlyapplied them. I do not approve of General Hunter's course inburning private homes or uselessly destroying private property. That is barbarous. But I approve of taking or destroying whatevermay serve as supplies to us or to the enemy's army. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. HALLECK, Major-General, Chief of Staff

In order to effect the exchange of prisoners, to facilitate theexodus of the people of Atlanta, and to keep open communicationwith the South, we established a neutral camp, at and about therailroad-station next south of Atlanta, known as "Rough and Ready, "to which point I dispatched Lieutenant-Colonel Willard Warner, ofmy staff, with a guard of one hundred men, and General Hood sentColonel Clare, of his staff, with a similar guard; these officersand men harmonized perfectly, and parted good friends when theirwork was done. In the mean time I also had reconnoitred the entirerebel lines about Atlanta, which were well built, but were entirelytoo extensive to be held by a single corps or division of troops, so I instructed Colonel Poe, United States Engineers, on my staff, to lay off an inner and shorter line, susceptible of defense by asmaller garrison. 

By the middle of September all these matters were in progress, thereports of the past campaign were written up and dispatched toWashington, and our thoughts began to turn toward the future. Admiral Farragut had boldly and successfully run the forts at theentrance to Mobile Bay, which resulted in the capture of FortMorgan, so that General Canby was enabled to begin his regularoperations against Mobile City, with a view to open the AlabamaRiver to navigation. My first thoughts were to concert operationswith him, either by way of Montgomery, Alabama, or by theAppalachicula; but so long a line, to be used as a base for furtheroperations eastward, was not advisable, and I concluded to awaitthe initiative of the enemy, supposing that he would be forced toresort to some desperate campaign by the clamor raised at the Southon account of the great loss to them of the city of Atlanta. 

General Thomas occupied a house on Marietta Streets which had averanda with high pillars. We were sitting there one evening, talking about things generally, when General Thomas asked leave tosend his trains back to Chattanooga, for the convenience andeconomy of forage. I inquired of him if he supposed we would beallowed much rest at Atlanta, and he said he thought we would, orthat at all events it would not be prudent for us to go muchfarther into Georgia because of our already long line ofcommunication, viz. , three hundred miles from Nashville. This wastrue; but there we were, and we could not afford to remain on thedefensive, simply holding Atlanta and fighting for the safety ofits railroad. I insisted on his retaining all trains, and onkeeping all his divisions ready to move at a moment's warning. Allthe army, officers and men, seemed to relax more or less, and sinkinto a condition of idleness. General Schofield was permitted togo to Knoxville, to look after matters in his Department of theOhio; and Generals Blair and Logan went home to look afterpolitics. Many of the regiments were entitled to, and claimed, their discharge, by reason of the expiration of their term ofservice; so that with victory and success came also many causes ofdisintegration. 

The rebel General Wheeler was still in Middle Tennessee, threatening our railroads, and rumors came that Forrest was on hisway from Mississippi to the same theatre, for the avowed purpose ofbreaking up our railroads and compelling us to fall back from ourconquest. To prepare for this, or any other emergency, I orderedNewton's division of the Fourth Corps back to Chattanooga, andCorse's division of the Seventeenth Corps to Rome, and instructedGeneral Rousseau at Nashville, Granger at Decatur, and Steadman atChattanooga, to adopt the most active measures to protect andinsure the safety of our roads. 

Hood still remained about Lovejoy's Station, and, up to the 15th ofSeptember, had given no signs of his future plans; so that withthis date I close the campaign of Atlanta, with the followingreview of our relative losses during the months of August andSeptember, with a summary of those for the whole campaign, beginning May 6 and ending September 15, 1864. The losses forAugust and September are added together, so as to include thoseabout Jonesboro:

 Killed and Missing Wounded Total Grand Aggregate..... 1, 408 3, 731 5, 139

Hood's losses, as reported for the same period, page 577, Johnston's "Narrative:"

 Killed Wounded Total 482 3, 223 3, 705

To which should be added:

 Prisoners captured by us:............ 3, 738

 Giving his total loss ............... 7, 440

On recapitulating the entire losses of each army during the entirecampaign, from May to September, inclusive, we have, in the Unionarmy, as per table appended:

Killed ........................ 4, 423Wounded ....................... 22, 822Missing........................ 4, 442 Aggregate Loss ......... 31, 627

In the Southern army, according to the reports of Surgeon Foard(pp. 576, 577, Johnston's "Narrative ")

 Total killed ................ 3, 044 Total killed and wounded..... 21, 996 Prisoners captured by us .... 12, 983

 Aggregate loss to the Southern Army .......... 34, 979

The foregoing figures are official, and are very nearly correct. Isee no room for error save in the cavalry, which was very muchscattered, and whose reports are much less reliable than of theinfantry and artillery; but as Surgeon Foard's tables do notembrace Wheeler's, Jackson's, and Martin's divisions of cavalry, Iinfer that the comparison, as to cavalry losses, is a "stand-off. "

I have no doubt that the Southern officers flattered themselvesthat they had filled and crippled of us two and even six to one, asstated by Johnston; but they were simply mistaken, and I herewithsubmit official tabular statements made up from the archives of theWar Department, in proof thereof. 

I have also had a careful tabular statement compiled from officialrecords in the adjutant-general's office, giving the "effectivestrength" of the army under my command for each of the months ofMay, June, July, August, and September, 1864, which enumerate everyman (infantry, artillery, and cavalry) for duty. Therecapitulation clearly exhibits the actual truth. We opened thecampaign with 98, 797 (ninety-eight thousand seven hundred andninety-seven) men. Blair's two divisions joined us early in June, giving 112, 819 (one hundred and twelve thousand eight hundred andnineteen), which number gradually became reduced to 106, 070 (onehundred and six thousand and seventy men), 91, 675 (ninety-onethousand six hundred and seventy-five), and 81, 758 (eighty-onethousand seven hundred and fifty-eight) at the end of the campaign. This gradual reduction was not altogether owing to death andwounds, but to the expiration of service, or by detachments sent topoints at the rear. 

CHAPTER XX

ATLANTA AND AFTER--PURSUIT OF HOOD. 

SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER, 1864. 

By the middle of September, matters and things had settled down inAtlanta, so that we felt perfectly at home. The telegraph andrailroads were repaired, and we had uninterrupted communication tothe rear. The trains arrived with regularity and dispatch, andbrought us ample supplies. General Wheeler had been driven out ofMiddle Tennessee, escaping south across the Tennessee River atBainbridge; and things looked as though we were to have a period ofrepose. 

One day, two citizens, Messrs. Hill and Foster, came into our linesat Decatur, and were sent to my headquarters. They representedthemselves as former members of Congress, and particular friends ofmy brother John Sherman; that Mr. Hill had a son killed in therebel army as it fell back before us somewhere near Cassville, andthey wanted to obtain the body, having learned from a comrade whereit was buried. I gave them permission to go by rail to the rear, with a note to the commanding officer, General John E. Smith, atCartersville, requiring him to furnish them an escort and anambulance for the purpose. I invited them to take dinner with ourmess, and we naturally ran into a general conversation aboutpolitics and the devastation and ruin caused by the war. They hadseen a part of the country over which the army had passed, andcould easily apply its measure of desolation to the remainder ofthe State, if necessity should compel us to go ahead. 

Mr. Hill resided at Madison, on the main road to Augusta, andseemed to realize fully the danger; said that further resistance onthe part of the South was madness, that he hoped Governor Brown, ofGeorgia, would so proclaim it, and withdraw his people from therebellion, in pursuance of what was known as the policy of"separate State action. " I told him, if he saw Governor Brown, todescribe to him fully what he had seen, and to say that if heremained inert, I would be compelled to go ahead, devastating theState in its whole length and breadth; that there was no adequateforce to stop us, etc. ; but if he would issue his proclamationwithdrawing his State troops from the armies of the Confederacy, Iwould spare the State, and in our passage across it confine thetroops to the main roads, and would, moreover, pay for all the cornand food we needed. I also told Mr. Hill that he might, in myname, invite Governor Brown to visit Atlanta; that I would give hima safeguard, and that if he wanted to make a speech, I wouldguarantee him as full and respectable an audience as any he hadever spoken to. I believe that Mr. Hill, after reaching his homeat Madison, went to Milledgeville, the capital of the State, anddelivered the message to Governor Brown. I had also sent similarmessages by Judge Wright of Rome, Georgia, and by Mr. King, ofMarietta. On the 15th of September I telegraphed to GeneralHalleck as follows:

My report is done, and will be forwarded as soon as I get in a fewmore of the subordinate reports. I am awaiting a courier fromGeneral Grant. All well; the troops are in good, healthy camps, and supplies are coming forward finely. Governor Brown hasdisbanded his militia, to gather the corn and sorghum of the State. I have reason to believe that he and Stephens want to visit me, andhave sent them hearty invitation. I will exchange two thousandprisoners with Hood, but no more. 

