the 22d, and routed them with loss, capturing two valuable guns. A
contest with the enemy’s main force took place on the following day, in
which the rebels were driven beyond the Little Santa Fe; and, on the
24th, after marching sixty miles, the Unionists overtook a party of
rebels, about midnight, at a place called Marais des Cygnes. At four
o’clock on the ensuing morning, sharp skirmishing began, and the enemy
was driven from the field with a heavy loss of horses, mules,
ammunition, &c. Still fighting, they retreated to Little Osage Crossing,
where the pursuing Unionists, under Colonels Benteen and Phillips, made
a charge upon them, capturing eight pieces of artillery, and more than
one thousand prisoners, among whom were General Marmaduke and General
Cabell. The National troops, under General Sanborn, kept up the pursuit,
with many and always successful charges, until the enemy had been driven
to Marinton; where, under cover of the night, the rebels effected their
escape towards Arkansas. But they had not yet got rid of their pursuers.
A force of Kansas troops, and Colonel Benteen’s brigade, followed close
upon them, and on the 28th, they were overtaken at Newtonia, where they
made their last stand. Again they were routed, and the final blow was
struck at the unsuccessful invasion of the State. All General Price’s
schemes were signally defeated, and he inflicted no serious injury
except upon the narrow belt of country over which his army moved. His
loss was ten pieces of artillery; a very large quantity of small arms;
the greater number of his trains and plunder; one thousand nine hundred
and fifty-eight prisoners, and a long list of killed, wounded, and
deserters. The National loss amounted to three hundred and forty-six in
officers and men.
OPERATIONS IN GEORGIA.
GENERAL SHERMAN’S MARCH TO ATLANTA.
On the 14th of March, 1864, General Sherman, then at Memphis, Tenn., was
officially informed that he had been appointed to succeed General Grant,
as commander of the Department of the Mississippi. Upon the same day
General Sherman set out for Nashville, there to hold a conference with
General Grant. That conference took place on the 17th, and having
discussed at length the steps to be taken, and the policy for the
ensuing campaign, General Sherman accompanied General Grant as far
eastward as Cincinnati, where they parted. The former then returned to
Nashville, and undertook a tour of inspection, visiting, in Alabama, the
cities of Athens, Decatur, and Huntsville, and Larkin’s Ferry; and in
Tennessee, Chattanooga, Loudon, and Knoxville. General Sherman had
personal interviews with each of the following generals, in command in
that section of the country;—Major-General Thomas, commanding the Army
of the Cumberland, at Chattanooga; Major-General McPherson, commanding
the Army of the Tennessee, at Huntsville; and Major-General Schofield,
commanding the Army of the Ohio, at Knoxville. In these several
interviews, the 1st of May was agreed upon as the time for a general
movement.
General Sherman next turned his attention to the question of supplies
for the army, which at first necessitated a temporary stoppage of
provisions for many of the people in Tennessee, who had been receiving
their food from the supplies intended for the army. Fortunately no
positive suffering resulted from this step, which General Sherman was
compelled to take in duty to the soldiers under his command; and in a
short time all hardships were done away with, as the rich soil sent
forth an early vegetation, and meat and grain were brought from Kentucky
in large quantities by the ox-wagons constantly plying to and fro
between that State and Chattanooga.
On the 27th of April, General Sherman put all the troops under his
command in motion for Chattanooga; and on the next day he followed them
there in person. It was his aim to make the Army of the Cumberland
number fifty thousand men; that of the Tennessee, thirty-five thousand;
and that of the Ohio, fifteen thousand; but this he never was enabled to
do, as the Army of the Tennessee failed to receive General A. J. Smith’s
divisions from the Mississippi, which were unable to join the other
forces at the time designated, in consequence of the failure of the Red
river expedition. The effective strength of the several armies was, on
the 21st of May, as follows: Army of the Cumberland, sixty thousand
seven hundred and seventy-three men, and one hundred and thirty guns;
Army of the Tennessee, twenty-four thousand four hundred and sixty-five
men, and ninety-six guns; and the Army of the Ohio, thirteen thousand
five hundred and fifty nine men, and twenty-eight guns. On the morning
of May 6th, these armies were grouped thus:—The Cumberland, at and about
Ringgold; the Tennessee, at Gordon’s Mills, on the Chickamauga; and
Ohio, close by Red Clay, on the Georgia line, north of Dalton.
