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SHERMAN FLANKS ATLANTA BY THE RIGHT.

Howard's right flank, which had been fully prepared for their reception, and which, as they approached, swept them down by a murderous fire. Again and again were they reformed and pushed up by their officers, only to be again decimated and broken; a few of them pressing up to our rail-pile parapet, only to be there shot down or hauled over as prisoners. When they could no more be driven to this foolish slaughter, their officers, at 3 P. M., gave it up and recoiled; leaving on the ground 642 dead, who were counted by our regular burial-parties; and these were not all. Sherman, whose total loss was but 600, estimates Hood's at 5,000. Hood admits but 1,500."

635

resolved on a bold stroke for Atlanta; but, when he heard that Wheeler, having passed our left, was in his rear, had captured 900 beeves, broken the railroad near Calhoun, and was bent on havoc generally, he joyfully ordered Kilpatrick, now commanding our 5,000 remaining cavalry, to move" from Sandtown, in the rear of our right, down to Fairburn, break up the West Point railroad thoroughly; then push across to the Macon road and destroy that; fighting any cavalry that might get in his way, but avoiding a serious conflict with infantry.

Kilpatrick obeyed; striking the Macon road at Jonesboro', routing a small cavalry force under Ross, and doing some work on the railroad; when a brigade of Rebel infantry and a small force of cavalry appeared from below, and compelled him to resume his travels. Drawing off to the east, he made a circuit, and again struck the railroad near Lovejoy's; but the enemy were already here; so, charging through their cavalry, taking 70 prisoners and a 4-gun battery, which he destroyed, he made for camp by a north-east circuit; reaching Decatur on the 22d.

Hood's appetite for attacks in force seems to have been satisfied by this time; since he made no more, though our long-range guns now reached into and shelled Atlanta from several points, kindling fires that involved heavy losses. Meantime, Sherman was steadily extending his right; bringing down Schofield's" army, and then Palmer's corps; until his intrenched line had been pushed nearly to East Point, commanding the railroads whereby Atlanta must be fed. Hood barely watched these operations, and extended his outworks accordingly. Yet a vigorous defensive was so little suited to his impatient, heady disposition that, hav-fident that, though not sufficient to ing squandered half his infantry in rash assaults and charges, he now dispatched Wheeler with his cavalry to our rear, to burn bridges, capture supplies, and break up the railroad whereon Sherman must depend for subsistence. Sherman had already"

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Sherman did not hesitate. He made the proper discount on Kilpatrick's estimate of the damage he had done to the railroads; but he was con

interrupt transportation for ten days,
as Kilpatrick judged, it was worth
something. He ordered the siege to
be abandoned; the sick and wound-
ed, surplus wagons, &c., to be sent
back to his intrenched position on the
Chattahoochee, which the 20th corps,
kets, with 160 prisoners, beside 73 wounded.
Aug. 1. Aug. 16.
Aug. 18.

.31

33

36

15th corps in the center, with the 16th and 17th on either flank, he covered his front with the habitual breastwork, and stood in quiet expectation. Hardee drew out his whole force, embracing Lee's corps beside his own, and attacked with great vigor, calculating that Howard might be overwhelmed before he could be rëenforced; but Howard's position was good; his front well covered, and his soldiers as cool as though bullet-proof; and, after two hours of carnage, the enemy recoiled, leaving 400 dead on the ground, and 300 desperately wounded in Jonesboro' when he retreated. Sherman places Hardee's entire loss in this conflict at 2,500; while ours was hardly 500.

now Gen. Slocum's, was left to cover, a formidable foe. Deploying the while the rest of the army should move by the right southward; the 4th corps, on our extreme left, marching" to the rear of our right, while Howard, drawing back, should move to Sandtown, and then to the West Point railroad above Fairburn; Thomas coming into position just above him near Red Oak; while Schofield closed in on Thomas's left, barely clear of the Rebel defenses near East Point. These movements being quietly executed without resistance or loss, our whole army, save the 20th corps, was behind Atlanta, busily and thoroughly destroying the West Point railroad, before Hood knew what Sherman was doing; and the next day it was thrown forward" to the Macon road; Schofield moving cautiously, because of his proximity to Atlanta, and the danger of another of Hood's irruptions, to Roughand-Ready; Thomas to a point designated as Couch's; while Howard, encountering more resistance, halted at dark having crossed Flint river, barely half a mile from Jonesborough.