Governor Brown's action at that time is fully explained by thefollowing letter, since made public, which was then only known tous in part by hearsay:

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTMILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA, September 10, 1864

General J. B. HOOD, commanding army of Tennessee. 

GENERAL: As the militia of the State were called out for thedefense of Atlanta during the campaign against it, which hasterminated by the fall of the city into the hands of the enemy, andas many of these left their homes without preparation (expecting tobe gone but a few weeks), who have remained in service over threemonths (most of the time in the trenches), justice requires thatthey be permitted, while the enemy are preparing for the wintercampaign, to return to their homes, and look for a time afterimportant interests, and prepare themselves for such service as maybe required when another campaign commences against other importantpoints in the State. I therefore hereby withdraw said organizationfrom your command . . . . 

JOSEPH C. BROWN

This militia had composed a division under command of Major-GeneralGustavus W. Smith, and were thus dispersed to their homes, togather the corn and sorghum, then ripe and ready for theharvesters. 

On the 17th I received by telegraph from President Lincoln thisdispatch:

WASHINGTON, D. C. , September 17, 1864

Major-General SHERMAN:

I feel great interest in the subjects of your dispatch, mentioningcorn and sorghum, and the contemplated visit to you. 

A. LINCOLN, President of the United States. 

I replied at once:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 17, 1864. 

President LINCOLN, Washington. , D. C. :

I will keep the department fully advised of all developmentsconnected with the subject in which you feel interested. 

Mr. Wright, former member of Congress from Rome, Georgia, and Mr. King, of Marietta, are now going between Governor Brown and myself. I have said to them that some of the people of Georgia are engagedin rebellion, began in error and perpetuated in pride, but thatGeorgia can now save herself from the devastations of war preparingfor her, only by withdrawing her quota out of the Confederate Army, and aiding me to expel Hood from the borders of the State; in whichevent, instead of desolating the land as we progress, I will keepour men to the high-roads and commons, and pay for the corn andmeat we need and take. 

I am fully conscious of the delicate nature of such assertions, butit would be a magnificent stroke of policy if we could, withoutsurrendering principle or a foot of ground, arouse the latentenmity of Georgia against Davis. 

The people do not hesitate to say that Mr. Stephens was and is aUnion man at heart; and they say that Davis will not trust him orlet him have a share in his Government. 

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

I have not the least doubt that Governor Brown, at that time, seriously entertained the proposition; but he hardly felt ready toact, and simply gave a furlough to the militia, and called aspecial session of the Legislature, to meet at Milledgeville, totake into consideration the critical condition of affairs in theState. 

On the 20th of September Colonel Horace Porter arrived from GeneralGrant, at City Point, bringing me the letter of September 12th, asking my general views as to what should next be done. He staidseveral days at Atlanta, and on his return carried back toWashington my full reports of the past campaign, and my letter ofSeptember 20th to General Grant in answer to his of the 12th. 

About this time we detected signs of activity on the part of theenemy. On the 21st Hood shifted his army across from the Masonroad, at Lovejoy's, to the West Point road, at Palmetto Station, and his cavalry appeared on the west side of the Chattahoochee, toward Powder Springs; thus, as it were, stepping aside, andopening wide the door for us to enter Central Georgia. I inferred, however, that his real purpose was to assume the offensive againstour railroads, and on the 24th a heavy force of cavalry fromMississippi, under General Forrest, made its appearance at Athena, Alabama, and captured its garrison. 

General Newton's division (of the Fourth Corps), and Corse's (ofthe Seventeenth), were sent back by rail, the former toChattanooga, and the latter to Rome. On the 25th I telegraphed toGeneral Halleck:

Hood seems to be moving, as it were, to the Alabama line, leavingopen the road to Mason, as also to Augusta; but his cavalry is busyon all our roads. A force, number estimated as high as eightthousand, are reported to have captured Athena, Alabama; and aregiment of three hundred and fifty men sent to its relief. I havesent Newton's division up to Chattanooga in cars, and will sendanother division to Rome. If I were sure that Savannah would soonbe in our possession, I should be tempted to march forMilledgeville and Augusta; but I must first secure what I have. Jeff. Davis is at Macon. 

On the next day I telegraphed further that Jeff. Davis was withHood at Palmetto Station. One of our spies was there at the time, who came in the next night, and reported to me the substance of hisspeech to the soldiers. It was a repetition of those he had madeat Colombia, South Carolina, and Mason, Georgia, on his way out, which I had seen in the newspapers. Davis seemed to be perfectlyupset by the fall of Atlanta, and to have lost all sense andreason. He denounced General Jos. Johnston and Governor Brown aslittle better than traitors; attributed to them personally the manymisfortunes which had befallen their cause, and informed thesoldiers that now the tables were to be turned; that GeneralForrest was already on our roads in Middle Tennessee; and thatHood's army would soon be there. He asserted that the Yankee armywould have to retreat or starve, and that the retreat would provemore disastrous than was that of Napoleon from Moscow. He promisedhis Tennessee and Kentucky soldiers that their feet should soontread their "native soil, " etc. , etc. He made no concealment ofthese vainglorious boasts, and thus gave us the full key to hisfuture designs. To be forewarned was to be forearmed, and I thinkwe took full advantage of the occasion. 

On the 26th I received this dispatch. 

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, September 26, 1864-10 a. M. 

Major-General SHERMAN, AtlantaIt will be better to drive Forrest out of Middle Tennessee as afirst step, and do any thing else you may feel your forcesufficient for. When a movement is made on any part of thesea-coast, I will advise you. If Hood goes to the Alabama line, will it not be impossible for him to subsist his army?U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

Answer:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 26, 1864. 

GENERAL: I have your dispatch of to-day. I have already sent onedivision (Newton's) to Chattanooga, and another (Corse's) to Rome. 

Our armies are much reduced, and if I send back any more, I willnot be able to threaten Georgia much. There are men enough to therear to whip Forrest, but they are necessarily scattered to defendthe roads. 

Can you expedite the sending to Nashville of the recruits that arein Indiana and Ohio? They could occupy the forts. 

Hood is now on the West Point road, twenty-four miles south ofthis, and draws his supplies by that road. Jefferson Davis isthere to-day, and superhuman efforts will be made to break my road. 

Forrest is now lieutenant-general, and commands all the enemy'scavalry. 

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

General Grant first thought I was in error in supposing that Jeff. Davis was at Macon and Palmetto, but on the 27th I received aprinted copy of his speech made at Macon on the 22d, which was sosignificant that I ordered it to be telegraphed entire as far asLouisville, to be sent thence by mail to Washington, and on thesame day received this dispatch:

WASHINGTON, D. C. , September 27, 1864-9 a. M. Major-General SHERMAN, Atlanta:You say Jeff Davis is on a visit to General Hood. I judge thatBrown and Stephens are the objects of his visit. A. LINCOLN, President of the United States. 

To which I replied:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPIIN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 28, 1864. 

President LINCOLN, Washington, D. C. :

I have positive knowledge that Mr. Davis made a speech at Macon, onthe 22d, which I mailed to General Halleck yesterday. It wasbitter against General Jos. Johnston and Governor Brown. Themilitia are on furlough. Brown is at Milledgeville, trying to geta Legislature to meet next month, but he is afraid to act unless inconcert with other Governors, Judge Wright, of Rome, has been here, and Messrs. Hill and Nelson, former members of Congress, are herenow, and will go to meet Wright at Rome, and then go back toMadison and Milledgeville. 

Great efforts are being made to reenforce Hood's army, and to breakup my railroads, and I should have at once a good reserve force atNashville. It would have a bad effect, if I were forced to sendback any considerable part of my army to guard roads, so as toweaken me to an extent that I could not act offensively if theoccasion calls for it. 