The enemy, under the rebel general, Joseph Johnston, was in and around
Dalton; the force numbering in all about sixty thousand men—the cavalry
numbering ten thousand under General Wheeler; and the infantry and
artillery—three corps—numbering fifty thousand, under command of
Generals Hardee, Hood, and Polk.
The city of Dalton was covered in front with an inaccessible ridge,
known as the Rocky Face, which rendered it impracticable to strike at it
from that direction; and on the north front the enemy was further
protected by a strong line of works along Mill Creek. General Sherman
finding these two points guarded, next turned his attention to the
south, and found, through Snake Creek Gap, a good way to reach Resaca,
an important point on the rebel line of communication, about eighteen
miles below Dalton. General McPherson was ordered to move directly on
Resaca, through Snake Gap, while, to occupy the enemy’s attention,
General Thomas was ordered to make a strong feint in front, and General
Schofield on the north of the city. These movements were successfully
carried out; General McPherson reached the gap on the 8th, and took by
surprise a whole cavalry brigade, while General Thomas pushed his
demonstration against Buzzard’s Roost and Rocky Face ridge till it
almost amounted to a battle; and General Schofield pressed down close
upon Dalton.
General McPherson advanced within a mile of Resaca, without meeting
opposition, but on nearing the place he perceived that it was too
strongly held by the rebels for him to carry it by assault, whereupon he
was obliged to fall back, and take position at the west end of Snake
Creek Gap.
On the next day two corps from General Thomas’s army were sent forward
to the support of General McPherson, leaving the Fourth corps, under
General Howard, to continue to threaten Dalton on the front. General
Schofield was also ordered forward to Snake Creek Gap, and on the 11th
of May, the entire army, with the exception of General Howard’s corps,
and a small force of cavalry left to watch Dalton, was in motion for
Resaca, and, on the next day moved against it in full force. Two miles
from Resaca the enemy’s cavalry was driven by Kilpatrick’s cavalry from
a cross road which they occupied, and in the engagement that brave
officer was so severely wounded that he was compelled to give up his
command for the time to Colonel Murray, who wheeled out of the road, and
allowed General McPherson to pass. The enemy’s infantry pickets were
driven in and General McPherson took possession of a ridge of hills
which placed the right of his army on the Oostanaula,—two miles below
the railroad bridge—and his left directly west of the town. General
Thomas came up on his left, and General Schofield followed on the left
of Thomas. It was now ascertained that the rebel General Johnston had
left Dalton; and General Howard entered the town and pressed close upon
the enemy’s rear, but owing to the rugged and hilly nature of the
country, the rebel general succeeded in reaching Resaca in safety; and
on the 14th of May the Unionists found the rebel army occupying a strong
position behind Camp Creek, and in possession of several forts at
Resaca, with its right on a ridge of high chestnut hills to the north of
the town.
General Sherman immediately made demonstrations against the enemy. A
pontoon bridge was placed across the Oostanaula, and a division of the
Sixteenth corps, commanded by General Sweeney, crossed and threatened
Calhoun. The cavalry division of General Gerrard was sent to break the
railroad below Calhoun and above Kingston, while General Sherman pressed
the main body of the army against Resaca, at all points.
General McPherson succeeded in making a lodgment close upon the rebel
works, while General Thomas pushed along Camp Creek Valley, and threw
General Hooker’s corps across the head of the creek to the main Dalton
road, close on Resaca; and General Schofield came up on his left. A
severe battle commenced about noon of the 15th, which continued during
the whole afternoon and evening.
The fighting on both sides was very severe: and when night put an end to
the conflict, the rebels took advantage of the darkness to make their
escape; and in the morning the town was entered and taken possession of
by the National troops.
The whole Union army then started in pursuit of the retreating rebels,
but found no token of their whereabouts until, the evening of the 17th,
near a place called Adairsville, a brigade of the enemy was overtaken.
