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direct assault, Grant spent the greater part of August in strengthening his lines in front of the city.

The positions of the two forces at this time can be more easily understood from the accompanying map, which shows the fortifications, railroads and other roads around Richmond and Petersburg, and the fortifications built by Butler across the neck of Bermuda Hundred. The Confederates held both Richmond and Petersburg and the line of railroad between them; but Lee drew most of his supplies from the south by means of the Weldon Railroad and the Southside Railroad. Grant, who drew his supplies from City Point, at the junction of the Appomattox and James Rivers, had made several attempts to extend his lines around on the south side of Petersburg, so as to cut off Lee from the Weldon Railroad, but all his efforts had failed. On the 13th of August, General Hancock, whose troops had been sent up the James River to a place called Deep Bottom (see map), landed and marched toward Richmond as if to attack it. He soon came upon the Confederate intrenchments, which he attacked. There was sharp fighting for several days, but Lee having strongly reinforced his lines nothing was gained, and Hancock returned (Aug. 20) to his camp before Petersburg. But this movement led to the capture of the Weldon Railroad. Grant, taking advantage of the absence of Lee's men sent against Hancock, ordered Warren to move once more upon the railroad. Warren reached the road about four miles from Petersburg (Aug. 18) and began to intrench himself. On the next day Lee attacked him, but Warren held what he had won. Two days afterward (Aug. 21) Lee again attacked, but was driven back with heavy loss. By the 24th seven miles of the railroad had been destroyed so as to be useless to the Confederates. Hancock, who had been ordered on his return from the north side of the James to aid in destroying the Weldon Railroad, had moved to Reams's Station, behind the position held by Warren. He had torn up several miles of the track, when he was attacked by Lee and defeated with the loss of five guns and more than a fourth of his men. But the Weldon Railroad was held by Grant, and by the middle of September a branch railroad was built from City Point around to it, so that supplies and troops could be quickly moved from one end to the other of the Union lines.

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Having secured the Weldon Railroad, Grant turned his attention to the capture of the Southside Railroad, on which Lee then chiefly depended for his supplies. An attempt was made to reach and cut it (Oct. 27), but it was defeated by the Confederates, and from that time until the opening of the next spring but little was done by either side, excepting to hold and to strengthen the lines, though a constant fire was kept up throughout the winter by the pickets and artillerymen. The Confederates suffered greatly during the cold weather on account of the want of proper food and clothing, for they had much difficulty in getting supplies.

At the close of the year was finished the Dutch Gap Canal, which General Butler had been digging for several months across the narrow neck of an isthmus made by a bend in the James River (see map, p. 455). If the river could be made to flow through this, steamers could save six or seven miles of distance and avoid obstructions in the river and Confederate fortifications on the banks around the bend. The canal, which was only about five hundred feet long, was dug by negroes. The Confederates built a battery at Howlett's, on the south bank of the James, and annoyed the workmen greatly by throwing shells into the excavation. To escape these the men dug huts to live in and holes for shelter in the side of the river bank. The canal was finally finished with the exception of a narrow wall of earth at the upper end, which had been left to keep out the water. In this a mine was made and charged with twelve thousand pounds of gunpowder, but when it was exploded most of the earth thrown up fell back into the opening, which was not deep enough for vessels to pass through. The channel could not be dredged on account of the firing from the Confederate battery, and so the canal proved a failure as a military operation. But after the war it was deepened, and steamers for Richmond now pass through and save going round the long bend.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

ATLANTA CAMPAIGN.

JOHNSTON AND SHERMAN. THE TWO ARMIES.-CARS AND LOCOMOTIVES WANTED. THOMAS'S CIRCUS. DALTON TO RESACA.-DALLAS.-NEW Hope Church.-ROME TAKEN,-KENESAW MOUNTAIN.--BRAVE ENGINEER.-DEATH OF GENERAL POLK.--BAD WEATHER-WOOD TICKS. -SHERMAN REPULSED.-JOHNSTON CROSSES THE CHATTAHOOCHEE.-ROUSSEAU'S RAID.-ARE THESE YANKS?-HOOD SUCCEEDS JOHNSTON. ATLANTA-HOOD'S SALLY.-HE FIGHTS AGAIN. DEATH OF MCPHERSON.-RAIDS ON THE RAILROADS.-HOOD STRIKES A THIRD TIME. SIEGE OF ATLANTA.-HOOD CUT OFF.-EVACUATION OF ATLANTA.-HONORS TO SHERMAN.-ATLANTA DESOLATED.-DAVIS VISITS HOOD.-HOOD MARCHES NORTHWARD, — ALLATOONA. SIGNALLING,-A DUPLICATE TUNNEL.-ATLANTA IN ASHES.-GLORY, HALLELUJAH!-GRANT IS WAITING FOR US!

