CHAPTER LXVIL

HOOD ATTEMPTS TO CUT SHERMAN'S LINE OF COMMUNICATION, AND, MOVING FROM MACON, FIRST GOES TO DALLAS, AND THEN FALLS BACK UPON THE RAILROAD AT BIG SHANTYSHERMAN FOLLOWS, AND WITNESSES, AND DIRECTS THE BATTLE AT ALLATOONA PASS, WHERE THE REBEL TROOPS ARE DEFEATED BY GENERAL CORSE-DESCRIPTION OF BATTLE OF ALLATOONA-HOOD CAPTURES DALTON, BUT IS COMPELLED TO ABANDON IT, AND RETREATS BEFORE SHERMAN TO GADSDEN, ALABAMA-SHERMAN PURSUES TO GAYLESVILLE, AND THEN DETACHING THOMAS TO NASHVILLE, AND SENDING HIM TWO CORPS, RETURNS TO KINGSTON -DESTRUCTION OF THE RAILROAD-RETURN TO ATLANTA—ITS DESTRUCTION-SHERMAN'S TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCH-HIS GENERAL ORDERS TO HIS ARMY-THE MARCH-THE ENEMY DECEIVED AND CONFUSED-THE REORGANIZATION OF HIS ARMY-SKETCHES OF THE LEADERS OF THE TWO WINGS, GENERALS HOWARD AND SLOCUM-DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPSFORAGING-THE ROUTE OF THE TROOPS VEILED BY THE CAVALRY-UNION OF THE COLUMNS AT MILLEDGEVILLE-REST AND COLLECTION OF SUPPLIES-SKIRMISHING AND FIGHTING AT BUCKHEAD CREEK AND WAYNESBORO-THE ATTEMPT TO RESCUE THE UNION PRISONERS AT MILLEN-IT IS FOILED BY THEIR REMOVAL-APPROACH TO SAVANNAH-THE POSITION OF THE TROOPS-ASSAULT AND CAPTURE OF FORT MCALLISTER BY HAZEN'S DIVISION-COMMUNICATION OPENED WITH THE FLEET-SHERMAN SUMMONS HARDEE TO SURRENDER, BUT HE DECLINES-PREPARATIONS FOR A SIEGE OF THE CITY-HARDEE EVACUATES IT AND ESCAPES TO CHARLESTON-SAVANNAH OCCUPIED AND GOVERNED BY GENERAL GEARY

THE QUIET AND GOOD ORDER OF THE CITY-SHERMAN'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO THE PRESIDENT-SHERMAN'S ENCOMIUMS ON HIS GENERALS AND TROOPS-THE RESULTS OF THE CAPTURE OF SAVANNAH, AND OF THE CAMPAIGN-SHERMAN'S GENERAL ORDERS-HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE LEADING MEN OF THE COLORED PEOPLE-THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE SEA ISLANDS TO THE NEGROES DURING THE WAR.

WHILE General Sherman's army, now encamped in and around Atlanta, were resting from the fatigues of the late campaign, the active mind of their commander was already occupied with new plans for annoying the enemy, and of strengthening his own position. Numerous changes occurred in the composition of the armies under his command, owing to the expiration of the time of service of many of the regiments; but the opportunity was speedily embraced to consolidate the fragments, reclothe and equip the men, strengthen garrisons, and perfect lines of communication in the rear, construct new lines of fortification at Atlanta, and make other preparations for the future campaign. Hood's first movement was to Macon, which seemed to be threatened by the Union forces, and from thence, September 26th, to Powder Springs, near Dallas, Ga., which he reached about the 1st of October. As soon as he became convinced, September 28th, that the enemy intended to assume the offensive, Sherman sent General Thomas, who was his second in command, as well as commander of the army of the Cumberland, to Nashville, for the purpose of organiz ing the new troops expected at that point. Then, on the 3d, having reinforced the garrisons along the line of the railroad between Atlanta and

THE BATTLE AT ALLATOONA PASS.