The advance, consisting of General Newton’s division, engaged the rebel
rear-guard, and a sharp encounter ensued. Night again put a stop to the
conflict; and upon the following morning the enemy was gone, and was not
afterwards overtaken till the National army had advanced four miles
below Kingston, where he was again discovered on open ground, well
adapted for a heavy battle. The proper dispositions for a fight were
promptly made; but as the Union troops were getting in readiness, and
preparing to hem in the rebels, they once more took advantage of the
mantle of darkness, and escaped in the night-time across the Etowah
river, burning the road and bridges which they passed over, but leaving
the National troops in undisputed possession of the whole valuable
country about the Etowah river. General Sherman now gave his army a
brief rest of a few days, as well for the purpose of recruiting their
strength as to allow time for bringing forward supplies for the next
stage of the campaign.
CAPTURE OF ROME, GA.
MAY 19, 1864.
In the mean time a detachment of the Fourteenth corps (General Palmer)
under command of General Jeff. C. Davis had been ordered on the 17th of
May, along the west bank of the Oostanaula, toward Rome, a place fifteen
miles west of Kingston. General Davis reached Rome upon the following
day, and met with a determined resistance from the enemy. A sharp fight
ensued, which resulted in the rebels being completely routed; General
Davis took several forts, eight or ten guns of heavy calibre, a great
many valuable mills and foundries then doing duty in the service of the
Confederate government; and large quantities of stores. On the 19th,
General Davis with his troops took possession of the city of Rome.
* * * * *
On the 23d of May, the march was resumed. Feeling assured that the enemy
had the power, and would therefore use it, to hold the Union army in
check at a place called the Allatoona Pass, General Sherman determined
to turn it by a circuit to the right, instead of attempting it in front,
and on that day ordered the whole army, with the exception of the
garrisons at Rome and Kingston, forward upon Dallas.
[Illustration: CONFEDERATE GENERALS. COLQUET. RHETT. LOVELL. B. S.
JOHNSON. RAINS. FLOYD. CRITTENDEN. BRANCH.]
Upon the march a letter from the rebel General Johnston was captured,
showing that he had discovered General Sherman’s movement, and was
concentrating at Dallas to meet him.
General Geary’s division, of Hooker’s corps, encountered the enemy’s
line of battle, after crossing Pumpkin Vine creek, and advancing about
three miles along the Dallas road; the result was a severe fight of
several hours. The remaining troops of General Hooker’s corps were
advancing along different roads, but they were quickly brought in to the
assistance of Geary, and by order of General Sherman the entire corps
made a bold push to obtain a point called New Hope Church, which lay at
the intersection of three roads leading from Ackworth, Marietta, and
Dallas. A very heavy battle was fought at this point, which resulted in
defeat to the rebels, who were beaten back, but saved themselves from
being driven from the road by throwing up hastily constructed
fortifications. A severe storm, which set in about the close of the day,
also proved of great assistance to them, inasmuch as it prevented
General Hooker from making any further demonstration against them. In
the morning the enemy was discovered strongly intrenched in front of the
road which led from Dallas to Marietta. Consequently, preparations
against them were made in large force. General McPherson was stationed
at Dallas; General Thomas was deployed against New Hope Church; and
General Schofield was directed to hold the left. The cavalry under
General Garrard operated with McPherson, that under General Stoneman
with Schofield, and General McCook’s division brought up the rear.
During all these movements, constant skirmishing occurred between the
opposing armies. The heaviest attack took place on the 28th, and was
made by a strong rebel force upon General McPherson’s troops, when they
were in the act of closing up to General Thomas in front of New Hope
Church. The Federal troops being strongly protected by breastworks,
repulsed the enemy bravely, and succeeded in driving him back with heavy
loss. A brief pause succeeded this demonstration, which was at times
broken by a renewal of skirmishing; after which the movements against
the enemy were continued, and on the 1st of June General McPherson moved
to the left, and occupied the position of General Thomas in front of New
Hope Church, while that general and Schofield were ordered to move five
miles farther to the left, thus giving the Union troops the occupation
of the roads leading to Allatoona and Ackworth. General Stoneman’s
cavalry was next pushed into Allatoona, at the east end, and General
Garrard’s at the west end, of the Pass, thus accomplishing the real
intention to turn Allatoona.
