CHAPTER LXI.

ROUSSEAU'S EXPEDITION TO OPELIKA, AND THE WEST POINT AND MONTGOMERY RAILROADTHE POSITION OF THE UNION ARMY-FIRST BATTLE OF PEACH TREE CREEK, JULY 20TH— SECOND BATTLE OF PEACH TREE CREEK, July 22d-DEATH OF MCPHERSON-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GENERAL MCPHERSON-GARRARD'S EXPEDITION TO COVINGTON-STONEMAN AND MCCOOK UNDERTAKE CAVALRY EXPEDITIONS-FAILURE OF STONEMAN-PARTIAL SUCCESS OF MCCOOK-BATTLE OF JULY 28TH BEFORE ATLANTA-SIEGE OF ATLANTA-ITS STRENGTH-TENACITY OF HOOD IN HOLDING THE RAILROAD LINES-SHERMAN EXTENDS HIS LINE TO THE RIGHT, BUT HOOD HOLDS THE RAILROAD-BOMBARDMENT OF ATLANTA— WHEELER'S RAID TO CUT SHERMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS-SHERMAN SENDS KILPATRICK TO CUT THE RAILROAD BELOW ATLANTA-PARTIAL SUCCESS-SHERMAN RAISES THE SIEGE, AND SENDS WILLIAMS BACK TO THE CHATTAHOOCHIE, WHILE THE MAIN ARMY, MOVES TOWARD JONESBORO-BATTLES NEAR JONESBORO-HARDEE DEFEATED AND DRIVEN SOUTH WARD-FOOD EVACUATES ATLANTA-THE UNION ARMY TAKE POSSESSION OF THE CITYREMOVAL OF THE CITIZENS FROM THE CITY-RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN.

ATLANTA, with its fortifications, its magazines, stores, arsenals, workshops, foundries, etc., and especially its railroads, which converged there from the four cardinal points, was now only eight miles distant from the Union army; but General Sherman foresaw that much heavy fighting must ensue before he should be able to plant the flag of the Union upon its spires. The men, also, had been hard worked, and needed rest after their arduous labors; so that he determined to give them a little breathing spell while he repaired the railroad and brought up his supplies for the final struggle of the campaign. Foreseeing this necessity of resting his army awhile, General Sherman had previously determined to employ the time in destroying the enemy's communications and supplies from Montgomery, Ala., as well as from southern and central Alabama and Missis sippi.

To this end he had collected at Decatur, Ala., a fine and well-equipped force of cavalry, two thousand strong, under command of General Lovell H. Rousseau, whom he had directed, on receiving orders by telegraph, to push rapidly south, cross the Coosa at the railroad bridge, or the Ten Islands, and make his way by the most direct route to Opelika, on the Montgomery, West Point, and Atlanta railroad, at its junction with the Columbus and Southwestern road, from which point he was to destroy the railroad in both directions.

This being the only finished railroad which connected the channels of trade and travel between Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, its destruction would most effectually cut off the supplies of the Rebel army from that source. Rousseau received his orders on the 9th, and started on the 10th, fulfilling his instructions to the very letter, whipping the Rebel

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General Clanton, en route, passing through Talladega, and reaching the railroad on the 16th, about twenty-five miles west of Opelika. He broke it up well at that place, also at a point three miles west of the branch to. Columbus, and at another two miles from West Point.

Having thus accomplished his object, he returned to Marietta, where he arrived on the 22d, having, in the space of fifteen days, marched four hundred and fifty miles, captured and paroled two thousand prisoners, brought off eight hundred able-bodied negroes, and as many horses and mules, having also rendered thirty one miles of railroad useless, burned thirteen depots, a large number of cars, and two locomotives, and im mense quantities of cotton, tobacco, quartermaster's and commissary stores, all of which he had effected with a loss of less than thirty of his own command, in killed, wounded, and missing.

All this time the main army was quietly encamped on the Chattahoochie, while supplies were being collected at Allatoona, Marietta, and Vining's station, piers, bridges, and roads improved, and railroad guards and garrisons strengthened. General Stoneman's and McCook's cavalry were sent on a scout down the river to a considerable distance, in order to divert the attention of the Rebels in that direction; and all things being in readiness, Sherman issued his order for a general advance on the 17th of July; Thomas, with the army of the Cumberland, crossing at Power's and Paice's ferry bridges, and marching by Buckhead; Schofield's army of the Ohio moving by Cross Keys; and the army of the Tennessee, under McPherson, proceeding from Roswell directly against the Augusta road, at some point east of Decatur, near Stone mountain. With this latter division Garrard's cavalry acted in concert, while General Stoneman and McCook watched the river and the roads below the railway.