855 Chattanooga, he started in pursuit of the Rebel force, whose cavalry by this time had cut the telegraph wires and railroad at Big Shanty, and with French's division of infantry, were moving against Allatoona. At this point were stored over a million of rations, the redoubts being garrisoned by three small regiments, under the command of Colonel Tourtellotte, of the fourth Minnesota. In anticipation of this movement, however, General Corse had been signalled and telegraphed to reinforce this post from Rome, and reached Allatoona at the head of a brigade, during the night of the 4th, just in time to meet the attack by French's division on the morning of the 5th. The battle had commenced before Sherman's arrival at Kenesaw, eighteen miles distant, about ten A. M. of that day, and signalling to General Corse the fact of his presence in that vicinity, he ordered the twenty-third corps, Brigadier-General Cox in command, to move rapidly due west from the base of Kenesaw, with a view to reach the road from Allatoona to Dallas in the rear of the Rebel forces engaged in the attack on Allatoona. These consisted of French's division, supported by two other divisions in reserve, and to the summons for surrender, “to avoid a useless effusion of blood," which the Rebel general sent in to the garrison, with five minutes' opportunity for an answer, the reply of General Corse was prompt and defiant. The attack which followed lasted five hours, and ended in the complete discomfiture of the Rebels, who left over two hundred dead and four hundred prisoners upon the field, and in the hands of the garrison. The retreat was also greatly accelerated by the approach of General Cox's division, which, as we have seen, had been despatched by General Sherman to fall upon their rear. This battle, although it has not been so prominently noticed as other battles of smaller consequence, was indeed a contest of no small importance. The post itself, aside from the vast stores of supplies which it held, was a vital link in the Union communications. And the tenacity with which the brave Union band of fifteen hundred only, fought not less than six thousand Rebels from dawn until noon, is worthy of enduring remembrance. It was a hard, desperate fight, foot to foot and hand to hand, where the Union soldiers were driven, by desperate and overwhelming numbers of assailants, from their intrenchments to the hill, and from the hill to the fort, where, with half their number killed and wounded, and their brave leader bleeding, and at times insensible, they fought on with indomitable courage, until victory rested upon their banners. Well did that gallant leader deserve the words uttered by Sherman that morning, as he looked anxiously from a distance upon the conflict: "I know Corse; so long as he lives, the Allatoona pass is safe."

Crossing the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers by forced marches, Hood hastily attacked Dalton, which was foolishly surrendered by its cowardly commandant, but which the rapid approach of Sherman did not permit him to retain long enough to effect much damage. Next, suddenly ap

pearing before Resaca, Hood, in person, demanded its surrender; but the place having already been reinforced from the army of the Tennessee, he was repulsed, although he succeeded in breaking the railroad between that place and Dalton. Sherman arrived at Resaca on the evening of the 14th, and determined to strike Hood's flank, or force him to battle; but the enemy had fled. Impeding the advance of his pursuer as much as possible by obstructing Snake Creek gap, the most available pass through Rocky Face Ridge, Hood next moved through Ship's gap, in Pigeon mountain, and toward Lafayette, and avoiding the appeal to arms, which was several times offered him by the Union commander, encumbered with few trains, and marching with great activity, he retreated to the neighborhood of Gadsden, Ala., where he strongly intrenched himself in the Wells Creek gap of the Lookout range. Sherman, who fully compre hended the enemy's designs, followed him as far as Gaylesville, in the rich valley of the Chattooga, abounding in corn and meat, where he paused to watch his movements, and enjoy the excellent supplies gathered ad libitum by the numerous foraging parties which scoured the surrounding country. In all these movements, Hood's desire had been to cut Sherman's communications with his base, and then pushing forward into Tennessee, wrest it from the Union power, which had held it securely for two years, and thus compel Sherman to leave Georgia, under the penalty of losing Tennessee. Sherman, on the contrary, seeing that Hood's army, while it was sufficient to endanger his communications, was unable to meet him in open fight, was too wary to be thus decoyed away from Georgia by a foe whom there was little prospect of overtaking or defeating. As, however, it would have been bad policy to have kept his large and splendid army merely on the defensive. he resolved to carry out a design which he had previously submitted to the commander-in-chief, and which he again renewed from Gaylesville, although with certain modifications, suggested by more recent events. This plan involved substantially, (1), the destruction of Atlanta, which, being a railroad centre, bad, since the demolition of the railroads, workshops, foundries, etc., lost all its strategic value; (2) the destruction of the railroad back to Chattanooga, and, (3), the march of a great army from Atlanta through the very heart of Georgia, to capture one or more of the principal Atlantic seaports. By November 1st, Hood's army had moved from Gadsden, making a feint on Decatur, and had laid a pontoon bridge opposite Florence. Sherman then began his preparations for the march through Georgia, which had received the sanction of the commander-in-chief. His forces having been largely augmented by the levy of September, 1864, he found himself perfectly able to spare thirty thousand of his best veteran soldiers, which he placed under command of General Thomas, at Kingston, to attend to Hood in case he should attempt to carry into effect his threatened invasion of Tennessee and Kentucky.

SHERMAN RE-ORGANIZES HIS ARMY.