Hood had, because of Kilpatrick's recent raid, and to guard his communications, divided his army; sending half, under Hardee, to Jonesborough; while he remained with the residue in Atlanta: hence his failure to fall on Schofield during our swinging flank movement; hence the formidable resistance encountered by Howard on our right, where none was expected.

The light of day" revealed to Howard-who had been fighting the day before, but constantly gaining ground-the immediate presence of Aug. 25-6. Aug. 26-7.

34

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Sherman was with Thomas at Couch's, intent on road-breaking, when the sound of guns on the right drew his attention to that quarter, and induced him to impel Thomas and Schofield in that direction, leaving Garrard's cavalry to watch our rear toward Atlanta, while Kilpatrick should hasten down the west bank of the Flint and strike the railroad below Jonesborough. Davis's corps, being on Thomas's right, soon closed on to Howard, relieving Blair's (15th) corps, which was at once drawn out and thrown to Howard's right, so as to connect with Kilpatrick's troopers. All being at length ready, Davis's corps, at 4 P. M., charged the enemy's lines, covering Jonesboro', carrying them at once, capturing Gen. Govan with most of his brigade and two 4-gun batteries. Orders were repeatedly sent to hurry up Stanley and Schofield; but the ground was diffi37 Aug. 31.

36 Aug. 29.

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HOOD ABANDONS ATLANTA TO SHERMAN.

cult and the roads bad, so that they
were not up in season to charge that
night; and next morning" Hardee
was gone, with all that could and
would follow him.

637

Atlanta had been cheaply won; for, not only was the position one of great importance, but the loss of munitions, guns, locomotives, cars, manufacturing machinery, &c., was very great, and such as the Confederacy could no longer afford. Yet, when Sherman had succeeded, without loss, in placing at least 70,000 veterans between it and the better part of Hood's army, it seems singular that his prisoners were so few. Had he known how Hood's army was divided, he ought, it would seem, to have destroyed or captured at least half of it.

Before that morning dawned, ominous sounds, first heavy, then lighter, from the north, indicated to Sherman that something momentous was occurring in Atlanta, 20 miles distant. They might have proceeded from an attack on that stronghold by Slocum -which was most unlikely-but the more probable supposition pointed to the truth, that Hood, completely outgeneraled and at his wit's end, was blowing up his magazines, burning General Sherman, having estabhis stores, and escaping with the lit-lished his headquarters in Atlanta, tle he could, deprived of railroads, ordered the removal of its remaining carry off in his flight. But this, if inhabitants-they going South or so, could wait; so Sherman ordered coming North, as each should prefer. a vigorous pursuit in force of Har- In order to effect this removal with dee's beaten column. the least possible hardship, a truce for ten days was proposed by Sherman and acceded to by Hood; who took occasion to "protest, in the name of God and humanity," against this "unprecedented measure," which, he asserts, "transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever brought to my attention in the dark history of war."

Hardee was found well intrenched,
near Lovejoy's, with his flanks covered
by Walnut creek and Flint river
a strong position, which was thor-
oughly reconnoitered, but Sherman
was in no hurry to attack it. Soon,
flying rumors, then more trust-wor-
thy accounts, imported that Hood
had blown up whatever he could in
Atlanta and decamped: Stewart's
corps retreating on McDonough,
while the militia were marched off
eastward to Covington. The news
was fully confirmed on the 4th by a
courier from Slocum, who had en-
tered the city unopposed on the
morning after Hood's withdrawal.
Sherman thereupon returned" to
Atlanta, and, encamping his army
on all sides, allowed it that season of
rest which, under his able leadership,
it had so nobly earned.

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pounds per family, to Rough-andReady, or to our outpost in that di

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to come North were brought at Gov-
ernment cost by railroad to Chatta-
nooga. When all was done, Major
Clan, of Hood's staff, tendered to
Col. Warner, of Sherman's staff, his
written acknowledgment" of "the
uniform courtesy you have shown on
all occasions to me and my people,
and the promptness with which you
have corrected all irregularities
arising in our intercourse."
was the simple truth. The removal
was not only right in itself, but was
effected with considerate tenderness.