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

All this time Hood and I were carrying on the foregoingcorrespondence relating to the exchange of prisoners, the removalof the people from Atlanta, and the relief of our prisoners of warat Andersonville. Notwithstanding the severity of theirimprisonment, some of these men escaped from Andersonville, and gotto me at Atlanta. They described their sad condition: more thantwenty-five thousand prisoners confined in a stockade designed foronly ten thousand; debarred the privilege of gathering wood out ofwhich to make huts; deprived of sufficient healthy food, and thelittle stream that ran through their prison pen poisoned andpolluted by the offal from their cooking and butchering housesabove. On the 22d of September I wrote to General Hood, describingthe condition of our men at Andersonville, purposely refrainingfrom casting odium on him or his associates for the treatment ofthese men, but asking his consent for me to procure from ourgenerous friends at the North the articles of clothing and comfortwhich they wanted, viz. , under-clothing, soap, combs, scissors, etc. --all needed to keep them in health--and to send these storeswith a train, and an officer to issue them. General Hood, on the24th, promptly consented, and I telegraphed to my friend Mr. JamesE. Yeatman, Vice-President of the Sanitary Commission at St. Louis, to send us all the under-clothing and soap he could spare, specifying twelve hundred fine-tooth combs, and four hundred pairsof shears to cut hair. These articles indicate the plague thatmost afflicted our prisoners at Andersonville. 

Mr. Yeatman promptly responded to my request, expressed thearticles, but they did not reach Andersonville in time, for theprisoners were soon after removed; these supplies did, however, finally overtake them at Jacksonville, Florida, just before the warclosed. 

On the 28th I received from General Grant two dispatches

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA; September 27, 1864-8. 30 a. M. Major-General SHERMAN:It is evident, from the tone of the Richmond press and from othersources of information, that the enemy intend making a desperateeffort to drive you from where you are. I have directed all newtroops from the West, and from the East too, if necessary, in casenone are ready in the West, to be sent to you. If GeneralBurbridge is not too far on his way to Abingdon, I think he hadbetter be recalled and his surplus troops sent into Tennessee. U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA; September 27, 1864-10. 30 a. M. Major-General SHERMAN:I have directed all recruits and new troops from all the WesternStates to be sent to Nashville, to receive their further ordersfrom you. I was mistaken about Jeff. Davis being in Richmond onThursday last. He was then on his way to Macon. U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

Forrest having already made his appearance in Middle Tennessee, andHood evidently edging off in that direction, satisfied me that thegeneral movement against our roads had begun. I thereforedetermined to send General Thomas back to Chattanooga, with anotherdivision (Morgan's, of the Fourteenth Corps), to meet the danger inTennessee. General Thomas went up on the 29th, and Morgan'sdivision followed the same day, also by rail. And I telegraphed toGeneral Halleck

I take it for granted that Forrest will cut our road, but think wecan prevent him from making a serious lodgment. His cavalry willtravel a hundred miles where ours will ten. I have sent twodivisions up to Chattanooga and one to Rome, and General Thomasstarted to-day to drive Forrest out of Tennessee. Our roads shouldbe watched from the rear, and I am glad that General Grant hasordered reserves to Nashville. I prefer for the future to make themovement on Milledgeville, Millen, and Savannah. Hood now reststwenty-four miles south, on the Chattahoochee, with his right onthe West Point road. He is removing the iron of the Macon road. Ican whip his infantry, but his cavalry is to be feared. 

There was great difficulty in obtaining correct information aboutHood's movements from Palmetto Station. I could not get spies topenetrate his camps, but on the 1st of October I was satisfied thatthe bulk of his infantry was at and across the Chattahoochee River, near Campbellton, and that his cavalry was on the west side, atPowder Springs. On that day I telegraphed to General Grant:

Hood is evidently across the Chattahoochee, below Sweetwater. Ifhe tries to get on our road, this side of the Etowah, I shallattack him; but if he goes to the Selma & Talladega road, why willit not do to leave Tennessee to the forces which Thomas has, andthe reserves soon to come to Nashville, and for me to destroyAtlanta and march across Georgia to Savannah or Charleston, breaking roads and doing irreparable damage? We cannot remain onthe defensive. 

The Selma & Talladega road herein referred to was an unfinishedrailroad from Selma, Alabama, through Talladega, to Blue Mountain, a terminus sixty-five miles southwest of Rome and about fifteenmiles southeast of Gadsden, where the rebel army could be suppliedfrom the direction of Montgomery and Mobile, and from which pointHood could easily threaten Middle Tennessee. My first impressionwas, that Hood would make for that point; but by the 3d of Octoberthe indications were that he would strike our railroad nearer us, viz. , about Kingston or Marietta. 

Orders were at once made for the Twentieth Corps (Slocum's) to holdAtlanta and the bridges of the Chattahoochee, and the other corpswere put in motion for Marietta. 

The army had undergone many changes since the capture of Atlanta. General Schofield had gone to the rear, leaving General J. D. Cogin command of the Army of the Ohio (Twenty-third Corps). GeneralThomas, also, had been dispatched to Chattanooga, with Newton'sdivision of the Fourth Corps and Morgan's of the Fourteenth Corps, leaving General D. S. Stanley, the senior major-general of the twocorps of his Army of the Cumberland, remaining and available forthis movement, viz. , the Fourth and Fourteenth, commanded byhimself and Major-General Jeff. C. Davis; and after General Dodgewas wounded, his corps (the Sixteenth) had been broken up, and itstwo divisions were added to the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, constituting the Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Major-GeneralO. O. Howard. Generals Logan and Blair had gone home to assist inthe political canvass, leaving their corps, viz. , the Fifteenth andSeventeenth, under the command of Major-Generals Osterhaus and T. E. G. Ransom. 

These five corps were very much reduced in strength, by detachmentsand by discharges, so that for the purpose of fighting Hood I hadonly about sixty thousand infantry and artillery, with two smalldivisions of cavalry (Kilpatrick's and Garrard's). General Elliottwas the chief of cavalry to the Army of the Cumberland, and was thesenior officer of that arm of service present for duty with me. 

We had strong railroad guards at Marietta and Kenesaw, Allatoona, Etowah Bridge, Kingston, Rome, Resaca, Dalton, Ringgold, andChattanooga. All the important bridges were likewise protected bygood block-houses, admirably constructed, and capable of a strongdefense against cavalry or infantry; and at nearly all the regularrailroad-stations we had smaller detachments intrenched. I hadlittle fear of the enemy's cavalry damaging our roads seriously, for they rarely made a break which could not be repaired in a fewdays; but it was absolutely necessary to keep General Hood'sinfantry off our main route of communication and supply. Forresthad with him in Middle Tennessee about eight thousand cavalry, andHood's army was estimated at from thirty-five to forty thousandmen, infantry and artillery, including Wheeler's cavalry, thenabout three thousand strong. 

We crossed the Chattahoochee River during the 3d and 4th ofOctober, rendezvoused at the old battle-field of Smyrna Camp, andthe next day reached Marietta and Kenesaw. The telegraph-wires hadbeen cut above Marietta, and learning that heavy masses ofinfantry, artillery, and cavalry, had been seen from Kenesaw(marching north), I inferred that Allatoona was their objectivepoint; and on the 4th of October I signaled from Mining's Stationto Kenesaw, and from Kenesaw to Allatoona, over the heads of theenemy, a message for General Corse, at Rome, to hurry back to theassistance of the garrison at Allatoona. Allatoona was held by, asmall brigade, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Tourtellotte, mypresent aide-de-camp. He had two small redoubts on either side ofthe railroad, overlooking the village of Allatoona, and thewarehouses, in which were stored over a million rations of bread. 

Reaching Kenesaw Mountain about 8 a. M. Of October 5th (a beautifulday), I had a superb view of the vast panorama to the north andwest. To the southwest, about Dallas, could be seen the smoke ofcamp-fires, indicating the presence of a large force of the enemy, and the whole line of railroad from Big Shanty up to Allatoona(full fifteen miles) was marked by the fires of the burningrailroad. We could plainly see the smoke of battle about, Allatoona, and hear the faint reverberation of the cannon. 

From Kenesaw I ordered the Twenty-third Corps (General Cox) tomarch due west on the Burnt Hickory road, and to burn houses orpiles of brush as it progressed, to indicate the head of column, hoping to interpose this corps between Hood's main army at Dallasand the detachment then assailing Allatoona. The rest of the armywas directed straight for Allatoona, northwest, distant eighteenmiles. The signal-officer on Kenesaw reported that since daylighthe had failed to obtain any answer to his call for Allatoona; but, while I was with him, he caught a faint glimpse of the tell-taleflag through an embrasure, and after much time he made out theseletters-" C. , " "R. , " "S. , " "E. , " "H. , " "E. , " "R. , " and translatedthe message--"Corse is here. " It was a source of great relief, forit gave me the first assurance that General Corse had received hisorders, and that the place was adequately garrisoned. 

