a pressure never for one moment intermitted. Day and night the patriots crowded upon the rebel lines, pushing them forward from tree to tree, from ridge to ridge, from intrenchment to intrenchment. There was a moving line of skirmishers sweeping a path twelve miles in width, which from morning till night kept up an incessant rattle of musketry, with intermingled booming of cannon, which shook the pine-hills of Georgia with their roar. Few have comprehended the magnitude of these operations. Our right wing was now threatening Marietta, five miles in the rear of the 1.owning cliffs of Kenesaw. Our left wing was also pushing steadily down past Kenesaw. Among the incidents which may help give an idea of these scenes may be mentioned the wounding of Captain Courtois, of the Thirty-third New Jersey. He was in the front ranks of the skirmishing line. A musket-ball wounded him severely in the shoulder. The ground was open, and he was compelled to creep painfully back, a distance of half a mile, exposed all the way to the fire of the foe. Occasionally he would rise and attempt to go forward more rapidly. The rebels would instantly discharge a whole volley of musketry upon him. Seeing him drop to avoid the fire, they would raise loud cheers. He succeeded, however, in running this terrible gauntlet safely. Among the prisoners taken to-day, one said, with the apparent concurrence of all the rest, "We are all tired of this war, and are willing to see it ended on any terms. We have nothing to fight for. Our officers are men of property, haughty and domineering. The privates are fighting to help the officers hold their slaves, while they themselves are becoming the worst kind of slaves."* An eye-witness, describing these scenes, eloquently writes: "General Hascall, with his division, moved to the right, near Lost Mountain, where he formed his lines, and then moved steadily onward, driving with a yell every thing from his front. Reaching a high cleared field, his troops could be seen from the distance moving majestically on, their flags floating beautifully in the fresh breezes from the hills around them. The exultant cheers were borne on the distant winds, and were caught up by other troops equally inspired with success; and soon from all sources the wild shouts from General Sherman's grand and victorious army fairly shook the hills which, but a few hours before, trembled beneath the tread of General Johnston's retreating posts. Oh that each maimed soldier of our glorious army, and every bereaved friend of our Government, could have seen the beautiful starry banner thus borne over the hills of Georgia, on towards Atlanta, by these brave and cheerful men !"+ * "It is amusing to witness the demonstration with which our boys receive rebel deserters into the lines. When the armies are lying very close together, the disaffected rebels contrive to steal out unnoticed for a time, though they are generally discovered and fired upon before they reach our lines. As soon as the soldiers see them coming, they appreciate the situation at once, and cannot resist the temptation to jump up from behind their works, though at the imminent risk of their heads, waving their hats and shouting, 'Good boy, good boy, come in out of the rain. You are our man. You are making good time,' &c. The first word of salutation is, 'Got any tobacco, reb ?' The returned prodigal, just escaped from the husks of the rebellion, is then treated to the fatted calf, the hard tack and coffee, which latter is to him a luxury indeed." + Correspondent of "Cincinnati Commercial." Thousands of noble deeds worthy of eternal remembrance must pass unrecorded. They are only the comparatively few which have been, as it were, accidentally gathered up, which can be transmitted to posterity. It seems invidious to select any one commander as entitled to special mention, when nearly all alike were patriotic and heroic in the highest possible degree. Thomas, McPherson, Schofield, Logan, Rousseau, Butterfield, and a host of others, merit a whole volume to do justice to their achievements. There was scarcely a day, during this momentous campaign, in which there were not engagements which, in the earlier history of the war, would have been considered important battles. On the 29th two unsuccessful assaults were made upon the strongholds of the foe. General Sherman says, "Both failed, costing us many valuable lives; among them those of Generals IIarker and McCook. Colonel Rice and others were badly wounded; our aggregate loss being near eight thousand, while we inflicted comparatively little loss upon the enemy, who lay behind his well-formed breastworks." General Sherman resolved to try again his flanking movement: on the 2d of July, General McPherson moved his whole army down to Turner's Ferry across the Chattahoochie. Much of the march was after sunset. It was a night of fearful storm and darkness. Far along, "From peak to peak the rattling crags among, The rain fell in torrents. General Sherman hoped, under cover of night and the storm, to gain his position without exciting the suspicion of the foe. But rebel scouts detected the movement, and General Johnston, fearing the inevitable result of such a position gained in his rear, abandoned Kenesaw, and all his important earthworks there, and retreated to the Chattahoochie. The next morning the patriot flag was unfurled from the summit of Kenesaw, and the patriot army, led by General Sherman, triumphantly entered the streets of Marietta. Marietta is one of the prettiest places in Northern Georgia, and, before the war, was a favorite residence of wealthy Georgians. They had established a military institute here, in preparation for the rebellion, which the slaveholders had been long contemplating. Now, all the male inhabitants of the place, capable of bearing arms, had been dragged into the war, and most of the remainder had followed in the footsteps of the retreating army. Desolation reigned in the deserted mansions. Leaving a small garrison in the town, the army pressed on in pursuit of the foe, hoping to fall upon him and throw him into confusion as he was crossing the Chattahoochie. But General Johnston, the "skilful retreater," foreseeing this, had thrown up strong intrenchments at the head of the bridge. He had also extended his lines more than five miles along the river-banks, behind well-constructed ramparts protected with abatis. The rebels, anticipating this retreat, had been for many months preparing these works. He had thus safely crossed the river, and was apparently in a condition to baffle all the endeavors of his unrelenting pursuers. The Chattahoochie was, at that time, a deep and rapid stream, passable only by bridges, except at one or two very difficult fords. General Schofield