This

(which Hood had just broken, and was purposing more thoroughly to destroy) was fully taxed with trans-rection; while those who preferred porting the supplies needed by our army; and not a pound of food would be sent in by the Confederates from the adjacent country, whoever might perish. To feed the remaining inhabitants of Atlanta in that city could not cost our Government less than $1,000,000 per quarter, supposing it were at all practicable; while it must greatly cripple Sherman and fetter his future operations, even supposing it could be done at all. To let them stay and starve would have excited still louder and more frenzied denunciations. The order for the removal of the people was therefore at once wise, provident, and humane; yet Mayor J. M. Calhoun and his council appealed to Sherman in deprecation of "the woe, the horror, the suffering" involved in the execution of his order, as if it had been impelled by mere caprice or wanton cruelty, instead of being the stern dictate of an obvious, imperative necessity. And this was but one of many instances wherein the Rebels chilled the admiration which the desperate gallantry of their fighting was calculated to excite, by screechy objurgations, and theatrical appeals for sympathy with their distresses, which they, who had so haughtily and so needlessly rushed into war, should have had the dignity and self respect to abstain from.

While Sherman was still north of the Chattahoochee, a Rebel raiding force of cavalry, under Pillow, had dashed into Lafayette, nearly up to Chattanooga, held by Col. Watkins with 400 men, and had very nearly taken it; when Col. Croxton, 4th Kentucky, came up and beat them off; taking 70 prisoners. The killed and wounded on either side were about 100.

Wheeler, after breaking the railroad at Calhoun, as already narrated, appeared before Dalton, which he summoned; but Col. Leibold held it firmly till Gen. Steedman arrived from Chattanooga and drove the Rebels off. Wheeler now pushed up into East Tennessee, halting at Athens; whence, on being menaced, he dashed eastward across the Little The removal was quietly and hu- Tennessee, and thence across the manely effected: all who chose to Holston at Strawberry plains; and go South (446 families, 2,035 per- so, circling around Knoxville, he sons) being transported in wagons crossed the Clinch near Clinton, and at the national cost, with their furni- the Cumberland mountains, by Seture and clothes, averaging 1,651 quatchie, McMinnville, Murfreesbo

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40 Sept. 21.

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CORSE REPELS FRENCH FROM ALLATOONA.

rough, and Lebanon, whence he was chased southward across the Tennessee near Florence into Alabama. He destroyed much property during this extensive raid; but his operations had little influence on the results of -the campaign.

639

impelled the bulk of his army northward; and, when French attacked Allatoona, he was near Kenesaw, 18 miles distant; whence, at 10 A. M., he could see the smoke of the conflict and faintly hear the sound of the guns. He was even able to signal Corse that he was not to be aban

Hardee, moving to his right, form-doned.
ed a junction with Hood near Jones-
boro', and their army was soon con-
siderably rëenforced : Jefferson Davis
hastening from Richmond to Geor-
gia, visiting the army at Palmetto,
and making at Macon" a speech re-
markable for the frankness of its ad-
missions that the loss of Atlanta was
a great blow, and that the prospects
of the Confederates were gloomy; yet
which was said to have aroused many
to a more desperate activity in the
cause. Hood was still retained in
command; and very soon, flanking
Sherman's right, he crossed the Chat-
tahoochee, pushed up to Dallas, and
thence impelled his cavalry rapidly
by the right to Big Shanty, where
they tore up the railroad and broke
the telegraph; while French's divi-
sion of infantry appeared" before Al-
latoona, where one million rations
were stored, under protection of Col.
Tourtelotte, 4th Minnesota, with
three thin regiments. Happily, Gen.
Corse, holding Rome, had been or-
dered hither with his brigade, and
had arrived with two regiments a
few hours before.

Sherman had ere this been aroused
by news that the Rebels had crossed
the Chattahoochee; and he had sent"
Gen. Thomas to Nashville to look
out for Rebel demonstrations across
the Tennessee. Leaving Slocum's
20th corps to hold Atlanta, he had

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Corse had 1,944 men; French many times that number. The place was completely invested at daylight, and a sharp cannonade of two hours was followed by a summons, which being declined, French assaulted in full force, rushing his men up to the very parapets, where they were mowed down by hundreds; yet still assault after assault was delivered; while the 23d corps, under Gen. J. D. Cox, were making all haste to come to the rescue, and flags conveying from peak to peak the messages interchanged by Sherman and Corse. Sherman, on learning that Corse was there, exclaimed, "He will hold out! I know the man!" And he did hold out; though 707 (more than a third) of his men had fallen, when the enemy desisted. Corse himself had been struck in the face at noon by a bullet, but refused to leave his post; Tourtelotte and Col. R. Rowell, 7th Illinois, were also among the wounded. French drew off, as Cox approached, leaving 231 dead, 411 prisoners, and 800 of his muskets behind, to attest the severity of the struggle.

Hood, instructed to draw Sherman out of Georgia, moved rapidly northwest, threatening again to strike the railroad, and compelling Sherman to make a forced march of 38 miles to save Kingston." Here he learned

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