I watched with painful suspense the indications of the battleraging there, and was dreadfully impatient at the slow progress ofthe relieving column, whose advance was marked by the smokes whichwere made according to orders, but about 2 p. M. I noticed withsatisfaction that the smoke of battle about Allatoona grew less andless, and ceased altogether about 4 p. M. For a time I attributedthis result to the effect of General Cog's march, but later in theafternoon the signal-flag announced the welcome tidings that theattack had been fairly repulsed, but that General Corse waswounded. The next day my aide, Colonel Dayton, received thischaracteristic dispatch:

ALLATOONA, GEORGIA, October 6, 1884-2 P. M. Captain L. M. DAYTON, Aide-de-Camp:I am short a cheek-bone and an ear, but am able to whip all h--lyet! My losses are very heavy. A force moving from Stilesboro' toKingston gives me some anxiety. Tell me where Sherman is. JOHN M. CORSE, Brigadier-General. 

Inasmuch as the, enemy had retreated southwest, and would probablynext appear at Rome, I answered General Corse with orders to getback to Rome with his troops as quickly as possible. 

General Corse's report of this fight at Allatoona is very full andgraphic. It is dated Rome, October 27, 1864; recites the fact thathe received his orders by signal to go to the assistance ofAllatoona on the 4th, when he telegraphed to Kingston for cars, anda train of thirty empty cars was started for him, but about ten ofthem got off the track and caused delay. By 7 p. M. He had at Romea train of twenty cars, which he loaded up with Colonel Rowett'sbrigade, and part of the Twelfth Illinois Infantry; started at 8p. M. , reached Allatoona (distant thirty-five miles) at 1 a. M. Ofthe 5th, and sent the train back for more men; but the road was inbad order, and no more men came in time. He found ColonelTourtellotte's garrison composed of eight hundred and ninety men;his reenforcement was one thousand and fifty-four: total for thedefense, nineteen hundred and forty-four. The outposts werealready engaged, and as soon as daylight came he drew back the menfrom the village to the ridge on which the redoubts were built. 

The enemy was composed of French's division of three brigades, variously reported from four to five thousand strong. This forcegradually surrounded the place by 8 a. M. , when General French sentin by flag of truce this note:

AROUND ALLATOONA, October 5, 1884. 

Commanding Officer, United States Forces, Allatoona:

I have placed the forces under my command in such positions thatyou are surrounded, and to avoid a needless effusion of blood Icall on you to surrender your forces at once, and unconditionally. 

Five minutes will be allowed you to decide. Should you accede tothis, you will be treated in the most honorable manner as prisonersof war. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully yours, S. G. FRENCH, Major-General commanding forces Confederate States. 

General Corse answered immediately:

HEADQUARTERS FOURTH DIVISION, FIFTEENTH CORPSALLATOONA, GEORGIA, October 5, 1864. 

Major-General S. G. FRENCH, Confederate States, etc:

Your communication demanding surrender of my command I acknowledgereceipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for the"needless effusion of blood" whenever it is agreeable to you. 

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN M. CORSE, Brigadier-General commanding forces United States. 

Of course the attack began at once, coming from front, flank, andrear. There were two small redoubts, with slight parapets andditches, one on each side of the deep railroad-cut. These redoubtshad been located by Colonel Poe, United States Engineers, at thetime of our advance on Kenesaw, the previous June. Each redoubtoverlooked the storehouses close by the railroad, and each couldaid the other defensively by catching in flank the attacking forceof the other. Our troops at first endeavored to hold some groundoutside the redoubts, but were soon driven inside, when the enemymade repeated assaults, but were always driven back. About 11 a. M. , Colonel Redfield, of the Thirty-ninth Iowa, was killed, and ColonelRowett was wounded, but never ceased to fight and encourage hismen. Colonel Tourtellotte was shot through the hips, but continuedto command. General Corse was, at 1 p. M. , shot across the face, the ball cutting his ear, which stunned him, but he continued toencourage his men and to give orders. The enemy (about 1. 30 p. M. )made a last and desperate effort to carry one of the redoubts, butwas badly cut to pieces by the artillery and infantry fire from theother, when he began to draw off, leaving his dead and wounded onthe ground. 

Before finally withdrawing, General French converged a heavy fireof his cannon on the block-house at Allatoona Creek, about twomiles from the depot, set it on fire, and captured its garrison, consisting of four officers and eighty-five men. By 4 p. M. He wasin full retreat south, on the Dallas road, and got by before thehead of General Cox's column had reached it; still severalambulances and stragglers were picked up by this command on thatroad. General Corse reported two hundred and thirty-one rebeldead, four hundred and eleven prisoners, three regimental colors, and eight hundred muskets captured. 

Among the prisoners was a Brigadier-General Young, who thought thatFrench's aggregate loss would reach two thousand. ColonelTourtellotte says that, for days after General Corse had returnedto Rome, his men found and buried at least a hundred more deadrebels, who had doubtless been wounded, and died in the woods nearAllatoona. I know that when I reached Allatoona, on the 9th, I sawa good many dead men, which had been collected for burial. 

Corse's entire loss, officially reported, was:

 Killed. Wounded. Missing. Total. 142 353 212 707

I esteemed this defense of Allatoona so handsome and important, that I made it the subject of a general order, viz. , No. 86, ofOctober 7, 1864:

The general commanding avails himself of the opportunity, in thehandsome defense made of Allatoona, to illustrate the mostimportant principle in war, that fortified posts should be defendedto the last, regardless of the relative numbers of the partyattacking and attacked . . . . The thanks of this army are dueand are hereby accorded to General Corse, Colonel Tourtellotte, Colonel Rowett, officers, and men, for their determined and gallantdefense of Allatoona, and it is made an example to illustrate theimportance of preparing in time, and meeting the danger, whenpresent, boldly, manfully, and well. 

Commanders and garrisons of the posts along our railroad are herebyinstructed that they must hold their posts to the last minute, surethat the time gained is valuable and necessary to their comrades atthe front. 

By order of Major-General W. T. Sherman, L. M. DAYTON, Aide-A-Camp. 

The rebels had struck our railroad a heavy blow, burning every tie, bending the rails for eight miles, from Big Shanty to aboveAcworth, so that the estimate for repairs called for thirty-fivethousand new ties, and six miles of iron. Ten thousand men weredistributed along the break to replace the ties, and to prepare theroad-bed, while the regular repair-party, under Colonel W. W. Wright, came down from Chattanooga with iron, spikes, etc. , and inabout seven days the road was all right again. It was by such actsof extraordinary energy that we discouraged our adversaries, forthe rebel soldiers felt that it was a waste of labor for them tomarch hurriedly, on wide circuits, day and night, to burn a bridgeand tear up a mile or so of track, when they knew that we could layit back so quickly. They supposed that we had men and moneywithout limit, and that we always kept on hand, distributed alongthe road, duplicates of every bridge and culvert of any importance. 

A good story is told of one who was on Kenesaw Mountain during ouradvance in the previous June or July. A group of rebels lay in theshade of a tree, one hot day, overlooking our camps about BigShanty. One soldier remarked to his fellows:

"Well, the Yanks will have to git up and git now, for I heardGeneral Johnston himself say that General Wheeler had blown up thetunnel near Dalton, and that the Yanks would have to retreat, because they could get no more rations. "

"Oh, hell!" said a listener, "don't you know that old Shermancarries a duplicate tunnel along?"

After the war was over, General Johnston inquired of me who was ourchief railroad-engineer. When I told him that it was Colonel W. W. Wright, a civilian, he was much surprised, said that our feats ofbridge-building and repairs of roads had excited his admiration;and he instanced the occasion at Kenesaw in June, when an officerfrom Wheeler's cavalry had reported to him in person that he hadcome from General Wheeler, who had made a bad break in our roadabout Triton Station, which he said would take at least a fortnightto repair; and, while they were talking, a train was seen comingdown the road which had passed that very break, and had reached meat Big Shanty as soon as the fleet horseman had reached him(General Johnston) at Marietta

I doubt whether the history of war can furnish more examples ofskill and bravery than attended the defense of the railroad fromNashville to Atlanta during the year 1864. 