The bridge across the Etowah which had been destroyed by the rebels was
immediately rebuilt; and General Sherman moved his army upon Ackworth on
the 4th, thus compelling Johnston to leave his intrenchments at New Hope
Church, and to move westward to cover Marietta. The National troops
reached Ackworth on the 6th, and rested there for a few days.
Allatoona Pass, being considered by General Sherman as specially suited
to the purpose, was chosen by him as a secondary base of operations, and
was, according to his orders, made suitable for defence.
On the 9th of June, the army moved forward to Big Shanty, having been on
the previous day strengthened by two divisions of the Seventeenth corps,
and one brigade of cavalry, which had been absent on furlough. Between
Big Shanty and Marietta a mountainous district intervenes, which has
three separate and well-defined summits, the most easterly of which is
called the Kenesaw Mountain, and lies directly north and northwest of
Marietta, and west of the railroad; it has a spur, called the Little
Kenesaw, which juts out for a considerable distance in a northeasterly
direction. The second of the highest summits, known as Lost Mountain,
lies directly west of Marietta, and midway between these two lies Pine
Mountain. These three mountains are connected by ranges of smaller
eminences, upon all of which the rebels had erected signal stations,
from which they could observe all the operations of the National troops.
A great battle was impending; and the rebels, swarming about the summits
of the hills, “thick as leaves in Vallambrosa,” made the place alive
with moving figures, and the air vocal with the hum of voices, the noise
of felling timber, and the many hundred sounds of hurried preparations
for the coming struggle.
General Sherman describes the scene as “enchanting—too beautiful to be
disturbed by the harsh clamors of war;” but beyond him lay the
Chattahoochie, which must be reached; and no way to reach it lay before
him except to cut his way through the rebel army, that stood between him
and the goal to which all his motions then tended. The moment for attack
approached. General McPherson was ordered toward Marietta; General
Thomas to Kenesaw and Pine Mountain; and General Schofield toward Lost
Mountain. The rebel front extended westward, and was upwards of two
miles in length; and was so drawn that Kenesaw Mountain, the controlling
point of the whole region, formed a sort of citadel for the enemy.
General Johnston’s force was estimated at sixty-three thousand, besides
a force numbering fifteen thousand of Georgia militia, which was placed
at his service. The preparations for attack had been going on for five
days, and on the 14th, the battle for the possession of the mountains
began.
THE BATTLES OF KENESAW MOUNTAIN.
JUNE 14, 1864.
Heavy skirmishing had continued from the opening of this battle till the
day on which the great fight occurred which ended in giving the
Unionists possession of the enemy’s position on Kenesaw Mountain. Upon
the 14th, the rebel general, Bishop Leonidas Polk was killed, while
commanding on Pine Mountain, during a heavy cannonading by the Fourth
corps. During the same night the enemy, having discovered that General
Hooker was moving to cut off their retreat, abandoned their works, which
were quickly occupied by Stanley’s division of the Fourth corps. A paper
was found affixed to a stake near the rebel works on Pine Mountain, on
which was written, “Here General Polk was killed by a Yankee shell.” It
was subsequently ascertained that the rebel generals Johnston and
Hardee, who were standing near Polk, narrowly escaped being killed at
the same time.
General Johnston now drew back his centre to the chain of hills which
connected Kenesaw and Lost Mountain, still keeping his right and left
flank respectively on these mountains. During the 15th, 16th, and 17th,
heavy skirmishing continued from morning till night; which told upon the
endurance of the troops almost as much as a pitched battle would have
done. Late in the evening of the 17th, severe skirmishing opened in
front of Stanley’s division. At the same time the enemy engaged Harkens’
brigade, of Newton’s division, and a regiment—the Ninety-third Ohio—of
Hazen’s brigade; and toward nightfall a heavy fire was opened all along
the front of General Howard’s line. The batteries of Bridge and Bradery
were speedily brought to bear upon the rebels, and with telling effect;
while upon the left the batteries of Logan and Blair were making
themselves heard in most formidable manner. Night drew on, and a brief
silence ensued, but the rebels had not yet abandoned the attack. A
correspondent of the day thus describes the renewal of the battle: “It
was a beautiful night. The soft moonlight beaming from the clear
southern sky, floated through the forest trees, lighting them with a
bewitching kind of beauty. The air was calm and balmy, the sky without a
cloud. Fireflies, sparkling like diamonds, were flitting around. The cry
of the whip-poor-will resounded through the forest, and the plaint cry
of the croaking frogs rose from the marshes like the tinkling of
sleigh-bells. Smoke and flames shot up from buildings that had been
fired by shells. Soon a dropping shot along the line, followed by rapid
musketry firing, roused us from our solemn kind of torpor. The rebels
had opened on our skirmish line, and a brisk fight ensued. Our batteries
soon opened, hurling shell and canister into their ranks. The attack
also extended to our left, where they vainly strove to regain their lost
position, but were again repulsed by Logan’s command. The rebels were
foiled in their attack at all points, and the horrid din of battle soon
gave way to the placid stillness of night.”
