division, in the advance, had a sharp encounter with his rear guard, but the next morning he was gone, and the Union troops pushed on through Kingston, to a point four miles beyond, where they found the enemy again formed on ground comparatively open, and well adapted for a great battle. General Schofield approached Cassville from the north, to which point General Thomas had also directed General Hooker's corps, and General McPherson's army had been drawn from Woodland to Kingston in order to be in close support. On the 19th the enemy was in force about Cassville, strongly intrenched, but as our troops converged on him again he retreated, in the night-time, across the Etowah River, burning the road and railway bridges near Cartersville, but leaving us in possession of the valuable country about the Etowah River.

That morning Johnston had ordered Polk's and Hood's corps to advance and attack the Fourteenth Corps, General Palmer's, which had followed them from Adairsville, but Hood, who led the advance, being deceived by a report that the union troops had turned his right, delayed until the opportunity was lost. On the night of the 19th, the Confederate army held a commanding situation on a ridge before Cassville, but acting upon the earnest representations of Lieutenant-Generals Polk and Hardee, that their positions were untenable, Johnston crossed the Etowah on the following morning.

Holding General Thomas's army about Cassville, General McPherson's about Kingston, and General Schofield at Cassville's depot, and towards the Etowah bridge, Sherman gave his army a few days' rest, and time to bring forward supplies for the next stage of the campaign. In the mean time General Jefferson C. Davis, with his division of the Fourteenth Corps, had got possession of Rome, with its forts, eight or ten guns of heavy calibre, and its valuable mills and foundries. Two good bridges were also secured across the Etowah River near Kingston. Satisfied that the enemy would hold him in check at the Allatoona Pass, Sherman resolved, without even attempting it in front, to turn it by a circuit to the right, and

having loaded the wagons with forage and subsistence for twenty days' absence from the railway, left a garrison at Rome and Kingston, on the 23d put the army in motion for Dallas. General McPherson crossed the Etowah at the mouth of Conasene Creek, near Kingston, and moved for his position to the south of Dallas by way of Van Wert. Davis' division of the Fourteenth Corps moved directly from Rome for Dallas by Wan Wert. General Thomas took the road by Euharlee and Burnt Hickory, while General Schofield moved by other roads more to the east, aiming to come up on Thomas' left. The head of Thomas' column skirmished with the enemy's cavalry, under Jackson, about Burnt Hickory, and captured a courier with a letter of General Johnston, showing that he had detected the move, and was preparing to take a stand near Dallas. The country was very rugged, mountainous, and densely wooded, with few and obscure roads.

On the 25th May, General Thomas was moving from Burnt Hickory for Dallas, his troops on three roads, Hooker's corps having the advance. When he approached the Pumpkin Vine Creek, on the main Dallas road, he found Jackson's division of the enemy's cavalry at the bridge to his left. Rapidly pushing across the creek, he saved the bridge, though on fire, and following eastward about two miles, encountered and drove the infantry some distance, until he met Hood's corps in line of battle, and his leading division, General Geary's, had a severe encounter. Williams' and Ward's (late Butterfield's) divisions of Hooker's corps, were on other roads, and it was nearly four o'clock P. M. before General Hooker got his whole corps well in hand, when he deployed, and, by Sherman's order, made a bold push to secure possession of New Hope Church, where three roads from Ackworth, Marietta, and Dallas meet. Here a hard battle with Stewart's division of Hood's corps was fought, lasting two hours, but the enemy being covered by hastily constructed earthworks, and a stormy dark night having set in, General Hooker was unable to drive him from these roads. The next morning General McPherson was moved up to Dallas, General Thomas

deployed against New Hope Church, and General Schofield directed towards the left, so as to strike and turn the enemy's right. General Garrard's cavalry operated with General McPherson, and General Stoneman's with General Schofield. General McCook looked to the rear. Owing to the difficult nature of the ground and dense forests, it took several days to deploy close to the enemy, when Sherman resolved gradually to work towards our left, and as soon as all things should be ready to push for the railway east of Allatoona. In making the development before the enemy about New Hope, many severe encounters occurred between parts of the army. On the 28th, General McPherson was on the point of closing to his left on General Thomas, in front of New Hope Church, to enable the rest of the army to extend still more to the left, and to envelop the enemy's right, when suddenly the enemy made a bold and daring assault on him at Dallas. Fortunately our men had erected good breastworks, and gave the enemy a terrible and bloody repulse. After a few days' delay, for effect, Sherman renewed his orders to General McPherson, to move to the left about five miles, and occupy General Thomas' position in front of New Hope Church, and directed Generals Thomas and Schofield to move a corresponding distance to their left. This was effected without resistance on the 1st of June, and by pushing the left well around, all the roads leading back to Allatoona and Ackworth were occupied, after which Sherman sent General Stoneman's cavalry rapidly into Allatoona, at the east end of the Pass, and General Garrard's cavalry around by the rear to the west end of the Pass. This was accomplished, Allatoona Pass was turned, and Sherman's real object gained.

Ordering the railway bridge across the Etowah to be at once rebuilt, Sherman continued working by the left, and by the 4th of June had resolved to leave Johnston in his intrenched position at New Hope Church, and move to the railway about Ackworth, when the latter abandoned his intrenchments, and fell back to Lost Mountain. The Union army then moved to Ackworth and reached the railway on the 6th.

On the 7th the Confederate right was extended beyond the railway, and across the Ackworth and Marietta road. On examining the Allatoona Pass, Sherman found it admirably adapted for use as a secondary base, and gave the necessary orders for its defence and garrison. As soon as the railway bridge was finished across the Etowah, stores came forward to camp by rail. At Ackworth, General Blair came up on the 8th of June with two divisions of the Seventeenth Corps, that had been on furlough, and one brigade of cavalry, Colonel Long's, of General Garrard's division, which had been awaiting horses at Columbia. This accession of force nearly compensated for the losses in battle, and the detachments left at Resaca, Rome, Kingston, and Allatoona.

CHAPTER XVI.

ACROSS THE CHATTAHOOCHEE.

ON the 9th of June, his communication in the rear being secure and supplies ample, Sherman moved forward to Big Shanty.

Kenesaw Mountain lay before him, with a high range of hills, covered with chestnut-trees, trending off to the northeast, terminating in another peak, called Brushy Mountain. To the right was a smaller hill, called Pine Mountain, and beyond it, in the distance, Lost Mountain. All these, though links in a continuous chain, present a sharp, conical appearance, prominent in the vast landscape that presents itself from any of the hills that abound in that region. Pine Mountain forms the apex, and Kenesaw and Lost Mountains the base of a triangle, perfectly covering the town of Marietta and the railway, back to the Chattahoochee. On each of these peaks the enemy had his signal-stations. Hardee's corps held the left of the enemy's line, resting on Lost Mountain, Polk's the centre, and Hood's the right, across the Marietta and Ackworth road. The enemy's line was fully two miles long-more than he had force to hold. General McPherson was ordered to move towards Marietta, his right on the railroad; General Thomas on Kenesaw and Pine Mountains, and General Schofield off towards Lost Mountain: General Garrard's cavalry on the left, General Stoneman's on the right; and General McCook looking to the rear and communications. The depot was at Big Shanty.

By the 11th of June Sherman's lines were close up, and he made dispositions to break the enemy's line between Kenesaw