In person I reached Allatoona on the 9th of October, still in doubtas to Hood's immediate intentions. Our cavalry could do littleagainst his infantry in the rough and wooded country about Dallas, which masked the enemy's movements; but General Corse, at Rome, with Spencer's First Alabama Cavalry and a mounted regiment ofIllinois Infantry, could feel the country south of Rome aboutCedartown and Villa Rica; and reported the enemy to be in force atboth places. On the 9th I telegraphed to General Thomas, atNashville, as follows:

I came up here to relieve our road. The Twentieth Corps remains atAtlanta. Hood reached the road and broke it up between Big Shantyand Acworth. He attacked Allatoona, but was repulsed. We haveplenty of bread and meat, but forage is scarce. I want to destroyall the road below Chattanooga, including Atlanta, and to make forthe sea-coast. We cannot defend this long line of road. 

And on the same day I telegraphed to General Grant, at City Point:

It will be a physical impossibility to protect the roads, now thatHood, Forrest, Wheeler, and the whole batch of devils, are turnedloose without home or habitation. I think Hood's movementsindicate a diversion to the end of the Selma & Talladega road, atBlue Mountain, about sixty miles southwest of Rome, from which hewill threaten Kingston, Bridgeport, and Decatur, Alabama. Ipropose that we break up the railroad from Ohattanooga forward, andthat we strike out with our wagons for Milledgeville, Millen, andSavannah. Until we can repopulate Georgia, it is useless for us tooccupy it; but the utter destruction of its roads, houses, andpeople, will cripple their military resources. By attempting tohold the roads, we will lose a thousand men each month, and willgain no result. I can make this march, and make Georgia howl! Wehave on hand over eight thousand head of cattle and three millionrations of bread, but no corn. We can find plenty of forage in theinterior of the State. 

Meantime the rebel General Forrest had made a bold circuit inMiddle Tennessee, avoiding all fortified points, and breaking upthe railroad at several places; but, as usual, he did his work sohastily and carelessly that our engineers soon repaired thedamage--then, retreating before General Rousseau, he left the Stateof Tennessee, crossing the river near Florence, Alabama, and gotoff unharmed. 

On the 10th of October the enemy appeared south of the Etowah Riverat Rome, when I ordered all the armies to march to Kingston, rodemyself to Cartersville with the Twenty-third Corps (General Cox), and telegraphed from there to General Thomas at Nashville:

It looks to me as though Hood was bound for Tuscumbia. He is nowcrossing the Coosa River below Rome, looking west. Let me know ifyou can hold him with your forces now in Tennessee and the expectedreenforeements, as, in that event, you know what I propose to do. 

I will be at Kingston to-morrow. I think Rome is strong enough toresist any attack, and the rivers are all high. If he turns up bySummerville, I will get in behind him. 

And on the same day to General Grant, at City Point:

Hood is now crossing the Coosa, twelve miles below Rome, boundwest. If he passes over to the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, had I notbetter execute the plan of my letter sent you by Colonel Porter, and leave General Thomas, with the troops now in Tennessee, todefend the State? He will have an ample force when thereenforcements ordered reach Nashville. 

I found General John E. Smith at Cartersville, and on the 11throde on to Kingston, where I had telegraphic communications in alldirections. 

From General Corse, at Rome, I learned that Hood's army haddisappeared, but in what direction he was still in doubt; and I wasso strongly convinced of the wisdom of my proposition to change thewhole tactics of the campaign, to leave Hood to General Thomas, andto march across Georgia for Savannah or Charleston, that I againtelegraphed to General Grant:

We cannot now remain on the defensive. With twenty-five thousandinfantry and the bold cavalry he has, Hood can constantly break myroad. I would infinitely prefer to make a wreck of the road and ofthe country from Chattanooga to Atlanta, including the latter city;send back all my wounded and unserviceable men, and with myeffective army move through Georgia, smashing things to the sea. Hood may turn into Tennessee and Kentucky, but I believe he will beforced to follow me. Instead of being on the defensive, I will beon the offensive. Instead of my guessing at what he means to do, he will have to guess at my plans. The difference in war would befully twenty-five per pent. I can make Savannah, Charleston, orthe month of the Chattahoochee (Appalachicola). Answer quick, as Iknow we will not have the telegraph long. 

I received no answer to this at the time, and the next day went onto Rome, where the news came that Hood had made his appearance atResaca, and had demanded the surrender of the place, which wascommanded by Colonel Weaver, reenforced by Brevet Brigadier-GeneralRaum. General Hood had evidently marched with rapidity up theChattooga Valley, by Summerville, Lafayette, Ship's Gap, andSnake-Creek Gap, and had with him his whole army, except a smallforce left behind to watch Rome. I ordered Resaca to be furtherreenforced by rail from Kingston, and ordered General Cox to make abold reconnoissance down the Coosa Valley, which captured andbrought into Rome some cavalrymen and a couple of field-guns, withtheir horses and men. At first I thought of interposing my wholearmy in the Chattooga Valley, so as to prevent Hood's escape south;but I saw at a glance that he did not mean to fight, and in thatevent, after damaging the road all he could, he would be likely toretreat eastward by Spring Place, which I did not want him to do;and, hearing from General Raum that he still held Resaca safe, andthat General Edward McCook had also got there with some cavalryreenforcements, I turned all the heads of columns for Resaca, viz. , General Cox's, from Rome; General Stanley's, from McGuire's; andGeneral Howard's, from Kingston. We all reached Resaca during thatnight, and the next morning (13th) learned that Hood's whole armyhad passed up the valley toward Dalton, burning the railroad anddoing all the damage possible. 

On the 12th he had demanded the surrender of Resaca in thefollowing letter:

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEEIN THE FIELD, October 12, 1861. 

To the officer commanding the United Stales Forces at Resaca, Georgia. 

SIR: I demand the immediate and unconditional surrender of the postand garrison under your command, and, should this be acceded to, all white officers and soldiers will be parolled in a few days. Ifthe place is carried by assault, no prisoners will be taken. Mostrespectfully, your obedient servant, J. B. HOOD, General. 

To this Colonel Weaver, then in command, replied:

HEADQUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, THIRD DIVISION, FIFTEENTH CORPSRESACA, GEORGIA, October 12, 1884. 

To General J. B. HOOD

Your communication of this date just received. In reply, I have tostate that I am somewhat surprised at the concluding paragraph, tothe effect that, if the place is carried by assault, no prisonerswill be taken. In my opinion I can hold this post. If you want it, come and take it. 

I am, general, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, CLARK R. WEAVER, Commanding Officer. 

This brigade was very small, and as Hood's investment extendedonly from the Oostenaula, below the town, to the Connesauga above, he left open the approach from the south, which enabled GeneralRaum and the cavalry of Generals McCook and Watkins to reenforcefrom Kingston. In fact, Hood, admonished by his losses atAllatoona, did not attempt an assault at all, but limited hisattack to the above threat, and to some skirmishing, giving hisattention chiefly to the destruction of the railroad, which heaccomplished all the way up to Tunnel Hill, nearly twenty miles, capturing en route the regiment of black troops at Dalton(Johnson's Forty-fourth United States colored). On the 14th, Iturned General Howard through Snake-Creek Gap, and sent GeneralStanley around by Tilton, with orders to cross the mountain to thewest, so as to capture, if possible, the force left by the enemy inSnake-Creek Gap. We found this gap very badly obstructed by fallentimber, but got through that night, and the next day the main armywas at Villanow. On the morning of the 16th, the leading divisionof General Howard's column, commanded by General Charles R. Woods, carried Ship's Gap, taking prisoners part of the Twenty-fourthSouth Carolina Regiment, which had been left there to hold us incheck. 

The best information there obtained located Hood's army atLafayette, near which place I hoped to catch him and force him tobattle; but, by the time we had got enough troops across themountain at Ship's Gap, Hood had escaped down the valley of theChattooga, and all we could do was to follow him as closely aspossible. From Ship's Gap I dispatched couriers to Chattanooga, and received word back that General Schofield was there, endeavoring to cooperate with me, but Hood had broken up thetelegraph, and thus had prevented quick communication. GeneralSchofield did not reach me till the army had got down toGaylesville, about the 21st of October. 

It was at Ship's Gap that a courier brought me the cipher messagefrom General Halleck which intimated that the authorities inWashington were willing I should undertake the march across Georgiato the sea. The translated dispatch named "Horse-i-bar Sound" asthe point where the fleet would await my arrival. After much timeI construed it to mean, "Ossabaw Sound, " below Savannah, which wascorrect. 

On the 16th I telegraphed to General Thomas, at Nashville:

Send me Morgan's and Newton's old divisions. Reestablish the road, and I will follow Hood wherever he may go. I think he will move toBlue Mountain. We can maintain our men and animals on the country. 

General Thomas's reply was:

NASHVILLE, October 17, 1864--10. 30 a. M. 