Thus the evening of the 17th found the whole Union army in line along the Old Peach Tree road. Continuing on a general right wheel, McPherson, on the 18th, reached the Augusta railroad, at a point seven miles east of Decatur, and broke up a section of about four miles, while General Schofield pushed forward and captured the town. On the 19th, General McPherson entered the town by the railroad, while Schofield moved out by the distillery road toward Atlanta, and General Thomas's command crossed Peach Tree creek, by means of numerous pontoon bridges, and in the face of the enemy's line of intrenchments. Along the whole line heavy skirmishing at once commenced, strongly indicating a battle.

At this juncture, the Rebel General Johnston, whose conduct of the campaign had not met with the approval of the Confederate authorities, was relieved of his command, which was given to General John B. Hood. This general possessed the reputation of being a bold leader, and desperate fighter, but as events subsequently proved, he lacked the essential qualities of skilfulness and caution which the peculiar circumstances of the campaign demanded. He immediately inaugurated his assumption of

the command, by planning a surprise, by which he hoped to arrest permanently the steady advance of the Union army.

By this time (the 20th) all the Union armies had closed in, converging toward Atlanta, McPherson on the extreme left, Schofield on his right, both facing nearly to the west; between Schofield's and Hooker's corps of the army of the Cumberland, was an interval of three miles distance, occupied only by pickets, and to the right of these the balance of the army of the Cumberland facing to the south. This gap between the army of the Cumberland and Schofield's, marked the position of the Rebel lines on the previous day along the Peach Tree creek; and although apparently abandoned, was in reality occupied by them in strong force.

Hoods plan, then, was, by making a feint on the left of the Union lines, to compel Schofield and McPherson to close up, and to occupy this gap in ambush with his main force. Then the army of the Cumberland was to be allowed to push forward, its advance upon Atlanta, without much opposition, and as soon as the two wings of the Union army were thus separated, the Rebel force, arising from ambush, should be hurled upon the flank of the left wing, cut off the bridges in its rear, and drive it routed back to the Chattahoochie. The plan was a most excellent one, and its progress at first was encouraging to the Rebel chief; his feint on the left compelled the closing up of Schofield's upon McPherson's column; Thomas moved forward on Atlanta, picking up a few prisoners, who gave information that there were but few Rebel troops in the immediate vicinity, and satisfied that his plans were working favorably, Hood, about four o'clock P. M., threw his army boldly and fiercely upon Newton's division, which held the above mentioned three-mile gap, expecting to roll it up and destroy it with ease. Much to his surprise, the Union line met the assault like a rock of iron, for it so happened that a temporary defence of rails and earth had been thrown up by the men; and only twenty minutes previous to the assault, ten pieces of artillery had been brought over from the north side of the creek, which, together with two pieces already on the ground, opened a terrific storm of grape and canister upon the too confident Rebels. Their column, torn and shattered by the deadly vollies, which opened great gaps through their ranks, halted and fired wildly upon the batteries, with but little effect. Forming anew, they again advanced, but four guns of a Michigan battery united their welcome to those previously in position, and again dismayed, they fled from the field. Again and again, with desperate courage, they hurled their force upon the Union lines, which now, reinforced, became each moment stronger and firmer, until, at length abandoning all hope, the Rebels retreated in confusion. While this was going on, General Hooker's corps were sustaining the impetuous attacks of other portions of the Rebel army, and though fighting uncovered, and on very open ground,

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not only repulsed the enemy, but drove him fairly back to his intrenchments. In this melee, Butterfield's division, under temporary command of General Ward, met the Rebel force in a counter-charge on the crest of a hill, from which they drove them flying, and with terrible slaughter, while Williams' division, unprotected by breast works, maintained a desperate fight for nearly four hours, without giving a foot. The enemy left on the field over one thousand one hundred and thirteen dead, about one thousand severely wounded, seven stands of colors, and a large number of prisoners. His loss, probably, was not far from six thousand, while the Union loss was one thousand seven hundred and fifty killed, wounded, and missing, the larger part of which was sustained, in consequence of its more exposed condition, by General Hooker's corps.