857

The Rebel force, at that time, was estimated at about forty-five thousand, of whom ten thousand were cavalry. Thomas was instructed to draw Hood on, as far as possible, into middle Tennessee, so that at a distance from his base, he might be more effectually overwhelmed, when the moment arrived to strike him a heavy blow. With the balance of his army, comprising the fifteenth and seventeenth corps, known as the army of the Tennessee, and the fourteenth and twentieth, now designated as the army of Georgia, numbering in all about sixty thousand men, he repaired to Kingston on the 2d of November. From that point, all surplus baggage and artillery, the sick and wounded, refugees, etc., were sent back to Chattanooga; the Rebel barracks, guns, cotton, mills, warehouses, bridges, and supplies of every description captured at Rome were burned; the railroads in and about Atlanta, and between the Etowah and Chattahoochie, were utterly demolished; the garrisons from Kingston northward were ordered back to Chattanooga, carrying with them all public property and railroad stock from Resaca back, and leaving untouched only the railroad between the Etowah and Oostanaula, which, it was possible, might be again needed. Thus by the 12th of November, his army stood detached and cut off from all communication with the rear, and by the 14th moved rapidly and grouped around Atlanta. It consisted of four corps, the fifteenth and seventeenth forming the right wing, under Major-General Howard; the fourteenth and twentieth, the left wing, under Major-General Slocum. The cavalry division, five thousand five hundred strong, was under command of General Kilpatrick, who received his orders directly from the commander-in-chief. All the troops were provided with good wagontrains, loaded with ammnuition and supplies, approximating twenty days' bread, forty days' sugar and coffee, a double allowance of salt for twenty days, and beef cattle for forty days' supplies, besides three days' forage in grain, to each wagon. While soldiers were strictly prohibited from all unnecessary trespass, a judicious system of foraging was to be maintained, in order that the army might live chiefly upon the country, which was known to abound in corn, sweet potatoes, and meats. Guerrilla depredations on the part of the enemy, were to be met with swift and severe retaliatory measures, although the inoffensive citizens of the country, and their property, were to be respected as much as, under the circumstances, was possible. Horses, mules and wagons, were to be taken, when needed, and able-bodied negroes were to be allowed to join the army, and employed in pioneer and other work. Each wing of the army had its own pontoon bridge. Sherman, on the 4th of November, had telegraphed to the Government, "Hood has crossed the Tennessee, Thomas will take care of him and Nashville, while Schofield will not let him into Chattanooga or Knoxville. Georgia and South Carolina are at my mercy, and I shall strike. Do not be anxious about me. I am all right." On the 12th the right wing, under General Howard, moved out from Atlanta, followed, on the

14th, by the left wing, under General Slocum. On the same day, the torch was applied to the public buildings, fortifications, depots, &c., of Atlanta, and turning his back upon its smouldering ruins, General Sherman and staff, in company with the fourteenth corps-General Davis'stook the road to Macon, and the "great march to the sea" had commenced. Compact, self-reliant and cheerful, the well appointed host, guided by a master-mind and led by able generals, moved grandly forward to the fulfilment of its high mission. As it moved, the last message which flashed across the telegraph wire to General Thomas, ere communication was severed with the north, was "All is well;" and the last music which echoed along the burning streets of Atlanta was the noble anthem of "John Brown's soul goes marching on," played by the fine band of a Massachusetts colored regiment.

We intermit, for a moment, the course of our narrative, to present our readers with brief sketches of Sherman's two able lieutenants, Generals Slocum and Howard, to whom so much of the success of this campaign was due.

Major-General Henry W. Slocum, born in Delphi, New York, September 24, 1827, entered West Point in the year 1848, and graduated in June 1852, with the rank of seventh in his class. Entering the United States army as a brevet second lieutenant of the first artillery, he had, by the 3d of March, 1855, gained the rank of first lieutenant, but not altogether satisfied with the prospects of further promotion, he resigned in October, 1856, retired from military service and engaged in business in Syracuse, New York. When the Rebellion broke out, however, he responded to his country's need, and was appointed Colonel of the twenty-seventh New York volunteers, May 21, 1861, with whom he participated in the battle of Bull Run. In August, 1861, he was made a brigadier-general of volunteers, and occupied a position on the extreme left of General McClellan's army, beyond Alexandria, where he remained during the winter of 1861-62. When the army of the Potomac began to move in March, 1862, he held command of the third brigade of the first division of McDowell's corps, but this division being detached in April following, he became its acting major-general. During the advance up the Peninsula, in 1862, he moved up to West Point, Virginia, taking part in the affair at Brick House; and then moved on to White House on the Pamunkey, where he helped to hold the railroad between West Point and Richmond. Afterward holding the advance of McClellan's extreme right wing, about the middle of June, he occupied the Virginia Central railroad bridge across the Chickahominy; and took part in the early portion of the seven days' fight, more especially at Gaines' Mills. His division, also, was in the battles under Pope, in the latter part of August; and in the Maryland campaign he had command of the first division of Franklin's wing, and was engaged at Antietam, September