Major-General SHERMAN:

Your dispatch from Ship's Gap, 5 p. M. Of the 16th, just received. Schofield, whom I placed in command of the two divisions (Wagner'sand Morgan's), was to move up Lookout Valley this A. M. , tointercept Hood, should he be marching for Bridgeport. I will orderhim to join you with the two divisions, and will reconstruct theroad as soon as possible. Will also reorganize the guards forposts and block-houses .... Mower and Wilson have arrived, and areon their way to join you. I hope you will adopt Grant's idea ofturning Wilson loose, rather than undertake the plan of a marchwith the whole force through Georgia to the sea, inasmuch asGeneral Grant cannot cooperate with you as at first arranged. 

GEORGE H. THOMAS, Major-General. 

So it is clear that at that date neither General Grant nor GeneralThomas heartily favored my proposed plan of campaign. On the sameday, I wrote to General Schofield at Chattanooga:

Hood is not at Dear Head Cove. We occupy Ship's Gap and Lafayette. Hood is moving south via Summerville, Alpine, and Gadsden. If heenters Tennessee, it will be to the west of Huntsville, but I thinkhe has given up all such idea. I want the road repaired toAtlanta; the sick and wounded men sent north of the Tennessee; myarmy recomposed; and I will then make the interior of Georgia feelthe weight of war. It is folly for us to be moving our armies onthe reports of scouts and citizens. We must maintain theoffensive. Your first move on Trenton and Valley Head was right--the move to defend Caperton's Ferry is wrong. Notify GeneralThomas of these my views. We must follow Hood till he is beyondthe reach of mischief, and then resume the offensive. 

The correspondence between me and the authorities at Washington, aswell as with the several army commanders, given at length in thereport of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, is full on allthese points. 

After striking our road at Dalton, Hood was compelled to go on toChattanooga and Bridgeport, or to pass around by Decatur andabandon altogether his attempt to make us let go our hold ofAtlanta by attacking our communications. It was clear to me thathe had no intention to meet us in open battle, and the lightnessand celerity of his army convinced me that I could not possiblycatch him on a stern-chase. We therefore quietly followed him downthe Chattooga Valley to the neighborhood of Gadsden, but halted themain armies near the Coosa River, at the mouth of the Chattooga, drawing our supplies of corn and meat from the farms of thatcomparatively rich valley and of the neighborhood. 

General Slocum, in Atlanta, had likewise sent out, under strongescort, large trains of wagons to the east, and brought back corn, bacon, and all kinds of provisions, so that Hood's efforts to cutoff our supplies only reacted on his own people. So long as therailroads were in good order, our supplies came full and regularfrom the North; but when the enemy broke our railroads we wereperfectly justified in stripping the inhabitants of all they had. I remember well the appeal of a very respectable farmer against ourmen driving away his fine flock of sheep. I explained to him thatGeneral Hood had broken our railroad; that we were a strong, hungrycrowd, and needed plenty of food; that Uncle Sam was deeplyinterested in our continued health and would soon repair theseroads, but meantime we must eat; we preferred Illinois beef, butmutton would have to answer. Poor fellow! I don't believe he wasconvinced of the wisdom or wit of my explanation. Very soon afterreaching Lafayette we organized a line of supply from Chattanoogato Ringgold by rail, and thence by wagons to our camps aboutGaylesville. Meantime, also, Hood had reached the neighborhood ofGadsden, and drew his supplies from the railroad at Blue Mountain. 

On the 19th of October I telegraphed to General Halleck, atWashington:

Hood has retreated rapidly by all the roads leading south. Ouradvance columns are now at Alpine and Melville Post-Office. Ishall pursue him as far as Gaylesville. The enemy will not venturetoward Tennessee except around by Decatur. I propose to send theFourth Corps back to General Thomas, and leave him, with thatcorps, the garrisons, and new troops, to defend the line of theTennessee River; and with the rest I will push into the heart ofGeorgia and come out at Savannah, destroying all the railroads ofthe State. The break in our railroad at Big Shanty is almostrepaired, and that about Dalton should be done in ten days. Wefind abundance of forage in the country. 

On the same day I telegraphed to General L. C. Easton, chief-quartermaster, who had been absent on a visit to Missouri, but had got back to Chattanooga:

Go in person to superintend the repairs of the railroad, and makeall orders in my name that will expedite its completion. I want itfinished, to bring back from Atlanta to Chattanooga the sick andwounded men and surplus stores. On the 1st of November I wantnothing in front of Chattanooga except what we can use as food andclothing and haul in our wagons. There is plenty of corn in thecountry, and we only want forage for the posts. I allow ten daysfor all this to be done, by which time I expect to be at or nearAtlanta. 

I telegraphed also to General Amos Beckwith, chief-commissary inAtlanta, who was acting as chief-quartermaster during the absenceof General Easton:

Hood will escape me. I want to prepare for my big raid. On the1st of November I want nothing in Atlanta but what is necessary forwar. Send all trash to the rear at once, and have on hand thirtydays' food and but little forage. I propose to abandon Atlanta, and the railroad back to Chattanooga, to sally forth to ruinGeorgia and bring up on the seashore. Make all dispositionsaccordingly. I will go down the Coosa until I am sure that Hoodhas gone to Blue Mountain. 

On the 21st of October I reached Gaylesville, had my bivouac in anopen field back of the village, and remained there till the 28th. During that time General Schofield arrived, with the two divisionsof Generals Wagner (formerly Newton's) and Morgan, which werereturned to their respective corps (the Fourth and Fourteenth), andGeneral Schofield resumed his own command of the Army of the Ohio, then on the Coosa River, near Cedar Bluff. General Joseph A. Moweralso arrived, and was assigned to command a division in theSeventeenth Corps; and General J. H. Wilson came, having been sentfrom Virginia by General Grant, for the purpose of commanding allmy cavalry. I first intended to organize this cavalry into a corpsof three small divisions, to be commanded by General Wilson; butthe horses were well run down, and, at Wilson's instance, Iconcluded to retain only one division of four thousand five hundredmen, with selected horses, under General Kilpatrick, and to sendGeneral Wilson back with all the rest to Nashville, to bereorganized and to act under General Thomas in the defense ofTennessee. Orders to this effect were made on the 24th of October. 

General Grant, in designating General Wilson to command my cavalry, predicted that he would, by his personal activity, increase theeffect of that arm "fifty per cent. , " and he advised that he shouldbe sent south, to accomplish all that I had proposed to do with themain army; but I had not so much faith in cavalry as he had, andpreferred to adhere to my original intention of going myself with acompetent force. 

About this time I learned that General Beauregard had reachedHood's army at Gadsden; that, without assuming direct command ofthat army, he had authority from the Confederate Government todirect all its movements, and to call to his assistance the wholestrength of the South. His orders, on assuming command, were fullof alarm and desperation, dated:

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE WESTOctober 17, 1864

In assuming command, at this critical juncture, of the MilitaryDivision of the West, I appeal to my countrymen, of all classes andsections, for their generous support. In assigning me to thisresponsible position, the President of the Confederate States hasextended to me the assurance of his earnest support. TheExecutives of your States meet me with similar expressions of theirdevotion to our cause. The noble army in the field, composed ofbrave men and gallant officers, are strangers to me, but I knowthey will do all that patriots can achieve..... 

The army of Sherman still defiantly holds Atlanta. He can and mustbe driven from it. It is only for the good people of Georgia andsurrounding states to speak the word, and the work is done, we haveabundant provisions. There are men enough in the country, liableto and able for service, to accomplish the result..... 

My countrymen, respond to this call as you have done in days thatare past, and, with the blessing of a kind and overrulingProvidence, the enemy shall be driven from your soil. The securityof your wives and daughters from the insults and outrages of abrutal foe shall be established soon, and be followed by apermanent and honorable peace. The claims of home and country, wife and children, uniting with the demands of honor andpatriotism, summon us to the field. We cannot, dare not, will notfail to respond. Full of hope and confidence, I come to join youin your struggles, sharing your privations, and, with your braveand true men, to strike the blow that shall bring success to our, arms, triumph to our cause, and peace to our country!...... 

G. T. BEAUREGARD, General. 

Notwithstanding this somewhat boastful order or appeal, GeneralBeauregard did not actually accompany General Hood on hisdisastrous march to Nashville, but took post at Corinth, Mississippi, to control the movement of his supplies and to watchme. 