A sudden rain storm came on in a perfect deluge, during the night, and
the enemy abandoned his front line of works. Early in the morning
General Howard ordered his whole line to push forward sharply. General
Harkens’ brigade led the advance, and, having come up with the enemy,
and being reinforced with Wagner’s brigade, charged forward, driving
them from their first line of works. On this day the possession of the
Dallas and Marietta roads was secured; and the Unionists continued to
press the enemy so close and hard that at dusk the Twentieth corps was
in a line perpendicular with the rebel line.
During the operations of the 18th, the loss to the National troops was
very heavy; the rebel loss in killed and wounded was also severe,
besides which the Unionists took prisoner several hundred of the enemy.
General Johnston took advantage of the night, and a heavy rain storm, to
withdraw his left flank from its position on Lost Mountain, which he saw
could not be maintained, making his strong point of resistance on
Kenesaw Mountain. The National forces immediately took possession of the
abandoned works on Lost Mountain.
On the next morning, Stanley’s division followed up the enemy to their
new position, and threw out two brigades as skirmishers. Newton’s
division formed on Stanley’s left, and sent out the Thirty-sixth and
Eighty-eighth Illinois as skirmishers. Wood’s division then formed on
the right, and fierce skirmishing began all along the line. General
Harkens’ brigade signally distinguished itself in this encounter, and
aided by Kimball’s brigade developed the enemy’s lines and works.
Generals Sherman, Thomas, Howard, and other officers, were now occupying
the house of a Mr. Wallace, on the Marietta road, eagerly watching the
effect of the Union batteries upon the rebel works. Together with the
batteries named above, those of Goodspeed and Spencer were now got into
position, and all opened at once on the rebels, who promptly replied
with a couple of batteries from the slope of the hill, and a section of
heavy guns from the crest. A regular duel now opened between the
opposing artillery, and all along the intervening valley the clouds of
dense smoke hung midway in the air.
The whole line was soon engaged, and from early morning till late night
the crash and flash, the roar and scream of battle never ceased; and
when at length the night interrupted the fierce fight, it but served to
recruit the strength with which both sides renewed it in the morning. A
slight, forked ridge which jutted out in front of General Wood’s
division was selected, and at once made use of, as a position for a
battery; and two heavy guns were dragged forward, and placed so as to
bear heavily upon the rebel line, and set to work immediately. Shortly
after this it was ascertained from rebel prisoners that a portion of
Hood’s and Hardee’s corps were massing against Sherman’s centre; the
attack was made, and gallantly repulsed, the rebels being driven back
with loss. They next assailed Kirby’s division, but met with similar
misfortune, being fiercely repulsed, but not beaten. They again
attacked, and were stubbornly resisted for one hour; at the end of that
time they gained a slight temporary advantage, taking possession of a
prominent knoll in Kirby’s front, which they continued to occupy,
although severely attacked by the brigades of Gross and Whittaker. Again
night temporarily put a stop to the battle. The divisions of Newton and
Wood had perceptibly advanced—that of Stanley, having been most severely
pressed, had succeeded in keeping its ground, with the exception of the
knoll lost to the enemy. Just as night fell intense anxiety was felt by
all, for the rebels were seen pressing heavily upon Stanley’s front; but
after a few minutes’ suspense a loud ringing cheer from the brave
Unionists proclaimed the rebel repulse, and indicated that nothing had
been gained by them.
Early on the 21st, the fight opened with heavy skirmishing in all
directions, which continued during the whole day.