WHE

HEN Grant moved against Lee in Virginia he ordered General Sherman, who had succeeded him in the West, to make a similar movement against General Joseph E. Johnston, who had taken Bragg's place in command of the principal Confederate army in the West. Johnston was then stationed at Dalton, in the northwest part of Georgia, in which position he guarded Atlanta, the meeting-place of railways and the site of many important manufactures. His army, which consisted of about fifty-five thousand men, was divided into three corps, under command of Generals Hardee, Hood, and Polk.

To march against this force General Sherman had near Chattanooga about one hundred thousand men, or nearly two to one; but in calculating the relative strength of the two armies we must remember that Johnston was in his own country, with his lines of communication open behind him, while Sherman had to draw all his supplies from Nashville, through a hostile country, over nearly a hundred and fifty miles of railway, all of which had to be kept strongly guarded against guerrillas; and as the army advanced still further southward from Chattanooga many more men had to be left behind to keep the roads open and to guard places taken. Besides the hundred thousand men, there were thirty-five thousand horses to be fed. General Sherman calculated that to feed this great army would require the delivery every day at Chattanooga of one hundred and thirty car-loads of provisions. As there were not enough cars and locomotives to do this work, General Sherman requested the authorities at Louisville to hold on to

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all trains coming from the north, and to send them to him, and he soon had running to Chattanooga trains marked with the names of almost every railroad north of the Ohio River. By this means he succeeded in getting supplies enough for his army in time for the movement against Johnston.

The army was made up of three different armies-the Army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas; the Army of the Tennessee, under General McPherson; and the Army of the Ohio, under General Schofield. In order to move as quickly as possible, Sherman ordered that but little baggage should be taken. No tents were al

lowed, except for the sick and wounded, and each officer and soldier was obliged to carry on his horse or person food and clothing enough for five days. Sherman himself set the example of going without a tent, and he and his officers, like the common soldiers, used only tent-flies, or squares of canvas, which could be spread over saplings or fence-rails so as to make a shelter to sleep under. General Thomas only, who needed a tent, had a wagon-train, which the soldiers used to call in fun "Thomas's Circus."

[graphic]

WILLIAM T. SHERMAN.

On the 5th of May, 1864, the army started on its march southward from Chattanooga, and the campaign was begun. Sherman could not go directly to Dalton on account of a chain of mountains, lying between it and Chattanooga, through which there was in front only one pass, too strongly fortified to be taken. So, while a false attack was made on this pass, McPherson was ordered to march southward, through another pass in the rear of Johnston, to Resaca, eighteen miles south of Dalton, and there to cut the railroad by which Johnston received his supplies. McPherson went to Resaca, but finding it too strong to be taken, fell back to the pass in the mountains and waited for the main army to come up.

Sherman was disappointed at the failure to cut the railroad, but sent more troops and ordered another movement against Resaca. Johnston, afraid of having his line of supplies cut, abandoned Dalton (May 13) and fell back to Resaca. Sherman attacked him there on the 14th, and during that and all of the next day there was sharp fighting between the two armies. During the night of the 15th Johnston left Resaca and retreated across the Etowah River. Sherman followed, but feeling that Johnston would defend the Allatoona Pass, where the railroad passes through the mountains south of the river, he marched (May 23) toward Dallas. The country around there is very rough and thickly wooded, and the roads are few and poor. When Sherman reached New Hope Church, near Dallas, he found that Johnston had posted his army in a very strong position, his lines extending eastward nearly to Marietta. severe battle took place near the church (May 25), in which nothing was decided, the Confederates still holding their position. In the meantime part of Thomas's army had taken Rome, destroyed the important mills and foundries there, and left a garrison to defend it.

There was almost continual fighting for several days, which ended in Johnston's giving up Allatoona Pass, falling back from New Hope Church, and taking another strong position on Kenesaw, Pine, and Lost Mountains. These three mountains, which guard the railroad leading into Marietta, are peaks of one chain, but occupy nearly the points of a triangle, Kenesaw on the east and Lost Mountain on the west end of the base, and Pine Mountain forming the apex or point toward the north. Lost and Pine Mountains are almost perfect cones, but Kenesaw is a twin mountain, its top being divided into two peaks. About two miles south of Kenesaw lies Marietta, then a little town of nearly two thousand inhabitants.

When Sherman reached Johnston's position he found his army posted on a line about ten miles long. On the tops of the three mountains were signal stations and batteries, and the sides were alive with men cutting down trees to form breastworks and abatis, and digging rifle-pits. Sherman had been reinforced by troops under General Frank Blair, so that notwithstanding his losses, he was as strong as when he left Chattanooga, and he now determined to drive the enemy from

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