At Gaylesville the pursuit of Hood by the army under my immediatecommand may be said to have ceased. During this pursuit, theFifteenth Corps was commanded by its senior major-general present, P. J. Osterhaus, in the absence of General John A. Logan; and theSeventeenth Corps was commanded by Brigadier-General T. E. G. Ransom, the senior officer present, in the absence of General FrankP. Blair. 

General Ransom was a young, most gallant, and promising officer, son of the Colonel Ransom who was killed at Chapultepec, in theMexican War. He had served with the Army of the Tennessee in 1862and 1863, at Vicksburg, where he was severely wounded. He was notwell at the time we started from Atlanta, but he insisted on goingalong with his command. His symptoms became more aggravated on themarch, and when we were encamped near Gaylesville, I visited him incompany with Surgeon John Moors, United States Army, who said thatthe case was one of typhoid fever, which would likely prove fatal. A few days after, viz. , the 28th, he was being carried on a littertoward Rome; and as I rode from Gaylesville to Rome, I passed himby the way, stopped, and spoke with him, but did not then supposehe was so near his end. The next day, however, his escort reachedRome, bearing his dead body. The officer in charge reported that, shortly after I had passed, his symptoms became so much worse thatthey stopped at a farmhouse by the road-side, where he died thatevening. His body was at once sent to Chicago for burial, and amonument has been ordered by the Society of the Army of theTennessee to be erected in his memory. 

On the 26th of October I learned that Hood's whole army had madeits appearance about Decatur, Alabama, and at once caused a strongreconnoissance to be made down the Coosa to near Gadsden, whichrevealed the truth that the enemy was gone except a small force ofcavalry, commanded by General Wheeler, which had been left to watchus. I then finally resolved on my future course, which was toleave Hood to be encountered by General Thomas, while I shouldcarry into full effect the long-contemplated project of marchingfor the sea-coast, and thence to operate toward Richmond. But itwas all-important to me and to our cause that General Thomas shouldhave an ample force, equal to any and every emergency. 

He then had at Nashville about eight or ten thousand new troops, and as many more civil employs of the Quartermaster's Department, which were not suited for the field, but would be most useful inmanning the excellent forts that already covered Nashville. AtChattanooga, he had General Steedman's division, about fivethousand men, besides garrisons for Chattanooga, Bridgeport, andStevenson; at Murfreesboro' he also had General Rousseau'sdivision, which was full five thousand strong, independent of thenecessary garrisons for the railroad. At Decatur and Huntsville, Alabama, was the infantry division of General R. S. Granger, estimated at four thousand; and near Florence, Alabama, watchingthe crossings of the Tennessee, were General Edward Hatch'sdivision of cavalry, four thousand; General Croxton's brigade, twenty-five hundred; and Colonel Capron's brigade, twelve hundred;besides which, General J. H. Wilson had collected in Nashvilleabout ten thousand dismounted cavalry, for which he was rapidlycollecting the necessary horses for a remount. All theseaggregated about forty-five thousand men. General A. J. Smith atthat time was in Missouri, with the two divisions of the SixteenthCorps which had been diverted to that quarter to assist GeneralRosecrans in driving the rebel General Price out of Missouri. Thisobject had been accomplished, and these troops, numbering fromeight to ten thousand, had been ordered to Nashville. To these Iproposed at first to add only the Fourth Corps (General Stanley), fifteen thousand; and that corps was ordered from Gaylesville tomarch to Chattanooga, and thence report for orders to GeneralThomas; but subsequently, on the 30th of October, at Rome, Georgia, learning from General Thomas that the new troops promised byGeneral Grant were coming forward very slowly, I concluded tofurther reenforce him by General Schofield's corps (Twenty-third), twelve thousand, which corps accordingly marched for Resaca, andthere took the cars for Chattanooga. I then knew that GeneralThomas would have an ample force with which to encounter GeneralHood anywhere in the open field, besides garrisons to secure therailroad to his rear and as far forward as Chattanooga. And, moreover, I was more than convinced that he would have ample timefor preparation; for, on that very day, General R. S. Granger hadtelegraphed me from Decatur, Alabama:

I omitted to mention another reason why Hood will go to Tusomnbiabefore crossing the Tennessee River. He was evidently out ofsupplies. His men were all grumbling; the first thing theprisoners asked for was something to eat. Hood could not get anything if he should cross this side of Rogersville. 

I knew that the country about Decatur and Tuscumbia, Alabama, wasbare of provisions, and inferred that General Hood would have todraw his supplies, not only of food, but of stores, clothing, andammunition, from Mobile, Montgomery, and Selma, Alabama, by therailroad around by Meridian and Corinth, Mississippi, which we hadmost effectually disabled the previous winter. 

General Hood did not make a serious attack on Decatur, but hungaround it from October 26th to the 30th, when he drew off andmarched for a point on the south side of the Tennessee River, opposite Florence, where he was compelled to remain nearly a month, to collect the necessary supplies for his contemplated invasion ofTennessee and Kentucky. 

The Fourth Corps (Stanley) had already reached Chattanooga, and hadbeen transported by rail to Pulaski, Tennessee; and General Thomasordered General Schofield, with the Twenty-third Corps, toColumbia, Tennessee, a place intermediate between Hood (then on theTennessee River, opposite Florence) and Forrest, oppositeJohnsonville. 

On the 31st of October General Croxton, of the cavalry, reportedthat the enemy had crossed the Tennessee River four miles aboveFlorence, and that he had endeavored to stop him, but withoutsuccess. Still, I was convinced that Hood's army was in nocondition to march for Nashville, and that a good deal of furtherdelay might reasonably be counted on. I also rested with muchconfidence on the fact that the Tennessee River below Muscle Shoalswas strongly patrolled by gunboats, and that the reach of the riverabove Muscle Shoals, from Decatur as high up as our railroad atBridgeport, was also guarded by gunboats, so that Hood, to crossover, would be compelled to select a point inaccessible to thesegunboats. He actually did choose such a place, at the oldrailroad-piers, four miles above Florence, Alabama, which is belowMuscle Shoals and above Colbert Shoals. 

On the 31st of October Forrest made his appearance on the TennesseeRiver opposite Johnsonville (whence a new railroad led toNashville), and with his cavalry and field pieces actually crippledand captured two gunboats with five of our transports, a feat ofarms which, I confess, excited my admiration. 

There is no doubt that the month of October closed to us lookingdecidedly squally; but, somehow, I was sustained in the belief thatin a very few days the tide would turn. 

On the 1st of November I telegraphed very fully to General Grant, at City Point, who must have been disturbed by the wild rumors thatfilled the country, and on the 2d of November received (at Rome)this dispatch:

CITY POINT, November 1, 1864--6 P. M. 

Major-General SHERMAN:

Do you not think it advisable, now that Hood has gone so far north, to entirely ruin him before starting on your proposed campaign?With Hood's army destroyed, you can go where you please withimpunity. I believed and still believe, if you had started southwhile Hood was in the neighborhood of you, he would have beenforced to go after you. Now that he is far away he might look uponthe chase as useless, and he will go in one direction while you arepushing in the other. If you can see a chance of destroying Hood'sarmy, attend to that first, and make your other move secondary. 

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

My answer is dated

ROME, GEORGIA, November 2, 1864. Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, City Point, Virginia:

Your dispatch is received. If I could hope to overhaul Hood, Iwould turn against him with my whole force; then he would retreatto the south west, drawing me as a decoy away from Georgia, whichis his chief object. If he ventures north of the Tennessee River, Imay turn in that direction, and endeavor to get below him on hisline of retreat; but thus far he has not gone above the TennesseeRiver. General Thomas will have a force strong enough to preventhis reaching any country in which we have an interest; and he hasorders, if Hood turns to follow me, to push for Selma, Alabama. Nosingle army can catch Hood, and I am convinced the best resultswill follow from our defeating Jeff. Davis's cherished plea ofmaking me leave Georgia by manoeuvring. Thus far I have confinedmy efforts to thwart this plan, and have reduced baggage so that Ican pick up and start in any direction; but I regard the pursuit ofHood as useless. Still, if he attempts to invade Middle Tennessee, I will hold Decatur, and be prepared to move in that direction;but, unless I let go of Atlanta, my force will not be equal to his. 