During the next day, July 21st, both armies seemed disposed to keep tolerably quiet, the Union force having made a slight advance along their lines, and the seventeenth corps, by some hard fighting, having occupied a high hill southeast of the railroad, commanding the city. The other corps also felt the enemy in his intrenchments, which crowned the heights overlooking the valley of the Peach Tree creek.

On the 22d, General Sherman, to his surprise, found that the whole of the enemy's line was abandoned, and that the Rebels were occupying their first line of finished redoubts, about a mile and a half nearer to Atlanta, and which covered all the roads leading to that city. These redoubts the Rebels were then busy in connecting with curtains, strengthened by rifle-pits, abatis, and chevaux de frise. The Union army now occupied a line in the general form of a circle of about two miles radius around the city, and immediately proceeded to take possession of the enemy's abandoned intrenchments; which, as they faced outwardly, had to be somewhat changed to render them available defences against the foe.

The contraction of the Union lines consequent on this advance, threw out of line the sixteenth army corps, temporarily commanded by General Dodge, who was ordered to move to the left, and take position on the flank of the somewhat more exposed seventeenth corps, General Blair's. This position would have taken him across and nearly two miles below the Augusta railroad, and he was on his way thither, when, about eleven o'clock A. M. of the 22d, the left flank was attacked with great energy by the Rebel General Hardee. Had the blow fallen earlier, at daylight, as Hood's orders specified, the consequences would probably have been very disastrous. As it was, however, the delay was fatal to his hopes. His plan of attack may be best understood by a reference to the position of the Union forces at the time. McPherson, with the army of the Tennessee, who, advancing along the railroad from Decatur to within two miles of Atlanta, had, with some desperate fighting, gained a high hill to the south and east of the railroad, which gave him a most commanding position within easy view of the very heart of the city, and was preparing

to fortify and occupy it with batteries, this being the position to which General Dodge was ordered. The sixteenth corps at this juncture was north of the railroad and turnpike, the fifteenth on either side of, and the seventeenth south of, the railroad, with its extreme left stretching some two miles below. At the right of the sixteenth, although not close up, was the twenty-third corps, and beyond, across the Western and Atlantic railroad, and with a southward curve to the Atlanta and Sandtown road, was General Thomas's army of the Cumberland.

Hood's hope, therefore, was to repeat the manoeuvre of the 20th, by massing his force on McPherson's left, which would naturally draw the main part of Sherman's army to its support, and having turned this wing, to face suddenly upon the weakened right wing, and demolish it. In pursuance of this plan, Hardee's (Rebel) corps, about eleven o'clock A. M., suddenly dashed out from the woods upon the seventeenth corps, who were holding a slightly built line of defence in an open field, and rushed upon them with the peculiar southern yell.

Under the sudden and overpowering pressure of the Rebel column, massed in several lines, the Union troops, although bravely contesting every inch of ground, were slowly pushed back, and the movement uncovered the trains of the corps, upon which the Rebels rushed in great fury. Fortunately, just at the moment when the rout of the entire seventeenth corps seemed most imminent, the fourth division, and a brigade of the second, sixteenth corps, came upon the field, and gave the first decisive check to the enemy, and gave time also to the seventeenth to throw up a slight line of defence in the rear, which they held during the rest of the day.

It was at this time, and quite early in the action, that General McPher son was mortally wounded by a Rebel sharpshooter, as he was riding from General Dodge's column to the left and rear of General Giles A. Smith's position, being at the time accompanied only by an orderly, having dispatched all his staff officers on various errands to different parts of the field. The last order which he had ever given was to hurry Wangelin's brigade, fifteenth corps, across the railroad, to fill up a gap which intervened between the head of Dodge's column and General Blair's line. It came on the double-quick, and checked the advance of the foe in that direction. Hardee's attack in front was to have been accompanied with one by Stuart upon the Union front, but fortunately the two attacks were not made simultaneously. Sweeping over the hill which the Union troops were fortifying, and bearing down upon their left, the enemy came upon General G. A. Smith's division of the seventeenth corps, which was obliged to fight first from one side of the old rifle-parapet and then from the other, until, gradually withdrawing regiment by regiment, it was enabled to form a flank to General Leggett's division, which was holding the apex of the bill. Here, in this position, and aided