was sent about ten miles to the east, to cross by a rocky ford near the mouth of Soap Creek. Beautifully the enterprise was accomplished. He surprised the small guard stationed there, took them all prisoners, captured a cannon, built a pontoon bridge, crossed his troops over, and intrenched himself on a commanding position, without having a man hurt. At the same time, General Gerrard with his horsemen rode some ten miles farther up the river to Roswell, burned all the rebel factories there, and secured another ford, which he held for the passage of General McPherson's troops. In the mean time, General Howard threw a pontoon bridge across the stream, about two miles below General Schofield. While these strategic movements were in operation, which secured three good points for crossing the river, and rendered all Johnston's intrenchments of no value to him, the foe was deceived and kept busy by a vigorous attack upon his lines. One of the many prisoners who came and surrendered, said that he had long been watching for an opportunity. He lingered in a rifle-pit until he could hang out his handkerchief without being seen by his retreating comrades. He said that half of his regiment would be glad thus to escape, but they dreaded being stigmatized as deserters. He also stated that tremendous preparations were being made to resist us at the Chattahoochie, and that four thousand negroes had long been employed in rearing fortifications on the opposite bank. Again Johnston found himself outgeneralled. Burning his bridges and abandoning his tête de pont, he hurriedly resumed his retreat. The patriots crossed the river on the 10th of July. The slight opposition they encountered was resolutely swept away. General Sherman's active brain seemed never to be tired. There was but one finished line of railroad, connecting Georgia and Alabama with the Mississippi. It was important so to break this road as to prevent Johnston from receiving supplies and reënforcements. As soon as the army had crossed the Chattahoochie, General Rousseau, who had already proved his capacity to meet any responsibilities, moved with a cavalry force of two thousand from Decatur, and, riding impetuously through Georgia, to Montgomery in Alabama, destroyed thirty miles of railroad and thirteen railroad dépôts. He also destroyed large quantities of provisions and cotton, and liberated over a thousand slaves. General Rousseau's heroic ride of fifteen days, through the heart of the enemy's country, inflicted serious damage upon the rebels, and was of great benefit to the Union cause. In the mean time the patriots in camp were not idle. Stores were collected, railroads repaired, garrisons strengthened, and bridges rebuilt. On the 17th of July another advance was ordered. General McPherson, by a wide detour to the east, moved upon the Augusta Railroad, striking it seven miles beyond Decatur, and nearly twenty miles below Atlanta. The men had to fight nearly every step of their way through swarms of rebel skirmishers. The march was successful, and Decatur was occupied by our troops. On the morning of the 20th of July, the main body of the Union army had crossed to the south side of Peach-Tree Creek, within three miles of Atlanta. The rebels retired within the strong intrenchments with which, for more than a year, they had been surrounding that important place. Their works could not be stormed. They were abundantly supplied with provisions and all the matériel of war. They could not, by the force we had, be so surrounded as to prevent the ingress of reënforcements with supplies, and the egress of marauding bands. Loudly they boasted that they had lured the patriot army "to just the position where they wished them to be," "far from their base of supplies, with lines of communication which could easily be destroyed, and in the very heart of the South, where the indignant legions of rebeldom would soon rise in their majesty, and blot out the deluded invaders from the face of the earth." Such was the boast of the rebels. It was joyfully echoed back by their sympathizers in the North. And many a patriot feared that the representation was too true. CHAPTER XXXVII. SIEGE OF ATLANTA. (July 21st to August 25th, 1864.) HEROISM OF GENERAL WARD.-REPULSE OF THE REBELS. THE OBSERVATORY.-THE REBEL AMBUSH.-ATTACK UPON GENERAL LEGGETT.-DEATH OF GENERAL MCPHERSON.-GENERAL LOGAN. GENERAL HOWARD SUCCEEDS GENERAL MCPHERSON.-CUTTING THROUGH THE REBEL LINES. THE DECISIVE MOVEMENT.-DESPERATION OF THE REBELS.-EVACUATION OF ATLANTA.-OCCUPATION BY THE PATRIOTS. THE patriot army having reached the intrenchments of Atlanta, commenced vigorously forming their lines of siege. At one part of the line the troops had stacked their arms and were all actively engaged with the spade and pick, when Hardee's Corps of the rebel army, with a savage yell which echoed over the hills, sallied forth from their ramparts in as desperate an assault as fury, and whiskey envenomed with gunpowder, could inspire. The men had barely time to grasp their guns and fall into line before the enemy were upon them. For a few moments it seemed impossible for them to resist the onset. But the men, inspired by General Newton's presence and voice, stood firm. The artillerists were soon at their guns, opening a deadly fire of shot and shell into the onrushing rebel ranks. For twenty minutes the leaden storm raged, when the rebels turned and fled. Their repulse was materially aided by the heroism of General Ward. The artillery had been sent to the support of General Newton, whose men had only muskets. As soon as the rebels made their charge, the brunt of which fell upon General Newton, General Ward ordered a counter-charge. The foe were on a hill in front of his division. Across the flat at the base of the hill, and up its slope, the patriots rushed with cheers. Near the crest they met the enemy. The One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois met them in a hand-to-hand fight, in which officers and men alike mingled. The rebels were at some points so bewildered, in being thus unexpectedly attacked, that they were easily captured. Others fought fiercely. Line after line was carried by the Western heroes, and the vanquished rebels, abandoning their post, fled to the woods. While all the energies of the patriots, both of body and mind, were absorbed by the battle, the enemy stealthily attempted a flanking movement, and, unopposed, had gained an important position. General Thomas, who, from an eminence, was watching the battle, spied them. With the calm deliberation which ever characterized this brave and extraordinary man, he gathered a force, consisting of the pioneers of Kimball's Brigade, and some of the straggling skirmishers who had run to the rear, and with |