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

By this date, under the intelligent and energetic action of ColonelW. W. Wright, and with the labor of fifteen hundred men, therailroad break of fifteen miles about Dalton was repaired so far asto admit of the passage of cars, and I transferred my headquartersto Kingston as more central; and from that place, on the same day(November 2d), again telegraphed to General Grant:

KINGSTON, GEORGIA, November 2, 1884. Lieutenant-General U. S. GRANT, City Point, Virginia:If I turn back, the whole effect of my campaign will be lost. By mymovements I have thrown Beauregard (Hood) well to the west, andThomas will have ample time and sufficient troops to hold him untilthe reenforcements from Missouri reach him. We have now amplesupplies at Chattanooga and Atlanta, and can stand a month'sinterruption to our communications. I do not believe theConfederate army can reach our railroad-lines except bycavalry-raids, and Wilson will have cavalry enough to checkmatethem. I am clearly of opinion that the best results will follow mycontemplated movement through Georgia. W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. 

That same day I received, in answer to the Rome dispatch, thefollowing:

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, November 2, 1864--11. 30 a. M. 

Major-General SHERMAN:

Your dispatch of 9 A. M. Yesterday is just received. I dispatchedyou the same date, advising that Hood's army, now that it hadworked so far north, ought to be looked upon now as the "object. "With the force, however, that you have left with General Thomas, hemust be able to take care of Hood and destroy him. 

I do not see that you can withdraw from where you are to followHood, without giving up all we have gained in territory. I say, then, go on as you propose. 

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General, This was the first time that General Grant ordered the "march tothe sea, " and, although many of his warm friends and admirersinsist that he was the author and projector of that march, and thatI simply executed his plans, General Grant has never, in myopinion, thought so or said so. The truth is fully given in anoriginal letter of President Lincoln, which I received at Savannah, Georgia, and have at this instant before me, every word of which isin his own familiar handwriting. It is dated--

WASHINGTON, December 26, 1864. 

When you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I wasanxious, if not fearful; but, feeling that you were the betterjudge, and remembering "nothing risked, nothing gained, " I did notinterfere. Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is allyours; for I believe none of us went further than to acquiesce;and, taking the work of General Thomas into account, as it shouldbe taken, it is indeed a great success. Not only does it affordthe obvious and immediate military advantages, but, in showing tothe world that your army could be divided, putting the strongerpart to an important new service, and yet leaving enough tovanquish the old opposing force of the whole, Hood's army, itbrings those who sat in darkness to see a great light. But whatnext? I suppose it will be safer if I leave General Grant andyourself to decide. 

A. LINCOLN

Of course, this judgment; made after the event, was extremelyflattering and was all I ever expected, a recognition of the truthand of its importance. I have often been asked, by well-meaningfriends, when the thought of that march first entered my mind. Iknew that an army which had penetrated Georgia as far as Atlantacould not turn back. It must go ahead, but when, how, and where, depended on many considerations. As soon as Hood had shiftedacross from Lovejoy's to Palmetto, I saw the move in my "mind'seye;" and, after Jeff. Davis's speech at Palmetto, of September26th, I was more positive in my conviction, but was in doubt as tothe time and manner. When General Hood first struck our railroadabove Marietta, we were not ready, and I was forced to watch hismovements further, till he had "carromed" off to the west ofDecatur. Then I was perfectly convinced, and had no longer ashadow of doubt. The only possible question was as to Thomas'sstrength and ability to meet Hood in the open field. I did notsuppose that General Hood, though rash, would venture to attackfortified places like Allatoona, Resaca, Decatur, and Nashville;but he did so, and in so doing he played into our hands perfectly. 

On the 2d of November I was at Kingston, Georgia, and my fourcorps--the Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Fourteenth, and Twentieth--withone division of cavalry, were strung from Rome to Atlanta. Ourrailroads and telegraph had been repaired, and I deliberatelyprepared for the march to Savannah, distant three hundred milesfrom Atlanta. All the sick and wounded men had been sent back byrail to Chattanooga; all our wagon-trains had been carefullyoverhauled and loaded, so as to be ready to start on an hour'snotice, and there was no serious enemy in our front. 

General Hood remained still at Florence, Alabama, occupying bothbanks of the Tennessee River, busy in collecting shoes and clothingfor his men, and the necessary ammunition and stores with which toinvade Tennessee, most of which had to come from Mobile, Selma, andMontgomery, Alabama, over railroads that were still broken. Beauregard was at Corinth, hastening forward these necessarypreparations. 

General Thomas was at Nashville, with Wilson's dismounted cavalryand a mass of new troops and quartermaster's employs amplysufficient to defend the place. The Fourth and Twenty-third Corps, under Generals Stanley and Schofield were posted at Pulaski, Tennessee, and the cavalry of Hatch, Croxton, and Capron, wereabout Florence, watching Hood. Smith's (A. J. ) two divisions ofthe Sixteenth Corps were still in Missouri, but were reported asready to embark at Lexington for the Cumberland River andNashville. Of course, General Thomas saw that on him would likelyfall the real blow, and was naturally anxious. He still keptGranger's division at Decatur, Rousseau's at Murfreesboro', andSteedman's at Chattanooga, with strong railroad guards at all theessential points intermediate, confident that by means of this veryrailroad he could make his concentration sooner than Hood couldpossibly march up from Florence. 

Meantime, General F. P. Blair had rejoined his corps (Seventeenth), and we were receiving at Kingston recruits and returnedfurlough-men, distributing them to their proper companies. Paymasters had come down to pay off our men before their departure toa new sphere of action, and commissioners were also on hand from theseveral States to take the vote of our men in the presidentialelection then agitating the country. 

On the 6th of November, at Kingston, I wrote and telegraphed toGeneral Grant, reviewing the whole situation, gave him my full planof action, stated that I was ready to march as soon as the electionwas over, and appointed November 10th as the day for starting. Onthe 8th I received this dispatch:

CITY POINT, VIRGINIA, November 7, 1864-10. 30 P. M. 

Major-General SHERMAN:

Your dispatch of this evening received. I see no present reasonfor changing your plan. Should any arise, you will see it, or if Ido I will inform you. I think everything here is favorable now. Great good fortune attend you! I believe you will be eminentlysuccessful, and, at worst, can only make a march less fruitful ofresults than hoped for. 

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. 

Meantime trains of cars were whirling by, carrying to the rear animmense amount of stores which had accumulated at Atlanta, and atthe other stations along the railroad; and General Steedman hadcome down to Kingston, to take charge of the final evacuation andwithdrawal of the several garrisons below Chattanooga. 

On the 10th of November the movement may be said to have fairlybegun. All the troops designed for the campaign were ordered tomarch for Atlanta, and General Corse, before evacuating his post atRome, was ordered to burn all the mills, factories, etc. , etc. , that could be useful to the enemy, should he undertake to pursueus, or resume military possession of the country. This was done onthe night of the 10th, and next day Corse reached Kingston. On the11th General Thomas and I interchanged full dispatches. He hadheard of the arrival of General A. J. Smith's two divisions atPaducah, which would surely reach Nashville much sooner thanGeneral Hood could possibly do from Florence, so that he wasperfectly satisfied with his share of the army. 

On the 12th, with a full staff, I started from Kingston forAtlanta; and about noon of that day we reached Cartersville, andsat on the edge of a porch to rest, when the telegraph operator, Mr. Van Valkenburg, or Eddy, got the wire down from the poles tohis lap, in which he held a small pocket instrument. Calling"Chattanooga, " he received this message from General Thomas, dated--

NASHVILLE, November 12, 1884--8. 80 A. M. 

Major-General SHERMAN:

Your dispatch of twelve o'clock last night is received. I have nofears that Beauregard can do us any harm now, and, if he attemptsto follow you, I will follow him as far as possible. If he doesnot follow you, I will then thoroughly organize my troops, andbelieve I shall have men enough to ruin him unless he gets out ofthe way very rapidly. 

The country of Middle Alabama, I learn, is teeming with suppliesthis year, which will be greatly to our advantage. I have noadditional news to report from the direction of Florence. I am now convinced that the greater part of Beauregard's army isnear Florence and Tuscumbia, and that you will have at least aclear road before you for several days, and that your success willfully equal your expectations. 

George H. THOMAS, Major-General. 

I answered simply: "Dispatch received--all right. " About thatinstant of time, some of our men burnt a bridge, which severed thetelegraph-wire, and all communication with the rear ceasedthenceforth. 

As we rode on toward Atlanta that night, I remember the railroad-trains going to the rear with a furious speed; the engineers andthe few men about the trains waving us an affectionate adieu. Itsurely was a strange event--two hostile armies marching in oppositedirections, each in the full belief that it was achieving a finaland conclusive result in a great war; and I was strongly inspiredwith the feeling that the movement on our part was a direct attackupon the rebel army and the rebel capital at Richmond, though afull thousand miles of hostile country intervened, and that, forbetter or worse, it would end the war.