In looking back upon this campaign, a very remarkable feature of it was the protection of his line of communication: "It was not a little precarious, and more than once aroused the anxiety of the nation. It might well occasion solicitude. His base was, in one sense, not at Chattanooga, but at Nashville; with the former point as a secondary base. Accordingly, the enemy bent his efforts not only to breaking the railroad between Atlanta and Ringgold, striking it at Dalton and Calhoun, but also to raiding on the road from Chattanooga back to Nashville. From Atlanta to Chattanooga the railroad is one hundred and thirty-five miles long; from Chattanooga to Nashville, only a little less. With this line of two hundred and fifty miles, stretched clear across the great Alleghany chain from flank to flank, in a disputed country, filled with guerrillas and hostile inhabitants, with myriads of nooks and eyries in the mountainous region, apt for the assemblage and protection of marauding bands, with that attenuated line infested by many squadrons of the best cavalry in the Confederacy, long accustomed to be victorious everywhere-cavalry who had devastated almost with impunity the broad States of Kentucky and Tennessee again and again, under such bold and skilful leaders as John Morgan, Forrest, Wheeler, Stephen Lee, Rhoddy, and Chalmers-in spite of all, for four eventful months, through victory and repulse, in action and repose alike, Sherman has been able to keep his lines strong and clear.

"While all the Southern newspapers and many Southern generals, and while even English journals of great ability were proving by all the laws of logic and strategy that Sherman must now retreat, Sherman did not retreat. At the very moment, indeed, when the exultation of the Confederates was the highest at the absolute certainty of his downfall, Sherman pushed on and took Atlanta, ending logic and campaign both at once."

It was one of the grandest, most decisive and exciting scenes of the civil war, when the great leader of the Union battalions in Georgia enjoyed the pause in marches and battles afforded by the occupation of Atlanta. The sound of booming cannon, the crack of musketry, all the Babel discord of war, was comparatively hushed. In the distance the foe was reluctantly, slowly retreating; and along the track of both armies the new-made graves and the wounded were lying, the waymarks of a gigantic struggle for

"The land of the brave, and the home of the free."

CHAPTER XX.

The Tidings of Victory at Washington-The President's Messages to the People and to the Army-General Sherman congratulates his Battalions-The Rebel General is indignant-The Correspondence between him and General Sherman-The authorities of Atlanta also unreconciled to the new order of things-The noble Letters and Conduct of the Conquerer.

TLANTA has fallen!" flew on lightningwing over the country, making the wildest rejoicing of the loyal millions, and darkening with despondency and wrath the faces of traitors in their own camps and those among the patriots of the north. "Atlanta is ours, and fairly won!" was the sublimely simple message of General Sherman. The importance and grandeur of the achievement called forth an enthusiastic expression of rejoicing in the Executive mansion, and of gratitude to God.

We can almost imagine our calm and excellent President gathering about him his Cabinet, and proposing three cheers for Sherman; then retiring to his private apartment, raising his tearful eye upward to the "King of kings,” in

thankful recognition of the source of strength and conquest, before he took the pen to send over the land the brief and stirring messages given below:

"To Major-General Dix, New York:

"The President has issued the following recommendations and orders in relation to the recent successes by the United States forces at Mobile and Atlanta.

"EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON CITY, September 3, 1864. "The signal success that Divine Providence has recently vouchsafed to the operations of the United States army and navy in the harbor of Mobile, and the reduction of Forts Powell, Gaines, and Morgan, and the glorious achievements of the army under Major-General Sherman in the State of Georgia, resulting in the capture of the city of Atlanta, call for devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Being, in whose hands are the destinies of

nations.

"It is therefore requested that on next Sunday, in all places of public worship in the United States, thanksgiving be offered to Him for His mercy in preserving our national existence against the insurgent rebels who so long have been waging a cruel war against the Government of the United States for its overthrow, and also that prayer be made for the Divine protection to our brave soldiers and their leaders in the field, who have so often

and so gallantly perilled their lives in battling with the enemy, and for blessings and comfort from the Father of Mercies to the sick, and wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and widows of those who have fallen in the service of their country, and that he will continue to uphold the Government of the United States against all the efforts of public enemies and secret foes.

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 3.

"The national thanks are tendered by the President to Major-General William T. Sherman, and the gallant officers and soldiers of his command before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability, courage, and perseverance displayed in the campaign in Georgia, which, under Divine favor, have resulted in the capture of the city of Atlanta.

"The marches, battles, sieges, and other military operations that have signalized this campaign, must render it famous in the annals of war, and entitle those who have participated therein to the applause and thanks of the nation. ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 3. “Ordered—First. That on Monday, the 5th day of September, commencing at the hour of twelve o'clock noon, there shall be given a salute of one hundred guns at the arsenal and navy yard at Washington, and on Tuesday, the 6th of September, or the day after the re